The effect of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies on social studies academic success: A path analysis model

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of middle school students' reading strategies metacognitive awareness levels on their social studies academic achievement. The data of the study were obtained from 3 public schools in Elazig province during the 2023-2024 academic year with the convenience sampling method. In the study, metacognitive awareness data on reading strategies were collected with the Reading Strategies Metacognitive Awareness Inventory. School grades were used to measure students' academic achievement in social studies. The research data were analyzed with SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 20.0 statistical programs. The research hypotheses were tested with path analysis from structural equation models. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the data met the assumptions of structural equation (path) analysis. As a result of the path analysis, it was seen that the fit indices related to the model were at an excellent level. According to the model results, it was found that global reading strategy and supporting reading strategies sub-dimensions had no effect on social studies academic achievement. On the other hand, it was found that problem solving strategy positively affected social studies academic achievement. In addition, the variables of home library and the number of books read in a year were found to positively affect problem solving strategy. In terms of gender variable, it was found that being a female student positively affected the problem solving strategy. However, another important result of the study was that the increase in the duration of social media use negatively affected the problem solving strategy. In addition, all independent variables in the model indirectly affected social studies academic achievement via problem solving strategy.