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Strategic Decisions in Task-Oriented Reading

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2015

Ladislao Salmerón ,
Eduardo Vidal-Abarca ,
Tomás Martínez ,
Amelia Mañá ,
Laura Gil  and
Johannes Naumann
Ladislao Salmerón*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Eduardo Vidal-Abarca
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Tomás Martínez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Amelia Mañá
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Laura Gil
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Johannes Naumann
Affiliation:
German Institute for International Educational Research (Germany)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ladislao Salmerón. Universidad de Valencia. Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 21. 46010. Valencia (Spain). E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Answering questions from texts are assessment and instructional activities that are frequently used in schools. Nevertheless, little is known about the strategic processes that students take while performing these tasks. We explored the amount and frequency that students initially read of a text before they answered questions pertaining to the material. In a procedure similar to the one used in the PISA (Program for International Students Assessment), one-hundred-seventy students between 7th and 9th grade read and answered several questions designed to assess task-oriented reading in three specific texts. We recorded on-line indexes that evaluated student behavior (e.g., the amount of text that students read before answering questions raised within a given text), performance, and comprehension skill. The results revealed that students skilled in comprehension initially read a high proportion of the texts, which in turn improved their overall performance in two of the three texts read (text 1: CI95%: 0.01 to 0.09; text 2: CI95%: –0.01 to 0.05; text 3: CI95%: 0.04 to 0.20). Therefore, we conclude that this strategic behavior should be considered during the assessment and instruction of reading literacy.

Keywords

reading comprehension assessmentreading literacytask-oriented reading
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 18 , 2015 , E102
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2015 

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