The effects of test expectations based upon goals on the free recall of learning from text

The number of facts college students correctly recalled was not affected by whether they were provided goals which did or did not encourage them to reorganize the passage material they studied. This held both for learners asked to recall all facts they could and those asked to recall only a portion of the goal-targeted facts. Learners whose recall exhibited reorganization of passage material did not differ in number of correctly recalled facts from those who failed to reorganize the passage material. Learners were more apt to reorganize the text materials when asked to recall only a portion of the goal-targeted facts than when asked to recall all facts they could. Self-report data suggest learners primarily use goals to rehearse the targeted material only after they carefully read a study passage.     

The Relationship of First-Grade Readiness to Third- and Fourth-Grade Achievement

Abstract

In meaningful learning tasks the acquisition process is influenced by the way in which the individual learner interprets and encodes the material. Early attempts to recall written materials largely determine subsequent retention, even when the learner's errors are corrected. To provide an indication of how information was interpreted and encoded by learners, adult students were asked to write notes on a meaningful prose extract they heard, and they were later asked to attempt recall. Whereas the meaningful items recorded in a subject's notes had a .34 probability of recall one week later, items not recorded in notes were recalled on only .047 of occasions, suggesting that the notes learners make provide a useful indication of the products of individual encoding processes In meaningful verbal learning and memory.     

Learning from split-attention materials: Effects of teaching physical and mental learning strategies

Learners learn more from spatially separated text and pictures after they have been instructed to physically integrate these sources than without such an instruction. We investigated whether instructing learners to mentally integrate textual and pictorial information would yield similar results. Eighty-seven participants studied a picture with accompanying text about an electrical circuit. Text and picture were presented as spatially separated sources or in an integrated format. In the separated format, participants were instructed to use (1) a mental learning strategy, (2) a physical learning strategy, or (3) no learning strategy. Participants in the separated condition using a mental learning strategy and the integrated condition obtained higher recall and comprehension (but not causal inference) performance than participants in the separate conditions with the physical- or no learning strategy. This indicates that instructing learners to mentally integrate spatially separated text and pictures when studying split-attention material can be an effective learning strategy.     

高职学生学习风格与英语成绩关系研究

在回顾前人对学习风格研究的基础上,对五所高级职业技术学院195名学生的学习风格与综合英语成绩及单项英语成绩的关系进行了研究。独立样本检验显示,高分组的学习者倾向于群体型的学习风格,而低分组的学习者倾向于个体型和场独立型的学习风格;男生和女生只在听觉型和场依赖型两种学习风格上表现出不同;回归分析结果表明,群体型、个体型和场独立型三种学习风格与综合英语测试成绩相关,个体型和冲动型两种学习风格对英语成绩具有负向预测作用;群体型、个体型、场独立和冲动型四种学习风格与单项成绩之间具有显著相关关系。     

The effect of field dependence and outline condition on learning high- and low-structure information from a lecture

Sixty-eight college students participated in the current research investigating the effects of an outline on field-dependent and field-independent students' learning of structurally important and less important information from a lecture. The lecture involved a 20-minute videotaped presentation on bird migration. Learning was assessed using a free recall task 10 minutes after the lecture (immediate recall) and both free recall and probed recall tasks one week after the lecture (delayed recall). Data were analyzed using mixed factorial ANOVAs. Results indicated that the outline assisted the field-dependent students in recall of high structure information and field-independent students in recall of low structure information. Performance of field-dependent and field-independent students was equivalent on probed recall of low-structure information, but significant differences were found on the free recall of low-structure information. It is proposed that these differences are attributable to superior organizational abilities of the field-independent students and to use of the outline as a guide for retrieval.     

The interaction between textual structures and prior knowledge: Hypotheses, data and simulations

Our purpose was to compare the effect of two types of textual semantic coherence — causal and teleological — on the organization of the mental representation elaborated after reading by learners with different levels of prior knowledge. Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced in computer domain read either the causal or the teleological version of a text describing three functions of a text editor, then performed a cued recall and a recognition task. We assumed that Advanced learners build a mental representation of the domain organized in a hierarchical goal/sub-goals structure, whereas Beginners and Intermediates have a mental representation organized in a causal path. If this is so, the results should indicate a significant interaction between prior knowledge and the semantic coherence of the texts: for the Advanced learners, recall and recognition of the teleological text should be better, whereas for the Beginners and Intermediates, the reverse was expected. As we assumed, results indicated that a teleological organization of textual information facilitated the comprehension of Advanced participants while a temporal-causal organization facilitated the comprehension of Beginner and Intermediate participants. The Construction-Integration model of Kintsch (1988, 1998) was used to, simulate the recall results and to reproduce the effect of prior knowledge on the retrieval of textual information.     

Supporting coherence formation in learning from multiple representations

Multimedia learning environments combine multiple forms of representations like texts, static and animated pictures or graphs. Knowledge acquisition from multiple representations requires that the learner create referential connections between corresponding elements and corresponding structures in different representations. As this process is usually difficult, learners frequently fail to construct coherent mental representations and, thus, do not sufficiently understand the subject matter. This paper analyzes the effects of different kinds of instructional help on the process of coherence formation from multiple representations by learners with different prior knowledge. Three groups of university students with different domain-specific knowledge had to learn a complex subject matter from chemistry using six different forms of representation. In addition, a first group received directive help for coherence formation. A second group received non-directive help, and a third group received no instructional help. Results indicate that directive help is effective for recall performance because of its summarizing and repeating function. Furthermore, learners with different levels of prior knowledge show different reactions when help is given. For learners with insufficient prior knowledge help is not helpful or, in case of recall performance, even harmful. Learners with a medium level of prior knowledge can increase especially their comprehension performance when help is offered, whereas learners with too much prior knowledge seem not to be affected by help.     

Computerized Presentation of Text: Effects on Children’s Reading of Informational Material

This study examined whether children’s reading rate, comprehension, and recall are affected by computer presentation of text. Participants were 60 grade five students, who each read two expository texts, one in a traditional print format and the other from a computer monitor, which used a common scrolling text interface. After reading each text, participants were asked to recall as much as they could from what they had read and then answered questions that measured text recall and comprehension. Children took more time to read the passage and recalled more of the text material that they had read from the computer monitor. The benefit of computer presentation disappeared when efficiency variables, which take time into account, were examined. Children were, however, more efficient at comprehending text when reading from paper. The results suggest that children may take more time to read text on computer screens and that they are more efficient when reading text on paper.     

L1 and L2 vocabulary glosses in L2 reading passages: Their effectiveness for increasing comprehension and vocabulary knowledge

This study investigated the effect of vocabulary glossing on recall and vocabulary learning, as well as learners’ preferences as to glossing. Eighty-five native speakers of English studying Spanish at the university level participated. Participants read a Spanish text under one of three treatment conditions: no gloss, English glosses, or Spanish glosses. They then were asked to write what they recalled of the passage, translate a list of the glossed vocabulary, and complete a questionnaire. The translation task was repeated four weeks later. Results showed that glossing did not significantly affect recall for the participants overall, but that those with higher than average proficiency recalled more if they had read a glossed version of the text. Those who had glosses outperformed their peers on the translation task administered immediately after they had read the text. However, this difference disappeared on the retest. Participants expressed preference for glosses, wished that they be located in the margin, and favoured Spanish glosses if they were comprehensible.     

Comparison of Student Achievement in the Summer Term and Regular Quarter

Advocates of modality preference posit that individuals have a dominant sense and that when new material is presented in this preferred modality, learning is enhanced. Despite the widespread belief in this position, there is little supporting evidence. In the present study, the authors implemented a Morse code–like recall task to examine whether visual and auditory recall is moderated by modality preference. When the perceptual discriminability of visual and auditory stimuli was controlled for, there was no significant relation between (a) modality preference and (b) visual and auditory recall. The nature of the task did however effect performance. When a temporal discrimination between stimuli was required, recall for auditory stimuli was superior to recall of visual stimuli. In contrast, when the task involved a spatial discrimination, the opposite effect was observed. It is not surprising that in each recall task, sequences with a discernible pattern were recalled more accurately than were sequences that lacked any obvious pattern. The authors concluded that the ability to recall simple material is determined more by the type of stimulus than by the preferences of the individual.     

Meaningfulness is in the eye of the reader: eye-tracking insights of L2 learners reading e-books and their pedagogical implications

This study employed eye-tracking technology to probe the online reading behavior of 52 advanced L2 English learners. These participants read an e-book containing six types of multimedia supports for either vocabulary acquisition or comprehension. The six supports consisted of three micro-level supports that provided information about specific words (glosses, vocabulary focus, and footnotes), and three macro-level supports that provided global or background information (illustrations, infographics, and photos). The participants read the ebook under two presentation modes: (1) simultaneous mode: where digital input and supports were presented at the same time; and (2) sequential mode: where the digital content and supports were incrementally presented. Analyses showed that when reading for vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary focus and glosses were significantly fixated on, and when reading for comprehension, illustrations were more intensely fixated on. Additionally, when the digital content was incrementally presented, vocabulary focus received significantly higher total fixation duration. This suggests that reading under the sequential mode has the potency to guide L2 learners’ focal attention toward micro-level supports. In contrast, under the simultaneous presentation mode, L2 learners seemed to divide their focal attention among both micro-level and macro-level supports. Pedagogical implications are discussed based on the findings of this study.     

场认知风格与大学英语网络自主学习绩效研究

场认知风格不同的学习者在视角、思维方式、处理社会关系、以及语言结构方面都有不同。从场认知风格着手,通过对98名受试者为期一年的跟踪研究,对其大学英语网络自主学习的绩效进行深入研究。从受试者的学习成绩,学习频度,总时长和单次时长四个方面进行了对比研究,发现场认知风格与大学英语网络自主学习绩效有较强的相关性。     

Prose organization and recall

In two experiments, subjects read prose materials with various organizations of the superordinate and subordinate conceptual structure of the passage. Variables included organizational salience, massed versus distributed repetition of the passage, nature of the cueing at recall, and number of exposures. In Experiment I, distributed repetition resulted in superior recall, extending the generality of that effect to prose materials; and an advance organizer treatment resulted in lower recall for scrambled materials, contrary to Ausubel's (1960) cognitive theory. High ability subjects recalled more categories than low ability subjects, but the same amount of within-category information. In Experiment II, materials which increased the salience of the organizational structure of the passage were better recalled than scrambled materials after three exposures, or on a test which cued the major categories in the passage. Cueing was detrimental to performance for subjects reading the scrambled passage. Results are discussed in terms of implications for educational practice.     

篇章强化与输入频率对高中生注意和习得英语虚拟语气的影响

本研究通过试验设计调查了篇章强化和输入频率对中国高中生注意和习得英语虚拟语气的影响。结果表明,篇章强化能有效促进学习者对虚拟语气的注意和习得,输入频率能促进虚拟语气的习得,对虚拟语气的注意效果不明显,篇章强化和输入频率两者结合效果最明显。这进一步证明了在有意义的语境下适当的引导学习者的注意力,可以提高她们的语法意识,影响学习者的形义及输入-吸收加工过程,进而促进目的语形式的习得。     

Cerebral laterality effects in the dual processing of prose

The degree to which the concreteness of prose material presented in an auditory fashion would interact with learners' lateral preference under different right hemispheric presentation conditions was investigated with 96 normal adults. Forty-eight subjects with consistent right preference patterns and a like number of bilateral individuals were either instructed to image, given a visual-spatial interference task, or given no instructions before listening to passages which differed in abstractness. As predicted across conditions, learners recalled a significantly greater number of ideas when the passage was concrete. Importantly, the abstractness was found to interact with subjects' inferred cerebral dominance. Whereas instructions to image and visual interference had little significant effect on mixed dominant subjects, for more consistently lateralized subjects imagery instructions increased and right-hemispheric interference decreased concrete recall. The results were interpreted in terms of visual and verbal encoding concomitant with cerebral lateralization.     

Understanding of structured problem solutions

Much of the material provided in science courses consists of sample solutions to problems. This study is concerned with how such structured material is understood, what is earmarked for storage, what remains stored and how useful this is for later ability to recreate the problem solution. Understanding was assumed to be the result of a cognitive process in which information about the material understood is stored in memory. Twelve S's were required to “think aloud” as they understood three problem solutions: the solution of the Missionaries and Cannibals problem, a geometry proof, and a plan for another geometry proof. Each solution was presented step by step as requested by S. Immediately after he had understood the solution S was asked to recall the “outstanding points.” A week later he was asked to repeat the recall and to reproduce the solution. A hand coding of the “thinking aloud” protocol was analysed by a computer programme. Patterns detected by the programme suggest that the understanding process of an S has some consistency for different tasks. An analysis of the recalls of outstanding points showed that the kinds of points best retained were the context of the problems and subproblems within the solution. In the Missionaries and Cannibals task subproblems were positions reached. S's who recalled positions rather than moves reproduced the solution faster. In the geometry tasks the subproblems were steps with two or more premises. S's who recalled more of these reproduced the solution faster. In the geometry proof these S's had more adequately processed these steps when they were attempting to understand the solution. The importance of the S's method for deciding when he understands is suggested.     

场独立和场依赖认知风格对大学生听力理解能力的影响

Witkin认知风格理论中通过镶嵌图形测试将学习者认知风格分为场独立性和场依赖性两种,场独立风格的学习者对外界或背景依赖程度小,场依赖风格的学习者对外界或背景的依赖程度大。场独立和场依赖认知风格对学习者的二语习得能力具有不同影响,听力理解能力同样受到不同认知风格的影响,学习者认清自身认知风格并在教师指导下有针对性地进行策略训练将有效提高听力理解水平。     

Effects of pictorial advance organizers on passage retention

This study examined the effects of pictorial advance organizers, provided prior to reading a passage, on students' retention of passage information. Fifth-graders studied a passage for 8 min and were asked to recall the material immediately and 1 week later. Prior to studying the passage some subjects were given 2 min to study an integrated pictorial advance organizer, a fragmented pictorial advance organizer, the passage, or nothing. Students given the integrated pictorial advance organizer recalled more than the other groups on both immediate and delayed tests of recall. These results extend previous research on verbal advance organizers by indicating that pictorial advance organizers can serve an organizing context for incoming passage information.     

Using educational data mining methods to assess field-dependent and field-independent learners’ complex problem solving

The present study investigated the problem-solving performance of 101 university students and their interactions with a computer modeling tool in order to solve a complex problem. Based on their performance on the hidden figures test, students were assigned to three groups of field-dependent (FD), field-mixed (FM), and field-independent (FI) learners, and were instructed to use integrated-format materials and Model-It^® in order to solve a problem about immigration policy. The results showed that there were significant differences among the three groups of learners in terms of their problem-solving performance. Consequently, the study employed educational data mining (EDM) methods in order to examine how FD and FI learners actually interacted with Model-It^® in order to solve the problem. The EDM methods provided rich analytical information and details about learners’ interactions with the computer tool. Implications for designing effective joint cognitive systems are discussed.