Effects of discourse structure and schema utilization upon prose learning were investigated in a sample of 112 Brazilian seventh grade students who participated in a prose reading task and took an immediate and a delayed free recall test in an actual school setting. Specifically, this study investigated the effect upon learning of the level of the information in the prose structure (regarding discourse structure) and the use of learner's specific prior knowledge (regarding schema utilization). The level of information was investigated by manipulating three levels of ideas (high, middle, and low). Specific prior knowledge was investigated by providing students with an advance organizer and classifying text ideas as they related to students' prior knowledge. The ideas were classified as prior knowledge (schema) implied, prior knowledge (schema) modifying, and prior knowledge (schema) irrelevant. / Subjects were randomly assigned to the organizer and no organizer groups and studied the same text with or without an organizer. They attended two research sessions, one for the reading task and immediate test, and one for the delayed test. Subject's recall was assessed by determining the presence of the research text ideas in the subject's test answer. ANOVA procedures were used for analyzing the data. The independent variables were one between-subject factor (provision of an organizer), and two within-subject factors (level and type of ideas). The dependent variable was subject's learning as indicated by subject's amount of recall of the research text in the free recall tests. / The results for immediate and delayed recall were consistent in showing a main interaction effect between level and type of ideas upon subject's recall. Furthermore, the compensatory positive effect of prior knowledge in situations of low level ideas was found. Yet the results also showed an unexpected reinforcing joint effect of prior knowledge and high level ideas on recall. In synthesis, the research results supported the constructive hypothesis, which predicts prose learning as a product of interaction between discourse structure and learner's schemata. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2633. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75652 |
| Contributors | OLIVEIRA, MARIA RITA NETO SALES., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 164 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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