The difficulties with developing high-order reading comprehension skills negatively impact academic success across fields. The current study investigated whether the text structure strategy instruction, delivered through the Intelligent Tutoring of Structure Strategy (ITSS) to adult English learners as a foreign language (EFL), can improve reading…

This study investigated the impact of conversational agent formality on the quality of summaries and formality of written summaries during the training session and on posttest in a trialog-based intelligent tutoring system (ITS). During training, participants learned summarization strategies with the guidance of conversational agents who spoke one…

Purpose: This study aims to examine the writing outcomes of 6th-grade students learning English as a second language. Design/methodology/approach: In all 45 students in a text structure instruction (TSI) group were compared with 45 students in a self-regulated strategy instruction (SRSI) group and 43 students receiving traditional writing…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention for second graders at risk for academic failure, which taught reading comprehension embedded in social studies content. The intervention included instruction about the structure of cause/effect expository text, emphasizing clue words, generic questions, graphic organizers, and close…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of comprehension training embedded in a program that taught science content to 2nd graders. The program included instruction about the structure of compare-contrast expository text, emphasizing clue words, generic questions, graphic organizers, and the close analysis of well-structured text exemplars. This…

Compares recall and transfer performance of subjects receiving an extended instructional analogy or elaboration in a science text. Finds no differences between groups on explanative or nonexplanative recall. Finds differing amounts of far and immediate transfer for both groups in some instances. Suggests implications for the design of transfer…

Compares the effects of three different methods of improving reading comprehension: text-structure instruction, reading practice, and guided reading. Finds that standardized tests showed no one method to be more effective than another, but that all three methods had measurable effects on reading comprehension. (SR)

The effects of conceptual change text and application questions in 139 college students' learning of electricity concepts were investigated. The experiment was a 2X2X2X2 factorial. Compared to traditional text and no questions, conceptual change text and application questions, respectively, improved acquisition of qualitative concepts.…

Verbal-retelling abilities for social-studies lectures were examined in 20 adolescent boys with language-learning disabilities and 29 with normal language abilities. Lectures had either a comparison expository discourse structure or a causation discourse structure. Results indicated that the comparison discourse structure facilitated more…

This study of 72 undergraduates examined whether theories of learning from text may be extended to hypertext and the effectiveness of hypertext on learning. Participants worked with either a highly structured, unstructured, or linear hypertext system. Results indicated that less structured systems promoted more active processing and a deeper level…

Summarizes three research studies on text and screen density variables in a computer based instruction (CBI) lesson. The first two studies investigated the effectiveness of low density text on lessons taught in print and CBI modes; the third study examined learner preferences for different screen densities. (43 references) (Author/LRW)

This study investigated the effects of audio and text density on the achievement, time-in-program, and attitudes of 134 undergraduates. Data concerning the subjects' preexisting computer skills and experience, as well as demographic information, were also collected. The instruction in visual design principles was delivered by computer and included…