The Relationship between Strategic Reading Activities and Reading Comprehension

Abstract

In the present article, we investigate the degree to which 15-year-old students in regular secondary education in the Netherlands (N = 144) master four strategic reading activities and the relationship of the mastery to their first-language reading comprehension, preference for self-direction and in-depth information processing, and attitude towards reading and strategic reading activities. Students' mastery of strategic reading activities appears to be strongly related to reading comprehension. Differences in reading comprehension between school types are not completely explained by differences in mastery of strategic reading activities. No relationship was found between students' preference for self-direction or in-depth processing of information on the one hand and mastery of strategic reading activities or reading comprehension on the other. Students'attitudes towards the usefulness of strategic reading activities appear to be negatively related both to their mastery of these activities and to their reading comprehension. We suggest that mastery of strategic reading activities probably influences readingcomprehension, and that strategy training appears to be less suitable for students with well-developed reading skills.