| This study used a 2 (one-reading vs. three-reading) x 2 (easy vs. hard) experimental design to estimate the effects of the text difficulty and repeated reading on college students' comprehension. Fifty-two college students were randomly assigned for each experimental condition. The dependent variables were total number of words recalled, comprehension score, number of idea units recalled on and off causal chain, the sequential order of the sentence recalled, and elaboration scores. Both experimental texts had same number of words, same number of idea units, and same readability level (7.7 on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level). However, the more difficult text had fewer causal connections and the sequence of events did not follow a clear temporal order. Findings: The three-reading groups had significantly more verbatim recall of the text across both text difficulty levels, and the three-reading groups also had significantly better recall for events on the causal chain than the one-reading group. However, analysis of the easy text by itself showed no difference between one- and three-reading groups for causal chain recall, but for the hard text, the three-reading group had significant better causal chain recall. The analysis of sequential order of recall that matched text sequence showed overall that the three-reading groups had significantly better recall, and that reading the easy text led to significantly better recall of sequential order than reading the hard text. Finally, the analysis of elaboration recall showed that the easy text elicited significantly more elaborations than did the hard text. These empirical findings suggest that at the college level a repeated reading study strategy leads to enhanced recall, especially if the text is difficult. |
