Let's see the facts: The effects of text mapping on comprehension and visual representation of expository text with fourth-grade students

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Curriculum and InstructionDespite the importance of expository text in the daily lives of students and adults, the amount of time actually devoted to explicit comprehension instruction of nonfiction text is often not enough for students to gain an adequate understanding of the material, especially when asked to represent their learning in a variety of ways. The intention of this research was to examine how direct instruction in the PLAN text-mapping strategy would affect student comprehension and the ability to represent information visually for both on-level and below-level learners. Forty-four, fourth-grade students were assessed on their comprehension and graphic representation abilities prior to PLAN instruction. They then received instruction using PLAN to map expository lessons. Results showed that most students achieved higher comprehension gains when being instructed with the PLAN strategy as compared to reading without text mapping. Multiple aspects of their visual representations also showed improvement through the use of PLAN. Keywords: reading, expository, PLAN, text map, visual representatio