Effects of Direct Instruction and Metacomprehension Training on Finding Main Ideas

A comparison is made of the efficacy of metacomprehension (self-monitoring) plus direct instruction, direct instruction alone, and a control training condition in finding the main idea. Twenty-four learning disabled children demonstrated adequate decoding skills but had difficulty with reading comprehension, particularly finding main ideas. Results indicate that both metacomprehension (self-monitoring)plus direct instruction, and direct instruction alone are significantly more effective than the control training condition, and that metacomprehension (self-monitoring) plus direct instruction is more effective than direct instruction alone.