Reading literacy and metacognition in a Spanish Adult Education centre

Abstract

In recent years, Spain's adult population has been characterised by high unemployment rates, particularly among peopled aged over 18 who do not have the Compulsory Secondary Education certificate. Their training in key competences, such as reading comprehension, would provide them with fundamental learning, empowerment, and better employment opportunities. This empirical study examines the relationship between the use of metacognitive skills while reading and improved reading comprehension previously shown in other studies - evaluating both constructs and attempting to establish whether there is a relationship between them in a sample of 143 adult secondary education students. Research outcomes in reading competence were lower than expected, with significant differences between stages and average use of metacognitive strategies, influenced by gender and age. A significant, linear, and low to moderate degree relationship was found between two of the metacognitive strategies evaluated and so a predictive model was constructed in which age, level, and use of strategies for problem-solving and reading-support are predictive variables explaining 23.4% of the variance in reading skills. We also suggest some changes regarding teacher practice, prioritising active and self-regulating reading.