The Effect of Relevance Instructions on Reading Time and Learning

The authors examined the effect of prereading relevance instructions on reading time and learning for 2 types of text. Experiment 1 found that relevance instructions increased learning for relevant segments without increasing reading time when reading a scientific text sentence by sentence on a computer. In contrast, the same segments were learned less well and took longer to read when nonrelevant. Experiment 2 replicated the findings when individuals read an informational narrative text. These findings supported the no increased effort hypothesis, which states that relevant information is learned better without additional effort when readers are told what is relevant prior to reading. In contrast, nonrelevant information is learned less well. The authors attribute these effects to the goal-focusing nature of relevance instructions.

[1]  Laurence R. Horn,et al.  The handbook of pragmatics , 2004 .

[2]  Gregory Schraw,et al.  The Effect of Reader Purpose on Interest and Recall , 1994 .

[3]  Joel R. Levin,et al.  A controlled, powerful multiple-comparison strategy for several situations. , 1994 .

[4]  Eileen Wood,et al.  Encouraging Mindful Use of Prior Knowledge: Attempting to Construct Explanatory Answers Facilitates Learning , 1992 .

[5]  Ernest T. Goetz,et al.  Reading in Perspective: What Real Cops and Pretend Burglars Look for in a Story. Technical Report No. 266. , 1982 .

[6]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  Strategic processing during comprehension. , 1999 .

[7]  M. J. Billington,et al.  Goal-guided learning from text: inferring a descriptive processing model from inspection times and eye movements. , 1979, Journal of educational psychology.

[8]  Ralph E. Reynolds,et al.  The Selective Attention Strategy as a Time-Dependent Phenomenon , 1994 .

[9]  Walter Kintsch,et al.  How does background information improve memory for text content? , 2002, Memory & cognition.

[10]  Timothy L. Seifert,et al.  Effects of elaborative interrogation with prose passages. , 1993 .

[11]  Rolf A. Zwaan,et al.  Situation models in language comprehension and memory. , 1998, Psychological bulletin.

[12]  Olejnik,et al.  Measures of Effect Size for Comparative Studies: Applications, Interpretations, and Limitations. , 2000, Contemporary educational psychology.

[13]  Gregory Schraw,et al.  Effects of coherence and relevance on shallow and deep text processing. , 2002 .

[14]  Walter Kintsch,et al.  Comprehension: A Paradigm for Cognition , 1998 .

[15]  Jukka Hyönä,et al.  Perspective Effects on Online Text Processing , 2002 .

[16]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  The Construction of Causal Inferences While Reading Expository Texts on Science and Technology , 1998 .

[17]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Long-term working memory. , 1995, Psychological review.

[18]  Paul van den Broek,et al.  The influence of reading purpose on inference generation and comprehension in reading. , 1999 .

[19]  K. Rayner,et al.  The psychology of reading , 1989 .

[20]  D. J. Foss,et al.  Text structure and reading time for sentences , 1980 .

[21]  A. Graesser,et al.  Handbook of discourse processes , 2003 .

[22]  Ernst Z. Rothkopf,et al.  Exploration of the effect of density and specificity of instructional objectives on learning from text. , 1972 .

[23]  Kirsten Risden,et al.  Inferential Questioning: Effects on Comprehension of Narrative Texts as a Function of Grade and Timing , 2001 .

[24]  R. Reynolds.  Selective attention and prose learning: Theoretical and empirical research , 1992 .

[25]  Robert F. Lorch,et al.  The effects of readers’ goals on inference generation and memory for texts , 2001, Memory & cognition.

[26]  T. Trabasso,et al.  Constructing inferences during narrative text comprehension. , 1994 .

[27]  Gregory Schraw,et al.  Interactive effects of text-based and task-based importance on learning from text , 1993 .

[28]  P. Broek,et al.  The effects of reading purpose and working memory capacity on the processing of expository text. , 2002 .

[29]  Richard C. Anderson,et al.  Taking different perspectives on a story. , 1977 .

[30]  Francis J. Di Vesta,et al.  Interactive effects of working memory span and text context on reading comprehension and retrieval , 1997 .