Abstract
This study examined the extent to which prior beliefs and reading instructions impacted elements of a reader’s mental representation of multiple texts. College students’ beliefs about childhood vaccinations were assessed before reading two anti-vaccine and two pro-vaccine texts. Participants in the experimental condition read for the purpose of integrating across the texts, while those in the control condition read for comprehension. Participants completed a vocabulary assessment then post-reading essays, which were scored for the quality of argumentation and organization. Results indicated that those who were instructed to integrate, held accurate beliefs about vaccines, and demonstrated higher vocabulary knowledge tended to write more organized essays. Participants with inaccurate beliefs about vaccines produced essays that were more incoherent and polarized, even when asked to integrate texts. Although prompting readers to integrate might generally contribute to a more organized mental representation, a more robust intervention may be needed when misconceptions are present.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 436-462 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| Journal | Reading Psychology |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was based on a thesis submitted to Georgia State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master’s degree for Anna E. Mason. This work was supported in part by IES Grants R305A180261 and R305A180144. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Georgia State University, Department of Education, or IES. We thank Ann Kruger for her insights on the overall project as a member of the Master’s thesis committee. We also thank Scott Crossley for his help in collecting the expert ratings for the essay data. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jason L. G. Braasch, Department of Learning Sciences, Georgia State University. E-mail: jbraasch@gsu.edu.
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