Effect of Rewritten Content Textbook Passages on Middle Grade Students' Comprehension of Main Ideas: Making the Inconsiderate Considerate

Abstract

This study sought to determine if content area textbook passages could be rewritten such that middle grade students' main idea comprehension ability was enhanced. Excerpts from fifth-grade science textbooks were read by fifth-grade students in one of two versions: (a) an original (inconsiderate) version in which main ideas were frequently implicit, those main ideas that were explicitly stated in the text were not always prominent (i.e., placed initially) in paragraphs and passages, and there were few, if any, headings or typographical aids to cue main ideas, or (b) a rewritten (considerate) version in which all main ideas were explicit in the text and typed in italic, each main idea appeared at the beginning of the text unit, and headings cued main ideas. Several recognition and recall items assessed students' ability to identify and generate main ideas at both the paragraph and passage levels. Results revealed that after reading the rewritten text versions, some students were able to compose significantly more passage main ideas, and all students were able to compose significantly more paragraph main ideas. Groups did not differ on a main idea recognition task. Additional data from a series of questions which required the students to compare original and rewritten versions of the science texts tended to support the finding that content area selections rewritten to make them more considerate improves students' main idea comprehension.