How generalization inferences are constructed in expository text comprehension

Three questions regarding adult readers’ processing of generalization inferences (conceptually broad statements that subsume several specific statements) are investigated. College students (N = 193) read expository texts containing target statements that were consistent, inconsistent, or off-topic in relation to a generalization implied by one paragraph. Reading times were faster for consistent than inconsistent statements and faster for inconsistent than off-topic statements, indicating adult readers construct generalization inferences online during initial reading of a text and that the inference they construct is relatively narrow in scope. This pattern of faster reading time for consistent sentences occurred under different reading goals, suggesting generalization inferences are a pervasive component of expository text comprehension.     

Content,domain, and word knowledge: Relationship to comprehension of narrative and expository text

The influence of background knowledge on reader's comprehension of text has become a fundamental assumption associated with text processing. Background knowledge has been represented in a variety of constructs including specific text knowledge, general world knowledge, discourse knowledge, and domain knowledge. Our interest in the present study was to examine background knowledge and strategy knowledge from a broad view to better understand how they contribute to elementary-age students' reading comprehension of both narrative and expository texts. Constructs of domain, content, and word knowledge were developed based on the extant literature. These knowledge constructs were measured with researcher-developed tests consisting of both narrative and expository passages ranging from 1000 to 2000 words (2–4 pages) in length. Comprehension of each passage was measured with a 25-item subtest. All students in Grades 3 through 6 were administered the knowledge and comprehension tests. A two-stage analysis procedure was used. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine empirically the internal structures of the comprehension questions. Factor scores were constructed and then treated as a multivariate set, with a second set comprised of the background and strategy factors. A canonical analysis was then performed to relate the two sets and canonical functions and structure coefficients were interpreted substantively. Our findings indicated that background knowledge specific to the content of the text being read begins to diminish in importance at about Grade 4. Strategy knowledge and use in comprehension of text begin to play a more important role at Grade 4 and above. Grade 6 analyses support a conclusion that the reading development process in elementary grades has been completed, and that reading comprehension at this grade is primarily an indicator of students' proficiency in selecting efficient ways to gain meaning from text.     

The use of adjunct displays to facilitate comprehension of causal relationships in expository text

We examined whether making cause and effect relationships explicit with an adjunct display improves different facets of text comprehension compared to a text only condition. In two experiments, participants read a text and then either studied a causal diagram, studied a list, or reread the text. In both experiments, readers who studied the adjunct displays better recalled the steps in the causal sequences, answered more problem-solving transfer items correctly, and answered more questions about transitive relationships between causes and effects correctly than those who reread the text. These findings supported the causal explication hypothesis, which states that adjunct displays improve comprehension of causal relationships by explicitly representing a text’s causal structure, which helps the reader better comprehend causal relationships.     

Promise and feasibility of teaching expository text structure: a primary grade pilot study

Research to guide text structure interventions for the primary grades is very limited, yet as early as in kindergarten, many state standards increasingly emphasize exposure to challenging expository texts. The purpose of the present study was to provide preliminary evidence of the feasibility and promise (or the effects) of three brief text structure interventions for kindergarten, first, and second graders who had average to low-average comprehension and relatively weak vocabulary skills. A total of 172 students participated (with 52, 62, and 58 in kindergarten, first and second grades, respectively). Students were randomly assigned within classrooms to one of three conditions: sequencing, compare and contrast, or cause and effect. Interventionists provided the interventions for four weeks to small groups of students. The findings demonstrated significant growth for all conditions on the taught text structure items of a researcher-made measure; significant growth was also reported on standardized measures of comprehension and oral language measures in the compare and contrast and cause and effect conditions, but not for sequencing.     

The relation of knowledge of textual integration devices to expository text comprehension under different assessment conditions

In this study we propose a theoretical construct (called rhetorical competence) that represents the ability of readers to detect, understand, and use the linguistic cues or discourse markers that texts contain. We measure one of the three postulated components of rhetorical competence (knowledge of textual integration markers), assessing whether readers correctly interpret these markers while reading. The influence of this skill on reading competence is examined in a correlational study of 185 sixth-grade pupils (aged 11–12 years) using different assessment materials (a standardized test and an academic text) and reading conditions (habitual and aided). Multiple regression analyses of the data indicate that knowledge of textual integration devices makes a significant independent contribution to expository text comprehension under most assessment conditions when the effects of working memory, prior knowledge, and word recognition skills are controlled.     

A quantitative analysis of high school chemistry textbooks for scientific literacy themes and expository learning aids

The purpose of this study was to examine the content of seven high school chemistry textbooks for curriculum balance and emphasis on the following aspects of scientific literacy: (a) science as a body of knowledge, (b) science as a way of investigating, (c) science as a way of thinking, and (d) the interaction among science, technology, and society. In addition, the number of textbook pages, vocabulary terms, pictures, questions, and problems at the end of the chapter were determined. The textbook is an important teaching aid in high school chemistry courses, which conveys some of the information that students receive and influences how students perceive this subject. The majority of chemistry textbooks we analyzed stress science as a body of knowledge, place some emphasis on science as a way of investigating, have practically eliminated science as a way of thinking, and devote very little text to the interaction among science, technology, and society. Furthermore, these are voluminous books that range in length from 466 to 729 pages, with as many as 60 questions per chapter.     

Learning from expository texts: Effects of the interaction of prior knowledge and text structure on responses to different question types

The objective of this study was to verify the effects of the interaction between text structures and prior knowledge on memory and learning from expository texts. It examined the effects of two levels of prior knowledge and two types of mixed structures on a post-reading questionnaire. A total of 119 French-speaking, sixth-grade subjects were selected on the basis of a multiple-choice questionnaire. This questionnaire served to distinguish two groups, one possessing a high level of prior knowledge about the topic covered in the text (HP group), and another having a low level of prior knowledge (LP group). The children’s reading ability was evaluated by a cloze test that also served to eliminate children with reading comprehension difficulties from the experimental groups. The subjects in each group were arbitrarily assigned to subgroups. One group read an experimental passage, “The effects of acid rain on maple and pine”, which was organized in a collection inserted in cause/effect structure (SI). The other group read the same information, but which was organized in a comparison inserted in cause/effect structure (S2). The post-reading measure consisted of 24 questions that varied according to three criteria. The statistical analysis revealed that the effects of text structure were dependent on the level of prior knowledge and on the type of questions and confirmed that prior knowledge had a determining influence on knowledge acquisition.     

Learning strategies for making sense out of expository text: The SOI model for guiding three cognitive processes in knowledge construction

This article examines learning strategies that promote meaningful learning from expository text as evidenced by problem-solving transfer. The teaching of learning strategies involves decisions concerning what to teach, how to teach, where to teach, and when to teach. The teaching of learning strategies also depends on the teacher's conception of learners as response strengtheners, information processors, or sense makers. Three cognitive processes involved in meaningful learning are selecting relevant information from what is presented, organizing selected information into a coherent representation, and integrating presented information with existing knowledge. Finally, exemplary programs for teaching of learning strategies are presented. The most effective method for teaching students how to make sense out of expository text is for students to participate in selecting, organizing, and integrating information within the context of authentic academic tasks.     

一次说明文教学的尝试

在讲高中语文第一册说明文单元的时候,我调整了一下课文的排列顺序,将<南州六月荔枝丹>调整到<景泰蓝的制作>一课之前讲.通过这一课的教学,我期望达到的教学目的是让学生通过对这篇课文的学习,明确说明文的阅读与写作方法.     

Film and text: Order effects in recall and social inferences

This article compares film and text with regard to effects produced by the order in which conflicting information is presented. Film is more influential and better recalled than conflicting text information, regardless of the order in which media appear. Conflicting paragraphs produce a primacy effect, whereas analogous film segments produce no order effect. Results are interpreted in terms of differences between visual and verbal encoding and between episodic and semantic memory.     

教授化学·欣赏化学·传播化学

介绍了PeterAtkins教授从事的大众科学教育工作,所著《Atkins'分子》被称为“迄今为止最美丽的化学”。他对化学教育的独特视角,认为应该教授化学学科核心的简单概念,使学生即使忘了所教内容也能记住这些概念;引导学生用化学的眼光看待世界,欣赏化学的成就,享受化学的乐趣。作为IUPAC教育委员会主席,他介绍了IUPAC在传播化学,即在提高全球化学教育质量以及在大众中普及化学所扮演的角色。     

Which aspects of processing text mediate genetic effects?

Genetic influences on reading are investigated in a sample of 285, 13 year old twins. Using a multiple regression procedure, the heritability of disability (h _g ² ) for Reading Recognition was found to be non-significant. However the h _g ² for spelling disability was found to be 0.58 (P<0.05), after controlling for individual differences in IQ. The twins in this study were an unselected sample from the general population. Therefore it was possible to estimate h _g ² for differing degrees of severity of disability. These analyses showed that for spelling but not for Reading Recognition or Reading Composite, there were substantial genetic contributions to all levels of disability. For indices of Orthographic Coding there were no significant values of h _g ² . In contrast measures of Phonological Coding and Homophone Recognition have consistently high values of h _g ² . More detailed analyses suggested that there were possibly two independent aspects of phonological ability, each influenced by genetic factors.     

Pauses,routines, and registers in composing a text

This article argues that features of the writing process have to be analysed in relation to describable linguistic structures of the written text. Activities before writing, distributions of writing pauses, and the structure of think-aloud-protocols indicate that planning processes are determined by the writers knowledge of the grammatical system. The role of syntactical structures, text-patterns (registers) and the auditive component of pre-texts is analysed.     

The effects of age,study time,and importance of text units on strategy use and memory for texts

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study investigated study behavior and recall of a narrative text as a function of the reader’s age, study time, and importance level of text...     

Depressive effects of underlining and adjunct questions on children's recall of text

Half of a sample of ten-year-old school children (N=69) were given conceptual postquestions after every paragraph of text, while the other half were not given any postquestions. Additionally, these children either generated their own underlining of one sentence per paragraph, received text with topic sentences underlined for them, or were given text without underlining of any kind. The results indicated that the readers preponderantly chose for underlining subordinate, passage details rather than superordinate, conceptual material, even when given conceptual postquestions focusing on the topic sentences of the passage. Recall of passage details was most depressed when children were provided with both underlining and conceptual postquestions. These results suggested a comprehension rather than a metacomprehension deficit, whereby underlining and adjunct questions may hinder rather than help recall performance in young readers.     

Processing of expository and narrative texts by low- and high-comprehending children

The present study investigated comprehension processes and strategy use of second-grade low- and high-comprehending readers when reading expository and narrative texts for comprehension. Results from think-aloud protocols indicated that text genre affected the way the readers processed the texts. When reading narrative texts they made more text-based and knowledge-based inferences, and when reading expository texts they made more comments and asked more questions, but also made a higher number of invalid knowledge-based inferences. Furthermore, low- and high-comprehending readers did not differ in the patterns of text-processing strategies used: all readers used a variety of comprehension strategies, ranging from literal repetitions to elaborate knowledge-based inferences. There was one exception: for expository texts, low-comprehending readers generated a higher number of inaccurate elaborative and predictive inferences. Finally, the results confirmed and extended prior research by showing that low-comprehending readers can be classified either as readers who construct a limited mental representation that mainly reflects the literal meaning of the text (struggling paraphrasers), or as readers who attempt to enrich their mental representation by generating elaborative and predictive inferences (struggling elaborators). A similar dichotomy was observed for high-comprehending readers.