Effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on lexical access and reading comprehension.

To examine the relationship between knowledge of word meanings and semantic processes, 27 4th-grade children were taught 104 words over a 5-mo period. Following instruction, Ss performed tasks designed to require semantic processes ranging from single word semantic decisions to simple sentence verification and memory for connected text. On all these tasks, instructed Ss performed at a significantly higher level than controls matched on pre-instruction vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. Thus, instructed Ss gave evidence both of learning word meanings taught by the program and of being able to process instructed words more efficiently in tasks more reflective of comprehension. Implications for vocabulary instruction and the role of individual word meanings in comprehension are discussed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metamemory through the adult life span.

Metamemory is accurate if it returns correct information about the contents in store. It is efficient if it appropriately controls search durations so that more time is allocated to seeking information actually present, and less to information actually absent. 36 adults in 3 age groups (19–22, 44–53, and 65–74 yrs) answered questions on heterogeneous topics, and their responses were timed. Next, metamemorial judgments were made for each S's set of unanswered questions. The same items were then attempted in multiple-choice format, and confidence ratings in the answers were taken. All age groups showed comparable ability to retrieve answers from memory. All showed accurate and efficient metamemory, with no age differences in either. A signal detection analysis raised the possibility that metamemorial sensitivity increases with age. The data also suggest caution among the elderly in suppressing available but low-confidence answers. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Playing linear number board games—but not circular ones—improves low-income preschoolers’ numerical understanding.

A theoretical analysis of the development of numerical representations indicated that playing linear number board games should enhance preschoolers’ numerical knowledge and ability to acquire new numerical knowledge. The effect on knowledge of numerical magnitudes was predicted to be larger when the game was played with a linear board than with a circular board because of a more direct mapping between the linear board and the desired mental representation. As predicted, playing the linear board game for roughly 1 hr increased low-income preschoolers’ proficiency on the 2 tasks that directly measured understanding of numerical magnitudes—numerical magnitude comparison and number line estimation—more than playing the game with a circular board or engaging in other numerical activities. Also as predicted, children who had played the linear number board game generated more correct answers and better quality errors in response to subsequent training on arithmetic problems, a task hypothesized to be influenced by knowledge of numerical magnitudes. Thus, playing linear number board games not only increases preschoolers’ numerical knowledge but also helps them learn from future numerical experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family problem solving versus home notes as early intervention with high-risk children.

Assigned 69 2nd–6th graders, identified as inconsistent because of extreme variability over baseline in math class work, to a home-note, family problem-solving, or control condition. Teachers scored Ss' math daily and sent home a Good-News Note with Ss in both intervention conditions when their daily means equaled or exceeded their baseline means. Ss in the family problem-solving condition wrote contingency contracts with their families, guided by a problem-solving board game, specifying consequences for receipt of Good-News Notes. Families in the home-note condition were instructed by letter to deliver favorable consequences on receipt of Good-News Notes. Compared to no treatment both forms of intervention significantly reduced class work scatter. Whereas Ss in the control and home-note conditions became less accurate during intervention, Ss in the family problem-solving condition maintained their accuracy. Only Ss in the family problem-solving condition demonstrated generalization to nonreinforced intervention probes. Involvement of the family meant that children produced high quality work even when their classmates' work dropped in quality and that they worked hard even when they expected no reward. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial-Semantic Display Processing: The Role of Spatial Structure on Recall

The purpose of the present study was to test a model of spatial-semantic display processing by comparing the aided and unaided recall of information presented in a node-link format (knowledge map) to the aided and unaided recall of information presented in a text format. Structural icons of the knowledge map and text with the verbiage removed were used to aid retrieval in some conditions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight groups formed by the complete crossing of three factors: knowledge map versus text, structural icon at recall versus no structural icon at recall, and immediate versus delayed recall. Knowledge map groups outperformed text groups on essay tests and they more accurately remembered where information was located within the materials. Both knowledge map and text icon-aided recall groups had significantly better performance than the no icon, unaided recall groups (particularly on main ideas).     

Effects of previously experienced outcomes on the desire for choice.

Three experiments examined the effects of past choice experiences on the desire for choice. All 480 undergraduate Ss experienced both choice and no-choice trials and were asked whether they preferred to perform a 3rd set of trials under choice or no-choice conditions. Success on the choice and no-choice trials was manipulated to determine the effects of experienced outcomes on perceived choice and control, future expectancies, and the desire for choice. Exp I indicated that desire for choice is affected by past success with choice relative to their past success with no choice. Exp II suggested that perceptions of control are based primarily on past success under choice conditions and that their desire for choice is a consequence of these perceptions rather than of the objective efficacy of choice. Exp III demonstrated that breaking the link between perceptions of past control and future expectancies weakens the effects of past outcomes on the desire for choice. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of headings by children for text search.

Examined the development of text search strategies in 144 4th, 6th, and 8th graders who were assigned to reading booklets with or without headings embedded in the reading material. Both younger and older Ss demonstrated evidence of efficient use of headings as locational aids when explicitly instructed on how to use them, and spontaneous use of headings as a search strategy was observed in half of the 4th and 6th graders and in most of the 8th graders. Ss at all levels read faster when asked to search for a specific fact than when asked to read the story line by line, indicating their awareness of when to skim. Findings suggest that by the 4th grade, children may have the cognitive skills to benefit from headings but may use these skills only in structured situations. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Positive and Negative Consequences of Multiple-Choice Testing.

Multiple-choice tests are commonly used in educational settings but with unknown effects on students' knowledge. The authors examined the consequences of taking a multiple-choice test on a later general knowledge test in which students were warned not to guess. A large positive testing effect was obtained: Prior testing of facts aided final cued-recall performance. However, prior testing also had negative consequences. Prior reading of a greater number of multiple-choice lures decreased the positive testing effect and increased production of multiple-choice lures as incorrect answers on the final test. Multiple-choice testing may inadvertently lead to the creation of false knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quality of book-reading matters for emergent readers: An experiment with the same book in a regular or electronic format.

An adult read to 12 children from a regular paper book. Twenty-four children explored an electronic book similar in illustrations and story content (also called CD-ROM storybook, talking book, interactive book, or computer book). For half of this group the electronic book was available with and for half without restrictions concerning the games. Twelve control children were only pre- and posttested. After 6 sessions the examiner elicited an emergent reading of text and separate words to test to what extent children had internalized story meaning, phrasing, and features of written text. During the book-reading sessions children's attention to text and iconic modes differed as a function of book format and children's level of emergent literacy. The regular book format was more supportive of learning about story content and phrasing; both formats supported internalization of features of written words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching elementary school students to identify story themes.

An instructional program focused on story theme was administered to 2nd and 3rd graders (high-, average-, and low-achieving students, including some with disabilities) in a high-poverty school. Compared with more traditional instruction, the program improved theme comprehension and the identification of instructed themes when they appeared in new stories. However, the program did not help students apply a theme to real-life situations or identify and apply noninstructed themes. Findings indicated that at-risk children (at all achievement levels, including those with disabilities) were able to achieve some degree of abstract, higher order comprehension when given instruction that combined structured lessons, a strategy, and discussion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Confidence judgments in children's and adult's event recall and suggestibility.

The present work investigated the role of children's and adults' metacognitive monitoring and control processes for unbiased event recall tasks and for suggestibility. Three studies were conducted in which children and adults indicated their degree of confidence that their answers were correct after (Study 1) and before (Study 2) answering either unbiased or misleading questions or (Study 3) forced-choice recognition questions. There was a strong tendency for overestimation of confidence regardless of age and question format. However, children did not lack the principal metacognitive competencies when these questions were asked in a neutral interview. Under misleading questioning, in contrast, children's monitoring skills were seriously impaired. Within each age group, better metacognitive differentiation was positively associated with recall accuracy in the suggestive interview. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cognitive and linguistic foundations of early reading development: A Norwegian latent variable longitudinal study.

The authors present the results of a 2-year longitudinal study of 228 Norwegian children beginning some 12 months before formal reading instruction began. The relationships between a range of cognitive and linguistic skills (letter knowledge, phoneme manipulation, visual–verbal paired-associate learning, rapid automatized naming (RAN), short-term memory, and verbal and nonverbal ability) were investigated and related to later measures of word recognition in reading. Letter knowledge, phoneme manipulation, and RAN were independent longitudinal predictors of early reading (word recognition) skills in the regular Norwegian orthography. Early reading skills initially appeared well described as a unitary construct that then showed rapid differentiation into correlated subskills (word decoding, orthographic choice, text reading, and nonword reading) that showed very high levels of longitudinal stability. The results are related to current ideas about the cognitive foundations of early reading skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On warm conceptual change: The interplay of text, epistemological beliefs, and topic interest.

The aim of this study was to go further than considering only cognitive factors to extend the understanding of the complex, dynamic underlying knowledge revision processes. Fifth graders were assigned to 2 reading conditions. Participants in 1 condition read a refutational text about light, whereas participants in the other read a traditional text. Within each reading condition, students had more or less advanced beliefs about scientific knowledge (complex and evolving vs. simple and certain), as well as high or low topic interest. Overall findings from pretest to immediate and delayed posttests showed that knowledge revision was affected by several interactions among the variables examined. Students who attained the highest scores at both the immediate and delayed posttests were those who had read the refutational text and had high topic interest, as well as more advanced beliefs about scientific knowledge. In particular, the refutational text was more powerful in prompting a restructuring of alternative conceptions about 2 of the 3 light phenomena examined. In addition, students preferred the innovative text to the traditional textbook text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of moral schemas on the reconstruction of moral narratives in eighth graders and college students.

Much attention has been focused on the importance of reading moral stories to children (e.g., W. Bennett, 1993). Although research on general discourse comprehension is flourishing, little attention has been given to how moral discourse is understood by individuals; that is, what affects an individual's comprehension of a moral text? Eighth-grade and college students read and recalled four complex moral narratives in which moral arguments at different Kohlbergian stages were embedded. Participants then took the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a measure of moral judgment development. Those with higher reasoning scores on the DIT reconstructed more high-stage moral arguments during recall, including adding high-stage moral reasoning that was not in the original text. Significant age-level differences in cumulative moral judgment concepts were also found. Prior moral knowledge affected the comprehension of complex moral narratives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comprehension of students with and without learning disabilities: Identification of narrative themes and idiosyncratic text representations.

In an interview organized around the comprehension of a story adapted from a natural text and the identification of story theme, adolescent students with learning disabilities (LDs) performed below the level of same-age students without LDs and at the same level as younger students without LDs matched on standardized reading comprehension scores. However, on 1 sensitive measure of theme identification (incipient awareness of theme), the LDs scored below the younger students without LDs as well. The LDs also made more idiosyncratic importations during their summarizing and discussing of the story, and such importations were associated with poorer theme identification. The findings suggest that LDs have specific difficulty with "getting the point," perhaps because they build up less effective text representations through the inappropriate use of background knowledge or intrusion of personal points of view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does the Influence of Reading Purpose on Reports of Strategic Text Processing Depend on Students' Topic Knowledge?

The authors examined whether the influence of reading purpose on reported use of text-processing strategies was moderated by students' prior knowledge about the topic of the text. Using multiple regression analyses with interaction terms, they found that the effect of reading purpose on reported use of memorization and elaboration strategies depended on students' level of topic knowledge. For participants who read for the purpose of discussing text content, reported use of memorization and elaboration was positively related to topic knowledge, whereas no relation between reported use of such strategies and topic knowledge was found for participants who read for the purposes of test taking or summary writing. This suggests that students' flexible use of text-processing strategies may depend on their topic knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What counts in the development of young children's number knowledge?

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 47(1) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2011-00627-019). A coding error resulted in incorrect item-level data being reported on the point-to-x task (not the children‘s overall performance on this task) in Table 2 and in the section of the Results headed Point-to-X Task Performance (second column, p. 1314). In the first paragraph in the section, the correct average score for knowledge of cardinal meanings of the number words. In the second paragraph in the section, there is an example illustrating children’s greater performance on items involving a target and a distractor that were one digit apart. An additional adjustment in the second paragraph involves the finding that children performed better when at least one of two choice sets was a small number (1–3) than when both choice sets were greater than or equal to 4. More information for the corrections and the corrected table are given in the erratum.] Prior studies indicate that children vary widely in their mathematical knowledge by the time they enter preschool and that this variation predicts levels of achievement in elementary school. In a longitudinal study of a diverse sample of 44 preschool children, we examined the extent to which their understanding of the cardinal meanings of the number words (e.g., knowing that the word “four” refers to sets with 4 items) is predicted by the “number talk” they hear from their primary caregiver in the early home environment. Results from 5 visits showed substantial variation in parents' number talk to children between the ages of 14 and 30 months. Moreover, this variation predicted children's knowledge of the cardinal meanings of number words at 46 months, even when socioeconomic status and other measures of parent and child talk were controlled. These findings suggest that encouraging parents to talk about number with their toddlers, and providing them with effective ways to do so, may positively impact children's school achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Effects of Goal Instructions and Text on the Generation of Counterarguments During Writing.

The authors investigated ways of encouraging students to consider more counterarguments when writing argumentative texts. One hundred eighty-four undergraduates wrote essays on TV violence. In Experiment 1, students given specific goals generated more counterarguments and rebuttals than controls. In Experiment 2, some participants were provided with a text outlining arguments/counterarguments; some were also asked to write a persuasive letter. Prior attitudes toward the topic were also measured. Persuasion instructions negatively affected and text (without persuasion instructions) positively affected counterargumentation and the overall quality of arguments. Text was only effective, however, for students with less extreme prior attitudes. The danger of using persuasion goals and the advantages of using more specific goals (with text) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"What counts in the development of young children's number knowledge?": Correction to Levine et al. (2010).

Reports an error in "What counts in the development of young children's number knowledge" by Susan C. Levine, Linda Whealton Suriyakham, Meredith L. Rowe, Janellen Huttenlocher and Elizabeth A. Gunderson (Developmental Psychology, 2010[Sep], Vol 46[5], 1309-1319). A coding error resulted in incorrect item-level data being reported on the point-to-x task (not the children‘s overall performance on this task) in Table 2 and in the section of the Results headed Point-to-X Task Performance (second column, p. 1314). In the first paragraph in the section, the correct average score for knowledge of cardinal meanings of the number words. In the second paragraph in the section, there is an example illustrating children’s greater performance on items involving a target and a distractor that were one digit apart. An additional adjustment in the second paragraph involves the finding that children performed better when at least one of two choice sets was a small number (1–3) than when both choice sets were greater than or equal to 4. More information for the corrections and the corrected table are given in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-17955-026.) Prior studies indicate that children vary widely in their mathematical knowledge by the time they enter preschool and that this variation predicts levels of achievement in elementary school. In a longitudinal study of a diverse sample of 44 preschool children, we examined the extent to which their understanding of the cardinal meanings of the number words (e.g., knowing that the word “four” refers to sets with 4 items) is predicted by the “number talk” they hear from their primary caregiver in the early home environment. Results from 5 visits showed substantial variation in parents' number talk to children between the ages of 14 and 30 months. Moreover, this variation predicted children's knowledge of the cardinal meanings of number words at 46 months, even when socioeconomic status and other measures of parent and child talk were controlled. These findings suggest that encouraging parents to talk about number with their toddlers, and providing them with effective ways to do so, may positively impact children's school achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learner-generated organizational aids: Effects on learning from text.

Compared the effects on learning from text of 4 contexts (topic sentences, headings, related sentences, and unrelated sentences) when they were generated by readers or provided in text. 133 female undergraduates read a 522-word passage based on 15 related topics within a conceptual hierarchy on minerals, and performance under each of the treatments was examined on a free recall test, matching test, and test for knowledge of passage structure. The contexts had differential effects on knowledge of passage structure only when they were generated; readers who generated topic sentences recalled more than all other learners. The provided contexts had no effect on knowledge of passage structure but increased recall of subordinate information over generated contexts. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)