ERIC Number: EJ688040
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Feb
Pages: 16
Abstractor: Author
Reference Count: 0
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0663
The Effect of Relevance Instructions on Reading Time and Learning
McCrudden, Matthew T.; Schraw, Gregory; Kambe, Gretchen
Journal of Educational Psychology, v97 n1 p88-102 Feb 2005
The authors examined the effect of prereading relevance instructions on reading time and learning for 2 types of text. Experiment 1 found that relevance instructions increased learning for relevant segments without increasing reading time when reading a scientific text sentence by sentence on a computer. In contrast, the same segments were learned less well and took longer to read when nonrelevant. Experiment 2 replicated the findings when individuals read an informational narrative text. These findings supported the no increased effort hypothesis, which states that relevant information is learned better without additional effort when readers are told what is relevant prior to reading. In contrast, nonrelevant information is learned less well. The authors attribute these effects to the goal-focusing nature of relevance instructions.
Descriptors: Reading Comprehension, Recall (Psychology), Performance Factors, Instructional Effectiveness, Computer Assisted Testing, Reading Rate, Scientific Literacy
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: N/A

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