Does Plain Language Enhance Reading Comprehension and Content Recall?
(2013) KOGM20 20131Cognitive Science
- Abstract
- In an increasingly text based environment reading comprehension has become an increasingly important matter of study. A development toward more and more communication carried out via text stresses the need for efficient texts. Since the year of 2009 it is stated by law that public agencies of Sweden should produce information that is correct, plain and understandable. For this purpose a concept called plain language was launched.
A target group of young adults (18-19 year olds) was chosen for examining reading comprehension for an authentic informative text. Three versions of the text were compared: 1) an original text published by the Swedish Employment Office, 2) a modified version of this text edited by a teacher of Swedish language... (More) - In an increasingly text based environment reading comprehension has become an increasingly important matter of study. A development toward more and more communication carried out via text stresses the need for efficient texts. Since the year of 2009 it is stated by law that public agencies of Sweden should produce information that is correct, plain and understandable. For this purpose a concept called plain language was launched.
A target group of young adults (18-19 year olds) was chosen for examining reading comprehension for an authentic informative text. Three versions of the text were compared: 1) an original text published by the Swedish Employment Office, 2) a modified version of this text edited by a teacher of Swedish language to serve as control for text number 3) the plain language modified version of the original text. Comprehension, delayed recall and text experience were examined. Results showed no support for enhanced comprehension by plain language for this target group, but showed enhanced content recall for those who had understood their text better. Simply experiencing a text as pleasant did not mean the reader understood it better. Factors such as interest, context, individuality, match of expectations and choice of method were investigated. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/3806947
- author
- Hansson, Tove LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- KOGM20 20131
- year
- 2013
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 3806947
- date added to LUP
- 2013-09-03 16:24:56
- date last changed
- 2013-09-03 16:24:56
@misc{3806947,
abstract = {{In an increasingly text based environment reading comprehension has become an increasingly important matter of study. A development toward more and more communication carried out via text stresses the need for efficient texts. Since the year of 2009 it is stated by law that public agencies of Sweden should produce information that is correct, plain and understandable. For this purpose a concept called plain language was launched.
A target group of young adults (18-19 year olds) was chosen for examining reading comprehension for an authentic informative text. Three versions of the text were compared: 1) an original text published by the Swedish Employment Office, 2) a modified version of this text edited by a teacher of Swedish language to serve as control for text number 3) the plain language modified version of the original text. Comprehension, delayed recall and text experience were examined. Results showed no support for enhanced comprehension by plain language for this target group, but showed enhanced content recall for those who had understood their text better. Simply experiencing a text as pleasant did not mean the reader understood it better. Factors such as interest, context, individuality, match of expectations and choice of method were investigated.}},
author = {{Hansson, Tove}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Does Plain Language Enhance Reading Comprehension and Content Recall?}},
year = {{2013}},
}