Structural signals show no consistent recall benefits but can aid deeper understanding measured by problem-solving tests¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 1991 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Structural signals (previews, headings, logical connectives) produced significant effects on problem-solving tests but no significant differences on recall and recognition tests. → Mary H. Sawyer 1991 q2 i? Signal effects on comprehension are passage dependent rather than predictable across texts. → Mary H. Sawyer 1991 (2)

Evidence¶

Mary H. Sawyer 1991¶

Mary H. Sawyer. (1991). A Review of Research in Revising Instructional Text. Journal of Reading Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1080/10862969109547744

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports, citing Loman and Mayer's (1983) study of 10th-grade good and poor comprehenders, that signaled passages aided problem-solving performance while recall and recognition tests showed no significant differences.

"they found significant effects for signaled passages (combining previews, headings, and logical connectives) with both groups in a problem-solving test. Recall and recognition tests found no significant differences between the signaled and unsignaled passages"

Mary H. Sawyer 1991 (2)¶

Mary H. Sawyer. (1991). A Review of Research in Revising Instructional Text. Journal of Reading Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1080/10862969109547744

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports, citing Spyridakis and Standal (1987), that across eight versions of four technical passages, signals neither inhibited nor predictably increased comprehension; previews and logical connectives had significant effects in only two of the four passages.

"none of the signals (headings, previews, and logical connectives) inhibited comprehension in the different passages, neither did they predictably increase it. AH results were instead passage dependent"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Clear Structure Improves Learning — a broader claim this one bears on
• Advance organizers produce a small average learning benefit, larger for high-ability than for low-ability learners — related
• A hierarchical internal knowledge organization facilitates performance on complex recall and problem-solving tasks more than a single-level organization of the same knowledge — related
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• Strong acquisition tasks explicating the organization produce better internalization than weak tasks asking only for a structured summary — related
• Adjunct aids such as learning objectives and embedded questions show limited effects and may interfere with competent readers' natural strategies — related
• Expert revisers' improvements are inconsistent across texts, with only signaling-structure strategies reliably corresponding to improved retention — reports the opposite