Developmental Progression of Referential Resolution in Comprehending Online Texts

The purpose of this study is to examine readers’ comprehension as they develop their mental representation of reference in four sequential online texts. A total of 92 college students from three reading classes were recruited to complete the following steps in each text: (1) identify references, (2) draw the relationships between references, and (3) answer reading comprehension test items. Results of this study showed that the correlation between referential resolution and reading comprehension tests ranged from .68 to .90 in four online texts. This indicated that when readers’ scores in referential resolution increased, their scores in reading comprehension tests were also raised. Among three groups of readers, the more-proficient readers were able to integrate the references in different parts of the text as a coherent network from text 1 to 4. In contrast, average and lessproficient readers initially did not integrate any reference when reading the first text. They eventually clustered different references and referred them to a correct subject in the final text. The keys to the development of college readers’ mental representation of reference lay in whether they were actively engaged in comprehension monitoring and frequently asked for feedback tool as a scaffold.