This research examined the influence of ability, prior knowledge and knowledge of text structure on expository history text corpora comprehension using a quasi-representative research paradigm. Sixty grade eight students participated in two history units. Hypotheses that ability, prior knowledge and knowledge of text structure would significantly influence performance in terms of the amount and organization of information presented on various measures were supported for the Ancient Man unit only. No interactions between the independent variables arose. The lack of significant findings for the Ancient Egypt unit is explained by poor text corpus organization and weak text structure. The findings suggest that teachers can facilitate students' comprehension of an expository text corpus by providing appropriate background knowledge of content and strategies for recognizing and utilizing text structure. Further, teachers should consider the organization of a textbook or corpus, and when necessary manipulate the materials to improve their structure and comprehensibility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.59444 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Klein, Carolyn |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001067171, proquestno: AAIMM63640, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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