Marta K. Yang
Published: 2020
Total Pages: 387
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The primary purpose of this intervention study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) framework on high school students' summarization skills for science expository texts. The study replicated procedures from previous SRSD studies conducted with younger students (Mason, 2013; Saddler et al., 2017) and with adolescent males with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) in residential settings (Ennis, 2016; Rogevich & Perin, 2008). In this study, the TWA (Think before, While, and After reading) reading strategy was combined with the SHORT writing strategy (State the topic in a sentence and reread; Hunt for your highlights; Organize the supporting details in your own words; Reread your graphic organizer-do you have all the parts? Top it off with a conclusion) and embedded in the SRSD framework. This study extends prior research by investigating the effectiveness of SRSD instruction with high school students diagnosed with E/BD and/or specific learning disabilities (SLD) in a special education biology class. A multiple probe across participants design (Ledford & Gast, 2018) evaluated the effects of SRSD instruction on the dependent variable, students' comprehension of scientific expository text, measured through the percentage of summarization accuracy via a summarization rubric. Five public high school students in the Midwest U.S. region (four males and one female) participated and received instruction embedded in the SRSD framework for a total of 29 weeks across a single academic calendar year. Maintenance assessments 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the intervention ended revealed that all five participants maintained intervention effects above respective baseline performance levels at the end of Week 2 (M = 84.4%), Week 4 (M = 76.8%), and Week 6 (M = 71.0%) after exiting the intervention. Measurement of students' generalization to on-grade-level science text, specifically, their abilities to summarize chapters in their biology textbook (Biggs et al., 2009) administered pre- and postintervention showed that all five students improved their postintervention scores on a textbook chapter summarization. Likert-type scale surveys measuring reading motivation, writing self-efficacy, and social validity revealed that participants' writing self-efficacy and motivation toward reading increased. Moreover, results from a social validity survey indicated that participants viewed SRSD instruction favorably and were generally positive about their experience in learning and applying SRSD in a secondary-level science class. Implications of the findings and recommendations for future research and practice are included.