Co-learner Questions Affect Comprehension Monitoring and Questioning Intentions.

Asking questions is a salient event in group learning environments such as classrooms. Laboratory experimental results indicate that co-learner questions can affect judgments of comprehension. A study involving 94 male and 209 female students at a large midwestern university examined whe'. :her students would be aware of such alterations in comprehension judgments in classroom bettings. Results indicated that students' awareness of having monitored their comprehension was higher when co-learners asked questions, and in a classroom where teachers discouraged questioning. Students indicated lower levels of understanding when an inquiring co-learner rarely asked a question, and in a class where questions were discouraged more than encouraged. Contrary to prediction and prior evidence, there was no indication that whether co-learners did or did not ask questions influenced students' judgments of comprehension adequacy. Students indicated that they were more likely to ask a question when other students asked, when a questioner had rarely done so in the past, and when teachers encouraged questioning. (Six figures of data are included.) (Author/RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Co-learner Questions Affect Comprehension Monitoring and Questioning Intentions Stuart A. Karabenick Eastern Michigan University Presented at the 5th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society Chicago, June, 1993 Author Address: Department of Psychology Eastern Michigan University Ypsilwiti, MI 48197 Internet: PSY_KAILABENI@EMUNIX.EMICH. EDU U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Otbce of Educational Rases. m and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) ftvi.tos document has been reproduced as received from the person or organaatfon Originating rt r Minor changes have been made to . mprOve reproductron quality Pnonts of view or opmfons slated . n INS 00Cu ment do not necessarily represent official OEFit Positron or policy PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY t/CL TO THE EDUCATIONAL P.ESCJRCES INFORMATION CEr; ER (EPIC1 Abstract Asking questions is a salient event in group learning environments such as classrooms. Laboratory experimental results indicate that co-learner questions can affect judgments of comprehension. The present study examined whether students would be aware of such alternations in comprehension judgments in classroom settings. Students (N = 303) indicated effects on their: a) awareness of having monitored, b) comprehension, and c) likelihood of asking questions themselves, under eight classroom conditions. Results suggest that students' awareness of having monitored their comprehension was higher when co-learners asked questions, and in a classroom where teachers discouraged questioning. Students indicated lower levels of understanding when an inquiring colearner rarely asked a question, and in a class where questions were discouraged more than encouraged. Contrary to prediction and prior evidence (Karabenick, 1993), however, there was no indication that whether co-learners did or did not ask questions influenced students' judgments of comprehension adequacy. Students indicated they were more likely to ask a questicn when other students asked, when a questioner had rarely done so in the past, and when teachers encouraged questioning.Asking questions is a salient event in group learning environments such as classrooms. Laboratory experimental results indicate that co-learner questions can affect judgments of comprehension. The present study examined whether students would be aware of such alternations in comprehension judgments in classroom settings. Students (N = 303) indicated effects on their: a) awareness of having monitored, b) comprehension, and c) likelihood of asking questions themselves, under eight classroom conditions. Results suggest that students' awareness of having monitored their comprehension was higher when co-learners asked questions, and in a classroom where teachers discouraged questioning. Students indicated lower levels of understanding when an inquiring colearner rarely asked a question, and in a class where questions were discouraged more than encouraged. Contrary to prediction and prior evidence (Karabenick, 1993), however, there was no indication that whether co-learners did or did not ask questions influenced students' judgments of comprehension adequacy. Students indicated they were more likely to ask a questicn when other students asked, when a questioner had rarely done so in the past, and when teachers encouraged questioning. Karabenick APS 1993 Chicago 2 Co-learner Questions Affect Comprehension Monitoring and Questioning Intentions Comprehension monitoring the metacognitive judgment of whether one understands material is critical since it regulates the use of learning strategies (e.g., Markman, 1985; Weinstein & Mayer, 1985). Confusion signifies to the lemmathat task mastery would be facilitated by the initiation or the continued use of such cognitive strategies as rehearsal, organization, and elaboration. Most research on monitoring has focused on text-based (reading) tasks that typically occur in private. Yet considerable learning takes place in public settings, creating the potential for social influence (Brown & Palincsar, 1988). Social comparison processes (Festinger, 1954; Goelals & Darley, 1987) and studies of group conformity (Asch, 1955) suggest that cues signifying another learner's monitoring status could have an impact on self-judgments of comprehension. One salient social event is that of asking questions. Recently, Karabenick (1993) demonstrated such effects in a laboratory setting. Compared to a non-social control condition, those viewing a speech reported greater confusion when another participant asked several questions, and less confusion when no questions were asked. The present study tested whether social influences on monitoring found in the laboratory would generalize to the ubiquitous group instructional context of the classroom. In addition to whether other students (i.e., co-learners) asked questions, a co-learner's prior questioning history, and the degree of teacher support for classroom questioning were experimentally manipulated. Students' awareness of their own monitoring activities, monitoring judgments (level of understanding), and intentions to ask questions were assessed. Based on prior findings, and on attribution and correspondent inference principles (e.g., Jones & Davis 1965; Kelley, 1967), it was hypothesized that students would be more aware of having monitored their comprehension and would judge themselves more confused: a) when co-learners asked questions than when they did not, b) when inquiring co-learners had a history of infrequent questioning, and c) when instructors discouraged classroom questioning. Stronger intentions to ask questions were expected when: a) colearners asked questions, b) co-loamers had a history of infrequent questioning, and c) instructors encouraged questions. Method Data were obtained from 94 male and 209 female students at a large midwestern university. All participants responded to two sets of four hypothetical scenarios (each consisting of a 2 X 2 factorial design) that described questioning under different conditions while a teacher was presenting material to a class. One set crossed teacher support with whether a questioner had a prior history of having almost never vs. very frequently asked questions. An example of one of the four conditions is: "You are in a class in which the teacher encourages questions and you and other students feel very comfortable about asking them. Suppose that you are listening carefully to the material the teacher is presenting when a student who almost never asks questions raises his/her hand to ask a question. How would the fact that this student had a question to ask affect you? " Karabertick APS -1993 Chicago 3 The other set crossed teacher support of questioning (discouraged vs. encouraged) with whether co-learners asked questions (none vs. several students). An example of one of the four conditions is "You are in a class in which the teacher discourages questions and you and other students feel very uncomfortable about asking them. Suppose that you are listening carefully to the material the teacher is presenting when several students raise their hands to ask a question. How would the fact that these students had a question to ask affect you7" Students responded to each scenario on three 7-point bipolar scales (-3 to +3), indicating whether the conditions described would make them: a) think less vs. think more about whether they understood the material, b) less vs. more certain they understood the material, and c) less vs. more likely to ask a question. Results Effects of whether co-learners ask questions Analyses of variance (all F-ratios had 1 and 302 df and all significant effects were at p < .0001) indicated that, compared to when none were asked, the presence of co-learner questions led to greater awareness of monitoring (F = 185.3) and of questioning likelihood (F = 200.1). Interactions revealed that these effects on monitoring awareness (F = 21.3) and questioning likelihood (F = 61.7) were greater when teachers discouraged than when they encouraged questions. Contrary to prediction, students indicated that the presence or absence of co-learner questions would have no effect on judgments of comprehension. Effects of co-learners' prior history of questioning Means for each of the dependent measures for the set of scenarios that factorially combined the co-learner's prior questioning history and level of teacher encouragement of questioning are presented in Figures 4 through 6. Students indicated that a question from a co-learner who rarely aske