Two Procedures to Improve Instructional Text: Effects on Memory and Learning

• Published in: Journal of educational psychology 2000-03, Vol.92 (1), p.107-116
• Main Authors: Vidal-Abarca, Eduardo, Martínez, Gabriel, Gilabert, Ramiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Causal Models; Cognition & reasoning; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; History Textbooks; Human; Inference; Inferences; Junior High School Students; Language; Learning; Learning. Memory; Male; Memory; Middle School Students; Middle Schools; Production and perception of written language; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reading; Reading Comprehension; Reading Materials; Recall (Learning); Teaching; Textbooks
• ISSN: 0022-0663; 1939-2176
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-0663.92.1.107

The goal of this study was to compare 2 approaches for improving instructional text. The first was based on the procedure created by B. K. Britton and S. Gülgöz (1991) as derived from W. Kintsch and T. A. van Dijk's theory (1978) . It emphasized the reduction of the reader's inferential activity. We created a second method that was inspired by theories of narrative comprehension ( P. van den Broek, 1990 ; A. C. Graesser, M. Singer, & T. Trabasso, 1994 ). We oriented it toward triggering causal inferences in the reader. Alternative versions of an original passage on history were elaborated for each of the 2 methods. Sixty-four 8th graders read either the original passage or one of the revised versions and were tested on memory (i.e., recall) and learning (i.e., inference questions). Only the 2nd procedure produced benefits on inferential learning, though both procedures had a limited effect on recall.