Strategy Training and
Reading Comprehension
Anne Brailsford, MEd, Fern Snart, PhD, and J. P. Das, PhD
A remedial strategy training program, conceptualized within the theoretical framework of the simultaneous-successive
model of information processing, was investigated with the intent of improving performance on tests of cognitive synthesis and
tasks of reading comprehension. A group of 24 learning-disabled
children was
divided into an experimental and a matched control group. Both groups received
fifteen hours of remediation, the experimental group in cognitive strategy training and
the control group in remedial reading, in addition to regular classroom reading
instruction. Results indicated significantly greater experimental than control group
improvement (pre/post) on four tests of cognitive synthesis and on reading comprehension levels.
M
ore than seventy years ago Huey
(1908) recognized the inseparable
ink between the child as a reader and the
child as a processor of information. In
the same era Thorndike (1917) wrote an
article, "Reading as Reasoning," identifying reading as an active thinking process and the reader as a problem solver.
Though terminology may have changed
over the years, Thorndike's concept of
the reader as an active thinker and strategist is still timely. Within the past two
decades, human information processing
theory has encapsulated the metaphor of
the reader as an information processor
involved in processing print, actively selecting, coding, storing and retrieving
information from the reading material and
his own cognitive structure (Pearson &
Johnson, 1978). The child experiencing
reading comprehension difficulties may
have problems with processing print,
namely in the effective selection and utilization of appropriate coding strategies
for the task.
Das, Kirby, and Jarman's (1979) information-integration model suggests a theoretical framework for conceptualizing
human information processing, and as
such provides a dynamic structure for
investigating the reader as a processor of
printed information. Much of the impetus
for this model was derived from the early
work of the Soviet psychologist Luria.
Luria (1966) described the integrative
nature of the human brain and observed
that both simultaneous and successive
coding are jointly implicated in every
processing activity. Research has isolated
simultaneous and successive processes as
"psychological realities" (Das et al.,
1979; Leong, 1974) and it is suggested
that these coding processes are available,
to varying extents, to the reader involved
in tasks of reading comprehension. The
applicability of the model for intervention has previously been investigated,
with remedial procedures focusing primarily on successive synthesis. Krywaniuk's (1974) intervention program,
with native children, improved performance in word recognition (Schonell
Graded Word Reading Test) and Kaufman's (1978), with fourth-grade children,
improved performance both in word recognition (Schonell) and mathematical
skills (Metropolitan Achievement Test).
The efficacy of structuring a remediation
program, embedded with the objective of
improving performance in reading comprehension by training task-appropriate
utilization of information processing
strategies, was investigated in the present
study.
METHOD
Selection of Subjects
A group of 24, 9 - to
12-year-old
learning-disabled children, enrolled in
reading resource room programs at two
schools in small residential towns in the
vicinity of Edmonton, Alberta, was selected. The children scored above IQ 85
on the nonverbal section of the Canadian
Cognitive Abilities Test (Thorndike,
Hagen & Wright, 1974) and below the
35th percentile on the comprehension
subtest of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading
Test, Level D (MacGinite, Kamons,
Kowalski, MacGinite & MacKay, 1980).
The students selected had no diagnosed
sensory impairments and spoke English
as a native language. They were assigned
to either experimental (strategy training)
or control (reading resource) groups, so
that each group was composed of 12
children, six from each of the participating schools. Both groups contained eight
boys and four girls. No significant preintervention differences existed between
the groups in IQ or equivalent scores on
the Gates-MacGinitie comprehension
subtest.
Pre-Intervention and Testing
Procedures
Simultaneous and successive processing
were tested using a battery of tests consistently used in factor analytic studies of
information-integration theory (Das et
al., 1979). Memory for Designs (Das et
al., 1979) and Figure Copying (Das et
al., 1979) have both loaded reliably on a
"simultaneous" factor, and Serial Recall
(Ashman & Das, 1980) Free Recall (Das
et al., 1979) and Digit Span-Forward
(Das et al., 1979) on a "successive"
factor. No significant pretest difference
between the means of each group on the
five simultaneous-successive tests was
obtained.
To test reading comprehension levels,
the grade equivalent scores from the
group administered Gates-MacGinitie
comprehension subtest were utilized. In
addition, an individual assessment of
each child's reading cmprehension instructional level was obtained from the
administration of The Standard Reading
Inventory (McCracken, 1966). The latter
test asks the child to read graded passages, retell them in his own words, and
respond to probe comprehension questions which serve to elicit information
not produced in the initial recall. No
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significant pretest differences on reading
instructional levels were obtained between
the groups (experimental mean = grade
2.83, SD = .89; control mean = grade
3.25, SD = .83).
The Intervention Phase
Both the experimental and control groups
continued receiving regular reading instruction in the classroom but each, in
addition, had 15 hours of remedial assistance. Control group children received
30 minutes of small group reading instruction daily, from a resource room
teacher. Remedial program content emphasized comprehension and interrelated
word analysis activities. Experimental
group children were seen in groups of
two, for 30 minutes daily. Remediation
focused on strategic behaviors, specifically those of simultaneous and successive
synthesis, and verbalization of the child
during task performance. Both of these
aspects are seen as important for the
appropriate coding and organization of
information in problem solving. No task
duplicated any materials used in either
the cognitive test battery or the reading
comprehension tests. Examples of a simultaneous and a successive training task
respectively, are as follows:
1. Magic Window (Adapted from the
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Kaufman & Kaufman, 1980). With
an emphasis on simultaneous coding, the
child's task was to identify a picture of a
common object, when the latter was
gradually revealed, section by section,
through a narrow paper "window." Fortyeight pictures, with eight presented on
each of six paper discs, were revealed to
the children, such that they attempted to
predict what an object was after half of it
had been shown, and again after the total
object had been viewed. This task required the child to synthesize parts into
meaningful wholes and effect closure by
conceptualizing spatial relationships
among the parts. The children's on-task
verbalizations were transcribed, and the
recalls confirmed that they were indeed
utilizing task-appropriate strategies, synthesizing parts into wholes and checking
previous predictions through the integration of spatial wholes.
2. Matrix Numbers (Adapted from Matrix Numbers, Kaufman, 1978). With a
focus on successive processing strategies,
this task required the child to memorize a
sequence of randomly chosen numbers
within the five cells of a cross-shaped
matrix (see Figure 1). Each number appeared only once per matrix. Children
were initially shown the entire matrix,
and then were shown five matrices in a
predetermined sequence, such that only
one of the cells contained a number on
each presentation. Children attempted to
recall the series by writing on an erasable
surface and, as with all of the tasks, they
were encouraged to verbalize throughout.
The process was repeated until successful
recall was achieved, and six matrices in
all were used. Based on recorded verbal
comments, the majority of children revealed the utilization of successive strategies, such as verbal repetition or the
tactile use of five fingers to aid in sequential recall.
to imagine he was meeting a friend by a
particular tree. He was asked to survey
each tracking card and the village map
and locate the relevant locations as rapidly as possible. The child was encouraged to verbalize his "journeys" and to
review his routes orally, e.g., "I knew
the road had to go straight up—then I
went right at the tree, then at this (the
second) intersection. 1 got to the house—I
mailed it at house 32." Successful completion of each journey involved perceiving the spatial relationships amongst
roads, streets, houses and trees, and
comparing the spatial organization with
the individual tracking map. Simultaneous processing was implicated for surveying the tracking card and village map,
and successive processing for describing
the sequential and narrative chain of
events from start to completion. The children's recorded verbalizations indicated
the utilization of task-appropriate strategies at the conclusion of three timed
trials and two verbal review periods.
There were 18 different tasks designed
for the remedial program, and the emphasis on strategy training was divided
relatively equally between simultaneous
and successive coding. The complete set
of remedial tasks, including several which
combine aspects of simultaneous and
successive coding, is presently being prepared for publication.
Postintervention Testing
3. Tracking (Adapted from a Soviet
preschool diagnostic test, Venger &
Kholmovska, 1978). This task, focusing
on both simultaneous and successive synthesis, required the child to locate specific landmarks by matching journeys on
individual tracking cards with a largescale map (see Figure 2). Half the tracking cards illustrated a line drawing from
a starting point to a numbered house, and
half showed a journey from the same starting position to a lettered fir tree. The
village map outlined roads, streets, intersections, houses and trees. The child's
tasks was to pretend that he was either a
mailman delivering a letter to a house, or
At the conclusion of the intervention
phase a posttest battery, basically replicating the composition of the pretest battery, was administered to each child. Alternate forms of the Gates-MacGinitie
comprehension subtest (Level D, Form
2) and The Standard Reading Inventory
(Form B) were utilized.
RESULTS
Analyses of variance were performed
using a two-factor design, with repeated
measures on the last factor. The factors
were Groups (experimental/control) and
Test Scores over Time (pre/post). Significant main effects on the pre/post factor
were obtained on all the tests, indicating
improved test scores over time for both
groups. A significant interaction was obtained on Memory for Designs (^(1.22)
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dard Reading Inventory are characterized
in more detail in Table 2. As one method
of more objectively examining improvement scores, we obtained the mean and
standard deviation of instructional reading
levels over all 24 students at the time of
pretest, and examined the number of students in the experimental and control
groups respectively who had improved at
least one standard deviation by the time
of posttest (pretest mean = 3.04, SD =
.87). It may be noted utilizing Table 2,
that eight of the 12 experimental subjects
improved by at least one standard deviation, whereas only two students of 12 in
the control group improved by one or
more SD.
TRACKING
WHICH HOUSE?
WHICH TREE ?
DISCUSSION
Figure 2
= 7.75, p < . 0 1 ) , Serial Recall (F(1.22)
= 13.51, /?<.001), Free Recall (F(l.22)
= 19.72, p < . 0 0 1 ) , and Digit SpanForward (F(1.22) = 6 . 8 1 , p < . 0 5 ) , with
the experimental group producing significantly greater improvement than the control group over time. No significant interaction was obtained on the GatesMacGinitie comprehension subtest. However, there was a significant interaction
on The Standard Reading Inventory
(/^l.22) = 9.29, p<.0\) with the experimental group achieving greater improvement on instructional reading levels than
the control group.
Pre- and posttest means and standard
deviations for the simultaneous-successive battery and the Standard Reading
Inventory are presented in Table 1.
Since improvement in reading ability is
of primary interest within the present
study, the group differences on the Stan-
The fact that both groups demonstrated
significant improvement, over time, on
the simultaneous-successive battery and
the reading comprehension tests may be
attributed to maturation, practice effects,
incidental exposure to tasks focusing on
the appropriate utilization of simultaneous-successive coding, and also to
the regular classroom reading programs.
However, the experimental group scores
indicated significantly greater improvement than the control group scores on
four of the cognitive tests and on the
instructional reading levels on The Standard Reading Inventory. These results
suggest that a major portion of the improvement may be attributed to the remediation program.
Significantly higher scores for the experimental than control group (pre/post)
were expected on the tests of cognitive
synthesis, on the basis of Krywaniuk
(1974) and Kaufman's (1978) previous
results and due to the present remediation program's intensive training in the
task-appropriate utilization of simultaneous and successive programs. The experimental group was thus able to transfer successful coding strategies from the
remedial tasks to the tasks presented on
the cognitive synthesis tests.
If we assume that simultaneous-successive syntheses are implicated in every
act of information processing (Luria,
1966), then we make the assumption that
they are employed by the reader in the
process of reconstructing meaning from
print. A rigorous test of the effectiveness
of remediation, in terms of transfer of
strategies, should be evident in the examination of the reading comprehension
scores to observe if coding strategies have
been transferred to tasks of reading
comprehension.
No significant interaction was obtained
on the Gates-MacGinitie comprehension
subtest grade equivalent scores. Though
reasons must necessarily remain speculative it may be suggested that no significantly higher experimental than control
results may be due to the multiple choice
nature of the test's format. The latter
allows constant access to the text and
supplies an in-built organization, in that
the questions and a range of possible
responses are always available to the reader. It does not place reliance on the
active organizational strategies emphasized in the remedial tasks.
The Standard Reading Inventory, an
individually administered test, demands
the active participation of the child, asking him to read a story, verbally reconstruct it, and respond to questions. The
experimental group achieved significantly
higher instructional reading levels than
the control group on this test. This was
confirmed by ANOVA as well as by the
rigorous criterion of improvement in units
of standard deviation. It is suggested that
Table 1. P r e - and Posttest Means and Standard Deviations for the Simultaneous-Successive Battery and for the Instructional
Reading Levels (Standard Reading Inventory) for the Experimental and Control Groups
Instructional
Reading Levels
(Standard Rdg.
Inventory)
Mean
SD
Memory for
Designs
Mean
SD
Digit Span
Mean
SD
Serial Recall
Mean
SD
Free Recall
Mean
SD
Experimental Group
Pretest
Posttest
2.83
4.08
.89
.97
43.58
53.00
9.50
11.39
4.75
6.00
1.13
1.04
32.08
45.17
12.98
10.10
56.41
70.08
9.04
5.63
Control Group
Pretest
Posttest
3.25
3.60
.83
.74
47.50
48.58
9.92
9.21
4.83
4.83
1.03
.39
31.42
32.58
11.48
9.21
57.33
59.42
7.30
5.58
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Table 2. Standard Reading Inventory Instructional Reading Levels
1
4.0
5.0
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
6.0
5.0
5.0
3.5
2.5
4.0
4
5
6
7
CO
2.0
3.5
2.0
1.7
3.5
3.5
4.0
2.5
3.5
3.0
1.3
3.5
CM
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Control
Students
Grade Levels
Pre
Post
CO
Experimental
Students
9
10
11
12
the remediation program taught the child
to use active strategies for the organization, coding, memorization and retrieval
of information, and that these cognitive
strategies are necessary in the reconstruction of meaning from print.
Hence, a cognitive strategy training
program may be a viable addition to a
reading resource room program, with the
objective of teaching strategies that may
be transferred to tasks of reading comprehension.
REFERENCES
Ashman, A.F., & Das, J.P. Relation between plan-
Grade Levels
Post
Pre
3.5
4.0
3.5
3.5
3.5
3.5
1.5
3.5
3.5
4.0
3.5
1.5
3.5
4.0
4.0
3.5
3.5
4.0
3.5
3.5
3.5
5.0
3.5
1.7
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processing.
Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1980, 51. 371-382.
Das, J.P., Kirby, J.R., & Jarman, R.F. Simultaneous and successive cognitive processes. New
York: Academic Press, 1979.
Huey, E.B. The psychology and pedagogy of reading. Cambridge, Mass.: The M.l.T. Press, 1968.
(Originally published,
1908).
Kaufman, A.S., & Kaufman, N.L. Kaufman assessment battery for children. Circle Pines, Minnesota: American Guidance Service, Inc., 1980.
Kaufman, D. The relationship of academic performance to strategy training and remedial techniques: An information processing
approach.
Doctoral dissertation,
University of Alberta,
1978.
Krywaniuk, L.W. Patterns of cognitive abilities of
high and low achieving school children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Alberta, 1974.
Leong. C.K. An investigation of
spatial-temporal
information-processing
in children with specific
PROFESSOR STORIES
(From page 281)
himself was never so far away from Henderson Chapel as he
was then. And as he spoke about the contemplative life, as
did Aristotle—the highest expression of human nature—he
thought about Aristotle's even more insistent attention to the
idea of friendship. In his mind's vision, Meyer kept going
back to the unforgettable fact that the scientists of the Third
Reich also had a conscience of calling, even as they betrayed
everything relating to human decency. He remembered that
the scientists of the Third Reich devoted their lives to science
and murder, to contemplation and betrayal. And while he
spoke about the "natural arrogance of the young that education
must dampen and ennoble into maturity," he also thought
about the arrogance of tradition, the arrogance of teachers that
threatens merely to dampen and extinguish the spirit of the
young. And while he extolled his friends to once again take
up their conscience, he thought about people he had known
during his past who had too much conscience, and who
should have better dusted off their common sense before they
paraded their conscience. And while Meyer Wolf wove bril-
reading disabilities. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Alberta, 1974.
Luria, A.R. Human brain and psychological
processes. New York: Harper and Row, 1966.
MacGinitie,
W.H., Kamons, J., Kowalski,
R.L.
MacGinitie, R.K. & MacKay, T.
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, Canadian Edition Teacher's Manual. Ontario, Canada: Thomas Nelson
& Sons, 1980.
McCracken, R.A. The Standard Reading Inventory
Manual. Klamath Falls, Oregon: Klamath Printing Company, 1966.
Pearson, D.P., & Johnson, D.D. Teaching reading
comprehension. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1978.
Thorndike, E.L. Reading as reasoning: A study of
mistakes in paragraph reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1917, 8, 323-332.
Thorndike. R.L.. Hagen, E. & Wright, E.N. Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test Manual
(Levels
A-F). Ontario, Canada: Thomas Nelson & Sons,
1974.
Venger, L.A., & Kholmouska, V.V. The diagnostics
of intellectual development in preschool children.
Moscow: Pedagogika, 1978. (In Russian).
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Anne Brailsford is a reading specialist from Edmonton public schools. She received her MEd in
educational psychology from the University of Alberta. Fern Snart is an assistant professor of
special education at the University of Alberta. She
received her PhD in educational psychology from
the University of Alberta. J. P. Das is a professor
of educational psychology and director of the Centre for the Study of Mental Retardation at the
University of Alberta. He received his PhD in
psychology
from the University of London in
Canada.
liant metaphors concerning science, he was thinking about
human experiments which extended the metaphors of science
to the limits of their applicability, past the limits of human
comprehensibility.
And so while his friends and all the others who would have
loved to have been his friend thanked God for Meyer Wolf,
thanked God that here was a person who understood the
university and its dedication to "preserving the universals of
human experience and thought," and while the mob cheered
and cheered in appreciation and praise for one of their own,
all Meyer Wolf would let himself think about was the hope
that the university is different from the Third Reich, that
while the professor might volunteer to die for the truth, he
should not kill for it.
After 40 years in America, Meyer Wolf still could not get
over the idea that he was an immigrant, an alien in a strange
land. Possibly, for that reason there was still the hope, more
than the expectation that, in the end, American science will
not disillusion him, that the American university will not
betray humanity in pursuit of truth, that America will remain
a friendly haven for strangers.
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