A literature review was undertaken to demonstrate how knowledge of one's cognitive processes, the orchestration of strategic effort, and the monitoring of one's cognitive activities can enhance reading performance. The findings indicate that while older readers exercise more awareness of their own learning processes and greater self-control or monitoring of performance, they may be deficient in other ways, such as in a lack of awareness of task and strategy variables. The review suggests that adult and college readers who show evidence of metacognitive deficiencies may be the most promising candidates for strategy training since they appear to be more aware of and capable of monitoring their mental processes while reading. (HOD)