Teaching for transfer of an evidence-based reading strategy: an experimental field trial.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of explicitly teaching for transfer of PALS, and to examine whether transfer training helped participants maintain the strategy taught. Sixty-two participants from two third-grade classrooms and one fourth-grade classroom participated in the study. A pretest-posttest-maintenance control group design was used, in which participants within classroom were matched on their one-min oral reading scores and assigned randomly to receive PALS plus transfer training (n = 31) or PALS practice only (n = 31). Proximal and distal measures were used to assess transfer. Proximal measures were defined as measures closely aligned to the intervention and included main idea identification of narrative and informational text. Distal measures assessed general reading competence and were not closely aligned to the strategy taught. A repeated measures ANOVA was conducted with time (pretest, posttest, and maintenance) as the within-subject factor, and treatment (PALS vs. PALS plus transfer training) as the between-subjects factor. On the main idea identification of narrative text, there was a significant main effect of time, but the main effect of condition and the interaction of time by condition was non-significant. On the main idea identification of informational text, there was a significant main effect of time, and the interaction of time by condition approached significance, with participants receiving PALS plus transfer training correctly identifying and producing more main idea statement (ES = .04). On the distal measures, there were significant main effects of time, but no significant effects of condition, or interactions of time by condition. Implications for educational practice and future research directions are discussed.