Rereading to Understand: The Role of Text Coherence and Reader Proficiency

Abstract

We examined good and poor comprehenders′ use of a rereading strategy to regulate understanding. Students were presented with texts containing referential and factual coherence problems. Students′ reading times and rereading times for each passage sentence were recorded and their text memory was examined. All students detected textual problems and reread sentences containing factual and referential coherence problems longer. Although poor comprehenders generally reread more than good comprehenders, good comprehenders were better able to selectively direct their rereading to text coherence problems, and had better text memory relative to poor comprehenders. Results are discussed in terms of the benefits of using an on-line methodology to examine strategy effectiveness and of the implications of failing to selectively reread.