Reading Strategies Used in Reading Academic Texts by Students of High and Intermediate Reading Proficiency Levels

In this study, the reading strategies used by students of high and intermediate reading proficiency levels were qualitatively examined. Reading strategies are important factors that affect someone's reading proficiency. In the development of education, reading strategies are continuously carried out to facilitate the learning process and sharpen students' reading skills. The purpose of this study is to discover the reading strategies used by the English Department students with high and intermediate reading proficiency levels in reading academic texts. This study uses reading strategies theory by Grabe (2009) combined with the interview questions by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) to examine the reading strategies of ten participants consisting of five people with high reading proficiency level and five other people with intermediate reading proficiency level. This study showed that students of high reading proficiency levels tend to use more reading strategies than students with intermediate reading proficiency level. The biggest difference is in the use of text-structure awareness and inferencing strategies. It indicates that the mastery of text structure is directly related to reading effectiveness. Without text structure awareness, other reading strategies such as summarizing, inferencing, and elaborative interrogation will be seriously disrupted. Keywords: Reading Strategies, Academic Text, High Reading Proficiency Level, Intermediate Reading Proficiency Level

Promoting Critical Thinking Through the Use of Student-Generated Case Studies

Often, using case studies as instructional prompts and methods can lead to frustration by both the teacher and the students. This has led many in the field of teacher education to question the utility of this instructional method. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how preservice educators may enhance their critical thinking by learning how to create student-generated case studies. The authors also provide the psychological and educational evidence which supports purports the importance of critical thinking in preservice k-12 education. In this chapter, the authors discuss why student-generated case studies are an effective teaching tool and explain how research on elaborative interrogation and worked examples explains why using student-generated case studies promote critical thinking. Two examples of student-generated case studies are provided (one from elementary and one from secondary education) along with guiding questions and prompts students may use to develop their own effective, elaborative, and worked-example of case studies in a teacher education course.

Novices’ performance using hypertext materials: Shedding light on disorientation

Many researchers have proposed a causal link between low domain knowledge and disorientation in hypertext. Our objective was to challenge this hypothesis, examining other variables that might have an influence, such as design, reading instructions, or working memory capacity. We analysed navigation patterns and comprehension scores in a sample of low topic knowledge undergraduate students (N = 45) who were assigned to one of three hypertext conditions: reading for a test, reading to write a summary, and elaborative interrogation. Another sample (N = 45) of low knowledgeable undergraduate students were used as a control group, performing the same tasks using printed texts. Regarding disorientation, and contrasting with previous research, only a minority of students became disoriented in hypertext. Neither reading instructions nor working memory capacity had the expected impact on readers’ behaviour or outcomes, so hypertext design might be a key aspect on explaining disorientation. Implications for hypertext design and education are discussed. Implications for practice or policy: The general assumption of low prior knowledge readers becoming disoriented in hypertext is falsified. Educational hypertext designers should always consider hypertext structure, graphical overviews, and usability elements. Educators must be aware that novices may show difficulties to adapt their learning behaviour to different reading goals.

The Effect of Elaborative Interrogation on the Synthesis of Ideas from Multiple Sources of Information

The new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (ACRL, 2016) highlights the ability to synthesize ideas from multiple sources of information as one of the key knowledge practices. There is little generalizable empirical research based on cognitive science principles to guide information literacy instruction practice. The present study examined the effectiveness of elaborative interrogation instructional strategy on integration and transformation of ideas from multiple sources of information. 86 participants took part in the study via Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. The experiment involved reading five texts on the topic of climate change and responding to embedded elaborative interrogation prompts (treatment groups only), and writing a synthesis paragraph on the topic. Two one-way ANCOVAs were employed to test the hypotheses which indicated that elaborative interrogation prompts did not significantly improve performance on transformation and integration measures. This study contributes to the growing body of literature addressing information literacy instruction based on the new Framework and provides a promising long-term cross-disciplinary research partnership in terms of linking evidencebased guidance for instruction based on cognitive science principles to information literacy knowledge practices in the new Framework.

Promoting Critical Thinking Through the Use of Student-Generated Case Studies

Often, using case studies as instructional prompts and methods can lead to frustration by both the teacher and the students. This has led many in the field of teacher education to question the utility of this instructional method. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how preservice educators may enhance their critical thinking by learning how to create student-generated case studies. The authors also provide the psychological and educational evidence which supports purports the importance of critical thinking in preservice k-12 education. In this chapter, the authors discuss why student-generated case studies are an effective teaching tool and explain how research on elaborative interrogation and worked examples explains why using student-generated case studies promote critical thinking. Two examples of student-generated case studies are provided (one from elementary and one from secondary education) along with guiding questions and prompts students may use to develop their own effective, elaborative, and worked-example of case studies in a teacher education course.