Monitoring and Resolving Comprehension Obstacles: An Investigation of Spontaneous Text Lookbacks among Upper-Grade Good and Poor Comprehenders

THE RESEARCH REPORTED here was designed to answer questions about spontaneous use of text lookbacks to resolve comprehension obstacles. Nineteen good comprehenders and 19 poor comprehenders were presented with a narrative passage divided into three segments. Interspersed in the text were six non-lookback questions and four lookback questions (i.e., questions presented in one segment but demanding retrieval of information presented in an earlier segment for correct responses). Subjects were seen individually by two investigators who alternated in the roles of directiongiver and intra-experiment observer. Analysis of correct responses to lookback questions and of lookback behaviors noted by the observers yielded evidence of reading proficiency and age/experience effects on use of lookbacks. Converging evidence from the question response and observational notation analyses supported the pronounced good comprehender-poor comprehender monitoring differences found in earlier research.