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IES Grant

Title: iSTART: Interactive Strategy Trainer for Active Reading and Thinking
Center: NCER Year: 2004
Principal Investigator: McNamara, Danielle Awardee: University of Memphis
Program: Literacy      [Program Details]
Award Period: 3 years Award Amount: $1,770,514
Type: Development and Innovation Award Number: R305G040046
Description:

Purpose: In this project, the researchers aimed to further develop and evaluate an automated reading strategy intervention called iSTART. This interactive strategy training system helps students understand and learn from difficult text by teaching them to use active, effective reading strategies. The researchers proposed to expand the existing iSTART such that it could be easily integrated into classrooms by increasing the number of texts and the range of domains available for reading strategy practice increasing the range of difficulty of the practice texts increasing the range of strategy interventions creating an interface to facilitate teachers' use of iSTART. These modifications were to enable the system to better adapt to student and teacher needs. The researchers proposed a systematic development and assessment plan which included eight experimental studies.

Structured Abstract

THE FOLLOWING CONTENT DESCRIBES THE PROJECT AT THE TIME OF FUNDING

Setting: The studies will include high school students from Memphis city and Shelby County, college students from the University of Memphis, and high-school teachers in the Memphis area

Population: The racial composition of Memphis city schools is 86 percent African American and 10 percent White. Shelby County schools are 23 percent African American and 71 percent White. University of Memphis is 68 percent African American and 29 percent White.

Intervention: iSTART delivers reading strategy training using an interactive and adaptive format. Pedagogical agents interact with each other and with the student to increase active processing and participation. iSTART begins with instruction for self-explanation and reading strategies such as monitoring comprehension, making bridging inferences, and using prior knowledge and logic to understand the text. After this instructional phase, the student identifies strategies used within examples of self-explanations. The student practices by self-explaining science texts. The system evaluates the self-explanations and provides feedback. Thus, iSTART includes four activities: instruction, modeling, strategy identification, and practice.

Research Design and Methods: The studies employ a wide range of methodologies including observations, surveys, focus groups, think aloud protocols, eye-tracking, quasi-experimental and experimental studies.

Related IES Projects: Coh-Metrix: Automated Cohesion and Coherence Scores to Predict Text Readability and Facilitate Comprehension (R305G020018), Assessing Reading Comprehension with Verbal Protocols and Latent Semantic Analysis (R305G040055), The Writing Pal: An Intelligent Tutoring System that Provides Interactive Writing Strategy Training (R305A090623), Exploring the Educational Game Landscape through Focused Studies and Ecological Interventions (R305A130124), Developing a Deeper Understanding of the Cognitive Processes that Drive Multiple Text Comprehension (R305A180144), iSTART-Early: Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking for Young Developing Readers (R305A190050), Using Computational Linguistics to Detect Comprehension Processes in Constructed Responses across Multiple Large Data Sets (R305A190063)

Products and Publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

Select Publications:

Books

Landauer, T., McNamara, D.S., Dennis, S., and Kintsch, W. (2007). Handbook of Latent Semantic Analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

McNamara, D.S (2007). Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theory, Interventions, and Technologies. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

McNamara, D.S., and O'Reilly, T. (2009). Theories of Comprehension Skill: Knowledge and Strategies Versus Capacity and Suppression. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Book chapters

Boonthum, C., Levinstein, I., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). Evaluating Self-Explanations in iSTART: Word Matching, Latent Semantic Analysis, and Topic Models. In A. Kao, and S. Poteet (Eds.), Natural Language Processing and Text Mining (pp. 91–106). London: Springer-Verlag.

Crossley, S.A. and McNamara, D.S. (2017). Educational Technologies and Literacy Development. Adaptive Educational Technologies for Literacy Instruction. Taylor and Francis eBooks. doi:10.4324/9781315647500

Graesser, A.C., Hu, X., and McNamara, D.S. (2005). Computerized Learning Environments That Incoporate Research in Discourse Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Computational Linguistics. In A.F. Healy (Ed.), Experimental Cognitive Psychology and Its Applications: Festschrift in Honor of Lyle Bourne, Walter Kintsch, and Thomas Landauer (pp. 183–194). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Magliano, J.P., Millis, K.K., Ozuru, Y., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). A Multidimensional Framework to Evaluate Reading Assessment Tools. In D.S. McNamara (Ed.), Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories, Interventions, and Technologies (pp. 107–136). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

McNamara, D.S., Boonthum, C., Levinstein, I.B., and Millis, K. (2007). Evaluating Self Explanations in iSTART: Comparing Word-Based and LSA Algorithms. In T. Landauer, D.S. McNamara, S. Dennis, and W. Kintsch (Eds.), Handbook of Latent Semantic Analysis (pp. 227–241). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

McNamara, D.S., De Vega, M., and O'Reilly, T. (2007). Comprehension Skill, Inference Making, and the Role of Knowledge. In F. Schmalhofer, and C.A. Perfetti (Eds.), Higher Level Language Processes in the Brain: Inference and Comprehension Processes (pp. 233–254). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

McNamara, D.S., O'Reilly, T., Rowe, M., Boonthum, C., and Levinstein, I.B. (2007). iSTART: A Web-Based Tutor That Teaches Self-Explanation and Metacognitive Reading Strategies. In D.S. McNamara (Ed.), Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories, Interventions, and Technologies (pp. 397–421). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

McNamara, D.S., Ozuru, Y., Best, R., and O'Reilly, T. (2007). The 4–Pronged Comprehension Strategy Framework. In D.S. McNamara (Ed.), Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories, Interventions, and Technologies (pp. 465–496). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Millis, K., Magliano, J., Wiemer-Hastings, K., Todaro, S., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). Assessing and Improving Comprehension With Latent Semantic Analysis. In T. Landauer, D.S. McNamara, S. Dennis, and W. Kintsch (Eds.), Handbook of Latent Semantic Analysis (pp. 207–225). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Vanderveen, A., Huff, K., Gierl, M., McNamara, D.S., Louwerse, M., and Graesser, A.C. (2007). Developing and Validating Instructionally Relevant Reading Competency Profiles Measured by the Critical Reading Sections of the SAT. In D.S. McNamara (Ed.), Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories, Interventions, and Technologies (pp. 137–172). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Journal articles

Best, R., Rowe, M.P., Ozuru, Y., and McNamara, D.S. (2005). Deep-Level Comprehension of Science Texts: The Role of the Reader and the Text. Topics in Language Disorders, 25(1): 65–83.

Jackson, G.T., Guess, R.H., and McNamara, D.S. (2010). Assessing Cognitively Complex Strategy use in an Untrained Domain. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2(1): 127–137.

Levinstein, I.B., Boonthum, C., Pillarisetti, S.P., Bell, C., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). iSTART 2: Improvements for Efficiency and Effectiveness. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2): 224–232.

Louwerse, M.M., Graesser, A.C., McNamara, D.S., and Lu, S. (2009). Embodied Conversational Agents as Conversational Partners. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9): 1244–1255.

Magliano, J., Kurby, C.A., Magliano, J.P., Dandotkar, S., Woehrle, J., Gilliam, S., and McNamara, D.S. (2012). Changing how Students Process and Comprehend Texts With Computer-Based Self-Explanation Training. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 47(4): 429–459.

Magliano, J.P., Todaro, S., Millis, K.K., Wiemer-Hastings, K., Kim, H.J., and McNamara, D.S. (2005). Changes in Reading Strategies as a Function of Reading Training: A Comparison of Live and Computerized Training. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 32(2): 185–208.

McCarthy, P.M., and Jarvis, S. (2010). MTLD, Vocd-D, and HD-D: A Validation Study of Sophisticated Approaches to Lexical Diversity Assessment. Behavior Research Methods, 42(2): 381–392.

McCarthy, P.M., Guess, R., and McNamara, D.S. (2009). The Components of Paraphrase Evaluations. Behavior Research Methods, 41(3): 682–690. McNamara, D.S. (2010). Strategies to Read and Learn: Overcoming Learning by Consumption. Medical Education, 44(4): 340–346.

McNamara, D.S., and Shapiro, A. (2005). Multimedia and Hypermedia Solutions for Promoting Metacognitive Engagement, Coherence, and Learning. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 33(1): 1–29.

McNamara, D.S., Levinstein, I.B., and Boonthum, C. (2004). iSTART: Interactive Strategy Trainer for Active Reading and Thinking. Behavioral Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36(2): 222–233.

McNamara, D.S., O'Reilly, T., Best, R., and Ozuru, Y. (2006). Improving Adolescent Students' Reading Comprehension With iSTART. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 34(2): 147–171.

Millis, K., Kim, H.J., Todaro, S. Magliano, J., Wiemer-Hastings, K., and McNamara, D.S. (2004). Identifying Reading Strategies Using Latent Semantic Analysis: Comparing Semantic Benchmarks. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36(2): 213–221.

Munoz, B., Magliano, J.P., Sheridan, R., and McNamara, D.S. (2006). Typing Versus Thinking Aloud When Reading: Implications for Computer-Based Assessment and Training Tools. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 38(2): 211–217.

O'Reilly, T., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). The Impact of Science Knowledge, Reading Strategy Knowledge on More Traditional High-Stakes Measures of High School Students' Science Achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 44(1): 161–196.

O'Reilly, T., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). Reversing the Reverse Cohesion Effect: Good Texts can be Better for Strategic, High-Knowledge Readers. Discourse Processes, 43(2): 121–152.

Ozuru, Y., Best, R., Bell, C., Witherspoon, A., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). Influence of Question Format and Text Availability on the Assessment of Expository Text Comprehension. Cognition and Instruction, 25(4): 399–438.

Ozuru, Y., Briner, S., Best, R., and McNamara, D.S. (2010). Contributions of Self-Explanation to Comprehension of High- and Low-Cohesion Texts. Discourse Processes, 47(8): 641–667.

Proceedings

Bellissens, C., Jeuniaux, P., Duran, N., and McNamara, D. (2007). Towards a Textual Cohesion Model That Predicts Self-Explanations Inference Generation as a Function of Text Structure and Readers' Knowledge Levels. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 815–820). New York: Erlbaum.

Best, R., Dockrell, J.E., and McNamara, D.S. (2004). Children's Semantic Representation of a Science Term. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1525). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Best, R., Ozuru, Y., and McNamara, D.S. (2004). Self-Explaining Science Texts: Strategies, Knowledge, and Reading Skill. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of the Learning Sciences: Embracing Diversity in the Learning Sciences (pp. 89–96). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Crossley, S.A., Dufty, D.F., McCarthy, P.M., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). Toward a New Readability: A Mixed Model Approach. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 197–202). New York: Erlbaum.

Duran, N., Bellissens, C., Taylor, R., and McNamara, D. (2007). Qualifying Text Difficulty With Automated Indices of Cohesion and Semantics. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 233–238). New York: Erlbaum.

Kurby, C.A., Ozuru, Y., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). Individual Differences in Comprehension Monitoring Ability During Reading. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 413–418). New York: Erlbaum.

McCarthy, P.M., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). Are Seven Words all we Need? Recognizing Genre at the Sub-Sentential Level. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1295–1300). New York: Erlbaum.

O'Reilly, T.P., Sinclair, G.P., and McNamara, D.S. (2004). iSTART: A Web-Based Reading Strategy Intervention That Improves Students' Science Comprehension. In Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age: CELDA 2004 (pp. 173–180). Lisbon, Portugal: IADIS Press.

O'Reilly, T.P., Taylor, R.S., and McNamara, D.S. (2006). Classroom Based Reading Strategy Training: Self-Explanation vs. Reading Control. In Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1887–1892). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Rus, V., McCarthy, P.M., Lintean, M.C., Graesser, A.C., and McNamara, D.S. (2007). Assessing Student Self-Explanations in an Intelligent Tutoring System. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 623–628). New York: Erlbaum.

Taylor, R., O'Reilly, T., Sinclair, G., and McNamara, D.S. (2006). Enhancing Learning of Expository Science Texts in a Remedial Reading Classroom Via iSTART. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference of Learning Sciences (pp. 765–770). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Taylor, R.S., O'Reilly, T., Rowe, M., and McNamara, D.S. (2006). Improving Understanding of Science Texts: iSTART Strategy Training Vs. Web Design Control Task. In Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2234–2239). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.


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