College of Education
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Item TEXT COMPREHENSION ACROSS PRINT AND AUDIO: A PERSON-CENTERED MIXED METHODS STUDY(2023) Singh, Anisha; Alexander, Patricia; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The use of the audio medium (e.g., audiobooks and podcasts) is proliferating in everyday and educational contexts. Yet, research investigating text processing in audio compared to the more commonly used print medium is limited in scope. Specifically, the research so far has majorly focused on younger learners or English language learners, narrative genre texts, operationalized comprehension as a unidimensional construct, and used variable-centered analytical techniques. The current mixed methods study aimed to explore text processing across print and audio by focusing on four interrelated dimensions—learner, text, task, and test. I used finite mixture modeling for the quantitative part of the study to identify meaningful reader and listener profiles. Following the identification and validation of profiles, students from the profiles were interviewed to complement and enhance the understanding of the groups. Specifically, the study aimed to investigate differences across the two mediums vis-à-vis learner characteristics, text and test processing behaviors, and comprehension outcomes. A further goal of the study was to identify meaningful and distinct reader and listener profiles by accounting for affective and behavioral variables, and validating the profiles on cognitive variables. Finally, the study aimed to build qualitatively rich descriptions of the quantitatively unearthed profile groups. To address these aims, undergraduate students (n =130) were recruited from human development courses. They completed measures related to self-efficacy and reported their reading and listening habits. Each participant’s screen was recorded as they processed text in print and audio. Text processing behaviors (e.g., scrolling, increasing playback speed) and off-task behaviors (e.g., eating, fidgeting) were coded. Learner-related, text processing, and task variables were used to find meaningful reader and listener profiles. The profiles were validated using prior topic knowledge and comprehension as covariate and outcome, respectively. Students belonging to each profile were invited for interviews (n = 10). The format was a cued retrospective interview, wherein video clips were used to prompt participants. The interviews were transcribed, segmented into utterances, and coded for learner-related, text-related, task-related, and test-related content. Results from the variable-centered analysis revealed that reading print or listening to audio led to similar performance levels on items targeting recall and inference. However, reading print was associated with higher scores on the item assessing the main idea than listening to audio. Results from the mixture modeling and interviews revealed three reader profiles—Distracted Surfers, Labored Harvesters, and Fluent Surveyors—and three listener profiles—Inconsistently Attentive, Inattentive, and Persistently Attentive. The profiles were found to differ qualitatively on strategies, text processing depth, and attention regulation. This study’s contribution is in expanding the research on comprehension across different mediums both in terms of scope and methodologically. The current investigation demonstrates that learner characteristics and text processing behaviors need to be accounted for when studying comprehension with different mediums. Practically, it has implications for practitioners looking to incorporate audio for content delivery in their courses and for instructional designers developing educational technology tools to optimize learning.Item Executive Function, Engagement, and Attention: Effects on Comprehension(2021) Mohan, Svetha; Bolger, Donald J; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Cognitive control/executive function (EF) and attention deficits are prevalent among students and impact comprehension performance. While EF and attention impairments are well-studied, the interaction between cognitive control/EF, attention, arousal/engagement, and comprehension has yet to be explored. Undergraduates’ ADHD symptoms, cognitive abilities, and cognitive control were assessed prior to listening to passages of varying degrees of emotional valence and responding to comprehension questions. Exploratory EEG data were also collected to examine patterns of cognitive engagement/emotional arousal. Results showed that comprehension for participants with high numbers of ADHD symptoms and/or proactive cognitive control types were influenced by the emotional valence of the context. In emotional contexts, those with high ADHD symptoms showed better comprehension overall and deep levels of processing, and those with proactive cognitive control types showed better deep processing. These findings indicate the need for further research to tease apart the interaction of EF, attention, and arousal on comprehension across different contexts.Item PANCAKES, DUCKLINGS, THINKING IN YOUR BRAIN: MANIFESTATIONS OF 4-YEAR-OLDS’ EMERGING METACOGNITION DURING JOINT PICTURE BOOK READING(2019) Faust, Brecca Berman; Afflerbach, Peter; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Developmental psychologist John Flavell (1979, 1981) used the term metacognition to encompass any form of thinking about one’s thinking. Flavell did not consider this second-level capacity to be a regular part of the thinking and learning of preschool children. However, research using developmentally-appropriate tasks, especially early literacy tasks, has suggested otherwise. Therefore, through this qualitative and exploratory study, I investigated whether and how seven 4-year-olds attending full-day preschool were metacognitive as they read narrative picture books with me in their classroom. Over the course of their pre-kindergarten school year, during free choice morning centers, I engaged the participants in three joint readings of commercially available, narrative picture books. Throughout the informal dialogue of each joint reading session, I posed questions meant to encourage metacognitive processing. I transcribed the dialogue from these sessions and coded each researcher and participant speech turn. I then utilized a constant-comparative process to analyze transcriptions throughout the data collection process while referring to Flavell’s (1979, 1981) conceptualization of metacognition and prior studies of metacognition with preschool participants. This process resulted in the articulation of seven categories of metacognition relevant to preschoolers’ joint reading processes: Feeling of Knowing Story Content, Judgment of Difficulty, Reflecting on Reading, Verbal Self-Revising, Expanding Storytelling, Task Planning, and Justifying Verbalizations. Participants engaged in a total of 219 instances of these forms of metacognition. Approximately 60% of these instances were prompted—occurring in response to a question that I posed within the joint reading dialogue. However, approximately 40% of recorded instances of metacognition occurred spontaneously. All seven participants were metacognitive in at least five of the seven categories, across all four books, and through both prompted and spontaneous verbalizations. Consistent with Flavell’s (1979) conceptualization, metacognition functioned as a transactionally-relevant resource for each joint reading participant, manifesting in ways that reflected varying efforts to participate in the task and construct meaning from the story. My results challenge the notion that metacognition has limited relevance before proficient or conventional print reading (Baker, 2005; Hacker, 1998; Pressley & Gaskins, 2006; Veenman, et al., 2006) and provide further support for Whitebread et al.’s (2009) conclusion that underappreciation of the metacognitive capabilities of preschoolers is becoming an “increasingly untenable” position (p. 64). Given my findings, I discuss implications for metacognitive theory and for future research on reading-relevant metacognition with preschool children.Item READING IN PRINT AND DIGITALLY: PROFILING AND INTERVENING IN UNDERGRADUATES’ MULTIMODAL TEXT PROCESSING, COMPREHENSION, AND CALIBRATION(2019) Singer Trakhman, Lauren Melissa; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As a consequence of today’s rapid-paced society and ever-changing technologies, students are frequently called upon to process texts in print and digitally. Further, multimodal texts are standard in textbooks and foundational to learning. Nonetheless, little is understood about the effects of reading multimodal texts in print or digitally. In Study I, the students read weather and soil passages in print and digitally. These readings were taken from an introductory geology textbook that incorporated various graphic displays. While reading, novel data-gathering measures and procedures were used to capture real-time behaviors. As students read in print, their behaviors were recorded by a GoPro@ camera and tracked by the movement of a pen. When reading digitally, students’ actions were recorded by Camtasia@ Screen Capture software and by the movement of the screen cursor used to indicate their position in the text. After reading, students answered comprehension questions that differ in specificity (i.e., main idea to key concepts) that cover content from three sources: text only; visual only; and, both text and visual. Finally, after reading in each medium, undergraduates rated their performance on the comprehension measure on a scale of 0-100 for each passage. The accuracy of these ratings formed the basis of the calibration score. The processing data were analyzed using Latent Class Analysis. In Study II, an intervention aimed at improving students’ comprehension and calibration when reading digitally were introduced to participants from Study I who returned to the lab about two weeks later. Next, the undergraduates repeated the procedure for digital reading outlined in Study I with a passage on volcanoes. In Study I, students performed better when reading in print and spent more time with the text but were better calibrated when reading digitally. Three clusters were identified for the print data, and three clusters were identified for the digital data. Cluster movement across mediums suggests that some participants treat digital texts differently than when reading in print. After the intervention in Study II, comprehension scores and duration increased but calibration accuracy scores worsened. The LCA revealed three clusters, each showing improvement in processing behaviors, comprehension, or reading duration.Item Explicit Instruction on Rhetorical Patterns and Student-Constructed Graphic Organizers: The Impact on Sixth-Grade Students' Comprehension of Social Studies Text(2011) Scott, Deborah Beth; Dreher, Mariam J; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Using a pretest, posttest two group design, this study investigated the effect of explicit instruction on rhetorical patterns and using those patterns to represent the content graphically on sixth-grade students’ ability to comprehend social studies text. Students in 13 classes from four middle schools in Pennsylvania received either explicit instruction in identifying rhetorical patterns found in social studies textbooks and representing that text graphically or routine social studies instruction. Routine social studies instruction was identified as the instructional activities documented during observations conducted six weeks prior to the intervention. When the intervention began, intervention group students learned to identify rhetorical patterns, construct graphic organizers using the rhetorical patterns, and write summaries of textbook content. Comparison group students continued with routine social studies instruction. All students were assessed with (a) pre- and posttests in which they constructed graphic organizers and wrote summaries using social studies passages and (b) comprehension quizzes during on-going instruction. Randomly selected students from each group engaged in think-aloud tasks at the end of the study. The pre- and posttests results indicated a statistically significant interaction between time and group for both graphic organizer construction (with a very large effect size) and summary writing (with a moderate effect size). Intervention group students outperformed students in the routine social studies group in both constructing graphic organizers based on rhetorical patterns and writing complete summaries. For the comprehension quizzes, students receiving routine social studies instruction outperformed students in the intervention group when answering multiple-choice and essay questions requiring recall of content. Think-aloud responses demonstrated that students in the intervention group were able to graphically represent social studies textbook content using rhetorical patterns as well as transfer that knowledge to a textbook from a different domain while students in the comparison group recognized there was a structure to the content of the text but did not accurately represent that content graphically according to the appropriate rhetorical pattern. Observational data showed intervention students were more engaged with graphic organizers and work samples demonstrated they were able to identify key information in the text and represent it in graphic form.Item The Effects of Using Mental Imagery as a Comprehension Strategy for Middle School Students Reading Science Expository Texts(2009) Jenkins, Margaret H.; Dreher, Mariam J; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigated the effects of mental imagery instruction using science expository texts on middle school students. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design, four intact classes (56 students) were randomly assigned to either an experimental or comparison group. Students in the experimental group received instruction on mental imagery strategies while comparison group students received no mental imagery instruction. After the 2-week intervention, students took Posttest 1. The comparison group students then received mental imagery instruction. Throughout the rest of the school year, all students were prompted at least two to three times a week to use mental imagery strategies. At the end of the school year, all participants took Posttest 2. Results indicated that there was a statistically significant interaction of time and group for the selected response (SR) portion of expository science text comprehension measure. Both groups appeared to make gains between Posttest 1 and Posttest 2, once both had received mental imagery instruction. The comparison group, which by chance included stronger readers, outperformed the experimental group. There were no statistically significant differences on the brief constructed response (BCR) measure. Analysis of the performance of low-, middle-, and high-comprehenders revealed statistically significant main effects for time and for type of comprehender on the SR portion of the comprehension task. While all students appeared to make gains between Posttest 1 and 2, the high- and middle-comprehenders consistently outperformed the low-comprehenders. For the BCR, there were no statistically significant effects of time or interaction; however, there was a statistically significant effect for type of comprehender. Pearson's product moment correlations revealed a statistically significant positive relation between vividness of mental imagery and motivation to read for middle-comprehenders and a statistically significant negative correlation between comprehension and vividness of mental imagery for high-comprehenders. Both experimental and comparison groups showed no statistically significant difference in motivation to read before and after mental imagery intervention. These results suggest that middle school students may benefit from mental imagery strategies when reading science expository texts. It is recommended that these strategies be used as a continuous effort in the classroom rather than a short term "quick-fix."Item Picturebooks as Visual Literacy: The Influence of Illustrations on Second-Graders' Comprehension of Narrative Text(2008) Gerrard, Emily Elizabeth; O'Flahavan, John F; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study poses the following research question: "How does change in text type as text contains more illustrations and fewer words influence second-graders' comprehension of narrative text?" Eleven second-graders read three texts each and completed a series of oral reading comprehension tasks. The three text types varied in terms of the proportion of words to illustrations available in the text: written-only text, combination of written and illustrated text, and illustration-only text. The researcher interviewed each participant three times, once for each text type. Participant scores from the retelling and comprehension questions portion of the interview were analyzed in addition to participant's responses to the retrospective think aloud portion of the interview. Quantitative results from the retellings and comprehension questions suggest an overall trend indicating that illustrations have a positive effect on second grader's comprehension. Qualitative data for individual participants from their retrospective think alouds confirm this trend.Item How Seventh Grade Readers Who Completed An Intensive Phonics Intervention Program in Sixth Grade Comprehend Informational Text(2007-11-28) Stein, Sharon Rent; Wiseman, Donna L; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to explore the processes by which seventh grade readers who completed an intensive phonics intervention program in sixth grade comprehend informational text. The informational text chosen for this study was a social studies passage from a seventh grade textbook. Completion of a phonics intervention program presumes an improvement in automaticity, a foundational reading skill characterized by the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Multiple case studies were the overall approach to inquiry and data gathering. With the assistance of a middle school reading specialist informant, the researcher invited the participation of five seventh grade students reflecting a variation in race and gender who were performing below grade level on reading assessments at the beginning of grade six, and who completed an intensive phonics intervention program by the end of grade six. Data collection included administration of an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) graded word list, reading interest and reading behavior surveys, interviews and observations of students, read and think aloud sessions, an informal comprehension check, and a brief paragraph written by the students to indicate how they saw themselves as readers. The study results suggest that a structured and sequential phonics intervention program holds the promise of improved reading automaticity (the ability to read with speed and accuracy). Reading with speed did not guarantee comprehension. Automaticity was hindered and comprehension affected when students encountered multisyllabic words that were not easily decoded. The five students in this study were able to summarize, paraphrase, infer, predict, interpret, and question marked segments of the text with varying degrees of accuracy, but they were generally unable to demonstrate understanding of the broader ideas and concepts of the selection. Students expressed that they knew comprehension had failed. They did not have the means to repair their comprehension. For these students, explicit comprehension monitoring strategy instruction in addition to a phonics intervention program remains an important component of the reading program.Item The Influence of Supplemental Instructional Approaches Upon The Comprehension, Metacognitive Awareness, and Motivation of Struggling Third- and Fourth-Grade Readers(2007-01-25) O'Hara, Janice Dotterer; Dreher, Mariam J.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Schools are challenged with the responsibility of providing the quality of instruction necessary for all students to meet the achievement standards of "No Child Left Behind" legislation. Supplementary instruction has been used extensively to accelerate struggling readers' progress; however, schools need to consider methods that have been examined for their effectiveness. This quasi-experimental study explored the effect of two supplementary instructional approaches, CORI-STAR and Guided Reading, on accelerating struggling readers' growth in reading comprehension, reading motivation, and metacognitive awareness, as well as their transference of strategies to their classroom reading groups, their application of reading strategies, and their metacognitive knowledge of reading strategies. Struggling third- and fourth-grade students were invited to participate in an 8-week supplementary instructional reading group. Fifty students with parental consent were then randomly assigned by classrooms to either the CORI-STAR or Guided Reading approach. CORI-STAR combined (a) the engaging and motivational elements of Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) developed by John Guthrie, and (b) a metacognitive component, Strategic Thinking Applied to Reading (STAR), consisting of explicit instruction on metacognitive awareness, modeling, think-alouds, and reflective thinking. The Guided Reading approach was implemented according to Fountas and Pinnell's recommendations. The results revealed statistically significant time (pretest, posttest) by treatment interactions with large effect sizes favoring the CORI-STAR group on (a) three comprehension measures: WRMT-PC, QRI-4 questions, and QRI-4 retelling and (b) three metacognitive awareness measures to assess students' awareness of strategies, their application of strategies, and their metacognitive awareness of the declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge of regulating their use of reading strategies. Performance on the Motivations for Reading Questionnaire did not show a statistically significant interaction for time by treatment. However, on another measure of motivation, choosing to take home books for reading, CORI-STAR students outperformed those in the Guided Reading group. Both groups were perceived by their teachers to transfer strategies to classroom use. Thus, students in the CORI-STAR group improved more than Guided Reading students on reading comprehension, metacognitive awareness, and their knowledge and use of reading strategies as a result of the intervention. Further, CORI-STAR students were more motivated to choose books for home reading.Item READING COMPREHENSION COMPONENT PROCESSES IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE(2005-04-07) Cromley, Jennifer Grace; Azevedo, Roger; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A significant proportion of American high school students struggle with reading comprehension. Several different models might help identify the components that have the largest effect on comprehension. The current dissertation study replicates a comparison of the Construction-Integration (CI), Verbal Efficiency (VE), and Inferential Mediation (IM) models of reading comprehension, the latter model based on an extensive literature review. It then tests the fit of four variations on the IM model. Ninth-grade students ranging from 1st to 99th percentile on comprehension completed measures of background knowledge, inferencing, strategies, vocabulary, word reading and comprehension. Researcher-developed measures of background knowledge, inferencing and strategies (based on Cromley & Azevedo, 2004a) showed good reliability with this sample. A subset of the students also completed a think-aloud protocol while reading a passage from an American history textbook. These protocols were transcribed and coded using a coding scheme adapted from Azevedo, Guthrie, and Seibert (2004). As in a preliminary study, the IM model had a much better fit to the data than did the CI or VE models. The original IM Model had the best fit, explaining 66% of the variance in comprehension. All predictors made a significant contribution to comprehension, with vocabulary, background knowledge, and strategies having significant indirect effects. Vocabulary and background knowledge made the greatest total contribution to comprehension. There were large, significant differences between low- and high-comprehending participants on all of the predictor variables, except for word reading accuracy, where there were small but significant differences. The coded think-aloud protocols were largely consistent with the correlations underlying the model. Spearman rank correlations among the codes provide convergent evidence for eleven of the correlations underlying the model. The think-aloud protocols also provided convergent evidence for the validity of the paper-and-pencil measures. The current study validates and refines a new model of reading comprehension. Results suggest that both the direct and indirect effects of the components are important for comprehension. Results also suggest that vocabulary and background knowledge might first be targeted for interventions with 9th grade students who struggle with reading comprehension. Implications for future research are also discussed.