Learning and remembering text: The effect of training a combination of summarization skills and mnemonic devices.
Item
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Title
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Learning and remembering text: The effect of training a combination of summarization skills and mnemonic devices.
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Identifier
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AAI9130358
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identifier
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9130358
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Creator
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Palmer, William L.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Shirley Feldmann
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Date
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1991
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Education, Educational Psychology | Education, Curriculum and Instruction
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Abstract
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This study explored an instructional method for enhancing a reader's skills in summarizing and remembering text book passages. Instruction included either training in summarizing passages, memorizing one's summary, or a combination of the two.;Three eighth-grade classes (90 students) served as subjects. Each class received one of the training interventions, either a variant of Brown and Day's (1983) and Kintsch and van Dijk's (1978) steps for summarizing texts, instruction in forming acronyms (as a mnemonic device), or the two interventions combined. Two novel instructional techniques were employed in the study. One, developed by Guido and Colwell (1987) provided a step-by-step approach for instructing subjects in constructing passage summaries. The technique, up to this point, had never been subjected to formal analysis. The second, a technique for instructing subjects to create acronyms from their summaries, was developed soley for the purposes of this study. The summarization procedure developed by Guido and Colwell (1987) received partial support in that it was only significantly effective in raising students' summarization scores when combined with the mnemonic instruction. The mnemonic instruction phase of the study did not receive significant support in this study.;Dependent variables assessed were: (1) scores for including passage main ideas on a summarization task, (2) scores for including passage supporting details on a summarization task, (3) scores for including passage main ideas on a delayed recall measure (a free recall essay test), (4) scores for including passage supporting details on the delayed recall measure, and (5) scores on a test preparedeness scale. A pre-treatment standardized reading comprehension score was recorded for all subjects and later served as a covariate variable.;Over a period of two-weeks, subjects were provided with text book passages, taught summarization and mnemonic techniques, and then tested on a delayed recall examination. A series of one-way and 2 x 3 ANOVAS, ANCOVAS, and linear regression analyses were calculated to analyze the data. Results of the study supported that training subjects in using the Guido and Colwell (1987) summarization approach together with a mnemonic approach is an effective means for teaching them how to summarize text book passages.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
