Paraphrasing and reading comprehension

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between paraphrasing skills of 400 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade pupils and their proficiency in reading comprehension. It also compared the sensitivity of three methods of assessing paraphrasing skills. All methods of paraphrasing were found to be significantly related to reading comprehension. The most discriminating of the paraphrasing techniques presented pupils with a sentence and then required them to paraphrase the sentence so that it had a different surface structure, but the same deep structure. The results suggest the need for additional research to investigate whether or not comprehension can be improved by direct teaching of paraphrasing skills.