Looking back: reasoning and metacognition with narrative texts

This study explored the abilities of 5th, 8th, and 10th graders, and College students to reason logically about what they read. Both students’ metacognitive behavior (looking back at previously read text) and their performance on logical deduction questions were recorded and analyzed in a reading task. Conditional logic premises and deductive questions were embedded in three narratives containing premise information that was factual (True Story), contrary to fact (False Story), or unverifiable via common world knowledge (Neutral Story). The texts and questions were presented one sentence at a time on a computer screen; participants controlled the presentation of sentences. For answering the questions, three response tasks were devised. One task (labeled Generate) required readers to generate their own logical conclusions in response to deduction questions. Two tasks (labeled Valid and Invalid) required readers to evaluate logically valid or logically invalid conclusions drawn by story characters in the texts. Students in early and late adolescence looked back more when asked to evaluate logical conclusions than when asked to generate conclusions on their own; College students’ lookback frequencies were not significantly affected by response task, but were greater overall than those of younger students. With conditional forms requiring an uncertainty response (Affirmed Consequent and Denied Antecedent), readers looked back more when evaluating logically invalid conclusions than when evaluating logically valid ones. Readers of all ages were more likely to agree with story characters’ (valid) uncertain conclusions with the AC and DA forms than they were to disagree with story characters’ (invalid) certain conclusions to these forms. Both lookback frequency and performance on logic questions were lowest when readers were required to reason from contrary to fact premises.

The authors wish to thank the staff, parents, and students at P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, for their support and participation in this study.

1. Evelyn S. Chiang

   Present address: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina-Asheville, Asheville, NC, USA

2. Claire M. Gonzalez

   Present address: Department of Foundations and Secondary Education, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA

3. Jenni L. Schelble

   Present address: Department of Psychology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, USA

4. Xuesong Wang

   Present address: Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX, USA

Authors and Affiliations

1. Teacher Education Department, 406M Roskens Hall, College of Education, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6005 Dodge St, Omaha, NE, 68182-0163, USA

   Bridget A. Franks

2. School of Human Development and Organizational Studies in Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

   David J. Therriault & Miriam I. Buhr

3. Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

   Heekyung K. Kwon

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bridget A. Franks.

Appendix 1: Excerpts from true, false, and neutral stories

Excerpts from true story: “The Nature Center”

It was a hot, sunny day in the springtime in southern Georgia. On a wooded hillside above the small town of Hayward, a boy and his grandfather were walking from the parking lot to the entrance of the Faltzinger Aquarium and Nature Center................It was for a field trip that the boy, whose name was Joe, and his Grandfather, whose name was Al, came to the Faltzinger Center on this hot day. The children’s parents had been invited on the field trip, and many parents were there. But Joe’s parents had to work, so Joe had asked his grandfather to come instead.……..........Barb, the Center’s naturalist, began the tour by welcoming all the guests.....

Generate Task: (Denied Antecedent)

The children were enjoying the birds and squirrels along the path when they heard a noise in the brush nearby. Barb told them to watch quietly. “Hey Grandpa,” said Joe, “What if it’s a snake?” “If it’s a garter snake, it will have stripes,” said Barb. Just then, something long and thin slithered across the path and moved away fast. All the children rushed forward to see it, but Joe and his Grandpa didn’t get a good look. “That was not a garter snake,” said Barb. “Maybe not,” said Grandpa, “but lots of snakes have stripes. It could have been a rainbow snake, or a rat snake, or even a glass lizard—those have stripes and they look like snakes because they don’t have any legs.”

Question: Did the snake on the path have stripes?

Valid Task: (Denied Antecedent)

“It could have been a rainbow snake, or a rat snake, or even a glass lizard—those have stripes and they look like snakes because they don’t have any legs. So the fact is,” Grandpa said, “we still can’t tell if that one had stripes or not!”

Question: Was Grandpa right about the stripes on the snake?

Invalid Task: (Denied Antecedent)

“It could have been a rainbow snake, or a rat snake, or even a glass lizard—those have stripes and they look like snakes because they don’t have any legs. I guess Barb is right, though,” Grandpa said. “It must not have had stripes.”

Question: Was Grandpa right about the stripes on the snake?

Excerpts from false story: “Twilight Gulch”

.....One hot day, Emily Harris took a trip through the desert in the car with her parents and her brother Pete to visit their cousins’ new home. With temperatures reaching 120° in the middle of the day, a desert can be a dangerous place for humans……Later, she wondered if everything they saw that day was a mirage. They didn’t realize at first that they were lost. But when they passed a couple of fragrant creosote bushes and found themselves in the town of Twilight Gulch, they knew something was wrong. Everything about that town was downright peculiar. They couldn't find a phone or a motel, and all the buildings were round with no doors……..Before they became thirsty enough to eat a cactus, they met an old man who saw they were strangers and agreed to show them around. His name was Hank. “It’s a funny place, all right,” Hank said, “but once you get used to our ways you’ll get along fine.” And they did get along fine, because even though the town was very strange, Emily and her family found that Hank could always be trusted to tell them how things worked.

Generate Task: (Modus Ponens)

Pete asked Hank what people did for fun in Twilight Gulch. Hank said he was in a softball league, and his team was called the Twilight Dudes. “Tonight is the last game of the season, so why don’t you stay and watch it?” Hank asked. “If we lose this game, we’ll be the league champions.” Emily and Pete’s parents were not inclined to get back on the highway. “It’s too late by now, and we’re completely exhausted,” their father said. So they stayed for the game, and Hank’s team lost.

Question: Were the Twilight Dudes the league champions?

Valid Task: (Modus Ponens)

So they stayed for the game, and Hank’s team lost. “Great!” said Pete. “Now you’re the league champions.”

Question: Was Pete right about Hank’s team?

Invalid Task: (Modus Ponens)

So they stayed for the game, and Hank’s team lost. “Too bad!” said Pete. “Now you’re not the league champions.”

Question: Was Pete right about Hank’s team?

Excerpts from neutral story: “A Space Mission”

The starship Alliance left Earth on March 10, 2098. Captain Alice Baker led the mission, with a crew of five. It was a dangerous but very important assignment. If it were successful, Earth’s people would survive for many generations. But if it failed, all life on Earth faced extinction. Because the mission was so urgent, its actual purpose had been kept a secret. Even Captain Baker did not know for certain where they were going. For over four years the members of the flight crew rested in the deep sleep of suspended animation. While they slept, the Alliance traveled to the Alpha Centauri star system. There, unknown to almost everyone on Earth, a new planet had been discovered. And this small planet held the secret to their survival……… Suddenly, the Alliance’s Alert System blasted in Alice Baker’s cabin, and she was awake. ………After Alice had eaten and dressed, she was ready to prepare her ship for the crew’s awakening. She did not know the purpose of the mission, but all commands for it were programmed into the ship’s computer. It was located just outside her cabin in her Command Station. There she could check the Standard Orders for the mission. This screen would tell her what to do next……..

Generate Task: (Affirmed Consequent)

Another Standard Order appeared on the main computer screen. It said: “It is important to check the ship’s hull to see if it has been damaged by particles of space dust on this voyage. If the ship has been struck by space dust, there will be dents in the hull’s outer layer. Scan the complete hull and report back.” Alice used the outside video cameras to scan the ship’s hull. She noticed many dents in the ship’s outer layer. “I don’t know if these dents are from space dust or not,” she thought. “There’s plenty of debris floating around in Earth’s atmosphere that could have caused them when we left.”

Question: Had the ship been struck by space dust?

Valid Task: (Affirmed Consequent)

……..“There’s plenty of debris floating around in Earth’s atmosphere that could have caused them when we left.” Alice reported back to the computer that it was unknown if the ship’s hull had been hit by space dust.

Question: Was Alice correct in her report to the computer?

Invalid Task: (Affirmed Consequent)

……..“There’s plenty of debris floating around in Earth’s atmosphere that could have caused them when we left.” Alice reported back to the computer that the ship’s hull had been hit by space dust.

Question: Was Alice correct in her report to the computer?

Appendix 2: Tables of means and standard deviations for analyses

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