Application of Structural Equation Modeling in Assessing the Relationship Between Stuttering Students' Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies and Their Reading Comprehension Performance

Abstract

Language testing is not limited to assessing the performance of ordinary learners. It is also needed in other field such as assessing the ability of children with disabilities, those who have language disorders. Although a great deal of research has been carried out in the realm of stuttering, researchers still do not know why some children stutter, or why most children become fluent speakers while others become adult stutterers. Studies show that Stuttering students have many difficulties in Reading Comprehension (Roberts & Erdos, 1993). It is stated in the Reading Comprehension literature that cognitive and metacognitive strategies have a crucial role in reading comprehension performance. The present study aims at investigating the relationship between cognitive and metacognitive strategies of stuttering students through using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings of the study show that there is a meaningful relationship between Cognitive and Metacognitive strategies of stuttering students. However, there is no statistically significant relationship between the Cognitive strategies and Reading Comprehension of Stuttering Students.