An-Najah Staff

A random sample of 16 male and 28 female freshmen college students at An-Najah National University was trained on how to monitor their reading comprehension for almost five weeks while they studying a unit in English.  A “Mokhtari and Reitchard’s, 2002” scale of Monitoring Reading Comprehension was administered on the sample twice:  one before training and the other after it.  Tow tests measuring students’ learning of the units were administered:  one before training and the other after it.  Students average of English subject in  “Government High School Exam” was taken as a measurement of their levels in English language.  This average was classified into high ( 85% and up) and low ( 65% and less) levels.  Other variables such as Government high school specialization ( science vs. literature), and gender  (males vs. females) were studied too. 

The Repeated Measure Design by using “t” test and “F” test for dependent samples at (p< .05) level of significant was conducted.  The “person r” correlation was used for computing the relationship between reading comprehension scale and unit test scores.

 The analysis showed the following results:

 1- The Students’ average of monitoring reading comprehension was (3.71) before training and raised up significantly ( p < .05 ) to be (3.79) after training.

 2- The students’ average on problem solving strategies ( x = 4.04)  was  higher  significantly ( p < .0001 ) than their average of reading support strategies ( x = 3.4 ), or global reading strategies ( x = 3.65 ) before training; whereas, their average on  reading support strategies ( x = 3.56 ) had become significantly ( p < .0001 ) higher than their average on solving reading strategies ( x = 2.74 ) or global reading strategies ( x = 2.97 ) after training.

 3- There was a significant correlation between students’ scores on monitoring reading comprehension scale and their scores on the unit test.  But the correlation was reduced from (r = .35) before training to (r = .29) after it.

 4- There was a significant correlation between students’ scores on monitoring reading comprehension scale and their average of English subject in Government General High School Exam.  But the correlation was reduced slightly from (r =  .40) before training to (r =  .37) after it.

 5- The high ability students in English scored higher on monitoring reading comprehension ( x=3.91) than the low ones ( x=3.43).

 6- The students who had science specialization in Government High school Exam scored higher on monitoring reading comprehension ( x= 4.35) than those who had Literature ones ( x=3.71), though the differences were not significant but approached it ( 0.13 ) .

 7- The training program did benefit the low ability students in English, but not the high ones.

 8- The analysis did not show any significant difference in monitoring reading comprehension with respect to students’ gender (male vs. female).

These results had come along with discussion and recommendations for future research.