The Importance of Metacognitive Strategies in Reading Literacy-Results of the PISA Testing in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a large-scale assessment of 15-year-old students’ achievements in three broad areas: Reading, science, and mathematics. PISA results are widely used in discussions on various educational aspects, such as educational policy, quality of education, and teaching methods. Although PISA started in 2000, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) participated for the first time in 2018. The core subject for the 2018 circle of testing was reading. Thus, the goal of the present article was to examine the effects of metacognitive strategies on the reading achievement of students in BIH. The sample for this analysis was composed of 5,482 students (2,701 female and 2,781 male students). The results showed that metacognitive strategies had a significant effect on reading achievement. We conclude the article with some remarks on how teachers can employ metacognitive strategies in their everyday practice and thus increase their students’ reading achievement.