Comprehension and study strategies reported by university freshmen who are good and poor readers

Abstract

Self-report ratings of the use of fifteen text-learning strategies were obtained from college freshmen who are good and poor readers. The data were factor analyzed, and factor scores of the two groups were compared. A factor which had heavy loadings from certain comprehension strategies was a powerful discriminator. Other factors which had heavy loadings from study strategies, however, failed to discriminate the good readers from the poor readers. The results suggest that poor readers in the present study may rely heavily on study strategies without first having completely understood the text materials to be studied. Based on this difference between the strategy profiles of good and poor readers, it is suggested that an emphasis in remedial reading instruction on study strategies may not apply the correction where it is most needed. Instead, an emphasis on certain comprehension strategies which have in common an active search for meaning-enhancing relationships, and which clearly discriminated the good from the poor readers, is recommended.