Comprehension and learning from refutation and expository texts

Abstract

The study compared the effects of a refutation text on comprehension and learning outcomes to those of a standard expository text. Undergraduate students with varying amounts of accurate and inaccurate prior knowledge read and recalled a refutation or an expository text about energy. Comprehension measures included the amount of text information recalled, the number of inferences generated, and the kinds of inferences generated. Learning from text was examined with a delayed posttest. In comparison to the expository text, the refutation text facilitated learning and increased global bridging and elaborative inference generation but not memory for the text. Comprehension outcomes predicted learning outcomes primarily for students with low and inaccurate prior knowledge. The findings contribute to understanding of the refutation text effect by indicating its association with increased inference generation and the construction of a more coherent and elaborated text representation.