Comprehending instructions for using pharmaceutical products in rural Kenya

This paper reports two studies on comprehension of pharmaceutical texta containing pictorial and written instructions by mothers in rural Kenya. The subjects were asked to read and recall instructions for preparing and administering a solution for the treatment of dehydration due to diarrheal disease in children. A set of pictures describing the preparation procedure, together with written text instructions under two conditions, (a) original, as in the commercial product, and (b) revised, to include familiar terminology and explanations of some procedures, were presented to two groups of Kenyan mothers. The verbal protocols generated were transcribed and analyzed using propositional representation of instructional procedures.The results showed that mothers recalled the procedures for the preparation as in the pictures but not those presented in the written instructions. The written instructions were generally found to be difficult, with the original text being more difficult than the revised text. Any conflicting information between the written and pictorial instructions was resolved by selecting the familiar procedure. The information recalled from the revised text that was recalled was that which supported the procedures in the pictures. The results have implications for writing adequate pharmaceutical texts for users such that little room is left for misinterpretation.     

A Study of High School and College Subject Matter Patterns for Four Groups of University Students

Fifth-grade students studied a map of a fictitious island while twice listening to a related narrative containing target feature and nonfeature items. The students were cued by varying iconic and verbal stimuli in four map cue conditions; they received immediate and delayed tests to recall text items, map features, and feature locations. The students were also required to rate their confidence in each response. Students remembered more text features and were more confident of their responses when cued by icons plus labels and by icons only. Students in these groups also recalled more map features and their locations on a map reconstruction task. Memory for feature information and pictorial retrieval cues appeared to activate memory for nonfeature information contained in the text.     

A Comparison of Achievement Test Performance of nondisabled Students Under Silent Reading and Reading Plus Listening Modes of Administration

Average performance on four subtests of the Iowa Tests of Educational Development was compared under two types of test administration. The first adhered to the publisher's standardized directions and time limits. The second permitted students to listen to audiotapes of the test material on individual cassette players as they read the test booklet. No time limits were imposed on the high school students under this second mode of administration. Each of the four subtests — Interpretation of Literary Materials, Analysis of Social Studies Materials, Use of Sources of Information, and Vocabulary-imposes substantial reading, demands on the examinee. Only on the literary materials test did students score significantly higher via the tape-assisted administration. Significant differential effects were found as a function of level of reading ability for this test and for the social studies test. Poor readers were helped by the use of the tapes, whereas good readers did not benefit from the use of the tapes. Correlations corrected for attenuation indicate that the two modes of administration measure essentially the same attributes when students exhibit no learning disabilities or reading problems.     

The effects of a combination of text structure awareness and graphic postorganizers on recall and retention of science knowledge

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a self-regulated strategy on immediate recall and retention of science knowledge in community-college anatomy and physiology students who participated in a 14-hour (8 weeks) study skills class. The class emphasized the recognition of five common science textbook text structures (cause and effect, classification, enumeration, generalization, and sequence) and the construction of graphic postorganizers of the text structures. A pretest, two immediate posttests, and a retention posttest were used to measure recall and retention. Results indicated that on immediate posttests students who actively constructed graphic postorganizers of the test structure recalled significantly more content than did the control students who simply underlined, reread, or highlighted. On a 3-week retention posttest, those students in the study skills class retained significantly more of the material studied than did the control group of students.     

Transfer of a Listening Comprehension Strategy to Independent Reading in First-Grade Students

Instruction in narrative text structure on first graders' listening and reading comprehension was examined with a view to documenting strategy instruction and transfer of learning in beginning readers. Of interest was whether or not first-grade students (n=35) would, following instruction within the context of listening to stories, gain in listening comprehension and transfer this knowledge to support reading comprehension. A comparison group (n=31) received basal activities including listening to and reading stories. Results support teaching text structure concepts to beginning readers. At post-test, the intervention group demonstrated significantly higher listening comprehension, but not free recall, than the comparison group. Persistent group differences were found for reading comprehension. Intervention group students demonstrated superior comprehension in relation to all story elements and more frequently displayed metalinguistic awareness of text structure by labeling and giving examples of story structure concepts.     

Utilizing intact and embedded headings as processing aids with nonnarrative text

This study examined the utility of intact (i.e., topic outline format) and embedded (i.e., appropriately positioned within the text) headings as processing aids with nonnarrative text. The argument was advanced that headings potentially provide useful cues for both input and output processing but that little empirical evidence exists to either support or refute this proposition. It was further argued that each of the prior studies reviewed were subject to one or more methodological criticisms which may attenuate the generality of the findings. The results of the present study indicated that no advantage accrued to students on the basis of training; however, limitations of this finding are discussed in terms of the amount of training provided and the time available to the students for integrating the new strategies with their existing techniques. The major result of this investigation was that students provided with text containing intact and embedded headings significantly outperformed students whose text did not contain these processing aids. The major benefits were observed at delayed testing; the text-with-headings students recalled approximately 11% more information at immediate testing and 44% more information at delayed testing than the text-without-headings students. Implications of these results and future research issues are discussed.     

Learning and remembering from thematic maps of familiar regions

To examine how four methods of symbolizing data affect learning from thematic maps of familiar regions, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, 86 college students viewed one of three types of thematic map or a control table, then read a map-related text. Recall of regions with their associated theme information was greater for those who studied a map than for those who studied a table. In Experiment 2, 83 college students viewed one of two types of thematic map for either 1 or 3 min, followed by a map-related text. Shaded-region, or choropleth maps were associated with greater recall of theme information, but longer exposure time was not. In both experiments, map-related text information was recalled more than map-unrelated text information. Choropleth maps and proportional symbol maps were associated with higher reported use of metacognitive strategies. Instructional and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.The authors thank Michael P. Verdi, Janet T. Johnson, and William A. Stock for their assistance with the study and their insightful comments on an early draft.     

Learning chemistry from text: The effect of decision making

Two experiments examined the relative effects of questions requiring decisions, statements providing the decision information to students, questions not requiring decisions, and control procedures on students' memory for chemistry text reading materials. Experiment 1 employed immediate recall. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that students who made and justified decisions about the contents recalled significantly more information than students in any other condition. In addition, students who answered questions that did not require decisions recalled significantly more of the content than students in the control or the statements conditions. No other contrasts reached significance. Experiment 2 employed delayed recall assessed one week after reading. The results confirmed those of Experiment 1. The overall results of the study are discussed in terms of an elaboration perspective on memory.     

Moment-to-Moment Counseling Process Feedback Using a Dual-Channel Audiotape Recording

A survey of 28 counseling practicum students revealed that although their most time-intensive training activity was listening to postsession audiotapes, it ranked fifth on perceived effectiveness, with supervisor feedback ranking first. This study outlines a method of combining the time-intensity of audiotape playback with direct supervisor feedback using dual-channel (stereophonic) tape recorders in the counseling laboratory. Posttreatment assessment indicated strong student support for this method.     

小学生双耳分听双字词的实验研究

本实验用双耳分听法研究了小学生听写汉字词的情况。结果发现：小学生表现出一定程度的右耳－－左脑优势；2．实验没有发现右耳－－左脑优势与小学生年龄的关系；3．实验也没有发现上述右耳－－左脑优势与小学生不同性别的关系。     

A comparison of reading and listening performance: computer-controlled speech and printed text presentations

Print-handicapped people enrolled at any level of the education system are expected to acquire the same information as their peers who are readers of printed text. Research which compares performance rates of reading print with auding of materials read onto tape generally reports substantially higher performance by readers of print. The different strategies employed by readers and listeners are said to be responsible for the variation in performance.
This article describes the development of one method and the associated instrumentation which permits a more exact comparison of reading and listening performance. It ensures that important factors such as word rate, timing, inter-word pauses, and overall presentation duration are identical for visual or audio presentations. The inclusion of these factors enables a more direct comparison of reading performance with listening performance at a range of presentation speeds, including accelerated presentations from time-compressed tapes. An investigation which employed this technique for comparing reading and listening performance has provided new findings on how readers and listeners operate. This should provide a more complete understanding of the benefits and limitations of accelerated reading and listening techniques in the educational context.     

高职院校学生如何突破听力难关

学生的英语听力能力对其用英语进行交流的重要性是不言而喻的。目前，对真实录音材料及英文新闻广播的即时收听并理解是高职院校学生面对的两大听力难关。根据英语语音、语汇、句法等特点入手，笔者总结多年的听力课教学实践经验，着重分析了阻碍学生提高听力水平的原因，提出了突破听力难关的方法。     

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.     

Evaluating the effects of analogy enriched text on the learning of science: The importance of learning indexes

Research has shown that differences in the prior knowledge of the participants and in the learning indexes adopted can explain why some studies show positive learning effects of analogy enriched text while others do not. In the present studies, these two factors were combined into one through the construction of a learning index that measured incremental positive changes in the participants' prior knowledge after reading an analogy enriched or no analogy text. A second learning index was also used to evaluate whether the participants created well-formed conceptual models after reading the science text. These learning indexes were used in two studies in which the effects of analogy enriched versus no analogy text were compared on the learning of the scientific explanations of the day/night cycle and of the seasons. The participants were 3rd and 5th graders in the first study and 6th graders and college students in the other. Although only few of the participants learned the correct scientific explanation, those who read the analogy enriched text produced more incremental positive changes in their pretest explanations at posttest and delayed test and created more well-formed conceptual models close to the scientific one than those who read the no analogy text. They also recalled more information and created fewer invalid inferences in their recalls. The results indicate that analogies can be used without reservation to facilitate the learning of science and have broader implications about how to evaluate the learning of science in general.     

英语听力教学的新模式

传统的听力教学采取Bottom-up形式从音、词、句、篇来进行听力教学。也有Top-down的从上往下的教学模式,即从语篇出发,判定听力材料的句子、词和语音。这两种教学模式固然有其可取的一面,但也都有其局限性。本文拟从知识构建的角度来讨论听力教学模式,旨在推动听力教学的改革。     

Effects of problem-based discussion on studying a subsequent text: A randomized trial among first year medical students

The Purpose of this study was to examine effectsof group discussion of a medical problem on the comprehension of a subsequentproblem-relevant text by first year medical students.Forty-eight first-year medical students were randomly assigned toone of two conditions: The experimental group discussed a problem of blood pressureregulation, where the control group discussed a problem of vision. Subsequently, allstudents studied a text on the physiology of blood pressure regulation. Finally, a freerecall test was administered. Numbers of propositions accurately recalled were analyzed usinganalysis of variance (ANOVA). Students who discussed the blood pressure regulationproblem recalled 25% more from the text than those who discussed the control problem.This difference was statistically significant. The present study represented thefirst truly randomized trial in the ecologically valid context of a medical curriculum. Itdemonstrated the positive effects of problem-based tutorial group discussion on thecomprehension of text. It confirmed earlier findings from laboratory studies thatproblem-based learning, in addition to positive emotional and motivational long-term effectswell-documented in the literature, also has positive effects on learning.     

Influence of text structure on learning counterintuitive physics concepts

The purpose of this study was to explore the influences of text structure on students' conceptual change. Case studies were conducted of three sections of physics (Physical World, Physics, and Honors Physics) for 8 months of an academic year. Qualitative data (including observation field notes, interviews, videotapes, audiotapes, and questionnaires) were analyzed from the perspective of grounded theory by constant comparison through the framework of social constructivism. Results showed that individuals used refutational text to change their alternative conceptions, find support for their scientific preconceptions, gain the language necessary to discuss their ideas, and acquire new concepts. We also found instances, however, when students ignored the text and persisted with their alternative conception, or when students found support for their nonscientific ideas from refutational text. In these cases, we found that either the refutation was not direct enough to be effective, or students' reading strategies were insufficient to facilitate conceptual change. In investigating the power of refutational text, we found that refutational text does cause cognitive conflict. We also discovered that while cognitive conflict may be necessary for conceptual change to occur, it is not sufficient. Although refutational text is effective on the average for groups of students, it will need to be supplemented by discussion for individuals. J Res Sci Teach 34: 701–719, 1997.