A major focus of my developmental reading course, English 06 Reading in the Content Areas, has been to encourage students to transfer study and reading strategies to content area courses.  All strategies are modeled, and guided practice is provided before students are required to do independent practice.   For example, following direct instruction in the steps of annotation, I would first show examples of annotated passages, and then I would model how to annotate a textbook passage on the overhead projector.  Next, the class and I would together annotate a content passage in our text, and finally, students would be required to independently annotate a chapter in a textbook.   For years I have encouraged those students who are concurrently enrolled in content courses to bring in their content textbooks for use during the independent practice phase of instruction.   The course textbook Developing Textbook Thinking, 3^rd edition, by Nist and Diehl contains sample textbook chapters which students not in a content course use for the independent practice assignment. I assign certain chapters for independent practice of different strategies.  This procedure is repeated for all strategies taught throughout the semester.

Teaching Students to Transfer Strategies

 

Although I frequently engage former students in informal hallway discussions about their performance in content courses, I have not attempted any formal follow-up to English 06.    A persistent question of mine has been whether or not my students continue to implement the strategies in future content courses.  Do students who are applying the strategies to teacher-chosen content throughout English 06 effectively transfer the strategies to a content textbook at a future date?

My concerns about future implementation of strategies made me wonder if there were a more effective way to teach students to transfer the strategies.  If all of my students were taking the same content course concurrently with English 06, could I teach them to transfer the strategies to the content?  Because the students would be getting grades in the content course, would they be more invested in using the strategies?  Would my English 06 students be more successful in the concurrent content course?  Would they continue to be successful in future content courses?  

I discussed my concerns with a psychology professor who was very interested in developmental students.  She agreed to co-pilot a study that would pair one section of her Psychology 202 course with one section of my English 06 course.  With the help of the counseling staff, a note was included under my course in the schedule of classes noting that All students in this section of English 06 must be concurrently enrolled in Psychology 202.  Psychology 202 was chosen because it was required at that time by those students in the nursing program and is not required to be taken in sequence with Psychology 201.    Since the nursing students are hand scheduled by one counselor, we hoped the counselor would encourage prospective nursing students to sign up for the paired offering, thus ensuring more participants.  Not all students in Psychology 202 were required to be in English 06, but we hoped all of the English 06 students would be in Psychology 202.  We anticipated having fifteen students in the study.

Identifying Key Strategies

 

Prior to the start of fall semester, the psychology professor and I discussed at length the strategies taught in my course that are essential to success in her course.   Her students are required to read the textbook chapters and to be conversant in class discussions.  Students are expected to ask questions about the assigned reading.  Their questions are the basis for her lectures.  Not only were strategies before, during, and after reading essential for the comprehension of the text, but she wanted her students to be able to apply the psychology principles to future situations.  Students were required to develop and present to the class three mini-studies based on course content and to complete a take-home exam.  We targeted ten strategies that would lead to success in her course.  These ten strategies became the basis of our Survey of Strategy Use (Figure 1).  She agreed to reinforce the targeted strategies with all students in her class.  Her reinforcement would be mostly in the form of suggestions and class discussions about helpful strategies to utilize.  Since she felt that text annotation was especially important, she noted that she often spot-checked textbooks.  The textbook questions students asked her were an excellent indication of their depth of understanding.  She modeled for students the types of questions she expected them to ask. 

At the mid-semester, I planned to survey the pilot study students enrolled concurrently in English 06 and Psychology 202 (GROUP A) and the non-participating Psychology 202 students (GROUP B) regarding strategy use.  I would compare mean final grades in Psychology 202 of GROUP A and GROUP B.  I intended to compare the mean final grades in spring semester content courses of GROUP A and a random sample of GROUP B. 

Four Groups Emerge

 

Although seventeen students had enrolled in English 06, only five of those students were also in Psychology 202. The fact that students were able to enroll over the phone enabled the other students to circumvent the requirement to be concurrently enrolled in both courses.  Of the five students enrolled in the paired offering, two of the students had learning disabilities and one of the students had a medical condition.  These three students had Individual Accommodation Plans. 

The make-up of the class necessitated a change in plans. Students in English 06 and Psychology 202 (GROUP A) would still be required to independently practice strategies with the psychology content.  The psychology professor agreed to reinforce the targeted strategies as planned.  Non-participating psychology students (GROUP B) would be surveyed at the midterm time regarding strategy use.  The four students not enrolled in a content course (GROUP C) would be required to use teacher chosen content from the course textbook, Developing Textbook Thinking. The eight students in the English 06 class enrolled concurrently in a content course other than Psychology 202 (Group D) would be required to apply the strategies to that content textbook.  GROUPS A, B, and D would be surveyed regarding strategy use at the midterm point and GROUPS A and D again the final week of the semester.  The survey was not applicable to GROUP C students because they were not enrolled in a content course.  Grade comparisons for fall and spring semester content classes would be made for all groups. 

Results of the Pilot Study

 

The midterm survey of strategy use indicated that GROUP D students used seven out of ten strategies more often than GROUPS A and B (Table 1).  The midterm survey indicated that GROUP A students were using six out of ten learning strategies more often than the GROUP B students. The final survey of strategy use administered the last week of the semester to GROUPS A and D indicated that GROUP A was using five out of ten strategies more frequently than GROUP D and one strategy at the same frequency.  GROUP A students reported using eight out of ten learning strategies more frequently at the end of the semester than at the midterm point.  GROUP D students reported using five out of ten strategies more frequently at the end of the semester than at the midterm point (Table 2).

 All students in GROUP A earned a grade of C or better in Psychology 202.  The mean final grade  (2.40) in Psychology 202 of GROUP A students was lower than the mean final grade (3.00) of GROUP B students.   The mean final grade (1.37) of GROUP D students in fall semester content courses was lower than the mean final grade (2.40) of GROUP A students in Psychology 202 (Table 3).

The mean final grade (1.66) of GROUP A students in spring semester 1999 content courses was lower than the mean final grade (2.66) of GROUP B students in spring 1999 content courses.  GROUP A final grades showed a mean decrease of -0.74 between Psychology 202 and spring semester content courses.  GROUP B final grades also showed a mean decrease of -0.34 between Psychology 202 and spring semester content courses.    The mean final grade (2.50) of GROUP C students in spring semester 1999 content courses was higher than the mean final grade (1.66) of GROUP A students and the mean final grade (2.05) of GROUP D students.  The mean final grade (2.05) of GROUP D students in spring semester 1999 content courses showed an increase of +0.68 when compared to the GROUP D mean final grade (1.37) in fall semester 1998 content courses.

Discussion of Results

 

Fall semester final grades seem to indicate that reinforcement of English 06 strategies by a content professor is helpful to developmental students.  (Table 3) The students in GROUP A benefited from the reinforcement of strategies by the Psychology 202 professor.  Although their mean final grade in Psychology 202 was lower than those in GROUP B, it was higher than the final grades of GROUP D students.  GROUP D students experienced many difficulties in their content courses in fall semester.  Individual midterm conferences in English 06 revealed that GROUP A students felt very positive about Psychology 202 whereas many of the GROUP D students had failed their first content test.  The failing GROUP D students expressed feelings of frustration and anxiety.  GROUP D final grades suggest that it was impossible for some students to overcome their early failure.  By the time they had learned necessary strategies, the hole they had dug for themselves was too deep.   Although GROUP D students reported using strategies more frequently than GROUPS A and B at the midterm time, GROUP A reported using the strategies more frequently than GROUP D by the end of the semester.  The reinforcement of the importance of strategy use by the Psychology 202 professor may have been a significant factor in the increased usage by GROUP A.

Spring semester final grades in content courses drew mixed results by the four groups.  Both GROUP A and GROUP B showed a decrease in final grades.  It is important to note that one of the students in GROUP A did not enroll spring semester and another student withdrew from all classes for the spring semester.  Of the remaining three students, one student failed all of his courses.  The two remaining students had mean final grades of 2.00 and 3.00, respectively.  The mean final grade (2.50) for GROUP C students seems to indicate that although they had been independently practicing strategies with teacher-chosen content during the fall semester, they were able to effectively transfer the strategies to a content course in the spring.  The mean final grade (2.05) for GROUP D students seems to indicate that these students were more successful once they had all the strategies in hand.

 

Recommendations

 

Since the study seems to indicate that English 06 students benefit from the reinforcement of strategies by a content professor, it would be helpful to enlist the support of professors who teach courses often taken concurrently by English 06 students, such as Sociology 201, Biology 101, History 101/121 and Psychology 201.  The results suggest that English 06 students should delay taking content courses until they complete English 06 unless a support system is in place.

 

 

 

Figure 1

 

Survey of Strategy Use

 

Respond to the questions below by indicating the frequency of each of the behaviors.  Rate yourself from 1 to 5 as follows:

 

5          always true for you                     2          rarely true for you

4          often true for you                        1          never true for you

3          sometimes true for you  

 

1. _____            I read the assigned textbook chapter prior to hearing the lecture on it.

2. _____            I review my notes within 24 hours of the lecture.

3. _____            I preview (look over) the chapter before reading it.

4. _____            I think about what I already know about the subject before reading a chapter.

5. _____            I annotate (mark in the margins) while reading.

6. _____            I highlight or underline while reading.

7. _____            I mentally change headings to questions and read to find the answers.

8. _____            I concentrate while reading.

9. _____            I use rehearsal strategies (concept cards, mindmaps, notes, outlines, charts, study guides) after reading.

10._____           I ask questions in class about textbook material I do not understand

 

 

 

Table 1

 

Midterm Use of Strategies (mean)

 

 

Ques.	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	#9	#10
group A	3.50 (1)	2.75 (3)`	3.75 (2)	3.50 (2)	3.50 (2)	4.25 (2)	2.50 (2)	3.50 (3)	3.25 (2)	2.25 (3)
group B	2.95 (2)	3.36 (2)	3.18 (3)	3.22 (3)	3.13 (3)	3.90 (3)	2.13 (3)	4.18 (2)	3.72 (1)	3.72 (1)
group D	2.88 (3)	3.50 (1)	4.13 (1)	3.75 (1)	3.60 (1)	4.38 (1)	3.38 (1)	4.38 (1)	3.25 (2)	2.75 (2)

 

Mean

3.11

3.20

3.69

3.49

2.96

4.18

2.67

4.02

3.41

2.91

 

Pilot study participants in English 06 and Psychology 202 (GROUP A)

Non-participating Psychology 202 students (GROUP B)

Students in English 06 and a content course other than Psychology 202 (GROUP D)

 

5          always true for you                     2          rarely true for you

4          often true for you                        1          never true for you

3          sometimes true for you  

 

 

Table 2

 

Final Use of Strategies (mean)

 

Final Use of Strategies:

 

 

Ques.	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	#9	#10
group A	2.25	3.00	4.25	3.50	4.25	4.50	2.75	4.00	3.75	4.25
+/-	-1.25	+0.25	+0.50	0.00	+0.75	+0.25	+0.25	+0.50	+0.50	+2.00
group D	3.25	3.38	4.00	3.13	3.88	4.00	3.50	4.13	3.75	3.25
+/-	+0.37	-0.12	-0.13	-0.62	+0.28	-0.38	+0.12	-0.25	+0.50	+0.50

 

Mean

3.00

3.19

4.13

3.32

4.07

4.25

3.00

4.07

3.75

3.75

 

Mean +/-

+0.11

-0.01

+0.44

-0.17

-0.11

+0.07

-0.33

+0.05

+0.36

+0.84

Pilot study participants in English 06 and Psychology 202 (GROUP A)

Non-participating Psychology 202 students (GROUP B)

Students in English 06 and a content course other than Psychology 202 (GROUP D)

 

5          always true for you                     2          rarely true for you

4          often true for you                        1          never true for you

3          sometimes true for you  

 

 

Table 3

 

Mean Final Grades in Fall Semester 1998 and Spring Semester 1999 Content Courses

 

	Fall Semester 1998	Spring Semester 1999
GROUP A	2.40 *	1.66
GROUP B	3.00 *	2.66
GROUP C	NA	2.50
GROUP D	1.37	2.05

 

Pilot study participants in English 06 and Psychology 202 (GROUP A)

Non-participating Psychology 202 students (GROUP B)

Students in English 06 only, no content (GROUP C)

Students in English 06 and a content course other than Psychology 202 (GROUP D)

 

 

* Mean final grade in Psychology 202