Effects of Discourse Type on Recall

Abstract

Discourse can be organized in different ways; four of these ways are comparison, problem/solution, causation, and a collection of descriptions. These four discourse types correspond to schemata that vary in their organizational components; these differences were expected to result in differences in processing text. The more organized discourse types of comparison, problem/solution, and causation were predicted to yield superior recall of information than when this same information was cast as a collection of descriptions about a topic. The data from two studies support the hypothesized facilitation of the more organized types of discourse and have implications for understanding memory and writing instructional materials.