The effect of variations in the organization of information and in contextual features upon comprehension of prose was tested using four tasks. Organization was varied to contrast hierarchical information structures and list information structures, and to test the effect of linking the structural components of the passage into a conceptual…

The effect of supplementary questions on learning from textual materials was investigated in a sample of 94 college juniors. Each subject was given a 1,500-word passage describing the concept of measurement. One treatment group was asked to identify characteristics of the concept; another was asked to identify examples from the text; a third…

This book is based on the York Computer Inventory of Prose Style, which seeks to provide a quantitative description of the syntactic characteristics of the literary language of specific authors over the last 400 years. After a brief theoretical introduction and a description of texts and sampling procedures, the discussion turns to specific…

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)