A research strategy for text desigbers: The role of headings

Abstract

This article describes some of the issues confronting research workers who want to carry out research on the effects of"access structures" -devices which enable people to gain access to a text (such as summaries, headings, and numbering systems). Although this paper focusses specifically on the role of headings, two general points can be made: (1) the literature on any access structure is diffuse and inconclusive and (2) some order may be gained from the chaos by carrying out a series of systematic studies which replicate and build upon themselves. A third, more contentious, point is that we need descriptive and a-theoretical studies first in order to clear the ground for later theoretical work.This article presents the results from seventeen experiments on headings which illustrate these points. The first nine experiments centre on three main variables, (1) the position of headings (marginal or embedded); (2) the form of headings (statements or questions); and (3) the nature of the task (free recall, searching unfamiliar text, and retrieval from familiar text). The results showed that the position of the headings (marginal or embedded) had no effect, but that headings in either form aided the recall, search and retrieval of information from the text used in these experiments with 14-15 year old participants.These experiments were then replicated using a different text in a further four experiments with 1 1-12 year old participants. These experiments showed that headings aided l 1-12 year old's search and retrieval but not their recall from this second text. However, an additional study with 14-15 year olds and the second text showed that headings again aided recall with this groupsuggesting a developmental trend in children's capacity to use headings as recall devices. Finally, another three experiments tested whether headings in the form of questions helped lower-ability readers more than headings in the form of statements (a hypothesis which had emerged from both the preceding and other earlier studies conducted by the authors). In these three studies, however, no significant differences were found to result from the different forms of heading. 0020 4277/85/$ 03.30

Pictorial enhancement of text memory: Limitations imposed by picture type and comprehension skill

“…The present patterns may not hold for all of these different kinds of poor comprehenders. Furthermore, evidence indicates that developmental differences exist in readers' ability to efficiently employ various textbased adjuncts and encoding manipulations (Ackerman, 1986;Hartley & Trueman, 1985), and such differences may exist for pictures as well (see Schallert, 1980). Our subjects were all college students.…”

Reading for a Multiple-Choice Test: Headings as Schema Activators

“…These researchers have suggested that processing aids such as adjunct questions are most likely to facilitate the performance of low-ability subjects because these subjects are not as likely as high-ability subjects to process the text effectively in the absence of such aids. However, in their research on the effectiveness of headings, Hartley and his colleagues (Hartley, Kenely, Owen, & Trueman, 1980;Hartley, Morris, & Trueman, 1981;Hartley & Trueman, 1983 have found that, in general, both high-ability and low-ability students perform better on recall, search, and retrieval tasks when headings are included in the text. Thus, these results indicate that the generalization about the relationship between ability and the usefulness of adjunct questions may not apply in the case of headings.…”

“…Several recent studies have reported facilitative effects of headings on various types of recall performance (e.g., Dee-Lucas & Di Vesta, 1980;Hartley, Kenely, Owen, & Trueman, 1980;Hartley, Morris, & Trueman, 1981;Hartley & Trueman, 1983Holley, Dansereau, Evans, Collins, Brooks, & Larson, 1981). These findings have in turn been complemented by results showing a significant positive effect of headings on multiple-choice test performance (Brooks, Dansereau, Spurlin, & Holley, 1983, exp.…”

Towards a Framework for Attention Cueing in Instructional Animations: Guidelines for Research and Design

“…Numerous studies on text comprehension that have used memory performance (i.e., recall) as an indicator of attentional processing have consistently shown that cues improve the recall of the content they emphasize (Cashen and Leicht 1970;Dee-Lucas and DiVesta 1980;Fowler and Barker 1974;Hartley and Trueman 1985;Lorch and Lorch 1996). Memory for uncued content is unaffected (Foster 1979;Golding and Fowler 1992), inhibited (Glynn and DiVesta 1979), or sometimes even enhanced (Cashen and Leicht 1970).…”