Metacognitive Approach to Teaching Reading

長庚技術學院嘉義分部周碩貴

May 7, 2010

Outline of PresentationOutline of PresentationI. AssumptionsI. Assumptions

II. Definition of metacognition II. Definition of metacognition

III. Researchers’ notions of metacognition III. Researchers’ notions of metacognition

IV. The importance of mIV. The importance of metacognition

V. Application to the reading classroomV. Application to the reading classroom

VI. VI. Challenges of metacognition

VII. Conclusion

I. AssumptionsI. Assumptions

1. Reading classes can be used as an interface 1. Reading classes can be used as an interface that gives EFL learners access to learning that gives EFL learners access to learning other basic language skills.other basic language skills.

2. Students’ confidence in reading can be bolster2. Students’ confidence in reading can be bolstered by their own metacognitive awareness.ed by their own metacognitive awareness.

3. Reading is a thinking and reasoning process.

Metacognition = meta + cognition

Meta: a prefix appearing in loanwords from Greek, with the meanings “after,” “along with,” “beyond,” “among,” “behind”

Cognition: the act or process of knowing; perception; the product of such a process

Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Random House, 2001

II. Definition of Metacognition

The term metacognition as used by Flavell (1979) refers to an individual’s awareness of his or her cognitive processes and strategies.

Metacognitive knowledge includes: (1) knowledge of person variables; (2) knowledge of task variables; (3) knowledge of strategy variables.

III. Researchers’ notions of metacognition (1/6)

2. Baker & Brown (1984)

Metacognition refers to one’s understanding of any cognitive process. It is revealed in two ways:

(1) In one’s knowledge of cognition, includingA. strategies for learning from texts B. differing demands of various reading tasks C. textual structuresD. one’s own strengths and weaknesses as a

reader

III. Researchers’ notions of metacognition

(2/6)

(2) In one’s regulation of cognition, including

A. planning strategies

B. adjusting efforts appropriately

C. monitoring their state of reading

D. evaluating the success of their on-going efforts to understand

III. Researchers’ notions of metacognition

(3/6)

III. Researchers’ notions of metacognition (4/6)

3. McNeil 3. McNeil (1987) Three interrelated metacognitive processes in reading:Three interrelated metacognitive processes in reading:(1) (1) Self-knowledgeSelf-knowledge: recognizing one’s strengths and w: recognizing one’s strengths and w

eaknesses in comprehendingeaknesses in comprehending

(2) (2) Task knowledgeTask knowledge: knowing the nature of reading : knowing the nature of reading tasks and the importance of matching a tasks and the importance of matching a comprehension task with an appropriate reading comprehension task with an appropriate reading strategystrategy

(3) (3) Self-monitoringSelf-monitoring: being aware whether one has or : being aware whether one has or has not understood the text and knowing what to has not understood the text and knowing what to do when failing to comprehend do when failing to comprehend

III. Researchers’ notions of metacognition (5/6)

Other researchers (e.g. Blakey & Spence, 2006; Other researchers (e.g. Blakey & Spence, 2006; Livingston, 1997) have used a more simplistic deLivingston, 1997) have used a more simplistic definition of metacognition: “thinking about thinkifinition of metacognition: “thinking about thinking.”ng.”

III. Researchers’ notions of metacognition (6/6)

In brief, having a metacognitive awareness meanIn brief, having a metacognitive awareness means readers not only have knowledge about themsels readers not only have knowledge about themselves but it also includes knowledge about the stratves but it also includes knowledge about the strategies employed to tackle problems (Fisher, 199egies employed to tackle problems (Fisher, 1998).8).

The characteristics of effective readersThe characteristics of effective readers

1. Clarifying the purposes of reading1. Clarifying the purposes of reading

2. Identifying the important aspects of a message2. Identifying the important aspects of a message

3. Focusing attention on the major content rather 3. Focusing attention on the major content rather than triviathan trivia

4. Monitoring ongoing activities to determine 4. Monitoring ongoing activities to determine whether comprehension is occurringwhether comprehension is occurring

5. Engaging in self-questioning to determine 5. Engaging in self-questioning to determine whether goals are being achievedwhether goals are being achieved

6. Taking corrective action when failures in 6. Taking corrective action when failures in comprehension are detected (Brown, 1980).comprehension are detected (Brown, 1980).

IV. The importance of metacognition (1/2)

2. It helps students recognize the need to adapt their study activities to the demands of reading tasks.

1. It stresses the active participation by the reader in strategic reading.

There are several reasons why the concept of metacognition has been enthusiastically accepted.

IV. The importance of metacognition (2/2)

3. It helps students develop the ability to monitor 3. It helps students develop the ability to monitor and regulate their own cognitive activities and regulate their own cognitive activities while reading.while reading.

4. It offers an alternative to traditional methods of teaching reading.

5. The process of monitoring one’s comprehension has been recognized as being very important to skilled reading (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002).

V. Application to the reading classroom

1. Ask strategy probing questionsWhat are you trying to accomplish?What strategies are you using?How well are they working?If not, what else could you do?

2. Model effective reading strategies3. Provide explicit reading strategy instruction4. Reciprocal teaching: The method is based upon The method is based upon

a dialogue between teacher and student where a dialogue between teacher and student where predicting, question generating, summarizing, predicting, question generating, summarizing, and clarifying are used to promote and clarifying are used to promote comprehension monitoring. comprehension monitoring.

V. Application to the reading classroom

1. Activating students’ background knowledge

2. Teaching word attack skills, teaching 2. Teaching word attack skills, teaching pronominal referencespronominal references

3. Teaching topic sentences, drawing conclusions, teaching text structure

1. Activating students’ background 1. Activating students’ background knowledge knowledge (BR1)(BR1)

Activating students’ background knowledge, Activating students’ background knowledge, for example, for example, guessing the title of an articleguessing the title of an article and/or and/or predicting the contents of the articlepredicting the contents of the article, , helps students comprehend the incoming helps students comprehend the incoming information.information.

It's Inconvenient Being Green

(BR2)(BR2)

Example 1Example 1

My condition began when I read of a couple in My condition began when I read of a couple in New York City who had vowed to live a whole New York City who had vowed to live a whole year without toilet paper. They were conducting year without toilet paper. They were conducting an experiment in environmentally low-impact an experiment in environmentally low-impact living as research for a book, they said. For a year living as research for a book, they said. For a year they would they would eschew transportation that emits eschew transportation that emits carbon dioxide, shun foods wrapped in plastic carbon dioxide, shun foods wrapped in plastic packaging and, most dramatically, conduct the packaging and, most dramatically, conduct the elimination of their waste without the aid of elimination of their waste without the aid of wasteful paper productswasteful paper products..

From Time, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007

It's Inconvenient Being Green

Science Says We Really Are What We Drink

(BR3)(BR3)

And now for some helpful scientific advice: When that IRS agent comes to your office to conduct an audit, offer him a cup of coffee. And when you're sitting down to do your holiday shopping online, make sure you're cradling a large glass of iced tea. The physical sensation of warmth encourages emotional warmth, while a chilly drink in hand serves as a brake on rash decisions — those are the practical lesson being drawn from recent research by two Yale-educated psychologists, published last week in Science magazine.

Example 2Example 2

Science Says We Really Are What We Drink

Example 1Example 1

Liberation from depression and panic is Liberation from depression and panic is frequently accompanied by an increase in the frequently accompanied by an increase in the body’s body’s interleukinsinterleukins, vital substances in the , vital substances in the immune system that help activate cancer-killing immune system that help activate cancer-killing immune cells.immune cells.

2. Teaching word attack skills (1/3)

(DR2)(DR2)

2. Teaching word attack skills (2/3)

Example 2Example 2

In the U.S., the cost of damage to homes, In the U.S., the cost of damage to homes, business and farmland from the overflowing business and farmland from the overflowing Mississippi and its Mississippi and its tributariestributaries is expected to is expected to reach $12 billion.reach $12 billion.

(DR4)(DR4)

Example 3Do you know the meaning of the underlined word in the title: A Nation of Hypochondriacs?

2. Teaching word attack skills (3/3)

Clue 1Clue 1

A Nation of Hypochondriacs

Clue 2Clue 2

The main impression growing out of twelve years The main impression growing out of twelve years on the faculty of a medical school is that the No. on the faculty of a medical school is that the No. 1 health problem in the U.S. today, even more 1 health problem in the U.S. today, even more than AIDS or cancer, is that Americans don’t than AIDS or cancer, is that Americans don’t know how to think about health and illness.know how to think about health and illness.

A Nation of Hypochondriacs

2. Teaching pronominal references

Such ideas that challenge the Arab world's patriarchal order will naturally meet fierce resistance. At the same time, they are sure to provoke debate throughout the Arab world. For the authors of "Towards the Rise" and the Arab women who take heart from their report, that will be a good first step but hopefully not the last. (From Time Thursday, Dec. 07, 2006)

(DR5)(DR5)

3. Drawing conclusions3. Drawing conclusions

Do you know the writer’s conclusion from the picture?

A Nation of Hypochondriacs

(AR1)(AR1)

The last paragraph:

“We need not wait, of course, for a catastrophic illness before we develop confidence in our ability to rise to a serious challenge. Confidence is useful on the everyday level. We are stronger than we think. Much stronger.”

Time, June 18, 1990

3. Teaching topic sentence and structure3. Teaching topic sentence and structure (1/2)(1/2)

One of the oldest debates in contemporary social science is why women earn less than men. Conservatives tend to argue that because women anticipate taking time off to raise children, they have fewer incentives to work hard in school, and they choose careers where on-the-job training and long hours are less important. Liberals tend to focus on sex discrimination as the explanation. Obviously some mixture of those factors is at work, but academics have long been frustrated when they try to estimate which force is greater: women's choices or men's discrimination. (AR2)(AR2)

Why women earn less than men

Conservatives’opinion

Liberals’ opinion

A mixture of the factors

#1 Draw a semantic map of the passage.

3. Teaching topic sentence and structure 3. Teaching topic sentence and structure (2/2)(2/2)

We're not all born with sunny dispositions, but experts have identified stress-management strategies that anyone can adopt. Avoid situations that you know cause stress, for example. Discuss problems with friends, family or a mental-health professional before they take on a life of their own. Face stress head-on and don't resort to coping mechanisms--smoking, eating more and exercising less--that only add to the strain. You can't avoid stress altogether, but you can learn to keep it at bay. (AR3)(AR3)

Stress-management

strategies

Avoid situations that you know cause stress

Discuss problems

with people

Face stresshead-on

#2 Draw a semantic map of the passage.

1. Instruments that are used to measure metacognition, for example, interview and think aloud, can sometimes prove to be time-consuming, complex, and lacking in validity (Gay, 2002).

VI. Challenges of metacognition

2. Another concern with metacognition is that foc2. Another concern with metacognition is that focusing on thinking, reflecting, and strategic planusing on thinking, reflecting, and strategic planning will lead to a copious amount of drills on cning will lead to a copious amount of drills on cognitive skills that are not embedded within the ognitive skills that are not embedded within the context of reading (Jacobs & Paris, 1987).context of reading (Jacobs & Paris, 1987).

VII. Conclusion (1/2)

1. Overwhelming messages from the research studies show that metacognition plays a very important role in enhancing reading. This leads to the obvious conclusion that metacognition needs to be incorporated into the daily classroom teaching.

VIII. Conclusion (2/2)

3. Students might make slow improvements in using strategies and they might not be observable (Farrell, 2001) . Teachers have to be patient.

2. We can help the readers in our classes by teaching them how to be more aware of their strategy use (Anderson, 2002).

Thank you