What online reading comprehension skills and strategies are characteristic of more accomplished, adolescent, users of the Internet?

Donald J. Leu, University of ConnecticutJill Castek, University of Connecticut

Institute of Educational Science, U.S. Department of Education, Grant No. R305G050154

ABSTRACT

This poster outlines the procedures we are following during our verbal protocol analysis of online reading comprehension. Participants in this phase included 50 students identified as having more developed skills and strategies in accessing, evaluating, and responding to information on the Internet. Higher performing students on the survey were selected to participate in Internet reading activities while thinking aloud. Students were recorded using Camtasia software, which not only records all online actions but also captures verbal think aloud data. Preliminary finding are presented, especially in relation to the lack of critical thinking that these students exhibit. The presenters will also demonstrate the software used in this phase, presenting illustrative examples of data collection.

PARTICIPANTS

• Approximately 1,100 7th grade students in Connecticut and South Carolina returned permission forms and completed the online survey of Internet use. (Approximately 60%)

• 50 students were selected for the think aloud and verbal protocol tasks who met several criteria:i. had the highest combined scores on the Internet reading skill items;ii. were in the top quartile on the Frequency of Internet Use score and the Diversity of Internet Use score; andiii. scored at least a 1 (out of 3) on their ability to explain an Internet Task.

• This generated approximately equal numbers of students from Connecticut and South Carolina.• All students performed at least 1 SD above the mean on the Internet reading skill score.

METHOD

Verbal protocol analysis using three different strategies for think alouds, in progressive order of potentially disrupting their reading : 1. Uninterrupted Think Aloud - Assigned Online Reading Task;• Interrupted with Non-Directive, Structured Probes• Assigned Online Reading Task• Self-Selection of Online Reading Task

• Stimulated Recalls (Camtasia videos) and Directive Probes -- Individually Determined Online Reading Task

Uninterrupted Think Aloud Think Aloud Session 1: Introduction, assessment of skill and domain knowledge, training in think

aloud, and a closed online reading comprehension task at a moderate-level of difficulty where a student is given a problem (question) and asked to locate, critically evaluate (utility, accuracy, and bias), synthesize, and communicate (email, attachment, blog). We used an uninterrupted think aloud in order to get the “cleanest” think aloud data during this first session. The focus was on determining if a “spoof” web page was very reliable, reliable, or not at all reliable

Interrupted Think AloudsThink Aloud Session 2A: Think Aloud With Structured, Non-directed Probes A structurally prompted, think-aloud session where we probe, inviting students to think aloud, at

pre-selected locations, if they do not voluntarily share their thinking at these locations. The task will be partially open, where students will be able to choose the most personally interesting task from several possible questions (problems). Half of the students will receive this task.

Think Aloud Session 2B: Multiple, short, focused and targeted, think aloud sessions that allow us to probe more aggressively during specific tasks that are either more challenging than tasks from previous sessions (such as learning how to learn a new online technology, e.g., posting to Wikipedia) or explore areas where obtaining think aloud data is especially challenging to obtain (such as critical evaluation of the information that someone has created at a spoof site or the synthesis of information during either the accumulation process or the problem solving process). These will be assigned tasks.

Stimulated RecallsThink Aloud Session 3: A stimulated think aloud, using a Camtasia recording of online reading

comprehension using an open ended, self-defined problem. The think aloud will take place only during the viewing of the Camtasia recording, when the experimenters will ask students to tell us what they were thinking and doing at each decision point in the recording, during the reading of a screen and each activity that took place there and especially as students move from one screen to another.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What online reading comprehension strategies were used by 7th grade students in economically challenged districts who were more skilled at reading online than their peers?

2. Were 7th grade students, who were in economically challenged districts and more skilled at reading online than their peers, able to correctly evaluate information at a “spoof site” as unreliable?

ONLINE READING COMPREHENSION TASK # 1

Online Reading Comprehension Task #1Uninterrupted Think Aloud

The Evaluation Question: “Is This Site Very Reliable, Somewhat Reliable, or Not At All Reliable?”

The Follow Up: “Can you show me on the Internet all the ways that you could prove that this site was not reliable? Tell me what you are doing as you do it.”

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: NEW LITERACIES

In this study, we take a new literacies perspective (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004). A new literacies perspective considers the Internet as this generation’s defining technology for literacy and learning. The Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) require new skills and strategies to fully realize their potential for reading comprehension, writing and communicating. This perspective suggests that strategic knowledge in several areas become important during online reading comprehension: (1) identifying important problems, (2) locating information, (3) critically evaluating information, (4) synthesizing information, and (5) communicating information.

A new literacies perspective asserts the following key principles: (1) the Internet and other ICTs are central technologies for literacy, (2) the Internet and other ICTs require new literacies to fully access their potential, (3) new literacies are deictic, and constantly change. (4) the relationship between technology and literacy is transactional, (5) new literacies are multiple in nature, (6) critical literacies are central to new literacies, (7) new forms of strategic knowledge are central to new literacies, (8) speed counts in important ways within new literacies, (9) learning is often socially constructed within new literacies, and (10) teachers become more important, though their role changes, within new literacies classrooms.

The construct “new literacies” is highly contested terrain and the term means many different things to many different people. However, most would agree there are at least three defining characteristics of this perspective:

(1) New literacies are central to full civic, economic, and personal participation in a globalized community and, as a result, are critical to educational research and the education of all of our students.

(2) New literacies are deictic, they regularly change as their defining technologies change. (3) New literacies are multifaceted, they benefit from analysis that brings multiple points of view to the discussion.

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

This study demonstrates the need for teaching critical evaluation strategies to online readers. When surveyed, the seventh graders in our sample preferred research on the Internet to research in a library. They explained how the Internet provides a wide array of information resources that are quick find and easy to navigate. When asked to explain the disadvantages of using the Internet, students shared that it is important to investigate the reliability of online information, because anyone is able to publish anything, true or not. Although students have been taught to be critical of the information found online, they do not take time to investigate the reliability of Internet resources they use for information without being prompted to do so.

We recognize there is a gap between what students understand about the Internet and the strategies they engage in when reading it. The students in our population explained, “You have to check out where websites come from. There’s a lot of junk out there and a lot of it isn’t true. Some are made by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.” Although these seventh graders recognize the dangers of citing false information found on unreliable websites, not a single one questioned the reliability of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus site. Students did not investigate the sources of the information they found, uncover who published the sites, determine where they came from, or examine the author’s intent for publishing them. In fact, several students when told the tree octopus site was a hoax, did not believe it and set out to confirm the information on the site was, in fact, accurate. They cited an updated copyright date,the inclusion of links to information about the author, and contact information for the author.

This investigation demonstrates the importance of teaching multiple and varied critical evaluation strategies for reading on the Internet. Critical evaluation instruction will be a central focus of Internet Reciprocal Teaching lessons implemented in year two including strategies for evaluating accuracy, relevancy, reliability and bias.