COMPARING THE EFFECTS OF LEARNING THE STRUCTURE STRATEGY VIA WEB-BASED TRAINING OR CLASSROOM TRAINING ON THE RECALL OF NEAR AND FAR TRANSFER TEXTS.
Open Access
- Author:
- Theodorou, Eleni
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- September 20, 2006
- Committee Members:
- Bonnie J Meyer, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Robert James Stevens, Committee Member
Hoi Kin Suen, Committee Member
Kathy L Ruhl, Committee Member
Peggy Noel Van Meter, Committee Member
Michael Mc Neese, Committee Member - Keywords:
- reading comprehension
structure strategy
web-based instruction
reading strategies
transfer - Abstract:
- The study examined the effects of two methods for training college students in a reading strategy: web-based and traditional/classroom training. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions. Participants in the first condition received traditional/classroom training on using the problem/solution structure when reading and recalling information. Participants in the second condition received web-based training on using the problem/solution structure. Participants in the third condition were not trained on using the problem/solution structure. Then, all participants read and recalled two passages (near and far transfer tasks). Participants trained to use the problem/solution structure were expected to outperform those not trained on the near and far transfer tasks. Participants in the web-based condition were expected to have significantly better use of the top-level structure, total recall, and recall of main ideas than participants in the traditional/classroom training condition on the far transfer passage but not on the near transfer passage, to perform better on the training exercises and to have more positive attitudes toward training than participants in the traditional/classroom training condition. The data supported the first hypothesis in that participants taught to use the problem/solution structure performed significantly better on the use of the top-level structure measure. The hypothesis that participants in the web-based condition would perform better on the dependent measures on the far transfer but not on the near transfer passage was not supported by the data. The hypothesis that participants in the web-based condition would outperform those in the traditional/classroom condition on the training exercises was not supported. The hypothesis that participants in the web-based condition would have more positive attitudes was partially supported.