Children's Memory for Expository Text after Reading

Abstract

THE RELATIONSHIP of reading ability and age to children's recall of expository text after reading and to children's sensitivity to text structure was investigated. Sixth-grade good readers, sixth-grade poor readers, fourth-grade good readers, and adults silently read a short expository passage which was appropriate for their reading ability. They recalled the passage immediately and after a two-day delay. While the adults recalled more than any of the groups of children, the sixth-grade good readers recalled more than the sixthgrade poor readers or fourth-grade good readers after a two-day delay. The superior recall on the part of the sixth-grade good readers appeared to be related, in part, to their greater use of text structure in organizing recalls as compared to the other two groups of children. However, differences in delayed recall between the sixth-grade good and poor readers were not found when use or nonuse of the passage's top-level structure in the recalls was considered. The results of this study support the notion that following the organization of ideas in expository text is one important factor which facilitates recall for the material and which warrants attention from teachers of upper elementary students.