In this meta-analysis of 45 studies involving students in grades 2-12, the authors present evidence on the effects of text structure instruction on the expository reading comprehension of students. The meta-analysis was deigned to answer two sets of questions. The first set of questions examined the effectiveness of text structure instruction on…

In this meta-analysis of 45 studies involving students in Grades 2-12, the authors present evidence on the effects of text structure instruction on the expository reading comprehension of students. The meta-analysis was deigned to answer 2 sets of questions. The first set of questions examined the effectiveness of text structure instruction on…

Explores the ways in which 11- and 12-year-old students used intertextuality within diverse literacy events in a classroom context. Reveals different patterns of intertextual connections depending on discourse mode (oral or written) and the functional context of discourse (literary or informational) in terms of the types of sources to which…

Presents evidence that indicates recognition memory consists of three separate representations: a surface representation, a propositional textbase, and a situation model. (KEH)

Investigates the influence of metaphors on text processing. Varies the degree of explicitness provided between a metaphor and new information. Finds that metaphors increase learning of the idea units strongly related to the metaphors, and thus can be used to increase learning of particular material in text. (SR)

Assesses the effects of headings on text processing behaviors during immediate and delayed testing of 65 undergraduate students. Finds that headings did not appear to affect overall comprehension or overall answer location accuracy. (MG)

A study examined the ways in which children recall structured text. Subjects, eighty-eight 12- to 13-year-old children, studied a short passage for five minutes which was printed in either a "chunked" format (where phrases are segmented or presented on separate lines) or a "traditional" one. The children were then asked to…

Explores the impact of an author supplied analogy on students' comprehension of a high school biology text passage. Finds that, on a short essay measure, there was no significant difference in comprehension between those students who read a passage including the analogy and those whose passage did not include the analogy. (RS)

Compares three linguistically motivated algorithms for assigning between-word space sizes for their impact on text readability. Finds that the readability of text can be improved with the aid of a rudimentary automatic parser. (PRA)

Investigates the relationship between text type, tone, and readers' responses of 58 students. Finds that narrative and expository text were not responded to differently. Finds that subjects made fewer text-based and more reader-based statements when reading descriptive text than when reading expository or narrative text. (MG)

Presents a model to predict readability of documents encountered by older adults. Finds a correlation of 0.54 between the readability scores for test items predicted by the model and the percentage of older adults correctly answering those items. Finds that more difficult test items were correlated more highly with fluid intelligence abilities,…

Examines influences of text language and structure and text-picture relationships on 33 preschoolers' emergent readings of three picture books and teacher-led shared readings that preceded them. Indicates findings on emergent readings support a transactional model of emergent reading and highlight the importance of considering the influence of…

Finds that the reader's purpose for reading (read-to-do or read-to-recall) partially determines what type of mental representation is stressed during comprehension. Finds that the processing of procedural text is codetermined by the participants' purpose for reading and type of text (narrative versus list-like) as well as the text structure (as…

A study examined the effect of divided and alternating comparison/contrast text structures on the reading comprehension of the college developmental reader. In the divided pattern, all of the information about an object is provided and then all of the information about the other object is provided, while in the alternating pattern comparisons…

Investigates effects of prior knowledge on learning from high- and low-coherence history texts. Examines participants' comprehension in two experiments. Finds high-knowledge readers performed better on open-ended questions after reading low-coherence text. Indicates that low-coherence text requires more inference processes--these inferences are…