THE RELATIONSHIP OF TEXTUAL AND NONTEXTUAL CHARACTERISTICS TO SCHEMATA FOR EXPOSITORY AND NARRATIVE PROSE

CAROL ANN DAVIS, Purdue University

Abstract

This study attempted to investigate readers' cognitive representations for prose type and to determine how readers know when to activate and use these structures during reading. The cognitive representations were investigated through an examination of the commonly accepted expository and narrative distinction. To determine how readers knew when to activate expository or narrative structures, subjects were asked to identify textual and nontextual characteristics that they associated with these prose types. In order to determine the relationship between the knowledge of these structures and reading ability, both good and poor adult readers were used in the study. Two experiments were developed to investigate the questions under consideration. Subjects in Experiment I were asked to categorize a variety of prose passages as being similar to an expository sample or a narrative sample. After subjects had identified passages as expository or narrative, they were asked to identify characteristics or factors which enabled them to make their decisions. In Experiment II, subjects were asked to categorize nontextual characteristics dealing with reading situations, reading purposes, and the physical properties of materials (e.g., size, type, or cover) as being associated with the expository or narrative sample. The results of this study indicated that readers had cognitive structures or schemata for prose type, although these schemata did not appear to conform only to the commonly accepted expository and narrative distinction. Even though results did not verify the expository and narrative distinction with these materials, they did suggest that readers look for generalities in prose form among passages. These findings appeared to suggest that numerous schemata for prose type exist or that numerous values have been assigned to a prose form variable in a general schema for prose. The results of this study also indicated that textual and nontextual characteristics could signal readers when to activate and use these schemata. Readers who are unaware of the characteristics associated with prose types could be losing potential comprehension benefits. Such readers would not have these organizational frameworks available for use before or during their reading of prose materials. Results from these experiments reinforced the importance of considering nontextual factors while investigating prose comprehension. The findings of this study also indicated that poor readers seem to be less aware than good readers of prose-type schemata and their related characteristics, especially for materials commonly categorized as expository. Poor readers often relied on the subject or content of the passages for making categorizations and did not consider prose form information. Results from this study begin to provide a description of the schemata readers have for prose type, but they do not provide an explanation of how these schemata are used or how their use affects comprehension of materials. Initial results from this study appear to suggest, however, that poor readers do not have adequate knowledge of schemata for prose types and their related characteristics. As a result, it appears that educators need to develop methods for teaching poor readers to deal with prose types, particularly with materials commonly categorized as expository. Such methods could include making readers aware of the variety of prose types and the textual and nontextual characteristics associated with them. Before this can be done, however, further research is needed to provide information about prose types and their potential use by readers.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Literacy|Reading instruction

COinS