Metacognitive Monitoring in Reading Comprehension: Examining the Role of Cognitive Flexibility, Vocabulary, and Fluency in Young Readers

TL;DR

This study explores how vocabulary, reading fluency, and cognitive flexibility affect young readers' ability to monitor their own reading comprehension.

Contribution

The study clarifies how linguistic abilities influence metacognitive monitoring through both direct and comprehension-mediated pathways.

Findings

Vocabulary knowledge most strongly predicts metacognitive monitoring accuracy, fully mediated by reading comprehension.

Reading fluency improves discrimination between correct and incorrect responses but leads to overconfidence in judgments.

Cognitive flexibility does not significantly relate to metacognitive monitoring accuracy.

Abstract

This study examined associations between vocabulary knowledge, reading fluency, cognitive flexibility, and metacognitive monitoring accuracy in reading comprehension among fifth-grade students. Participants (N = 104) completed measures of cognitive–linguistic abilities and reading comprehension, with global metacomprehension judgments after reading and item-level confidence ratings. Metacognitive monitoring accuracy was assessed using calibration of global metacomprehension judgments and item-level confidence ratings. Calibration bias (confidence minus performance) indexed miscalibration direction, and its absolute value indexed calibration accuracy. Resolution reflected discrimination between correct and incorrect item-level responses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used exploratorily to examine theoretically motivated direct and indirect pathways via reading comprehension. Vocabulary knowledge showed the strongest associations with calibration accuracy and resolution, fully mediated by comprehension. Reading fluency showed a dual pattern: it contributed positively to resolution through comprehension, while also showing direct associations with lower calibration accuracy, indicating greater miscalibration and overconfident judgment tendencies among more fluent readers. Cognitive flexibility was not significantly related to any monitoring index. By jointly examining distinct indices of monitoring accuracy and separating comprehension-mediated from direct pathways, the study clarifies how cognitive–linguistic abilities may support or bias metacognitive monitoring in developing readers. Linguistic abilities, particularly vocabulary and fluency were central to students’ comprehension monitoring accuracy.

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