A Preliminary Investigation of the Differences in Children's Retention of “Inconsiderate” Text

Although findings from earlier studies suggest text‐related reasons for why children experience difficulty reading content‐area textbooks, they do not address the instructional implications associated with “inconsiderate” (Armbruster and Anderson, 1981) text, or more specifically, with text that lacks unity. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate transition‐stage readers’ retention of text lacking in unity. Thirty‐three above average fourth graders read and recalled in writing a passage from their social studies textbook. The passage, which previously had been labeled “inconsiderate” by Armbruster and Anderson, contained portions of irrelevant material. Students in the experimental group were instructed in the use of a graphic organizer as an aid in compensating for the text's lack of unity; those in the control group received no special instruction. Results indicated that students who were exposed to graphic organizers recalled only .11 of the total number of irrelevant idea units, whereas those who were not exposed recalled .26 of the irrelevant ideas. By comparison, experimental subjects retained nearly three times as many of the relevant idea units as the controls did. Chi‐square analyses of these differences were significant. Examples of student protocols, as well as suggestions for additional research, are included.