Examining students’ help-seeking when learning from multiple texts

Abstract

This study examines how students’ self-regulation, as an individual difference factor, guides their use of informational help-seeking resources when learning from multiple text. We further examine the extent to which engagement in help-seeking is associated with comprehension ratings and multiple text task performance. In this study, students were able to access two types of help-seeking resources during multiple text use: vocabulary aids and conceptual aids. We found students to frequently access help-seeking resources. Moreover, while accessing of help-seeking aids and comprehension ratings during multiple text use directly impacted task performance, students’ self-regulation, as an individual difference factor, was only found to have a significant direct effect on comprehension ratings. Additional direct and indirect relations and implications for future research on students’ self-regulated learning from multiple texts are discussed.