Direct Instruction of Comprehension: Instructional Examples From Intervention Research on Listening and Reading Comprehension
This article examines the role of direct instruction in promoting listening and reading comprehension. Instructional examples from 2 programs of intervention research focused on improving comprehension; the Story Read Aloud Program and the Embedded Story Structure Routine are used to illustrate principles of direct instruction. An analysis of these 2 approaches suggests that direct instruction principles are effective in supporting students with varied achievement levels and that these principles can be used to enhance comprehension among students at very different points in reading development. These evidence-based approaches also illustrate that direct instruction can be designed to support complex learning and the development of higher order cognitive strategies.
With the prevalence of data online, consumers increasingly shop not only for the product that best fits their needs, but also for the best time to purchase the product in order to reduce its cost. In line with this behavior, ecommerce websites often not only offer products, but also provide analytics based statements and recommendations relating to the best time to purchase a perishable product (e.g., air travel). This study examines the effects of such purchase timing statements and recommendations on consumers’ trusting beliefs in the recommendation facility. Our theoretical background comes from Toulmin’s (1958) argumentation model and the literature related to the role of explanation facilities in enhancing consumers’ trust. Results from our pilot study show evidence for the different roles Toulmin elements have, serving as explanation facilities in the context of predictive analytics.