Peng and colleagues conducted a Bayesian network meta-analysis (BNMA) to evaluate the effectiveness of various reading comprehension strategies for students with reading difficulties (RD) in grades 3 to 12. They included 52 experimental/quasi-experimental studies which examined strategies including main idea (or summarizing), inference, text structure, retell, prediction, self-monitoring, and graphic organizers, along with their combinations. The researchers explored potential moderators like background knowledge instruction, age, text type, RD status, assessment type, intervention dosage, and study quality.
Unlike traditional meta-analysis, network meta-analysis can compare multiple interventions simultaneously and rank their effectiveness, even when some interventions haven’t been directly compared in individual studies, based on both direct and indirect evidence. The study found that the most effective strategy combination was the main idea-text structure-retell (MTR) combination (ES =+1.72, SUCRA = 0.89). Other effective strategies included the main idea-text structure-self-monitoring-graphic organizers (MTSG) combination (ES =+1.13, SUCRA = 0.76) and the main idea strategy alone (ES =+1.07, SUCRA=0.77). Background knowledge (vocabulary / content knowledge) was the only significant moderator that enhanced the effectiveness of these strategies. Without it, no strategies or combinations showed significant efficacy. The number of strategies in a combination did not influence the reading comprehension outcome, suggesting that teaching too many strategies could increase cognitive load, making it difficult for struggling readers to apply them effectively.
These insights can help educators design more effective reading interventions by focusing on optimal strategy combinations and incorporating background knowledge instruction to enhance comprehension for struggling readers.
Note: SUCRA = the surface under the cumulative ranking curve scores, which indicates how likely an intervention strategy would be evaluated as the most efficacious (the worst 0% to the best 100%).
Source (Open Access): Peng, P., Wang, W., Filderman, M. J., Zhang, W., & Lin, L. (2024). The Active Ingredient in Reading Comprehension Strategy Intervention for Struggling Readers: A Bayesian Network Meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 94(2), 228–267. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231171345