Group Story Mapping

Abstract

Heterogenous groups of third/fourth graders, including five learning disabled and low achieving students, were taught to use a story mapping strategy to improve reading comprehension. A multiple baseline design across two groups was used to demonstrate group control. A model-lead-test teaching paradigm was used to shape comprehension responses to a level of independence, without teacher assistance. Group averages for daily comprehension maintained above 80% correct when children were no longer required to use the strategy. Four out of five of the poor comprehenders also maintained improved comprehension above 75% correct. Improvements were found to generalize to measures of listening comprehension, criterion-referenced tests in the curriculum, and spontaneous story writing. These improvements did not generalize well to all subtests of the Nelson Reading Skills Test, raising questions about the difference in student performance on group versus individually-administered tests. The major conclusions were that comprehension can be improved for normal and low achieving children using a schema-based approach and that ability grouping is not necessary to achieve this end.