EXPLORING METACOGNITION AND SELF-REGULATION
IN AN ENRICHMENT READING PROGRAM
Fredric J. Schreiber
The University of Connecticut, 2003
Direct instruction is often touted as an effective and efficient means of raising
students’ levels of reading fluency and comprehension. While direct instruction may be a
useful remediation measure, the long-term effects of direct instruction on students?
cognitive development is unclear (B. J., Zimmerman, personal communication, April 18,
2002). Some research suggests that the continued imposition of highly regimented and
structured instructional programs beyond the time when an individual has attained a
certain degree of competency in reading comprehension may have a negative impact on
the continued development of metacognitively based self-regulated learning strategies
and behaviors (Risemberg & Zimmerman, 1992; Wingenbach, 1982; Zimmerman &
Pons, 1986). High-potential readers, who have marked differences in levels of
metacognitive self-regulated leaming (MC/SRL), may be adversely affected by highly
structured instruction at an earlier age. This study examined the differential effects of
reading instruction on the development and expression of metacognitive self-regulatory
Jearning attributes on reading fluency and comprehension in elementary school student
readers across two conditions ~ an Enrichment Triad Model reading intervention (SEM-
R) (Renzulli, 1977, 1984); Renzulli & Reis, 1997); and a preexisting direct instruction
reading program.Fredric J. Schreiber ~ University of Connecticut, 2003
Completed as a part of a larger ongoing study (Reis, et al, in press), this
quantitative investigation employed a classroom level, cluster-randomized design with a
sample of approximately 240, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6" grade students from two low-
socioeconomic urban elementary schools. Structural Equation Modeling protocols were
used to test the hypothesis that knowledge and regulation of cognition were causally
associated with reading comprehension and gain scores in reading fluency. Grouped data
analysis of this assertion was not found to be tenable for reading fluency, but affirmed for
reading comprehension. Tests of invariance across treatment groups were unsuccessful at
the structural level with each condition presenting unique and mutually exclusive model
configurations. However, a pattern of negative path coefficients between regulation of
cognition and reading comprehension did emerge and are discussed. Confirmatory factor
analysis of a new instrument developed by the researcher for this study, the Thinking
About Reading Index (TARI), shows promise as a metacognitive self-regulation
assessment and evaluation tool in the area of reading.EXPLORING METACOGNITION AND SELF-REGULATION
IN AN ENRICHMENT READING PROGRAM
Fredric J. Schreiber
B.F.A,, Syracuse University, 1972
A Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
at
The University of Connecticut
2003