A study examined how metacognition and motivation related to performance among college learners seeking to improve their skills in reading and writing. Subjects, 27 female and 16 male students representing a range of ethnicities and socio-economic conditions who were enrolled in a pre-freshman summer program at a major northern university, had their metacognitive knowledge, locus of control, reading comprehension, and writing performance measured. All participants received 12 hours of direct instruction in metacognitive skill development during the six-week program. Prior to instruction, all participants completed two questionnaires (for metacognition and locus of control), the Nelson-Denny Test, a cloze task, and a writing sample. After instruction, subjects completed all the measures again. Results indicated that: (1) subjects gained metacognitive knowledge of reading but not of writing; (2) reading comprehension and writing performance scores improved significantly; (3) gains in metacognitive knowledge and reading comprehension showed no statistically significant association; and (4) locus of control scores remained stable. Findings suggest that college learners can improve their metacognitive skill development through training. (Contains 13 references.) (RS)