Relations Between Adolescents' Text Processing and Reasoning

TLDR

The study situates its findings within theories of single‑ and multi‑text processing, adolescent text‑processing competencies, and the pedagogical implications for fostering discipline‑based reasoning. The research investigates how adolescents learn about a historical issue—specifically the Fall of Rome—using multiple information sources. Participants read two contradictory accounts of the Fall of Rome, produced think‑aloud protocols after each sentence, and then answered comprehension and reasoning questions, with the protocols coded for processing type and content. Paraphrases and elaborations dominated the think‑aloud data, with elaborations linking prior knowledge and cross‑text information, and the complexity of historical reasoning was predicted by self‑explanations that enhanced text coherence through prior knowledge and surface connections.

Abstract

This research examines adolescents' learning about a historical issue from multiple information sources. Adolescents read 2 contradictory texts explaining the Fall of Rome and thought out loud after each sentence. After reading, a series of questions probed their understanding and ability to reason with the information. Think-aloud protocols were coded for the type of processing they reflected, as well as the content that was utilized (e.g., prior knowledge, other text information). Paraphrases and elaborations were the most common types of processing activity. Elaborations involved connections to prior knowledge as well as other text information (both within and across texts) and often-represented self-explanations. The complexity of reasoning about the historical event was predicted by think-aloud comments that increased the coherence of the texts: self-explanations that used prior knowledge or previously processed text information as well as surface text connections. Results are discussed in terms of theories of text processing from single and multiple texts, adolescents' competencies when processing them, and implications of the research for providing students with opportunities to learn to think in discipline-based ways.