Multiple-document Comprehension Research Articles

Summarizing versus rereading multiple documents

Writing an integrated essay based on multiple-documents requires students to both comprehend the documents and integrate the documents into a coherent essay. In the current study, we examined the effects of summarization as a potential reading strategy to enhance participants’ multiple-document comprehension and integrated essay writing. Participants (n = 295) were randomly assigned to either summarize or reread five texts on sun exposure and radiation. They produced an integrated essay based on the texts that they read, which were scored by expert raters. Finally, the participants completed three knowledge assessments (topic, domain, general). Readers who summarized texts had lower essay scores than readers who reread the texts. However, within the summary group, summary quality was positively correlated with essay score. These findings are discussed within the context of multiple-document comprehension and writing skill.

The relationship between theory of mind and multiple-document comprehension in university students: preliminary research findings

AbstractThe demands of learning in the twenty-first century require being skilled in the use and comprehension of multiple documents. Some individual factors such as the metacognitive skill of theory of mind (ToM) are related to this ability. This study investigated the relationship between university students’ ability to comprehend multiple documents, measured through an argumentative essay task, and their ToM. The participants were 84 undergraduates. We assessed their ToM (using the strange stories task) and their mental state talk (using a think-aloud protocol during the reading of multiple documents—MSTR—and through the content of their subsequent written essays—MSTW). The relation between students’ ToM and their MSTW was mediated through MSTR. In addition, students’ ToM was significantly associated with the quality of the essays, through MSTR, and the relation between MSTR and the argumentative quality was mediated through MSTW. MSTW was the only significant predictor of the quality of the essays. The involvement of ToM in multiple-document comprehension suggests, from an educational perspective, the possibility to support multiple-document comprehension by scaffolding mental state talk.

Investigating the Roles of Document Presentation and Reading Interactions on Different Aspects of Multiple Document Comprehension

The present study examined reading interactions and multiple document comprehension of 108 university students who read five partly conflicting documents on a health-related issue. Documents were presented on a large touch interface that either enabled a simultaneous or imposed a sequential presentation of the documents. None of the three multiple document comprehension measures (number of intertextual connections in essays, score in source-content mapping task, and number of source names recalled) was affected by document presentation. However, in the sequential condition, the number of revisits to documents was positively related to memory for source names and source-content integration, but not to intertextual integration. Conversely, in the simultaneous condition, participants who grouped documents during reading showed greater intertextual and source-content integration, but no greater memory for source names than those who had not grouped documents. To conclude, reading interactions played a more important role in readers’ multiple document comprehension than document presentation.

The role of domain-related epistemic beliefs for mastering cognitive requirements in multiple document comprehension

Multiple document comprehension (MDC) refers to the ability to integrate information from multiple sources into a coherent representation, which requires specific cognitive processes. Assuming that epistemic beliefs are domain-related, this study investigates exploratively how epistemic beliefs in the domains of science and history affect the mastery of cognitive requirements in domain-general MDC (e.g. the comparison of source information). 156 university students reported their epistemic beliefs in physics or history and completed a computer-based test measuring their MDC. The results showed that MDC was significantly predicted by the epistemic beliefs dimension of personal justification in physics. A conservative approach revealed no interaction effects between epistemic beliefs and the mastery of specific cognitive requirements but results of a liberal approach hinted at associations with epistemic beliefs in physics rather than history. The results are discussed with respect to the nature of epistemic beliefs and theoretical assumptions regarding their relations to MDC requirements.

Automated and controlled processes in comprehending multiple documents

ABSTRACT The study investigates automated and controlled cognitive processes that occur when university students read multiple documents (MDs). We examined data of 401 students dealing with two MD sets in a digital environment. Performance was assessed through several comprehension questions. Recorded log data gave indications about students’ time allocation, corroboration, and sourcing. Independent measures were used for reading speed to tap the effects of automatic processing and for working memory and single-text reading comprehension to tap effects of controlled processing, with working memory considered the mental capacity for performing controlled processing. We found that faster readers completed the MD tasks faster and showed more corroboration behavior. At the same time, students skilled in comprehension allocated more time to processing MD tasks and were more likely to show MD-specific behaviors of corroboration and sourcing. Students’ success in MD tasks was predicted by reading speed and working memory, with the effect of working memory being mediated by single-text comprehension. Behavioral indicators contributed independently in predicting students’ MD comprehension. Results suggest that reading MDs resembles a problem-solving situation where students need to engage in controlled, non-routine processing to build up a comprehensive representation of MDs and benefit from highly automated, lower-level reading processes.

Readers' perceived task demands and their relation to multiple document comprehension strategies and outcome

Recent research suggests that readers' subjective task understanding influences reading processes and outcomes. Therefore, the present study's aim was to investigate whether the task demands that readers retrospectively report relate to multiple document comprehension strategies and outcome. A total of 310 university students completed three units from a standardized multiple-document comprehension test and answered an open-ended task demands question after each unit. Amongst others, participants comprehended single- and multiple-document activities to be task demands. Comprehending deep-level single-document activities and management activities to be task demands related to corroboration and proactive sourcing, respectively. However, comprehending multiple-document activities to be task demands was related neither to students' multiple-document comprehension nor to their realized multiple-document activities. The data suggest a context schema formation across test units: In later units the participants comprehended more often multiple-document activities and less often surface-level single-document and management activities to be task demands, and conducted more sourcing.

KReC-MD: Knowledge Revision with Multiple Documents

The aim of this paper is two-fold. The first aim is to review the core representational and processing aspects of influential accounts of single-document and multiple-document comprehension with a particular emphasis on how readers negotiate conflicting information during reading. This review provides the groundwork for the second aim—to expand our current account of knowledge revision during reading of single documents to multiple documents. The product of this expansion is an initial conceptualization of the Knowledge Revision Components Framework–Multiple Documents (KReC-MD). This initial conceptualization presents the theoretical foundation necessary for future empirical work and further refinement.

Prompting Readers to Plan Might Negatively Affect Their Comprehension of Multiple Documents

ABSTRACT People need to critically comprehend information across multiple sources that express contradictory viewpoints to make decisions on relevant everyday-life issues and participate in the democratic discourse. However, the processing of multiple documents depends on readers’ prior beliefs. The present study investigated the moderating effect of prompting planning on the link between prior beliefs and multiple-documents comprehension. Eighty university students participated in the study. First, their prior beliefs, prior knowledge, and topic interest were measured. Then, participants were randomly assigned to two conditions, one prompted, in which they were asked planning questions, and one non-prompted. Afterward, participants were assigned six documents presenting conflictual positions on flu vaccination, with the instruction of reading them, writing an argumentative essay, and making trustworthiness evaluations. According to the results, prompting students had a detrimental effect on argumentative essay performance, but not on trustworthiness judgments. This effect was stronger, the higher students’ prior beliefs were and the lower their task-value motivation was.

다문서 이해에 대한 텍스트 구조적 접근 -고등학생 독자들의 다문서 구조화 양상 분석을 중심으로-

다문서 이해에 대한 텍스트 구조적 접근 -고등학생 독자들의 다문서 구조화 양상 분석을 중심으로-

Profiles of warm engagement and cold evaluation in multiple-document comprehension

We explored potential profiles of interest, attitudes, and source evaluation by performing cluster analysis in a sample of Norwegian upper-secondary students. Differences among the profile groups with regard to multiple-document use were examined. The profile groups were partly consistent with the default stances described by the cognitive-affective engagement model of multiple-source use (List & Alexander, 2017), resulting in critical analytic, evaluative, and disengaged profiles. However, the model’s assumption that interest and attitude constitute one affective engagement dimension was not confirmed. There were no statistically significant differences between the profile groups in the processing of a set of multiple documents; yet there was a tendency for students who adopted a critical analytic stance to engage in a more thorough text selection process. Those students also included more information units from the selected texts in their written products and integrated information units across the texts more frequently compared to the other profile groups.

Epistemic beliefs about the value of integrating information across multiple documents in history

Individual differences in epistemic dispositions may affect learning from multiple-document inquiry tasks by prompting different students to have different task and activity models. Students with epistemic beliefs that are more appropriate for the required activities may view a multiple-document inquiry task as an exercise in corroboration, seeking coherence, and looking for evidence to support claims, whereas students with less-appropriate epistemic beliefs may see the goal as simply finding the “right” answer verbatim within the documents. This paper describes attempts to develop an assessment for this subset of epistemic beliefs about the value of engaging in integration of evidence when learning from multiple documents in history. Across three experiments, the measure was shown to be reliable and valid. It also uniquely predicted multiple-document comprehension in history above and beyond beliefs about the simplicity and certainty of knowledge, and accounted for differences in prior instruction and experience with document-based questions.

The role of cognitive load in university students' comprehension of multiple documents

Abstract. The study investigates the cognitive load of students working on tasks that require the comprehension of multiple documents (Multiple Document Comprehension, MDC). In a sample of 310 students, perceived task difficulty (PD) and mental effort (ME) were examined in terms of task characteristics, individual characteristics, and students' processing behavior. Moreover, it was investigated if PD and ME can still contribute to MDC while controlling for these variables. The perceived difficulty of the task was shown to be related to the number of documents, text length, study level, and sourcing. Mental effort was predicted by text length, study level, and processing time. When including these variables as covariates, cognitive load was incrementally predictive of MDC. The results are discussed in terms of how working memory resources can shape the process of comprehending multiple documents.

Effects of critical thinking on multiple-document comprehension

The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between critical thinking, prior topic knowledge and beliefs, and multiple-document comprehension through a path analysis approach. The participants were 281 Italian undergraduate students. Participants first completed a rational-experiential inventory, a critical thinking skills test, a prior topic knowledge test, and a prior topic beliefs test. Then, they were asked to read six documents on the topic of flu vaccination. After reading the texts, students were asked to write an argumentative essay on the topic as a measure of multiple-document comprehension. The hypothesized model fit the data well. Results confirmed that argumentation quality after reading six documents with different perspectives on the topic is associated with different critical thinking skills in stronger- versus weaker-belief readers. In weaker-belief readers, multiple-document comprehension was associated with deduction skills, whereas in stronger-belief readers, multiple-document comprehension was associated with hypothesis-testing skills. Both theoretical and educational implications of the results are discussed.

Going beyond children's single-text comprehension: The role of fundamental and higher-level skills in 4th graders' multiple-document comprehension.

Children's comprehension of single texts relies on both foundational and higher-level skills. These are also assumed to support multiple-document comprehension, but their relative importance has not been examined, to date. Multiple-document comprehension additionally requires the identification and use of information about each document's source. This study examined multiple-document comprehension in primary school-aged children. It sought to determine the relative importance of skills proposed to be common to both single-text and multiple-document comprehension (word reading fluency, verbal working memory, comprehension monitoring) and specific to the latter (source use). Single-text comprehension and prior topic knowledge were considered as moderator and control. Participants were 94 children in the fourth year (mean age=9; 7years; 52% females). Children read three documents on each of two topics (chocolate and video games). Multiple-document comprehension and source use were assessed through short essays. Independent measures of the fundamentaland higher-level skills were used. There was a significant direct and indirect influence of word reading fluency on comprehension of multiple documents on videogames and also an indirect influence of comprehension monitoring. Indirect influences of word reading fluency and comprehension monitoring on multiple-document comprehension for both topics were also apparent. Verbal working memory was not a unique predictor. When source information was identified, it was included to support the argument in the composition. Efficient word reading, comprehension monitoring, and single-text comprehension are important for multiple-document comprehension in young readers. Implications of these findings and differences between the two document sets are discussed.

Identifying fake news through trustworthiness judgements of documents / La identificación de noticias falsas mediante juicios de fiabilidad de los documentos

In the twenty-first century, people have access to a great wealth of knowledge to solve information-based problems. However, sources might include misinformation, a phenomenon also called ‘fake news’. In this study, the contribution of students’ affective engagement and behaviour disposition on Italian university students’ multiple-document comprehension will be investigated. In specific, the focus was put on trustworthiness judgements and use of justification criteria when reading documents on the controversial topic of vaccination. Participants were 289 university students. The procedure included four steps. Firstly, students were administered the tests measuring prior beliefs, topic interest and prior knowledge. Secondly, students read six documents varying by position towards vaccination and reliability. Thirdly, students were asked to report their use of processing strategies. Finally, students were asked to judge the trustworthiness of the six documents and report to what extent they had relied on specific trustworthiness criteria. Overall results confirmed the existence of four default stances adopted to complete the reading task, which are significantly associated with trustworthiness judgements. Students’ affective engagement should be targeted by enhancing their topic interest, and intervention should promote cross-document strategic processing.

Promoting pre-service teachers’ integration of professional knowledge: effects of writing tasks and prompts on learning from multiple documents

The present study aims to investigate the effects of writing tasks and prompts on knowledge integration across domains. One hundred pre-service teachers were asked to read and develop a global understanding of textbook excerpts from the core domains of their professional knowledge: content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). In an experimental 2 × 2 design, we varied two means to support knowledge integration, namely, essay writing tasks (unspecific vs. argument) and preactional integration prompts in the form of focus questions (with vs. without). In addition to the essays, a pre-post-knowledge test and an intertextual inference verification task served as dependent variables. Students’ motivation was assessed as a covariate. In all experimental conditions, students showed significant knowledge gains within the three domains. A category-driven content analysis of students’ essays indicated main effects of both writing tasks and prompts. That is, the argument task and the prompts independently promoted knowledge integration across domains. For the intertextual inference verification task, the positive influence of prompts was restricted to students in the unspecific writing task condition and in consideration of a compensatory effect of motivation. Taken together, the study expands evidence for the efficacy of argument tasks and preactional prompts on promoting knowledge integration across pre-service teachers’ CK, PK, and PCK. The findings are discussed with regard to multiple-document comprehension and pre-service teacher education.

L2 multiple-documents comprehension: Exploring the contributions of L1 reading ability and strategic processing

Abstract There is much prior L2 research estimating the contributions of strategic processing and L1 reading ability to L2 reading comprehension. This line of inquiry has, however, been mainly followed in relation to single-text reading. While multiple-documents comprehension constitutes the bulk of what EFL/ESL students do in their current academic environments, L2 research investigating the contributions of these two variables to this type of comprehension in essentially lacking. Against this background, the present paper reports on a study examining the relative contributions of strategic processing and L1 reading ability to L2 single-text vs. multiple-texts comprehension. To this end, 114 EFL students took measures of L1 reading ability, L2 single-text and multiple-texts reading comprehension, as well as self-reported strategic processing. Data were analyzed using regression analyses. The results indicated that while L1 reading ability and strategic processing contributed significantly to L2 single-text reading, only strategic processing was shown to contribute to L2 multiple-texts reading. Strategic processing was also shown to account for a much larger proportion of variance in L2 multiple-texts comprehension than L2 single-text comprehension.

ESAP Students’ Comprehension of Multiple Technical Reading Texts: Insights from Personal Epistemological Beliefs

Given the importance associated with multiple-document literacy in the present-day knowledge societies and the dearth of research in English Language Teaching in general and English for Specific/Academic Purposes (ESAP) contexts in particular on multiple-document comprehension and the significance of reader beliefs in this type of comprehension, the present study was carried out with the aim of investigating the relationship between ESAP students’ personal epistemological beliefs and their inferential intratextual and intertextual understanding of multiple texts. To this aim, 64 first-semester midwifery students were selected as the participants of the study. They were required to read four passages on multi-fetal pregnancy which discussed different aspects of this phenomenon. Having filled out the Epistemological Beliefs Inventory, they were tested on the inferential intratextual and intertextual comprehension of the texts. Results of the analyses of the data revealed significant associations between epistemological beliefs and the inferential comprehension of multiple texts. The results also indicated the poorer performance of the participants in intertextual inferential understanding of the texts compared with the intratextual understanding of them. The study concludes with tentative implication of the findings for ESAP reading courses.

Multiple Document Comprehension: An Approach to Public Understanding of Science

Imagine Joanna, mother of a teenaged son, who wants to find out whether playing violent computer games will negatively affect her son's personality. Or Lucy, a 15-year-old secondary student, who is...

Preface for the Special Issue Multiple Document Comprehension

Information technology is changing the cognition-instruction landscape as new media alter the form, amount, and pace of information that a highly diverse public needs to process. The personal, prof...