The impact of comprehension instruction on the calibration of comprehension

Abstract

Abstract This experiment investigated whether cognitive skills training influences college students’ calibration of comprehension. In Experiment 1, one group was given comprehension instructions that focused on deep conceptual skills, whereas the other group focused on superficial decoding skills and motivation. After the presentation of tape recorded instructions, subjects read passages, made Judgments of their comprehension of the material, and completed a comprehension test with true/false and short answer questions. Both groups were able to calibrate to a significant degree; there was a significant correlation between their judgments of comprehension and their test performance. The superficial instructions temporarily disrupted calibration as shown by a low and nonsignificant correlation for early passages, but a high and significant correlation for later passages. A control group with no instructions regarding reading strategies was added to Experiment 2 and resulted in calibration scores similar to the deep skills training condition. Therefore, brief cognitive skills training can temporarily alter “normal” calibration of comprehension.