Describes a recursive transition network model that analyzes and represents a story as a causal network of categorized clauses and labeled relations. Reports on two experiments using procedural criteria to identify inferences and the assumptions that inferences operate over distances in the text and are transitive, resulting in a network…

To discover what variables are involved in the production of text coherence, and how cohesion and coherence are different, a study collected 30 papers randomly selected from over 200 papers written by incoming freshmen college students at a local community college. The papers were rated by 21 state conference participants. Raters were in-service…

A study found that both paradigmatic and syntagmatic aspects of text were important for signifying meaning of text in the reading comprehension of 102 Australian students at 3 age levels (10, 12, and 14 years). Underlying comprehension problems was a lack of prior experience of text topics. Reading preparation through developing shared meanings is…