Article authored by Jennifer Stiegler-Balfour appears in Teaching of Psychology journal
Jennifer Stiegler-Balfour, Ph.D., associate professor in and coordinator of the Psychology program, is the lead author of an article about the effects of American Psychological Association (APA)-style in-text citations on reading comprehension.
The article, 鈥淎PA-Style Citations Can Create a Roadblock to Textbook Comprehension for Less Skilled Readers,鈥� was published in the latest issue of Teaching of Psychology, an international journal that explores research on teaching and learning.
Together with her co-authors from James Madison University and Merrimack College, Stiegler-Balfour examined whether using APA-style citations within expository, or informational, text influenced participants鈥� comprehension of the text.
The researchers measured reading comprehension by the participants鈥� ability to answer questions about key details of the texts. The results demonstrated that the inclusion of in-text APA-style citations in tests inhibits comprehension and reading fluency compared to when no in-text citations are present, especially for less-skilled readers.
Higher-skilled readers were able to maintain high comprehension levels in the APA-style conditions, but they had to decrease their reading speed in order to do so.
According to Stiegler-Balfour, the results challenge the wisdom of traditional preferences and learning goals with regard to textbook format. This has implications for college courses that include large percentages of non-majors and those serving less-skilled readers.
鈥淚mproving our understanding of the impact of text distractors, such as APA-style citations, is important because they can negatively impact the comprehension process,鈥� Stiegler-Balfour said. 鈥淭he ability to read and comprehend text has been identified as one of the most important predictors of academic success.鈥�