Evaluation of Understanding in College Students: Effects of Text Structure and Reading Proficiency.

Abstract An error detection paradigm was used to examine the ability of college students of different reading proficiency levels to evaluate their understanding of texts. Students read passages containing inconsistent sentences varying in referential coheslveness and were asked to find the textual problems. Error detection was measured by both a performance measure (recording the inconsistent sentences) and a verbal report measure (rating passage understanding following reading). Students were more likely to detect Inconsistent sentences when they were referentially cohesive and good readers were more likely than poor readers to detect Inconsistencies. Students rated passage understanding high regardless of whether they detected problems, resulting In what Glenberg, Wilkinson, and Epstein (1982) have termed Illusion of knowing. Results suggest that college students frequently fail to adequately evaluate their understanding of texts and that Instruction in evaluation strategies would benefit many students.

[1]  Linda Baker,et al.  Effects of Inconsistent Information on Text Processing: Evidence for Comprehension Monitoring. Technical Report No. 203. , 1981 .

[2]  James I. Brown.  The Nelson-Denny Reading Test. , 1960 .

[3]  A. Glenberg,et al.  The illusion of knowing: Failure in the self-assessment of comprehension , 1982 .

[4]  L. Baker,et al.  Spontaneous versus instructed use of multiple standards for evaluating comprehension: Effects of age, reading proficiency, and type of standard☆ , 1984 .

[5]  Peter Johnston,et al.  Comprehension Monitoring and the Error Detection Paradigm , 1982 .

[6]  Shirley A. Wagoner.  Comprehension Monitoring: What It Is and What We Know About It. , 1983 .

[7]  H. Ratner,et al.  Children's comprehension monitoring and recall of inconsistent stories. , 1986 .

[8]  Walter Kintsch,et al.  Toward a model of text comprehension and production. , 1978 .

[9]  L. Baker.  Metacognition, comprehension monitoring, and the adult reader , 1989 .

[10]  N. R. Schultz,et al.  Evaluation of comprehension in young and old adults. , 1987 .

[11]  Verbal Reports as Measures of Comprehension Evaluation , 1989 .

[12]  Diane August,et al.  Comparison of Comprehension Monitoring of Skilled and Less Skilled Readers. , 1984 .

[13]  Nancy E. Taylor,et al.  Monitoring of Understanding: An Investigation of Attentional Assistance Needs at Different Grade and Reading Proficiency Levels. , 1982 .

[14]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  Skills, plans, and self-regulation , 1978 .

[15]  Hilary Horn Ratner,et al.  Effects of Reading Ability on Children's Comprehension Evaluation and Regulation , 1989 .

[16]  Karen Zabrucky,et al.  COMPREHENSION MONITORING IN GOOD AND POOR READERS: EVIDENCE FROM VERBAL AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES , 1985 .

[17]  M. Carney,et al.  Reading Ability, Academic Performance, and College Attrition. , 1981 .

[18]  Karen M. Zabrucky,et al.  Children's Ability to Use Three Standards to Evaluate Their Comprehension of Text. , 1989 .