GOOD AND POOR READERS USE OF GRAPHIC AIDS CUED IN TEXTS AND IN ADJUNCT STUDY MATERIALS

Most school texts do not provide cues that explicitly direct readers to turn their attention to the graphic aids accompanying the prose. This study investigated the possibility of compensating for the absence of these cues with the use of adjunct study material. Specifically, the study attempted to determine the relative effects of explicit textual cues and adjunct study material on good and poor readers' comprehension of texts, attention to graphic aids, and recall of information displayed in graphic aids. These effects were investigated with two expository passages each accompanied by two graphic aids. One graphic aid displayed information that was redundant to the text; the other graphic aid displayed information that was nonredundant but related to the text. Good and poor eighth-grade readers studied these passages with or without explicit textual cueing and using adjunct study material. The findings confirmed the results of earlier research supporting the utility of explicit textual cues to graphic aids. The findings also indicated that in the absence of these cues adjunct study material can be used effectively with both good and poor readers to turn their attention to graphic aids in texts. © 1991.