Memory Research Essay Example

of narrative text and some disagreement about story features, it is commonly accepted that a story aims to interest, educate, or entertain readers (Pearson ; Fielding, 1991) and may stem from actual occurrences or fictional experiences (Graesser et al., 1991). Narrative genres encompass myths, epics, fables, folktales, short stories, novels, tragedy and comedy with blur boundaries between them.

According to Dennis (1982), effective narratives require an organizational structure that enables audiences to anticipate events and comprehend the causal relationships between characters and occurrences. Empirical studies conducted by Glenn (1978), Mandler (1978), and Carroll (1985) indicate that narratives often have a hierarchical structure, which readers can use to improve their comprehension and recall abilities. Moreover, Dennis (1982) points out that narrative texts are more likely than descriptive texts to stimulate visualization in readers. However, as Graesser et al. note, there is no agreement on how stories ought to be constructed or even on what constitutes narrative text.

Despite the many theories on narrative text, none fully capture the complexities of stories or their emotional impact on readers (Pearson; Fielding, 1991, p. 821). The oldest and most commonly used theory, story grammar, focuses on narrative structure and has been extensively studied in the past decade (1991).

Various theories of narrative text structure exist alongside multiple story grammars (Graesser et al., 1991). A story grammar is a "abstract linguistic representation of the idea, events, and personal motivations that comprise the flow of a story" (Pearson; Fielding, 1991, p. 821) that encompasses critical features of a story such as its protagonist, problem-solving situation, goal, plot progression, and outcome (Graesser et al.). Applying a story grammar facilitates comprehension of stories with a

single main protagonist working to achieve their goal.

According to Graesser et al. (1991), story grammars delineate the crucial constituents of a narrative, as well as the hierarchical connections between these elements. These grammars also provide guidelines governing the inclusion or exclusion of certain information from the story, the sequencing of information, and the inter-relationships among story components. Additionally, they specify the incorporation of episodes into story constituents such as introductions, outcomes, and conclusions. (p. 179).

According to Graesser et al. (1991), more complex stories typically consist of several segments and adhere to regulations allowing for modifications and eliminations of story grammar components. Story grammar theory presumes that the hierarchical relationships between story grammar components serve as structures or schemes that readers can use to preserve information in their long-term memory. Pearson and Fielding (1991) referenced five sources that demonstrate the validity of story grammars as comprehension models. These sources indicate that adults' and children's story retellings align with the sequential arrangement of story grammar components and that the frequency of recollected information correlates with the hierarchical position of the information in the story grammar framework.

Controversy exists over whether predictions on patterns of passage recall, passage summarization, importance ratings of statement, passage statement clusters, and reading time can be explained by story grammars or other representations of knowledge (such as knowledge about planning, social action, and motives), as generated by research conducted by Graesser et al. in 1991.

Although there have been controversies surrounding the topic, Graesser et al. (1991) came to the conclusion that story grammars effectively consolidate various empirical trends into a single theory of story construction. Weaver and Kintsch (1991) have pointed out that narrative

text structure mainly serves as a form of entertainment, while expository (descriptive) text is primarily intended to communicate information. Examples of expository text include textbooks, essays, and most magazine articles (Pearson & Fielding, 1991). Research on expository text has explored a wider range of organizational patterns compared to narrative text structures, which have primarily focused on story grammars.

Expository text structures include various patterns such as compare/contrast, classification, illustration, procedural description, sequence, enumeration or collection, problem-solution, and description. Each structure has a unique organizational pattern that establishes different connections between important information in the text. According to Kintsch (cited in Weaver ; Kintsch, 1991), there are three types of relationships between ideas in expository text, including general-to-particular, object-to-object, and object-to-part. Expository texts that are well-structured enhance the comprehension of main ideas or topics instead of facts. Research evidence by Kintsch and Yarbrough (cited in Weaver ; Kintsch, 1991) shows that students who read well-structured essays with clear connections between ideas perform better on a measure of global comprehension (macroprocesses; e.g.). Meyer and Rice (1984) and Weaver and Kintsch (1991) have studied the impact of different expository text structures.

Students who read essays with paragraphs organized according to principles of organization and with cues to text structure performed better on topic and main-point questions compared to those who read essays with paragraphs not following these principles and no cues to text structure. However, both groups had equal performance on local comprehension measures using cloze procedures. It has been observed that narrative texts are easier to comprehend and monitor compared to expository texts.

In 1992, Zabrucky and Ratner researched 16 proficient and 16 less-proficient sixth-grade readers' memory and comprehension monitoring.

They presented eight narrative and eight expository passages, some with a contradictory sentence and others without one. The students read on a computer screen, viewing one sentence at a time. The researchers studied the participants' reading duration and spoken feedback to determine their comprehension assessment and restoration of inconsistencies.

Text type impacted recall and comprehension monitoring, regardless of reading ability. In terms of recall, narrative passages were more effective than expository passages for both good and poor readers. Inconsistencies in narrative text were easier to detect than in expository text, as evidenced by the higher frequency of backward glances by students. Moreover, students were able to more accurately articulate the consistency of narrative passages over expository passages.

Based on findings, it can be inferred that students encounter more difficulty with expository text than narrative text. This is evidenced by their tendency to reread expository passages more often than narrative passages, particularly when there are inconsistencies present. Furthermore, the proximity of these inconsistencies to the correct sentence affects rereading frequency. Considering previous studies on recalling narrative and descriptive passages, it is hypothesized that individuals will have better and more accurate recall for narrative passages than expository passages of equal length.