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)

Argues that the accidents of reading a hypertext (changing your destination, forgetting your point of departure, or getting lost along the way) are not the effects of inappropriate cues, misinterpreted reference or poor design, but the general condition of the hypertext as text, amplified by the narrative turns of the link. (SR)

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…

College students with either high or low prior domain knowledge (PK) read a text chapter presented in short pages on a computer monitor. Half of the participants read with headings present and half with headings absent. The computer recorded time spent reading and rereading each short page. Learning was assessed through a structured recall task.…

Examines the effects of two types of comparison-contrast discourse structures on the initial learning and retention of unfamiliar scientific information by mature readers. Finds a demonstration of the mature reader's versatility in accommodating unfamiliar information, especially when it is presented in well-structured patterned texts. (MS)

Finds layout of a list affects the way it is read and understood; recall for separately arranged lists in text was better than that for continuously arranged lists, and notes a difference in reading patterns between the two layouts; and a separated list allowed readers to reread the points selectively, while a continuous list made readers reread…

A study tested the effects of timed versus untimed practice using text passages containing inserted adjunct questions. These effects were measured in terms of performance on repeated, related, and unrelated test questions. Subjects were 47 college students in Florida randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was allowed a fixed amount of…

Examines effects of text structure on reading process and recall performance by monitoring the subjects' eye movements as they read coherently and incoherently structured texts. Finds that structurally incoherent texts are given more visual attention than coherent ones and lead to inferior recall. Finds no clear-cut correspondence between eye…

Indicates a facilitation in undergraduate students' reading time for congruent text marking for both cohesion and textual structure that manifested itself at different points in the sentence. Suggests that readers are highly sensitive to coherence marking devices, and strictly local coherence models cannot completely account for what readers are…

Integrating metacognitive skills into classroom instruction can help students to develop into active, independent readers and learners. B. Armbruster, in a summary of research on metacognition, examined reading to learn from a metacognitive perspective as it related to four variables: texts, tasks, strategies, and learner characteristics.…

A current trend in composition consider writing a social act where texts are produced because of and in response to social contexts. Classroom practices are just beginning to change and acknowledge the power that discourse communities assert on writers. Composition teachers must also acknowledge the importance of community-governed reading…

This study hypothesized that altering a news story to conform to a more familiar structure might increase comprehension and recall. Subjects, 104 undergraduate students, completed a Media Use Survey, a questionnaire for collecting demographic information, the WIRE test, a strength of text schema measure, and a comprehension questionnaire. Students…

Examines the effects of sentence underlining on retention and recall. Finds that underlining helped below average students sort out superordinate ideas, and with review added, underlining subordinate sentences increased retention of subordinate without decreasing retention of superordinate sentences. (MS)

Examines the differences between divided and alternating patterns of comparison-contrast text structures and reports on the effects these patterns exert on the performance of college developmental readers. Concludes that the type of comparison-contrast structure does not significantly effect comprehension and that, overall, developmental readers…

Finds that a graphical browser (a graphical representation of the structure of a hypertext document) had no effect on recall, comprehension, or recall of text structure but that it did increase the amount of text read by users and reduced the number of nodes repeated during reading. (SR)