| The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of cognitive mapping on reading comprehension and written expression. It was hypothesized that students in Treatment Groups 1 and 2 who mapped articles they read would score higher on four independent variables than nonmapping students in Treatment Group 3. The four variables were: (1) recognition of main ideas and supporting details, (2) fluency, (3) use of cohesive ties in writing, and (4) written holistic scores.;Gain scores for identification of main ideas and supporting details, length of essays, and cohesive ties were tested for significance using analysis of variance. The differences between mapping and nonmapping groups for identification of main ideas were not significant. The mapping groups, however, received significantly higher holistic gain scores than the nonmapping group for summarizing essays and for cohesive ties gain scores for both summarizing and compare/contrast essays. Trends favored the mapping groups in length of essays, identification of supporting details, and in holistic gain scores for the compare/contrast essays. Implications for research and application were drawn from the findings.;A rationale for mapping was developed based on memory research, writing research, and research on text structure and comprehension. Fifty UC Berkeley freshmen were involved in the study. The mapping treatment groups, 1 and 2, consisted of 19 and 10 students respectively. The nonmapping treatment group, group 3, consisted of 21 students. In a Pre/Post test design, students read two articles organized with a thesis-proof rhetorical pattern. With the Passage A article, students were asked to write a summarizing essay; with the Passage B article, students were asked to write a compare/contrast essay. Students from the mapping groups created maps for their essays and students in the nonmapping group selected a preparation of their choice. |
