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Abstract

The effects of text absent and text present conditions during summary writing were investigated. It has been hypothesized that: (a) text absent summarization (i.e., instructing subjects to read a text and then summarize it without referring back to the text) increases the quality of processing during summarization, and (b) this higher qualify processing enhances recall. Sixth-grade students summarized an expository text in either a text absent or text present condition, and subsequently were asked to do an oral free recall of the text. Regression analyses indicated that text absent summarization resulted in lower summary content in general, but in greater summary depth for more able readers. Further regression analyses indicated that summary depth resulted in increased recall in general, whereas summary content was only associated with recall for text absent summarizers; text absence alone did not result in greater recall. These findings suggest that text absent summarization may be beneficial, but only for subjects who are competent summary writers or able readers.

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The Effects of Text Absent and Text Present Conditions on Summarization and Recall of Text

Abstract

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