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.

[1]  D. Cross,et al.  Informed strategies for learning: a program to improve children's reading awareness and comprehension , 1984 .

[2]  John A. Glover,et al.  The Effect of Outlines and Headings on Readers' Recall of Text. , 1989 .

[3]  R. F. Lorch,et al.  Effects of signaling topic structure on text recall , 1993 .

[4]  B. Meyer,et al.  The interaction of reader strategies and the organization of text , 1982 .

[5]  Bonnie J. F. Meyer,et al.  INTERESTS AND STRATEGIES OF YOUNG AND OLD READERS DIFFERENTIALLY INTERACT WITH CHARACTERISTICS OF TEXTS , 1998 .

[6]  R. F. Lorch,et al.  Effects of Headings on Text Recall and Summarization , 1996 .

[7]  Richard Beach,et al.  The Effects of Text Structure Instruction on Middle-Grade Students' Comprehension and Production of Expository Text. , 1984 .

[8]  Ashwin Ram,et al.  Understanding language understanding: computational models of reading , 1999 .

[9]  B. K. Britton,et al.  Effects of Text Structure on Use of Cognitive Capacity during Reading. , 1982 .

[10]  D. Wechsler.  Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. , 1955 .

[11]  F. J. Vesta,et al.  Learner-Generated Organizational Aids: Effects on Learning from Text. , 1980 .

[12]  Ulrich Schiefele,et al.  Topic interest and levels of text comprehension. , 1992 .

[13]  Richard E. Mayer,et al.  Teaching Readers about the Structure of Scientific Text. , 1988 .

[14]  Linda K. Cook,et al.  Techniques that Help Readers Build Mental Models from Scientific Text: Definitions Pretraining and Signaling. , 1984 .

[15]  K. Warner Schaie,et al.  Intellectual development in adulthood , 1990 .

[16]  Michael F. Graves,et al.  Effects of structural organizers on ninth-grade students' comprehension and recall of four patterns of expository text. , 1985 .

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

[18]  James F. Voss,et al.  Learning From History Text: The Interaction of Knowledge and Comprehension Skill with Text Structure , 1996 .

[19]  Leo G. M. Noordman,et al.  Toward a taxonomy of coherence relations , 1992 .

[20]  Christine J. Gordon.  Contexts for expository text structure use , 1989 .

[21]  Keith K. Millis,et al.  The Influence of Connectives on Sentence Comprehension , 1994 .

[22]  K. Haberlandt.  Reader Expectations in Text Comprehension , 1982 .

[23]  John P. Rickards,et al.  Signaling, notetaking, and field independence–dependence in text comprehension and recall. , 1997 .

[24]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Decomposing adult age differences in working memory. , 1991 .

[25]  Robert F. Lorch,et al.  Topic Structure Representation and Text Recall. , 1985 .

[26]  Gregory Schraw,et al.  Sources of Situational Interest , 1995 .

[27]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  Models of Understanding Text , 1996 .

[28]  J. Hartley,et al.  Reader and text variables as determinants of discourse memory in adulthood. , 1986, Psychology and aging.

[29]  S. Jay Samuels,et al.  Adults' use of text structure in the recall of a scientific journal article , 1988 .

[30]  P. Pintrich.  A Manual for the Use of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). , 1991 .

[31]  M. M. Johnson,et al.  Thinking about strategies during, before, and after making a decision. , 1993, Psychology and aging.

[32]  Timothy C. Standal,et al.  Signals in Expository Prose: Effects on Reading Comprehension. , 1987 .

[33]  R. F. Lorch,et al.  Text-signaling devices and their effects on reading and memory processes , 1989 .

[34]  Bonnie J. F. Meyer,et al.  Everyday cognition in adulthood and late life: Prose processing in adulthood: The text, the reader, and the task , 1989 .

[35]  Robert F. Lorch,et al.  Effects of Headings on Text Processing Strategies. , 2001, Contemporary educational psychology.

[36]  Nancy Lockitch Loman,et al.  SIGNALING TECHNIQUES THAT INCREASE THE UNDERSTANDABILITY OF EXPOSITORY PROSE , 1983 .

[37]  Joseph E. Grimes,et al.  The Thread of Discourse , 1984 .

[38]  William C. Mann,et al.  Relational propositions in discourse , 1986 .

[39]  B. Meyer.  The organization of prose and its effects on memory , 1975 .

[40]  B. Meyer.  Use of Top-Level Structure in Text: Key for Reading Comprehension of Ninth-Grade Students. , 1980 .

[41]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Effects of increased processing demands on age differences in working memory. , 1990 .

[42]  Shelly Dubin,et al.  The Mini Mental State Exam , 1998 .

[43]  T. Salthouse.  Speed of behavior and its implications for cog-nition , 1985 .

[44]  M. Gernsbacher,et al.  Investigating differences in general comprehension skill. , 1990, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[45]  Denise C. Park,et al.  Handbook of the Psychology of Aging , 1979 .

[46]  Donald F. Dansereau,et al.  Effects of headings on text processing. , 1983 .

[47]  B. Meyer,et al.  Discourse comprehension and problem solving: decisions about the treatment of breast cancer by women across the life span. , 1995, Psychology and Aging.

[48]  Deborah M. Burke,et al.  Language, memory, and aging: Subject index , 1988 .

[49]  D. Hultsch,et al.  Memory Change in the Aged , 1998 .

[50]  Sherry L. Willis,et al.  Everyday cognition in adulthood and late life: Improvement with cognitive training: Which old dogs learn what tricks? , 1989 .

[51]  P. Carpenter,et al.  Individual differences in working memory and reading , 1980 .

[52]  P. David Pearson.  Handbook of reading research. , 1990 .

[53]  Susan Kemper,et al.  Constraints on language : aging, grammar, and memory , 2002 .

[54]  Frederick B. Davis,et al.  Fundamental factors of comprehension in reading , 1944 .

[55]  Robert F. Lorch,et al.  Effects of organizational signals on text-processing strategies. , 1995 .

[56]  Jerrold E. Barnett,et al.  Facilitating Retention through Instruction about Text Structure , 1984 .

[57]  S. Hynie.  Assessment in Geriatric Psychopharmacology Edited by Thomas Crook, Steven Ferris and Raymond Bartus, Mark Powley, Connecticut, 1983. , 1986, Neuropharmacology.

[58]  S. Hidi,et al.  The Role Of Interest In Learning And Development , 1994 .