A1 Journal article (refereed)
Assessing reading and online research comprehension : Do difficulties in attention and executive function matter? (2021)

Kanniainen, L., Kiili, C., Tolvanen, A., Aro, M., Anmarkrud, Ø., & Leppänen, P. H. (2021). Assessing reading and online research comprehension : Do difficulties in attention and executive function matter?. Learning and Individual Differences, 87, Article 101985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2021.101985

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Kanniainen, Laura; Kiili, Carita; Tolvanen, Asko; Aro, Mikko; Anmarkrud, Øistein; Leppänen, Paavo H.T.

Journal or series: Learning and Individual Differences

ISSN: 1041-6080

eISSN: 1873-3425

Publication year: 2021

Volume: 87

Article number: 101985

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2021.101985

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/74476

Abstract

This study evaluated the relation between sixth graders' (N = 426) teacher-rated difficulties in attention and executive function (EF) and their comprehension skills. Reading comprehension was assessed with a multiple-choice task and online research and comprehension (ORC) with a problem-solving task. The analyses were controlled for gender, reading fluency and nonverbal reasoning. To investigate differences in students' performance between the tasks, comprehension skills in the multiple-choice task were also controlled for in the ORC task. Structural equation models showed that teacher-rated attention and EF difficulties were related to students' performance more in the problem-solving task than in the multiple-choice task. After controlling for all the background variables, these difficulties explained 9% of the variance of ORC performance in girls and 4% in boys. These results indicate that for students with attention and EF difficulties the ORC task was more challenging than the reading comprehension task.

Keywords: literacy; reading; reading comprehension; evaluation; learning; concentration (psychology); learning difficulties; children (age groups); online material; electronic publications; websites; Internet; multiple-choice questions

Free keywords: digital literacy; online research and comprehension; reading comprehensio; executive function; attention difficulties

Contributing organizations

Related projects

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2021

JUFO rating: 2