Effects of Structure Strategy Training and Signaling on Recall of Text.

Younger and older adults participated in 9 hr of either structure strategy training, interest strategy training, or no training Both trained groups reported positive changes in reading, but only the structure strategy group showed increased total recall from a variety of texts and an informative video. Structure strategy training increased the amount of information remembered as well as recall of the most important information. This training affected the organization of recall and was critical for producing readers who could use the structure strategy consistently across a variety of expository texts. In addition, it helped learners use signals in text more effectively. There was an additive effect of training plus signaling for use of the structure strategy consistently across five passages. The strategy switch hypothesis was supported, indicating that signaling affects encoding rather than retrieval processes. The findings have implications for both reading and writing.