Motivating novice students to read their textbooks.

A common problem faced by college professors in every discipline is how to motivate students to come to class prepared having read the textbook. This study examines the impact of 3 different strategies used to motivate students to read their psychology textbooks and come to class prepared for introduction to psychology classes in a community college setting. These strategies were the following: 1) general, global assignments with planned quizzes, 2) focused, explicit homework assignments with minimal teacher comments, 3) focused, explicit assignments with extensive teacher comments. It was found that that the use of focused, explicit homework assignments with extensive teacher feedback on the assignments was the most effective strategy as measured by midterm and final exam grades.

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We often expect our students to diligently read their textbooks before coming to class. This is especially true in content heavy, introductory courses such as Introductory Psychology. Since we cannot possibly "cover" all of the content in our lectures, we hope that our well prepared lectures will enhance understanding, but that students will do at least some of the hard work of reading on their own.

Furthermore, we know intuitively that textbook reading not only enhances content comprehension, but that it improves reading comprehension in the discipline overall. The more we read in a given content area, the better we become at understanding and extracting information from that content area (Shenkman, 2002). Most college teachers value textbook reading at the introductory level, assign it regularly and expect that students will come to class prepared to engage as active learners.

The problem is that our expectations may be unrealistic, when we consider the global assignments, such as "read chapter 15", that are often given to students. Much recent research indicates that college students are not reading their textbooks (Clump, Bauer & Bradley, 2004, Burchfield & Sapington, 2000, Murden & Gillepsie, 1997). Some researchers have suggested that students do not value the textbook as highly as the teacher lecture (Murden & Gillepsie, 1997). Perhaps they don't perceive that textbook reading will result in better course grades or they believe that the textbook is boring compared to the teacher lecture. Other researchers suggest that students need additional incentives to do the reading, such as a quiz to motivate them. Without the extrinsic reward or consequence, they will not be motivated to do the hard work at home (Ruscio 2001, Sapington, Kinsey & Munsayak, 2002, Solomon 1979).

It has been my experience in many settings, including the community college, that when we give global reading assignments, we get poor results. For example, if a college teacher assigns chapter 15, in an introductory text, there is a wide disparity in the amount and quality of reading and comprehension that takes place, if any at all. In one study, college students read only 27.46% of their assigned reading before coming to class (Clump, Bauer & Bradley, 2004).

When I give a global assignment such as "Read Chapter 15", students often report "getting lost" in the reading and being overwhelmed by the amount of information presented. Some report giving up after the first few pages or when they encounter difficult vocabulary. Others highlight and read the chapter diligently, yet many do not comprehend the material or even understand why they highlighted a particular portion of the text.

Most college teachers have heard student comments such as the following: "I just didn't get it, could you explain it to us"? Or, "Would you tell us what we need to know in chapter 15"? These questions indicate that students usually look to the instructor to extract and summarize information from the text.

This may not only be the result of lack of motivation, but may also be the result of poor reading comprehension and poor textbook reading skills. Many researchers have suggested that teaching students how to effectively read the textbook is an important goal in the college setting (Schenkman 2002, Ames 1997). In fact, it is my contention that motivation to read the textbook and textbook reading skills are inextricably linked.

As a way to increase self motivated learning from the textbook, I have developed shorter, more focused homework assignments for my introductory level courses. These focused assignments act as a scaffold to extract information from the textbook. The assignments, which I call "focus worksheets" are due each time a new chapter is presented in the textbook. Thus, the student needs to complete each worksheet before attending class. Exhibit A is an example of a focus worksheet for chapter 15 in Introductory Psychology.

The worksheets serve several instructional purposes. They force the novice student to find important information in the textbook and reinforce comprehension through personal examples. They motivate the novice student to come to class having read at least parts of the chapter. They can also be used as exam study guides by students. For these reasons and others, focus worksheets have become a central component of my introductory level courses.

The purpose of this study was to help determine the effectiveness of this scaffolding technique. In this study, data was collected and compared on the following three strategies: 1) the global homework assignment with planned quizzes on the reading assignment, 2) the focused homework assignment (focus worksheet) with teacher check off. 3) the focused homework assignment (focus worksheet) with extensive teacher feedback and comments written directly on the assignment.

Exhibit A. Example of a focus worksheet for Introductory Psychology, Chapter 15, Based on Textbook, Exploring Psychology, sixth edition, David Myers.

1. Read pages 539-556 of Chapter 15

2. Define the following terms, using your own words or examples: Attribution, attitude, role, foot in the door phenomenon, conformity, and obedience.

3. Describe a personal experience (or one that you heard about) where you or some on that you know was the victim of the "foot in the door phenomenon".

4. List the three most important social roles that you play in your own life. For example, I am a mother, wife and Psychologist. What about you?

5. Describe the Asch experiment using your own words in 6-7 sentences.

6. What do you think you would have done if you were the subject of the experiment? Describe.

7. List two positive things and two negative things about conforming and obeying. What is good about conformity and obedience, for you and others?

Method

Participants

Three different sections of Introductory Psychology (PSY 11) students were enrolled in the study during the fall of 2004. The average PSY 11 class on this urban community college campus has approximately 40 students enrolled at the start of the semester. Initially there were a total of 124 participants in this study.

Most PSY 11 students are first year and often first semester community college students. They are an ethnically diverse group of students with an average age of 28.2. Many are simultaneously enrolled in remedial courses in reading and writing. For many, English is the second language spoken in the home. Many students are the first generation of students to attend college in their families. As a group, they can be characterized as novice students, due to their relative lack of exposure to college level work.

The study was approved by the college institutional review board and students were informed of the goals of the study in advance. They were assigned a group at random depending on the section enrolled at the start of the semester. All of the classes met during the day and had the same professor who is also the author of this study.

Procedures

The first section received planned quizzes on the global homework assignments throughout the semester. Students were instructed to read the chapter and be prepared for the quiz. There were 10 chapters for a total of 10 quizzes. The quizzes consisted of 10-12 true/false and multiple choice questions and were administered at the beginning of the class. Students were aware that the quizzes would be incorporated into their overall grade for the semester as a component of 25% of the overall grade. This section did not receive focus worksheets during the course of the semester.

The second section received focus worksheets for each of the 10 chapters covered in the course. The worksheets were due on the day the chapter was assigned and were collected at the beginning of class. They were handed back during the next class and were marked either with a check, a check plus or a check minus, depending on the length and quality of responses. Students were aware that their worksheet grades were incorporated into their overall course grade for the semester at the rate of 25% of the overall grade.

The third section received focus worksheets for each of the 10 chapters, which were also incorporated into 25% of the overall grade. They also received a check, check plus or check minus on the worksheets. Additionally, this section received teacher comments on the worksheets. Each worksheet had a minimum of three written teacher comments, with most worksheets containing more.

All of the comments were framed in a positive manner, but some had an instructional tone. For example, some of the comments included "great example, but tell me just a bit more about this". Or, "great job finding that definition, now can you put it into your own words?" Other comments were simply positive, for example, "well done"," thoughtful", "interesting idea".

Each of the three sections were taught by the same professor. The lectures, discussions, and group work during the class were virtually identical. All of the sections had the same midterm and the same final exam, consisting of approximately 75 multiple choice questions. The sections were chosen at random. Data on attendance, punctuality, drop outs and grades for the three different groups were compared at the midterm and the final exam.

Results

In table 1 and chart 1, the results indicate that of the three groups, the students who had the focus worksheets with teacher comments performed the best on the midterm and final examinations. This section also had the highest rates of course retention, maintaining all of the initial students in the study. Thus, in terms of course outcomes and retention, the third group, focus worksheets with extensive comments, appeared to have the best results.

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There did not appear to be significant differences between the other two groups on overall course outcomes ie, midterm or final grades. Both groups experienced a slight drop in retention, with the quiz group experiencing the drop out prior to the midterm.

The quiz group did have higher rates of punctuality and attendance. This finding is easily understood when we consider that the quizzes were given within the first 10 minutes of class. Students needed to get to class on time, or they were not allowed to take the quiz. Unfortunately, the higher rates of punctuality and attendance did not result in better grades on the midterm and final exams for this section.

Discussion

Limitations of the study

This study was limited in several ways. The number of students in each section was low and the study took place over the course of only one semester. Additional variables other than those studied may have explained the results. For example, the time, room or individual motivation of the students at the outset may have influenced the results.

Furthermore, only one researcher engaged in the study and this researcher had a bias in favor of the focus worksheets with teacher comments. It is important to note that a student assistant tracked the data for the study. Still, this strong, researcher bias at the outset cannot be eliminated.

Findings

Despite the limitations, the study does support the use of focus worksheets with teacher comments as a strategy to motivate students to read their textbooks and as a strategy to enhance textbook reading skills and comprehension

It has been my experience that the focus worksheets with comments have several advantages. When the worksheets are returned, students quickly determine their grade, looking for the check, check plus or check minus. Next, they go back over their worksheet and read the comments. Some students share the comments with others sitting near them or even others in different sections. They often seek out the Professor to gain additional clarification and feedback. Many students actually answer the questions posed by the instructor personally or on the next worksheet, encouraging follow up and further thought. When a student is not satisfied with the grade, they often seek out help in getting a higher grade. I often hear "What do I need to do to get a check plus"? All of these steps may reinforce the learning of the actual content and may promote a more intrinsic interest in the subject as a whole.

Students who have quizzes are immediately interested in going over the answers and determining their quiz grade. However, the quizzes, have several limitations. They do not assist the student to extract information in the textbook while engaged in the homework. After the quiz, there is little student follow up (outside of asking for the actual quiz grade). Students who performed poorly on the quizzes appeared to become somewhat discouraged early on. Certainly, the quizzes may have motivated reading, but they did not seem to promote an intrinsic interest in the subject or a desire to follow up after the quiz.

Questions for Further Research

The results of this study raise a number of questions for additional debate. Are focus worksheets with teacher comments truly superior to quizzes or worksheets without comments? Would other researchers who do not have an inherent bias get similar results? Would global assignments and quizzes given in other ways produce better results? It will be important for others to repeat this and similar studies.

A second issue is the extensive time involved in the personal comment strategy. The amount of time spent responding to each student personally and tracking the worksheets is far greater than simply grading and tracking quizzes or simply tracking worksheets. The latter can easily be done by student assistants, while the former requires extensive energy directly on the part of the instructor. This researcher has already experimented with a variety of "short hand" approaches, such as commenting on some but not all of the worksheets, with mixed results, depending on the approach. These results will be presented in future research.

Another important question involves the impact of the scaffold on future performance. Do novice learners become dependent on the worksheets and less able to extract textbook information independently? It is possible that the worksheets may become more of a crutch than a scaffold and may not actually improve textbook comprehension in the long run?

Perhaps most importantly, one wonders if these results can be generalized to other psychology classes, or other disciplines. There are several faculty in my own department who have become convinced of the utility of the focus worksheets and are now using them in introductory courses. Are they practical for other departments and colleges? All of these are important questions for future discussion and research and I look forward to a lively debate.

References

Ames, C, (1997). The Enhancement of Student Motivation. In M.L. Maehr and D.A. Kleiber (eds) Advances in Motivation and Achievement: Enhancing Motivation, Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press.

Clump, M.A., Bauer, H. & Bradley, C. (2004). The Extent to which Psychology students read textbooks: A multiple class analysis of reading across the Psychology curriculum. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 31, 227-229.

Burchfield, C.M. & Sapington, J. (2000). Compliance with Required Reading Assignments. Teaching of Psychology, 27, 58-60.

Marchant, G.T. (2002). Student reading of assigned articles: Will this be on the test? Teaching of Psychology, 29, 49-51.

Murden, T & Gillespie, C.S. (1997). The role of textbooks and reading in content area classrooms: What are teachers and students saying? In W.M. Linek & E.G. Sturtevant (Eds.), Exploring Literacy (pp 87-96) Pitsburg, KS: College Reading Association.

Ruscio, J. (2001). Administering quizzes at random to increase students' reading. Teaching of Psychology, 28, 204-206.

Sapington, J. Kinsey, K. & Munsayak, K. (2002) Two studies of reading compliance among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 29. 272-274.

Shenkman, H. (2002). Reading, learning and thinking seminars: A template for faculty training. Learning Abstracts, League for Innovation in the Community College, 5(1).

Solomon, P.R. (1979). The two point system: A method for encouraging students to read assigned material before coming to class. Teaching of Psychology, 6, 77-79.

Tracey E. Ryan, PhD, Assistant Professor, City University of New York, Bronx Community College.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Tracey E. Ryan at [e-mail].

Table 1
Summary of Student Outcomes

                                      Mean           Mean
                      Number of      Midterm      Final Exam
Section               Students        Grade         Grade

Quizzes                  42            72             76
Work-sheets              40            74             73
Personal Comments        42            80             82

                        Mean            #
Section               Absences      Drop Outs     Mean Tardy

Quizzes                   3             2             2
Work-sheets               6             2             8
Personal Comments         5             0             7