The Discourse Processing Operations of Children

Self Cite

Abstract. This study was designed to examine the effects of two different discourse types upon the amount and kind of explicit and inferred information in the free and probed recalls of good and poor third grade readers following their reading of a selection with expository/informative tendencies and a selection with narrative/entertaining tendencies. Findings indicated that different text types do influence the amount and kind of information recalled by good and poor readers in that both groups recalled a higher proportion of explicitly stated information, generated more connectors, and were better able to preserve the original order of propositions in the narrative than in the expository selections. Reader ability level also produced some general differences in recall across discourse types in that good readers recalled more explicit information and generated more inferred information than poor readers. Furthermore, good readers' tendency to include most of the explicit information they remembered in their free recalls and to generate inferred information primarily in response to probes indicates that they may possess greater metacognitive awareness and are better able to separate explicit and inferred information. However, within groups the effects were not stable across text type and reader ability level for individual readers who frequently varied considerably in the amount and kind of explicit and inferred information recalled after reading the two types of texts. Thus, it was concluded that it is not possible to reliably predict an individual's recall patterns from one type of text to another due to the potential influence of a variety of specific text and reader characteristics within varying contextual situations.In an attempt to understand the processes involved in comprehending discourse, most past research has centered upon defining the influence of reader, text, and context. For example, many studies of discourse comprehension have dealt with the effects of structural characteristics of text upon a subject's ability to remember text, while other experiments have assessed the effects of context, reader's preexisting

Section: Recall Of the Expository Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To this end, a research study was conceived to extend the analyses of Tierney, Bridge, and Cera (1979) and Bridge (Note 1). The study explored the questions: To what extent do texts representing different discourse forces/types have a general or differential influence upon the responses of good and poor readers?…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Inferential Operations of Children across Text with Narrative and Expository Tendencies

Bridge

Tierney

1981

Self Cite

“…Whereas Meyer, (1977, Note 3) and Waters (1978) reported that children demonstrated superior comprehension of subordinate concepts, Tierney, Bridge, and Cera (1979), Dunn, Mathews, and Bieger (1979), and Taylor (1980) did not find the typical pattern of decreasing comprehension at increasing levels of subordination.…”

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confidence: 99%

Effect of Ideational Prominence on Children's Reading Comprehension of Expository Prose

Baumann

1981

Abstract. The efficacy of the levels hypothesis (the prediction that ideas residing at superordinate positions in a text hierarchy are most memorable) was evaluated as a suitable descriptor of children's reading comprehension of expository prose. Thirdand sixth-grade students read expository passages taken from extant curricular materials and responded to either a paper and pencil comprehension test (an open ended or multiple choice test) or produced an oral free recall. Results revealed that in only one instance (third-graders responding to the multiple choice test) did the children respond in the predicted manner: greater comprehension of main idea, gist information. The findings were interpreted as indicating little support for the levels hypothesis as a singular, accurate predictor of the information children will remember after reading expository prose. Other text-based and reader-based factors were discussed as possible explanations for the results. Implications for future research and educational practice were also discussed.

“…Possibly because of these difficulties, there are not many researchers who study reading processes across types. Those who have examined the differences in reading processes between exposition and narration have generally found that narrative text is easier to recall or comprehend than expository text (e.g., Gordon, Munro, Rigny, & Lutz, 1978;Maria & Johnson, 1989;Olson, 1985;Tierney, Bridge, & Cera, 1978). That finding is not without contradiction, however.…”

Section: Text Typementioning

confidence: 49%

The Relation between Text Type, Tone, and Written Response

Hynd¹,

Chase

1991

Researchers generally study expository and narrative text separately, even though some theorists maintain that a text's discourse type has little to do with a reader's processing of that text and that other variables may account for more differences in the way texts are read. The research described here investigates the relation between text type, tone, and readers' responses. Fifty-eight students described their expectations about text type. Three weeks later, they wrote free written responses to informational text that was expository, narrative, and descriptive and had either a personal or an impersonal tone. The texts were similar in content, and familiarity with the content was statistically controlled. The results indicated that narrative and expository text were not responded to differently. However, although subjects made significantly more text-based than reader-based statements regardless of text type, they made fewer text-based and more reader-based statements when reading descriptive text than when reading expository or narrative text. Further, subjects who read text with an impersonal tone made significantly more improvement from pre-to posttest on knowledge measures than subjects who read text with a personal tone.Reading professionals generally accept that, before and during reading, readers develop expectations that guide their understanding of and reaction to text. In the absence of an externally imposed purpose for reading, such as to pass a test, readers may construct their own processing guidelines, relying on, among other things, certain features of the text. Some hypothesize, for example, that a text's genre or discourse type (e.g., narrative or expository) is an important consideration when deciding how text should be read (e.g., Langer, 1986). Other factors such as 281