Signaling topic structure via headings or preview sentences

Abstract

A B S T R A C TTwo experiments compared the effects on text processing of headings and preview sentences that were designed to communicate the same information about the texts' topics and their organization. In Experiment 1, college students read a text for understanding then were tested on memory for the subtopics and memory for simple facts presented in the text. Memory for subtopics was better for the text with headings; there was no difference between headings and preview sentences on memory for facts. In Experiment 2, participants read a text in order to outline it. Outlining was better if the text contained signals to topic structure than if the text did not contain signals, but there were no reliable differences between previews and headings. The findings show that previews function similarly to headings in a task that emphasizes the relevance of topic structure information, but they do not elicit readers' attention to topic information as readily as headings do. These results have implications for textbook design and instruction of comprehension strategies. La estructura temática señalizada vía títulos u oraciones previas R E S U M E NEn dos experimentos se compararon los efectos que sobre el procesamiento de textos ejercen los títulos y oraciones previas, ambos diseñados para transmitir la misma información sobre los tópicos del texto y sobre su organización. En el experimento 1, estudiantes universitarios leyeron un texto con el objeto de comprenderlo y a los que se les evaluó mediante dos pruebas de memoria, una centrada sobre los subtópicos y otra sobre hechos aislados descritos en el texto. La prueba de memoria sobre los subtemas fue superior para la versión del texto con títulos; sin embargo, no hubo diferencias en la prueba de memoria sobre hechos aislados entre ambas versiones del texto. En el experimento 2, los participantes leyeron un texto, pero en este caso con el objeto de dar una visión general sobre su contenido. En este caso la versión del texto señalizado sobre la estructura del texto fue mejor que la no señalizada, pero no se detectaron diferencias entre las oraciones previas y los títulos. Los resultados muestran que la función de las oraciones previas son similares a los títulos en tareas que enfatizan la relevancia de la información de la estructura del tema, pero no elicitan la atención de los lectores hacia la información del tópico como lo hacen fácilmente los títulos. Estos resultados tienen implicaciones educativas para el diseño de libros de texto y también para la instrucción de estrategias de comprensión.

Does an interactive table of contents promote learning from videos? A study of consultation strategies and learning outcomes

“…Learning therefore seems to have been enhanced by table of contents, but only for signaled information (ie, main ideas in the table of contents). This result is consistent with previous results in the literature (eg, Hyönä & Lorch, 2004;Lorch, 1989;Lorch et al, 2013). Asking students questions before a video should enhance their learning of unsignaled information (Carpenter & Toftness, 2017).…”

“…Results showed that participants who could refer to the table of contents recalled the topics set out in the video and their organization significantly more accurately than participants without table of contents did. This result is in accordance with the results of previous studies that focused on printed documents rather than videos (eg, Hyönä & Lorch, 2004;Lorch et al, 2013;Lorch & Lorch, 1996). Hypothesis 2a was therefore validated.…”

“…Tables of contents, or outlines, are generally considered under the more general term of "signals", including also headings, overviews or summaries (Lemarié et al, 2008). Concerning headings, their effect inside a written text has already been explored in many studies (eg, Loman & Mayer, 1983;Lorch et al, 2011Lorch et al, , 2013Mayer et al, 1984, Experiment 2;Sanchez et al, 2001). Their presence has generally been found to help learners recall more topics covered in the document.…”

Procesamiento de inferencias emocionales. Un análisis sobre el efecto de la valencia y la dirección causal mediante una tarea de decisión léxica.

“…This idea is supported by the existence of a linguistic process called top -down (see Kintsch, 2005;Garton and Pratt, 2004). According to this model of linguistic processing, the comprehension begins extracting information from the more global aspects of the text, such as the title or the basic idea of the paragraph (Lorch, Lemarié and Chen, 2013), to other specifics (smaller linguistic units like clauses and words) and all this orientated from the previous knowledge of the reader, that is, is our previous experience the one that "guides" our process of comprehension (Cevasco and van den Broek, 2013). Some authors indicate that the top -down processing develops from very early age (Angosto, Sánchez, Álvarez and León, 2013;Kendeou, van den Broek, White and Lynch, 2007).…”