The effects of task instruction on elaborative inference in skilled and less-skilled readers.

摘要

This study examined elaborative inference: one process that allows contextually--meaningful information not explicitly stated within text to be included in the memory representation of text. Although sufficient evidence exists to suggest that recall of text varies as a function of reading ability, little has been done to investigate the inference process as a function of reading ability. Previous work also suggests that initial encoding instructions may determine the particular reading strategy utilized by a reader. Thus, the present study used a lexical decision task to examine elaborative inference as a function of both reading ability and type of encoding instruction.;Seventy-two skilled and 67 less-skilled adult readers were selected using the Comprehension subtest of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. Subjects read passages and performed a lexical decision task during reading to assess for inference. Memory for passages was also tested periodically such that, within each designation of reading ability, subjects were told to prepare for either recognition, cued recall, or free recall tests of passage content. The design consisted of two between subjects variables (reading ability and task) and two within subjects variables (inference type and lexical decision locus point). Data were analyzed in a four-way Ability x Task x Inference Type x Locus mixed analysis of variance.;Overall results indicated that skilled readers responded faster than less-skilled readers under most conditions of task, inference type, and locus; context priming occurred for skilled readers regardless of specific text characteristics; skilled readers made fewer lexical decision errors than less-skilled readers; skilled readers remembered more from the passages read than less-skilled readers under all task conditions; and response patterns for skilled readers did not appear significantly influenced by initial encoding instructions, whereas less-skilled readers showed longer reaction times in the free recall condition followed in descending order by the recognition and cued recall conditions. Finally, the results suggest that less-skilled readers may be more strongly influenced by text type (e.g., ambiguous vs. predictable) such that the materials used in this study may confound the identification of inference type effects in this group.