Is Retell a Valid Measure of Reading Comprehension?

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Literacy Studies
• Research Methodology

Background:

• Retell is a common method for assessing reading comprehension.
• Understanding the validity of retell compared to other measures is crucial for educational assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To meta-analytically evaluate the relationship between retell and other reading comprehension measures in students.
• To identify factors that moderate the strength of this relationship.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a meta-analysis of 23 studies involving 4,705 participants.
• Analyzed effect sizes to quantify the relation between retell and reading comprehension.
• Performed moderation analyses based on grade level, assessment format, and retell characteristics.

Main Results:

• A moderate positive correlation (r = .46) was found between retell and other reading comprehension measures.
• The correlation was stronger with cloze/maze tasks than multiple-choice formats.
• The relationship weakened in higher grades, influenced by text genre and prompt number in retell.

Conclusions:

• Retell demonstrates a moderate, but not perfect, alignment with broader reading comprehension assessments.
• Using retell as the sole measure of reading comprehension may be insufficient.
• Further research into systematic retell assessment approaches, particularly prompt strategies, is warranted.