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ERIC Number: ED245183
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1984-Apr
Pages: 28
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Text Cohesion and Comprehension: A Comparison of Prose Analysis Systems.
Varnhagen, Connie K.; Goldman, Susan R.
To test three specific hypotheses about recall as a function of four categories of logical relations, a study was done to determine whether logical relations systems of prose analysis can be used to predict recall. Two descriptive passages of naturally occurring expository prose were used. Each text was parsed into 45 statements, consisting of predicate proposition and modifier units. The explicit and implicit relations between the statements were specified, and the relationships of statements were classified as conjunctive, disjunctive, implicative, or contrastive. Average reading seventh and ninth grade students and adults read both texts. They wrote their recall both immediately following the reading of each text and following a 1-week delay. Statement recall was used to test out a probability model, and compared with predicted recall for each grade level and recall time. Data indicated that analysis of logical relations in a text for predicting recall of information provides a reasonable representation of recall of expository prose by adolescents and adults. Data also indicated that the system of logical relations provides a more adequate account of adults' recall than do other theory based systems, and in the absence of explicit, top-level globally cohesive information, the logical relations system provides a better presentation of adolescents' as well as adults' recall for expository prose. (CRH)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (68th, New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 1984).