qo$l
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF METACOGNITIVE
STRATEGIES IN EIGHTH GRADE READING
IMPROVEMENT STUDENTS
DISSERTATION
Presented to the Graduate Council of the
University of North Texas in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
By
Bernadette Tyler Jeffers, B.S., M.Ed.
Denton, Texas
December, 1990 Jeffers, Bernadette Tyler, A Comparative Study of Metacognitive
Differences in Eighth Grade Reading Improvement Students. Doctor of
Philosophy (Reading Education), December, 1990, 229 pp., 24 tables,
1 illustration, bibliography, 88 titles.
The purposes of this study are to determine the level of growth by reading improvement students when metacognitive skills are-taught and to determine which instructional approach is the most effective in maximizing reading comprehension.
The organization of the study includes a statement of the problem, a
review of the literature, the methodology used in the statistical analysis of the
data, the analysis of data, the findings, conclusions, educational implications,
and recommendations for additional research.
The instrument used to assess grade gains was the Gates-MacGinitie
Reading Test Level E, with Form 1 as the pretest and Form 2 as the posttest.
These comprehension subtests were given to both the control group and the
experimental group. The pretest was used to assess standing at the beginning
of the study. The posttest was used to measure growth after the instructional
intervention. The control group was taught using the prescribed textbook
course of study. In addition to the prescribed textbook course of study, the experimental group was taught six metacognitive strategies--main idea, sequence, cloze procedure, predicting outcomes, inference, and summarizing.
Data from the hypothesis were tested with a I-test analysis, and the data revealed the following:
1. The gains in comprehension were not significant for either student group.
2. Although the scores between the two groups were not significantly different, the experimental group, who were taught the metacognitive strategies, reflected greater grade-level gains than the control group.
From the findings the following suggestions are made:
1. Reading curriculums need to incorporate direct instruction of
metacognitive strategies into their overall plan.
2. Evaluation standards need to be formulated to measure students'
metacognitive growth.
3. A reading curriculum concentrating on teaching metacognitive
strategies needs to be developed with various kinds of guided practice
materials being the central focus.
4. Teacher training should emphasize the necessity of teacher
effectiveness in directly influencing student achievement. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
v LIST OF TABLES ...... ----.-......
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSo...... ------viii
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION ......
Statement of the Problem Definition of Terms Purposes of the Study Hypothesis Background and Significance of the Problem Basic Assumptions Procedure for Collection of Data Procedure for Analyzing Data
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LiTERATURE...... 25
History, Nature, and Development of Metacognition Reading Comprehension and Metacognition Research in Strategy Training Metacognition and its Implications for Instruction Summary
3. METHODS AND PROCEDURES...... 59
Time Frame Teacher Selection Strategy Selection Instructional Materials Test Materials Instructional Procedures Procedure for Analyzing Data
iii Chapter Page
4. ANALYSIS OF DATA...... 75
5. SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS0.. .. 0...... 102
Summary Findings Other Findings Conclusions Educational Implications Recommendations
APPENDICES:
A. STUDENT LETTER, TEACHER LETTER, TEACHER TRAINING, AND TEACHER-MONITORING FORM a...... ------...... 110
B. LESSON PLANS: 1ST SIX WEEKS GUIDED PRACTICE WORK SHEETS .0...... 0. .0.0. .0...... 117
C. LESSON PLANS FOR ENSUING SIX WEEKS .. .0.0...... 169
D. STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT CONTROL GROUP ..0.0...... 213
E. STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT EXPERIMENTAL GROUP...... -. .... 218
BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 221
iv LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Second Semester Prescribed Course of Study 72 for the Control Student Group ......
2. A Comparative Analysis of Total Student Achievement on the Comprehension Section of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Form 1 Presented at 76 the Pretest ......
3. Summary Statistics for Pretest Data Collected from Control Groups and the Experimental Groups on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading 77 Test Level E, Form 1 ......
4. A Comparative Analysis of Posttest Student Achievement on the Comprehension Section of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Form 1 Presented at the 78 Pretest ......
5. Summary Statistics for the Posttest Data Collected from Control Groups and Experimental Groups on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Form 2 ...... 79
6. A Comparative Analysis of Student Achievement on the Comprehension Section of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Presented as the Gain Scores ...... 80
7. Summary Statistics for Gain Scores Collected from Control Groups and Experimental Groups on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E...... 81
v Table Page
8. A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Forms 1 and 2 and Gain Scores for Combined Groups ...... 84
9. Analysis of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Forms 1 and 2 and Gain Scores for Combined Groups...... 85
10. Summary Statistics for Teacher Effectiveness on Overall Student Achievement Presented for Combined Groups ...... 86
11. A Comparative Analysis of Achievement for Control Student Groups by Teacher ...... 87
12. A Comparative Analysis of Achievement for Experimental Student Groups by Teacher...... 88
13. Analysis of Variance of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement ...... 89
14. A Two-by-Two Statistical Analysis on Group and Teacher Data ...... 90
15. Teacher 1 Treatment Group 1--Class Averages for Five Metacognitive Strategy Areas...... 91
16. Teacher 1 Treatment Group 2--Class Averages for Five Metacognitive Strategy Areas ...... 93
17. Teacher 2 Treatment Group 1--Class Averages for Five Metacognitive Strategy Areas ...... 95
18. Teacher 2 Treatment Group 2--Class Averages for Five Metacognitive Strategy Areas ...... 97
19. Student Achievement--Control Group Teacher 1-- Class 1 and Class 2 ...... 214
vi Table Page
20. Student Achievement--Control Group Teacher 1-- and Class 3...... ------0-0-0-0-0-*-0...... 215
21. Student Achievement--Control Group Teacher 2-- Class 1 and Class 2. .. .0..0. a...... -0 - -0- -*- -*- -- . .0.....216
22. Student Achievement--Control Group Teacher 2-- Class3...... ------.. 217
23. Student Achievement--Experimental Group Teacher 1--Class 1 and Class 2...... 219
24. Student Achievement--Experimental Group Teacher 2--Class 1 and Class 2...... 220
vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Page Figure
1. Graph of Control and Experimental Groups Pretest and Posttest Scores...... 82
viii CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
Learning to read is a complex mental process that involves interaction between the reader and the text for meaning to occur. Expert readers use rapid decoding, large vocabularies, phonemic awareness, knowledge about text features, and a variety of strategies to aid comprehension and memory (Baker
& Brown, 1984). In addition, reading for meaning requires not only thinking, but also the development of definite cognitive strategies. One such strategy is metacognition, which is the knowledge and control that the readers have over their own thinking and learning activities.
In the early 1970s John Flavell, Ann Brown, and others introduced the concept of metacognition to describe the ability to think about one's own thinking (Reynolds & Wade, 1986). Specifically, Flavell (1979) defines metacognition as an awareness of, and an ability to capitalize on, one's own
knowledge and thought processes as applied to a specific task. As early as
1933, John Dewey emphasized that actual, knowledgeable learners understand
how memory, thinking, and learning actually work. In so doing, the readers'
attention is drawn to their awareness of and ability to monitor and control
cognitive activities while engaged in reading, studying, and problem solving
(Reynolds & Wade, 1986).
1 2
Knowledge about metacognition is an understanding of the variables that influence thinking as well as the ability to act on these variables. Herein lies the connection between the readers' cognitive abilities and their strategic reading skills. Strategic reading is a prime characteristic of expert readers because it is a part of children's cognitive development and is necessary for success in school. The Paris and Myers 1981 study (cited in Baker & Brown,
1984) categorized knowledge about strategic reading in three ways. First, there is declarative knowledge about reading that includes an understanding of what factors influence reading. Next, procedural knowledge reflects appreciation for how skills operate or are applied. Last, there is conditional knowledge, which is an understanding of the occasions when particular strategies are required and why they affect reading. Conclusively, these
strategies are metacognitive in nature because they are thought about
knowledge states and abilities.
Apparently, metacognition is one of the necessary strategies that makes
the difference in skilled and unskilled readers. Children learn a great deal
about reading and writing before they begin formal instruction in school. Most
children are exposed to a variety of print in signs, advertisements, newspapers,
television, and the like. Parents and children also engage in reading activities
that help children understand the relationship between oral language and
print. Given these early experiences, children's initial awareness about the
conventions of print and the nature of reading is critical for the effectiveness 3 of early instruction and reading achievement. Based on these early
experiences, metacognition seems to be self-generating in skilled readers when
text is encountered. Likewise, research strongly suggests that metacognition is
directly related to reading comprehension ability (Palincsar & Ransom, 1988).
Several studies even have demonstrated that this direct relationship between
comprehension and metacognition exists by showing that metacognitive status
varies with reading level (Baker & Brown, 1984).
Generally, it appears that young children and the less skilled readers
have difficulty monitoring comprehension due in part to a lack of awareness
about appropriate standards for evaluating their own comprehension. For this
reason, there are usually two distinct types of students in the reading classes at
the middle school level. First, there are students who re-read when meaning is
unclear. They question themselves to clarify points and basically use reading
as a tool for learning and pleasure. These students score high enough on
standardized tests to be placed in advanced reading classes and maintain
acceptable or above average grades. Even when reading is not required by the
teacher, these students will often read books for the pleasure of reading. The
skilled readers automatically implement the expectation that the text has the
potential for providing context. This kind of behavior, according to Flavell
(1979), leads to the belief that metacognitive knowledge can be activated
either consciously and deliberately or unintentionally and automatically. 4
By contrast, there are those students who never re-read when they do not understand, read each and every assignment with the same degree of speed (or no speed), have little awareness that there is a lack of understanding on their part, and have not learned to use reading either as a tool for learning or for pleasure. These students usually do not perform well on standardized tests and are placed in reading improvement or remedial reading classes.
Importantly, poor readers show less comprehension as they more often identify
the purpose of reading as knowing all of the words. They often regard reading
as interpreting symbols and words and have incomplete ideas about the
existence, value, or need to use strategies for constructing meaning (Paris &
Jacobs, 1984). Consequently, these students may not have well-developed
metacognitive abilities.
Traditionally, teachers have tried to develop skilled independent readers
by simply having students read often and by conducting discussions and other
activities related to the text--the ultimate teaching goal being to have'students
who can pick up an unfamiliar text and discover its organization, grasp its main
ideas, and apply the content to their own lives and experiences. As a result,
teachers have assumed that because readers could handle the text to some
degree when called on to read orally, comprehension was taking place. Hence,
there is puzzlement by both the teacher and the student as to why assignments
can not be completed correctly or questions can not be answered successfully. 5
While the difference in student ability could possibly be due to general learning ability, background knowledge, word recognition and decoding skills, or motivation for achievement, the difference in metacognitive development may account for the difference in the reading performance of these two kinds of student groups (Palincsar & Ransom, 1988).
Furthermore, some researchers have indicated that the younger or less successful readers are not aware of many important parameters of reading.
They are not sensitive to task dimensions or the need to invoke special
strategies for different materials and reading goals (Teifer, 1988). Bristow
(1985) perceived further complication of these findings when she indicated that
good and poor readers have different views of reading.
Importantly, current research indicates that making the good readers
aware of the strategies that successful readers use, and teaching them to
monitor their reading for these strategies, will help them become skilled
independent readers. When readers are aware of their thinking as they read,
and use that awareness to control what they are doing, they are engaging in
metacognition (Paris & Myers, 1981).
To demonstrate one type of metacognitive training, Raphael and
Pearson (1985) trained third-, fourth-, and eighth-grade students to determine
the answers to text questions according to whether the answers were explicitly
given, or if the reader needed to make an inference to get the correct
response. This study concluded that students trained in evaluating the types of 6
questions given responded with more adequate answers than those students who were not provided the training. Consequently, it was shown that both awareness and comprehension improved with metacognitive training (Raphael
& Pearson, 1985).
Also, an effective approach to classroom instruction utilizes the direct instruction model to teach reading comprehension. Baumann (cited in
Dermody, 1988) stated that a direct instruction model is implemented "when teachers are actively, intensively, and systematically involved with instruction"
(p. 2). Even though researchers are not in total agreement as to whether
strategic reading can be effectively taught or if it is innately learned,
unquestionably, direct instruction of metacognitive reading strategies can only
serve to enhance the comprehension process. Hence, according to Baumann
(1984), several basic components of the direct instruction model are involved
in the teaching of metacognition. Initially, a student is taught what the reading
skill is and why it is important to learn. Instruction also involves the teacher
telling, showing, modeling, or demonstrating how the reading skill operates.
Within this step, the responsibility of learning is shifted from the teacher to the
student. Just as important, the student is then taught when the skill should be
used.
The results of these recent studies suggest that growth in comprehension
may be a function of the way that students process text. In particular, these 7
studies show that growth in comprehension is usually accompanied by increases in the use of metacognitive strategies.
Consequently, despite the recent renewed interest in reading comprehension, there remains a need for clearer specifications of the basic processes involved in obtaining meaning from printed text. Information about such processes is particularly important beyond the primary grades when there is an increased emphasis on understanding what is read. By directly investigating the manner in which good and poor readers process print for meaning, insights into the process of reading comprehension may be-achieved.
Ultimately, such insight may lead to improved instructional procedures in the teaching of reading.
Reading comprehension appears to be less well understood than other aspects of reading behavior. Although considerable research has been conducted on aspects of reading comprehension over the past 75 years, its complexity has created difficulties in understanding the covert nature of the processes involved (Kavale & Schreiner, 1979).
Further, at the middle school level there is a distinct difference in the reading comprehension abilities of eighth-grade learners. At some point in
these students' instructional program, the good readers have acquired and
learned to use their metacognitive abilities and have become proficient
readers. Conversely, poor readers' comprehension skills pose a problem that
perplexes and frustrates these students and possibly the teacher. Since both 8
groups of these students started their learning experiences in somewhat the same manner, the relevant issue is what makes the difference in the students' reading abilities.
In summary, research on metacognition and reading does demonstrate a strong relationship between the awareness of and the use of strategies and reading comprehension. The good readers are more aware of and more likely to engage in strategic reading (Golinkoff, 1976). Likewise, the students receiving metacognitive training show enhanced awareness and improved reading skills. However, the developmental and instructional parameters of the relationship between metacognition and reading need to be examined
further (Cross & Paris, 1988). Since the purpose of metacognitive strategy
instruction is to increase students' awareness of themselves as learners, and to
place them in control of their own learning activity, strategy instruction may be
facilitated when teachers are attentive to the processes in which students
engage while learning. At the same time, students should reflect on their own
cognitive processing (Palincsar & Ransom, 1988). It seems that the outcome
of strategy instruction can equip all students, including poor readers, so that
they can become more skillful in comprehending the printed text.
Statement of the Problem
The ability to reflect on one's own cognitive processes, to be aware of
one's own activities while reading and solving problems, is a late developing 9 skill with important implications for the children's effectiveness as active thoughtful learners. If children are aware of what is needed to perform effectively, then it is possible for them to take steps to meet the demands of a learning situation more adequately. If, however, children are not aware of their own limitations as learners or the complexity of the task at hand, then they cannot be expected to take preventive actions in order to anticipate or recover when problems occur (Baker & Brown, 1984).
'The problem addressed in this study is to investigate the role of metacognitive strategies in the acquisition of reading comprehension skills in reading improvement students in the eighth grade.
Definition of Terms
The following terms will have restricted meaning and are thus defined
for this study:
Middle school. A separate campus within the school district that
contains grades 7 and 8 and is designed and implemented to meet the unique,
physical, emotional, and psychological needs of children at the age range of
approximately 12 to 14 years old.
Reading improvement. Designed by the Texas State Board of
Education as a State Compensatory Education Program for students identified
as having a special need in reading instruction. In the district in which the
experiment is being conducted, reading improvement has also been identified 10
as a court ordered programmatic remedy to narrow the gap between minority and Anglo students' academic performance in reading. The eligibility criteria for placement in the reading improvement classes is a score below the 40th percentile on the Reading Comprehension Subtest of the Iowa Test of Basic
Skills.
Advanced reading. A course designed for students who scored from the
40th to 79th percentile on the Reading Comprehension Subtest of the Iowa
Test of Basic Skills and who have developed average or above average reading skill competencies. The course curriculum addresses the Texas Education
Agency essential elements/learner standards for reading with emphasis on expanding and enriching listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. The development of higher level critical and creative thinking skills is an integral part of this course.
Iowa Test of Basic Skills. A norm-referenced, standardized achievement
test intended to provide objective information about an individual student's
skills performance. The test results provide a basis for making instructional
decisions. Scores are reported as grade equivalents and national percentile
ranks.
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests. A series of standardized
norm-referenced tests designed to measure group and individual reading
achievement from kindergarten through grade 12. Each test level is available
in at least two equivalent forms. 11
Cognition. The intellectual functioning of the human mind, characterized by remembering, comprehending, focusing attention to, and processing of information.
Metacognition. The ability to monitor one's own cognition; it is thinking about thinking. When applied to the act of reading, this definition suggests that the reader is able to select skills and strategies appropriate for the demands of the reading task.
Metacognitive strategies. Systematic reading behaviors which include: re-reading, skimming, summarizing, paraphrasing, predicting, looking for important ideas, testing one's understanding, identifying the pattern of test,
sequencing the events, looking for relationships, reading ahead for clarification,
mentally executing the directions, and/or relating the knowledge to prior
knowledge.
Purposes of the Study
The following purposes have been formulated for this study:
1. To determine the level of growth in reading comprehension shown by
reading improvement students when metacognitive skills are intensively taught.
2. To determine which treatment appears to be most effective in the
teaching of reading comprehension. 12
Hypothesis
To carry out the purposes of this study, the following hypothesis has been formulated:
The gains in comprehension by reading improvement students in the experimental or treatment group will not be significantly greater than gains shown by reading improvement students in the control group, as measured by the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test.
Background and Significance of the Problem
While the term metacognition is relatively new, reading researchers and educators will recognize that the issues are not unfamiliar. Since the turn of the century, scholars such as Dewey (1910), Huey (1908/1968), and Thorndike
(1917) were aware that reading involves the planning, checking, and evaluating activities now regarded as metacognitive skills. Moreover, numerous studies have attempted to determine differences between good and poor readers by comparing these same strategies that seem so crucial to effective reading
(Golinkoff, 1976; Ryan, Ledger, Short, & Weed, 1982). Hence, although the term metacognition has recently come into usage, the skills to which it refers have long been recognized (Baker & Brown, 1984).
For the most part, there does not seem to be a magical age at which children develop into proficient readers. In fact, many students are still in need of corrective reading instruction at the eighth-grade level on which this 13 study is directed. Obviously, the less proficient reader has never mastered or perhaps been introduced to the necessary skills that make the difference between advanced reading students and reading improvement students.
Research has found that less able reading students need direct instruction concerning comprehension strategies, knowledge about the structure
of texts, and how these two factors relate, in order to become effective, proficient readers (Golinkoff, 1976). The educational implications of this
research suggest that it is possible to improve the comprehension skills of less
able readers by teaching these students effective metacognitive strategies that
advanced readers seem to possess. However, the important question remains
as to how much strategic intervention or deliberate instruction is necessary to
improve the less able readers' abilities. As stated earlier, the focus of this
study is on the metacognitive strategies that aid successful reading
comprehension as they are used by eighth grade reading students.
Consequently, a lack of metacognitive strategies could account for the
difference in reading abilities of middle school students. Becoming a
successful reader (one able to learn independently from text) requires
proficiency in monitoring for comprehension. If the strategies of proficient
advanced readers can be discerned and taught to the less skilled reader,
perhaps significant gains in reading achievement could be acquired and
exhibited by these less skilled readers. For these reasons, this study will be
significant in that it will: 14
1. Compare the metacognitive differences in reading improvement students being taught the regular course of study with those reading improvement students being taught metacognitive reading strategies.
2. Determine if direct instruction of metacognitive strategies to less skilled readers can improve their reading comprehension ability significantly.
Basic Assumptions
The assumption was made that the students' abilities were fairly assessed with the instruments that were used for testing. Further, it also was assumed that student placement in classes was done according to the students' true abilities. Exceptions were found in cases where pupils entered school as transfer students with no test scores accompanying them. In these cases, students were assigned class placement based on available space. Moreover, since the majority of the students were generally placed in classes on a
homogeneous basis, it was assumed that students' IQs, while not tested, were within the same range in each class. Finally, it also was assumed that the
growth, or lack of growth shown in the students' use of metacognitive strategies
was a direct result of the emphasis in instruction placed on acquiring these
strategies.
Procedure for Collection of Data
Permission to conduct research was requested from the principal of a
middle school (population approximately 1,000 students) in a large urban 15 school district in the Dallas, Texas metropolitan area. In addition, permission was requested from the University of North Texas Office of Research and
Academic Grants for approval to conduct a doctoral research study which would involve human subjects. Consent to perform the research study was granted by both sources.
Subjects
The study was limited to eighth-grade students divided into two groups.
The first group of students consisted of approximately 80 students assigned to the reading improvement classes. Placement in the reading improvement classes was limited to students who score below the 40th percentile on the
Iowa Test of Basic Skills. In order to provide adequate remediation and attention to the students in these classes, each reading improvement class cannot have more than 20 students enrolled. Therefore, to use approximately
80 subjects, this experiment used two reading improvement classes from two different reading teachers.
The second group of students who served as the control group
(consisting of approximately an aggregate of 120 students) also were assigned to reading improvement classes. However, they did not receive the direct instruction or treatment given to the experimental group of students. In fact, they were taught using the regular reading improvement scope and sequence of 16 the textbook Wonders and Winners (Appendix B). None of the metacognitive strategy lessons were used to teach the individuals in this control group.
Finally, a letter was read to each of the classes of students involved in the study. In this letter, the purpose and goal of the study were explained to the students (Appendix A).
Instruments
At the beginning of the experimental period, as a pretest, the
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Form 1 was administered to all of the students, both the experimental group and the control group. Lesson strategies were planned and provided for all of the students in the experimental group.
All work was kept in individual folders, which were provided to the students.
These folders were kept separately from other work normally required of the students in the academic curriculum. All directed instruction and learning tasks were administered to them in their classrooms as intact groups. The
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests were the only timed activities. No other relevant tasks had time constraints. Importantly, all students in the
experimental group were also required to complete the scope and sequence
activities of the curriculum from the textbook Wonders and Winners.
All of the classes who were designated as the control group in the study
continued to use the normally designated curriculum as directed by the scope 17 and sequence curriculum guide for eighth grade reading improvement classes and mandated by the school district.
At the end of the 6-week experimental period, as a posttest, the
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Form 2 was given to all students to assess progress.
Limitations
The two treatment classes were randomly selected by the teachers in the experiment. However, since the experiment was conducted in a public school situation, random selection of the participating students could not be done.
Setting up such a selection process would have been disruptive to the structure of the educational format as it was normally scheduled.
Teacher-Training Section
For this study, the two teachers involved were instructed about its focus and purpose for 2 weeks prior to the inception of the study. An in-depth discussion of the nature of metacognition was conducted to ensure that the teachers grasped the meaning and goal of the concept. Also, lesson strategies were introduced and explained as to why these strategies were selected and how they could best be presented to the students.
Most importantly, attention was focused on the idea of the students understanding these six strategies, acquiring these strategies, and learning to apply these same strategies to classroom and other situations. During the 18
2-week period of teacher-training, all questions and concerns were addressed.
At the end of this period, both teachers seemed to understand and grasp the focus and goals of the study.
Focus
In order to use metacognition to provide an instruction focus, the teacher instructed the reading improvement students to apply various strategies that are useful in reading comprehension, before, during, and after a reading session. The six areas of metacognitive skills that were emphasized were:
(a) determining main idea (stated and implied), (b) sequencing, (c) cloze procedure, (d) predicting outcomes, (e) making inferences, and
(f) summarizing. However, although these are not the only skills involved in
developing metacognitive skills, adequate development of these six skills
helped to build reading comprehension strategies to improve independent
reading.
Likewise, to ensure successful instruction, the teachers emphasized to
the students that techniques differed from strategies. Students were taught
that techniques only became strategies if they had the knowledge of when,
where, and how to use them. For this reason, the reading improvement plan
of instruction not only emphasized the acquisition of metacognitive strategies
but also taught the students what the reading skills were and why they were
important to learn. 19
Procedure
At the start, the term metacognition was explained to both of the teachers involved in the experiment (Appendix A). Further, during the 2 weeks of teacher training, emphasis was devoted to three modes of instruction:
(a) focus, (b) presentation/demonstration, and (c) guided practice-specific feedback.
Focus, by definition, called for the teacher to instruct the learners to
concentrate on the lesson. by causing the students to be attentive to the
lesson, the teacher generated interest in the learning that followed. Next,
teacher presentation/demonstration involved getting information to the
students in some way. The method used was direct instruction. When the
reading lesson was introduced, the purpose for reading was explained, and the
directions were read aloud by the teacher. By doing this, the teacher was
assured that the students understood what they were asked to do, and also, the
teacher modeled the reading process. Likewise, by telling the students
(a) what was to be done, (b) why it helped them to learn, (c) how they would
be able to use the skill independently, and (d) how they would be able to use
the method in a variety of contexts, the students not only were able to learn
the new strategy, but they also could generalize its use to other reading
situations. When the teacher introduced each new reading selection, the
opportunity was provided to discuss, not only how to read the exercise, but
also how to read future similar selections in general. Reading clues, such as 20 the type of comprehension aids that the author provided and types of comprehension aids that the reader could create, were discussed. As the teacher demonstrated how ideas and strategies applied to a variety of reading situations and learning goals, students could begin to transfer the skills to other reading experiences.
Lastly, all instruction was followed by practice with feedback. Feedback was designed to develop the skill that was taught. Much of the practice were planned lessons which were developed specifically for reading improvement classes (Appendix B). The schedule for instruction was as follows: (a) week
1--main idea, (b) week 2--sequencing, (c) week 3--cloze procedure, (d) week
4--predicting outcomes, (e) week 5--making inferences, and (f) week 6-- summarizing.
The instructional procedure required the teacher to devote 2 days a week to direct instruction of metacognitive skills for three 6-week periods (one semester), beginning with the second semester of the eighth grade (January).
In addition to the Gates-MacGinitie Pre- and Posttest results, the data collected were the guided practice lesson segment. A record of all lesson activities was kept to compare the rate of growth shown on each task. An analysis of this growth was done to determine if the goal of developing reading comprehension ability significantly was achieved. 21
Procedure of Analyzing Data
After all of the data were collected and the computations made, the data were then entered into tables for ease of reporting and interpretation.
One graph also was charted.
Reading achievement was measured by the standardized testing instrument, the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, which was administered at the beginning and at the completion of the experimental period. Therefore, two scores were recorded for each student in each group.
The first score recorded the students' standing at the beginning of the experimental period. The second score for the students in the treatment group recorded the growth and development in reading comprehension after the students had received direct instruction of metacognitive strategies. For the control group, the second score recorded their growth and development in reading comprehension after the students' normal course of study. The two sets of test scores are the basis for the raw data on which the analysis was performed.
The statistical treatment used to test the hypothesis presented was in the form of a pretest posttest control group design. This type of research design had the following features: (a) random selection of the sample and assignment of treatment, (b) one experimental group and one control group, (c) taking of pretest by both groups, (d) the experimental group receiving the treatment, and (e) both groups taking the posttest. The statistical procedure used was the 22 t-test analysis. An analysis of variance was also conducted to test for the effectiveness of teacher intervention on student achievement. A complete description of the collection and treatment of data is found in chapter 3. CHAPTER REFERENCE
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Dewey, J. (1910). How we think. Boston: Health.
Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive development inquiry. American Psychologist, _4, 906-911.
Golinkoff, R. M. (1976). A comparison of reading comprehension processes in good and poor comprehenders. Reading Research Quarterly, 4, 623-659.
Huey, E. B. (1968). The psychology and pedagogy of reading. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press. (Original work published in 1908 by MacMillan)
Kavale, K., & Schreiner, R. (1979). The reading processes of above average and average readers: A comparison of the use of reasoning strategies in responding to standardized comprehension measures. Reading Research Quarterly, 1, 102-128.
Palincsar, A. S., & Ransom, K. (1988, April). From the mystery spot to the thoughtful spot: The instruction of metacognitive strategies. The Reading Teacher, pp. 785-788.
23 24
Paris, S. G., & Jacobs, J. E. (1984). The benefits of informed instruction for children's reading awareness and comprehension skills. Child Development._, 2083-2093.
Paris, S. G., & Myers, M. (1981). Comprehension monitoring, memory, and study strategies of good and poor readers. Journal of Reading Behavior, i33, 5-22.
Raphael, T. E., & Pearson, P. D. (1985). Increasing students' awareness of sources of information for answering questions. Review of Educational Research. _, 1-39.
Reynolds, R. E., & Wade, S. E. (1986). Thinking about thinking about thinking: Reflections on metacognition. Harvard Educational Review, _, 307-317.
Ryan, E. B., Ledger, G. W., Short, E. J., & Weed, K. A. (1982). Promoting the use of active comprehension strategies by poor readers. Topics in Learning and Learning Disabilities, 2_, 33-60.
Teifer, R. (1988). Strategic reading: A brief review. Journal of Educational Psychology, 722, 408-422.
Thorndike, E. I. (1917). Reading as reasoning: A study of mistakes in paragraph reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, _, 323-332 (Reprinted in Reading Research Quarterly, 1971, 6., 425-434) CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A review of the related literature, undertaken in order for the researcher to become familiar with other studies concerning metacognition, has revealed the emergence of an awareness of the important role that metacognition plays in children learning to read. For cohesiveness and clarity, the writer has divided the review of the related literature into four parts:
(a) history, nature, and development of metacognition; (b) reading comprehension, and metacognition; (c) research in strategy training; and
(d) metacognition and its implications for instruction.
History, Nature, and Development of Metacognition
Metacognition is a relatively new label for a body of theory and research
that addresses learners' knowledge and use of their own cognitive resources
(Garner, 1987). In 1971 John Flavell defined the term metacognition as
knowledge and cognition about cognitive objects, that is, about anything
cognitive.
However, it is clear that strategic reading activities were recognized well
before the emergence of the term metacognition. Since the turn of the
century, educational psychologists (e.g. Dewey, 1910; Huey, 1908/1968;
25 26
Thorndike, 1917) were quite aware that studying and reading involve the type of activities now called metacognition. According to Dewey (1910), learning was learning to think, and only when thinking is constantly employed, is the way prepared for higher types of thinking.
Another early advocate of metacognitive processes of reading was
Thorndike (1917):
Understanding a paragraph is like solving a math problem. It consists of selecting the right elements of the situation and putting them together in the right relations and also with the right amount of weight or influence or force for each. The mind is assailed as it were by every word in the paragraph. It must select, repress, soften, emphasize, correlate and organize, all unde'r the influence of the right mental set or purpose or demand. (p. 329)
Thus, there has been considerable historical agreement that reading and
learning from texts involve metacognitive skills. Baldwin in 1909 (cited in
Myers & Paris, 1978) introduced the reading skills questionnaire in which
12- to 18-year-olds were asked to describe their study habits. Later, Thorndike
(1917) invented the error-detection paradigm asking sixth graders to read texts
and then answer questions on what they had read. He found that sixth graders
were surprisingly passive readers who, as they read, did not appear to
spontaneously monitor their understanding. Although they often said they
understood, it was obvious they did not. Baldwin and Thorndike were clearly
able to describe these activities without once resorting to the term
metacognition (Brown, 1987). 27
Interestingly, Piaget in 1979 (cited in Brown, 1987) referred to a process similar to what is now labeled metacognition. His process was called reflected
abstraction, which he described as the human ability to step back and consider
one's own cognitive operations as objects of thought. The concept of knowing
about knowing also had a history dating back to Plato and Aristotle. As
Spearman (cited in Brown, 1987) pointed out:
Such a cognizing of cognition itself was already announced by Plato. Aristotle likewise posited a separate power whereby, over and above actually seeing and hearing, the psyche becomes aware of doing so.... Much later, special stress was put on this power of "reflection," as it was now called by Locke. (p. 70)
In the later part of his career, the transformational period, Piaget
became increasingly interested in mechanisms of learning and the influence of
both conscious and unconscious regulation of concepts. In brief, Piaget (cited
in Isaacs, 1961) directed attention to the fact that self-regulation of learning is
active and autonomous.
In the metacognitive domain, autonomous regulation is an inherent part
of any knowing act. However small the learner and however simple the action
(Bruner, 1973; Koslowski & Bruner, 1972), learners continually regulate their
performance by fine-tuning their actions. Active regulation is similar to trial
and error, where the learner is engaged in constructing and testing
theories-in-action (Karmiloff-Smith & Inbelder, 1975). Further, conscious
regulation is the mental forming of hypotheses that are capable of being tested
through mental evidence and examples (Brown, 1987). 28
Central to the nature of metacognition is the question of exactly what knowledge metacognition involves. Apparently, researchers are uncertain exactly which cognitive and self-regulatory activities could be considered as a part of metacognition.
Between the years of 1978 to 1981, Flavell attempted to classify the
domain of metacognition into two areas, metacognitive knowledge and
metacognitive experience. Metacognitive knowledge refers to the part of one's
acquired knowledge that has to do with cognitive (or psychological) matters.
On the other hand, metacognitive experience is conceived as simply that
portion of the total knowledge base that pertains to the content area of the
mind (Flavell, 1985).
Furthermore, Flavell recognized many questions, problems, and issues
concerning metacognition. One specific question concerns the types of
metacognitive acquisitions that develop and the foundation of their beginnings.
First, what aspects of metacognition are inherent or are acquired very early in
the course of childhood, later adolescence or even during the adult years?
Interestingly, some aspects of that metacognition, just like some aspects of
general cognition, are probably present almost from the beginning. Next,
Flavell recognized that the issue of the acquisition, use, and usefulness of some
types of metacognition can be impeded by information processing limitations
or by a lack of relevant experience. For example, perhaps some types of
metacognition are unlikely to occur in a given cognitive domain until some 29
amount of expertise or knowledge in that domain is acquired. This acquisition could be through learning experiences (Flavell, 1985).
Also, Flavell addressed concerns about how various types of metacognition might develop. He addressed the development of possible individual or cultural differences in metacognition. There may be a number of experiences that might assist metacognitive experiences. Some of them may consist of direct practice in metacognitive activity. Metacognition, likely,
improves with practice. In addition, other kinds of experiences, although not
in themselves metacognitive activities, may simply stimulate interest as a means
of investigation. Therefore, one way to become better at metacognition is to
practice it; another way may be to practice other things which are not
metacognitive themselves but which indirectly promote metacognitive activity
(Flavell, 1985).
One class of the experiences that might promote metacognition may be
supplied by parents (Wertsch, 1978). In fact, parents may unintentionally
model metacognitive activity for their young children. They deliberately, but
sub-consciously, may demonstrate and teach it by helping the child to regulate
and monitor his or her actions. Similarly, teachers in schools sometimes may
model, as well as teach, and encourage metacognitive activity (Flavell, 1987). 30
Reading Comprehension and Metacognition
Reading comprehension appears to be less well understood than other been aspects of reading behavior. Although considerable literature has nature provided on reading comprehension over the past 75 years, the complex of reading comprehension has created difficulties in understanding the covert nature of the processes. Because reading comprehension processes are not directly observable, research efforts have typically been post hoc; that is, these subjects are directed to read passages and then answer questions about to passages. From the obtained responses, inferences are drawn with respect the processes that the subject might have used. Such product-centered research remains speculative, however, because it is once removed from the actual act of reading comprehension (Kavale & Schreiner, 1979).
Despite the recently renewed interest in reading comprehension, there remains a need for clarification of the basic processes involved in obtaining meaning from printed discourse. Information about such processes is particularly important beyond the primary grades when there is increased
emphasis upon understanding what is read. By one directly investigating how
good and poor readers process print for meaning, insight may be gained into
the nature of how reading comprehension may be achieved. Ultimately, such
insight may lead to improved instructional procedures.
Some studies have demonstrated a direct relationship between
comprehension and metacognition by showing that metacognitive status varies 31
with a student's reading level. Cross and Paris (1988) compared good and poor readers matched for age, sex, and arithmetic achievement and found that good readers knew more about reading strategies, detected errors more often while reading, and had better recall of text information. Likewise, the role of metacognition also has been shown to improve reading comprehension by increasing children's awareness and use of strategies. Trained students were better than untrained students at evaluating types of questions and giving adequate answers. Thus, both awareness and comprehension improved with metacognitive training according to Cross and Paris. When readers are aware of their thinking as they read, and they use that awareness to control what they are doing, they are engaging in metacognition.
Flavell, Speer, Green, and August's (1981) research (cited by Garner, 1987) indicates that older and/or better readers are more proficient at monitoring comprehension. The fact emerges from recent research that knowing about knowing develops with age and experience. As Flavell (1985) noted, like other knowledge, metacoguitive knowledge is taken from years of experience, and it is the domain of thinking. Just as young children are novices in many other domains, they are novices in the area of thinking too (Brown & DeLoach, 1978). Children are particularly inexperienced in the deliberate learning situations that occur regularly in school. It is in these situations that learners are asked to understand cognitive activity and make it an object of study (Brown, 1987; Tunmer, Nesdale, & Pratt, 1983). 32
Another fact apparent in research is that both children and adults often fail to monitor their cognitions. Faulty cognitive monitoring is reflected in listening as well as reading. Readers fail to note whether or not they are comprehending messages. It is displayed when children listen to instructions and fail to carry them out properly (Markham, 1977). Apparently, they are not aware of what it is that they are being asked to perform. Likewise, cognitive failure occurs in reading when children do not understand what they are reading and how it relates to the assigned task (August, Flavell, & Clift, 1984). Research has shown that this is true even when adults read text (Glenberg, Wilkinson, & Epstein, 1982). This defect occurs more often among younger listeners than among older listeners, and more among less skilled
readers than among skilled readers. Nonetheless, it occurs quite frequently among listeners and readers of all ages and language proficiency levels (Garner & Alexander, 1989).
Baker's study (cited in Garner & Alexander, 1989) demonstrated that children, particularly younger and poorer readers, often rely on a single criterion for textual understanding--understanding of individual words. These children are unlikely to question information that seems inconsistent with either their own experiences or other parts of text as long as the words make sense to them.
Typically, during the early stages of formal reading instruction, the reading task is largely symbol decoding and bringing meaning to the printed 33
page. This has frequently been referred to as the learning to read state. The materials young readers are exposed to are actually structured in ways that promote immediate understanding. The texts are highly stereotypical stories filled with actions, objects, and characters with which the average child should be familiar. Pictures may even detail the sequence of events introduced in the text, making comprehension that much more inevitable. Readers are seldom asked to retain the materials they read for information value. Instead, these kinds of materials serve as familiar practice to improve growing reading skills (Cook & Mayer,- 1983).
At some point, there is a large, but subtle, shift in the reading process. According to Chall in 1979 (cited in Cook & Mayer, 1983), readers begin to read to gain new knowledge. In effect, they read to learn. New and unfamiliar concepts are introduced at this stage. The implication is that the materials read are now to be retained for informational value, as evidenced by the use of tests as measures of retention. The readers build upon previously learned concepts and knowledge.
Subsequently, reading comprehension involves far more than decoding each word. Instead of decoding, proficient readers use existing content knowledge to interpret the meaning of each sentence encountered. They decide its relevance, and then add more information if it is necessary to do so. Readers need to be able to acquire relevant content knowledge and assess when they lack the skill to do so (Cook & Mayer, 1983). 34
It has been recognized that in order to proficiently comprehend text,
readers need to bring three kinds of knowledge to the reading situation. First, there is content knowledge, which is prior knowledge and allows readers to construct and integrate passage information. Next, there is structural knowledge, which organizes or arranges text elements. Finally, there is process knowledge, which is the mental operation applied to the incoming information to prepare it for storage in memory (Cook & Mayer, 1983). It is at this stage when children begin to reflect on these mental terms and concepts that they are demonstrating the beginnings of metacognition.
Research in Strategy Training
Research demonstrates that cognitive strategies (activities involved to make cognitive progress) and metacognitive strategies (activities invoked to monitor cognitive progress) are sometimes acquired without direct instruction. Sometimes they are acquired only with extensive instruction (Garner, 1987). To complicate matters, however, why some strategies emerge without instruction, whereas other extensively taught strategies are scarcely maintained when instruction ceases, may be variability in learner motivation. Further, task completion is sometimes valued more than effective performance in some classroom activities (Garner, 1987, p. 146). Also, students might fail to invoke a strategy because they do not think that the strategy will make any difference in performance. Students expect not to be able to produce desired outcomes. 35
When this occurs, students are unwilling to initiate or persist at problem-solving behaviors (Bandura, 1977). In fact, their perception of their ability to perform a task may be a more critical influence on that behavior than task incentives or actual personal skill (Brown, Brandsford, Ferrara, & Campion, 1983; Corno & Mandinach, 1983; Garner & Alexander, 1989). Without high self-esteem, students are unlikely to invoke complex cognitive
and metacognitive routines to improve learning (Garner & Alexander, 1989, p. 147).
Likewise, as Markham (1977) pointed out, readers at times may fail to even understand what they are reading. Prior to a deliberate analysis, the readers also may fail to realize that understanding has not taken place. An implication of this view is that when a passive approach to comprehension is taken, there may be an unawareness of the failure to understand the information. The greater the disparity between the amount of information processing required, and the amount of information actually executed, the more subjects will be misled into thinking they have comprehended material they have in fact failed to comprehend.
Another study indicated that comprehension problems among unsuccessful readers with reasonably adequate decoding skills are often related to their failure to participate actively and strategically while engaged in the reading process (Ryan, Ledger, Short, & Weed, 1982). It is important to ask why some children are good readers and some are poor readers in spite of 36
both groups having received the same instructional experience. In contrast to Brown's (1987) suggestion that a lack of school experience accounts for missing information, Garner and Kraus (1982) suggest that some in-school experiences may actually produce the lack of knowledge problems. They point out that instruction strongly affects the students' perception of the reading process. It was found, also, that primary-grade teachers and basal readers emphasize oral reading and decoding, occasionally at the expense of comprehension. They further suggest that good readers experience the magic of reading for meaning and alter their ideas of reading. On the other hand, poor readers, who have not experienced such magic, and who do not have a clear sense of what their efforts are supposed to produce (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1983), try harder to achieve in the classroom in an effort to improve their reading performance. It also may be the case as Allington (1983) suggests, that good and poor readers are treated differently in instruction. The difference is done in ways that support development of appropriate reading concepts for the skilled readers and inhibit that development for the less skilled readers. Consequently, the evidence cited agrees that young children and poor readers have important knowledge gaps and misconceptions about critical cognitive activities. This information should raise the concern that reading comprehension, based as it is on the metacognitive knowledge one possesses, might be impaired for these learners as well. 37
Strategic reading is a characteristic of expert readers because it is an essential part of children's cognitive development and is necessary for success in school. There are six crucial reasons why strategic reading is fundamental to the development and education of children. First, strategies allow readers to organize and evaluate information taken from text. Second, the learning and using of reading strategies coincides and overlaps with the development during childhood and numerous cognitive strategies that enhance learning. Third, strategies are controllable by readers. They are personal cognitive tools that can be used selectively and flexibly. Fourth, strategic reading reflects metacognition and motivation because readers need to have both the knowledge and disposition to use strategies. Fifth, strategies that foster reading and thinking can be taught directly by teachers. Sixth, strategic reading can enhance learning throughout the curriculum (Paris, Wasik, & Turner, in press).
For clarification, it is important to make a distinction between skills and strategies in reading. Skills are applied to text unconsciously for many reasons. These reasons include either repeated practice, compliance with directions, luck, and or naive use. In contrast, strategies are actions selected deliberately to achieve particular goals. An emerging skill can become a strategy when it is used intentionally. Likewise, a strategy can "go underground" and become a skill (Paris, Lipson, & Wixon, 1983). 38
Further, Paris et al. (1983) emphasized that strategic readers are not characterized by the volume of tactics that they use but rather by the selection of appropriate strategies that fit the particular text, purpose, and occasion. Strategic reading includes many tactics that can be applied while reading.
These tactics enhance text information and help readers elaborate on the ideas suggested. The readers' use of strategies helps to make the information read more personally relevant.
Examples of three important metacognitive strategies illustrate how these tactics can enhance and improve reading comprehension. First, identifying main ideas has been described as the essence of reading comprehension (Johnston & Afflerbach, 1985; Paris, Wasik, & van der Westhuizen, 1988). Finding the main idea requires readers to (a) understand
what has been read, (b) make judgments about the importance of information, and (c) consolidate information. But young readers have difficulty recognizing, recalling, or constructing the central theme or main idea from prose passages (Baumann, 1984; Johnston & Afflerbach, 1985; Paris et al., 1988; Smiley & Brown, 1979; Taylor & Williams, 1983). Even 12- to 13-year-old students do not easily distinguish relevant from irrelevant information in text; nor are they able to generate topic sentences about paragraphs (Johnston & Afflerbach, 1985).
Several instructional strategies, however, have demonstrated that students can be taught to improve main idea comprehension. Baumann (1984) 39
used direct explanation to teach students five steps to construct main ideas:
(a) introducing ideas, (b) examples, (c) direct instruction, (d) teacher-directed application, and (e) independent practice. In this study, it was found that sixth
graders who were taught these steps were more skillful at comprehending explicit and implicit main ideas in passages than students who received traditional basal lessons.
A second category of strategies, making inferences, helps readers to construct meaning. Inferential comprehension is sometimes automatic, but young children and beginning readers may benefit from strategies that promote making inferences. Considerable research has shown that children have more difficulty answering inferential questions as opposed to literal comprehension
questions (Hansen & Pearson, 1983; Raphael & Pearson, 1985). In addition, it appears that very little instructional time is spent teaching inferential comprehension skills in the classroom (Hare & Pulliam, 1979). With this idea in mind, Hansen and Pearson (1983) trained good and poor fourth-grade readers (a) to be aware of the importance of making inferences, (b) to utilize prior knowledge, and (c) to ask inferential questions. Poor readers benefitted from the training, but the good readers did not.
The third example of an instrumental metacognitive strategy is summarizing text information. This is a strategy that can only be applied after the entire text has been processed. Researchers have documented clear developmental trends in readers learning to summarize text. In general, older 40
and more proficient readers summarize text better than younger and less skilled readers. Brown and Day in 1983 evaluated fifth, seventh, tenth graders, and college students' summarizing skills. Fifth- and seventh-grade students deleted irrelevant information and reported ideas verbatim, whereas high school and college students collapsed and combined information across paragraphs and provided summaries in the own words. Younger students' summaries usually conformed to the sequence of the text. Older students more frequently placed the text in order of topic or idea units. Despite the apparent lack of sophistication shown by many young students, Brown, Day, and Jones (1983) found that students could be trained to follow the rules that older and more skilled summarizers use. Hare and Brochardt's (1984) research findings indicated that carefully delineated instruction in summarization skills positively influenced students' use of summarization rules and the quality of their summarization products.
It has been found that these critical reading strategies are seldom used by beginning or unskilled readers who may be unaware of how to use them or unconvinced of their importance. Nonetheless, the aim of instruction should be to not only teach these skills, but rather to enhance an understanding of the skills. In Palincsar and Brown's (1984) study, it was suggested that each of these separate strategies be used in the context of actual reading and taught in response to a concrete problem of text comprehension. 41
The problem seems to be that young children and less skilled readers
have difficulty monitoring comprehension partly due to their lack of awareness
about appropriate standards for evaluating their own comprehension.
However, research does indicate that there are certain interventions that can
promote reading awareness and comprehension monitoring (Paris et al., in
press, p. 23).
Because students have many misconceptions about the nature of reading
and an incomplete awareness of strategies for monitoring and regulating
comprehension, many researchers have tried to advocate better metacognition
and subsequently improve reading comprehension through direct instruction.
Baker and Brown (1984) stated that, in effect, an essential aim of teaching intervention strategies is to make the reader aware of the active nature of reading and the importance of employing problem-solving and trouble-shooting routines to enhance understanding.
If the reader can be made aware of (1) basic strategies for reading and remembering; (2) simple rules of text construction; (3) differing demands of a variety of tests to which background knowledge may be put; and (4) the importance of attempting to use any background knowledge that is available, the reader cannot help but become a more effective reader. Such self-awareness is a prerequisite for self-regulation, the ability to monitor and check one's own cognitive activity while reading. (Baker & Brown, 1984, p. 376)
From the teaching perspective, there have been a variety of instructional approaches designed to enhance students' metacognition (Paris et al., 1988).
Basically, the approaches can be grouped into interventions that teach and 42
measure metacognition directly and instruction that promotes metacognition
indirectly by teaching specific strategies. For the purposes of this study,
research that involved teaching specific strategies was highlighted.
One effective reading comprehension methodology, being investigated
and attempted in classroom instruction, utilizes the direct instructional model
to teach reading strategies that will lead to improved metacognition. Baumann
(cited in Dermody, 1988) stated that a direct instructional model is
implemented "when teachers are actively, intensively and systematically
involved with instruction in reading comprehension" (p. 2). Further, research
has shown that there is much that teachers can do to foster the development of
effective learning strategies and to help students who may be less skilled in
their use of these strategies (Weinstein, 1987).
In 1987 studies, Duffy, Roehler, and their colleagues trained teachers to
provide more detailed explanations of reading strategies that were taught as a
part of students' basal reading instruction. In one segment, fifth-grade
teachers were taught to explain fully their basal skills as text-processing
strategies and were told how to provide declarative, procedural, and
conditional knowledge to their students. After 6 months, the researchers
found that when teachers provided more detailed explanations about reading strategies to students, the latter's metacognition about their reading lessons
increased (Duffy, et al. 1987). 43
In a follow-up study, Duffy et al. (1987) taught third-grade teachers to
provide more detailed explanations of reading strategies to their low readers.
Again, the training helped teachers to describe strategies more precisely so
that students could see the value and importance of using them. Following the
intervention, third graders increased their understanding of strategies as well
as their skills for word study and oral reading. The studies by both Duffy et al.
and Paris et al. (in press) improved children's metacognition and strategic
reading, but did not alter their standardized reading scores. Although this
finding appears to minimize the effects of the instruction, it is possible that
(a) longer or more concentrated intervention could alter standardized test
performance or (b) standardized test may not assess strategic reading that was
the focus of the interventions (Paris et al., in press).
Winograd and Hare (1988) described five critical elements of direct
explanation. First, instruction must describe strategies so that they are sensible
and meaningful to students. Second, students need to understand why the
strategy should be learned and the potential benefits of using it. Third,
teachers should explain how to use strategies step-by-step. Fourth, students
need to understand the circumstances under which strategies should be
employed and the contexts in which they are appropriate. Fifth, good instruction will teach students to evaluate their use of strategies so that they can monitor and improve their own strategic reading. By following these five 44 steps, instruction enhances awareness of strategic reading so that students can plan, evaluate, and regulate their own thinking (Paris et al., in press).
Metacognition and its Implications for Instruction
Metacognition can provide an instructional focus on cognitive strategies that can be used to promote academic learning. As students become aware of their own thinking processes, they are better able to assess the parameters of reading tasks and the different purposes for which they read. Using this knowledge can guide their selection of strategies and promote flexibility in the use of tactics to aid comprehension and retention (Weinstein, 1987).
Some of the more strategic skills that engage metacognition and seem to enhance reading comprehension are as follows: (a) determining main idea
(stated and implied); (b) sequencing; (c) understanding cloze procedure;
(d) predicting outcomes; (e) making inferences; and (f) skimming, scanning, and summarizing.
One of the important contributions recent metacognitive research has made to the understanding of reading is the vivid descriptions of ways in which younger and less successful readers differ from older and more proficient readers. Research purports that less effective readers have misconceptions about the reading process, fail to monitor their comprehension, and under-utilize sophisticated cognitive and metacognitive strategies to make and monitor reading progress. Also, factors which distinguish effective readers 45
from ineffective readers are metacognitive knowledge, cognitive monitoring,
and strategy use (Garner, 1987, p. 127). Real changes, however, in the field of
reading education have begun as a new research agenda in reading is based on
reforming educational practices (Anderson & Armbruster, 1984).
Statistics indicate that more than 90% of America's school children use
basal readers as the primary source of reading material. Although many
children become successful readers with these programs, criticisms of basal
reading series are becoming more frequent (Goodman, Shannon, Freeman, &
Murphy, 1988). Shannon (1987) argues that commercial materials "deskill"
teachers and limit meaningful interactions with text by both teachers and
students. Commercial materials need to be modified to stress individual
strategies and self-control and children's reading.
Integrating strategic reading with the rest of the curriculum has been
also advocated. As Winograd and Greenless (1986) noted, reading cannot be taught as a set of decontextualized and isolated skills. Strategic reading is a companion to strategic writing, strategic listening, and strategic speaking. In using strategies, readers mesh metacognition and motivation as they are interwoven in the same developmental and educational experiences.
Moreover, instructional research during the 1980s has presented a variety of methods that promote teaching effectiveness. One important characteristic method is the manner in which teachers provide explanations in instruction (Paris et al., in press). Research by Duffy et al. (1987) has 46 demonstrated that teachers can actually be taught to provide better explanations of the cognitive and motivational strategies that students must learn to use. Another feature of effective instruction is an emphasis on strategies for constructing meaning from text. Good teachers not only model and demonstrate strategies used by expert readers, they also provide explanations of these strategies and provide practice using these strategies. On the other hand, ineffective instruction has focused on isolated skills and repeated practice on work sheets. Effective instruction orients students to the task of constructing meaning from text and provides them with a variety of tactics to use before, during, and after reading (Paris et al., in press).
Armbruster and Anderson (1981) proposed teaching about four variables affecting the act of studying: (a) the study task, (b) materials, (c) the student's characteristics, and (d) strategies. Other studies have focused on ways of increasing student involvement in the reading process. Jenkins,
Heliotis, Haynes, and Beck (cited in Teifer, 1988), found superior performance of a task that required active student response (general restatements of text as opposed to individual and group questioning). Smith and Dauer (1984) and
Haggard (1985) suggested the use of readers making notes in a margin as a way of increasing active monitoring. In addition, many attempts to increase involvement have focused on questioning. For example, Dreher and Gambrell
(cited in Teifer, 1988) suggested teaching children to use a self-questioning strategy. 47
Implications of the Dewitz, Carr, and Patberg (1987) study revealed that
comprehension skills can be taught, transferred to unfamiliar text, and applied
by the students even after instruction ceases. The success of the training
appeared to have been the result of well-modeled strategies that eventually
came under the control of the reader. The research showed that when the
instruction extended over several weeks and emphasized the students'
self-monitoring of the strategies, the effects were lasting and the students
seemed to understand the process necessary to achieve correct answers to
comprehension questions. These findings and the instructional procedures used appear to have significance for educators building a curriculum in reading
comprehension.
On the other hand, one reason that strategy training in curriculum has often been unsuccessful is that it has not included metacognitive knowledge about the usage of the strategy, as well as about when and where to use it
(Garner & Alexander, 1989). Only by including these factors in strategy instruction can skills be maintained and transferred to new learning situations.
Importantly, a strategy can be considered effective only when it has a strong positive effect on learning. Developing metacognitive awareness is essential to effective strategy instruction. Only by knowing what to study, how best to study it, and whether it has been learned well will students be effective and proficient learners (Wade & Reynolds, 1989). 48
Another research study (Miller, 1987) supported previous works which
suggest that self-instructional strategy training can improve comprehension
monitoring in skilled readers. This work also pointed to possible factors which
modify the success of this training approach with less skilled readers. Based
on the results of this study, the author emphasized further that research is
needed to determine how separate components of training influence
performance and interact with children's reading proficiency levels. The
researcher recommended that improvements in monitoring reading performance are accompanied by concomitant improvements in general
reading comprehension and recall.
Bandura (1977) emphasized the importance of the learners' use of self-regulation strategies. The view of this research stressed that strategy applications provide learners with valuable self-concept knowledge. This knowledge, in turn, is assumed to help determine necessary strategy selections and enactments; such knowledge is used in forming judgments and in selecting courses of action to aid comprehension.
Paris, Cross, and Lipson (1984) used an approach called Informed
Strategies for Learning which stressed children's awareness and use of effective reading strategies. They argued that direct instruction and increased awareness lead to better strategy use.
Significant inroads have been made in the investigation of self-regulated learning strategies that students use to improve their academic achievement. 49
In contrast to the laboratory training studies that have involved the research on
self-regulated learning to date, Zimmerman's study (1989) relied on interviews
as opposed to written work. They utilized high school students who expressed
self-reported strategies employed in a variety of common learning contexts.
They found evidence of students' use of 14 types of self-regulated learning strategies that were very similar to strategies that had been studied in laboratory research. According to the study, students' reported use of these strategies was found to be highly correlated with their academic achievement and with teachers' ratings of their degree of self-regulation in class.
It is evident from the research that there is optimism among educational practitioners that metacognitive strategies can be taught to students who do not employ them automatically (Garner, 1987, p. 125). However, one pattern that emerges is that the type of instruction necessary to effect meaningful change in reading performance varies with the (a) ability and starting resources of the learner, (b) the complexity of the target activities, and (c) the goals of the instruction. Although no single factor is sufficient, each factor leads to worthwhile outcomes. By incorporating all three areas, the outcome would be expected to yield impressive results (Garner, 1987).
Summary
Chapter 2 reviewed the literature on metacognition as it related to this study. The current view of learners as active participants in the learning 50
situation mandates that educators reconsider many of the assumptions of
presently used instructional theories. Schools should be the "hotbeds" of
metacognitive development since much self-conscious learning is an intricate
and viable part of their make-up. In school, children must have repeated
opportunities to monitor and regulate their cognition. They should be exposed
to more metacognitive experiences and have innumerable opportunities to
acquire task and strategy metacognitive knowledge (Weinert & Kluwe, 1987,
p. 12).
Reading research and instruction are changing dramatically. Previous
models of reading skills are being replaced by models that emphasize
cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and affective dimensions of reading.
Present and future goals of education systems in America emphasize that
school children need to learn to read with enjoyment and success. The
impetus for change has been provided by research programs that show
successful interventions can promote strategic reading in the classroom. A variety of methods which include modeling, direct explanation, cognitive
coaching, peer tutoring, and cooperative learning have been used to stimulate
children's knowledge about reading and their motivation to regulate their own learning. Conclusively, the success of these initial projects encourage and
attests to the workability of reading instruction that combines cognitive and motivational approaches (Paris et al., in press). 51
Finally, research seems to imply that if metacognitive strategies are to be mastered by less skilled readers, then it is critical that the students receive guided practice, in addition to direct instruction, in the use of reading comprehension strategies. The purpose of metacognitive instruction in this study was conducted to increase the students' awareness of themselves as learners and place them in control of their own learning activity. Although the outcomes of strategy instruction are different for various children, this study attempted to show that strategies do equip all students, including poor readers, so that they can become more skillful participants in the reading process. CHAPTER REFERENCE
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METHODS AND PROCEDURES
The purposes of this study were to determine the level of growth in
reading comprehension by reading improvement students when metacognitive
skills are intensively taught and to determine whether this treatment appears to be effective in the teaching of reading comprehension. These purposes were
evaluated by administering the comprehension section of the Gates-MacGinitie
Reading Tests Survey E, Forms 1 and 2, a standardized measure of reading skills developed by Authur I. Gates and Walter H. MacGinitie (MacGinitie,
Kanons, Kowalski, MacGinitie, & MacKay, 1978). The classes involved in the study were established as both experimental and control groups. It was assumed that the groups were equivalent on the variables of age, sex, and previous grade level scores.
Specifically, in this study, the students' chronological ages ranged from
13 years 8 months to about 15 years. While there tended to be more males than females in the reading improvement classes, the arrangement of classes was done by guidance counselors at the beginning of the school year on the basis of student performance on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. As a whole, most reading improvement classes usually contain more males than females at
59 60
the start of the school year. However, as the year progresses, because of
discipline expulsions, attrition, relocation, and various other factors, the
number of students in these classes is greatly reduced. These factors do seem
to impact on male students far more than female students.
Placement in the reading improvement classes is based on grade level
scores achieved on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Students scoring at or below
the 39th percentile are designated as reading improvement students. These
guidelines are mandated by the Texas Education Agency statewide.
Four of the 10 reading improvement classes were randomly selected to
participate as the experimental classes in the study. The remaining six classes
were designated as the control group. The students were members of a large
urban school in the Dallas Metropolitan area. While none of the subjects
volunteered to participate in the study, the experimental student groups were
read a letter describing the nature of the study. Therefore, inclusion in the
reading improvement classes of the two teachers selected dictated the students'
participation in the study. Folders were kept for each student, and the
teachers were continually observed.
Time Frame
The study was designed to proceed over three 6-week periods. The time frame encompassed the second semester of the school term. The lesson instructions were conducted 2 days of each week of the 6-week periods. 61
Intervening school activities did interfere with some of the instructional
periods, and the teachers had the freedom to rearrange or change the
instructional days. For example, when there were assemblies, system-wide
testing or other mandated classroom activities, some of the metacognitive
instruction for the experimental groups was condensed or rearranged.
However, condensing of the instructional period was minimal and was
insignificant in nature.
Teacher Selection
All instruction in the study was conducted by two eighth grade reading
improvement teachers selected to participate in the study. Although the
targeted school had three eighth-grade sections in the reading improvement
program, only two teachers were selected to participate. Both of these
teachers had advanced training in teaching remedial reading. In addition, both
teachers have taught reading improvement at the targeted school for the last 5 years. Hence, these two instructors were selected on the basis of their perceived competence, interest, and ability to teach less skilled reading students. Prior to the study, these teachers received three 2-hour sessions of training. During these training periods, emphasis was placed on the teachers understanding the concept of metacognition. Also, the goal of the teacher-training sessions was to explain the metacognitive strategies and how to teach them in a direct instructional model (Baumann, 1984). Repeatedly, 62
the essential premise of instruction to the teachers was emphasized as their
providing thorough explanations of a learning procedure which (a) explained
the purpose, (b) modeled its use, (c) provided practice and feedback for the
students, and (d) encouraged the transfer of the newly learned strategy to
independent situations.
Strategy Selection
Generally, students must learn to use a wide variety of strategies
independently in the classroom. Although there are a variety of strategies that
aid comprehension, there are certain characteristics that they all share. First,
strategies must be deliberately used and performed to achieve specific goals.
Next, they are selectively and flexibly applied to the given situation. Finally,
strategies must involve automaticity, and the user must be able to transfer
them to a variety of independent reading tasks. An important component of
teaching strategies involved students' conditional knowledge, or knowing when
and why strategies are effective. In effect, this aspect of strategy instruction
emphasized that students learn to spontaneously transfer strategies in their
independent reading.
For this reason, six strategies were selected for instruction to the
experimental group. From the vast number of metacognitive strategies
available, these six areas were thought to be essential to assist less skilled readers to develop their independent reading comprehension skills. Those 63
selected were main idea, sequencing, cloze procedure, predicting outcomes,
making inferences, and summarizing.
To begin with, the main idea was not only one of the most important of
all major skills, but one that authorities have recognized that must be
developed from the earliest stages of the reading process. It involved knowing
what the whole selection was about. To facilitate this, the instruction utilized
only stated main idea. Students were guided to understand that a stated main
idea was the main point that the author wanted to make about a topic. All
main idea selections used were designed so that they were supported by
specific details which were facts, examples, or reasons.
Next, sequence was about time. Instruction in this strategy involved
students knowing that sequences is 1-2-3 order. If several things happened in
a story, they happened in a sequence. As readers, a certain sequence must be
followed to understand the main idea. It was stressed that readers must be
able to identify the details and place these details in their proper order in
order to make sense of the reading selection.
Third, cloze procedure was another instructional strategy taught in this study. The cloze procedure was developed by Wilson Taylor in 1953 and is based upon the psychological theory of closure. This theory stated that a person wants to complete any pattern which is not complete. In the case of the cloze procedure, the pattern was a passage from which every "nth" word 64
was omitted. The students were instructed that the purpose of this procedure
in this study was to improve their metacognitive ability in context clue usage.
Fourth, predicting outcomes was used in this study to stimulate students'
creative thinking. The lessons were designed to teach students to predict
outcomes of story events by combining information given by an author with
their own knowledge of how events usually happen and how characters usually
act.
Fifth, the inference strategy was used to extend students' critical reading
skills. Students were taught that an inference was an educated guess about
something based on facts and was to be carefully considered. For this reason, students were instructed to examine the facts, look at them as a whole, and
determine their meaning. Emphasis was placed on the idea that while inferences can not be verified like facts, readers must pull together the facts and draw a conclusion from them based on the data provided.
Finally, the sixth strategy of summarizing was designed to instruct students how to write key points of a selection in an exact and concise, connected form. The key approach in summarizing a selection was that readers made a short statement about what happened by giving only important information, such as the main characters, the conflict, and the solution of the conflict. 65
Instructional Materials
The lessons chosen for the experimental group in the study were
selected because they were directly related to the nature of the six
metacognitive strategies. These lessons offered short but frequent practice in
these areas.
First, the main idea strategy, what the whole selection is about, was
taught using the Barnell-Loft Specific Skill Series (Boning, 1973). Levels E
and F were used; they approximate reading levels for the fifth and sixth
grades. These levels were chosen to accommodate the reading abilities that
were reflected in the classes. In these exercises, the students were taught to
use details--the small facts that support the main idea--to help grasp the
central thought of a short paragraph.
Second, as stated, the sequencing strategy was designed to teach
students about time order, or the order in which things happen. For these
lessons, the Steck-Vaughn Comprehension Skills Sequence Series was used
(Townsend, Beech, & McCarthy, 1987). The purpose of these lessons was to
teach students to seek time-words and to utilize them effectively in sequencing the events read about.
Next, cloze procedure exercises required the students to identify the exact words that had been deleted. In identifying the correct deletions, the pupils must relate the whole to the part and the part to the whole. The pupils relied on their insight into the interrelationship of ideas and were required to 66
pay more attention to the message of the passage as conveyed by the
remaining cue words. These exercises were taken from Cloze Connections by
Richard A. Boning (1980) of Barnell-Loft, Ltd. Levels E and F.
Fourth, the goal of teaching prediction of outcomes was to instruct the
students to estimate what could logically come next in a selection. Students
were taught to combine story information with their own knowledge of how
events usually happen and how characters usually act. The activities for these
lessons were taken from three sources: Project Achievement Level D (Spache
& Spache, 1984), the Scribner Reading Series, Touch the Sky (Cassidy,
Roettger, & Wixson, 1987), and Globe Reading Comprehension Program
(Smith, 1989).
Fifth, to teach making inferences, activities were taken from the Specific
Skill/Barnell-Loft Series, Identifying Inferences, Levels C and D (Wittenberg,
1986). The aim of these lessons was to teach students to make educated
guesses about something based on facts. Students were directed to arrive at a
probable conclusion from a limited amount of information. These activities required the readers to read between the lines. They were taught to utilize previously acquired knowledge and past experiences in order to fully comprehend the message of the text. An intricate feature of the activity was that the students had to designate given sentences as either true, false, or inference. These options helped to focus the students' answer choices. 67
Finally, the lessons for the sixth metacognitive strategy of summarizing
was taken from the Scribner Reading Series, Touch the Sky (Cassidy et al.,
1987), and also the Globe ReadingComprehension Programs (Smith, 1989).
Essentially, these materials were selected because these texts were readily
available but also different from the students' daily textbook being used. The
focus of this strategy was to have the students write the key points in a concise
and succinct, connected form. They were directed to summarize a story by
making a short statement about what happened by giving only important
information such as the main characters, the conflict, and the solution to the
conflict.
The data from these six activities are shown in chapter 4, Tables 15, 16,
17, and 18.
Test Materials
The testing instruments used for data gathering for this study consisted of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E (MacGinitie et al., 1978).
Form 1 was used as the pretest, and Form 2 was used as the posttest. The comprehension subtest was the only section of the test that was utilized for both pretesting and posttesting. The basic premise for using the
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests was that it is useful for teachers and the school to know the general level of reading achievement of individual students.
This information, added to whatever else is known about the student, is an 68
important basis for ultimately evaluating the general effects of instructional
programs. In evaluating reading achievement, comprehension is the main
concern. The comprehension exercises in this test were intended to represent
fairly the kinds of information that teachers generally expect students to gain
from the materials they read. This test subset was designed to measure the students' ability to read complete prose passages with understanding. It contained different passages of varying lengths with questions about these passages. The passages included selections from various literary works and subject-matter fields. Some of the questions about these passages required an understanding of information that was explicitly stated in the passage; others required an understanding of information that is only implicit in the passage
(MacGinitie et al., 1978).
Standardization
Standardization of the Gates-MacGinitie Test was carried out in
October, 1976 and May 1977. At the same time, equating studies were done so that the norms for the first and second edition, as well as the norms for alternate forms and adjacent test levels, could be linked. The sampling plan was based on the fourth count of the 1970 United States Census, which gives data on the basis of school district boundaries. The districts were stratified according to (a) geographic region, (b) district enrollment size, (c) district socioeconomic characteristics, (d) median family income, and (e) median years 69
of schooling completed by adults. Districts were selected to produce within
each region a representative proportion of black and Hispanic students. A
total of 86 school districts, including parochial schools, participated in the
norming, and 74 districts participated in the equating. The norming samples
included approximately 5,000 students per grade (MacGinitie et al., 1978).
Validity
In developing the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests--Comprehension
Subtest, several steps were taken to assure test validity for most school reading
programs. Content of the comprehension passages was chosen according to a
plan that specified the proportion of natural science, social science, humanities, and narrative material for each test. Passages for older students were chosen
from published sources that represent the wide range of materials such
students encounter in their reading. All passages are in standard written
English. Both literal and inferential questions were written to test
understanding of the passages. Approximately twice the number of items
needed for the test was developed for a national tryout. From this pool, only items of appropriate difficulty and usefulness as test items were chosen (MacGinitie et al., 1978). 70
Alternate-forms and Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (K-R 20) reliability
coefficients were computed for each test level. The K-R 20 coefficients ranged
from .88 to .94 for comprehension (MacGinitie et al., 1978).
Instructional Procedures
All of the instruction in both control and experimental classes was
conducted by the two selected reading improvement teachers. These teachers
were observed regularly during the instruction and were provided help and
guidance as needed.
Student subjects in the experimental groups were provided with lessons
that were designed to teach and develop metacognitive strategies. The lesson
structure involved a three-fold approach. In each lesson as the teachers introduced the strategy, they were to (a) explain what the reading strategy to be used was, (b) why the strategy is important, and (c) how the strategy was to be used in reading exercises. Each new reading strategy was usually taught 2 days a week in addition to the regularly scheduled curriculum activities. The lessons were introduced on the first selected teaching day of the designated week and reviewed and reinforced on the second teaching day. All six of the strategies were introduced during the first 6-week period. Each strategy was then reviewed and re-taught in the same order during each of the ensuing
6-week periods. 71
The control group was taught using the prescribed course of study for
the second semester with the reading textbook series, Wonders and Winners
being utilized. The comprehension skills in this series scope and sequence are
shown in Table 1.
For a scope and sequence chart from this reading series, see
Appendix C.
Procedure for Analyzing Data
When the data from the pretest and posttest for the Gates-MacGinitie
Reading Test were scored, the results were analyzed. Two scores were recorded for each student in all of the participating student groups. In both groups--the experimental group, and the control group--the first score recorded did reflect the students' standing at the beginning of the study. The second score for the students in the experimental group recorded the growth and development in reading comprehension after the students received direct instruction of the planned metacognitive strategies. For the control group, the second score recorded their growth and development in reading comprehension after the students' normal course of study. The two sets of test scores were the basis for the data on which the analysis was performed.
For the analysis of data, the hypothesis of this study was restated in the null form. The level of significance for the study was set at .05. The statistical treatment used to test the hypothesis presented was in the form of a pretest 72
Table 1
Second Semester Prescribed Course of Study for the Cotrol Student oup
Week Comprehension Skills
Fourth Six Weeks
Week 1 Time sequence Week 2 Sequence: Steps in progress Week 3 No skill listed Week 4 Details Week 5 Main idea/supporting details; sequence Week 6 Process sequence
Fifth Six Weeks
Week 1 Predicting outcomes, details Week 2 Drawing conclusions, main idea, details Week 3 Review all previously taught skills Week 4 Referents, dictionary Week 5 Biased writing Week 6 Propaganda
Sixth Six Weeks
Week 1 Theme, referents Week 2 Plot, biased writing Week 3 Connecting words, propaganda Week 4 Cause/effect, theme Week 5 Cause/effect, connecting word Week 6 Review all previously taught skills 73
design featured the posttest control group design. This type of research following: (a) random selecting of the sample and assignment of treatment, of (b) having one experimental group and one control group, (c) pretesting both groups, (d) the experimental group receiving the treatment, and (e) both that was used to groups receiving the posttest. The statistical procedure interpret the data was a t-test analysis. An analysis of covariance was also on student performed to interpret the effectiveness of teacher intervention achievement. (An analysis of the data is found in chapter 4.) CHAPTER REFERENCE
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Boning, R. S. (1973). Specific skills series: Getting the main idea. Baldwin, NY: Barnell-Loft, Ltd.
Boning, R. A. (1980). Cloze connections. Baldwin, NY: Barnell-Loft, Ltd.
Cassidy, J., Roettger, D., & Wixson, K. (1987). Touch the sky. New York: Scribner Education Publishers.
MacGinitie, W. H., Kanons, J., Kowalski, R. L., MacGinitie, R. K., & MacKay, T. (1978). Gates-MacGinitie reading tests--Level E. Chicago, IL: Riverside Publishing Co.
Smith, G. (1989). Globe reading comprehension programs. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Globe Book Co.
Spache, F., & Spache, E. (1984). Project Achievement Level D. New York: Scholastic Publishing Co.
Townsend, D., Beech, L. W., & McCarthy, T. (1987). Sequence 1. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn Comprehension Skills.
Wittenberg, W. H. (1986). Specific skill/Barnell-Loft series: Identifying inferences. Baldwin, NY: Barnell-Loft, Ltd.
74 CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS OF DATA
The basic purpose of this study was to determine the level of growth are shown by reading improvement students when metacognitive skills which intensively taught. Obviously, the overall aim was also to determine instructional treatment appears to be the most effective in the teaching of the one reading comprehension--the one utilizing metacognitive emphasis or without.
To achieve these ends, both the control student groups and the
the experimental students groups were pretested and posttested by using
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E. A total of 60 control observations and 34 experimental observations were collected for this study. Only data for students who took both the pretest and the posttest were used. These observations were analyzed in the tables presented. of The (quasi) experimental design of this study provided a comparison with the gains made by students taught intensive metacognitive strategies
students taught using the textbook curriculum provided by the school district.
The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Form 1 was given at the onset of
the study. Table 2 shows an analysis of the pretest scores of both the control
student groups and the experimental or treatment student groups. The
75 76
indications are that there were no significant differences in the beginning abilities of each group of students at the .05 level of significance.
Table 2
A Comparative Analysis of Total Student Achievement on the Comprehension
Section of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E Form 1 Presented as the Pretest
Achievement Data Control Group Treatment Group
Number of cases 60 34
Mean 6.077 5.418
Standard deviation 2.076 1.850
Minimum test score 3.0 3.1
Maximum test score 12.0 12.7
Note. Level of significance = no significant difference at the .05 level.
In further analyzation, Table 3 summarizes the pretest data using
Bartlett's Test for Homogeneity of Group Variance. The t statistic equals
-1.537 and probability equals .128 indicating that there was no significant
difference for these groups on the pretest. This statistic indicates that both the 77
control student group and the experimental students were at approximately the test same achievement level at the onset of the study, according to their results.
Table 3
Summary Statistics for the Pretest Data Collected from Control Groups and the Experimental Groups on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E,
Form 1
Bartlett Test for Homogeneity Group Variances
Chi-square .540
Degrees of freedom 1
Probability .462
Overall mean 5.838
Standard deviation 2.012
Pooled within group SD 1.998
t-statistic -1.537
Probability .128
Note. Level of significance = no significant difference at the .05 level. 78
The impact of the instructional intervention on the students' reading an analysis of achievement comprehension ability is shown in Table 4. This is The from the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Form 2, the posttest. data indicates that the scores of the students who were taught metacognitive strategies were not significantly different from students who were not taught such strategies.
Table 4
A Comparative Analysis of Posttest Student Achievement on the
Comprehension Section of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E,
Form 2
Achievement Data Control Group Treatment Group
Number of cases 60 34
Mean 7.59 7.394
Standard deviation 2.634 3.046
Minimum test score 3.0 3.0
Maximum test score 12.7 12.7
Note. Level of significance = no significant difference at the .05 level. 79
of t at Next, summary interpretations in Table 5 utilized the probability -.327 the .05 level of confidence. The obtained value of t for the posttest was indicating no significant difference between the two groups of students after
the implementation of the intensive strategy teaching.
Table 5
Summary Statistics for Posttest Data Collected from Control Groups and 2 Experimental Groups on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Form
Bartlett Test for Homogeneity Group Variances
Chi-square .903
Degrees of freedom 1
Probability .342
Overall Mean 7.519
Standard deviation 2.775
Pooled within groups SD 2.789
t-statistic -.327
Probability .744
Note. Level of significance = no significant difference at the .05 level. 80
In Table 6 an analysis of the gain scores was done for both the treatment group and the control group. A summary of this analysis is in
Table 7 utilizing Bartlett's Test of Homogeneity of Variances indicated no significant t equals -.757, p < .05. These results indicate that there were differences in the gains achieved by either student group.
Table 6
A Comparative Analysis of Student Achievement on the Comprehension
Section of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Presented as the Gain Scores
Achievement Data Control Group Treatment Group
Number of cases 60 34
Mean 1.513 1.976
Standard deviation 2.839 2.871
Minimum score -5.40 -3.300
Maximum score 7.1 8.300
Note. Level of significance = no significant difference at the .05 level. 81
Table 7
Summary Statistics for Gain Scores Collected from Control Groups and Level E Experimental Groups on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test
Bartlett Test for Homogeneity Group Variances
Chi-square .005
Degrees of freedom 1
Probability .943
Overall mean 1.681
Standard deviation 2.844
Pooled within group SD 2.850 t statistic -.757
Probability .451
Note. Level of significance = no significant difference at the .05 level.
In Figure 1, a graphic approach showing student gains is utilized. While
the graph does indicate that the experimental student groups showed more
grade level gains than the control groups, these gains were not reflected as
being significant at the .05 level of confidence. Nonetheless, this data also did 82 show that the experimental student groups started with lower pretest scores than the other group of control students.
Grade level
8-
7 -
- control
6 -- experimental
5--
pretest posttests
Figure 1. Graph of Control and Experimental Groups' Pretest and Posttest Gain Scores.
The presence or absence of teacher effectiveness was not a part of the
purposes or hypothesis of this study. However, results of a comparative
analysis of teacher effectiveness on student achievement for both the control
groups and the experimental groups indicated that there is a definite 83
correlation in reading improvement success. Although this fact was not investigated in depth in this study, observation of each of the teachers' teaching techniques showed marked differences in their levels of explanations when teaching the metacognitive strategies. Teacher 1 gave more in-depth
explanations for each strategy. This teacher also gave individual help
whenever it was necessary. On the other hand, Teacher 2, while explaining the
strategy being taught, did not give instructions as well, and at times, she
appeared to concentrate on brevity in her discussions. . Also, Teacher 2 very
rarely gave individual attention to students, but utilized group explanations
extensively. However, Teacher 2 was affected more by student absenteeism
than Teacher 1. The data show that the students of Teacher 1 showed
significant gains on posttest scores when compared to data of that for the
students of Teacher 2. Tables 8 and 9 display these results. Table 10
summarizes and accentuates this data.
Tables 11 and 12 exhibit comparisons of the data on the achievement of
both the control groups and the experimental student groups for both
Teacher 1 and Teacher 2. By observing the gain scores, in both the
experimental and control groups, Teacher P's students' overall mean gain
scores are higher than the mean gain scores of students of Teacher 2.
An Analysis of Variance was performed on pretest posttest, and gain
scores in Table 13. In Table 14, a 2 x 2 statistical analysis was done using both
group data and teacher data. A nonsignificant relationship was observed in 84
emerged in comparing group gains. However, significant teacher effectiveness of comparing the student achievement of Teacher 1 to the student achievement Teacher 2.
Table 8
A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Forms 1 and 2 and the Gain
Scores for Combined Groups
Achievement Data Pretest Posttest Gain Score
Number of cases 50 50 50
Mean 5.812 8.794 2.982
Standard deviation 2.292 2.526 2.511
Minimum score 3.0 3.7 -2.8
Maximum score 12.7 12.7 8.3
Note. Level of significance at .05 level--pretest, no significance; posttest,
significant; and gain score, significant. 85
Table 9
Analysis of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement on the for Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E, Forms 1 and 2 and Gain Scores
Combined Groups
Achievement Data Pretest Posttest Gain Score
Number of cases 44 44 44
Mean 5.868 6.070 0.202
Standard deviation 1.664 2.313 2.470
Minimum score 3.0 3.0 -5.4
Maximum score 10.2 11.4 4.5
Note. Level of significance = no significant difference at the .05 level.
Metacognitive Strategy Achievement
Although the hypothesis of this study did not directly address the issue
of student achievement on the metacognitive strategy activities, it is an
important correlation of reading comprehension. As previously shown, with
teacher effectiveness, student progress using these strategies is an important
factor in enhancing reading ability. Further, the grade scores kept on
instructional activities using these strategies were positive indices of student 86
Table 10
Summary Statistics for Teacher Effectiveness on Overall StudentAchievement
Presented for Combined Groups
Achievement Data Pretest Posttest Gain Score
Bartlett Test for Homogeneity of Group Variances
Chi-square 4.504 .348 .012
Degrees of freedom 1 1 1
Probability .034 .555 .913
Overall mean 5.838 7.519 1.681
Standard deviation 2.012 2.775 2.844
Pooled within groups 2.023 2.429 2.492
t-statistic -.134 -5.425 -5.396
Probability .893 .000 .000
Note. Level of significance = no significant difference at the .05 level.
usage and mastery of them. For each of the planned 6-week activities, class
records and averages were recorded. The results of this instructional
intervention suggest that teaching strategies have a positive effect on increasing
students' reading abilities. Consequently, even though the student posttest 87
Table 11
A Comparative Analysis of Achievement for Control Student Groups by
Teacher
Achievement Data Pretest Posttest Gain Score
Teacher 1
Number of cases 31 31 31
Mean 6.019 8.729 2.710
Standard deviation 2.410 2.419 2.503
Minimum score 3.0 4.6 -2.8
Maximum score 12.0 12.7 7.1
Teacher 2
Number of cases 29 29 29
Mean 6.138 6.372 0.234
Standard deviation 1.687 2.308 2.644
Minimum score 3.0 3.0 -5.4
Maximum score 10.2 10.4 4.5 88
Table 12
A Comparative Analysis of Achievement for Experimental Student Groups by
Teacher
Achievement Data Pretest Posttest Gain Score
Teacher 1
Number of cases 19 19 19
Mean 5.474 8.900 3.428
Standard deviation 2.103 2.741 2.526
Minimum score 3.3 3.7 -0.7
Maximum score 12.7 12.7 8.3
Teacher 2
Number of cases 15 15 15
Mean 5.347 5.487 0.140
Standard deviation 1.54 2.286 2.180
Minimum score 3.1 3.0 -3.3
Maximum score 8.3 11.4 4.5 89
Table 13
Analysis of Variance of Teacher Effectiveness on Student Achievement
Source Sum of Squares DF Mean Square F-Ratio Probability
Group 2.081 1 2.081 0.331 0.566
Teacher 1 178.438 1 178.430 28.4140 .000
Group*
Teacher 2 3.536 1 3.563 0.5635 0.455
Error 565.165 90 6.280 .0000 .000
Note. *Significant between means
scores on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test in the experimental group, after
instruction in these strategies, did not show significant gains, growth in use and
mastery of these strategies were exhibited in the students' strategy activity
work.
Tables 15, 16, 17, and 18 demonstrate the class averages of the
experimental classes of both Teacher 1 and Teacher 2. These figures were
obtained by the use of the computer software Gradebook III (Bane & Deaton,
1987). Only five of the six metacognitive strategies are listed because
summarizing exercises were subjective in nature and graded separately. A 90
Table 14
A Two-by-Two Statistical Analysis on Group and Teacher Data
Measures of Testing Control Experimental
Teacher 1
n=31 n=19
Pretest 6.019 5.474
Posttest 8.729 8.900
Gain score 2.720 3.426
Teacher 2
n =29 n=15
Pretest 6.138 5.347
Posttest 6.372 5.487
Gain score .234 .140
Note. Teacher 1, Fc = .331 (_ = 566), no significance; Teacher 2, Frc = .563
(p = .455), no significance; Fr = 28.414; p < .000; significant level at .05 level. 91
Table 15
Teacher 1 Treatment Group 1--Class Averages for Five Metacognitive Strategy
Areas
Strategy Area Class Average
1st Six Weeks
Main idea 69.4 Main idea 64.7 Sequence 68.0 Sequence 64.6 Cloze 83.1 Cloze 77.1 Predicting outcomes 58.6 Predicting outcomes 88.2 Inferences 99.2 Inferences 84.2
2nd Six Weeks
Main idea 96.3 Main idea 66.3 Sequence 100.0 Sequence 64.0 Cloze 97.3 Cloze 74.4 Predicting outcomes 45.8 Predicting outcomes 72.2 Inferences 78.5 Inferences 70.6
(table continues) 92
Strategy Area Class Average
3rd Six Weeks
Main idea 70.6 Main idea 83.8 Sequence 87.5 Sequence 83.5 Cloze 85.6 Cloze 90.6 Predicting outcomes 82.5 Predicting outcomes 78.8 Inferences 82.8 Inferences 82.5
separate analysis of overall student achievement in all strategy areas follows the tables. This analysis also includes the area of summarization.
Overall, class progress demonstrated that each time metacognitive strategies were taught, students improved their grade scores. In fact, more progress was made on certain strategies than others. A rank order analysis of each of the six strategies shows that these groups of reading improvement
students understood and mastered main idea, cloze procedure, and sequencing better than the other areas of learning. On the other hand, the critical
thinking skills of inferencing, predicting outcomes, and summarizing posed
significant problems. More in-depth teacher explanations were often necessary
and vital to help the students understand the lessons. A summary of 93
Table 16
Teacher 1 Treatment Group 2--Class Averages for Five Metacognitive Strategy
Areas
Strategy Area Class Average
1st Six Weeks
Main idea 74.7 Main idea 73.8 Sequence 73.8 Sequence.74.7 Cloze 87.1 Cloze 92.0 Predicting outcomes 89.8 Predicting outcomes 81.1 Inferences 98.6 Inferences 89.6
2nd Six Weeks
Main idea 96.4 Main idea 88.3 Sequence 100.0 Sequence 76.7 Cloze 99.2 Cloze 86.4 Predicting outcomes 68.8 Predicting outcomes 91.7 Inferences 83.8 Inferences 81.2
(table continues) 94
Strategy Area Class Average
3rd Six Weeks
Main idea 81.3 Main idea 83.1 Sequence 84.7 Sequence 85.9 Cloze 88.3 Cloze 90.7 Predicting outcomes 81.4 Predicting outcomes 84.6 Inferences 86.0 Inferences 83.3
each of the six metacognitive strategies revealed meaningful information as to how these students learn.
Essential to the nature of reading, readers must identify the main idea of the selection to have any understanding of what the author was trying to convey. Finding the main idea requires readers to understand what has been read, judge its importance, and condense it to a shorter form. When the instructional strategy of main ideas was initially introduced, many of the students were not able to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information.
Students' oral versions of the main idea were often either too broad, encompassing too much information, or too narrow, giving only a minor detail of the selection. As the study progressed, however, the majority of the 95
Table 17
Teacher 2 Treatment Group 1--Class Averages for Five Metacognitive Strategy
Areas
Strategy Area Class Average
1st Six Weeks
Main idea 66.9 Main idea 90.8 Sequence 80.0 Sequence 90.0 Cloze 75.8 Cloze 86.7 Predicting outcomes 60.9 Predicting outcomes 67.0 Inferences 40.0 Inferences 40.6
2nd Six Weeks
Main idea 76.0 Main idea 78.0 Sequence 64.4 Sequence 84.4 Cloze 90.8 Cloze 82.1 Predicting outcomes 81.8 Predicting outcomes 77.8 Inferences 76.4 Inferences 78.2
(table continues) 96
Strategy Area Class Average
3rd Six Weeks
Main idea 82.0 Main idea 87.3 Sequence 82.5 Sequence 78.0 Cloze 80.8 Cloze 89.1 Predicting outcomes 69.5 Predicting outcomes 76.0 Inferences 78.5 Inferences 71.5
students began to understand this strategy. With the direct instruction model, most students were able to decide which ideas were too broad or too detailed to be the main idea. Since all of the lesson activities used only the explicit main idea, students began to be more proficient at refining their ideas of main idea. Moreover, these students also began to understand why this strategy was important.
Additionally, students' response to the cloze procedure developed quickly. Once the students understood the importance of relating the whole to its parts, and the parts to the whole, the process of completing the activity became a challenge. Students' grades for these activities were consistently in the "B" range. Although the lesson plans utilized for cloze procedure had 97
Table 18
Teacher 2 Treatment Group 2--Class Averages for Five Metacognitive Strategy
Areas
Strategy Area Class Average
1st Six Weeks
Main idea 76.5 Main idea 56.4 Sequence 60.0 Sequence 37.5 Cloze 88.0 Cloze 88.3 Predicting outcomes 44.9 Predicting outcomes 48.4 Inferences 20.0 Inferences 10.0
2nd Six Weeks
Main idea 80.0 Main idea 83.6 Sequence 80.0 Sequence 88.3 Cloze 82.9 Cloze 82.7 Predicting outcomes 70.0 Predicting outcomes 78.0 Inferences 77.5 Inferences 72.7
(table continues) 98
Strategy Area Class Average
3rd Six Weeks
Main idea 86.7 Main idea 86.0 Sequence 72.0 Sequence 88.0 Cloze 84.1 Cloze 87.7 Predicting outcomes 76.0 Predicting outcomes 75.3 Inferences 85.9 Inferences 82.7
answer choices included, this strategy instruction still was vital to teaching the students about using context clues in reading comprehension.
Another strategy area that showed student success was sequencing.
Beginning readers are usually taught some method of what comes next, so this was not an area of learning unfamiliar to most of the students. Nonetheless, generally, little instruction has focused on having the students understand key words and ideas that aid in the understanding of putting things in order.
When teacher-directed lessons focused on time-words and text cues that signal sequential order, these students consistently improved their mastery of this strategy. 99
Conversely, the strategy areas in which students experienced problems were all reading skills that required critical thinking. First, when readers are required to make an inference, meaning must be constructed beyond what is written on the page. Perhaps because most school reading activities only require students to think literally, activities that promote higher level thinking are more difficult to grasp and master. The grades of students in the experimental groups tended to fluctuate each time these inferential activities were attempted. Once again, the nature of the text construction was a factor in some of the students' success. Each of the activities required not only an inferential answer, but also a true or false answer to some of the given statements. It was noted that in teacher-directed explanations, if the students were required to formulate their own inferences, they were not always able to
do so. The problem was often observed to be a significant lack of prior
knowledge about the subject matter in the reading selections. Even so, the
selected lessons did serve to improve student ability to comprehend the
inference strategy.
Next, another critical thinking area of reading comprehension that
students had difficulty mastering was predicting outcomes. As students
attempted the lesson activities, it appeared that very little consideration was
given to any thoughts beyond the last words in the reading selection. Teachers
constantly directed the students to think about what future events could
possibly occur, given the present circumstances in the reading selection. In 100 fact, most students were extremely reluctant to elaborate extensively on outcomes; their answers were usually quite unimaginative and terse.
Finally, when students encountered the summarization strategy, most of them were unwilling to do little more than regurgitate the reading selection ideas already given. Very little effort was exhausted in gathering the total thought and interpreting it. More often, the summarization activity consisted of students starting at the selection beginning and merely writing down stated ideas in top to bottom fashion. Teacher-directed explanations emphasized jotting down important facts (a prelude to note-taking). The summarization activities were graded subjectively as a pass-fail activity. Either the students understood the strategy of summarizing or they did not. As the study progressed, students undertook the activity with a better understanding of what the final product was expected to be, but overall, successful grade scores did not increase. CHAPTER REFERENCE
Bane, R. K., & Deaton, R. D. (1987). Gradebook Ill [Computer Program]. Denton, TX: Schoolhouse Software.
101 CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, EDUCATIONAL
IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the gains made in reading comprehension by students who had been taught intensive metacognitive strategy instruction. A comparison of these students' progress was made with a comparable group of students that had not been instructed using these strategies. The latter body of students, which served as a control group, was instructed using the prescribed reading improvement textbook curriculum.
In order to gather data for this study, the measurement instrument used was the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test Level E. The comprehension subtest
Form 1 was used as a pretest to measure students' standing at the onset of the study. Likewise, the comprehension subtest of Form 2 was used to assess the gains of each group of students on a grade-level scale.
Means and standard deviations were calculated for the pretest, posttests, and the gain scores. The hypothesis was stated in the null for statistical testing purposes. A I-test was the statistical procedure used to
determine if there was a significant difference in reading comprehension
102 103
growth of the two groups of students. Due to the relative high rate of student attrition and absenteeism, over which there were no controls, study results could have been different.
Findings
In direct response to the hypothesis of this study the following is found:
1. The gains in comprehension by reading improvement students in the
experimental or treatment group were not significantly greater than gains
shown by reading improvement students in the control group, as measured by
the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test.
2. Neither of the instructional approaches for middle school students in
the control or the experimental group in this study significantly advanced grade
level scores in reading comprehension.
3. Even though the scores between the experimental group and the
control group on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test were not significantly
different, the experimental student group, taught the metacognitive strategies,
reflected greater grade-level gains than the control group.
4. The experimental group, even though selected at random, started at
a lower grade level than the control group on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading
Test. 104
5. The control group, using the prescribed textbook curriculum, did not grow at a greater rate than the treatment group on the posttest grade level scores of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test.
Other Findings
While the null hypothesis was accepted that the treatment group did not show significant growth in reading comprehension as measured by the
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, trends obtained by observation suggest that the following findings might be considered:
1. An observation of the results of student progress on metacognitive strategy activities (guided practice) indicated growth in the reading comprehension skills of the experimental student group.
2. Direct instruction of metacognitive strategies to less skilled readers, even on a short-term basis, can improve, to a degree, their reading comprehension ability.
3. The development of students' abilities to use strategies successfully was generally supported by the grade scores on the lesson activities (guided practice) and teacher observations.
4. Grades on guided practices reflected that students were more proficient in main idea, cloze procedure, and sequencing strategies. 105
5. The metacognitive strategies that involved critical thinking, such as making inferences, predicting outcomes, and summarizing were more difficult skills for the students to acquire.
6. As evidenced by grade-level scores obtained on the pretest and posttest of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, reading improvement students are generally not on grade level in reading comprehension.
7. Students appear to be directly affected by teacher interaction and effectiveness.
8. By teacher observation, student confidence level on test-taking
activities was considerably higher after receiving strategy instruction.
9. Numerous reading improvement students at the middle school level
are lost to the educational system through expulsions, transiency, and
drop-outs. This fact is evidenced in the number of experimental students at
the onset of the study (80 students), and the number of cases treated at the
end of the study (34 students). Likewise, in the control group, the initial
reading student population totalled 160 and decreased to 60.
Conclusions
The findings of this study suggest the following conclusions:
1. Overall, direct instruction of metacognitive strategies promotes
increased reading comprehension in reading improvement students. 106
2. Results of metacognitive strategy instruction on a short-term basis appear difficult to measure by a current standardized testing instrument.
3. Reading improvement students need a direct instructional model of teaching in order to experience success in improving their metacognitive
abilities. In other words, students must be told what the strategy is, why it is
usable, and how it can be transferred to other reading situations.
4. Strategy instruction needs to include multiple opportunities for
guided practice to help students gain mastery of the skill being taught.
5. Specific practice activity materials need to be developed for strategy
instruction. Currently, none appear to emphasize these specific strategies.
6. Metacognitive strategy instruction should be a yearlong process, as
opposed to one semester. Strategies should be taught at the beginning of the
school year, and they should be taught in conjunction with the prescribed
school curriculum.
7. Reading teachers need additional training in direct-teaching
methods of metacognitive strategies.
8. Concentrated teaching periods should be spent on individual
metacognitive strategies to promote student mastery.
9. Critical thinking metacognitive strategies need to be more
emphasized in instructional approaches to reading comprehension. 107
10. In relation to the strategy of predicting outcomes, more introductory attention should be placed on developing students' background knowledge in the subject matter being taught.
Educational Implications
The conclusions of this study provide the basis for several implications in education:
1. Reading curriculums need to incorporate direct instruction of metacognitive strategies into their overall plan.
2. Standards of evaluation need to be formulated to measure students' metacognitive growth.
3. A reading curriculum concentrating on teaching metacognitive instruction needs to be developed with various kinds of guided practice materials being the central focus.
4. Teacher training should emphasize the necessity of teacher effectiveness in directly influencing student achievement.
5. Teaching metacognitive strategies to less skilled readers can help the schools obtain the long term objective of improving students' reading comprehension. In order to accomplish this objective, less emphasis should be placed on test scores and attention should be focused on the short term goal of improving students' metacognitive skills. 108
6. Metacognitive strategies should be introduced at an early reading level--ideally at the elementary level when reading skills initially are being developed.
Recommendations
The effect of intensive teaching of metacognitive strategies to reading improvement students has been explored to a great extent to this study. The findings, conclusions, and implications suggest the following recommendations for additional studies:
1. A replication of the present study should be conducted at the middle school level at the beginning of the school term. Comparisons should then be made with the present study to determine if the findings of the two studies are similar.
2. An in-depth study should be made of how acquisition of metacognitive strategies could be more accurately assessed. In relation, an investigation in this regard should analyze how strategy development can directly improve reading comprehension on a long-term basis.
3. Metacognitive strategy instruction (not limited to the six outlined herein) should be integrated into the reading course curriculum beginning at the elementary level.
4. A study should be undertaken to analyze how metacognitive strategy development can directly improve reading comprehension on a long term basis. 109
5. Reading improvement teachers should be given developmental classes in teaching metacognitive strategies.
6. Since student mobility did have an effect on this study, its impact on education should be investigated further. APPENDIX A
STUDENT LETTER, TEACHER LETTER, TEACHER
TRAINING, AND TEACHER--MONITORING FORM
110 111
January, 1990
To: Students Participating in the Metacognitive Study
From: Mrs. B.T. Jeffers
You have been selected to participate in a reading study
that will try to determine one way to improve your reading
skills. In this study, you will hear the term metacogni-
tion. This term means knowing what you know. This
study is designed to help you understand what you know
about the reading process.
You will be given weekly assignments that will be
explained to you as they are taught. Whenever you
encounter an activity that you do not understand, be
sure to ask your teacher to explain the assignment
until you do understand it.
Please try to do the best work that you are capable of
doing. I appreciate your participation in this study. 112
January, 1990
Reading Improvement Teachers John B. Hood Middle School Dallas Ind. School District Dallas, Tx.
Teachers:
I sincerely appreciate your cooperation in the reading study that I have undertaken. This study entitled "A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF METACOGNITIVE DIFFERENCES IN EIGHTH GRADE READING IMPROVEMENT STUDENTS," is designed to focus on giving reading improvement students "self-knowledge" about improving their reading skills. As you have agreed to participate in this study, I would like to point out some important criteria that must be observed while the study is underway. First, the lessons and lesson plans have been done for you and your selected classes. These lessons must only be used with the experimental classes. None of the control classes must have access to these activities. Secondly, please follow the plans as they are given. Finally, I would appreciate it if the folders with the student work are kept accessible to me in order that I can frequently monitor the study. Once again, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time and effort to aid me in my study. As a part of M-y records, would you please sign my copy of this letter to be kept with my dissertation paper? This signing sig- nifies that you have read and understand the above purposes and guideline for this study. Thank you for your cooperation and cheerful attitude in this undertaking.
Yours truly,
Bernadette T. Jeffers
I have read and received a copy of the above letter. I agree to participate in this study and abide by its guidelines:
illillin - 113
TEACHER TRAINING
UNDERSTANDING THE STUDY:
This study will attempt to teach reading improvement
students the metacognitive skills that advanced reading
students seem to possess already. Metacognition means that
the students will understand what it is that they need to
know and do to become a proficient reader. The students
will understand what it is that they need to know to be a
good reader because the teacher will explain metacognition
to them. Students will begin to understand these important
ideas:
1. What reading strategy is to be used;
2. Why the strategy is important;
3. How to use the strategy in their reading
exercises.
READING STRATEGIES TO BE USED:
1. Main Idea - What the whole idea is about.
Supporting Details - small facts that
support the main idea
2. Sequence - time order or 1-2-3 order.
3. Clozure - omission of words in a reading
selection used to help the reader understand the idea
that the entire passage is trying to convey. 114
4. Predicting outcomes - an estimate of what could
logically come next in a selection.
5. Making Inferences - an educated guess about some-
thing based on facts.
6. Summarizing - writing the key points in an exact and concise connected form.
HOW THE STUDY WILL PROCEED:
1. All lessons and lesson plans have been provided
for the second semester of the school term.
2. Each student will be given the Gates-MacGinitie
Reading Test E-form 1 to assess beginning reading
abilities of the students involved in the
study, who are placed in reading improvement
classes. The test will also be given to
students placed in advanced reading classes who
will serve as comparative measurements in this
study.
3. Each new reading strategy will be taught two days a week.
4. The lessons will be introduced on Day 1 of the
designated week and reviewed and re-enforced on the second day of the week. 115
5. After all six strategies have been introduced
within the first six week period, each strategy
will be reviewed and re-taught in the same order
during each of the ensuing six-six week periods.
6. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test E-form 2 will
be given as a post-test to assess growth in
reading at the end of the six-six weeks teaching
per iod. 116
TEACHER OBSERVATION FORM
Date Observed:
METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY BEING TAUGHT:
Effective Explanations Given:
Lesson being introduced: yes__n___
Lesson being reviewed: yes no
Students participating orally: yes__no
Students completing guided practice Yes no
Other Observations:
Observer Suggestions:
Teacher Comments: APPENDIX B
LESSON PLANS--4ST SIX WEEKS GUIDED
PRACTICE WORK SHEETS
117 118
The following charts represent the scope and sequence lesson., plans for the textbook curriculum taught the control group students.
Source: Wonders and Winners 119
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42 T4 4. o a. a% 122 WEEK 1
LESSON 1
MAIN IDEA
Objective: To have the students grasp the central thought of a short passage.
Description of the Activity:
1. A reading selection will be presented.
2. The selection will develop one main idea. 3. The main idea will be supported by topic
sentences and/or details in the selection. Find/Tell: Ask the students, "What do you know about the
main idea and supporting details?" Tel 1:
What: "In this lesson, we will learn to give
the meanings of the main idea and
Supporting details, and identify
examples of these reading strategies. Give the definition:
Main idea is a sentence or group of
words that tell what the whole story is about.
Details are small facts in the reading
selection that support the main idea. 123 Why main idea is important: Learning to recognize main
idea will enable the reader to better understand what
is read.
How to use this strategy: Five techniques help to find
the main idea:
A. Topic Words
-What is the paragraph talking about?
-Give a one word subject for the para-
graph
B. Key Question Words
-Emphasize the special words of
Who
Where
Why
When
What
How
1. If the paragraph gives reasons for a
happening or supports a belief, the
key point is why.
2. If most of the paragraph explains
the way something happened the key
point is how.
3. If the paragraph focuses on location
or position, the key point is where.
4. If the paragraph centers on people
or a particular person, the key 124 point is who.
5. If the paragraph is mostly concerned
with time, the key point is when.
6. What may be used at the beginning of
key phrases in many different ways. C. Place clues: The main idea is often
stated in the first or last sentence. D. Space clues: The central thought of a
paragraph isn't limited to a single
sentence, even though it may be stated in one sentence. E. Turn about clues: You can change a sentence into a question and ask if the
whole paragraph answers that question. Demonstrate: This session will provide short but frequent practice selections for the entire class. Using the transparency provided, work through the first two selections. Discuss each of the suggested answers and have the students tell why each answer is acceptable or not accepta- ble.
Guided Practice: Have the students work on the next three paragraphs independently.
Evaluation: Discuss the answers for each paragraph after students are finished. 125 Unit 1
1. In the dense jungles of Costa Rica lies a mystery. About forty years ago workers stumbled upon several huge, round stones deep in the forest. Before long hundreds of these smooth stones were discovered nearby. Some of them are eight feet wide and weigh sixteen tons! No one has ever figured out what ancient tribe made the Costa Rican stones or how they got there. .
2. If you don't mind the cold and you like to fish, go to La Perade, Quebec, on the Sainte Anne River. There, from Christ- mas until the middle of February, the Tommy Cod Fishing Festi- val is held. The fishers put their little wooden huts around holes in the ice and drop their lines. Often there are a thousand or more huts in the little fishing village.
3. You have had her signature in your hand many times, and each time it has been worth a dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, or more. She is Azie Taylor Morton, appointed treasurer of the United States by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Her signature is printed on every piece of paper money issued by the United States. Ms. Morton is the first black person to hold this impor- tant position.
4. Letter carriers in the early days often were butchers. It seems strange, doesn't it? Butchers of long ago went from farm to farm, killing the animals for the farmers and cutting them up. They didn't work in a store. It was their job to travel around. Everyone got to know them. The butchers got to know where everyone lived. Thus butchers made fine letter carriers.
5. Why do sea gulls spend so much time smoothing down their feathers? The feathers must be kept in perfect order. If they are not, they will not hold trapped air. It is this trapped air that keeps the gull afloat. Also, if its wing surfaces are not smooth, the sea gull may have difficulty when taking off or landing. 126
WEEK 1
LESSON 2 DAY 2
MAIN IDEA
Objective: To have the students grasp the central thought
of a short passage.
Description of the Activity:
1. Review the strategy of main idea as it was explained on Day 1.
2. A reading selection will be presented.
3. The reading selection will develop one main idea.
4. The main idea will be supported by topic
sentences and/or details in the selection.
5. The students will work independently on the selection.
6. When the student has finished reading the
paragraph, they will close their book: and
think about the paragraph they have just read
7. The students will write a sentence of their
own that tells what the paragraph is about.
6. Compare and discuss the student sentences
with the key sentences in the paragraph in paragraph. 127 Unit 1
1. The story mainly tells: (A) Why the stones are a mystery (B) How big the stones are (C) Who solved the mystery of the stones (D) When the stones were discovered
2. The story mainly tells: (A) Why people like to fish (B) How cold Quebec Is during the winter (C) What the Tommy Cod Fishing Festival is like (D) Why people build huts on the river
3. The story mainly tells: (A) Who was President in 1977 (B) Why paper money needs Ms. Morton's signature (C) How Azie Taylor Morton signs so many bills (D) Who Azie Taylor Morton is
4. The story mainly tells: (A) Why butchers killed animals (B) Why butchers made good letter carriers (C) How butchers traveled from place to place (D) Why letter carriers were needed
5. The story mainly tells: (A) What sea gulls like to eat (B) What feathers do for gulls (C) Where sea gulls swim (D) How sea gulls fly 128
Unit 2
1. Most people believe the thermos bottle to be a modern in- vention. Such a bottle keeps the liquid inside from losing its heat or cold for hours, because the bottle has a vacuum liner that prevents the loss of heat or cold. Yet the ancient Indians of Arizona understood the thermos principle. They preserved the bones of their dead inside bottlelike tubes with vacuum liners. They sealed these with "stoppers."
2. What does a fish swimming upstream do when it meets a waterfall? If it is a Colombian catfish, it just climbs the rock wall behind the falls. It can do this because of special parts of its body. On its underside it has a very strong sucker mouth. It at- taches this to the rock. Using its mouth and tiny teeth on its fins, it pulls itself up the rock surface.
3. A "snake" a quarter of a mile long can be seen in southern Ohio. Of course, the snake is not alive. It is formed from a long ridge of dirt. Pictures taken from an airplane show an egg-shaped form near the mouth of the snake. Why early people made the animal-shaped mound is not known.
4. Camels bring to mind pictures of the desert. Yet some camels live where it is very cold and where there is much snow. These camels have long hair. They have feet shaped to travel over snow and ice. Not many people know that camels are as fitted to live in cold regions as they are in the warmer places of the world.
5. Sounds that people are not able to hear.are being used to kill germs. Sound beams have also been used as a sort of knife in performing operations on the brain. The sound beam is aimed at the diseased part of the brain. Only this part is destroyed. The rest of the brain isn't harmed. 129 Unit 2
1. The story mainly tells: (A) How the Indians knew about thermos bottles (B) How thermos bottles keep things cold or hot forever (C) How thermos bottles were named after Indians (D) How Indian burial tubes were like thermos bottles
2. The story mainly tells: (A) Why the catfish must get upstream (B) How nature has equipped a fish to climb (C) Why Colombian rivers have catfish (D) How the fish know they should climb the rock
3. The story mainly tells: (A) Why the snake mound was made (B) What is found in Ohio (C) What the snake-shaped dirt mound is like (D) Where the form is located
4. The story mainly tells: (A) How camels help us (B) Why camels have long hair (C) What snow does to camels (D) How caqmels are also suited to cold regions
5. The story mainly tells: (A) How loud sound beams are (B) Where the sounds we hear come from (C) How to fight germs (D) How sound beams are being used 130
LESSON 1 DAY 1
SEQUENCE
Objective: To have the students learn how to put events or
details in the order in which they occurred.
Description of the Activity:
1. A reading selection will be presented.
2. Each selection will include sequential
events that are described in the order they
occurred.
3. The activity will ask students to identify
the event described in the reading selection
which is either a) first, b) last, just
before a specified event described in the
reading selection, or d) just after a
specified event described in the reading
selection.
Find/Tell: Ask the students,"What does putting things in
sequence mean?"
Tell:
What: "In this lesson we learn to give the
meaning of the term sequence and also learn how
put details in sequence." 131
Give the definition:
Sequence means time order or 1-2-3 order. If
several things happen in a story, they happen in
a sequence. Something happens first, and then
another thing happens and then another thing
happens.
Why knowing sequential order is important: A reader can
better understand the sense of the reading
material being read if events are placed in the
correct sequence. Sequence helps the reader to
understand the main idea of a selection.
How to use the strategy:
You can find the sequence of events in a story by
looking for time words, such as first, next, and
last. Some time words that help are:
later days of the week after
today months of the year then
during final
Demonstrate: Given a paragraph that tells a story, try to
follow the sequence. Name all the time words.
(Transparency -George Washington Carver)
Guided Practice: Have the students read and complete the
story "Clowning Around"
Evaluation: Read the story orally. Check and discuss answers 132
Hints for Better Reading: (To the students)
1. Look for time words while you are reading
the stories. Remember that sometimes there
may not be a time word. Then you must pay
attention to the order in which the events
in the story are told.
2. As you read the stories, try to imagine the
events as if they were part of the movie.
Imagine the scenery changing and people talk-
ing to each other. Imagine the beginning,
the middle, and the end, as if they were
happening in front of you at a movie. 133
TRANSPARENCY (PAGE 1)
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER
George Washington Carver was a famous American scientist. First he lived in Missouri, and later he went to school in Iowa. Then he became a teacher at the
Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. While he was teaching, he also studied different ways of farming an did experiments with crops. He discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. When he died in 1943, he was known all over the world for his discoveries. Finally, ten years after his death, the home where he was born became a national monument.
Did you follow the sequence when you read the
paragraph? Try putting the events in the
order that they happened. What happened
first? What happened second? What happendd
after that? 134
TRANSPARENCY (PAGE 2)
-Carver made many discoveries__
-Carver's home became a national monument -Carver went to Tuskegee Institute
Here are some practice questions about sequence in this story. Try them.
1. When did Carver do experiments with crops? a. before he was in Missouri
b. after he became famous
c. while he was teaching
2. Where did Carver go just before he went to Alabama? a. Missouri
b. Iowa
c. Tuskegee
3. When did Carver's home become a national monument? a. when he lived in Alabama b. after he died
c. while he was teaching 135
E
"Now don't make me laugh," says the boss down. 'This is serious." The boss is checking a long line of other clowns. His job is to make sure they are in funny form before the circus begins. Gowns work hard. They all go to Gown College in Venice, Thorida, before they work In the circus. This school meets for ten' weeks eachi falL. The teachers are performers from the circus. 'Gown students cram a lot into their day. They study the history of clowning. They take classes in juggling, gymnastics. makeup, and costume designing. They learn how to walk on stilts, ride unicycles, make silly rubber noses, and build props. Props are things the down can use while performing, like puppets or fake cars. During the last weeks of school the down students are busy from morning until midnight. They learn how to do special tricks called gags. Then they make up their own gags to perform before an audience. These must be practiced over and over.. Finally the students give a grand show for the circus owners. After this show some students are chosen to work in the circus. Once in the circus the clowns work hard to make people -laugh. Each gag Is carefully practiced and timed. Clowns take a lot of time to design costumes and put on their makeup. The clowns also make sure that the props for each act are just right. They know that It is easy to get hurt while fooling around! In the circus the bossdcown grades each clown. He fllls out a form and sends It to the circus office. Besides being funny, clowns must be able to work weil with others. Says one circus old-timer, "Clowning around is a serious laughing matter." 136
1.Put these events in the order they happened. What happened first? Write first by that sentence. second Then w4 by the sentence that tells what happened Write no. third by the sentence that tells what happened after-that. The student downs take many courses. The students learn gags. Students enter Clown College in the fall. 2. When do the students give a grand performance? a. after the circus begins b. during the last weeks of school c. after they graduate 3.When does the boss down grade each down? a. while they are at school b. before they are chosen to work in the circus c. while they are in the circus 4.While they are in the circus, what do the downs do? a. they learn how to walk on stilts b. they learn how to make silly noses c. they practice each gag .. When do clowns study history? a. at the beginning of each season b. during the show c. before they are chosen to work in the circus 137
WEEK 1
LESSON 2 DAY 2
SEQUENCE
Objective: To have the students learn to put events or
details in the order in which they occurred.
Decription of the Activity:
1. Review the strategy of sequence as it was
explained on Day 1.
:2. A reading selection will be presented.
3. The reading selection will be presented in
sequential order.
4. The students will work independently on the
selection.
5. When the students have completed reading the
exercise, they will read each question care-
fully. They will think about the sequence of
events Just read. Ask the students to try to
find a sentence in the story that tells about
the event mentioned in the question. Remind
them to look for a time word in that sentence
or in a nearby sentence. 138
i-Alr .. I
At dawn the sunlight falls on the Andes Mountainstof Equador. The light shines on Chimborazo, the highest peak. Centuries ago, Chimborazo was an active volcano. Hot lava poured from its mouth. Now the lava has hardened into rocks. Great sheets of ice are mixed in with the rocks. The upper slopes of the-mountain-are so-coldthat the ice-stays-there al year. Once a week, a small group of people get ready to climb Chimborazo. The men are ice miners. They load axes and other tools onto the backs of a dozen donkeys. The men and animals begin to climb. They must go up to 18,500 feet, and the journey will take at least five hours. At the foot of the great mountain, the miners stop for awhile. They gather bundles of long grasses and load them onto the donkeys, too. Then they go on. When they reach the ice fields, the miners go to work. It isn't easy to chop the thickice away from the heavy rocks. The miners cut the ice out in blocks that weigh about twenty pounds each. Then they wrap the ice blocks in grassland put them on the donkeys' backs. Each donkey can carry two or three of these blocks. The men and their animals head down the mountain. By the time they reach home, it is night. The next day, the miners take the ice to town. Once a week, it is market day them. The miners se each block of ice for about twenty cents to the people who make snow cones. Thirsty shoppers buy the snow cones in the market. Ice is rare in town because there are no refrigerators. That's why the ice miners are always welcome at the market. The next week, just before market day, the miners will once more make the long trip to the cold peak of Chimborzo. 139
L.Put then events in the order they happened. What ICUpndfirst? Write flyst by that eec. Then write second by the sentence that tells what happened next. Write third by the sentence that tells what happened after that. The miners cut ice Into blocks. The miners climb Chimborazo. The miners load axes on the donkeys. 2. When do the miners cut grass? a.before they reach the Ice fields b. before they load the donkeys c. after they wrap the ice blocks 3. When do miners go to the mountain? a. every morning b. once a week c. during market day 4.When do the miners come home from the mountain? a. by the time night comes b. on market day c. the next morning ...... When did lava pour from Chimborazo? a. on market day belong ago c. every week 140
9
WEEK 3
LESSON 1
CLOZURE
Objective: To have the students improve reading compre-
hension by understanding the cloze technique,
which forces them to relate the whole passage to
its parts and the parts to the whole. Using
this strategy, the student will gain insight
into the interelationship of ideas. The students
will be reading ahead for cues to the message of
the passage
Description of the Activity:
1. Pupils will read completely through the
passage containing the delected word(s).
2. They will substitute the word ."blank" for
each missing word so that attention is
focused on the general content of the
passage.
3. After reading the entire passage, students
should attempt to determine the appropriate choices.
Find/Tell: Ask the students if they know what the word
"Cloze" means. 4 141
Tell:
What: "In this lesson we will learn the meaning of
the word cloze and how the procedure operates
Give the definition:
Cloze procedure is a reading comprehension strategy
that is used to help the reader understand the
idea that the entire passage is trying to convey.
How to use the strategy: 1) Read the entire passage and
substitute the word blank when a word is missing.
2) Try each of the possible choices before making a
decision. 3) Focus on the reason why each answer is
right or wrong. 4) If there is any doubt about an
answer, always reread the passage substituting
word choice.
Demonstrate: This session will provide a sample paragraph
in which the entire class will read through and
attempt to complete the passage. (Transparency)
Studied Practice: Students will do the passage provided
independently.
Evaluation: Read and discuss the answers as a class. 142 UNIT 1 History tells us that people have used tunnels since 1. (A) fed (B) buried 2000 B.C. when the ancient Persians dug them to (CI aided (D) arrested move water from one place to another. Later, in India and Egypt, people often L their dead in tunnels. In the fifteenth century, fighting armies 2. (A) coats tables learned to dig tunnels under their 2 . Then (B) (C) enemies (D) they came out of the tunnels and took the enemy bridges soldiers by surprise.
The first big tunnels in the United States were built 3. (A) watery (B)low during the 1800's. At that time Americans wanted to (C) flat (D) steep build railroads from coast to coast. Because the trains could not go over the L . Rocky Mountains, they needed tunnels to go through them. After the 4. (A) level (B) broken tunnels were built, the trains sped through the moun- (C) dangerous (D) shaky tains on a 41 path.
Today we build tunnels for several reasons. They let us go through ..-. I.---.-.'Jinstead of over them, and 5. (A) friends (B) mountains under rivers instead of across them. Many tunnels are (C) books (D) fires for cars, trucks, and trains. Others may take water to big cities. Under all big cities there are tunnels which contain electric lines, gas lines, telephone lines, and 6. (A) sports (B) clocks water . Some cities also have subway (C) lilies tunnels. (D) pipes
Tunnels can be built in hard or soft ground. Hard- ground tunnels are safer and easier to build. Workers 7. (A) ease (B) drowse -7 the rock away with dynamite and then (C) blast (D) plug use big drills to make the tunnels bigger. Soft-ground tunnels are more dangerous to build, because the loose earth can easily 8 in. Many people have 8. (A) cave (B) withstand died doing this dangerous work, (C) sob (D) maintain There are several famous tunnels in the L - . The most famous automobile tunnel is the Mont Blanc Tunnel in the Alps Mountains. More 9. (A) house (B) world than seven miles long, this tunnel . 10 (C) county .(D) sky France and Italy. The longest tunnel of any kind is the Delaware River Aqueduct, an eighty-five-mile-long rock tunnel. This tunnel carries water to New York 10. (A) multiplies (B) steadies City- (C) connects (D) divides 143
WEEK 3
LESSON 2 CLOZURE
Objective: To have the students improve reading compre-
hension by understanding the cloze technique,
which forces them to relate the whole passage to
its parts and the parts to the whole. Using this
strategy, the student will gain insight into the
interelationship of ideas. The students will be
reading ahead for cues to the message of the
passage.
Description of the Activity:
1. Review the strategy of cloze procedure as it
was explained on Day 1.
2. A reading selection will be presented.
3. The selection will have every nth word
deleted.
4. The students will select the word that will
best complete the idea of the selection.
5. The students will work independently on the
selection.
6. When the students have completed the
practice, the selection will be read aloud
by volunteers. 144
7. Discuss each answer choice and why it is the
best answer. 145
UNIT 2 musical (B) historical first facts school children 1. (A) One of the (C) scientific (D) medical lear is that Christopher Columbus discovered Amer- ica in 1492. It is true that he landed on American and brought-word of this great New World islands (B) scriptures to Europe. His discovery "opened up" America 2. (A) settlers back (D) invitations from Spain, England, France, and (C) advertiSe- to 2 ments many other countries.
Yet other people from the Old World were almost (B) storm certainly here before Columbus. Ancient Irish writ- 3. (A) voyag 6 00 (D) body ings telluof an ocean - before theyear (C) wave land.Some by St. Brendan to a strange and wonderful the land is people believe the stories are true and like America. Recently one person even built a boat (B) fight to 4. (A) pray St.- Brendan'e mnd sailed-the -Atlantic in it, (D) prove 4 that ancient people could have gotten here. (B) reeds 5. (A) s Several years ago other persons made a boat out of (D) plastic (C) glass sticks and as the ancient North Afri boat cans used to do. These persons too sailed their across the Atlantic to try to show that North Africans (A) introduced (B) frozen might have i in America thousands of 6. (C) (D) invented years ago.
Did the Irish or the North Africans really ever land (B) beneath here? No one has proved It yet. But there is another 7 (A) aftr between (D) before group of people who probably did reach America M- (C) eral hundred years L7-"mColumbus. They are have the Vidngs, from northern Europe. Scientists 8. (Ametals dug upthe 1rem-1nfaof a V ~ngAgW newtheAtlan (B) writings tic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The village seems (C) (D) furniture Viking to date from the year 1000. Also, stones with L .on them have been found as far inland as Iowa, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. 9. (A)mention (B) direct (D) finish (C) destroy The ruins of the Viking village seem to be real. Also, this side old Viking writings .. a colony on the of he ocean, called Vinland. Almost certainly, (A) move (B) help Vikings did 10 the New World before Co- 10. (C) reach (D) answer lumbus. 146
WEEK 4
LESSON I
PREDICTING OUTCOMES
Objective: To have the students learn to predict what
will happen in a given reading selection.
Description of the Activity:
1. A reading selection will be presented.
2. The selection will ask the reader to pre-
dict the outcome from what has been read.
3. The outcome will be a logical conclusion
or next step that can be arrived from the
main idea and the ending of the selection.
Find/Tell:
Ask the students "What is a main idea?" (tells
what the whole selection is about) "Can answers
to all questions about reading passages be found
directly stated in the passage?" (no)
Tell:
What: In this lesson we will learn the meaning
of prediction of outcome when reading
a selection. 147
Give the Definition:
Prediction of outcome is an estimate of
what could logically come next in a
selection. To be logical, the outcome
must fit the main idea and the ending of
the reading selection.
Why predicting outcome is important:
Predicting outcomes is a logical step in
reading comprehension. Good readers
should be able to predict and imagine what
will happen next.
How to use the strategy:
1. Determine the main idea of the reading
selection.
2. Determine the ending of the selection.
3. Using the main idea and ending, pre-
dict the next logical step that could
fit the story.
Demonstrates 1. Read the passage orally while the students
follow along reading silently.
2. Using a blank transparency for Main Idea,
Ending and Prediction of Outcome, show the
students how to predict a logical outcome
by writing down the main idea, and ending. 148
3. Have the students arrive at a predicted
outcome by using the clues provided.
Guided Practice: Have the students read the selection
provided. After reading, they will com-
plete a similar chart as the one used to
demonstrate the lesson. Evaluation: Orally read and discuss the practice selection.
Discuss the most logical answers as a class.
Verbalizing their answers will help the
students better understand the acceptable and
unacceptable answer choices. 149
Robots for the Home? Robots are a success in factory work. They paint cars, drill airplane wings, and spray chemicals, for example. A factory robot is simply a box with an arm attached. Most robots do a certain job over and over in 1982, and the number again1 There were 4,000 robots in U.S. factories is growing. -- You might think that robots would be as useful in a home as they are a factory. Why couldn't a robot do everyday chores in a home - iash the dishes, sweep the floors, take out the garbage? Most dentists believe that robots for the home will be practical only in the distant future. First of all, a home robot would cost anywhere from $15,000 to $100,000. And even if everyone could afford one, a home is not the best place for a robot. Robots can't climb stairs, for. example, and they would be too heavy to carry. Also, robots can't change their work place easily. Rooms in a home are different - - sizes. A robot designed to work in a large room might bounce off the walls in a smaller room. Most rome chores are much too complicated for a robot, scientists point out. They doubt whether aC- robot would ever be able to wash - the dishes without breaking them. , A few companies have made a kind of home robot. In 1982, a department store advertised a robot that could walk the dog,6, water plants, and take out the - garbage. This robot was controlled by radio, like a model airplane. It was more like an expensive toy than a true robot. A true robot is . -.. run by a built4n computer.
U
6 150
PREDICTING OUTCOMES "ROBOTS FOR THE FUTURE"
Directions: Read "Robots for the Future", p. 32 Project Achievement D, and answer the following:
1. In the future, robots in U. S. factories are likely to be
a. more like people.
b. out of work.
c. more widely used.
d. morc expensive,
2. The first robots in homes are likely to be used in
a. a bedroom and a kitchen.
b. only one room.
c. only a small room.
c. only a large room,
3. If Robot could climb stairs, would they thed be practical for the home?
a. yes
b. no 151
WEEK 4
LESSON 2 PREDICTING OUTCOMES
what Objective: To have the students learn to predict
will happen in a given reading selection.
Description of the Activity:
1. A reading section will be presented.
2. The selection will ask the reader to
predict the outcome from what has been read.
3. The outcome will be a logical conclusion or
next step that can be arrived from the main
idea and the ending of the selection.
4. Compare and discuss the student answers
for the passage
5. Encourage the students to talk about their
choices. 152
LESSON. Musicto Their Ears Stereo sets with headphones started appearing in 1979. The headphones were on the ears of walkers, joggers, bicycle riders, drivers. and By the end of 1982, more than 10 million people around the world owned the tiny machines. The owner of Sony, a Japanese company, invented k.WAnted'to the sets. He be able to listen to hiofi music while playing tennis. Many "companies now produce models. Some sets play 'Pay cassette tapes; others AM or FM radio. A few even combine all three. The sets alloW people lightweight to listen to their favorite music at its loudest, without bothering anyone else. As the sets grew more popular, some people began to worry their use. One about worry is about the dangers of an accident on the street. A person wearing headphones cannot always hear warning the horn of.0 car or a shout. That fact has led some states to take action. of 1982, nine By the end states had passed laws that banned the use of headphones by drivers. Some towns and cities also wanted to keep pedestrians and bicycle riders from using headphones in the street. Another worry is that the headphone sets could damage hearing. a listener's Scientists in Japan studied the hearing of 150 high school students who used headphones regularly. They found students that eight had a hearing loss. These eight students listened to their' stereo headphones an average of six hours a day. stopped But when they using the headphones, their hearing returned to normal. 153
PREDICTING OUTCOMES "MUSIC TO THETR EARS"
Directionst Read "Muatc to Their Ears", p. 38, Project Achievment D, and try to predict the following outcomes,
I. Headpho nes would probably be accepted in a library because a. libraries are crowded.
b. no one else could hear the music.
q. t1e headphones are small.
d. ttsdents use libraries.
2. What would scientists probably suggest to owners of headphones? a. stop using them from time to time
b. play the music at a high volume
c. clean the headphones regularly
d. stay out of cars
3. If future studies proved that listening to headphones caused sevet hearing loss, which of the following would most likely happen?
a. People would listen to headphones more often.
b. Headphones would be removed from the market.
c. People would no longer listen to music.
d. People's hearing would return to normal. 154
Transparency
PREDICTION OF OUTCOME 1. Ah -estimate of what could logically come next in a selection. To be logical, the outcome must fit the main idea and the ending.
MAIN IDEA ENDING
PREDICTION OF OUTCOME 155
WEEK 5
LESSON I
MAKING INFERENCES
experience learn to use To have the students Object b-ti*ivO- clues amd story clues to make interpretations
inference. resulting in an and generalizations t Activitye Description of the for read each story 1. The students will about the while thinking general content author. made by the possible inferences each story, the students 2. After reading given to determine examine the statements true inference, a factually whether each is an inference. statement, or an statement, a false rereading the 3. Students will practice answer to support their selection for evidence choices. and why it is either 4. Discuss each statement inference. true, false, or an knows what the word students if anyone Find/Tell' Ask the inference means. 156
Tell: What: "In this lesson we will learn how to use
experience clues and story clues to make
an inference about what has been read.'"
Give the Definition: An inference is an educated guess
about something based on facts. An
inference uses experience clues and story
clues and is not directly stated. You
must "read between the lines" to make an
inference.
Why making inferences is important:
Recognizing inferences is a critical
reading skill that helps the reader
examine the facts and then decide what
ideas the selection is trying to convey.
How to use the Strategy:
1. Read the entire selection as it is
presented.
2. Decide if a statement is True, False, I
or an Inference.
3. Reread the selection for evidence to
support your decision.
5 Demonstrate: 1. Read the passage orally while the students follow along silently.
2 . Examine the statements given to determine
whether an Inference has been made. 157
3. If the statement is true or false, have
the students find evidence in the passage
to support their answers.
4. If the statement is an Inference, have the
students point out what experience clues
and what story clues were used to help to
determine the inference.
Gudied Practice: Have the students complete the exercise
provided.
Evaluation: Orally read and discuss the practice
selection. Have the students tell why
their choices were made.
a 158
~ 1. U n it I
1. .Bob saw a crowd of people in the park. He went over to see what they were looking at. In the middle of the crowd was a woman. She was painting a picture of a small boy. Bob looked at the picture and said, "I wish she would paint my picture."
2. "Don't go near that tree," warned Harold. "There are hundreds of bees in it. I can hear them buzzing from here." "Don't worry. I won't go near the bees," said Ron. "I learned my lesson last summer when I visited my uncle's farm."
3. When it stopped raining, Betty began walking home. Soon she came to a big puddle in the middle of the side. walk. Betty ran toward the puddle and jumped high into the air. When she landed, Betty said, "I should have walked around the puddle."
4. Father gave Jim money to get a haircut. On the way to the barber, Jim lost the money He dn' knw to do! Then he saw hat his friend, FranklLJim asked Fr~hk to gehim a haircut. When Jim went home, his father aked, "What happened to your hair?"
5. The zoo was going to close at five looked at her o'clock. Lynn watch.. It was almost four o'clock. "Oh, dr," ad L. Tie zoo is going to close in about"a, hour, and I haven' seen half the animals. back again tomorrow."9 I think I'll come 159
Unit 1 T F I 1. (A) No one was watching the woman El paint. El El 0 El (B) The woman was painting in a park. (C) Bob thought the woman was a good 000l artist.
T F I 2. (A) Therewere a lotof bees in the tree.* 0 El (B) Harold cofld hear the beeibUzZnng. 0 0 1 (C) Ron had been stung by bees at uncle's farm. 000
T F I 3. (A) Betty landed in the puddle. 000l (B) It had not rained for two days. E0 ElEl (C) Betty was walking home. El El0
T F I 4. (A) Jim asked Frink for money. 0 0 0 (B) JIm didn't get a good harc0t. 0 0 0 (C) Jim andFrankarefriends. 0 0 El
T' U I 5. (A) The zoo closes at four o'clock. -A- 0 O (B) Lynn didn't have a watch. 0 0 (C) Lynn likes looking at the animals. 0 160
WEEK 5- LESSON :2 MAKING INFERENCES
Description of the Activity: 1. Reading activities will be presented 2. The exercise will have five short reading passages state- 3. The students will determine if a given
ment is True, False, or an Inference. for the 4. Compare and discuss the students answers passages.
5. Encourage the students to talk about their choices. 161
Unit 2
1. ""Listen to this joke I made up," said Pam. Pam told her friends a joke. None of her friends laughed. Her friend Brenda said, "Pam, that joke is just like all your jokes. Maybe you should stop trying to make us laugh."
2. Mr. Ramos was driving home when a dog ran in front of his car. He drove into a bush to miss hitting the dog. Luckily, Mr. Ramos was not hurt. Mr. Ramos said, "I always look out for dogs' and cats when rm driving."
3. "I wish I didn't have to go to school today," said Larry. "rm afraid to take the spelling test. I just know rm going to fail." - "It's your own fault," said Ann. "Most people will fail a test if they don't study for it."
4. Bill likes to keep his bedroom neat. He puts every. thing exactly where it belongs. When his cousin came for a visit, Bill became very upset. There were socks on the floor, and nothing was where it was supposed to be. Bill was happy when his cousin's visit was over.
5. "My older sister goes to high school," said Mary. "Every day the school bus stops at the corner to pick her up." "rll be glad when we get older," said Cindy. "The school we go to now is only a few blocks away, so we have to walk." 162 Unit 2
1. (A) Pam's jokes are not fuy.TF (B) Brenda laughed at Pam's joke. 0 00 (C) Pam told a joke to her friends. 0 0 0
2 . (A) The car hit a bush, - T F 000.1 (B) PMJan~adjjg~~a sWas drlving tO ork. 0 0 0 (C) M.Ramos*likesanials 0 0
3. (A) Larry thought the test would be easy. 00 () LUrY didnt want to go to sool 0 0 (C) hadn't studied for the spelling 000
4. (A) Bill's cousin is not a neat person. T F
SBmwas sad when his cousin went
(C) Bill's cousin stayed In Bill's room. 000
6..(A) The high school is not near Mary'sT house. B) Cindywaks to 0 1 . 0 0 0 00 0 163
WEEK 6
LESSON 1 SUMMARIZING
(USING SKIMMING AND SCANNING TECHNIQUES)
the author's Objective: To have the student% understand main ideas and the relation to one another by
learning to extract key points in a connected form.
Descripition of the Activity:
1. Students will look over the passage
carefully, noting what kind o format and
appearance it has.
2. Emphasis will be placed on the special way
that the information is organized.
3. After reading the selection, the students
will cover the worksheet and repeat the
important details quietly to themselves or write
them down to make certain that they understand
and remeber important facts.
Find/Tell: Ask thew students to define "Summarize". 164
is writing only the most Tell: What: Summarizing the story. A important details from as possible and summary should be as short and events highlight the main character(s)
crucial to the story line. is writing the key Give the Definitioni Summarizing in a points exactly and economically connected form.
Writing a summary of a Why summarizing is important: to extract selection forces the reader passage. The comprehension from the is read in reader must understand what condense it. order to make it short or
How to use the Strategyl 1. Read the selection of each 2. Write down the topic sentence paragraph. of the topic 3. Connect the thoughts (give sentences by using transitions
examples). words. 4. Eliminate any unnnecessary where you can 5. Abbreviate long words words that do and leave out any short
not add to the meaning.
a 165
final 6. Examine closely the author's is said in statement. Restate what to it whatever your own words and add
is needed to make it more meaningful
to you.
passage orally while the Demonstrate: 1. Read the students read along silently . the topic sentence 2. Have the students notice
of each paragraph. the selection is 3. Observe the way that
organized. to include enough 4. In each summary, be sure of thought that key ideas to get the line
the author is trying to convey. sample 5. Practice summarizing short
paragraphs. the students read and summarize Guided Practices have the reading sample given. for each paragraph after Evaluation% Discuss the answers students have finished.
a
0 166
Summarizn
the of the summaries best describes Read the story. Then decide which of the best summary. story. Put an "X" on the line in front to come at noon but she didn't The television repairperson was supposed a nature program show up until two. We were all upset because there was whole family was on at 1 o'clock that we had hoped to see. As a result, the in an unfriendly mood when Ms. McArthur arrived. expected," she "Sorry I'm late, but my last two jobs took longer than I of her khaki-colored said. Her name "McArthur" was on the pocket coveralls, and she carried a red toolbox. from one Dad turned the set on. The picture switched uncontrollably the controls. channel to another. Ms. McArthur started fiddling with "Looks like tuner trouble," she announced. "Will it take long to fix?" my brother Phil whined. "There's a basketball game I want to see in an hour." in the Ms. McArthur shook her head. "I'll have to take the tuner apart shop. You will be without your set for several days." Everyone groaned. After looking at our disappointed faces Ms. McArthur continued "Mr. Bates, I'll rent you a very good set for a small fee."
1. Ms. McArthur, the television repairperson, came to the Bates's house two hours late. She wore khaki-colored coveralls and carried a red toolbox. She tried to be nice, butthe family was in a bad mood. Phil was worried about missing a basketball game. Ms. McArthur had to repair the tuner in her shop,
. . L Unhappy because they missed one program and anticipated missing others, the Bates family admitted Ms. McArthur, th, television repairperson. After examining their TV, she told them that she could repair the set's faulty tuner in her shop over the course of a few. days. In the meantime, they could rent a set fron'hfr4.i.- pleased everyone in the family.
COMPREHENSION Summazng 167
WEEK 6
LESSON 2 SUMMARIZING
Objective:. To have the students read and summarize a given
reading selection.
Description of the activity:
1. Review the strategy of summarizing as it
was presented on Day 1.
2. A reading selection will be presented.
3. The students will read the selection.
4. Have the students write down the topic
sentences of each paragraph.
5. Instruct the students to use the topic
sentences to write a short summary of the
reading selection. 168
Summary Writing.
-a -h-po N elem cents In a .to ry K 1
Read the selection. Then write a summary of it in your own words.
Doctor Packard was a brilliant scientist. She was also, as usual, in a foul mood. the waved a handful of papers at Miss Black. "Look," she snarled, "you misspelled a word here. Fix it on the word processor. Perfect this time. I demand perfection." Miss Black clenched her teeth. "Yes, ma'am' she said. She was. no nicer to her assistant, Bob Cornwall, who was helping her build the time machine. Cornwall was busy soldering circuit boards in place whenfPackard came up. "What?"Packard-barked.- "Aren't-you-finished yet?" "tll be another twenty minutes or so." Cornwall had been working for eightren hours to finish the machine. He was tired. Packard examined the machine sourly. Abruptly, her face turned beet red. She pointed to one of the circuit'boards and screamed, "This is a poor connection, Cornwall. Do it again! Perfect this time, understand? Perfect, or get out" Cornwall sighed, "Yes, ma'am. Packard raged on. "If that circuit fails, I'll never get back home. '1l be stuck in the ancient past! Make it perfect, Cornwall, or else." She stalked out of the room. Twenty minutes later she was back. "Finished?" she said sarcastically. "Yes, Dr. Packard." "All right.' The scientist punched some buttons and the machine beeped. "On my first trip I'll go tack 20,000 years. Clean up this place while I'm gone, Cornwall. Perfectly. Understand?" Dr. Packard shimmered; pop! She was gone. Miss Black came into the room, holding a handful of pages. She looked around. "Where is she?' she asked. "I'd say she's standing on top of a glacier right now,' Cornwall said. "What's that?" "It's her paper. I made a mistake on page 3 so I had to print the whole thing over." ".. "That's OK, Emmy. Everybody makes mistakes. The doctor forgot to check my work. And I forgot to resolder one of these circuits. Can you imagine?" Emmy nodded sympathetically. "Nobody is perfect, I guess,' she said.
a APPENDIX C
LESSON PLANS FOR ENSUING SIX WEEKS
169 170
WORKSHEETS FOR ENSUING SIX WEEKS
The lesson plans will follow the same order that the reading strategies were introduced during the first six-week period:
1. Main Idea
2. Sequence
3. Clozure
4. Predicting Outcome
5. Making Inferences
6. Summarizing 171
READING STRATEGY 1
MAIN IDEA
SOURCE: Boning, Richard A. Getting the Main Idea Booklet E. New York: Barnell Loft, Ltd.: 1982 172
Unit 3 .
their own names. most people couldn't even write 1. Long ago Then they They just wrote X or a cross to stand for their names. show that they were sincere. kissed the paper it was written on to for a person's signature and After a long time, X came to stand as a sign of love. also for a kiss. Today X is used
and the Guerrero, Texas, people are fishing in the church 2. In United States and Mex- schoolyard!rSeveral years ago, when the building a dam on the Rio Grande River, it was known ico began six feet deep. waters would back up. and flood the town that row and cast fishing Guerrero was abandoned. Today people through the doors of lines down the main street-even right Guerrero's church and up the aisle.
with other ways of 3. Ships are generally slow compared the U. S. Navy is building a supership traveling. Now, however, per hour- that will zoom over the water at a hundred miles almost twice as fast as most cars and trains. The Navy's new field and will ride a few ship will be almost the size of a football feet above the water on an air bubble.
of a skull was discovered 4. Before the first World War, part scientists said it was 600,000 years in Piltdown, England. Some on to think that human beings had been old. Scientists began been thought before their present form longer than had earth in they found'out th wonderful Piltdown discovery. Years later tolook old. the skulwas a fake.It had just been made
amazing animals. It has 288 5. The cat is one of nature's most It also has 517 springlike mus light bones of incredible strength. almost seems to float o t en (Aes. As a result, the cat ten it can pick up the direction of a sound jumps. Furthermore, is six times better than times faster than a dog can. Its vision that of a person. 173
Unit 3-
1. The story mainly tells: (A) Why people put X on their letters (B) How the meaning of X has changed (C) Why people couldn't write their names (D) Why people kiss
2. The story mainly tells: (A) Why people can fish in Guerrero's church (B) Why the United States and Mexico built a dam (C) How successful Guerrero's fishers are (D) How deep Guerrero's waters are
3. The story mainly tells: (A) When the Navy's supership will start operating (B) Why ships are slower than other transportation (C) How the supership will create an air bubble (D) What the Navy's supership will be like
4. The story mainly tells: (A) What happened long ago (B) Where Piltdown Is (C) What the Piltdown discovery was (D) How the skull had been made to look old
5. The story mainly tells: (A) Why cats are unusual (B) How many bones cats have (C) How much cats weigh (D) How well cats can hear 174
Unit 4
1. Indians made fishhooks long before the European settlers came to America. They used bent bones from birds and other ani- mals. They also used a small straight bone called a bone gorge. It was sharpened at both ends. A line was tied to the middle. The bone gorge was then baited. When it was swallowed by a fish, the Indians jerked the line. This turned the bone crosswise. The fish was caught.
2. Many of the "modern" gadgets that make our cars run bet- ter or more comfortably were actually invented many years ago. Power steering, which reduces the driver's effort, dates back to 1926. Automatic transmissions first appeared in 1940. A year later, the first air-conditioned cars came out. Tubeless tires were first offered to car owners in 1947.
3. The early American colonists were happy to discover the little grayish berries that grew along the coast. From these bay- berries they got a clear tallow, which they made into candles. Bayberry candles were hard and straight even in the summer. When snuffed out, they gave off a pleasant smell that brought a hint of summer on the snowiest of days.
4. If you should feel the ground or floor start to shake beneath your feet and see walls starting to move, you may be caught in an earthquake. If you are inside a building, get under anything that will protect you from a falling ceiling. If you are outside, get away from buildings as fast as you can. An open place is the safest.
5. Air pollution is not a modern problem. People of the Stone Age suffered from the effects of it too. A study of primitive villages in New Guinea showed that smoky fires built by early natives caused illness and death. Four out of five people who were over forty years old had lung disease. This ailment was a leading cause of death among primitive tribes. 175
Unit 4
1. The story mainly tells: (A) Where Indians got bent fishhooks (B) How Indians used a bone gorge (C) How much Indians like fish (D) How Indians baited a bone gorge
2. The story mainly tells: (A) Why cars need power steering and automatic trans- missions (B) How old some inventions for cars are (C) Who invented the first car gadgets (D) Why people want comfortable cars
3. The story mainly tells: (A) What bayberry candles are like (B) Where to find bayberries (C) How pleasant snuffedeout candles are (D) How to make candles
4. The story mainly tells: (A) What to do in case of an earthquake (B) Why walls and floors shake (C) What causes earthquakes (D) How to keep safe
5. The story mainly tells: (A) Why the study was made (B) Who made the study (C) .How air pollution is an old problem (D) Why an outdoor life is the healthiest kind 176 Unit 5
1. Were you amazed at how real the spaceships and outer- space scenery looked in the movie Star Wars? Mostly, the ships were tiny models, much like those you buy in a hobby store. They were made by a group of young adults who have started their own company. They make sets and props for science-fiction movies and TV shows. Once the company made rocket-ship pipes out of old cigar tubes.
2. There is an amazing story told about the horned toad of the southwestern part of the United States. It can squirt blood from the corners of its eyes. When the horned toad becomes excited or angry, its blood pressure is supposed to rise. This causes the lit- tle blood vessels near the corners of its eyes to break, squirting blood for some distance.
3. There is plenty of water on earth. In fact, there is enough water on our planet for every single person on the entire earth to have a lake so large that the end of it could not be seen. The trou- ble is that the water isn't always found where it is needed. Also, much of it is salty or polluted. Thus it is that there are many peo- ple without enough water.
4. What do you think of when you hear of Timbuktu? Some people think of a real but distant city. Others think of a strange but imaginary land that doesn't really exist. The truth is that Timbuktu does exist. Many years ago this African city was one of the richest cities in the world. It was the world center for the salt trade.
5. Have you ever seen yellow spots on the leaves of your house plants? If only a few leaves are spotted, the plant won't die. If many leaves are spotted, the plant will probably die. It is best to pick off the spotted leaves. Also, make sure the room isn't too hot for good plant health.
I 177
U it5
1. The story mainly tells: (A) What props and scenery for space movies are made from (B) How the young adults were picked to do Star Wars (C) Why cigar tubes make good rocket pipes (D) Why people like science-fiction movies
2. The story mainly tells: (A) Where blood comes from (B) How the horned toad squirts blood (C) How the horned toad's blood pressure rises (D) Where horned toads live
3. The story mainly tells: (A) Why all people on earth have enough water (B) Why everyone on earth has a lake (C) Where water is found (D) How there's a water problem with so much water
4. The story mainly tells: (A) Why people are wrong about the earthquake of Tlmbuktu (B) How old Tlmbuktu is (C) Why Tlmbuktu was so rich (D) What people think and what is fact about Tinbuktu
5. The story mainly tells: (A) What color plants are (B) How yellow spots affect plants (C) Why some plants get yellow spots (D) Why cold rooms are good 178
Unit 6
1. The word highway has a very old history. In England more than a thousand years ago, roads were higher than the ground around them. Workers threw up earth from ditches to form a raised, or high way of travel. Because they were higher, they were called highways. These first highways were built by the Romans, who had invaded England.
2. Millions of people have looked at Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, Mona Lisa. Her slight, mysterious smile has been written and talked about for centuries. Millions of copies of the painting have been made, yet very few people have noticed that she has no eyebrows. Some believe that she, like other women of her time, shaved off her eyebrows.
3. Only one silver U. S. penny has ever been made. It was made by mistake at a U. S. mint, where coins are produced on giant stamping machines. The Denver mint's machine had been making silver coins and then was switched over to pennies. Because workers did not know that some silver was left inside, the first penny came out silver.
4. Wild mustangs have been known to break the gate of a cor- ral during the night and drive off a herd of mares. The mustangs nip at the heels and sides of the mares, driving them twenty or thirty miles from the ranch before allowing them to slow down. The mustangs seem to sense that the rancher will soon be on the trail.
5. Not every American soldier at the Battle of the Alamo perished there. One fled through the Mexican lines on foot and escaped. Sadly, it was the escape itself that proved fatal. The in- juries received while dashing among cactus plants resulted in the soldier's death. a 179
Unit 6
1. The story mainly tells: (A) How high some highways are (BY,Who built~the first roads (C) Why roads were raised (D) How the word highway began
2. The FtOey rgainly tells: (A) Who painted Mona Lisa (B) Why people talk about Mona Lisa's smile (C) What few people notice about Mona Lisa (D) Why people buy this painting
3. The story mainly tells: (A) Where U.S. coins are produced (B) How valuable the silver penny is (C) Why one penny came out silver (D) How stamping machines make pennies
4. The story mainly tells: (A) How mustangs drive off a herd of mares (B) Why ranchers like mustangs (C) Why mustangs are so smart (D) How fast mustangs run
5. The.story mainly tells: (A) Where the Alamo is (B) What happened to an Alamo soldier (C) What the Mexicans did at the Alamo (D) When an Alamo soldier died 180
READING STRATEGY 2
SEQUENCE
SOURCE: Townsend, Donna, Linda Ward Beech, and T. McCarthy. Sequence 1. Austin, Tx: Steck-Vaughn Co.: 1987. 181
If you've ever been to a zoo, you've probably seen some unusual sights. Visitors saw a strange sight at the MetroZoo in Miami, Florida. The zoo was new. It had 225 acres of land. It had lots of animals wandering around the grounds. It also had a small lake and a miniature golf course. Still, the zoo did not have as many visitors as people thought it should. If the zoo had more visitors, it would make more money. The zoo needed this money to take care of its animals and their homes. So the zoo opened a new exhibit. It was called Urban Man. The sign near the exhibit said: "Found in cities throughout the planet." People were curious. They came by the dozens to see Urban Man. He was in a cage with some giant turtles. He had on a dark suit, white shirt, and a tie. He carried a briefcase. As people stared, Urban Man got ready for the day. He brushed his teeth. Then he shaved. When he was finished cleaning himself, he ate his breakfast. While he ate, he read the morning newspaper. Then Urban Man got up and walked around. He did not speak, but he did hand out his business cards. They said Urban Man. The children in the crowd all pushed nearer so they could get one. After that Urban Man went to his big desk. He shuffled some of the papers on it. The zoo visitors thought that was wonderful. Later on in the day Urban Man used some of his machines. He listened to music on his stereo and watched aprogram on his television. Urban Man was a big success. However, he was only at the zoo for 72 hours. After that he picked up his paycheck and left. In real life this Urban Man was an actor. Working in the zoo was just one of the parts he played. 182
1. Put these events in the order they happened. What happened first? Write first by that sentence. Then write second by the sentence that tells what happened Write next. third by the sentence that tells what happened
People came to see Urban Man. The zoo did not have many visitors. The zoo opened a new exhibit. 2. When did Urban Man get his paycheck? a. at the end of the day b. after 72 hours c. at breakfast time 3. When did Urban Man eat breakfast? a. while he read the paper b. after he listened to his stereo c. while he brushed his teeth -- 4. When did Urban Man walk around? a. while he read the morning paper b. after he ate breakfast c. before he went to bed 5. When did the Urban Man exhibit open? a. after Urban Man left b. while Urban Man brushed his teeth c. when MetroZoo was new 183
1- -
Is it a tree? Is it a bear? If you're looking at a tree in the that is shape of a bear, it's a topMry. A topiary is a tree or bush trained into a shape. Topiaries are a kind of sculpture. Growing a topiary garden takes both time and skill. The first thing a topiary gardener does is make a drawing. The drawing shows the form the gardener would like a tree or bush to take. People cut their topiaries from special bushes. The bushes are called yew, privet, or boxwood. The gardener then chooses the bush for the topiary. It may be one that was just planted or one that is already in place. In June of the plant's first year, the gardener looks for new leaves. When the leaves grow, then it is time to shape the bottom of the bush. The gardener shapes the bottom of the bush for about five years. The top is not trimmed during this time. In the fifth year the bush grows tall enough. Then the gardener begins to shape the whole bush. Sometimes branches are bent to form a shape. The gardener wires the branches in place. Once a topiary has been started, it needs care all year. In the summer, it must be clipped many times to keep its shape. This cutting 4so helps the bush grow. In the winter the bushes don't grow. But the gardeners still have to brush snow off the plants. Snow can hurt the flat parts of the plants. Topiaries are a very old art. The Romans did it in the first century. In the sixteenth century, people in England liked topiaries, too. The Dutch and French grew very pretty topiaries in their neat gardens. By the late 1600's, topiaries were also grown in America. Now you can see a topiary garden in Williamsbur& Virginia. It's much like a garden that grew there hundreds of years ago. 184
Y-r - H T- -T-
1. Put these events in the order they happened. What write happened first? Write first by that sentence. Then second by the sentence that tells what happened next. Write third by the sentence that tells what happened after that. The gardener chooses the bush. The gardener draws a sketch. The gardener shapes the bottom. 2. When does the gardener look for new growth? a. in the fifth year b. in June c. after the first century 3. How long does it take a topiary bush to grow tall enough? a. five years b. hundreds of years c. one year 4. When did the Romans grow topiaries? a. in the late 1600's b. in the first century c. in the fifth century 5. When were topiaries first grown in America? a. before the 1500's b. during the 1600's c. after the 1700's 185
A long time ago in China two young girls married two brothers. They all lived with the brothers' mother. Although the girls were happy, they greatly missed their own village. They asked many times for permission to return for a visit. After many years their mother-in-law gave in. However, she told the girls that they must bring her two gifts on their return. Lotus Blossom must bring back fire in a paper. Moon Flower must bring wind in a paper. Without these gifts the girls could not come back to their husbands. The girls went back to visit their village. But when it was time to return, they began to cry. How could they find the gifts that their mother-in-law demanded? A younger sister thought about their problem. At last she had the answer. She gave Lotus Blossom a paper lantern with a candle in it. To Moon Flower she gave a fan. Now the girls could return to their husbands. From then on they used thoughts, not tears, to solve their problems.
6 186
1.Put these events in the order they happened. What happened first? Write first by that sentence. Then write second by the sentence that tells what happened next. Write third by the sentence that tells what happened after that. The mother-in-law asked for two gifts. The girls missed their own village. The girls married two brothers. 2. When did the girls ask to return to their village? a. before they were married b. before they were given permission c. while they were in their own village
-. 3. When could the girls come back to their husbands? a. when they had the gifts b. after they asked permission c. before they saw their mothers .. 4. When did the girls cry? a. after their sister helped them b. while their sister helped them c. before their sister helped them 5.When did the girls live in their own village? a. before they married b. after they found the gifts c. after many years 187
Abe Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States. He was a very tall man. His hair was black and would not stay down when he combed it. His thin arms were long and strong. Lincoln was a serious man, but he had a funny side, too. He was famous for his jokes and funny stories. When Abe began to grow tall as a boy, his stepmother teased him about his height. She used to tell him to keep the top of his head clean. That way he wouldn't get her ceiling dirty. She said it was easy enough to wash the floor if it got dirty, but the ceiling was another matter. Abe took this teasing in good spirits. He didn't mind being tall. Besides, there wasn't much he could do about it. Then, one day, Abe got an idea. He was watching some little boys playing in the mud. He could see how dirty their feet were getting. Abe looked around. His stepmother wasn't home. So Abe went outside to the boys in the mud puddle. He picked up one boy and carried him into the house. Then he went back and picked up the second boy. One by one, Abe turned the boys upside down. Then he walked their dirty feet across the dean white ceiling. They made a trail of muddy footprints from one room to the other. The boys thought this was great fun. So did Abe. Then Abe waited for his stepmother to return. When she did, she saw the footprints right away. "'Abe Lincoln, you've played a good joke on me," she laughed. "I guess I deserve it." When the laughter was over, Abe got out the paintbrush. He put a fresh coat of paint on the ceiling, leaving it cleaner than ever before. 188
1.Put these events in the order they happened. What happened first? Write first by that sentence. Then write second by the sentence that tells what happened next. Write third by the sentence that tells what happened after that. Abe's stepmother teased him. Abe brought the boys into the house. Abe saw some little boys in the mud. 2. When did Abe carry the boys into the house? a. when he saw them playing outside in the mud b. after he walked their feet across the ceiling c. before he looked to see if his stepmother was around 3. As soon as Abe's stepmother returned what did she do? a. she laughed b. she saw the footprints c. she left 4. When did Abe get the paintbrush? a. after he became president b. before he saw the boys in the mud c. after he played the joke 5. When did this story take place? a. while Abe was president b. before Abe was president c. after Abe was president 189
READING STRATEGY 3
CLOZURE
SOURCE: Boning, Richard, Cloze Connections E. New Yoik: Barnell Loft, Ltd. 1981 190 UNIT 4 Fencing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 1. (A) vouched (B) dueled was a method forsettling disputes in which opponents (C) singed (D) probed I to the death. Today, fortunately, fencing is a sport in which 2 .use dueling swords that have the points covered toprevent injury. The2.(Arenegades, fencers also wear face masks, padded jackets, and (B) pistons gloves for protection. and (C) gangsters (D) opponents
There are three types of modern fencing weapons- the' foil, -the baber, and the 6p6e. The foil has a 3. (A) donated (B) corroded S, four-sided blade and a circular guard to (C) flexible (D) advisable protect the hand. The saber has a flat, thin blade and a hand guard that curves around the knuckles. The 6pde* has a rigid, three-sided -blade -and a-large- 4 (A) circular -hand guard. 4 A iclr (B) alien (C) accessory (D) void The object in fencing is to touch an opponent with your L without being touched In return. A' point is given for each touch. Five points are needed to 5. (A) waiter (B) weapon win a men's bout, and four point to win a women's (C) shroud (D) microscope bout. In many championship bouts an electrical device is used to LI--- touches. 6. (A) contradict (B) atone The fencing rules for contests using the foil, saber, (C) record (D) furlough and 6p6e are basically the same, though there are slight differences. With the foil, points' can be 7 only when the opponent's trunk Is touched with the covered tip of the foil. With the saber, points 7. (A) scored (B) adjourned are scored when any part of the oponent's body ex- (C) corrupted (D) hurtled cept th leg. is touched by either-the tip or edges of the ... L. . In 6p6e duels, points are scored when any part of the opponent's body is touched with 8. (A) blade (B) hub the blade tip. (C) overlay (D) precipice
Fencing is a sport that .L . grace and skill. of attack (the thrust) and de- The basic movements 9. (A) denounces (B) ridicules demand muscular fense (blocking the thrust) both (C) exports (D) requires ... JLm1 _ of hand, foot, and body, as well as a thorough knowledge of technique and tactics. Agility and quick thinking are equally important. Since strength is not required, fencing is popular with peo- 10. (A) vulcanizing (B) coordinatio ple of all ages. (C) resignation (Q) translation 191 9 UNIT 5 The gnu, or wildebeest as it is sometimes called, is a 1. (A) disinherited (B) dissolved large, horselike animal that lives in southern Africa. (C) equipped (D) smeared Weighing 300 to 475 pounds, the gnu is L -- with high, large shoulders and a thick neck. Its big head has long horns that curve upward like buffalo 2.(A) humanlike (B) beetlelike horns. Clumps of stiff hair grow on the gnu's forehead, (C) rabbitlike (D) horselike neck, and shoulders, as well as on its long, 2- tail. a.:,.
-. 3.(A) hives (B) vials Gnus are often called "horned horses" by the people (C) herds (D) schools of Africa. Gnus live in .J.thway horses do, and they can be just as playful as any colt. But gnus, who can gallop as fast as fifty miles an hour, can easi- 4. (A) soothing (B) preservin. ly outruntWany horse. They are also more dangerous (C) butting (D) admiring fighters than horses because they are very good at 4.j their enemies with sharp horns. 5. (A) phases (B) types One of the two IS of gnus is known as (C) layers (D) replicas the white-tailed gnu. This kind has become almost S ;that in, only a few are AMil to be found. The whitetailed gnu stands about three and a half 6. (A) prolonged (B) extinct feet high at the shoulders and has a fierce, hairy face. (C) contagious (D) abundant Its coathas black and white markings, and its tails yelowish-white. The horns of a white-tailed gnu are only two feet long. 7. (A) whimpers (B) commits (C) magnifies (D) attains The second type is known as the brindled gnu. It I7L-..____a height of four and a half feet at the shoulders and has a sad-looking face. The brindled 8. (A) stripes (B) feathers (C) winglets (D) inlets gnu has yeliowishbrown or gray hair with dark 9L .on its shoulders and neck. Its curved borns are almost three feet long. 9. (A) lease (B)range L over Africa from northern Ken* (C) purchase (D) propose Gnus ' ya to northern South Africa and Southwest Africa, looking for leaves, twigs, and grass to eat. Since gnus. are easy to keep in .. 10. you can find them in 10. (A) captivity (B) heredity (C) sanity (D) anesthesia many American zoos. 192 UNIT 6 1. (A) toasted (B) jiggled About four hundred years ago wild canary birds (C) enlarged (D) tamed were taken from the Canary Islands to Europe. There they were L... and raised for pets. People found them to bi- 2 companions. Although the wild canaries had always sung, their songs became 2. (A) silent (B) grouchy more beautiful after the birds were trained. Over the (C) cheerful (D) noisy years, the greenish color of the wild canaries turned to a bright yellow color that-tame-canaries havetoday. 3. (A) trapped . (B) hushed Many different types of canaries have been pro- (C) preserved (D) raised duced through the years. The finest singing canaries are -- L.-in the Harz Mountains of Germany. Only the male birds sing. Recordings of other bird songs are often played as part of the canaries' train- 4. -(A) queer (B ) musical ing. The canaries learn to imitate many 4 (C) moody (D) frightenin, sounds perfectly. The Roller canaries sing in trills with their bills almost closed. Others, called choppers, seem to whistle their melodies with their bills open. 5. (A) lands (B) forms (C) apartments (D) cages From other 5 come different breeds of canaries. Scottish canaries are long and thin, with tails that curl between their legs. Belgian canaries have very long necks, and 6..that often ap- 6. (A) eyebrows (B) tongues pear to be drooping. French canaries have curly (C) heads (D) shoulders feathers. Some canaries bred in Lancashire, England, grow to be eight inches long. English and French have the prettiest feathers. canaries 7. (A) sport (B) quarrels (C) dessert (D) exercise Whatever kind they are, canaries must be kept in clean, large cages. There must be room for them to fly around for 7....,. Besides seed, canaries need green food or a slice of apple, and water for drinking 8. (A) splashing (B) bathing and &l- __. They cannot live without water for (C) spitting (D) sniffing much more than twenty-four hours.
It is easy to figure out-that the canary received its 9. (A) sold (B) cackled name from their homeland, the Canary Islands. This (C) given (D) whispered pet bird has also 9 1 its name to a pale shade of yellow known as "canary yellow." A kind of wood 10 in Australia is called "canary wood." In England, prisoners were called "canary birds." Do 10. (A) found (B) polished you think it was because they were put into cages? (C) painted (D) scraped
a 193 UNIT 7 It looks like a great big cigar, but it is really a 1. (A) naughty (B) fierce dangerous saltwater fsh called the barracuda. This (C) timid (D) gentle L.. fish has a narrow body which grows to be from four to six feet long. The barracuda looks very much like the pike, a freshwater 2. 2. (A) insect (B) fowl (C) reptile (D) fish Although the barracuda is not related to the pike, it is like that freshwater fsh in being a fearless fighter. It has strong jaws and-a large mouth with knifelike 3. (A) grooming (B) outsmarting teeth. When attacking or .3- itself, it moves (C) defending (D) stimulating like lightning. The barracuda usually feeds on other flshbut very large- barracudas have-been known to A4... swimmers. No wonder this fsh is called 4. (A) attack (B) admire "the tiger of the sea"! (C) accompany (D) advise
The barracuda is usually found in warm, L seas or oceans. The most dangerous kind, the great 5. (A) bleak (B) dreary barracuda, is found off the coasts of Florida, Ber- (C) tropical (D) stormy muda, and the West Indies. Barracudas caught for food L in the warm waters off the coast of California and Australia. 6. (A) perish (B) live (C) fade (D) withdraw Bright . 7 -flash as the barracuda roams the seas. Its back changes from light brownish green to deep blue, its sides sparkle with silvery tones, and 7.0 (A) flags (B) eyes its L is chalky white. The barracuda's tail (C) colors (D) hopes and fis may be greenish yellow or gray. Its sharp- looking, yaowish-green eyes glow savagely. 8. (A) belly (B) tooth SThe barracuda fools Its enemies by taking on the (C) fin (D) spout color of its surroundings. When it swims above a sandy bottom, it becomes almost invisible as long as it stays quite stil. When it prowls around a coral reef, 9. (A) tickle (B) swim it is difficult to 9 even in shallow water. (C) invert (D) spot Fishers try to excite the barracuda to move by tying a long, white ~1ft behind their boat. Yet they are often outsmarted trying to trick "the tiger of the 10. (A) brd (B) rag sea." (C) house (D) alarm 194
READING STRATEGY 4
PREDICTING OUTCOME
SOURCE: Smith, George S. Globe Reading Comprehension Program Horizons, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Globe Book Co. 1989
Spache, F. & Spache, E. Project Achievement Level D. New York: Scholastic Publishing Co. 1984. 195
ROUiND TTh WORLD SAILOR
When' h nis Aebigd frm high school, her father gave her an unusual choice: She could go to college, or she could sail around the world-alone. * Wh Wldit beMlietomsailheworlnd &by yourself? * Why do you think'Tania's father gave her such a choice?
to college, she could sail around the world; but she had to do it alone. She also had to agree to write about her experienCes. Mr Aebi thought being on her own would help Tania grow up. "She always used to procrastinate," he said. 'But on a boat, when something goes wrong, you have to fix it. You cadt procrastinate" Tania left New York on May 28, 1985. She set sail Lamb on a 26-foot boat called Varuna. Her trip was not eas, but'Tania's father was always readyto helpbhet.He flewtoseveral ports just to visit. After Tania's boat turned over in the Mditerra n Sea, her father arrived in Gibral- tar with replacements for the equipment she had lost. On the last leg of'Tania's trip, her father met her at sea ina powerboat. He threw her a bag filled with fresh food and clothes. When Tan- is retumed home to New York on November Tania's father was worried about her. She 6, 1987, her father was there to greet her. was 18 yearsold and quite a rebel. She didn't 'ania's father helped and encouraged her, but seemtoknow what she wanted to do with her it was Tania herself who sailed around the life.Mr. Aebi loved Tania very much. He want- world. Perhaps someday you can read Tania's ed to help her find her way. Mr. Aebi gave his book and find out what it was really like to daughter an unusual option. Instead of going sail around the world-alone.
REU4)a ;penno wo does stento jzentteof he 0xpeduees (CkS PEER ee ns us things that as gessetint0&p MWRA tuh neyt) put off d smethimn 33 =pWwuoe= s(rih PLAYS munts) ti that takc the paeo Othartig aciumgmd taxKURljd helped,ge supportto .0 196
THE SECiET HARBOR
The Allied soldiers were fighting against the Germans in World War 1. Much of France was controlled by the Ger- man army. The Allies needed to get France back. * Who were the Allied soldiers? o What did they do to save France?
end of the month, 1.5 million were there. -t merican,Canadian, and British soldierAjoined together to save Fance from the German army. The Germans had known an invasion was comin& What they didrt know was where the troops would land. The Germans suspected that the Allies would land in a place like Cher- bourg, where there was a very good harbor. They knew that if one million men were be- ing sent into battle, they would need supplies. They would need jeeps, weapons, tanks, food, and much more. A good harbor, where men could be landed and supplies unloaded, would be necessary for a large invasion. Naturally, the Allies wanted to completely surprise the Germans. They decided to land in a place where there was not a good harbor. How did they do this? Across the English Channel in Great Britain, engineers and builders worked for months. They built docks on ramps and pulled them across the Chan- nel just in time for the invasion. The docks were put in position in Arrmanches, France, so that rmen and supplies could be brought into The date was June 6, 1944. It was the start the country. The Germans never guessed the of the largest invasion the world had ever seen. Allies would attack in that part of Nozmandy. By the end of the day, 156,000 men had land- The invasion was a geat success. It was the ed on the Nomandy bece in Fance.By the beginning of the end of the war in Europe.
Afi.. (AL yz) the ciulswho hughtsinlG nyn Wdd War B,inluding theUniedStates hwasion (in VAY zhun) the entering by = SMy into a cmtry in aider to conquer it - loopooPS) pips of soldiers w(spect.e ub SPEKT ud) thought likely -"ps (RAMPS) slanted roadways docks (DOKS) platfo s wed for loading or unloading ships 197 A TALE OF A TAIL
There are many tall tales about the heroes of the Wild West. The tales of Pecos Bill are among the best known. * What is a tall tale? 0 Why do people like tall tales?
When Bill got back to the campsite, he threw his knife at a nearby tree, expecting the knife to stay put. However, the knife was so sharp that it cut a hole right through that tree. Ordinarily, the knife would have simply fallen to the ground on the other side of the tree, but something got in the way. It was Bill's dog Norther, taking a little nap before dinner. Bill's knife cut Norther's tail right off his body. Norther didn't seem to be hurt, but he was quite confused and he wanted his tail back. Three-fingered Ike tried to put the tail back with sour dough. However, as soon as Norther wagged his tail, it fell off. Bill and Ike felt very sad for Norther, but they figured there was nothing more they could do. They took Norther down to the creek to Pecos Bill was the biggest cowboy in the wash the blood off the spot where his tail used st. He had the smartest horse and the finest to be. Norther splashed about for a while, and dog. Bill also had the sharpest knife. Pecos Bill's when he came out of the water, the old dog knife was so sharp that he didn't even have to had a brand-new tail! touch his face when he used it to shave. Bill and Ike could scarcely believe the heal- One day Bill and his friend Three-fingered ing power of that creek. Bill threw Norther's Ike were camping out in the mountains- Bill old tail into the water. A few minutes later, went off to catch some dinner while Three- the old tail came out with a new dog. Pecos fingered Ike set up camp and made a fire. Bill named it Souther.
]KAMP syt) a qboekr csupng (Mrd M R uh e)-1uafly, 1y &IMPitoo m of who*i oina k er d d P=oR al dd* W msd in mdkftg seWd jQmsL4W libx ;L A 10 b a.- . .- ,l 198 THE HOLE-Th-WVALL . GANG CAMP
Mostpeoplethink of cAmp as aplace wherehealthy, ac tive children spend their summers. ne children live in bunks, swim, play games, and have a good time. * Can seriously ill children go to camp? 0 How can camp help such children?
The Hole-in-the-Wall-Gang Camp will look like an old Westernvillage. It is named for the gang of outlaws in Paul Newman's movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The camp will have log cabins, corrals, a music hail, and a saloon with swinging doors. The camp was created to give sick kids a chance to have some fun. For many of the campers, the only time they are away from home is when they go to the hospital. The camp will be nothing like a hospital. It is on 300 acres of forest. There's a beauti- ful lake, and there will be horses and other animals for everyone to enjoy. Still, these campers need special care. Doc. tors and nurses fromYale-New Haven Hospi- tal willbe there to help them.Kids who need chemotherapy will be able to get it at camp. - Wil There will even be a helicopter to use in case of any serious problems. A different kind of camp is opening in the The Hole-in-the-Wall-Gang Camp will forests of Connecticut. It's a place for chil- have eight two-week sessions. About two dren suffering from cancer and other serious hundred different children will be able to at- illnesses. The camp is being started by the tend each session. The camp will be free for actor Paul Newman. Profits from his food everyone. company will be used to pay for it.
diseases (dih ZEEZ u) kinds of sicknew preBts (PROF its) money earned by a business Conds (kuh RALZ) fenced-in as for animals sal (sub LOON) bar, restaurant cebnotherapy k mnh THER uh pee) 7men]tof di]ea- with chemicals (SESH unz) periods of time when something takes, place . - - fq-. - 1004 6A- .....- : 199
Transparency
PREDICTION OF OUTCOME 1. At, estimate of what could logically come next in a selection. To be logical, the outcome must fit the main idea and the ending.
MAI N.IDEA I ENDING-
PREDICTION OF OUTCOME 200
READING STRATEGY 5
MAKING INFERENCES
SOURCE: Wittenberg, William H. Identifying Inferences Booklet C. New YOrk: Barn'll Loft, Ltd. 1986. 201 Unit 3
also got 1. Chris got a new camera for her birthday. She into the camera and ran Sa roll of flim. Chris put the film of her favorite to the zoo. There she took pictures the film is animals. Chris said, "I can't wait until developed."
is very high," said 2. "The fence around your house "Why do you have such a high fence?" Harry. then ""Thefence used to be shorter," said Ray, "but would escape if we got our dog. We were afraid the dog the fence wasn't extra high."
came down- Father was in the kitchen when Lynn 3. asked stairs. "Do you want pancakes for breakfast?" Father. "ru be glad to make them for you." I "No, thank you," said Lynn. "After last night, don't think I want to eat for two days!"
said Anita. "I 4. "1 wish we didn't live in this house," sound as if can't ever sleep well at night. The airplanes landing in our front yard." they're a mile "You're right," said her brother. "If we lived down the road, it wouldn't be so bad."
I can borrow?" 5. "Do you have a needle and thread asked Jan. "A button came off my sweater." "I know Mother gave Jan a needle and some thread. need any help, let you can sew," said Mother, "but if you me know." 202
Unit 3 T F I 1. (A) Chris' mother put the film in Chris' camera. (B) Chris liked her birthday present. coo (C) Chris took pictures at a zoo. CCC
T F I 2. (A) Ray's dog'is a good jumper. C C:C (B) The fence had always been high. C C C (C) Ray has a pet dog. 0CC
T F I 3. (A) Father offered to make lunch for Lynn. CCC (B) Lynn had eaten a lot the night before. C:C0C (C) Lynn wanted to eat breakfast. C C
T F I 4. (A) Anita doesn't have any brothers or sisters.C C (B) Anita lives very near an airport.C0C0C (C) Anita doesn't like where she lives.C0CC
T F I 5. (A) Jan needed a needle and thread. CCC CCC (B) Mother offered to help Jan. CCC1: (C) Mother couldn't find a needle for Jan. 203
Unit 4
1. When Mother went into the house, the television was on. Mother looked all around, but no one was there. "I'm going to have to speak to John when he comes home," said Mother. "The television shouldn't be turned on when no one is home to watch it."
2. "1 think someone broke into my car!" shouted Mrs. Barker. "I left my fur coat on the front seat. Now it isn't there." Mr. Barker laughed. "No one broke into your car," he said. "I took your fur coat into the house last night."
3. "Is the front door open?" asked Betty. Frank put down his book and went to look. "You were right," said Frank. "The wind must have blown it open. Today is certainly not the kind of day to have the door open." Frank closed the door.
4. Martha was going to give her dog a bath. She filled the bathtub half full with warm water. But when Martha tried to put her dog into the tub, it barked and kicked its feet. "I don't care how you feel," said Martha. "rmgoing to give you a bath."
5. Father wanted to go to a ball game with a friend. He asked Carl to finish painting the garage. Carl said he'd be glad to finish the painting. When Father returned, he looked at the garage and frowned. "I. should have stayed and finished painting the garage myself," said Father. 204
Unit 4 T F I El l 1. (A) Mother turned on the television. (B) John had left the television on. (C) No one was in the house when Mother entered.
TF I 2. (A) Mrs. Barker had left her coat in the .car. (B) Mrs. Barker likes her fur coat. l E E (C) Someone had broken into Mrs. Barker's car. 00[
T F I 3. (A) It was not a nice day. E El El (B) Frank had left the door open.ElCEl (C) Frank went to look for his book.
TF I 4. (A) Martha has a dog for a pet.E l (B) The dog didn't want a bath.E0 l (C) Martha put warm water into the tub. El l E
T FI 5. (A) Father went to a movie. (B) Father asked Carl to do some painting. ElEl0l0 lO (C) Carl didn't do a good job. 205
UxRit 5
1. Birds had been eating the berries in Mrs. Garcia's were After all the work she had done, the birds garden. Sud- .eating the berries that she had grown for her family. in denly, Mr. Garcia had an idea! "I will put a scarecrow the birds my garden," she thought. "That will keep away."
they heard 2. K. The boys were walking across a field when yelling and a range sound. They looked and then began Juan was ruining. A huge bull was rushing toward them! was a minute the first to leap over the fence to safety. It the fence. or two later before Bobby ,nd Carl jumped
said Father. "You don't deserve to go to the movies," 3. backyard, but "Your brother worked hard cleaning the you didn't help at all." Linda, "but I "I know I should have helped," said forgot. I promise became so interested in my book that I to help next time."
asked Bonnie. 4. "Whose car. is that in the driveway?" kind of car I'd like to own someday." "It's the said "That car belongs to a friend of your sister," They're going Mother. "She came to pick up your sister. paintings." to the museum to see a new exhibit of French
party or not?" asked ."Do you intend to goto Jim's 5 mind." Barbara. "You keep changing your "It depends," said Mark. "If I can go fishing with can't go fishing with Uncle Uncle Bill, Il go fishing. If I Bill, then I'll go to Jim's party." 206
, Unit 5
1. (A) Berries were growing in Mrs. Garcia's T F I garden. (B) Mrs. Garcia liked the birds in her garden. ElEll (C) The birds made Mrs. Garcia unhappy. El0l0 (D) Mrs. Garcia thought the birds would like -No the scarecrow. r- m"Lrl 2. (A) Juan can run faster than the other boys. El El (B) The boys were not frightened by the bull. E El El (C) The boys heard the bull before they saw (D) The bull couldn't jump the fence. E E E
T F I 3. (A) Linda liked the book she was reading. E E E (B) Linda wanted to go to the movies. E E E (C). Linda's brother cleaned the front yard. E E E (D) Linda said she would help next time. E E
4. (A) Bonnie's sister owns the car in the driveway. El1l1l. (B) Mother didn't know whose car was in the driveway. El1El E (C) Bonnie likes the style of the car in the driveway. (D) Bonnie's sister is going to a museum. l E E 5. (A) Barbara asked Mark a question. EllOT FI (B) Mark doesn't want to go fishing. EllO (C) Mark said he'd never go to one of Jim's parties. El (D) Mark enjoys fishing very much. 0 0 El 207
Unit 6
1; Everyone in the neighborhood was happy. A carnival was coming to town. There would be many rides, shows, and plenty of delicious food. Rosa was especially happy. Her cousin, Cindy, was coming to visit for a few days. Now they would have things to do that were fun.
2. "Look at the way your dog is scratching," said Louis. It must have fleas." "My pet does have fleas," said Rita. "I've washed the dog with special soap and used cans of flea powder. Nothing seems to work. The fleas will be gone soon, though. Tomorrow my dog is going to a dog doctor."
3. Marion loved a certain necklace, but she didn't have enough money to buy it. Marion thought, "I can do one of two things. I can save my money for weeks to buy the expensive necklace, or I can buy a cheaper necklace." The next day, Marion got a job working in a store after school.
4. "What happened to the cake?" cried Father. "There are only crumbs left on the plate." No one answered, but Father saw Timmy walking slyly out the door. "Come back here, Timmy," ordered Father. "I want to talk to you. This is the second time a cake has disappeared."
5. Tom woke up. He heard a strange noise. Tom listened carefully, but he couldn't tell what it was. He got out of bed and looked in the living room, but the noise wasn't coming from there. Then Tom went into the bathroom. He turned a faucet handle and went back to bed. 208
Unit 6
1. (A) People would be able to eat at'the T P carnival.Tp .(B) Rosa was afraid that Ci the carnival. y'k (C) Rosa traveled a ld C o (D) (D)Many MnypOPle'were pe 'ple -wrOng happy waythat ato carnivalvisit Cindy. 000 was coming to town.
2. (A) Rita had forgotten to TP her- dog.dse.her ea Powder on 1 CCC0 (B) Rita believed the doctor I the fleas,000 would. get rid (C) Rita has a dbg for a Pet (D) Rita had tried toget ridof herdog's feas. 3. (A) Marion waited to buy th - T F necklace. b te expensive (B) Marion doesn't like to wear jewelry (C) Marion got a job cutting lawrs. C C (D) Marion needed more money to buy the expensive necklace. CCC 4. (A) Father thought that Timmy had eaten T F the cake. (B) CCC Father had eaten the whole cake.C0C:C (C) Father found crumbs Instead of the cake. (D) Timmy C C C wanted to leave without talldng
5. (A) Tom called for his parents. (B)I Tnioma im I&fb ., C C C al wasm e wnen he noise. first heard the (C) Tom heard water dripping. CCC (D) Tom looked first in the bathroom oCCo noise. for the CC00 209
READING STRATEGY 6
SUMMARIZING
SOURCE: Cassidy, J., Roettger, D., & Wixson, K. Touch the Sky. New York: Scribner Education Publishers. 1987 210 Summarizing When you summarize a story, you make a short statement about what happened, giving only important details, such as the names of the main characters, and describing the conflict or problem in the story and the resolution of the conflict.
Read the short story. On the lines provided, write a summary of the story.
Uncle Jack's Scottish terrier, a jaunty little dog named MacDuff, had never been professionally groomed. Oh, he was clean and healthy and very nice to look at-but in no way did he resemble one of his famous breed. My brother Todd and I decided we would surprise Uncle Jack for his birthday by taking the dog for a professional grooming. So, the day before his birthday, we asked Uncle Jack if we could "borrow" the dog overnight. We'd bring MacDuff back the next day when we came for Uncle's party. Since we had borrowed Duffy many times before, Uncle Jack was not suspicious. Well, it cost plenty of money to have the dog groomed, but the results were dramatic. "Under all that hair," the groomer said with some disdain, "there is an animal of excellent quality. He has very good points, you know. It is a shame to keep them concealed." Todd and I just nodded our agreement-we were completely dazzled by MacDuff's appearance. If he hadn't given his familiar yip, we never would have recognized him! On the next day, we arrived at Uncle Jack's house for the birthday party, almost exploding with anticipation. Uncle Jack opened the door, took one look at MacDuff and said: "Oh, children, it is really nice of you to get me another dog for my birthday, but Duffy is companion enough for me! Besides-he would get jealous! And just look at this little fellow. I've never seen such a ridiculous haircut in all my life!" 211
Summary Writing A summary is a shorter retelling of a selection. A summary includes only the key ideas and important details of the original.
Read the selection below. Then write a summary, retelling the story in details. your own words. Remember to include only key ideas and important Once, long ago, the Great Spirit in the form of a man entered a woman's some wigwam and sat down by the fire. He politely asked the woman for him if he food, claiming he was very hungry. The woman agreed to feed could wait while she prepared a simple cake. The man answered that he was in no hurry and would gladly wait as long as it took. The woman made a very small cake for him and put it in the fire to bake. When she returned to take it out, it had become enormous. She decided it was too large and beautiful to give away to a perfect stranger, so she asked the man to wait a little longer. This time she had a smaller cake; but when baked, it was even larger than the first. So again, she hid it and asked the man to wait. The third cake, smallest of all when the woman made it, was the largest of all when it was baked. Not knowing that her guest was the Great Spirit and that his magic had been at work in her cakes, the woman was unwilling to give away such a treasure to a perfect stranger. Therefore she told her visitor that she had no food. "Go into the forest," she told him. "You can find good food in the bark of trees." Enraged, the Great Spirit rose up and revealed himself. "You may no longer live in this wigwam, and you may no longer be a woman," he cursed her. "You must go out into the forest and seek your food in the bark of trees!" He stamped his foot on the ground; and with each stamp, the woman became smaller and smaller. Feathers covered her body, and wings grew from her sides. Then she gave a shrill cry, rose from the ground, and flew into the forest. And from that day to this, woodpeckers live in the forest and seek their food in the bark of trees. 212 KOXO AND IFHhEiD
Since the 1960, several apes have been taght how to speak. These apes live very much like human beings. One of them even has a pet. * What kind of language do you think apes might use? * What do you think is good about having a pet?
Kokowas taught sign language as part of an experiment. Scientists wondered whether ani- mals such as gorillas could lear language Gorillas are not able to make the same sounds as human beings. Therefore, teaching Koko a silent language made sense. Kokc's trainers hoped to communicate with her through sign language. When she was one year old,Koko began her lessons. At age 13, she knew more than 500 words. One year for Christmas, Koko asked for a cat. She was gven a kitten whom she named All-Ball. AUI-Ball was accidentally killed by a car, and Koko was heartbroken.'TraeI at the Gorilla vxdaion decided to find heranew kitten.It was not easy, howeveL.Koko was very specific about what she wanted. The only kind of cat that would do was a Manx.A Manx is a long- haired cat with no tail. Finding the right kit- ten took time, but finally Koko had her new pet. Workers at the Gorillaundatin said that Koko and the kitten got along fine. The only trouble Koko had was with Michael, another oko is a gorilla who communicate in sign atalkinggorilla. Michael seemed to think that language. As you know, sign language is a sys- the new kitten belonged to him. Eventually, temof ndgestures.Usuallytisusedbypeo. both Koko and Michael played together peace. ple with hearing problems. Sign language is fully with the new kitten, and no big fights like talking without speech. broke out.
skils( W& RILuh) a lqeape with dm k lgk, cang ame, and ey or black fur "Is (SM1 -* -etho4way afly (Ak .ih DEN tul ee) by chance; m oa purpose heartbroken (HART broh kun) terribly rod -0m1110- (RAY M33 te3helm MeOIO (spik W ik definite, particular APPENDIX D
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT CONTROL GROUP
213 214
Table 19
Student Achievement--Control Group Teacher 1--Class 1 and 2
Pupil Pretest Score Posttest Score
Class 1
1 6.4 8.7 2 7.0 10.4 3 6.7 7.6 4 7.6 12.7 5 4.7 8.7 6 6.1 5.8 7 9.2 .10.4 8 8.8 7.6 9 3.1 4.9
Class 2
1 3.3 10.4 2 Below 3.1 4.6 3 5.6 7.6 4 5.3 12.0 5 12.0 12.7 6 5.0 12.0 7 5.0 9.1 8 8.3 7.6 9 4.7 7.9 10 4.4 8.7 215
Table 20
Student Achievement--Control Group Teacher 1--Class 3
Pupil Pretest Score Posttest Score
Class 3
1 4.2 10.4 2 6.3 9.5 3 3.9 5.3 4 5.9 10.4 5 5.9 12.0 6 Below 3.1 6.7 7 9.2 6.4 8 6.1 7.9 9 3.9 5.8 10 12.0 12.7 11 Below 3.1 7.0 12 7.0 7.3 216
Table 21 Student Achievement-Control Group Teacher 2--Class 1 and Class 2
Pupil Pretest Score Posttest Score
Class 1
1 Below 3.1 4.6 2 3.9 3.3 3 7.0 7.9 4 9.7 4.3 5 5.3 3.1 6 10.2 7.9 7 4.7 4.3 8 9.7 5.3 9 5.0 4.3
Class 2
1 6.4 Below 3.1 2 6.4 10.4 3 7.3 7.0 4 6.4 10.4 5 6.4 Below 3.1 6 7.0 4.6 7 6.7 4.9 8 6.4 9.5 9 6.4 6.4 217
Table 22
Student Achievement--Control Group Teacher 2--Class 3
Pupil Pretest Score Posttest Score
Class 3
1 6.1 7.9 2 4.4 7.03 3 4.7 6.4 4 6.4 6.7 5 5.0 9.5 6 5.3 5.6 7 6.7 6.7 8 4.7 8.3 9 3.9 4.3 10 5.9 8.7 APPENDIX E
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT EXPERIMENTAL GROUP
218 219
Table 23
Student Achievement-Experimental Group Teacher 1--Class 1 and Class 2
Pupil Pretest Score Posttest Score
Class 1
1 4.7 7.3 2 5.9 6.7 3 4.7 5.6 4 5.3 5.6 5 3.3 3.7 6 3.6 6.4 7 7.3 11.4
Class 2
1 6.1 11.4 2 6.1 9.9 3 6.4 10.4 4 4.4 9.5 5 4.4 12.7 6 6.1 9.1 7 3.3 6.1 8 5.0 12.7 9 3.3 8.3 10 6.1 8.3 11 5.3 12.0 12 12.7 12.0 220
Table 24
Student Achievement--Experimental Group Teacher 2--Class 1 and Class 2
Pupil Pretest Score Posttest Score
Class 1
1 4.7 Below 3.1 2 7.3 7.3 3 3.3 3.1 4 7.3 4.0 5 6.1 3.3 6 3.6 4.6 7 6.4 4.6
Class 2
1 3.1 7.6 2 5.0 6.4 3 5.6 7.6 4 4.2 5.8 5 8.3 11.4 6 5.3 3.7 7 4.4 4.3 8 5.6 5.6 BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Dermody, M. (1988, February). Metacognitive strategies for development of reading comprehension ofyoungercldre. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. New Orleans, LA.
Goodman, K. S., Shannon, P., Freeman, Y. S., & Murphy, S. (1988). Report cardon basal raiders. Katonah, NY: Richard Owen Publishers. Wertsch, R. (1978). Adult-child interaction and the roots of metacognition. QuarterlyNewsletter.of the Istitute for Comparative m ni Development, 1, 15-18.
Textbooks
Boning, R. A. (1973). Specificski]lsBarnell-Lfte sGtnhmain idea. Baldwin, NY: Barnell-Loft, Ltd.
Boning, R. A. (1980). Cloze connections. Baldwin, NY: Barnell-Loft, Ltd. Cassidy, J., Roettger, D., & Wixson, K. (1987). Touchthesky. New York: Scribner Education Publishers. Smith, G. (1989). mprehensioprogram. NJ: Globe Book Co. Englewood Cliffs,
Spache, F., & Spache, E. (1984). Project Achievement Level D. New Scholastic Publishing Co. York:
Townsend, D., Beech, L. W., & McCarthy, T. (1987). Sequence..1. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn Comprehension Skills. Wittenberg, W. H. (1986). Sp i/Barnell-Loft series: inferences. Identifying Baldwin, NY: Barnell-Loft, Ltd. 229
Test -
MacGinitie, W. H., Kanons, J., Kowalski, R. L., MacGinitie, R. K., & MacKay, T. (1978). Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests Level E. Chicago, IL: Riverside Publishing Co.
Computer Disk
Bane, R. K., & Deaton, R. D. (1987). Gradebook III. [Computer program]. Denton, TX: Schoolhouse Software.