Victoria Chou Hare

Coming to Terms: How Researchers in Learning and Literacy Talk About Knowledge

Terms used to designate knowledge constructs have proliferated in the literature and often seem to duplicate, subsume, or contradict one another. In this article, we present a conceptual framework for organizing and relating terms that pertain to select knowledge constructs. We begin with an examination of the literature. Based on that review, we build a framework that is intended to clarify terms, and the associations among them, and to articulate definitional statements for these knowledge terms. Finally, we consider the importance of this theoretical undertaking for future research in cognition and in learning.

DIRECT INSTRUCTION OF READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES: THE NATURE OF TEACHER EXPLANATION

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses one aspect of one approach to strategy instruction—the nature of teacher explanations provided during direct instruction of reading comprehension strategies—to better understand what is meant by direct instruction of reading comprehension strategies and to learn why such an approach seems to yield such consistently positive results. Five components of teacher explanations are identified: (1) what the strategy is; (2) why a strategy should be learned; (3) how to use the strategy; (4) when and where the strategy is to be used; and (5) how to evaluate use of the strategy. The chapter discusses the strengths and limitations of teacher explanations in improving reading comprehension strategies.

Inducing Use of a Text Lookback Strategy Among Unsuccessful Readers

A text lookback strategy was taught to 12 remedial readers in three sessions. Readers were taught why to use lookbacks, when to use them, and where to use them with expository texts and accompanying questions. Five days after training was completed, the 12 subjects and 12 students in a control group were assessed for use of lookbacks and question-answering accuracy. Significant differences between training and control groups emerged both for percentage of correct answers with lookbacks (for questions not answered correctly from memory) and for percentage of lookbacks used (sometimes leading to an accurate answer, sometimes not) when needed. Classroom instruction in the use of text lookbacks is suggested.

Reading to Remember: Studies of Metacognitive Reading Skills in Elementary School-Aged Children

AbstractSelf-report methodologies, retrospection and protocol analysis, were employed in two studies to investigate sixth and seventh graders’ metacognitive reading skills in naturalistic reading settings. Students monitored relative passage difficulty between a narrative and an expository passage, and easily offered reasons for their judgments. Moderate positive correlations between numbers of problem-solving strategy retrospections and reading achievement scores suggest that retrospection be favored over protocol analysis as a more promising means of gaining access to students’ insights about how they read to remember.

Topical Knowledge and Topical Interest Predictors of Listening Comprehension

Abstract First graders received topical interest and multiple-choice topical knowledge assessments, prior to listening to a story about the topic. Both general and specific topical knowledge measures predicted posttest performance. However, topical interest was both uncorrelated with topical knowledge and not predictive of listening comprehension. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of past topical knowledge findings and future directions for topical knowledge research.

Teaching High School Students to Identify Main Ideas in Expository Text.

AbstractSystematic main idea instruction was delivered to minority high school students in four 75-minute lessons patterned upon suggestions from the instructional literature. A counterpart control group received instruction in vocabulary development. Results indicated that students who received main idea instruction were significantly better at identifying explicit and implicit main ideas in paragraphs, at restating main ideas in summary form, and at summarizing more efficiently than those who received vocabulary instruction. Instructional effects did not, however, transfer to general comprehension performance as measured by a standardized achievement test.

Efficacy of Text Lookback Training for Poor Comprehenders at Two Age Levels

AbstractTwenty-four high school juniors and an equal number of middle school students were randomly assigned to either training or control groups in two settings. Students who were trained received instruction over three days on the use of text lookbacks to answer questions. After one week, trained and control subjects were tested for use of lookbacks and for question-answering accuracy. Only the younger trained students’ performance was significantly superior to that of control-group peers. Possible explanations for differential efficacy of training are discussed.

Development of Preferred Adjective Ordering in Children, Grades One through Five.

AbstractAdjective ordering preferences in adults and in children from grades one through five were ascertained for size, color, and material classes of adjectives. Children at each succeeding grade arranged scrambled sequences of adjectives and nouns to approximate the adult preferred order more closely than the grades) before them. By fifth grade, there were no differences between child and adult preferred orderings. Younger children found the presence of a noun fixed in the final position more facilitating than older children did. Although older children produced the adult preferred order more often than younger children, all exhibited a similar approach to adjective ordering.