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Reading both high-coherence and low-coherence texts: effects of text sequence and prior knowledge
1Old Dominion University. dmcnamar@odu.edu
Summary
High-knowledge readers learn better from low-coherence texts when they read them first, using prior knowledge to fill gaps. Low-knowledge readers benefit from high-coherence texts regardless of order.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Prior research indicates high-knowledge readers benefit from low-coherence texts.
- This benefit is hypothesized to stem from integrating text with existing knowledge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if prior knowledge integration explains the high-knowledge reader advantage with low-coherence texts.
- To examine the effect of text order (high- vs. low-coherence) on learning for readers with varying knowledge levels.
Main Methods:
- Participants with high and low prior knowledge read texts of varying coherence (high/low) and order.
- Reading conditions included: low-coherence first, high-coherence first, or reading each text twice.
Main Results:
- High-knowledge readers showed improved learning from low-coherence texts only when presented first.
- Low-knowledge readers consistently benefited from high-coherence texts, irrespective of presentation order or repetition.
Conclusions:
- The advantage for high-knowledge readers with low-coherence texts is contingent on reading the low-coherence text first.
- Text coherence and reader's prior knowledge significantly interact to influence learning outcomes.