Coached elaborations: Helping students with learning disabilities use reasoning to remember
Abstract
This study investigated whether: (a) 4th and 5th grade students with learning disabilities would utilize coached elaborations to facilitate immediate recall and delayed retention of target and related elaborative information, and (b) coached elaborations were more effective than provided elaborations and no-elaboration control conditions. Sixty-three students with learning disabilities were taught new information about 15 animals. Students were randomly assigned to three conditions, coached elaborations, provided elaborations, and no-elaboration control. Following individual instruction students were given immediate and one-week delayed tests of recall of target information and production of elaborations. On immediate and delayed recall of target information, students in coached elaborations scored 82% and 69% correct respectively. On immediate and delayed production of elaborations, coached elaboration students scored 90.5% and 76% correct elaborations respectively. Students in coached elaborations outperformed those in provided elaborations who outperformed students in the no-elaboration control condition. Statistically significant differences were found among all conditions on all immediate and delayed tests of recall of target information and elaborations, with the exception of the delayed test of elaborations. On tests of delayed production of elaborations, the differences between the coached elaboration and provided elaboration conditions failed to reach statistical significance. Supplemental analyses of coaching interactions showed that coached elaboration students required some form of coaching to generate elaborations 75.5% of the time. These results suggest that students with learning disabilities are able to create appropriate and facilitative elaborations with coaching. Furthermore, these coached elaborations strongly enhance memory of both target information and the related elaborations.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Mastropieri, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Special education|Curricula|Teaching
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.