Children's Comprehension Monitoring and Recall of Inconsistent Stories

Abstract

ZABRUCKY, KAREN, and RATNER, HILARY HoRN. Children's Comprehension Monitoring and Recall of Inconsistent Stories. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 1401-1418. Third and sixth graders (M age = 9.13 and 11.92 years, respectively) were videotaped reading inconsistent stories presented 1 sentence at a time. We assessed children's comprehension evaluation with onand off-line measures (reading times and verbal reports) and comprehension regulation by measuring look-backs during reading. All children read inconsistencies more slowly than control information, but sixth graders were more likely to look back at inconsistencies during reading and report inconsistencies following reading. In addition, recall and recognition memory were affected by text inconsistencies. Individual difference analyses revealed that evaluation measures were not related to each other and were related to regulation only for younger children. Evaluation measures were also related to recognition and recall of inconsistencies and to overall passage retention for older children. Results highlight the sensitivity of different comprehension monitoring measures in assessing children's skills and the importance of treating comprehension monitoring as a multidimensional process.