Chapter 12 page 294
Organization The ideas are not organized in a logical
manner. They jump around. For instance, a
text may jump around from one time period to
another.
In social studies texts, present clear statements
of goals and motivations, actions, and
outcomes. Present events sequentially in
chronological order.
Headings The headings are nonexistent, confusing, or
haphazard.
Use clear, logical headings.Signal words The text doesn’t clearly signal the relationships
between one sentence and another, and
between one paragraph and another.
Use clear signal words, such as: then, after
that, because of that, as a result, the
consequence was.. ., first, second, third, and
so on.
Confusing
sentences
The text’s sentences are so convoluted that
students have a hard time understanding them.Use clear sentence structure.Overloaded
sentences.
Each sentence is jam packed with information. Present different information in different
sentences.
Extraneous
details
The text has extraneous details that don’t have
much to do with the main point.Make sure that all the information presented is
integral to the overall main ideas.
Vocabulary The vocabulary used is too difficult. Control the vocabulary (but not excessively—
you want to give students a chance to learn
new words, too).
Pronouns It’s hard to figure out what pronouns refer to. Use pronouns only when it is clear what the
pronouns refer to.
One interesting and important point about extraneous details: Lots of texts insert neat little facts about
something or other in order to make the text more interesting to students. For instance, a science text might
have a few sentences about the Curies in the chapter on radioactivity, or a history text might have a box at
the side with some interesting tidbits of information about a particular battle. Many research studies have
now resoundingly reached the same conclusion: These interesting but only tangentially related details
detract from understanding and remembering the main points of the text. If you apply this point to your
own oral explanations, you can see that the teacher who goes off on interesting tangents is actually
decreasing student recall of the main points! The same is true for humor that is not central to the main
point. (The research on humor that is central to the main point has yielded conflicting results.)
D2. Examples of Making Text Explanations More Understandable
In this section, I will provide two detailed examples of how to make explanations more understandable.
Both examples strongly emphasize the following ideas:
- Traditional texts are poor because they assume that students’ have more background knowledge than
they do, or because they do not address possible misconceptions that students have. - As a corollary, traditional texts are written in a very sketchy way that fails to address gaps in
students’ background knowledge or any discrepancies between their prior knowledge and the new
information.