Abstract
The present work examined the influence of topic interest on the strength of différent components of text representation and long-term retention according to the model of text processing by van Dijk and Kintsch (1983). A Series of relevant personality characteristics were assessed to control for alternative explanations of interest effect. A total of 286 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students was assigned to either a high topic interest or a low topic interest group. The participants had to read tow différent texts (two weeks). Immediately afterwards, various process variables were assessed: Finally, participants weren given a recognition and verification tests, designed to assess the strength of the verbatim, propositional, and situational text representation. One Week after reading, students completed a recall rneasure: The interindividual finding with respect to the components of the representation of text revealed that the verbatim and the prepositional representation were not very predictable. The intraindividual analyses were more successful. The results were more consistent and interpretable with respect to the recall of text. It was shown quite clearly that the effects of interest are not only short-term. Most importantly, it could be shown that topic interest is related to text recall independently of other significant predictors.
Résumé
Le travail présent examine l’influence de l’intérêt thématique sur les différents niveau de représentation mentales et la mémorisation dans la compréhension d’un texte selon le modèle de van Dijk and Kintsch (1983). Une série de variables (ex.: connaissances pré requises, méta cognition, concept de soi), a été introduites dans l’analyse afin de préciser le rôle de l’intérêt en tant que facteur supposé explicatif. 268 élèves en 8ème, 9ème et 10ème année sont invités à lire deux textes différents (très intéressant vs. moins intéressant). Une épreuve de reconnaissance et de vérification a été ensuite présenté aux participant pour mesurer les différents niveaux de la compréhension du texte (représentation de la structure de surface, représentation propositionnelle et modèle de situation). Une semaine après le traitement d’un texte, on a présenté aux élèves l’épreuve de rétention. Les résultats de l’analyse interindividuelle n’ont pas montré un effet significatif de l’intérêt sur les représentation du texte. Cependant, les résultats de l’analyse intraindividuelle étaient plus consistants concernant le rappel du texte une semaine après sa lecture. L’effet de l’intérêt sur le rappel n’est pas seulement à court terme. Le plus important c’est que cet effet ne dépend d’aucun autre facteur (réussite scolaire et niveau scolaire).
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Naceur, A., Schiefele, U. Motivation and learning — The role of interest in construction of representation of text and long-term retention: Inter- and intraindividual analyses. Eur J Psychol Educ 20, 155–170 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173505
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173505