Effects of Title Concreteness on Comprehending Expository Texts: A Cross-Cultural Investigation

• In Event: Influence of Texts and Contexts on English Language Learners and Struggling Readers

Abstract

Two experiments investigated the effects of title-concreteness (more concrete vs. more abstract) on information processing and text comprehension in learning from expository texts, using Dual Coding Theory as the conceptual framework. An additional goal was to explore whether effects of title-concreteness can be generalized across participant populations from different cultural/linguistic backgrounds. 124 students (63 American; 61 German) participated. The results demonstrate that effects of title-concreteness on text expectations are generalizable across American and German students of comparable demographic characteristics. The studies further revealed that effects of title-concreteness on text comprehensibility and interestingness are dependent on the cultural/linguistic background of students—a finding of substantial relevance to the cultural and linguistic plurality of students being educated in the United States.

Authors

• Marie Lippmann, Dresden University of Technology

• Neil Garrett Jacobson, California State University - Chico

• Neil H. Schwartz, California State University - Chico

• Hermann J. Koerndle, Technical University of Dresden

• Susanne Narciss, Technische Universitaet Dresden