Making Reasoning Visible: Configuration-Aware Diagnostic Modeling for Adaptive Scaffolding in Structured Reasoning Tasks

Abstract

Modeling the latent, multi-step reasoning processes of learners is a core challenge for adaptive tutoring systems, which often rely on simple right/wrong answers rather than understanding how students think. Instantiated here for grammatical reasoning, this study introduces a diagnostic framework that makes students'step-by-step problem-solving visible by analyzing their action sequences in an interactive learning game. The framework computes five interpretable strategy dimensions (e.g., systematic error correction, random guessing), estimates coordination demand from task structure and behavioral patterns, and classifies reasoning into four distinct states. Analyzing 36,234 interactions from 234 students working on 42 morphosyntactic exercises, we found that reasoning strategies vary primarily by context rather than stable traits (intraclass correlation = 0.14), and students show high persistence in unproductive states; specifically, 74.6% of failures driven by high coordination demand (rather than simple knowledge gaps) are followed by another failure without intervention. Our early warning model predicts validation success with strong accuracy (AUC = 0.826 using strategy patterns alone; 0.902 with additional sequential context) while avoiding circular reliance on current error counts. These findings demonstrate that making latent reasoning processes visible enables earlier, more targeted scaffolding that responds to how students are thinking rather than simply whether they succeed. While demonstrated in language learning, the framework provides a generalizable, interpretable architecture for diagnosing complex, structured reasoning in any domain.