Investigating the Use of Metacognitive Regulation Strategies in Reading Primary Scientific Literature

Deep understanding of primary scientific literature (PSL) is essential to reliable scientific communication. However, PSL is difficult to understand, especially for students beginning to explore a scientific field. This presents a problem: how do we teach budding scientists how to utilize one of their most valuable tools? One promising avenue is metacognitive development. Previous studies show that metacognitive strategies increase student reading comprehension and performance. For example, developing metacognitive regulation skills increased reading comprehension in third and fifth graders (Cross and Paris, 1988), and lead to better course performance in first-year college students (Sabel et al., 2017). However, there is little research that investigates the metacognitive strategies that are important in reading PSL. To bridge this gap, we looked at the metacognitive regulation strategies used by biology faculty (N=6) and undergraduates (N=11) while reading PSL via think-aloud interviews. These interviews were transcribed and deductively coded using the constant comparison method and Schraw and Dennison’s (1994) metacognition in reading framework. Analysis of the interviews revealed three key differences in faculty versus student metacognitive regulation strategy use: 1) faculty exhibited greater metacognitive engagement overall than students, 2) faculty employed outside knowledge more often than students, and 3) the most prevalent metacognitive strategy used by faculty was a monitoring strategy, whereas the most prevalent metacognitive strategy used by students was an evaluating strategy. These findings serve to fuel future research in metacognition and inform evidence-based educational practices to teach new scientists to effectively utilize PSL.