Search

Sixty-five Norwegian 10th graders used the software Read&Answer 2.0 (Vidal-Abarca et al., 2011) to read five different texts presenting conflicting views on the controversial scientific issue of sun exposure and health. Participants were administered a multiple-choice topic-knowledge measure before and after reading, a word recognition task, and a reading motivation inventory that included two dimensions: Science reading self-efficacy, focusing on readers' beliefs about their capabilities to comprehend what they read in science, and science reading task value, focusing on readers' beliefs about how important, useful, and interesting it is to comprehend science texts. In addition, strategic reading pattern was assessed in terms of the degree of non-linear reading behavior. Multiple regression analysis showed that word recognition skills strongly predicted learning from the texts, as assessed by participants' increase in topic knowledge. However, when multiple-text comprehension indicated by performance on open-ended short-essay questions was the dependent variable, not only word recognition but also strategic reading pattern and science reading self-efficacy emerged as unique predictors when topic knowledge was controlled for. Science reading task value was not related to performance. This study provides new evidence that new literacy competencies needed in a knowledge society, such as synthesizing or integrating across multiple conflicting sources of information, still largely involve word-level, strategic, and motivational processes that may profitably be targeted through systematic instruction.

This study used think-aloud methodology to explore undergraduates' spontaneous attention to and use of source information while reading six documents that presented conflicting views on a controversial social scientific issue in a Google-like environment. Results showed that students explicitly and implicitly paid attention to sources of documents as well as sources cited within documents and that their attention to source information was associated with its use in evaluating, predicting, and interpreting the content of the documents. Students' sourcing activity varied across documents. The two documents that took the strongest, opposing stances on the controversy elicited the most sourcing. We also observed that, in essays they wrote on the controversy, students' spontaneous sourcing activity was related to their citation of a particularly trustworthy source. The study's theoretical implications are discussed in terms of the Documents Model framework. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

This study used think-aloud methodology to investigate 51 Norwegian undergraduates' topic-specific epistemic cognition while working with six documents presenting conflicting views on the issue of cell phones and potential health risks. Results showed that students' epistemic cognition was represented by one dimension concerning the certainty and simplicity of knowledge and three dimensions concerning the justification for knowing by different sources. Moreover, components of a mechanism of change, in particular epistemic doubt and resolution strategies, were identified in the think-aloud protocols. Finally, these mechanism of change components seemed to operate within distinct dimensions of epistemic cognition. Three case studies were used to elaborate on and illustrate how epistemic cognition may be differently involved in the reading of multiple conflicting documents over the course of reading. (Contains 7 tables and 1 figure.)

This study explored the dimensionality of multiple-text comprehension strategies in a sample of 216 Norwegian education undergraduates who read seven separate texts on a science topic and immediately afterwards responded to a self-report inventory focusing on strategic multiple-text processing in that specific task context. Two dimensions were identified through factor analysis: one concerning the accumulation of pieces of information from the different texts and one concerning cross-text elaboration. In a subsample of 71 students who were also administered measures of intratextual and intertextual comprehension after responding to the strategy inventory, hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that self-reported accumulation of information and cross-text elaboration explained variance in intertextual comprehension even after variance associated with prior knowledge had been removed. (Contains 5 tables and 1 footnote.)

The present study investigated how undergraduates judged the trustworthiness of different information sources that they read about climate change. Results showed that participants (N = 128) judged information from textbook and official documents to be more trustworthy than information from newspapers and a commercial agent. Moreover, participants put most emphasis on content and least emphasis on date of publication when judging document trustworthiness. When judging the trustworthiness of the textbook, they emphasized criteria differently than when evaluating other types of documents. Results also indicated that readers low in topic knowledge were more likely to trust less trustworthy sources and failed to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant criteria when judging the trustworthiness of sources. (Contains 4 figures.)

In this study, law students (n = 49) read multiple authentic documents presenting conflicting information on the topic of climate change and responded to verification tasks assessing their superficial as well as their deeper-level within- and across-documents comprehension. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that even after variance associated with readers' prior knowledge about the topic was accounted for, their epistemic beliefs related to the simplicity of knowledge and the justification for knowing about climate change uniquely predicted their comprehension performance. The findings are interpreted with reference to the strong emphasis on multiple-documents literacy in the law degree program.

In many situations, readers are asked to learn from multiple documents. Many studies have found that evaluating the trustworthiness and usefulness of document sources is an important skill in such learning situations. There has been, however, no direct evidence that attending to source information helps readers learn from and interpret a document's content. In this study we examined whether students' awareness of sources predicts their comprehension of documents, controlling for prior knowledge, interest and perceived comprehensibility of the texts. Participants read multiple texts that provided different perspectives on the causes and solutions of climate change. Deep comprehension was measured using both within-text and across-text inference verification tests. Source awareness was measured using a test of memory for sources. We found that memory for sources predicted both types of deep comprehension. These results, in combination with source training studies, suggest that improving students' sourcing skills may benefit their learning of text content. (Contains 3 tables.)

The predictability of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs for self-regulated learning within Internet technologies was examined in a sample of 84 physics undergraduates. Dimensions of Internet-specific epistemic beliefs were found to explain unique variance in Internet-based search, help-seeking, and self-regulatory strategies, respectively. Specifically, students who emphasized that course-related knowledge located on the Internet consisted of specific facts and details perceived Internet-search and evaluation of search results to be less problematic and reported on more help-seeking and use of self-regulatory strategies during Internet-based learning. Moreover, students believing that Internet-based knowledge claims need to be checked against other sources, reason, and prior knowledge were reportedly more likely to use self-regulatory strategies when using the Internet during coursework. The results are discussed in light of what characterizes the Internet as a knowledge source.

In present-day knowledge societies, readers cannot understand complex issues without constructing meaning across multiple information sources. To what extent they are able to do so may depend on both characteristics of reading tasks and characteristics of readers themselves. In this study, 184 undergraduates read multiple texts about the complex issue of climate change in 3 task conditions: argument, summary, and global understanding. Results showed that readers given the tasks of constructing arguments and summarizing information were more able to build deep-level, integrated understandings from the texts than readers given the task of producing a general overview. However, effects of task were moderated by readers' beliefs concerning the certainty of knowledge about climate change. Specifically, readers who considered knowledge about climate change to be tentative and evolving were more able to profit from the argument task and more constrained by the global understanding task than were readers who considered knowledge about climate change to be certain. These findings provide new insight into task and reader characteristics that underlie deep-level, integrated understanding of multiple texts. (Contains 1 table, 2 figures, and 2 footnotes.)

The primary aim was to explore and compare the dimensionality of personal epistemology with respect to climate change across the contexts of Norwegian and Spanish students. A second aim was to examine relationships between topic-specific epistemic beliefs and the variables of gender, topic knowledge, and topic interest in the two contexts. Participants were 225 Norwegian and 217 Spanish undergraduates enrolled in psychology or education courses, and the dimensionality of topic-specific personal epistemology was explored through factor analyses of the scores on a 49-item questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to predict scores on the epistemic belief dimensions emerging from the factor analyses with gender, topic knowledge, and topic interest, respectively. Even though considerable cross-cultural generalizability in dimensionality was demonstrated, this research also draws attention to the cultural embeddedness of topic-specific epistemic beliefs. Moreover, differences in the predictability of topic knowledge and topic interest in Norway and Spain, suggest that factors constraining or enhancing adaptive epistemic beliefs concerning particular topics may vary across cultures.

In this study, we aimed to investigate whether different dimensions of topic-specific epistemological beliefs predict students' understanding of seven texts representing partly conflicting views on climate change. A sample of 157 undergraduates responded to questionnaires on prior knowledge and topic-specific epistemological beliefs before they read the seven texts. After reading, participants were given tasks intended to assess surface and deep understanding, as well as intertextual understanding. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses with the text comprehension measures as dependent variables showed that the belief that knowledge consists of highly interrelated concepts positively predicted scores on all three reading tasks. In addition, beliefs about knowledge as tentative and evolving positively predicted intertextual understanding. Finally, beliefs that the knower is an active constructor of meaning negatively predicted deeper understanding of single texts. (Contains 4 tables.)

In a sample of 135 Norwegian education undergraduates, we examined the effects of topic-specific epistemic beliefs concerning the simplicity and source of knowledge on deep-level understanding of multiple expository texts about the same topic--climate change. The results showed that students holding sophisticated simplicity beliefs, viewing knowledge about climate change as complex, gained better multiple-text understanding than did students holding naive simplicity beliefs, viewing knowledge about climate change as simple. However, students holding sophisticated source beliefs, viewing knowledge about climate change as personal construction, performed poorer than did students holding naive source beliefs, viewing knowledge about climate change as transmitted from experts. Moreover, students believing knowledge to be complex and, simultaneously, relying on expert authors were at a particular advantage with respect to multiple-text understanding. Thus, in this complex reading-task context, source beliefs usually located at the sophisticated ends of epistemic belief continuums turned out to be maladaptive, presumably because they distracted from the building of a high-quality representation of author and text meaning. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

The relative contribution is examined of epistemological beliefs and implicit theories of intelligence to students' adoption of mastery, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals in two different academic contexts, business administration and teacher education, in the short as well as the long term. The results showed that epistemological beliefs about the speed of knowledge acquisition predicted achievement goals. Students who believed that learning occurs quickly or not at all were less likely to adopt mastery goals and more likely to adopt performance-avoidance goals. In addition, students who believed in stable and given knowledge were less likely to adopt mastery goals. Differences in predictive patterns across the two contexts concerned the prediction of performance-approach goals and gender differences in goal adoption. Epistemological beliefs played a more important role in goal adoption than implicit theories of intelligence. (Contains 4 tables.)

We examined whether the text understanding of students holding naive and sophisticated epistemological beliefs was differentially affected by text format, also controlling for effects of gender, word decoding, and prior knowledge on understanding. The participants were 39 Norwegian first-year teacher students, and the topic of reading was attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It was found that only readers holding sophisticated epistemological beliefs displayed adequate understanding when reading multiple, partly conflicting, texts about ADHD, whereas students holding naive epistemological beliefs gained better understanding when reading a single textbook-like source with identical content. This finding, however, depended on the level of understanding being measured by the criterial task, with only the task measuring deeper situational text understanding showing an interaction between epistemological beliefs and text format. This study provides evidence that not only knowledge itself, but also personal beliefs about knowledge, may enhance or constrain deeper understanding of multiple texts. (Contains 4 tables.)

Background: More empirical work is needed to examine the dimensionality of personal epistemology and relations between those dimensions and motivational and strategic components of self-regulated learning. In particular, there is great need to investigate personal epistemology and its relation to self-regulated learning across cultures and academic contexts. Because the demarcation between personal epistemology and implicit theories of intelligence has been questioned, dimensions of personal epistemology should also be studied in relation to implicit theories of intelligence. Aims: The primary aim was to examine the dimensionality of personal epistemology and the relation between those dimensions and implicit theories of intelligence in the cultural context of Norwegian postsecondary education. A secondary aim was to examine the relative contribution of epistemological beliefs and theories of intelligence to motivational and strategic components of self-regulated learning in different academic contexts within that culture. Samples: The first sample included 178 business administration students in a traditional transmission-oriented context; the second, 108 student teachers in an innovative pedagogical context. Methods: The dimensionality of the Schommer Epistemological Questionnaire was examined through factor analyses, and the resulting dimensions were examined in relation to implicit theories of intelligence. We performed multiple regression analyses, separately for the two academic contexts, to try to predict motivational (i.e. self-efficacy beliefs, mastery goal orientation, and interest) and strategic (i.e., self-regulatory strategy use) components of self-regulated learning with epistemological beliefs and implicit theories of intelligence. Results: Considerable cross-cultural generalizability was found for the dimensionality of personal epistemology. Moreover, the dimensions of personal epistemology seemed to represent constructs separate from the construct of implicit theories of intelligence. Differences in the predictability of the epistemological dimensions were found for the two samples. For the student teachers, belief about knowledge construction and modification was a better predictor of self-regulated learning. For the business administration students, belief about the certainty of knowledge played a more important role in self-regulated learning. Conclusions: Epistemological beliefs predict self-regulated learning among Norwegian postsecondary students and play more important roles than implicit theories of intelligence. Relations between epistemological beliefs and self-regulated learning may vary with academic context.

In a sample of 157 Norwegian political science undergraduates, two dimensions of epistemological beliefs concerning Internet-based knowledge and knowing were identified through factor analysis. The first dimension, general Internet epistemology, ranged from the integrated view that the Internet is an essential source of true, specific facts to doubt about the Internet as a good source of true, factual knowledge. The other dimension, justification for knowing, ranged from the view that Internet-based knowledge claims can be accepted without critical evaluation to the view that knowledge claims encountered on the Internet should be checked against other sources, reason, and prior knowledge. Further, it was found that students' personal epistemology concerning Internet-based knowledge and knowing predicted their self-reports of Internet-search and -communication activities in better and more consistent ways than did Internet self-efficacy beliefs.

We examined the relative contribution of epistemological beliefs and implicit theories of intelligence to the adoption of mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals, respectively, in a sample of 80 Norwegian student teachers in an innovative, cooperative instructional context with little emphasis on grades and performance evaluation. Epistemological beliefs about the speed of knowledge acquisition predicted achievement goals. Students who believed that learning occurs quickly or not at all were less likely to adopt mastery goals and more likely to adopt performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. In addition, students who believed in stable and given knowledge were less likely to adopt mastery goals. Epistemological beliefs were found to play more important roles in goal adoption than implicit theories of intelligence.

We examined whether perceived self-efficacy moderated the relationship between performance goals and self-regulatory strategy use in two different samples of 178 and 108 Norwegian post-secondary students. Using multiple regression with interaction terms, we found that perceived self-efficacy moderated the relation between performance-avoidance goals and reported use of self-regulatory strategies for students in a competitive, performance-oriented context. Specifically, in that context, there seemed to be a negative effect of increased performance-avoidance goal orientation for students with high self-efficacy and a positive effect of increased performance-avoidance goal orientation for students with low self-efficacy. While the nature of this moderator effect is not consistent with what has previously been suggested by researchers using a goal orientation framework, our findings point to the importance of examining self-efficacy moderator effects in different study contexts.

Examines the strategies spontaneously used by Norwegian university law students as they tried to understand multiple expository texts as part of their normal reading and studying. Finds that students' strategic processing changed over time, with some of the changes associated with changes in students' perception of the nature of the reading task. Notes different changes in strategic processing for students at different levels of performance. (SG)

Examined how seven Norwegian law students' strategic processing and linking of multiple sources worked together during reading expository texts. Found that students primarily used memorization and organization strategies to process information in the text they were currently reading. They more often used monitoring and elaboration to focus on sources external to the current text. Students focusing organization and elaboration most on text-external sources obtained the highest grades at year-end. (Author/KB)

Analyzes think-aloud protocols generated during reading to locate sources referred to when students made links reaching beyond what they read. Finds proportion of links to sources located within the text decreased and proportion of links outside the context increased over time. Notes students who increased use of sources located outside the task context most when reviewing obtained the highest examination grades. (RS)