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Understand
55. A large number of reading activities involve the parsing and integration of extended passages
of text in order to form an understanding of the meaning conveyed in the passage. Text
understanding (also called comprehension) may be seen as the construction by the reader of a
memory representation of what the text is about, or “situation model” (Kintsch, 1998; Zwaan &
Singer, 2003). A situation model is based on two core processes: the construction of a memory
representation of the literal meaning of the text; and the integration of literal text contents with
one's prior knowledge through mapping and inference processes (McNamara & Magliano, 2009).
56. When readers are faced with more than one text, integration and inference generation may be
performed based on pieces of information located in different texts (Perfetti, Rouet, & Britt, 1999).
Integration of information across texts poses a specific problem when the texts provide inconsistent
or conflicting information. In those cases readers must engage in evaluation processes in order to
acknowledge and handle the conflict (Bråten, Strømsø, & Britt, 2009; Stadtler & Bromme, 2014;
see below).
Evaluate and reflect
57. Competent readers must also be able to evaluate the quality and credibility of the text (e.g.
whether the information is valid, up to date, accurate, unbiased). Quality evaluation sometimes
requires the reader to identify and assess the source of the information: whether the author is
competent, well-informed and benevolent, the reader must be able to reflect critically on the
content and form of the text. Evaluation and reflection were arguably always part of reading
literacy, but their importance has increased with the increased amount and heterogeneity of
information readers are faced with today.
58. When facing multiple texts that contradict each other, readers need to become aware of the
conflict and to find ways to deal with it (Stadtler & Bromme, 2013; 2014). Competent integration of
information across texts sometimes requires readers to keep track of the source of the information,
especially if the information is inconsistent or discrepant (Britt & Rouet, 2012). As these skills
underlie much of contemporary reading, it is an issue of critical importance to measure the extent
15-year-olds can meet the new challenges of comprehending, comparing and integrating multiple
texts (Bråten et al., 2011; Leu et al., 2015; Rouet & Britt, 2014).
59. Competent readers must also be able to reflect on the quality and style of the writing. This
reflection involves being able to evaluate the form of the writing and how the content and form
together relate to, and effectively express, the author’s purposes and point of view.
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