The Role of Five Induced Learning Strategies in Scientific Text Comprehension.
AbstractThe representational construction of three short chemistry texts, which differed in lexical and syntactic difficulty and conceptual length, was investigated. One hundred psychology undergraduates were randomly selected and assigned to one of five independent groups. Once they had read the texts, they were induced to make use of rehearsal (repetition), elaboration (paraphrasing), or organizational (grouping, linking, and hierarchy) strategies, with or without the texts available for consultation. Generative instructions, retrieval cues, and external memory aids interacted with text structure. It was concluded that strategies that demand recognition of linked relationships or classes as well as the retention of this information in working memory significantly increase comprehension, whereas paraphrasing and the elaboration of subordinate relationships impose demands beyond the capacities of readers.