Synthesizing Research on Reading Comprehension

Determine the effect of expert knowledge and metacognitive knowledge on strategy acquision using an ecologically valid task.

132 first graders' comprehension-monitoring skills were examined and related to their decoding and listening-comprehension skills.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an experimental set of reading lessons focusing on strategies applied to social studies textbook material.

Subtopic 6

This study compared two instructional strategies for teaching reading comprehension to fourth grade students.

Purpose

Pretest-Posttest Group Design

Experimental/Comparative\t

?

Descriptive

Design

132 Finnish speaking first graders from four urban schools

150 students from four fourth grade and four sixth grade classrooms participated in the study. Students were from two elementary schools located several miles apart in a small suburban school district of a large metropolitan area + 8 experienced teachers with ten or more years of experience. Each was considered to be a good teacher by the district elementary program specialist.

Subjects

QAR information; Reading material consisted of passages from several basal readers; Worksheets were developed for independent probe sessions and practice sessions; Assessments consisted of MAT Form L for Pretest and CAT was collected from their records. Posttesting consisted of administration of the MAT Form M.

IQ estimate based on Otis Lennon Scholastic Aptitude Test

Instruments

Procedures/Treatment/Materials

Results

Subtopic 1

Generalizability

student generated questions might increase attentiveness; Study did not evaluate the individual components of the treatment packages; limited to the two instructional strategies studied; results do not reflect what students may be able to accomplish if provided with unlimited time; effectiveness of QAR strategies needs to be determined compared to other strategies.

Weaknesses

Synthesizing Research on Reading Comprehension\t