First language listening comprehension: validating exemplar graded materials (with expository inputs) for Scottish S3/S4 pupils

The thesis relates to the devising of expository inputs, with appropriate exercises, intended to develop listening comprehension skills in mother-tongue speakers of English in Scottish Secondary Schools, with special reference to S3 and S4 (Grades 10/11) at all levels: Foundation, General and Credit. 210 pupils from four different Scottish Secondary Schools were involved in the trials.Inputs and exercises were influenced by studies relating to both reading and listening comprehension, and in particular by research done in connection with the Scottish Education Department Listening Comprehension Project, (1982-85).Inputs were devised which were graded according to various text organisation factors, in particular (1) whether or not their input was pre-structured, i.e. based on a given text-organisation framework, and (2) the degree to which the given structure was signalled in the input. On experimental trialling with S3 Foundation and General pupils, a significant main effect for grade was discovered (p <.003); within this, the presence of pre-structuring was a significant factor; there was also an observed difference for the degree of signalling, but this was not statistically significant.Tasks were devised with respect to: the use of pre-questions, followed by either oral or pictorial response; use of text-organisation analysis charts; and prediction, both from a title and in-text. A trend for pre-questions to facilitate comprehension was discovered, but this was not statistically significant. Text organisation analysis: the trialling showed the unexpected result that, given appropriate support, pupils from S3 General level upwards can handle text-organisation charts with ease, and even S3 Foundation pupils can handle them successfully, albeit with more difficulty. Prediction from a title: pupils found it easier to make predictions from "prompts" than to construct their own. In-text prediction: it was not possible to validate the scheme of grading devised, but it was noted that predictions where the pupils were out of sympathy with the views being expressed by the speaker proved less likely to be realised in the text, than predictions made with respect to more neutral topics. There was also some indicative evidence of the value of group-work in improving pupils' responses, and in raising the quality of collective responses

Making the connection: Generalized knowledge structures in story understanding

Six experiments examined the connections in memory between two stories describing the same action sequence. The action sequences represented script-like MOP structures such as eating at a restaurant, like those proposed by Schank (1982. Dynamic memory: A theory of reminding and learning in computers and people. New York: Cambridge University Press). In the experimental procedure, subjects read a long list of stories, and then, after reading all the stories, they were presented with a list of phrases for which they were required to make old/new recognition judgments. Connections among the stories in memory were examined with pairs of phrases placed in the test list such that a priming phrase immediately preceded a target phrase. When a priming phrase was from the same story as its target phrase, responses to the target were facilitated. When a priming phrase was from another story of the same MOP as the target, responses were facilitated only if the test phrases were related to the MOP; there was no significant facilitation if the test phrases were not related to the MOP. In the case where the phrases were related to the MOP, there was as much facilitation when the phrases were from different stories as when they were from the same story. These results are shown to contradict previously proposed models of memory for script-like sequences, and a new, limited encoding, model is proposed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27673/1/0000056.pd