Word Passage Research Articles

Processing in a letter-deletion condition

The availability of context was varied in a letter-deletion manipulation in subjects’ reading of a brief passage. The task of supplying missing letters in words presented in the absence of context was more difficult than supplying missing letters for words in context, as determined by study time and number of correct responses. Levels of recall in the noncontext condition, however, were significantly lower than in the context condition, suggesting that the task of supplying missing letters for words in passages requires processing beyond individual lexical items. It seems that the processing required for such tasks is similar to that required by readers when they encounter unfamiliar vocabulary.

Effects of testing versus review on rote and conceptual learning from prose

This study investigated the effect of reading ability level(high, low) and type of study activity (immediate rote test, immediate conceptual test, structured review, unstructured review, no review control) on rote and conceptual learning outcomes. Subjects were 110 sophomore and junior level high school students. The students studied a 2100 word passage and were then given either a posttest (rote or conceptual) or a set of directions leading to structured or unstructured review or a control group filler task. Rote and conceptual delayed retention tests were administered one week later. A 2×5 factorial design was used. Results indicated no significant effects for type of study activity. As expected, high reading ability students performed better than low reading ability students across all conditions.

Optimal Rate of Reading Prose

CONVENTIONAL THEORY dealing with the cognitive processes involved in reading prose has tended to deny or disregard the existence of an optimal rate. Rauding theory is based upon the existence of an optimal rate during both reading and listening. This research investigated whether individuals have a certain optimal rate where reading and listening efficiency is a maximum. Eighty 100word passages at four different levels of material difficulty were administered under reading and listening conditions to 102 college students. Reading rate was manipulated using motion picture film. Listening rate was manipulated using time-compressed speech. Accuracy of comprehension was estimated using (a) jugments and (b) two different types of objective tests. All three of these measures of comprehension yielded comparable results. For material that varied in difficulty from Grade 5 through Grade 14, there was a constant optimal rate of reading where efficiency was a maximumaround 300 words per minute. The optimal rate was almost exactly the same in listening as it was in reading in every comparison. It was concluded that: (a) there is an optimal rate of reading prose and listening to prose, and (b) these data provide support for the interrelationships among accuracy, rate, and efficiency of comprehension advanced in rauding theory.

Monitoring of Passage Inconsistency among Poor Comprehenders: A Preliminary Test of the “Piecemeal Processing” Explanation

AbstractPoor comprehenders from grades five and six were asked to read and rate the comprehensibility of three short passages: one informationally consistent, one informationally inconsistent, and one containing polysyllabic modifying words. Subjects were asked to indicate why passages rated as not readily comprehensible were difficult. The poor comprehenders rated informationally consistent and informationally inconsistent passages as equally comprehensible, but rated modifying word passages as much less comprehensible. They referred to long words, difficult words, and unfamiliar words within these passages as sources of difficulty. This focus on long words within sentences, rather than on inconsistent information across sentences, provides support for the hypothesis that poor comprehenders process print in piecemeal fashion.

Advanced Outlines, Familiarity, and Text Genre on Retention of Prose

This study examined how retention of prose is affected by (1) outlines as advanced organizers, (2) preexperimentai familiarity with the material, and (3) text genre (i.e., narrative vs. expository prose). College students studied either a two-level outline, a one-level outline, or no outline before listening to 400 to 500 word passages that varied in familiarity and narrativity. Subjects were subsequently given a cued recall test or a 3-Alternative, Forced Choice test on the passages. Whereas outline condition and familiarity had no significant effects on retention, narrativity ratings on the passages predicted between 38% and 84% of the variance of retention scores. Stories were recalled much better than expository passages. These findings were discussed in the context of current theories in cognitive psychology, particularly those that have explored the structure, organization, and representation of knowledge and prose.

Manipulation of Attention during Reading Using Programmed Prose

Programmed prose, a new technique similar in some ways to the cloze technique, was investigated as a method for manipulating attention during reading. It was anticipated that programmed prose would act to increase attention in low motivation conditions, where attention would be expected to wane, and thereby facilitate learning. It was also expected that programmed prose would act as a distractor under high motivation conditions, where attention would not be expected to wane, and thereby inhibit learning. Fifty-eight college students were presented a 1720 word passage to read. Two groups received the passage in a regular prose format. One of these groups was told they would be paid on the basis of how well they did on the retention test. Two other groups received the passage in a programmed prose format. One of these two groups was also told that they would be paid on the basis of how well they did on the retention test. The programmed prose facilitated learning under the low motivation conditions and inhibited learning under the high motivation condition, as had been anticipated.

SELECTION OF PROSE MATERIAL FOR TESTING

The study investigated teachers' selection of prose material for testing. Thirty elementary school social studies teachers wrote test questions based on a 1900 word passage from a commercial social studies text. Moderate consensus was observed among the teachers as to those segments of the passage chosen for testing. Additional analyses to determine the characteristics of the passage segments selected for testing were performed. The most frequently selected text segments were sentences which either contained a list or were themselves an entry in a list.

Relations of word information and word length to stuttering disfluencies

Effects of word information and length on stuttering disfluencies were investigated. 19 stutterers recorded a 141 word passage, and unitary disfluencies of prolongation and repetition types were judged from the playbacks. Word information was determined by forward word-by-word guessing; greater percentages of nonstutterers (40) predicting words incorrectly reflected higher information loadings. Word length was number of letters. Words with greater information or length were independently related to stuttering disfluencies, but long words interacted with information (low and high) to have differential effects on repetition and prolongation. This interaction effect was considered the primary factor accounting for previous discrepant findings.

Linguistic factors in stuttering.

Ten stutterers recorded a 141 word passage in the presence of a single listener. The words in the passage were classified as lexical or function words and pronouns, and high information or low information words. In addition, unitary stutterings were classified as either prolongations or repetitions. The linguistic factors, stutterings, and stuttering types were analyzed with respect to initial, medial, and final positions of words in phonemic clauses and total words in the clauses. The findings of this study support the contention that stuttering is related to the encoding processes of speaking. It was hypothesized that the phonemic clause operates as an encoding unit in speaking and both grammatical and lexical uncertainty play roles in eliciting the instance of stuttering and type of stuttering instance.