Summarization ability and text recall by novice studiers

Abstract

This investigation analyzed how sixth graders’ untrained summarization ability, acquired developmentally and demonstrated through a simple paragraph summary task, would relate to studying and recall of important text information in a more demanding task. Positive influences on text recall were linked to application through notetaking. Students with greater summarization ability who also produced better notes gained recall advantages. Of itself, however, summarization ability did not predict better recall. Likewise, by themselves, better notes did not predict better recall. Findings support the importance of application for this cognitive strategy. The findings also suggest instructional guidelines and caveats.