The Relationship of Headings, Questions, and Locus of Control to Multiple-Choice Test Performance

Abstract

This experiment examined the effects of headings and adjunct questions embedded in expository text on the delayed multiple-choice test performance of college students. Subjects in the headings-present group performed significantly better on the retention test than did the subjects in the headingsabsent group. The main effect of adjunct questions was not significant, but there was a significant interaction of locus of control group and adjunct questions. For subjects with an internal locus of control, performance in the questions-present condition significantly exceeded performance in the questions-absent condition; however, adjunct questions did not significantly affect the performance of subjects with an external locus of control. The results support the view that headings may promote the organization of passage information so as to increase its general availability, and the results suggest possible differences in the organizational effects of adjunct questions in readers differing in locus of control.

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

“…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. The possibility that high-ability readers may be just as likely to benefit from the inclusion of headings as are low-ability readers is consistent with Wilhite's (1986) suggestion that headings may encourage a type of passive organizational process that is more general in nature than that induced by adjunct questions quizzing specific passage information.…”

“…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. 1;Wilhite, 1986), suggesting that headings can have a general facilitative effect on memory for expository prose. In their study, Brooks et al (1983) suggested that headings may facilitate memory by activating schémas relevant to the passage topic, by encouraging the interrelating of concepts in the text, and by providing cues for subsequent retrieval.…”

“…Wilhite (1986) included this factor in his experiment and found that the facilitative effect of headings on recognition memory for main-idea and detail information was not significantly different. As a result, he concluded that headings may produce a general enhancement in the availability of both high and low information in the passage.…”

Text-signaling devices and their effects on reading and memory processes

“…Some studies finding better memory for heading-relevant information also have found better memory for other, less relevant information when headings are included in a text (Doctorow et al, 1978;Wilhite, 1986). However, it is unclear whether these memory effects are, in fact, selective.…”

Headings Within Multiple‐choice Tests as Facilitators of Test Performance

“…A number of recent studies have indicated that student learning from prose text can be enhanced if headings are inserted ahead of sections of the text (Dee-Lucas and Di Vesta, 1980;Trueman, 1983, 1985). In particular, several studies have shown that headings in prose text can have a facilitative effect on memory for text information as measured by multiple-choice tests given after learning (Brooks et a1 ., 1983;Wilhite, 1986Wilhite, , 1988. Headings appear to provide an organisational framework in which relevant prior knowledgeis activated to facilitate encodingof information (Wilhite, 1989).…”