The Comparative Effects of a Modified Self-Questioning Strategy and Story Mapping on the Reading Comprehension of Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities Taylor Webb & Laura Capps

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of story mapping, a modified self-questioning strategy, and no intervention on reading comprehension in elementary students with learning disabilities

Design Alternating Treatments Design Random assignment of story mapping, modified self- questioning and no intervention Drew slips of paper out of a hat Control The period of “no intervention” served as a baseline measure against which to measure change.

Participants Five third through sixth graders with learning disabilities (4 boys, 1 girl, ages 9–12) Michele, Leroy, and Michael were receiving special education services in a resource room one period per day for reading and spent the rest of the day in general education classrooms Justin and Joseph attended general education classes for all subjects, and received assistance from the special education teacher for one period per day in the regular classroom.

Variables Independent Story Mapping Self-Questioning “Creating a visual representation of the story by writing the important elements on a graphic organizer” (Taylor, Alber & Walker, 2002) Self-Questioning “Procedure in which students stop periodically while reading to ask and answer questions related to the text” (Taylor, Alber & Walker, 2002) Given list of generic questions, prompts for when to self- question and tape recorders to record answers

Variables (cont.) Dependent Story Map Response Accuracy How accurate was student-created map Self-Questioning Response Accuracy How accurate were answers given for 10 comprehension questions answered during reading Reading Comprehension How accurate were answers for 10 open-ended questions (5 literal, 5 inferential) Accuracy of responses was determined by answer keys made before interventions were given

Data Collection Method Permanent Product Recording Collected story maps, responses to self-questions and responses to comprehension tests Interobserver Agreement General educator with 20 years of experience scored 25% of story maps, self-questioning responses and comprehension tests The rest was scored by researchers Story Mapping and Comprehension=100% Self-Questioning=98%

Results Accuracy of Story Maps and Self-Questioning Responses High for all students Slightly higher in self-questioning Accuracy of Reading Comprehension Mann Whitney U statistical test No significant differences between self-questioning and story mapping Significant differences between self-questioning and no intervention Significant differences between story mapping and no intervention

Discussion Both strategies are effective for increasing reading comprehension. No statistical significance but most students scored slightly higher on comprehension when in self-questioning condition

Citation Taylor, L., Alber, S., & Walker, D. (2002). The Comparative Effects of a Modified Self-Questioning and Story Mapping on the Reading Comprehension of Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities. Journal of Behavioral Education, (11)2, 69-87.