THE IMPACT OF SELF-QUESTIONING STRATEGY USE ON THE TEXT-READER ASSISTED COMPREHENSION OF STUDENTS WITH READING DISABILITIES

Abstract

This study involved an examination of the impact of a self-questioning strategy on the text-reader assisted comprehension skills of six students in grades five through eight with reading disabilities (RD). The purpose of this study was to determine the degree older children with RD comprehend text-reader assisted text that is at or above their actual grade level and whether comprehension of text-reader assisted text be could be enhanced if students with RD were taught and prompted to used self-questioning strategies. Students were asked to listen to and visually track sixth to seventh grade level text that was read to them using the Kurzweil 3000 text-reader software. They were then asked to answer seven multiple-choice inferential questions and to summarize the passage in a retell. Data were analyzed using a multiple-baseline, single subject design and a repeated-measures ANOVA. Results suggest that students with RD can have comprehension difficulties that are not resolved by text-reader software, and that selfquestioning strategies significantly improve their ability to comprehend text supported by text-reader software. Results, however, varied between students. Implications for the use of text-reader software and comprehension instruction are discussed. The trend in accommodation provision since the seventies has been to provide older children and adolescents with reading disabilities (RD) access to text by reading it to them. Until recently this was accomplished by using either an instructional staff person or a tape recorder. Now with increasing frequency, and the advent of more sophisticated text-reader software, any text can be read to a student by a computer (Hasselbring & Bausch, 2005/2006). This is a breakthrough that more than anything else could alter the educational experiences and success of students with RD. The research on the use of text-reader software with students with RD is still evolving, however, and at a slower pace than the development of the technology. With the growing availability of text-reader software to schools, it is conceivable that teachers will be tempted to simply scan course text or exams into a computer and leave students alone to access the information. Reading comprehension, however, is a more complex skill than simply identifying words. For some students, poor comprehension is a direct result of struggles with word identification and reading fluency. For others, however, deficits in comprehension are also a result of an inefficient application of comprehension strategies, a deficient lexicon and limited world knowledge. For these latter students, text