Prompting students to generate constructed responses as they read provides a window into the processes and strategies that they use to make sense of complex text. In this study, Markov models examined the extent to which: (1) patterns of strategies; and (2) strategy combinations could be used to inform computational models of students' text…

More knowledge is needed regarding the student factors that impact academic reading and success in college beyond traditional measures of college readiness. This study examined the contributions of student factors specified by the Proficient Academic Reader framework--reading literacy skills, metacognitive reading strategies, and reading…

Coherent mental models for successful comprehension require inferences that establish semantic "bridges" between discourse constituents and "elaborations" that incorporate relevant background knowledge. While it is established that individual differences in the extent to which postsecondary students engage in these processes…

In two studies, we explored the associations among situational reading-related competence beliefs and task value, inference strategies, comprehension during reading, and foundational skills in college age students. In Study 1, 93 participants from a community college completed assessments of comprehension and two types of inference strategies…

Some individual difference factors are more strongly correlated with performance on postreading questions when the text is not available than when it is. The present study explores if similar interactions occur with bridging skill, which refers to a reader's propensity to establish connections between explicit text during reading. Undergraduates…

Some individual difference factors are more strongly correlated with performance on postreading questions when the text is not available than when it is. The present study explores if similar interactions occur with bridging skill, which refers to a reader's propensity to establish connections between explicit text during reading. Undergraduates…

Comprehension emerges as the results of inference and strategic processes that support the construction of a coherent mental model for a text. However, the vast majority of comprehension skills tests adopt a format that does not afford an assessment of these processes as they operate during reading. This study assessed the viability of the Reading…

This study assessed whether and how self-explanation reading training, provided by iSTART (Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking), improves the effectiveness of comprehension processes. iSTART teaches students how to self-explain and which strategies will most effectively aid comprehension from moment-to-moment. We used…

The purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of live (SERT) and computer-based (iSTART) reading strategy training. Prior to and after training, participants read scientific texts and self-explained after each sentence. They also answered comprehension questions. Students showed improvement in the quality of their…

Two studies examined the viability of assessing reading strategies using a think-aloud protocol combined with latent semantic analysis (LSA). Findings demonstrated that the responses of less-skilled readers semantically overlapped more with focal sentences than with causal antecedent sentences, whereas skilled readers' responses overlapped with…