Memory and comprehension of narrative versus expository texts: A meta-analysis

Abstract

We acquire a lot of information about the world through texts, which can be categorized at the broadest level into two primary genres: narratives and exposition. Stories and essays differ across a variety of dimensions, including structure and content, with numerous theories hypothesizing that stories are easier to understand and recall than essays. However, empirical work in this area has yielded mixed results. To synthesize research in this area, we conducted a meta-analysis of experiments in which memory and/or comprehension of narrative and expository texts was investigated. Based on over 75 unique samples and data from more than 33,000 participants, we found that stories were more easily understood and better recalled than essays. Moreover, this result was robust, not influenced by the inclusion of a single effect-size or single study, and not moderated by various study characteristics. This finding has implications for any domain in which acquiring and retaining information is important.

Stop multitasking and just read: meta‐analyses of multitasking's effects on reading performance and reading time

“…Multitasking's effect is also smaller than the beneficial effect of graphics ( g = 0.39, Guo, Zhang, Wright, & McTigue, 2020). The comprehension performance of narrative texts has been found to be higher than that of expository in two meta‐analyses ( g = 0.36, Clinton et al, 2020; g = 0.55, Mar et al, 2021), and multitasking's effect is smaller than that of genre. Multitasking also has a smaller negative effect than do seductive details, which are interesting, but irrelevant information added to a text ( g = −0.41, Sundararajan & Adesope, 2020).…”

The role of metacognitive competences in the development of school achievement among gifted adolescents

“…In contrast to narrative texts, expository texts vary in structure and require proficient language skills because they consist of no plot to which the reader can connect everyday experiences or a protagonist with which the reader can identify. It is thus considered more demanding on readers to comprehend expository compared to narrative texts (Mar et al, 2021). The comprehension of expository texts is especially important for school achievement and learning success (Savolainen et al, 2008).…”

Natural language processing as a technique for conducting text‐based research

“…For example, causal information plays an integral role in comprehension, increasing readability and memory performance (Keenan et al., 1984; O’Brien & Myers, 1987; Trabasso & Sperry, 1985). Additionally, the degree to which a text is narrative or expository has been linked to its difficulty, with more narrative texts typically being easier to process (see Mar et al., 2021 for a review).…”