Effects of context and discrepancy when reading multiple documents

• Published in: Reading & writing Vol. 36; no. 5; pp. 1111 - 1143
• Main Authors: Schoor, Cornelia, Rouet, Jean-François, Britt, M. Anne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.05.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Cognitive science; College Students; Connected Discourse; Context Effect; Contextual effects; Education; Essays; Information Sources; Language and Literature; Learning environment; Linguistics; Literacy; Neurology; Psycholinguistics; Reader Text Relationship; Reading Comprehension; Reading Processes; Reading Strategies; Science and Society; Social Sciences; Context; Reading behavior; Beliefs about science; Multiple documents; Reading comprehension; Consistency of information; context; beliefs about science; consistency of information; reading comprehension; reading behavior; multiple documents
• ISSN: 0922-4777; 1573-0905
• DOI: 10.1007/s11145-022-10321-2

On a daily basis, most people read about issues of interest from a diversity of sources. Moreover, the information they encounter frequently encompass discrepancies, ranging from minor inconsistencies to straight contradictions. Readers may construct coherent representations from discrepant contents by linking contents to their respective sources and connecting the sources with agree-disagree or other types of connectives. Across research studies, however, college-level readers' attention to sources has been found to vary according to individual, text and task dimensions. The present study tested the assumption that readers' strategies depend both on the discrepancy of the information and on the context in which the task is framed. Moreover, beliefs about science were included as potential moderator of context effects. One hundred and sixty university students were tasked to read about a series of social-scientific issues. The task was framed in either a university context or a personal context scenario. For each topic, the participants read two short texts which provided either consistent or discrepant information, and then they wrote a short overview essay. The university context had a significant impact on indicators related to a documents model representation (e.g., text switches, number of adversative connectors in the essay) and standards for presentation (e.g., time on the essay/task page, formal features of the essay). The data support a context-dependent view of reading comprehension, whereby both reading behavior and outcomes are primarily a function of the standards and goals set by the reader.