This investigation sought to determine the role of cognitive word knowledge in metacognitive development. Subjects were fifth graders, seventh graders, tenth graders, and college undergraduates. Each sub- ject completed a Likert scale self-report that measured the frequency of their metacognitive strategy use and a multiple-choice test that measured their cognitive word knowledge. Achievement percentiles were then collected from the subjects records. Metacognitive strategies representing the production of external strategies were found to decrease with age (e.g., metacognitive strategies representing internal processing increased with age (e.g., Only the metacognitive strategies assessing more internal processing were significantly related to standard&d verbal and quantitative achievement percentiles. Finally, cognitive word knowledge, ex- plained a significant amount of variance in metacognition total for seventh and tenth graders, and undergraduates, but in tenth graders only when metacognition was par- tialled for verbal achievement percentiles. Cognitive words such as think and know are a subdivisionof the internal state lexicon (Hall & Nagy, 1986) and may be central to accessing, monitoring, and transforming our internal states (Scholmck & Hall, 1991). Cognitive words may enable people to understand and interrelate various aspects of their mental functioning (Scholnick & Hall, 1991). Cognitive words may provide a medium that makes it possible to engage in metacognition, that is, to generate goals for reading, communicate the intended meaning of a text, or evaluate one's level of understanding. Similarly, cognitive words may equip the reader with a vehicle by which to evaluate comprehension strategies critically or to consciously reflect...

lex interaction among frequency of the replacement cognitive word in established word frequency counts, the level of meaning as determined by the R. E. Frank and W. S. Hall (1991) conceptual difficulty hierarchy and whether the cognitive word was a cognate of think or know. Cognitive words, such as think and know, are a category within the internal state lexicon. Most internal state words are verbs with the as the subject (e.g., "John recalls the answer" and "Jill considers her friends viewpoint "). In particular, cognitive words may be central to accessing, monitoring, and transforming internal states (e.g., Hall, Scholnick, Hughes, 1987). Cognitive words enable people to make fine-grained distinctions among their cognitive states (Corson, 1985). For this reason, we argue that cognitive words may be essentially involved in the development of skilled reading comprehension. Cognitive words can provi

This study investigated children under- standing (3-, 9-, and of the differ- ent levels of meaning of the cognitive verb know as defined by the Hall, Scholnick, and Hughes (1987) abstractness andconceptual hierarchy. We found that cognitive verb knowledge increased with development and that certain low levels of meaning were mastered before certain high levels of meaning irrespective of the medium of presentation: video- taped skits and audiotaped stories. However, children developed an understanding of low levels of meaning at a more rapid rate than high levels of meaning. resulted in a more differentiated and hierarchical cognitive verb knowledge in older children. Finally, we found that the audiotaped stories were more than the videotaped skits, and that both tasks were significantly correlated with a standardized vocabulary measure for all ages except the implications of this study and others for a model of the cognitive verb lexicon are discussed. The development of...

The authors compared fifth-, seventh -, and tenth-graders, and college undergraduates cognitive word knowledge of the cognates of think and know within a theoret- ical framework focused on hierarchical levels of meaning. Cognitive words form a category within the internal state lexicon and may be central to accessing, monitoring, and transforming our internal states, all of which seem to be processes critical to reading comprehension. Cognitive word knowledge was positively correlated with achievement scores. The correlations with cognitive word knowledge were higher for Verbal (vocabulary and reading comprehension) than Quantitative achievement scores, and cognitive word knowledge increased with age. However, the order of acquisition of cognitive words depended on a complex interaction between the frequency of the cognitive word in established word frequency counts, the level of meaning as determined by the conceptual hierarchy, and whether the cognitive word was a cognate of thin...

itiveverb knowledge in older children. Finally, we found that the audio-taped stories were more difficult than the video-taped skits, and that both tasks were significantly correlated with a standardized vocabulary measure for all ages except the 3-year-olds. The implications of this study and others for a model of the cognitive-verb lexicon are discussed. Most research on lexical development has concentrated on the child's acquisition of words that refer to objects, actions, and events (Clark, 1983). Comparatively little research has been conducted on the child's acquisition of words that refer to states, such as cognitive verbs. Moreover, most research that has been conducted has investigated children's first understanding of these cognitive verbs. Only recently has research been conducted on older children's and adults' understanding of these words (cf. Astington & Olson, 1990; Booth & Hall, 1994a, 1994c; Fabricius, SchwanenThis research was

This paper is the result of a decision by the Scientific Advisory Council of the Center for the Study of Reading to produce a paper drawing out the implications of the Center's work for the assessment of reading comprehension. The work was supervised by a subcommittee consisting of David Pearson, George McConkie, Bob Linn, and Andrew Ortony, each of whom gave his time unstintingly. They contributed to both the content and structure of the paper. However, the committee cannot be held responsible for the final product. Thanks are due to Peter Winograd and Rob Tierney for comments on earlier drafts of the paper. Special thanks to George McConkie for his efforts above and beyond the call of duty. Assessment of Reading Comprehension

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