Traces the denigration of discursive prose back through the "New Criticism" to Romanticism and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who saw poetry as special and separate from other rhetoric. Notes that discursive prose can be just as creative and interesting as poetry. Urges composition teachers to shift their point of view accordingly. (RL)

Reports three experiments which tested the hypotheses that: (1) as they mature, students become better able to identify the essential organizing features and crucial elements of text, and (2) that this ability is an essential prerequisite for effective use of a limited processing capacity and restricted time when studying. (JMB)

This study combined research on conceptual hierarchies and research on conceptual cues, for the purpose of measuring the effectiveness of combining supplementary cues with text material that has been organized hierarchically. It was hypothesized that subjects provided with hierarchical cues would score higher on post-tests measuring comprehension…

A general theoretical framework for studying the representation of prose in memory is presented. The framework emphasizes the relational structure of story characters as determined by major story themes and provides for empirical consideration of author-reader communication. (SW)

An individual evaluation is presented of a Fellowship in Residence at the University of Cincinnati in 1975-76, which was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The experience consisted of independent research and a seminar entitled "Approaches to German Prose Fiction." Recommendations for future seminars are offered. (SW)

Author sees little evidence of aesthetic qualities in much that passes for "poetry" in schools. Her devastating attack illustrates the depth of her concern; her constructive suggestions illustrate the value of her contribution to thought and practice in this area. (Editor/RK)

High school students read textual passages organized around a semantic, temporal, or random theme. Free recall, semantically, and temporally-cued tests measured recall. During free recall, the organized passages yielded greater recall. For the cued tests, more words were remembered when the passage organization matched the type of test cue.…

Examined reading habits and activities which may require skills used in prose recall tasks as they occurred in everyday lives of young (N=18), middle-aged (N=18), and older (N=18) adults who kept structured diaries. Everyday activities and reading habits were related to daily life requirements. Pattern of activities was influenced by current…

Assessed degree to which anxiety, hostility, depression, and metamemory predicted recall performance on word list and prose passage. Results from 65 older and 65 younger adults indicated different patterns of personality predictors and some consistent metamemory predictors across tasks. Different measures of anxiety related differently to…

Using a developed structural schema specifying the categories of knowledge important to understanding a scientific theory, two experiments involving 82 undergraduates were conducted to assess the effects of structural schema training and text organization on the comprehension and recall of scientific prose. (Author/PN)

Strong instructions induced more interaction, resulting in better recall under intentional than under incidental instructions. Intentional instructions had greater impact on less efficient tasks and less effect on more efficient tasks. Maximum recall and efficiency occurred with simple instructions to read the passage. (Author/MV)

Paper presented at the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association, December 28-30, Philadelphia, Pa. (DS)

Summary of this article appeared in the May 1972 issue of the Foreign Language Courier'', the newsletter of the University of Michigan Foreign Languages Department. (DS)