To What Extent Do Situation-Model-Approach Interventions Improve Relative Metacomprehension Accuracy? Meta-Analytic Insights

This meta-analysis investigated the extent to which relative metacomprehension accuracy can be increased by interventions that aim to support learners’ use of situation-model cues as a basis for judging their text comprehension. These interventions were delayed-summary writing, delayed-keywords listing, delayed-diagram completion, self-explaining, concept mapping, rereading, and setting a comprehension-test expectancy. First, the general effectiveness of situation-model-approach interventions was examined. The results revealed that, across 28 effect sizes (comprising a total of 2,236 participants), situation-model-approach interventions exerted a medium positive effect (g = 0.46) on relative metacomprehension accuracy. Second, the interventions were examined individually. The results showed that, with the exception of self-explaining, each intervention had a significant positive effect on relative metacomprehension accuracy. Yet, there was a tendency for setting a comprehension-test expectancy to be particularly effective. A further meta-analysis on comprehension in the selected studies revealed that, overall, the situation-model-approach interventions were also beneficial for directly improving comprehension, albeit the effect was small. Taken together, the findings demonstrate the utility of situation-model-approach interventions for supporting self-regulated learning from texts.