Challenges of Generating Main Ideas: Patterns and Interactions With Complex Texts

• In Event: Fostering Student Awareness of Literacy Strategies and Processes

Abstract

This study investigated patterns among 352 middle school students who lacked requisite retrieval structures for generating main idea statements while reading expository texts. Whereas students who successfully generated main idea statements identified important details and understood how the details were used to support the purpose of the reading, students who struggled with main idea tended to demonstrate one of three trends: detail focused, overly general, or partial synthesis. As expected, there was an interaction between text difficulty and students’ ability to accurately represent main ideas. Our research suggests that understanding the types of errors students make when generating main ideas while reading can inform the use of differentiated feedback and instructional supports.

Authors

• Leah Anne Teeters, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Amy Lynn Boele, University of Colorado - Denver

• Alison Gould Boardman, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Janette K. Klingner, University of Colorado - Boulder