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Reading is a fundamental skill. As such, improved literacy vastly expands individuals’ possibilities of progress in school and working life (OECD, 2013). Thus, the improvement of students’ literacy skills (e.g., the ability to learn from text and clearly communicate ideas) should be a central goal of schooling around the world (Paris & Hamilton, 2009). Unfortunately, international assessments indicate that many students struggle with reading comprehension (NAEP, 2015; San Martín, Jara, Preiss, Claro, & Farina, 2012; Shea & Ceprano, 2017). Of particular interest to our research team was the development of reading comprehension support for Chilean students. Although Chile performed as well or better than other Latin America countries on the PISA (an international assessment of 15-year-olds’ performance in reading, mathematics, and science), scores in 2018 were 35 points lower than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average. Statistics show that 28.4% in 2015, and 21% in 2018, of Chilean students did not achieve basic level of reading comprehension (OECD, 2016, 2019).
These numbers demonstrate the need for scalable reading comprehension interventions for Spanish-speaking Chilean students. Computer-supported language learning environments offer the means to support students’ literacy skills at scale. Despite the growing numbers of computer-based systems, there are relatively few systems that support higher-order reading comprehension processes for Spanish speakers (cf. Vidal-Abarca et al., 2014; Veliz & Osorio, 2001; Ponce, López, & Mayer, 2012). Thus, we introduce the Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking en Español (iStart-E). The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of iSTART-E in a classroom setting – both in terms of student perceptions and objective learning outcomes. We first outline the theoretical motivations for reading comprehension strategy instruction and the foundations of computer-supported self-explanation training. We conclude with initial evidence for the efficacy of iSTART-E in an authentic classroom setting.