Fostering Multiple Document Literacy Skills: A European Perspective – MD-SKILLS

The main goal of this project is to develop and evaluate a model and an instructional method to develop teenage students' awareness and use of multiple documents. Our approach is grounded in an analysis of the new demands of contemporary societies on individuals' comprehension and use of documentary evidence, and on recent scientific advances into the cognitive resources and processes that support these activities. Based on existing theoretical models, we identify two core skills, namely information evaluation and integration, which form the basis of our research and development program. Evaluation consists in checking the quality of the information in terms of accuracy, bias, and other dimensions; integration consists in comparing and contrasting information across sources in order to identify potential support or conflict relationships. Recent research suggests that evaluation and integration are core components of skilled multiple document comprehension, on top of more basic skills such as word decoding and single text comprehension. However, evidence from research studies and large-scale surveys suggests that despite the increasing use of traditional and electronic documents in education, many 15 year-old students experience difficulties when evaluating and integrating information across texts. At the same time, educational systems in France and Germany are lacking adequate assessment and training procedures to develop such skills. Therefore, it is theoretically and educationally relevant to assess students' potential for learning those skills, as well as to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of innovative training procedures, taking into account the constraints and the affordances of different educational systems.

The project includes three main phases. During the first year, we will develop an original framework to describe the core skills targeted in our training modules and the learning potential of 9th graders; the framework will also elicit relevant instructional approaches to teaching those skills. During the second year, we will develop and test a set of targeted teaching modules and practice tasks focusing on each of the skills and subskills described in the framework. We will collect data regarding the feasibility and effectiveness of the procedures. During the third year, we will implement an integrated intervention study in which groups of students from the two countries will be trained on the set of component literacy skills considered in the framework. The intervention program will integrate the outcomes of the studies conducted during Year 2. Finally, we will consider possibilities for the transfer and dissemination of the outcomes of this project to authentic learning environments. Throughout the project, technical meetings will take place to ensure the coordination and communication across teams. By working collaboratively, the participating teams will capitalize on their respective areas of expertise and benefit from transnational observations and outcomes.