The Role of Elaborations in L2 Text Memory: The Effect of Encoding Task on Recall of Causally Related Sentences

Abstract

To achieve coherence in a text representation, the reader must encode not only the ideas and events explicitly presented in sentences but also relations that link ideas and events. The research reported in this article was designed to investigate the relationships between the process of encoding and the resulting comprehension and representation of second language (L2) sentences that are causally related. Participants read sentence pairs varying in degree of causal relatedness and recalled one sentence of each pair when the other was given as a cue 24 hours later. When they generated an elaboration for each pair, recall was better than when they studied the pair for memorization. Recall as a function of degree of causal relatedness differed between the two encoding conditions. In the study condition, highly related sentences were generally recalled better than less related sentences. In the elaboration condition, recall for minimally related pairs was better than that for moderately related pairs and as good as that for highly related pairs. The results suggest that integration and elaboration had a critical effect on L2 readers' comprehension and memory of the sentences. The effect of processing efforts and reconstructive strategies are also discussed.