Fact or Opinion? Critical Information Assessment by Adolescents

Abstract

This study investigates the information assessment abilities of secondary school students in terms of their use of reading strategies in goal-oriented reading and their ability to identify facts and opinions. A first experiment had adolescents tell objective and subjective information apart in texts through a selection task. Here, we find that adolescents can find and distinguish subjective from objective information. Adolescents are also seen to notice and utilise stance markers cueing subjectivity. In a second experiment, eye tracking demonstrated that adolescents’ reading behaviour is subject to task instructions. When instructed to find weak reasoning and read critically, adolescents are seen to adjust their reading behaviour to spend more time looking at subjective information. The findings of the study yield a positive outlook on the information assessment abilities of adolescents.