Abstract:

Generally, when students are faced with a task-oriented reading situation (e.g., answering questions), they pay more attention to the criterion of relevance than to the criterion of importance (McCrudden & Schraw, 2007). In this case, asking a student questions involves setting reading goals (McCrudden & Schraw, 2007). From this specific goal, students form a task model that directs their text processing, as well as the adjustment of their response to the question demand (Rouet et al., 2017).

Examining the nature of answering questions from a text could help us to understand the processing and learning achieved by the student. On the one hand, this learning activity may have the advantage of favoring the identification, discrimination and recall of the relevant content of the text as long as it matches the question target information (van den Broek et al., 2001). On the other hand, this criterion of relevance could have the disadvantage of limiting the text processing resulting in a partial and fragmented mental representation instead of favoring the global integration of the text as a whole (Rupp et al., 2006).

van den Broek et al. (2001) showed that the activity of answering questions, regardless of whether the question is posed after an initial reading or inserted into the text, favored the recall and learning of information related to the question goal (specific attention perspective) rather than favoring the construction of a mental representation of the text as a whole (general attention perspective). This effect was found with narrative texts and 4th, 7th and 10th graders; however, it is not known if this effect applies to college students and other types of texts. For this purpose, in the present study, college students completed a reading proficiency test available in experimental status and developed by the ERI-Lectura (University of Valencia). This test consists of four texts with a total of 22 multiple-choice questions with four alternatives. Among the texts, there are two continuous and two discontinuous texts, with reading graphs and statistical tables. The questions include the three PISA subscales: accessing and retrieving information; integrating and interpreting texts; and reflection and evaluation. Students completed the test on a web-based system called Read&Learn, which records responses, execution times, as well as the student’s reading behavior (e.g., number of rereading decisions). Two days later, students were administered a paper-based post-test with questions parallel (but not literally) to those on the proficiency test and additional questions on the content not explicitly asked. Educational implications will be discussed.

Keywords:

Task-oriented reading, answering questions, specific attention perspective, general attention perspective.