PART III: THE THINK-ALOUD STUDY
5. Students’ idiosyncratic patterns of constructing comprehension: Stage 4
of constructing comprehension: Stage 4
5.1. Research questions
Th e fi ndings of the previous stages of the study demonstrated diff erences between the subjects, e.g., in the amount of reporting and the manner of processing the texts. Th erefore, the main aim of this stage of the study was to answer the follow-ing questions:
Are there any idiosyncratic patterns that the readers followed while reading –
in Polish and in English?
Are there any diff erences in the patterns the students used in reading the –
English text and reading the Polish text?
Th e aim of this section is to analyze the students’ protocols in terms of their individual patterns of developing comprehension. It was hypothesized that readers may approach texts in their mother tongue and in a foreign language in a similar manner, which would indicate a possibility of a transfer of strategies from one language to the other.
5.2. Results and conclusions
Th e protocols were inspected to identify strategies that are the most frequent for the readers in each language. Also characteristic features of reporting were taken into consideration. Below (Table III.12.), the results of the analysis are presented.
Table III.12. Th e students’ individual patterns of developing comprehension Reader Most common strategies and
charac-teristics of reporting the English text
Most common strategies and character-istics of reporting the Polish text Student A a very verbose report, a variety of
strat-egies reported, consistent in pursing her initial predictions, summing up as a technique to evaluate the fi nal state of comprehension
a very verbose report, consistent in pursing her initial predictions, a variety of strategies reported, summing up as a technique to evaluate the fi nal state of comprehension
Student B a very verbose report, frequent predictions, consistent in pursing her predictions, frequent reference to her background knowledge, a variety of strategies re-ported, able to evaluate the product of comprehension
a very verbose report, consistent in pursing her initial predictions, frequent reference to her background knowledge (focusing on the information she found interesting), a variety of strategies report-ed, aware of her comprehension failures
Reader Most common strategies and charac-teristics of reporting the English text
Most common strategies and character-istics of reporting the Polish text Student C a very verbose report, consistent in
purs-ing her predictions, a variety of strategies reported, asking questions, summing up as a technique to evaluate the fi nal state of her comprehension, a critical approach to the product of comprehension
a very verbose report, consistent in pursing her initial predictions, a variety of strate-gies reported, dialoguing with the text (asking questions, agreeing/disagreeing with the text information), summing up as a technique to evaluate the fi nal state of her comprehension, a critical approach to the product of comprehension
Student D a very brief report, a very haphazard style of reading (focusing only on the fi rst sentences, “jumping” from paragraph to paragraph), as a result constructing a very simple model of the text (a net-work of very general ideas drawn from paragraphs), satisfi ed with her compre-hension; no attempts to evaluate the fi nal state of comprehension
a very brief report, a very haphazard style of reading (focusing only on the fi rst sentences, “jumping” from paragraph to paragraph), aware of comprehension failures, an attempt to evaluate the state of comprehension when problems occur
Student E a very brief report, reading with ease, very few problems reported
a very brief report, reading with ease most of the article, when problems occur evalu-ating the state of his comprehension Student F a verbose report, reading with ease,
iden-tifying main ideas as the most frequent strategy
a verbose report, reading with ease, iden-tifying main ideas as the most frequent strategy
Student G a verbose report, a variety of strategies reported, discussing the text information, reacting emotionally, active in solving problems
a verbose report, a variety of strategies reported, discussing the text information, reacting emotionally, active in solving problems
Student H a verbose report, reading with ease, very few problems reported, paraphrasing as the most frequent strategy
a verbose report, apart from vocabulary diffi culties very few problems reported, paraphrasing as the most frequent strategy Student I a verbose report, a variety of strategies
reported, very frequent strategy of mak-ing associations, many problems report-ed, many comprehension failures, lack of concentration, aware of his problems
a verbose report, a variety of strategies re-ported, a very frequent strategy of making associations, many problems reported, many comprehension failures, diffi culty in encom-passing the whole text, aware of his problems Student J a verbose report, reading with ease,
iden-tifying main ideas as the most frequent strategy, discussing the text information, very few problems reported, a very logi-cal approach to the text
a verbose report, reading with ease, iden-tifying main ideas as the most frequent strategy, discussing the text information, very few problems reported, a very logical approach to the text
Source: own study.
Th e comparison indicates that all the subjects reported in a similar way while read-ing in Polish and in English. Th ey were verbose to a similar extent in both reports. Th e same strategies were observed in both reports. Below, a few reports are presented.
For example, Student I kept making associations in both reports. When reading the Polish text, he made digressions about his roommate. Th e English text made him think about two Polish political parties: PO (Platforma Obywatelska) and PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość).
Here it’s more about prozac. When I see the word “Prozac,” I see in my mind all those American fi lms where there is always a blond female heroine who has to eat it (Prozac) (... ... ..) Reading on I come across antidepressants and all the time I can see my roommate who has depression and is now undergoing medical treatment (…) uhm (..). I’m still read-ing the fourth paragraph which is about depression and tranquillizers. All the time when I’m reading it I see my neighbour (…) this sentence is very interesting “Many spouses in not understanding what their partner is experiencing ask: why don’t you just get a grip?” And it’s exactly what I keep saying to my roommate – why don’t you simply get up? Th e alarm clock keeps ringing for half an hour, but my roommate is still in bed; fi rst I didn’t understand that he was sick, I thought he was lazy. I feel sorry for him but I often laugh at him.
(the Polish text)
It’s about progress (....) “It means a rich life for everyone,” yes and now I associate this sentence with PO – “so that everyone can live a better life.” And the next sentence “not for the privileged classes alone” with PiS, and they make each other’s life diffi cult, and I can see Jarek’s face when he is speaking in the parliament; (…) saying it I forgot what the main idea of the paragraph is, I drifted away too much.
(the English text)
Student D read both texts in a “erratic” way.
S: In the next paragraph which I began to read uhm it’s about the price that we have to pay for progress and now I’ve jumped to the next paragraph to see what the text consists of, that’s why I decided not to read the whole paragraph but to go on to the next uhm one.
T: You mean the one beginning with “yet none?”
S: uhm no. I didn’t even notice it, I jumped right away to “real question.”
T: I see. So what are you doing now?
S: Now, I’m reading. (…) And now I’ve jumped to the next one.
(the English text)
I’ve read the fi rst sentence which says that uhm which refers to uhm Descartes, who claims that our body is controlled by the spirit uhm and biological conditions have no impact on us. And now I’ve decided to stop reading this paragraph but instead uhm to focus on the sentences in bold uhm the text in bold. (..) uhm here it’s clearly said that contemporary neurobiology has show that the soul does not exist, so I expect to fi nd some arguments on how scientists reached this conclusion and I’ve decided to jump to the next sentence in bold (..)
(the Polish text)
Th is analysis illustrates similarities in reporting while reading in both languages.
It is diffi cult to conclude whether the similarities in reporting refl ect similarities in reading and whether we can assume any transfer between the languages, prob-ably from the mother tongue to a foreign language. Th is issue will be investigated further in the analysis of the interview with the subjects concerning their reading in both languages (see Chapter 7).