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Comprehension:  Text Structure
K-3 • 4-6 • 7-8 • 9-12

Grades K-3

Study Name
Design
Rating
Strategy, Subjects, Effects
Topics
Table information is abbreviated. Click "Read full review" links below for full citations of author and journal names and for details about the studies.

Study:
Stahl & Fairbanks.

The effects of vocabulary instruction: A model-based meta-analysis.

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reading_4-6_54
Meta-analysis
4
Strategy:  Vocabulary Instruction
 Subjects: NA
Results: Vocabulary instruction does appear to have a significant effect on the comprehension of passages containing taught words (effect sizes averaged +.97) and passages not necessarily containing taught words (effect size +.30)

Reading Topics:
• Vocabulary

Keywords:
definitions; context

Study:
Idol, L. & Croll, V.J.

Story-mapping training as a means of improving reading comprehension

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reading_k-3_113
Added
8-10-05
2
 Strategy: Story-mapping
Subjects: Five students (grades 2-5) from three elementary schools in a medium-sized Midwestern city were selected by their special education teachers because they exhibited serious reading comprehension problems despite adequate decoding skills. One student was in a self-contained classroom; the others were receiving services from learning disabilities resource teachers.
Results: 4 of the 5 students demonstrated statistically significant net comprehension gains from baseline to maintenance. Improved reading comprehension did significantly maintain after removal of the story mapping.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Strategy Instruction
 – Text Structure
 – Graphic Organizers

Diverse Learners

Grades: 2 - 5

Keywords: Story-mapping; learning disabled

Grades 4-6

Study Name
Design
Rating
Strategy, Subjects, Effects
Topics
Table information is abbreviated. Click "Read full review" links below for full citations of author and journal names and for details about the studies.

Study:
Berkowitz.

Effects of instruction in text organization on sixth-grade students' memory for expository reading.

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reading_4-6_40
5

Strategy:  Map Construction for organizing ideas as a framework for studying.
 Subjects: 99 sixth graders from a middle school in Minneapolis suburb
Results: The map construction group recalled significantly more information than the question-answering group. There was no difference indicated in the transfer test. In the recall of main ideas, map construction group recalled significantly more main ideas than the other three groups.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Strategy Instruction  
 – Text Structure

Grades: 6

Keywords:
graphic organizer; mapping; recall

Study:
Symons, S., MacLatchy-Gauget, H., Stone, T.D., & Reynolds, P.L.

Strategy instruction for elementary students searching informational test.

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reading_3-5_110
Added
8-10-05
4

Strategy:  Strategic reading and monitoring while reading informational text
Subjects: Studies 1 to 3 included 180, 57, and 92 rural elementary students respectively. None experienced significant academic difficulties according to their teachers
Results: Strategy plus Monitoring compared to control on accuracy

Study 1 1.0
Study 2 0.85
Study 3: Category selection, extraction, and monitoring v. control on accuracy 1.71

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Strategy Instruction
 – Text Structure

Grades: 3-5

Keywords: self-monitoring, informational text; answering questions; locating information; factual text; 3rd, 4th, 5th graders

Study:
Hidi & Baird.

Strategies for increasing text-based interest and students' recall of expository texts.

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reading_4-6_8
4

Strategy:  Interest-invoking text strategies: 1) Attributes that contribute to sentence interest, 2) Insertion of information that elaborates on the central idea, 3) Resolution interest
 Subjects: 110 4th-graders and 6th-graders in upper-middle class suburban school regular classes
Results: Significant effects for recall 4th graders .23 and .17, 6th graders .33 and .26

 Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Strategy Instruction

Grades: 4, 6

Keywords:
interest; recall; expository text

Study:
Richgels, McGee, Lomax, & Sheard.

Awareness of four text structures: Effects on recall of expository text

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reading_4-6_9
4
 Strategy:  Four expository text structures: Collection, Comparison/ Contrast, Causation, Problem/ Solution
 Subjects: 56 students in two 6th grade classes in a university lab school; wide range of abilities and backgrounds. Interview sub-sample of 30 students was randomly selected from the 56.
Results: There was no significant difference between ratings for collection, comparison/contrast, and problem/solution. More subjects received "full knowledge" ratings for the comparison/contrast structure than any other structure.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure

Grades: 6

Keywords:
compare/contrast; cause/effect; expository text

Study:
Schunk & Rice.

Strategy fading and progress feedback: Effects on self-efficacy and comprehension among students receiving remedial reading services.

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reading_4-6_53
3

Strategy:  Comprehension strategy fading and progress feedback and (use of) strategy value feedback
Subjects: 44 fifth graders receiving remedial reading-comprehension instruction Chapter I reading program predominately lower-middle class, 25% ELL
Results: Self-efficacy yielded significant treatment effect F(3, 40) - 16.82, p<.001
Comprehension skills yielded significant treatment effect F(3, 40)= 14.97, p<.001
Self-reported strategy use was significant F(3, 40) = 16.81, p<.01

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Strategy Instruction

Grades: 5
Diverse Learners

Keywords:
low ability students; feedback; main ideas; fading

Study:
Franklin, Roach, Clary, & Ley.

Overcoming the reading comprehension barriers of expository texts.

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reading_4-6_20
4
 Strategy: Use of comprehension strategies to aid comprehension in content area textbooks, specifically, graphic organizers and conceptual mapping, text structure instruction and summary writing.
 Subjects: (82) 5th and 6th graders in small rural public school
Results: Instruction in metacognitive strategies does, in fact, improve comprehension. Preservice and inservice training in content area reading should be available.The training model used in this study produces favorable results in teacher effectiveness and student achievement.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Strategy Instruction
 – Text Structure 
 – Graphic Organizers

Grades: 5, 6

Keywords:
metacognition; teacher modeling; comprehension process

Study:
Raphael & McKinney.

An examination of fifth- and eighth-grade children's question-answering behavior: An instructional study in metacognition.

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reading_4-6_47
4

Strategy: QAR - Question Answer Relationship
Subjects: 217 5th and 8th grade students from 4 comparable suburban schools in Salt Lake City
Results: Training does enhance children's performance on comprehension tasks, and is particularly effective with children of average and low-reading abilitiy levels, particularly with regard to implicit question types.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Questioning Strategies
 – Strategy Instruction

Grades: 5, 8

Keywords:
questioning; facts; inferences; prior knowledge

Study:
Kameenui, Carnine, and Freschi.

Effects of text construction and instructional procedures for teaching word meanings on comprehension and recall.

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reading_4-6_49
4
 Strategy:  Instructional procedures for teaching word meaning
 Subjects: 60 middle-class 4th , 5th, & 6th-grade students in community of about 100,000 population.
Results: Experiment 1: An integration strategy that provides for the rehearsal of vocabulary word meanings during passage reading is a more effective vocabulary training procedure than isolated vocabulary training.
Experiment 2: The presences of difficult vocabulary words in a passage limits comprehension of that passage, as measured by inferential questions.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure
 – Strategy Instruction
• Vocabulary

Grades: 4-6

Keywords:
recall; retelling; preteaching

Study:
Cote, Goldman, & Saul.

Students making sense of informational text: Relations between processing and representation.

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reading_4-6_59
4
 Strategy:  Think aloud whiled reading and physical backtracking (re-reading)
 Subjects: Experiment 1: 24 fourth and sixth graders with range of reading levels
Experiment 2: 24 fourth and sixth graders with range of reading levels (different student than experiment 1)
Results: It was found that students rely on a variety of processing strategies; however, the processing tended to be sentence-by sentence level. The prevalent protocol was self-explanations; however, they varied in impact on recall. It was found that the relationship between processing activities and the quality of recall is quite complex and more research is needed. The Think-aloud protocol was found to be effective for the older students, but not for the younger students.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure
 – Think Aloud

Grades: 4, 6

Keywords:
oral reading; silent reading; factual text; recall; prior knowledge

Study:
Stahl & Fairbanks.

The effects of vocabulary instruction: A model-based meta-analysis.

Read full review

reading_4-6_54
Meta-analysis
4
Strategy:  Vocabulary Instruction
 Subjects: NA
Results: Vocabulary instruction does appear to have a significant effect on the comprehension of passages containing taught words (effect sizes averaged +.97) and passages not necessarily containing taught words (effect size +.30)

Reading Topics:
• Vocabulary

Keywords:
definitions; context

Study:
Reutzel.

Investigating a synthesized comprehension instructional strategy: The cloze story map

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reading_4-6_12
3
 Strategy:  Cloze Story Map (CSM)
 Subjects: 101 Fifth graders in lower and middle class schools in Texas
Results: CSM treatment significantly affected the readers' comprehension of both text types:
Narrative F(1,98) - 18.24, p< .001
Expository F(1,98 = 12.29, p < .001

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Strategy Instruction 
 – Text Structure  
 – Activating Background Knowledge

Grades: 5

Keywords:
cloze technique; story map; narrative text; expository text

Study:
Armbruster, Anderson, & Ostertag.

Does text structure/summarization instruction facilitate learning from expository text?

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reading_4-6_3
3

Strategy:  Instruction on conventional expository text structure (problem/solution) and written summarization using the problem/solution text structure
Subjects: 82 fifth graders from small Midwestern city in four heterogeneous classrooms; remedial students and students who scored below the 4th grade level on Gates-McGinitie were excluded
Results: The results suggest that direct instruction of a conventional text structure can facilitate formation of a macrostructure for that type of text for high, moderate, and low ability groups.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure
 – Strategy Instruction

Grades: -

Keywords:
i

Study:
Deno, Kim, Diment, & Rogers.

Comparison of reading intervention approaches for students with mild disabilities

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reading_4-6_150
Added 2/3/06
2

Strategy: Peer Tutoring, Reciprocal Teaching, Effective Teaching Principles, Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI), direct instruction models ( DI/SRA and DI format from Direct Instruction in Reading (Canine and Silbert, 1979).
Subjects: 176 students with mild disabilities grades 1-6 and 37 special education resource teachers
Results: Students’ average achievement gains were greater for only two of the six research models:

  Effect Size
Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) +0.18
Direct Instruction with Holt Materials +0.18

Reading Topics:
   – Strategy Instruction

Grades: 1-6
Diverse Learners

Keywords: inductive, inferencing, predicting, independent reading, metacognition, prior knowledge, questioning, reading aloud, summarizing, text structure

Grades 7-8

Study Name
Design
Rating
Strategy, Subjects, Effects
Topics
Table information is abbreviated. Click "Read full review" links below for full citations of author and journal names and for details about the studies.

Study:
Taylor & Beach.

The effects of text structure instruction on middle-grade student comprehension and production of expository text.

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reading_7-8_1
4

Strategy:  Experimental group received 1 hour/week of instruction and practice in how to produce and study a hierarchical summary of social studies materials they had read. Conventional treatment group received directed reading lesson over same material. Control group received no special instruction.
 Subjects: 114 7th-graders from 3 combination social studies/English classes at a suburban junior high school
Results:

  Exp./ Conventional Exp./Control
Short Answer Passage A +0.17 +1.26
Short Answer Passage A +0.04 +0.923
Recall +1.77 +0.95

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure
 – Strategy Instruction

Grades: 6- 8

Keywords:
study strategy; summarizing; social studies

Study:
Raphael & McKinney.

An examination of fifth- and eighth-grade children's question-answering behavior: An instructional study in metacognition.

Read full review

reading_4-6_47
4

Strategy: QAR - Question Answer Relationship
Subjects: 217 5th and 8th grade students from 4 comparable suburban schools in Salt Lake City
Results: Training does enhance children's performance on comprehension tasks, and is particularly effective with children of average and low-reading abilitiy levels, particularly with regard to implicit question types.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Questioning Strategies
 – Strategy Instruction

Grades: 5, 8

Keywords:
questioning; facts; inferences; prior knowledge

Study:
Stahl & Fairbanks.

The effects of vocabulary instruction: A model-based meta-analysis.

Read full review

reading_4-6_54
Meta-analysis
4
Strategy:  Vocabulary Instruction
 Subjects: NA
Results: Vocabulary instruction does appear to have a significant effect on the comprehension of passages containing taught words (effect sizes averaged +.97) and passages not necessarily containing taught words (effect size +.30)

Reading Topics:
• Vocabulary

Keywords:
definitions; context

Study:
Taylor & Beach.

The effects of text structure instruction on middle-grade student comprehension and production of expository text.

Read full review

reading_7-8_1
4

Strategy:  Experimental group received 1 hour/week of instruction and practice in how to produce and study a hierarchical summary of social studies materials they had read. Conventional treatment group received directed reading lesson over same material. Control group received no special instruction.
 Subjects: 114 7th-graders from 3 combination social studies/English classes at a suburban junior high school
Results: Mean increase of +8.16

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure
 – Strategy Instruction

Grades: 6- 8

Keywords:
study strategy; summarizing; social studies

Study:
McNamara, Kintsch, Songer, Butler & Kintsch.

Are good texts always better? Interactions of text coherence, background knowledge, and levels of understanding in learning from text.

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reading_7-8_52
4

Strategy:  Construction/Integration Models of Text Comprehension
 Subjects: Exp 1: 36 seventh through ninth graders in Boulder, Colorado. Exp 2: 56 seventh through tenth graders
Results: Experiment 1: There are advantages for globally coherent text and for more explanatory text.
Experiment 2: Readers who know little about the domain of the text benefit from a coherent text, whereas the high-knowledge readers benefit from a minimally coherent text.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure
 – Questioning Strategies
 – Activating Background Knowledge

Grades: 7, 8, 9

Keywords:
science; inferences; recall

Study:
Denner.

Comparison of the effects of episodic organizers and traditional notetaking on story recall.

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reading_7-8_65
4

Strategy:  Episodic Organizers (story maps, graphic organizer) and traditional note taking
Subjects: 111 7th-grade students from regular reading classes in a suburban junior high
Results: The episodic-organizer group (made their own) outperformed all other groups in recall of high-importance information. Both completion of an episodic-organizer and active note taking after reading the passage enhanced free recall performance when compared with the study of an episodic-organizer or simple re-reading.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Graphic Organizers
 – Text Structure
 – Strategy Instruction

Grades: 7

Keywords:
notetaking; short stories; graphic organizer; recall

Study:
Wong, Wong, Perry, & Saarvatsky.

The efficacy of a self-questioning summarization strategy for use by underachievers and learning disabled adolescents in social studies.

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reading_7-8_66
3

Strategy:  Self-questioning summarization
 Subjects: Study 1 - five 7th-graders. Study 2: three 8th-graders. Of the 8 students, 2 were learning disabled, 2 were suspected of learning disabilities, and 4 were underachievers.
Results: Results were as follows: (1) adolescents successfully learned the summarization skills, (2) the strategy effectively increased recall, and (3) the subjects used wide individual differences in employing the strategy.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Questioning Strategies
 – Text Structure

Grades: 6-8
Diverse Learners

Keywords:
self-questioning; summarizing; social studies; main idea

Study:
Morocco, Hindin, Mata-Aguilar, & Clark-Chiarelli.

Building a deep understanding of literature with middle-grade students with learning disabilities.

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reading_7-8_81
3
 Strategy:  Supported Literacy Approach (integrated thematic units: reading, discussing, writing about a shared age-appropriate text supported by close work with teachers and peers)
Subjects: - 750 7th & 8th grade students; - Low SES: 61%; " 35 with disabilities
Results: This study did show, that in a supported context, inclusion students could perform higher-level activities at a level similar to other peers.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure

Grades: 6-8
Diverse Learners

Keywords:
thematic units; writing; interventions

Grades 9-12

Study Name
Design
Rating
Strategy, Subjects, Effects
Topics
Table information is abbreviated. Click "Read full review" links below for full citations of author and journal names and for details about the studies.

Study:
McNamara, Kintsch, Songer, Butler & Kintsch.

Are good texts always better? Interactions of text coherence, background knowledge, and levels of understanding in learning from text.

Read full review

reading_7-8_52
4

Strategy:  Construction/Integration Models of Text Comprehension
 Subjects: Exp 1: 36 seventh through ninth graders in Boulder, Colorado. Exp 2: 56 seventh through tenth graders
Results: Experiment 1: There are advantages for globally coherent text and for more explanatory text.
Experiment 2: Readers who know little about the domain of the text benefit from a coherent text, whereas the high-knowledge readers benefit from a minimally coherent text.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure
 – Questioning Strategies
 – Activating Background Knowledge

Grades: 7, 8, 9

Keywords:
science; inferences; recall

Study:
Singer & Donlan.

Active comprehension: Problem-solving schema with question generation for comprehension of complex short stories.

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reading_9-12_43
4
 Strategy: Problem Solving/Question Generation
Subjects: Students from 3 11th-grade English classes
Results: High school students can learn to apply a problem-solving schema, combining schema-general questions to fit complex stories and a strategy of generating story-specific questions.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Questioning Strategies
 – Text Structure

Grades: 9-12

Keywords:
story structure; questioning; schema

Study:
Alvermann.

The compensatory effect of graphic organizers on descriptive text.

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reading_9-12_48
4
 Strategy: Graphic Organizers – effect on descriptive text
Subjects: 114 tenth graders in Regents and non-Regents courses at a small city high school in upstate New York.
Results: Both skilled and unskilled readers benefited from the instruction using organizers in this study.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Graphic Organizers
 – Text Structure

Grades: 9-12

Keywords:
mapping; visuals; narrative text;

Study:
Stahl & Fairbanks.

The effects of vocabulary instruction: A model-based meta-analysis.

Read full review

reading_4-6_54
Meta-analysis
4
Strategy:  Vocabulary Instruction
 Subjects: NA
Results: Vocabulary instruction does appear to have a significant effect on the comprehension of passages containing taught words (effect sizes averaged +.97) and passages not necessarily containing taught words (effect size +.30)

Reading Topics:
• Vocabulary

Keywords:
definitions; context

Study:
Saenz and Fuchs.

Examining the reading difficulty of secondary students with learning disabilities - Expository versus narrative text.

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reading_9-12_149
3

Strategy: Expository vs. Narrative Text – Impact on Comprehension
Subjects: 111 high school students from six high schools in 20 remedial and special education reading classrooms located in southeastern US urban school districts. The majority of the students were served in special education settings, were African American, were boys and were in the 9 th grade.
Results: Students had more difficulty with expository text than with narrative test in terms of reading fluency and comprehension.

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure

Grades: 9-12
Diverse Learners

Keywords:
narrative; expository; inferences; fluency

Study:
Andre & Anderson.

The development and evaluation of a self-questioning study technique.

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reading_9-12_60
2
 Strategy: Self-questioning
Subjects: First study - 29 seniors; second study 81 juniors and seniors average or above average and randomly assigned to one of the three experimental groups.
Results: The self-questioning with training showed a significant main effect for treatment. Both studies indicated that student generation of questions during study is more effective for lower verbal students than for higher verbal ability students. 		Reading Topics:
•   Comprehension
 – Questioning Strategies
 – Strategy Instruction
 – Text Structure

Grades: 9-12

Keywords:
student questions; prose text

Study:
Stahl, Hynd, Britton, McNish, & Bosquet.

What happens when students read multiple source documents in history?

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reading_9-12_11

2

Strategy: Students read documents on controversial incident in U.S. history; asked to describe or to develop opinion. Read text; selected options for more info (primary & tertiary sources, pro and anti the topic) & for vocab explanation; recalled without looking back; did relationship task; answered questionnaire.
Subjects: 44 high-achieving students in 10th-grade Advanced Placement U.S. History
Results: Harmony between reading first and second readings was significant .79

Reading Topics:
• Comprehension
 – Text Structure

Grades: 9-12

Keywords:
primary sources; history; notetaking

 

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Path: State of Iowa > Educate > PK-12 Education > Educator Quality > Professional Development > Iowa Professional Development for Student Achievement > Content Network > Reading Comprehension - Text Structure

Updated 11-7-2006