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Students more than ever learn from online sources, such as digital texts or videos. Little research has compared processes and outcomes across these two mediums. Using a between-participants experimental design, this study investigated whether medium (texts vs. videos) and context (less authoritative vs. more authoritative), independently and in concert, affected students' engagement, integrated understanding, and calibration. The two mediums presented identical information on the topic of social media, which was distributed across two complementary texts in the text condition and across two complementary videos in the video condition. In the less authoritative context, the two information sources (texts or videos) were posted by a friend on Facebook; in the more authoritative context, the same information sources (texts or videos) were posted by a professor on Moodle. Results showed a main effect of medium on behavioral engagement in terms of processing time, as students used longer time watching the two videos than reading the two digital texts. No other main medium or context effects were statistically significant; nor were there any interaction effects of medium with context on any of the outcome variables. The findings are discussed in light of the alternative hypotheses that guided the study and the directions it suggests for future research.

Universities have been promoting study abroad programmes for a long time to improve intercultural competence. However, the mere exposure to cultural differences while studying abroad does not ensure intercultural competence, unless study abroad students' reflective processes are explicitly targeted. The article presents the results of a short intervention grounded in the problem-based approach aimed at improving intercultural competence in study abroad students. Students were assigned to three conditions: a video-log condition (in which they have to narrate a critical incident occurred to them), a reflection-induced video-logs (in which they were prompted to reflect on the video-logs produced), and an active control condition. The reflection-induced video-log intervention improved students' perceived proficiency in Italian and perceived opportunities for cultural reflection, but it did not contribute to improve students' applicable and conceptual knowledge of intercultural competence.

The present study analyzed the efficacy of a brief intervention aimed at scaffolding readers' "recursivity" (i.e., going back to the texts) while reading multiple texts and writing an argumentative essay. The participants were 151 university students, randomly assigned to two conditions: experimental (Recursivity-induced, RI) and active control (AC). We collected data about participants' thinking dispositions, perceived prior knowledge and perceived level of instruction in argumentative writing received, and prior beliefs. Then, students were assigned two texts about the evaluation of teachers, one pro and one against. RI students were prompted to compare the argumentation of each text with their own prior beliefs, whereas AC students were asked to write a summary of each text. Immediately after reading the texts and performing the accompanying tasks, RI and AC students were asked to write an argumentative essay to express their opinion on the topic. Process data were collected through the software Kidlogger. Results confirmed that the brief intervention improves students' analysis of the belief-inconsistent text, the overall argumentative quality of students' essay, and valid inferences made in a recall task one month after. The process analysis suggested that the intervention increases recursivity in at least a certain number of RI participants.

We investigated the association between thinking dispositions and two outcomes of multiple-texts comprehension: integration of conflicting information in argumentative essays; and recall of inferential information as an index of deep comprehension. We focused on two thinking dispositions, need for cognition (NFC) and actively open-minded thinking (AOT), as relevant individual differences in the processes involved in multiple-texts comprehension. NFC is the tendency to engage in and enjoy cognitively demanding activities, whereas AOT is the tendency to rationally evaluate arguments and supporting evidence, without being influenced by biases from one's own prior beliefs and prior knowledge. 73 university students completed perceived topic knowledge, perceived exposure to argumentative writing, and perceived competence in argumentative writing, NFC and AOT questionnaires, read two contradictory texts, wrote an argumentative essay, and recalled the information read 1 month later. Argumentative essays were assessed by length and level of integration of conflicting perspective. Text recalls were assessed by number of valid inferences included. Research questions were investigated through a path analysis model. The path analysis model had a good fit. NFC was indirectly associated with argumentation quality of the essay via the essay length. AOT was directly associated with the inferences included in the recall task. The present study contributes to the literature on multiple-texts comprehension by emphasizing the role of thinking dispositions.

People need to critically comprehend information across multiple sources that express contradictory viewpoints to make decisions on relevant everyday-life issues and participate in the democratic discourse. However, the processing of multiple documents depends on readers' prior beliefs. The present study investigated the moderating effect of prompting planning on the link between prior beliefs and multiple-documents comprehension. Eighty university students participated in the study. First, their prior beliefs, prior knowledge, and topic interest were measured. Then, participants were randomly assigned to two conditions, one prompted, in which they were asked planning questions, and one non-prompted. Afterward, participants were assigned six documents presenting conflictual positions on flu vaccination, with the instruction of reading them, writing an argumentative essay, and making trustworthiness evaluations. According to the results, prompting students had a detrimental effect on argumentative essay performance, but not on trustworthiness judgments. This effect was stronger, the higher students' prior beliefs were and the lower their task-value motivation was.

This study explored the impact of the think-aloud research methodology on multiple-documents comprehension outcomes. The participants in this study were 168 University students. The procedure included three steps. First, students were administered the tests measuring prior topic beliefs, topic interest, and topic knowledge. Then, students were given six documents to read, and were randomly assigned to two conditions, think-aloud versus silent-reading. Finally, students were asked to write an argumentative essay, judge the trustworthiness of the six documents and report to what extent they had used specific justification criteria. No significant differences were found in the argumentative essay, whereas the think-aloud condition partially influenced participants' trustworthiness judgments and use of justification criteria. Implications of the results are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between critical thinking, prior topic knowledge and beliefs, and multiple-document comprehension through a path analysis approach. The participants were 281 Italian undergraduate students. Participants first completed a rational-experiential inventory, a critical thinking skills test, a prior topic knowledge test, and a prior topic beliefs test. Then, they were asked to read six documents on the topic of flu vaccination. After reading the texts, students were asked to write an argumentative essay on the topic as a measure of multiple-document comprehension. The hypothesized model fit the data well. Results confirmed that argumentation quality after reading six documents with different perspectives on the topic is associated with different critical thinking skills in stronger- versus weaker-belief readers. In weaker-belief readers, multiple-document comprehension was associated with deduction skills, whereas in stronger-belief readers, multiple-document comprehension was associated with hypothesis-testing skills. Both theoretical and educational implications of the results are discussed.

This study presents an original genre awareness intervention for kindergarten children. The efficacy of the intervention was tested on children's awareness in three different genres: narrative, epistolary, and instructions. We hypothesized that the intervention would be effective in improving children's structural knowledge in all three genres. The participants in this study were 121 children attending kindergarten. All children were assessed on structural knowledge of three different genres twice, at the pre- and post-test stage. Six kindergarten teachers (and their six respective classes) were randomly assigned to groups: the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group received a six-week genre awareness intervention, whereas the control group implemented other emergent literacy activities. Results confirmed that the genre awareness intervention improved children's scores in all three measures, narrative, epistolary, and instruction textual competence. Through the intervention, children became more aware of the specific conventions underlying the structural level of each genre.

This study analyzed study abroad students' orientations to cultural differences as assessed with mixed methods, including traditional intercultural sensitivity measures and oral narratives of critical incidents in the foreign culture. Sixty students participated, 32 US study abroad students, and 28 Erasmus Mundus students, all studying in English-speaking programs in Italy. Data about students' acculturation orientation were collected through a self-report questionnaire, and students were asked to narrate a cultural experience that "puzzled" them in a video log format. Statistical analyses were designed to integrate the intercultural orientation (acculturation strategy) and the video log narrative analyses (plot analysis and cultural relevance definitions). Results indicated that Erasmus Mundus students expressed more ethnorelative orientations than the US study abroad students. For example, Erasmus Mundus students emphasized the setting and the ending of their experiences more than the US students did. Erasmus Mundus students presented lower identification scores with their conationals than US study abroad students did. We operationalize those concepts with an analysis of narrative video logs, as tools for students, as well as for researchers and educators involved in study abroad programs.

The demands of learning in the twenty-first century require being skilled in the use and comprehension of multiple documents. Some individual factors such as the metacognitive skill of theory of mind (ToM) are related to this ability. This study investigated the relationship between university students' ability to comprehend multiple documents, measured through an argumentative essay task, and their ToM. The participants were 84 undergraduates. We assessed their ToM (using the strange stories task) and their mental state talk (using a think-aloud protocol during the reading of multiple documents—MSTR—and through the content of their subsequent written essays—MSTW). The relation between students' ToM and their MSTW was mediated through MSTR. In addition, students' ToM was significantly associated with the quality of the essays, through MSTR, and the relation between MSTR and the argumentative quality was mediated through MSTW. MSTW was the only significant predictor of the quality of the essays. The involvement of ToM in multiple-document comprehension suggests, from an educational perspective, the possibility to support multiple-document comprehension by scaffolding mental state talk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research looks at the potential of peer interaction practices in improving narrative competence by analyzing the efficacy of peer learning on children's oral narrative productions. Gains on a macro-level (structure and coherence of the narrative) and a micro-level (cohesion of the narrative) were analyzed. Fifty-six primary school children participated in this study. Each child told a narrative either individually (individual condition) or while interacting with a peer (joint condition). We explored whether children produced longer, more structured, coherent and cohesive narratives in a joint condition rather than individually, and in which condition the joint task was more beneficial for children's narrative competence in terms of narrative scores in the individual condition, discrepancy between the members of the same pair, and quality of the interaction. The advantage of peer learning does not derive from the direct comparison of the individual versus the joint condition but depends on specific conditions: the joint condition was beneficial for individuals with lower individual competence and for pairs with a high discrepancy between individual scores. Children's quality of interaction did not seem to influence the efficacy of peer learning on their narrative competence.

Metacognitive reading awareness, involving cognitive process control and reading strategies, is linked to better comprehension and performance, but its relationship with intertextual integration strategies and the quality of argumentative essays remains unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the role of metacognition in employing integration strategies when reading conflicting texts. 69 undergraduate students participated in an online reading-writing activity, where they wrote argumentative essays based on conflicting texts about red meat consumption. We examined the students' use of intertextual integration strategies (refutation, weighing, synthesizing) and assessed their metacognitive awareness through their reflections on these strategies. The quality of the argumentative essays served as a measure of multiple text comprehension. The results indicated a lack of metacognitive awareness regarding integration strategies, with students overestimating their ability to employ these strategies. However, they demonstrated better understanding of refutational strategies based on the examples provided in their essays. Interestingly, students who were aware of and utilized these strategies in their essays performed better in the multiple-text comprehension task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Digital texts are progressively becoming the medium of learning for students, but research has indicated that students tend to process information more superficially while reading on screen. It is therefore relevant to examine what strategies can support digital text comprehension. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effects of highlighting—both learner generated and experimenter provided—when reading digitally. Methods: University students (N = 170) were randomly assigned to the condition of learner‐generated highlighting, experimenter‐provided highlighting, or control. Reading outcomes were measured as literal and inferential text comprehension, transfer of knowledge, and metacognitive calibration of comprehension performance at immediate and delayed post‐tests. Individual differences in prior knowledge, cognitive reflection, and reading self‐efficacy were taken into account. The quality of the information highlighted by students in the condition of active highlighting was also measured. Results: From linear mixed‐effects models, the main effect of condition did not emerge for any of the outcomes. However, an interactive effect of condition and cognitive reflection emerged for literal text comprehension that favoured readers in the condition of experimenter‐provided highlighting with higher ability to resist automatic thinking. Inferential text comprehension, transfer of knowledge, and calibration of performance were only predicted by cognitive reflection or reading self‐efficacy. Finally, the quality of information highlighted significantly contributed to students' literal text comprehension and transfer of knowledge in the learner‐generated highlighting condition. Takeaways: Active highlighting is not effective per se during digital reading. The "amplification" effect of already highlighted text and higher cognitive reflection suggests that readers who are more able to resist automatic thinking may also invest more effort in the task, taking more advantage of the provided support. Even if active highlighting may not be effective per se compared to other reading conditions, what students highlight contributes to literal text comprehension and their learning from text. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Reading on a screen to learn new content for academic assignments is a typical learning activity for todays' students.For digital reading students tend to adopt a more superficial approach compared to traditional reading.Reading strategies can help readers to comprehend complex digital texts.Highlighting is a technically simple strategy to use for digital reading, which can at least support the selection of relevant information for text comprehension. What this paper adds: When considering digital reading neither learner‐generated highlighting nor experimenter‐provided highlighting is effective by itself.Experimenter‐provided highlighting is more effective for literal text comprehension than learner‐generated highlighting when combined with readers' ability to cognitively reflect and resist more automatic responses.The individual differences of cognitive reflection and reading self‐efficacy predicted inferential text comprehension and transfer of knowledge.Reading self‐efficacy also predicted readers' metacognitive calibration of comprehension performance (accuracy of self‐judgements of comprehension performance). The implications of study findings for practitioners: The effective use of highlighting for text comprehension probably requires some explicit instruction and practice in learning devices.The potential benefits of either learner‐generated highlighting or experimenter‐provided highlighting should be considered in relation to cognitive and motivational individual differences.It is important to create or refine readers' awareness that the quality of the information they highlight matters as it is associated with their text literal text comprehension and transfer of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the predictivity of an emergent literacy model on the acquisition of reading in primary school in a language with a transparent writing system. As writing systems have different levels of transparency, results cannot be easily transferred between languages. In this study, we explored the predictivity of phonological awareness, conceptual knowledge of the writing system, and textual competence in kindergarten on reading acquisition in first grade. We followed 170 Italian children longitudinally from the last year of kindergarten to the first year of primary school. The only significant predictor of reading was conceptual knowledge of the writing system, confirming that in a transparent writing system phonological awareness exerts its effect on reading as it is integrated with knowledge of the characteristics of the writing system.

The purpose of this study was to investigate consistency in spelling skills across 2 different tasks of written production (dictation vs. composition) and stability of performance across 4 different grades. We assessed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders' spelling performance through 4 tasks: 2 dictation tasks (passage and sentences) and 2 composition tasks (description and narrative). For both tasks, we identified homophone and non-homophone errors. With respect to the findings for intertask consistency and stability, there were significant positive correlations between spelling inaccuracy in dictation and composition for all grades assessed. We also confirmed these findings for the subsample of inaccurate spellers, which suggests that children struggling in spelling do not benefit from a specific task (dictation or composition).

This study explored the differential contribution of cognitive and motivational factors on the comprehension of an expository text in secondary school students. One hundred and fifty-five 7th and 8th grade students were assessed in prior knowledge, inferences, metacognition, reading motivation, topic interest, and reading comprehension of history text. According to the multiple regression analyses, inferences and self-efficacy uniquely contributed to reading comprehension. Intrinsic motivation moderated the association between metacognition and reading comprehension of a history text. These results confirm that the final outcome of reading comprehension greatly depends on a complex interplay between cognitive and motivational variables.

The relative contribution of motivational and cognitive factors to reading comprehension might depend on how reading comprehension is measured. The participants in this study were 146 students attending grade 7. Students' reading comprehension of a history text was assessed through three measures, literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, and free recall. Students' prior knowledge, reading motivation, topic interest, inference-making skills, and metacognition were also assessed. According to the multivariate general linear model, the set of motivational and cognitive variables explained students' performance in inferential comprehension and free recall, but not in literal comprehension. Moreover, topic interest moderated the association between inference-making skills and free recall. Results underlined the importance of the interplay between motivational and cognitive factors in contributing to students' deep processing of the text, but also emphasised that reading measures might not tap the same array of processes. While literal comprehension happens without the direct involvement of the cognitive-motivational variables measured in this study, believing in one own's ability in reading was associated to deep processing of the text, and free recall required the involvement of both, cognitive and motivational variables.

With more learning occurring online, it is critical to have current ways of inferring how students in education are managing their learning in online and blended environments. The aim of this study is to contribute to the validation of the Self-regulation for Learning Online (SRL-O; Broadbent et al., 2023) questionnaire on a sample of Italian university students by analyzing its confirmatory structure and convergent validity. 193 Italian university students of master’s and bachelor’s degree programs completed a self-report questionnaire on online self-regulated learning (translated from the SRL-O by Broadbent et al., 2023), and a self-report instrument to assess conceptions on learning (LO-COMPASS; Vettori et al., 2020; Vezzani et al., 2023) for convergent validity. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the ten-factor structure for a forty-four-item version, suggesting comparability in self-regulated learning across cultures. The SRL-O factors showed significant correlations with LO-COMPASS factors. The SRL-O is a valid and reliable instrument, useful to identify university students at risk of academic failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted this prospective cohort study to explore the predictability of dyslexia from 1st-grade literacy skills in Italian students. We followed 407 Italian students in primary school from the 1st through the 3rd grades. Students were diagnosed with dyslexia in the 3rd grade. We retrospectively tested participants' 1st-grade performance in phonological awareness, reading, and spelling as predictors through a binary logistic regression analysis. The data confirmed that it was possible to detect dyslexic students from the 1st grade from reading and spelling performance, but phonological awareness was not predictive.

Several studies have explored the relationship between dyslexia and creativity, but results have been rather mixed. This study examines whether Italian dyslexic children are more creative than their peers without a reading impairment. One hundred ninety Italian children aged between 9 and 13 participated in this study, divided into two groups: Ninety-five dyslexic students and ninety-five peers without a reading impairment. All the participants' creativity skills were assessed. The results indicated that dyslexic children outperformed their peers in the total score, and in the originality, elaboration, and titles sub-scores, whereas no differences were found in the fluency and flexibility sub-scores. The results are discussed in relation to the practical implications, and provide indications for supportive learning environments.

The strong differences in manifestation, prevalence, and incidence in dyslexia across languages invite studies in specific writing systems. In particular, the question of the role played by emergent literacy in opaque and transparent writing systems remains a fraught one. This research project tested, through a 4-year prospective cohort study, an emergent literacy model for the analysis of the characteristics of future dyslexic children and normally reading peers in Italian, a transparent writing system. A cohort of 450 children was followed from the last year of kindergarten to the third grade in their reading acquisition process. Dyslexic children were individuated (Grade 3), and their performances in kindergarten in textual competence, phonological awareness, and conceptual knowledge of the writing system were compared with a matched group of normally reading peers. Results showed the predictive relevance of the conceptual knowledge of the writing system. The study's implications are discussed.

Reciprocal teaching is one of the most successfully implemented cooperative learning practices, yet many aspects of the process it follows are still unclear. The authors' aim was two-fold: To analyze whether reciprocal teaching activates diversity in discourse moves, communicative functions, and interaction sequences; and to determine whether reciprocal teaching needs to be based on prior work on student collaboration and cooperation skills in order to be effective (context dependency vs. context independency). Two groups with a different instructional background were compared: one with a teacher-centered and one with a student-centered approach. Forty-three third-grade students were led through a reciprocal teaching reading activity. Video recordings of each group were transcribed and analyzed at the micro level. Frequencies for each category were described and interpreted. The two groups did not differ significantly in the processes followed, indicating that reciprocal teaching is context independent and able to create interaction-rich and diverse environment.

Background: The relationship between oral language and the writing process at early acquisition stages and the ways the former can enhance or limit the latter has not been researched extensively. Aims: The predictive relationship between kindergarten oral narrative competence and the first- and second-grade written narrative competence was explored in a 3-year longitudinal study. Among the first and second graders, the relationship between orthographic competence and narrative competence in written productions was also analysed. Sample: One hundred and nine Italian children participated in this study. Measures: Kindergarteners produced an oral narrative, whereas the first and second graders produced a written narrative. The oral and written narratives were analysed in terms of cohesion, coherence, and structure. The first-grade orthographic competence was assessed via a dictation task. Results: Multiple linear regression and mediational analyses were performed. Kindergarten oral narrative competence affected the first- and second-grade written narrative competence via a mediational effect of orthographic competence. Conclusion: The results suggest the importance of practicing oral narrative competence in kindergarten and first grade and the value of composition quality independent of orthographic text accuracy.

The present study examined the relationship between reading (i.e., rapidity and accuracy) and writing competences (i.e., fluency, accuracy, and composition skills) of Italian children in the first and second grade. The performance of seventy-five children was longitudinally assessed over a 2-year period. Results demonstrated that reading and spelling were stable across the first two grades of primary school. Cross-lagged analyses suggested that spelling plays a pivotal role in the acquisition of formal literacy, especially within a transparent writing system like that of our Italian participants. Early progress in spelling becomes a resource for later reading acquisition. However, spelling did not correlate with the composition component of writing, suggesting the independence of these two processes. Results have implications for early childhood educators on the design and delivery of writing and reading instruction.

Different schools apply different educational approaches, and different learning concepts interpret knowledge in different ways. The two dominant perspectives classify learning as the acquisition of knowledge, or as participation in school practices. In order to support teachers in choosing the educational method that best fits their teaching perspective, it is important to increase our understanding of underlying interactional processes. This study addresses this question, by analyzing the interaction between students during a joint drawing task. Forty-three grade three Italian students participated in this study: 22 students attended a classroom based on the acquisition metaphor of learning (teacher-centered approach), whereas 21 attended classrooms based on the participation metaphor of learning (Senzazaino: Without a backpack for School Communities). Students worked in pairs and each pair had to draw their school. Each session was video-recorded and transcribed. Students' interactions were subject to micro-level analysis in terms of discourse moves, communicative functions and interaction sequence. Data substantially confirmed that the educational environment influences students' interactive dynamics and communication patterns from the early grades onwards. Joint drawing was shown to be partially dependent on context. The theoretical and practical implications of this are discussed in the article.