Text relations and recall for expository prose

Abstract

The analysis of causal relations in narratives (Trabasso & Sperry, 1985; Trabasso & van den Broek, 1985) is modified to describe more broadly defined logical relations in expository text. Sensitivity of the modified analysis system to identifying developmental and recall delay differences in recall was examined and compared with two other approaches to the analysis of text relations. These approaches were Meyer's (1975) content structure analysis and Kintsch and van Dijk's (1978) argument repetition analysis. Seventh‐grade, ninth‐grade, and college subjects read two expository texts and wrote their recall both immediately after reading them and following a 1‐week delay. All three systems were able to identify overall age and recall delay effects; only the logical relations and content structure analyses were sensitive to specific developmental and recall delay differences as a function of text relations. These findings demonstrate that the analysis of causal and logical relations is flexible enough to describe recall for expository text.