Using on-line and off-line measures to explore fifth and sixth graders' text-learning strategies and schematizing skills

This study explores the (a) text-learning strategies and (b) schematizing skills of pre-adolescents with varying achievement levels by means of the analysis of think-aloud protocols, traces, and pen movements. Twenty fifth- and sixth-grade students from two elementary schools participated. Results show the use and combination of various text-learning strategies during learning from text, mostly applied at a surface level. Notwithstanding the large variation in students' individual strategy repertoires, four main text-learning approaches could be distinguished. No achievement level differences in text-learning strategy use were found. As to students' schematizing skills, analyses illustrate the great difficulty students experience with spatially and hierarchically representing text information. Students paid limited attention in the construction process to assisting metacognitive processes. Surprisingly, low achievers spent significantly more time on these metacognitive processes. This multi-method assessment of text-learning strategies in general and schematizing skills in particular provide fruitful avenues for future intervention research.