Developing students’ reading ability through Metacognition
As parents and tutors/teachers, we praise kids for being able to read fluently as fluent reading is a trait that is rather very rare to see among Indian students. However, the big question is that are students comprehending what they are reading? Or are they just decoding what’s written into a sound just for the sake of it? If it is the latter, then the time and energy into reading is going into waste because the whole idea of reading is so that one can learn, realize, and analyze whatever they are reading be it a story, a set of instructions, or a chapter of a physics topic. By praising our kids for being able to read comparatively better than other kids, we are indirectly encouraging the idea that it is okay to just convert what’s written in front of them into sound without actually understanding the concept. Instead of being praised, the kids should be tested as to what they picked from whatever they read without letting them have a peek at the content they read, otherwise it would just be another ordinary reading comprehension copy paste answer.
The solution to this comprehension issue that the students are facing is metacognition. Meta-what? Let’s google it!
If students are to start using metacognition while reading, they will think about their thinking as they keep on reading. So, when you tell your students or kids to start using metacognition to monitor their comprehension and they go absolutely blank as to what was that word that was just said, talk to them about the inner voice that talks back to us while we think and dream. You can then further expand this discussion by talking about how this inner voice also talks back to us while we read content.
Here are four helpful questions that students might want to ask themselves as they read to strengthen their monitoring on the comprehension of the content they are going through:
· Does it look right and sound right?
· Can I picture the story?
· Can I rephrase the story in my words?
· Does my mind feel right?
Some may get confused about the last question about mind feeling right. Though many of you would agree to the fact that your mind feels at ease when you understand the content you read through. In the other hand, when you do not understand the content that you just read through, your mind feels uncomfortable. If an answer to any of the questions is no, then students should slow down the pace of reading, re-read, sound it out, and read on.
In the end it all comes down to how teachers and tutors create and develop their own models to make students monitor their comprehension. As difficult as it may be for both tutors and students, the hard work does pay off.
