Reader and text factors in reading comprehension processes

Panayiota Kendeou, Krista R. Muis, Sandra Fulton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

90 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of epistemic beliefs and text structure on cognitive processes during comprehension of scientific texts were investigated. On-line processes were measured using think-aloud (Experiment 1) and reading time (Experiment 2) methodologies. Measures of off-line comprehension, prior knowledge and epistemic beliefs were obtained. Results indicated that readers adjust their processing as a function of the interaction between epistemic beliefs and text structure. Readers with misconceptions and more sophisticated epistemic beliefs engage in conceptual change processes, but only when reading refutation texts. Results also showed that memory for text is not affected by differences in epistemic beliefs or text structure. These findings contribute to our understanding of the relations among factors associated with text comprehension and have implications for theories of conceptual change.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)365-383
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Research in Reading
Volume34
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2011

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