THE EFFECT OF GRAPHIC POST ORGANIZER TRAINING ON LEARNING FROM TEXT

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of graphic post organizer training upon learning from text ability. The sixth graders, who constituted the sample, were selected from a group of sixth graders demonstrating a weakness in understanding text organization. They were assigned to either the experimental group, which received graphic post organizer training, or the control group, which read the identical materials, but performed different activities. The passages utilized by both groups had been previously randomly selected from sixth grade texts.^ Posttest measures included an individually devised graphic post organizer which was evaluated by a team of judges using a holistic scoring system. The other two posttest measures, a passage dependent recognition test and an unaided recall test, were administered twice: immediately after the instructional sessions were concluded, and again ten days later. A different group of raters scored the unaided recall protocols by comparing pausal units in the protocols to the original text.^ The test data were analyzed using a t-test, a repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance and a series of correlations to evaluate group and test differences. The t-test results favored the experimental group, indicating a significant difference between the two groups in the ability to graphically organize. However, the repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance found no other significant differences between the experimental and control groups. In addition, no strong correlations between graphic post organizers and the other posttest measures were reported.^ Therefore, three conclusions were drawn from the statistical analyses of the data: (1) it was possible to train students to graphically organize text materials; (2) teaching subjects to graphically organize did not appear to transfer and increase general learning from text ability; and (3) graphic post organizer scores did not correlate well with other posttest measures.