Testing the model of a proficient academic reader (PAR) in a postsecondary context

Abstract

The current research used the Proficient Academic Reader (PAR) framework to explore whether reading strategies, task awareness, and motivation predicted college students’ literacy skills over and above foundational skills (e.g., decoding, vocabulary). Specifically, the current research investigated the unique contribution of the PAR constructs to literacy performance across two studies with two different samples of college students. In study one, college students completed assessments of bridging and elaborative reading strategies, task awareness, motivation (intrinsic motivation and competence beliefs), foundational skills, and literacy performance at the beginning of the semester. In study two, college students completed the same assessments at the beginning and end of a reading study and strategies course. Across both studies, students’ task awareness and motivation were significantly predictive of their literacy performance over and above foundational skills. Results from study one indicated that elaborative reading strategies uniquely predicted college students’ literacy performance. Results from study two indicated that elaborative strategies did not predict literacy performance at time one, however, they predicted literacy performance at time two. Exploratory analyses showed that the relation of motivation to literacy performance was moderated by students’ enrollment in developmental education courses. Additionally, motivation, elaborative reading strategies, and task awareness partially mediated the relation of foundational skills to literacy performance, suggesting modifications to the original PAR model. These findings support using the PAR framework to understand college reading readiness. Additional randomized controlled trial intervention studies are warranted to explore if factors of the PAR framework are malleable to classroom instruction.