The role of cognitive load in university students' comprehension of                multiple documents

Hahnel, Carolin; Schoor, Cornelia; Kroehne, Ulf; Goldhammer, Frank; Mahlow, Nina; Artelt, Cordula

doi:10.1024/1010-0652/a000238

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Another factor that plays a role in comprehending documents is the readers' working memory. Research relating working memory and MDC is still in the early stages (e.g., Hahnel et al, 2019b), but shows that MDC is cognitive demanding for university students. Future research should further investigate the revealed commonality between STC and MDC by identifying the common source of variance.…”

Section: Discussion Of the Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

More Than (Single) Text Comprehension? – On University Students’ Understanding of Multiple Documents

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The digital revolution has made a multitude of text documents from highly diverse perspectives on almost any topic easily available. Accordingly, the ability to integrate and evaluate information from different sources, known as multiple document comprehension, has become increasingly important. Because multiple document comprehension requires the integration of content and source information across texts, it is assumed to exceed the demands of single text comprehension due to the inclusion of two additional mental representations: the integrated situation model and the intertext model. To date, there is little empirical evidence on commonalities and differences between single text and multiple document comprehension. Although the relationships between single text and multiple document comprehension can be well distinguished conceptually, there is a lack of empirical studies supporting these assumptions. Therefore, we investigated the dimensional structure of single text and multiple document comprehension with similar test setups. We examined commonalities and differences between the two forms of text comprehension in terms of their relations to final school exam grades, level of university studies and university performance. Using a sample of n = 501 students from two German universities, we jointly modeled single text and multiple document comprehension and applied a series of regression models. Concerning the relationship between single text and multiple document comprehension, confirmatory dimensionality analyses revealed the best fit for a model with two separate factors (latent correlation: 0.84) compared to a two-dimensional model with cross-loadings and fixed covariance between the latent factors and a model with a general factor. Accordingly, the results indicate that single text and multiple document comprehension are separable yet correlated constructs. Furthermore, we found that final school exam grades, level of university studies and prior university performance statistically significant predicted both single text and multiple document comprehension and that expected future university performance was predicted by multiple document

show abstract

Section: Discussion Of the Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

More Than (Single) Text Comprehension? – On University Students’ Understanding of Multiple Documents

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Following previous research, we considered several variables to be indicators for standards of a documents model representation: time on texts (e.g., Hahnel et al, 2019 ), text switches as behavioral indicator of corroboration (e.g., Hahnel et al, 2019 ), corroboration in the essay (e.g., Rouet et al, 1996 ; Wineburg, 1991 ), source citation in the essay (e.g., Braasch et al, 2012 ), number of adversative connectors in the essay (List et al, 2021 ), and whether discrepancies were explicitly addressed in the essay (Stadtler et al, 2013 ). We articulated several predictions regarding readers' standards for constructing a documents model representation:…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of context and discrepancy when reading multiple documents

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On a daily basis, most people read about issues of interest from a diversity of sources. Moreover, the information they encounter frequently encompass discrepancies, ranging from minor inconsistencies to straight contradictions. Readers may construct coherent representations from discrepant contents by linking contents to their respective sources and connecting the sources with agree-disagree or other types of connectives. Across research studies, however, college-level readers' attention to sources has been found to vary according to individual, text and task dimensions. The present study tested the assumption that readers' strategies depend both on the discrepancy of the information and on the context in which the task is framed. Moreover, beliefs about science were included as potential moderator of context effects. One hundred and sixty university students were tasked to read about a series of social-scientific issues. The task was framed in either a university context or a personal context scenario. For each topic, the participants read two short texts which provided either consistent or discrepant information, and then they wrote a short overview essay. The university context had a significant impact on indicators related to a documents model representation (e.g., text switches, number of adversative connectors in the essay) and standards for presentation (e.g., time on the essay/task page, formal features of the essay). The data support a context-dependent view of reading comprehension, whereby both reading behavior and outcomes are primarily a function of the standards and goals set by the reader.

show abstract

“…In particular, the results on the influence of overload due to media use over the course of higher education studies stress the relevance of carefully filtering out and critically dealing with different kinds of information, which are considered crucial generic skills in the twenty-first century. As many current studies indicate, university students have great deficits when it comes to critically dealing with this multitude of media and online information (Hahnel et al 2019a;Hahnel et al 2019b;McGrew et al 2018;Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia et al 2019b). This is evidently the case for beginning students when entering higher education but also for advanced bachelor's and even master's students (Shavelson et al 2019;Nagel et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entry Assessment of Student Learning Preconditions in Higher Education: Implications for the Transition from Secondary to Tertiary Education in Germany

Zlatkin‐Troitschanskaia

Schlax

2020

European Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The acquisition of domain-specific knowledge and interdisciplinary skills such as critical thinking is increasingly gaining significance as key learning outcomes in higher education that are crucial for all professionals and engaged citizens and that enable lifelong learning. Despite this socio-political consensus, up until the last decade there have only been a few evidence-based insights into the competencies of higher education students. Therefore, the Germany-wide research program Modelling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education (KoKoHs) was established in 2011 by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In the 85 projects, theoretical-conceptual competence models and corresponding assessments were developed for selected large study domains (e.g. economics) to reliably measure the students’ competencies in different phases of higher education (entering, undergraduate, graduate). More than 100 technology-based assessments of both discipline-specific competencies and generic skills were validated across Germany at over 350 universities with over 75,000 students. This article presents findings from the Germany-wide entry diagnostics in the one KoKoHs project (WiWiKom II) with beginning students in business, economic and social sciences that provide evidence-based insights into students’ learning preconditions and their impact on domain-specific knowledge acquisition in bachelor’s degree courses. The results lead to far-reaching practical implications for successful transitions between secondary and tertiary education, including recommendations for the development of mechanisms to support access to tertiary education and to prevent high dropout rates.

show abstract

The role of cognitive load in university students' comprehension of multiple documents

Cited by 13 publications

References 39 publications

More Than (Single) Text Comprehension? – On University Students’ Understanding of Multiple Documents

More Than (Single) Text Comprehension? – On University Students’ Understanding of Multiple Documents

Effects of context and discrepancy when reading multiple documents

Entry Assessment of Student Learning Preconditions in Higher Education: Implications for the Transition from Secondary to Tertiary Education in Germany

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About