Teaching LD Students Critical Reading Skills: A Systematic Replication

Abstract
Two approaches to teaching elementary-level LD students three critical reading skills were contrasted. Students were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: (a) direct instruction and (b) discussion/workbook. The former featured training in using specific rules and strategies to detect instances of faulty arguments whereas subjects in the latter group were taught via a discussion/workbook approach, encouraging student involvement through discussions on how to use critical reading skills. Both treatment groups received 40-minute lessons for 12 consecutive school days. Three dependent measures designed to assess students' knowledge of the three critical reading skills were administered. Subjects in the direct instruction group were found to significantly outperform their counterparts in the discussion/workbook group on each measure. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for development of effective practices for teaching comprehension.

This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit: