Reading as Problem Solving: An Investigation of Strategies

Abstract

writing style, concrete and abstract. This resulted in a 2x2x2 design. The method, analysis of readers' verbal protocols, was adapted from cognitive psychology research. The protocols, verbalizations about the subjects' silent reading behavior, were transcribed and analyzed to infer stragegies. Of the 10 strategies identified, 3 pertain to the word level, 6 pertain to the clause level, and I pertains to the story. To test for statistically significant differences in use of a strategy by 1 group of subjects, the Fisher exact probability test was employed. The level of significance was .05. Although all subjects used the same 10 strategies, readers with high interest, readers with abstract style material, and good readers used certain strategies significantly more often. The types of strategies identified and the conditions under which they were used have implications for a theory of reading as problem solving and for teaching strategies.