What is the Basis for Self-assessment of Comprehension when Reading Mathematical Expository Texts?

Abstract

PostprintThis is the accepted version of a paper published in Reading Psychology. This paper has been peerreviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination. Citation for the original published paper (version of record):Österholm, M. (2015) What is the basis for self-assessment of comprehension when reading mathematical expository texts?. Reading Psychologyhttp://dx.doi.org/10. 1080/02702711.2014.949018 Access to the published version may require subscription. The purpose of this study was to characterize students' self-assessments when reading mathematical texts, in particular regarding what students use as a basis for evaluations of their own reading comprehension. A total of 91 students read two mathematical texts, and for each text they performed a self-assessment of their comprehension and completed a test of reading comprehension. Students' self-assessments were to a less degree based on their comprehension of the specific text read, but more based on prior experiences. However, the study also produced different results for different types of texts and when focusing on different aspects of reading comprehension.Keywords: anchoring; adjustment; metacomprehension; reading comprehension; selfassessment BASIS FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT OF READING COMPREHENSION 2 The purpose of this study was to examine an aspect of metacognition among students when trying to learn something new by reading, specifically when evaluating their own comprehension. In general, aspects of metacognition can be seen as crucial if an aim is to have independent learners that have an awareness of, and take responsibility for, their own learning process. Furthermore, a focus on metacognitive aspects in the teaching and learning can also be directly beneficial for students' learning (e.g., see Dignath & Büttner, 2008).Some aspects of metacognition have been studied through different 'self'-notions, such as self-concept (Guay, Marsh, & Boivin, 2003), self-efficacy (Lent, Lopez, Brown, & Gore, 1996), self-assessment (Brookhart, Andolina, Zuza, & Furman, 2004), self-evaluation (Ross, Hogaboam-Gray, & Rolheiser, 2002), and self-regulation (De Corte, Verschaffel, & Op't Eynde, 2000). Sometimes the same notion can have somewhat different meaning in different studies and different notions sometimes seem to have very similar meaning. However, common for all these notions is that they focus on situations where students in some way reflect on themselves as learners. In this article, focus is on self-assessment, a notion here used to refer to students' evaluations of some aspect of their own knowledge. More specifically, the situation examined in this study is when students read an expository mathematical text. Within this situation, focus is on characterizing students' self-assessments, concerning what students seem to use as a basis for evaluations of their own reading comprehension. Students' Self-Assessments of Reading ComprehensionMany studies focusing on self-assessment in reading let students read a text, eval...