Direct Instruction in Critical Reading Skills

Abstract

THE PRESENT STUDY compared a control and two experimental treatments, a directinstruction approach and a workbook-with-corrective-feedback approach, in training three critical reading skills. The skills were the ability to detect instances of (a) faulty generalization, (b) false causality, and (c) invalid testimonial. Thirty-nine fifth-grade students were randomly assigned to one of three groups. When the 3-day instructional intervention was completed, students were given three specially designed tests: one main measure, a domain-referenced test geared to the material taught, and two supplementary measures. Significant differences were found on performance on the main posttest between the direct-instruction sample and both the workbook-with-corrective-feedback and no-intervention samples. Results from the two supplementary tests were either nonsignificant or favored direct instruction.