College Students' Beliefs about Comprehension When Reading for Different Purposes

Readers' beliefs about their understanding and test performance as a function of the reading purpose was examined. Participants read a series of expository texts for entertainment or study purposes, answered questions about the texts, and their beliefs about future and past test performance were assessed. The results showed that students believed their understanding and test performance (both future and past) was superior when reading for study compared to entertainment purposes; however, actual test performance did not differ between reading purposes. Thus, students' beliefs about their understanding, as a function of the reading purpose, did not match actual test performance. A goal for reading instructors is to facilitate a better match between students' beliefs about reading efforts and actual test performance.