Interactions Between Reader and Text: Contributions of Executive Function, Strategy Use, and Text Cohesion to Comprehension of Expository Science Text

• In Event: Poster Session 15
  In Poster Session: Metacognition, Studying, and Self-Regulated Learning

Abstract

The current study examined the interactions among key reader and text characteristics. Specifically, this research examined whether expository text that varied in cohesion required differential use of readers’ cognitive and regulatory processes. Prior knowledge and vocabulary ability consistently predicted comprehension. The executive functions of shifting and updating differentially predicted comprehension based on the level of referential cohesion of text. Metacognitive monitoring predicted comprehension in both text conditions; strategy use predicted comprehension only of high cohesion text. The models accounted for 44% and 64% of the variance in the low and high text cohesion conditions, respectively. The findings provide additional evidence for the important and interactive roles of readers’ regulatory processes in comprehension, and suggest important areas of future study.

Authors

• D. Jake Follmer, Salisbury University

• Rayne A. Sperling, The Pennsylvania State University