Examining the Effects of Self-Explanation on Students’ Inference Generation and Conceptual Change

EasyChair Preprint 6223

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of using self-explanation prompts to enhance students’ ability to produce bridging inferences, improve their text comprehension, and correct their misconceptions. College students were prompted to self-explain or think-aloud while reading a non-refutational or refutational text. The students were assessed on their text comprehension, conceptual understanding, vocabulary, and prior knowledge. The results demonstrated that students prompted to self-explain produced more bridging inferences than students prompted to think-aloud. In addition, students who generated more bridging inferences better text comprehension had fewer misconceptions after reading. However, students’ conceptual understanding also depended on their prior knowledge and reading skill.

Keyphrases: Refutational Text, bridging inferences, misconceptions, self-explanation

@booklet{EasyChair:6223,
  author    = {Micah Watanabe and Danielle McNamara},
  title     = {Examining the Effects of Self-Explanation on Students’ Inference Generation and Conceptual Change},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 6223},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}