Comprehension Monitoring in Learning Disabled and Average Students

Abstract

This study investigated the comprehension monitoring skills of learning disabled and average seventh-grade students. Students read expository passages with text inconsistencies under a standard condition and a cued condition (i.e., where students were cued to look for text inconsistencies). Results indicate that average students spontaneously activiated comprehension monitoring strategies thereby noting the text inconsistencies regardless of the condition. Learning disabled students, however, activated these strategies only when cued to do so. These results were interpreted as supporting Torgesen's conceptualization of learning disabled students as inactive learners.