Learning Goals and Children's Reading Comprehension

Abstract

This experiment investigated the effects of goal setting on children's self-efficacy and reading comprehension. Remedial readers participated in a comprehension strategy instructional program on finding main ideas. Some subjects received a product goal of answering questions, others were given a process goal of learning to use the strategy, and subjects in an instructional control condition were told to work productively. Compared with control subjects, process and product goal children judged self-efficacy significantly higher, and process goal children demonstrated higher comprehension skill. On a measure of goal perceptions, process goal children placed significantly greater emphasis on learning to use the strategy compared with children in the other two conditions, and judged becoming a better reader more important than did product goal subjects. These results suggest the usefulness of goal setting with remedial readers and of employing goals relating to learning processes.