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The relation of knowledge of textual integration devices to expository text comprehension under different assessment conditions

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Abstract

In this study we propose a theoretical construct (called rhetorical competence) that represents the ability of readers to detect, understand, and use the linguistic cues or discourse markers that texts contain. We measure one of the three postulated components of rhetorical competence (knowledge of textual integration markers), assessing whether readers correctly interpret these markers while reading. The influence of this skill on reading competence is examined in a correlational study of 185 sixth-grade pupils (aged 11–12 years) using different assessment materials (a standardized test and an academic text) and reading conditions (habitual and aided). Multiple regression analyses of the data indicate that knowledge of textual integration devices makes a significant independent contribution to expository text comprehension under most assessment conditions when the effects of working memory, prior knowledge, and word recognition skills are controlled.

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Notes

  1. The use of new technologies as a source of information would allow us to distinguish other types of rhetorical competence, as, for example, the ability to use navigational cues in hypertexts (Rouet, 2005) but we have developed our work with only traditional printed texts.

  2. Different types of coherence relations have been proposed in the literature. Generally, they fall under referential, spatial, temporal, causal and intentional relations. This is a classification centred in the kind of relations can be establish between the ideas from a text. We use here a classification based in the kind of discourse marker because it is more appropriate to the rhetorical competence notion as the ability to use the cues from the texts in order to improve the comprehension.

  3. We use the term “hypernyms” or noun phrases in relation to some words which have a very ample meaning. So they can act as an anaphora of many different words and in many situations.

  4. The other 31 pupils were assigned at random to one pilot study we are not going to report here.

  5. This sample size is adequate for reliable multiple regression analysis to be conducted, ensuring more than the minimum 10 data points per predictor variable, as suggested by Tabachnick and Fidell (2007).

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Acknowledgements

This work was carried out as part of a project financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (BSO2002-03744) under the title: Difficulties in word recognition, joint reading and educational intervention. Part of this work was written during the second author’s stay at Oxford Brookes University (Oxford, United Kingdom) and at Sussex University (Brighton, United Kingdom). The authors would like to express their thanks to the members of the Psychology Department of those universities for the support received, and in particular to Professors Peter Bryant and Jane Oakhill for their help and suggestions.

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  1. Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Facultad de Educación, University of Salamanca, Paseo de Canalejas, 169, 37008, Salamanca, Spain

    Emilio Sánchez

  2. Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Escuela Universitaria de Educación y Turismo de Ávila, Universidad de Salamanca, Madrigal de las Altas Torres, 3, 05003, Avila, Spain

    J. Ricardo García

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  1. Emilio Sánchez
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Correspondence to J. Ricardo García.

Appendices

Appendix A

The Mediterranean is Dying (without aids)

The situation in the waters of the Mediterranean has been described by experts as alarming, and some have even talked about the imminent death of this historic sea.

With a surface area five times greater than Spain, and an average depth of 1,400 m (which makes it a relatively small sea), its waters lap the shores of 18 countries, continually receiving the urban and industrial waste of more than 150 million people. If we also consider the refuse generated by the 100 million tourists who visit its coasts every summer—a number that could double over the next 25 years—it is clear that these waters are irredeemably condemned to become a foul sewer.

Given that the Mediterranean’s waters are only replenished through the narrow strait of Gibraltar, they are unable to support all this waste, which includes the millions and millions of tonnes of highly contaminating, extraordinarily dangerous toxic waste that are pumped into them—petrol, mercury, lead, and so on. Furthermore, the dumping of organic materials and fertilizers is leading to the growth of massive algae colonies, which cause problems for many of the living things that inhabit the sea.

Appendix B

The Mediterranean is Dying (with aids)

The Mediterranean, a historic sea, is at risk of disappearing because of the state of its waters, which is described by experts as alarming. What is it that could lead to the deterioration of its waters, and thus, to its imminent disappearance? Let’s look at some of the causes.

One of them is that its waters are constantly receiving the waste from the urban and industrial activity of more than 150 million people. On top of this comes the waste from the 100 million tourists that flock to its shores in summer, a figure that may double over the next 25 years. And all this accumulation of waste in a relatively small sea, with an area five times that of Spain and an average depth of 1,400 m, and whose waters wash the coasts of 18 countries.

Added to this is a second cause: the fact that the Mediterranean’s waters are refreshed only through the Straits of Gibraltar, a small opening for their renewal that prevents it from absorbing the millions and millions of tons of toxic and highly contaminating waste that reach its waters—oil, mercury, lead—and whose effects are extraordinarily dangerous. This means that these waters are inexorably condemned to become a stinking sewer.

Furthermore, there is a third factor that negatively affects the life of the Mediterranean: the dumping of organic material and fertilizers is giving rise to the development of extensive colonies of algae that are causing problems for many of the humans living on its shores.

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Sánchez, E., García, J.R. The relation of knowledge of textual integration devices to expository text comprehension under different assessment conditions. Read Writ 22, 1081–1108 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-008-9145-7

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