Gary M. Schumacher

Writing from Sources: A Structure-Mapping Model.

The purpose of this study was to test assumptions of a structure-mapping model of writing from sources based on Gentners (1983) structure-mapping model of analogical reasoning. Subjects read 2 passages organized either similarly or dissimilarly and presented in 1 of 2 orders. Subjects then wrote a comparison-contrast essay about the passages. Results showed that subjects used the first passage as a base. This base influenced both the global and local structure of the essays. Results also showed that subjects reading similarly organized passages wrote essays with better organization but inferior linguistic quality as compared with subjects reading dissimilarly organized passages

Schema theory and prose retention: Boundary conditions for encoding and retrieval effects

The present study was performed to determine the boundary conditions under which schemata influence the encoding and retrieval of prose. Subjects read a passage containing information important to burglars and homebuyers. Subjects were given either a burglar, homebuyer, or no perspective during reading, and either a burglar or homebuyer perspective during recall. Subjects were required to recall the passage either immediately after reading or 24 hours later. The results indicated that during immediate recall, either an encoding or retrieval perspective influenced recall. However, when recall was delayed, only the encoding perspective influenced recall. The results were interpreted in terms of schema theory and the encoding specificity principle.

AGE AND SET IN CREATIVE TEST PERFORMANCE

The Unusual Uses Test was administered to 36 boys and 36 girls from two Grade 5 and two Grade 12 classes. The resulting fluency and originality scores were then analyzed. As hypothesized, Ss told they were taking a “creativity exercise” produced more uses than Ss taking a “word exercise.” This effect was chiefly due to the older Ss being strongly influenced by the creative set. There was no effect of sex. The “exercise” manipulation did not effect the originality scores (fluency as the covariate). Younger Ss and males appeared to be more original, but an interaction of sex × grade with unusually low scores by older girls was chiefly responsible for these effects. Implications for assessment of creativity and research are discussed.

Textual Organization, Advance Organizers and the Retention of Prose Material

In order to study the interaction of passage structure and advance organizers a prose passage containing information about 6 obscure American Presidents was presented to 144 college students either in 1 long paragraph or 6 separate paragraphs. Half of the subjects in each condition were given an advance organizer describing the passage organization and half were not. Contrary to expectation, subjects given a passage with neither paragraph cues nor an advance organizer recalled better than subjects given paragraph cues but no advance organizer. Subjects given advance organizers were intermediate regardless of paragraph structure. Results were interpreted from an activity or levels of processing position.

Cognitive Processes in Journalistic Genres Extending Writing Models

The research on the cognitive processes in writing has led to models of the writing process such as that of Flower and Hayes. The work underlying these models has been carried out on relatively unconstrained writing genres. The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of processes used by journalistic writers when producing texts of varying constraints. A three tier methodology was used to offset certain methodological difficulties. Journalism students wrote either a news story or an editorial under either a pausal procedure, a pausal interview, or a protocol. It was found that news story writers paused more often and carried out more activities per writing session than did editorial writers suggesting greater monitoring activity by news story writers. In addition, news story writers were extensively concerned with accuracy and appeared to use a preorganized structure to guide writing and a priorities list to determine order of mention. Editorial writers paused less often and somewhat longer indicating a more open ended task. They appeared to adopt one of two strategies—treat the editorial as a news story with an opinion paragraph or search for a personal viewpoint. The results indicated that the Flower and Hayes model is applicable in a limited manner to journalistic writing.

Reflections on the Origins of Writing: New Perspectives on Writing Research.

This article discusses how research on the origins of writing from such fields as anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, and history provides new perspectives on current writing research and on the teaching of writing. Four major issues are considered: (1) the functions of writing, (2) the influence of writing and writing systems on the writer, (3) the role of the writing topic on writing, and (4) writing and the decontextualization of knowledge. The implications of these issues for research on and the teaching of writing are considered.

Some Conditions Surrounding the Effectiveness of Advance Organizers for Children's Retention of Orally Presented Prose

The study was designed to (a) isolate some of the conditions under which advance organizers facilitate the retention of prose, and (b) identify processes children employ when preparing to recall prose. First and fourth grade children either received or did not receive an advance organizer prior to the presentation of a passage. The passage was difficult to comprehend without knowledge of the advance organizer and contained an equal number of sentences which were relevant and irrelevant to the main theme of the story. Results showed that older children who did not receive the advance organizer actively generated their own advance organizer at an earlier sentence during passage presentation than younger children. Additionally, older children who did not receive the advance organizer recalled a greater amount of relevant than irrelevant thematic information. Hence, two factors must be taken into account in order to assess accurately the relationship between advance organizers and childrens recall of prose: the possibility that children generate their own thematic structure or advance organizer for a passage and the effect of advance organizers on the recall of relevant versus irrelevant thematic information.

Reflection-impulsivity and script-action recall

Script-recall differences between reflective and impulsive subjects were investigated. Using the Bower, Black, and Turner (1979) methodology, it was found that reflective subjects recalled more stated actions than did impulsive subjects regardless of number of instantiations of scripts presented, indicating that cognitive style influences schematic information processing.

Memory for Prose: Development of Mnemonic Strategies and Use of Higher Order Relations.

The study sought to determine (a) if age-related increases in memory for prose are, in part, due to deliberate mnemonic strategies, and (b) if older children use the high order relations in prose more efficiently than younger children. Tape-recorded passages were presented to 40 first and 40 fourth grade children. To induce deliberate mnemonic strategies, half of the children from each grade were informed that there would be a memory task; the rest were not told. Additionally, half of the children from each grade were presented contextual information which made the high order relations in prose apparent; the remaining children were not presented contextual information. After passage presentation, each child was asked to reconstruct the story. The analysis of variance indicated that older but not younger children exhibited higher reconstruction scores if they were told versus not told about the memory task. These results suggest that older children engaged in deliberate strategies. Additionally, reconstruction scores were higher if contextual information was presented than withheld. Apparently if contextual information is available, older as well as younger children efficiently retain the analysis of the high order relations extracted from prose.