Language and Reading 3 Flashcards
define discourse
written or spoken communication or debate
What are the three theories of discourse processing?
- constructionist approach
- minimalist hypothesis
- event-indexing model
define inference
automatic assumptions that are made based on our knowledge of the world and personal experiences
when information is not explicitly stated in the text, an inference is made
what are the different types of inferences?
- logical inferences
- bridging inference
- elaborative inference
what are logical inferences?
these are dependent only on the meaning of words
e.g.: you can infer that anyone who is a widow, you can infer that this is talking about a woman
You can infer the individual is a woman because this is part of the meaning of that word
what are bridging inferences?
these inferences help us establish links between what you are currently reading and what you have read in the past
E.g.:, if you have two sentences:
‘Mary poured the water on the bonfire. The fire went out’,
The bridging inference for this example is that ‘water extinguishes fire’
The two sentences helps us make this connection
what are elaborative inferences?
these are optional
they are not required to establish coherence
these add details to the text by utilising our knowledge of the world around us
e.g.: ‘the tooth was pulled out painlessly’
the elaborative inference is that a dentist pulled the tooth out as according to world knowledge, this is what a dentist does
what is a constructionist approach to understanding connected text (discourse processing)?
Bransford et al. (1972) argued that readers typically construct a relatively complete “mental model” of the situation and events referred to in the text
this assumes that there are many elaborative inferences even when they are not required
mental model = internal representation of possible situation or event
What evidence is there to support a constructionist approach to discourse processing?
Bransford et al. conducted study where they argued evidence for reader making elaborative inferences
ppts read sentence like:
‘three turtles rested on a floating log, and a fish swam beneath them’
the elaborative inference = the fish swam under the log
elaborative inference may be made to provide more detailed mental representation
ppts then presented with a test sentence and were asked if this was the sentence seen before
test sentence like:
‘three turtles rested on a floating log, and a fish swam beneath it’
found ppts were confident in saying that test sentence = same as original sentence
CONCLUSION:
concluded that inferences from text are stored in memory as though information is actually presented in the text
What evidence is there against a constructionist approach to discourse processing?
Dooling & Christiaansen (1997)
- ppts instructed to read story about ruthless dictator ‘Gerald Martin’
- one week later, ppts were given memory recognition test
- before the memory test, ppts were told that the story had been about Adolf Hitler
FINDINGS:
- ppts mistakenly recognised sentences that were relevant to Hitler that had not appeared in Gerald Martin story
- when asked if information relevant to Hitler was featured in Gerald Martin story, ppts answered yes
CONCLUSION:
- ppts had made inferences about what had happened in story at the time of the test a week later, NOT when they were reading the original story about General Martin
what is the problem with using memory tests to assess number of elaborative inferences made?
- researchers argued that problem with constructivist approach is the use of memory tests
- memory tests were used to assess the number of elaborative inferences made by readers
PROBLEM
- memory/recall tasks do not tell you what people are doing whilst they’re reading
- ppts could be making inferences later on while you are testing them about the test
Explain the minimalist-hypothesis theory of discourse processing
- the main assumption of this approach is that inferences are goal directed with two types of inferences
- automatic inferences
(other automatic inferences rely on information explicitly stated in text) - strategic inferences
- challenges the constructionist approach
- constructionist approach suggests the number of elaborative inferences made are limited
- or made during recall rather than when reading
- suggests that the number of inferences you make depends on what your goals are when you read the text
What do automatic inferences establish?
establishes local coherence
i.e.: bridging inferences
other automatic inferences rely on information explicitly states in the text
What do strategic inferences do?
these are formed to pursue a readers goals
e.g.: you wanted to find a particular piece of information
Outline the evidence to support the minimalist hypothesis for discourse processing
(Calvo et al., 2006)
- two groups of ppts
- groups instructed to read pieces of text
- one group instructed to read for comprehension (for understanding of text)
- other group instructed to read with a goal
the goal was to read and anticipate what may happen next - stories presented to ppts were things like a typical restaurant scenario
- after ppts read story they were presented with target word
- target word had to be said out loud as quickly and as accurately as possible
- logic was if ppts had already made the inference, target word would be quicker to read out/identify than if inferences were not made
FINDINGS:
- group that were asked read and anticipate what would happen next, made more elaborative inferences than group that were told to read for understanding
- group that were asked to read and anticipate were quicker at identifying target word
- provides evidence for minimalist hypothesis theory as it shows number of inferences made by reader is influenced by whether there is a goal when reading text
Outline the evidence against minimalist hypothesis theory
(Poynor & Morris, 2003)
- texts were compared where the goal of the main character was either explicitly stated or implied
context: Dick had a week’s vacation due
explicit goal: ‘he wanted to go somewhere warm and sunny’
implicit goal: ‘he had always been a real sun-worshipper’ (ppt had to infer that Dick would go somewhere warm and sunny)
- later on in the text, there was a sentence that either matched or did not match the goal of the character
FINDINGS:
- readers took longer to read a sentence describing an action that did not match the character’s goal
- readers were quicker at reading a sentence where the action did match characters goal
this was regardless of whether the goal was mentioned or not
shows that readers had inferred the character’s goal even when it was only implied
readers had made this extra inference when they did not have to
