Three-step procedure for adding linking changes to scientific texts¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

In the discussion the authors propose a general procedure to improve the linkage between text information and the reader's previous knowledge: "(a)toidentifythetextualmacropropositions", "(b) to analyzeif possiblereadersmayhavetheknowledgetheymightneedtodeeplyunderstand thetextualmacropropositions, orif itisnecessarytoaddsomecontentideasintothetext", and "(c) to examine if the textual information... can be broughtclosertothereadersbyintroducingimagery,orbyusinglinguisticresources". In the study this was implemented by adding missing premises and familiar imagery (e.g., solar system analogies) to a physics text.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Coherence textual changes should be implemented together with linking changes, since linking changes alone did not improve problem solving in the experiment
• Writers should make explicit only information unlikely to be easily activated, to avoid the text becoming tedious and boring

Constraints¶

• The authors state there are no clear general procedures for improving integration: these depend greatly on the reader's background and text content, and methods adequate for fourth graders or history texts may not suit high-school science

Target Learners¶

• high-school science students reading unfamiliar scientific texts
• tenth-grade students

Target Learning Goals¶

• deep level understanding of scientific text enabling problem solving

Affordances¶

• Textbase Situation Model Levels

Claims¶

• Problem-solving performance improves significantly only when coherence and linking changes are combined, showing the predicted interaction [+W]
• Coherence textual changes improve tenth graders' main-idea performance on a scientific text [+W]
• The revised coherence version measurably increased textual coherence on two quantitative indices [+W]
• Each kind of textual change selectively aids recall of the idea units it itself highlights [+W]
• Neither textual change significantly improves recall of low-level idea units, contradicting the recall hypothesis [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Making Inferences

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Vidal-Abarca, E., & Sanjosé, V. (1998). Levels of comprehension of scientific prose: The role of text variables. Learning and Instruction, 8(3), 215-233. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959475297000200