Abstract

This study investigated whether task instruction affected comprehension of multiple conflicting-view texts after controlling for a number of individual difference variables and whether the effects of task instruction varied as a result of post-reading assessment tasks. Recruited from a First-Year Composition course, 64 participants received a task instruction that set the goal of seeking an alternative explanation and reframed argument as a process of conversation and exploration. Multiple-text comprehension was measured by a synthesis writing task and an argument writing task. The results showed that participants given the instruction outperformed participants in the control condition, as reflected in their argument writing. Among the control variables, beliefs about argumentation, need for cognition and topic interest were positively correlated with comprehension measures. These results highlight the importance of cultivating divergent thinking of multiple perspectives rather than dichotomous thinking of pros and cons. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

摘要

本研究调查了在控制了许多个体差异变量后，任务指导是否会影响对多个冲突视图文本的理解，以及任务指导的效果是否会因阅读后评估任务而有所不同。从第一年的作文课程中招募的 64 名参与者收到了一项任务指令，该任务指令设定了寻求替代解释的目标，并将争论重新定义为对话和探索的过程。多文本理解通过综合写作任务和论证写作任务来衡量。结果表明，接受指令的参与者在控制条件下的表现优于参与者，这反映在他们的论点写作中。在控制变量中，关于论证的信念，认知需求和话题兴趣与理解措施呈正相关。这些结果突出了培养多角度发散思维的重要性，而不是对利弊的二分法思维。教学意义进行了讨论。