This study addressed the effectiveness of teacher acquisition and implementation of two methods for improving the comprehension skills of students with learning disabilities. Twenty-four special education resource room teachers participated in one of two training conditions: (a) instruction in teaching specific questioning strategies (QARs) and (b) selected traditional methods of reading comprehension instruction, literal questions (recall or factual information and main ideas), locating supporting details, and drawing conclusions. Small-group, classroom implementation to students ranging from first through ninth grades followed teachers' training.
The results of the study indicate that: (a) teachers acquire and implement both QARs and skills effectively with explicit training and supportive feedback; (b) QARs accommodate to content area reading material readily; and (c) QARs significantly elevated the question-recognition and location performance of students with learning disabilities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CampbellD.T., & StanleyJ.C. (1966). Experimental and QuasiExperimental Designs for Research.Chicago:Rand McNally.
2.
ChallJ. (1979). The great debate: Ten years later, with a modest proposal for reading stages. In ResnickL., & WeaverP. (Eds.), Theory and Practice of Early Reading, Vol. 1. New Jersey: Erl- baum.
3.
DeshlerD.D., & SchumakerJ.B. (1986). Learning strategies: An instructional alternative for low achieving adolescents. Exceptional Children, 52, 583–590.
4.
Forrest-PressleyD.L., & GilliesL.A. (1983). Children's flexible use of strategies during reading. In PressleyM., & LevinJ.R. (Eds.), Cognitive Strategy Research: Educational Applications.New York: Springer-Verlag.
5.
GagneE.D. (1985). The cognitive psychology of school learning.Boston: Little, Brown.
GrahamS., & HarrisK.R. (1989a). Cognitive training: Implications for written language. In HughesJ.& HallR. (Eds.). Cognitive behavioral psychology in the schools : A comprehensive handbook (pp. 247–279). New York: Guilford.
8.
GrahamS., & HarrisK.R. (1989b). A components analysis of cognitive strategy instruction: Effects on learning disabled students' compositions and self-efficacy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 353–361.
9.
GuthrieJ.SeifertM.BurnhamN.A., & CaplanR.I. (1974). The maze technique to assess, monitor reading comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 2, 161–168.
10.
HarrisK.R., & PressleyM. (1991). The nature of cognitive strategy instruction: Interactive strategy construction. Exceptional Children, 57, 392–404.
11.
JoyceB.R., & ShowerB. (1983). Power in staff development through research on training.Reston, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (ERIC Reproduction Service No. ED 240 667).
12.
LenzB.K., & DeshlerD.D. (1990). Principles of strategies instruction as the basis of effective preservice teacher education. Teacher Education and Special Education,13 (2), 82–95.
13.
PalinscarA.S., & BrownA.L. (1984). The reciprocal teaching of comprehension fostering and comprehension monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, I, 117–175.
14.
ParisS.G., & JacobsJ.E. (1984). The benefits of informed instruction for children's reading awareness and comprehension skills. Child Development, 55, 2083–2093.
PressleyM.JohnsonC.J.SymonsS.McGoldrickJ.A., & KuritaJ. (1989). Strategies that improve memory and comprehension of what is read. Elementary School Journal, 90, 3–32.
19.
RaphaelT.E. (1982a). Improving question-answering performance through instruction (Reading Education Report No. 32.).Urbana: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading.
20.
RaphaelT.E. (1982b). Question-answering strategies for children. The Reading Teacher, 36, 186–190.
21.
RaphaelT.E. (1984). Teaching learners about sources of information for answering comprehension questions. Journal of Reading, 27, 303–311.
RaphaelT.E., & PearsonP.D. (1982). The effects of metacognitive awareness training on children's question-answering behavior (Technical Report No. 238).Urbana: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading.
24.
RaphaelT.E.WonnacutC.A., & PearsonP.D. (1983). Increasing students' sensitivity to sources of information: An instruction study in question-answer relationships (Technical Report No. 284).Urbana: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading.
25.
SimmondsE.P.M. (1990). The effectiveness of two methods for teaching a constraint-seeking questioning strategy to students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23, 229–232.
26.
WilsonJ. (1987). Instructor modeling in teacher education classes. Journal of Research and development in Education, 20 (3), 77–81.
27.
WongB.Y.L. (1979). Increasing retention of main ideas through questioning strategies. Learning Disability Quarterly, 2, 42–47.
28.
WongB.Y.L., & JonesW. (1982). Increasing meta-comprehension in learning disabled and normaly achieving students through selfquestioning training. Learning Disability Quarterly, 5, 228–240.
29.
WongB.Y.L.WongR.PerryN., & SawatskyD. (1986). The efficacy of a self-questioning summarization strategy for use by underachievers and learning disabled adolescents in social studies. Learning Disabilities Focus,2 (2), 20–35.
