Curriculum, Foundations & Reading: Faculty Presentations (1994-2023)

Multiple Text Comprehension for College-Level Readers: Instructions to Enhance Performance

Document Type

Presentation

Presentation Date

7-18-2014

Copyright

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Abstract or Description

The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal method for instructing college-level readers how to use a self-explanation strategy when comprehending multiple texts, which is a difficult task even for advanced readers. Self-explanation has been well documented to enhance single text comprehension. Three experimental conditions tested the degree of explicitness necessary for pre-reading instructions to make an impact: a control condition where readers were instructed to comprehend texts well; a definition only condition where readers were given a definition of a self-explanation strategy and urged to use it during reading; and a definition plus modeling condition where readers were given the self-explanation definition and then a researcher modeled how to use it during reading. The results showed that college-level readers performed better on reading comprehension and written essay tasks when in the definition only condition compared to the control condition. It is concluded that college-level readers need instructions to self-explain to enhance multiple text comprehension but instructions do not need to be overly explicit in terms of how to implement the strategy during reading.

Sponsorship/Conference/Institution

Society for the Scientific Studies of Reading Conference (SSSR)

Location

Santa Fe, NM

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