Samuel Allen Patton, Douglas Fuchs, Emma L. Hendricks, Annie J. Pennell, Meagan E. Walsh, Lynn S. Fuchs, Wen Zhang Tracy, Loulee Yen Haga
{"title":"An Experimental Study to Strengthen Students’ Comprehension of Informational Texts: Is Teaching for Transfer Important?","authors":"Samuel Allen Patton, Douglas Fuchs, Emma L. Hendricks, Annie J. Pennell, Meagan E. Walsh, Lynn S. Fuchs, Wen Zhang Tracy, Loulee Yen Haga","doi":"10.1111/ldrp.12276","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Reading nonfiction texts with understanding is important to school success, yet many students struggle to do so. This randomized controlled trial extends previous research by contrasting an earlier iteration of a comprehension tutoring program (Comp) against a variant with strategies for transferring learning (Comp+Transfer). Participants were 189 fourth and fifth graders with weak reading comprehension. To evaluate their efficacy, we used commercially developed far-transfer measures and experimenter-made near- and mid-transfer measures of reading comprehension. In contrast to controls, students in both programs significantly improved their understanding of near-transfer passages. Additionally, students in Comp+Transfer improved performance on mid-transfer passages. These findings suggest the value of teaching for transfer and the importance of measuring program efficacy with researcher-made tests alongside commercial tests.</p>","PeriodicalId":47426,"journal":{"name":"Learning Disabilities Research & Practice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2022-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Learning Disabilities Research & Practice","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ldrp.12276","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SPECIAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Reading nonfiction texts with understanding is important to school success, yet many students struggle to do so. This randomized controlled trial extends previous research by contrasting an earlier iteration of a comprehension tutoring program (Comp) against a variant with strategies for transferring learning (Comp+Transfer). Participants were 189 fourth and fifth graders with weak reading comprehension. To evaluate their efficacy, we used commercially developed far-transfer measures and experimenter-made near- and mid-transfer measures of reading comprehension. In contrast to controls, students in both programs significantly improved their understanding of near-transfer passages. Additionally, students in Comp+Transfer improved performance on mid-transfer passages. These findings suggest the value of teaching for transfer and the importance of measuring program efficacy with researcher-made tests alongside commercial tests.