The Influence of Testing Prompt and Condition on Middle School Students’ Retell Performance

Abstract

This study examined whether the type of prompt or the method of passage reading had an effect on the retell performance of 6th–8th graders randomly assigned to one of four retell testing conditions. Both the type of prompt and the use of follow-up prompting were significantly related to the percentage of predetermined idea units retold. Effect sizes were approximately moderate (d = .44–.62) when one change was made to the prompt but were strong (d = .96–1.05) with a combination of changes. The addition of silent reading did not significantly improve performance.

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by contract No 2356–27235 from the Texas Education Agency. The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Texas Education Agency.