No abstract

The long-term retention of information is important for a variety of reasons. It is often important to remember information for its own sake (e.g., one's spouse's birthday). Also, known, retrievable information forms a basis for many cognitive processes, such as comprehension, implementation of intellectual skills, creative thinking, and attitude change. It is difficult to explain these cognitive processes completely without first explaining the retention of relevant information. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some factors that have been proposed to be necessary for the long-term retention of information and to review available studies in light of these factors with the hope of identifying important areas for future research.For two reasons, this review focuses primarily on long-term retention following learning from text as opposed to other instructional modes such as lectures. The first reason is that text is a major medium of learning in literate cultures. It is a relatively cheap, accessible, and flexible source of learning and hence will probably continue to be a major source of instruction for some time to come. The second reason is that there is a substantial body of data already available on learning from prose (cf. Frase, 1972(cf. Frase, , 1975; Carroll, Note 1), and many of the powerful variables affecting this form of learning are known (Rothkopf, 1976). Recently, several systems of formal analysis of the prose stimulusThe author appreciates comments provided

The Purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of Continuous Progress (mastery) instruction on acquisition, retention, and transfer in dn introductory college physics course. Freshmen, stratified according to major, were randomly assigned to Continuous Progress and Traditional Instruction groups. The Continuous Progress group showed greater acquisition, greater transfer to a relatei course, and greater retention a year later. The results are discussed in terms of both support for Gagne's theory of hierarchically related knowledge and for their.practical significance.

Abstract. Sixth graders read one of sixteen randomly selected cause-effect passages after receiving one of six communications from an adult: (1) read carefully, (2) try to form an image of the material being read, (3) read for a specific detail, (4) read for the general causal relationship, (5) read to see how the passage is like a familiar example described by the adult, and (6) background information. Students who were told to read for a specific detail remembered that detail better following reading. General comprehension, as measured by the quantity and quality of free recall, was better for students told to form an image, given a familiar example, or given background information, than for students reading the same passages with instructions to read carefully. It was concluded that instructions that encourage the reader to relate old and new information are most effective in enhancing comprehension. The uniqueness of the study in randomly sampling from a population of passages was noted.In most classrooms, teacher-directed techniques for enhancing comprehension usually include some sort of orienting statement or purpose-setting question presented by the teacher just before the students read a passage. The teacher instructions may include: (a) giving the students background information, (b) asking them to read for some specific purpose, or (c) telling them to read carefully. It is not known whether these instructions really enhance comprehension, or if they do, under what conditions they are most effective. They have mainly evolved through pedagogical intuition within the field of reading education and are part of the Directed Reading Approach and other approaches to reading instruction.Recently, many studies have examined the effects on reading comprehension of events which precede reading. When research findings and practical intuition a Reprints may be requested from the authors, 624 Graduate Studies Research Center, Athens, Georgia 30602. 321 322Journal of Reading Behavior X ,4 are congruent, there is probably great validity to a particular practice. Where there is a discrepancy between research and practice, further investigation is essential. Discrepancies may occur (a) when researchers find one result, but practitioners observe another, {b) when researchers find support for a procedure that is not commonly used, or (c) when practitioners claim effectiveness for a procedure that has not been studied experimentally.The present study was conducted for two reasons. First, the intent was to test the external validity of events which have been found to improve comprehension in the laboratory by using a random sample of passages from sixth grade textbooks. The connection between laboratory research on reading and instructional practice is an important one because laboratory studies are usually conducted on one or two specially constructed passages. Only a few unpublished studies have been conducted using three or more passages (cf. Ruff, Note 1; Richmond, Note 3; Rowls, Note 2). As Coleman (1964) and dark (19...