By participating in this research study, I learned valuable tools and techniques that can be used with students who have language learning disabilities (LLD). One concern was how the students would learn to apply all the strategies outlined in this study, but especially during reading, since there was a great amount of language involved in both learning and applying the comprehension monitoring strategies. It was found that the visual supports served to keep the students on-task and provided a concrete visual representation of what was involved in applying the strategies while reading. The visual aids utilized throughout the study were changed, which reflected the need to more concretely represent the concepts being introduced. The visual supports were determined to be instrumental in the student’s learning and application of strategies.
Another observation was the benefit of routine and repeated practice of strategies to aid students in internalizing the strategies, which with continued practice would hopefully develop into skills the students would apply independently. Although independent functioning was not observed, the gradual acquisition of skills was noted during lessons as the study progressed. Cazden (1986, 1998) as cited in Stone (2002) found that predictable routines within the classroom served as a scaffold to assist students in achieving new skills in talking and thinking about their world. The Metacognitive Strategies Checklist was used each session to review and introduce new strategies and also to allow the students the opportunity to self-monitor their awareness and use of strategies during the activity. This checklist was believed to serve as a form of scaffolding, in addition to a visual support, which helped the students acquire and apply new knowledge in metacognitive awareness.
The need for continuity of instruction was also noted to be critical, but lacking in this study. The students were seen three times per week and implemented the activities outlined in this study during that time only. The outcome revealed slow progress with continued habits that were considered detrimental to independent functioning. For example, when the study began the students would begin the session by raising their hands and asking if they could read. This behavior served a primary purpose: to read words, not read for meaning, as was indicated by their need to have an adult question and summarize information to assist the students in constructing meaning. The activities in this study were thought to hopefully break this habit. Although the frequency of occurrence declined, it still occurred even towards the end of the study, which indicated that this powerful, bad habit continued to exist, impacting the independent application of strategies. It is hypothesized that if the students applied these strategies during reading activities in other contexts, not just during the designated times of the study, the behavior of asking to read and not actively apply strategies would have diminished.
The research study allowed me the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of students with language learning disabilities (LLD), which included new learning about the characteristics that make up students with LLD. Simply knowing what constitutes a student’s disability by no means tells one how individual students learn. The most valuable learning that was gleaned from this study was the tolerance and understanding gained about the students’ needs. The students appeared to lack motivation and effort throughout the study, which was observed across all academic areas in school. This observation prompted further exploration of learning disabilities (LD) to ascertain the source of the deficiencies in motivation and engagement. It was found that students with LD experience these difficulties more so than other students, which is directly related to the struggles and failures they experience on a daily basis at school (Harwell, 2001). Additionally, students with LD were found to receive more negative feedback than other students exacerbating their daily struggles with learning (Harwell, 2001). Seeing the negative impact their learning disability had on their learning and the ability to acquire new knowledge, focus of reading for fictional texts shifted from the curriculum demands to the students’ interest. The goal of the study did not waiver; however, the route to achieving this goal changed to meet not only the academic needs of the students, but their emotional and social needs.
This study achieved more than its purpose, which was to determine the benefits of 8 weeks of metacognitive strategies instruction on listening and reading comprehension. From the initiation of this study, it was believed that the designed intervention would have profound effects on the students’ ability to learn in the classroom setting. Although the effects of the instruction were small, the understanding gained about how students with language learning disabilities learn along with the benefit of repeated practice and explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies using visual supports was invaluable.