Procedural text structure and reader perceptions and performance.

Full Abstract

This research tested the relationship between text structural variables (on vs. off the causal chain, active vs. static information, and hierarchical structure) and reader perceptions, reading time, and true-false performance for procedural texts. Twenty-four college-age participants each read 3 procedural texts. As predicted, sentences that were (a) on the causal chain, (b) active, and (c) associated with task steps were read more slowly and judged to be more important (p < .05). The results were similar to those previously found with narratives, except for the hierarchical structure variable. Also as predicted, text differences were found such that as the variation in the type of information contained in the text increased, relationships with the structural variables increased.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Diehl, Virginia A (VA); Mills, Carol Bergfeld (CB);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Western Illinois University, Macomb 61455, USA. V-Diehl@wiu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of general psychology (J Gen Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Jan; vol 129 (issue 1) : pp 18-35

Dates: Created 2002/05/31; Completed 2002/11/19; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12038492, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.