ABSTRACT

Compelling and interesting introductions are considered an important way of fostering reader engagement with expository-text content. But only a handful of projects have examined this prescriptive advice. In three experiments, we examined the effects of two different genres of introductions—narrative and expository—on comprehension and memory for texts providing scientific explanations. In Experiment 1, participants read texts without introductions and subsequently completed either an immediate recall or a delayed recall seven days later for a subset of the texts. In Experiment 2, participants read the same texts including either all narrative or all expository introductions and after reading were asked to complete an immediate recall. In Experiment 3, participants read the same texts, this time half including narrative introductions and half including expository introductions, and completed a delayed recall seven days later for all the texts. Across all experiments, participants recalled more of the scientific explanations when they were preceded by introductions than when they were not, and narrative introductions were better recalled than expository introductions. Participants who read both types of introductions were also slower to read scientific explanations that followed narrative introductions compared to expository. Taken together, these results indicate that introductions influence memory and reading times for scientific explanations but not always in ways that align with popular instructional prescriptions and advice.

摘要

引人入胜且有趣的介绍被认为是促进读者参与说明文本内容的重要方式。但只有少数项目研究了这一规定性建议。在三个实验中，我们检查了两种不同类型的介绍——叙事和说明——对提供科学解释的文本的理解和记忆的影响。在实验 1 中，参与者阅读没有介绍的文本，随后在 7 天后完成了对一部分文本的立即回忆或延迟回忆。在实验 2 中，参与者阅读相同的文本，包括所有叙述或所有说明性介绍，并要求在阅读后立即完成回忆。在实验 3 中，参与者阅读相同的文本，这次一半包括叙述性介绍，一半包括说明性介绍，并在7天后完成了所有文本的延迟回忆。在所有实验中，参与者在有介绍之前比在没有介绍时回忆更多的科学解释，并且叙述性介绍比说明性介绍更容易回忆。与说明性介绍相比，阅读两种类型介绍的参与者在阅读叙述性介绍后的科学解释时也更慢。总之，这些结果表明，介绍会影响科学解释的记忆和阅读时间，但并不总是与流行的教学处方和建议保持一致。在所有实验中，参与者在有介绍之前比在没有介绍时回忆更多的科学解释，并且叙述性介绍比说明性介绍更容易回忆。与说明性介绍相比，阅读两种类型介绍的参与者在阅读叙述性介绍后的科学解释时也更慢。总之，这些结果表明，介绍会影响科学解释的记忆和阅读时间，但并不总是与流行的教学处方和建议保持一致。在所有实验中，参与者在有介绍之前比在没有介绍时回忆更多的科学解释，并且叙述性介绍比说明性介绍更容易回忆。与说明性介绍相比，阅读两种类型介绍的参与者在阅读叙述性介绍后的科学解释时也更慢。总之，这些结果表明，介绍会影响科学解释的记忆和阅读时间，但并不总是与流行的教学处方和建议保持一致。与说明性介绍相比，阅读两种类型介绍的参与者在阅读叙述性介绍后的科学解释时也更慢。总之，这些结果表明，介绍会影响科学解释的记忆和阅读时间，但并不总是与流行的教学处方和建议保持一致。与说明性介绍相比，阅读两种类型介绍的参与者在阅读叙述性介绍后的科学解释时也更慢。总之，这些结果表明，介绍会影响科学解释的记忆和阅读时间，但并不总是与流行的教学处方和建议保持一致。