The Impact of Rhetorical Devices on Students’ Historical Summary Construction and Comprehension

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Building Connections: Feedback, Rhetorical Strategies, and Civic Engagement in Teacher Education (Table 10)

Abstract

The rhetorical devices (RDs) found in text and in teachers’ instructional explanations have been found to both complement each other and to increase elementary students’ comprehension of expository texts. This study explores the impact of RDs on 8th grade social studies students’ use of RDs and comprehension while learning historical content (the Battle of Yorktown). Findings demonstrate that, after exposure to both expository text and an instructional explanation, students include a greater variety of rhetorical devices and more content connections using succinct academic language. Social studies students benefit from being exposed to both expository text readings as well as teachers’ instructional explanations, increasing both their academic writing abilities and their comprehension of historical events.

Author

• Jason C. Fitzgerald, Monmouth University