sentences. In two related experiments, Wippich found integration effects that strongly favored concrete over abstract sentences in results from recognition, reconstruction, and inference tasks that tapped various aspects of text processing. His conclusions strongly support the dual coding view of qualitative differences in the integration of concrete and abstract sentences and texts. Paivio (in press) provides further explanation of and evidence for qualitative differences in the integration of concrete and abstract texts that are consistent with dual

A critique of schema theory in reading and a dual coding alternative

https://www3.nd.edu/~dlapsle1/Lab/Articles%20&%20Chapters_files/Moral%20chronicity.pdf

Moral chronicity and social information processing: Tests of a social cognitive approach to the moral personality

In this article I synthesize research on the importance of stories in classrooms, on storytelling form and how it differs from culture to culture, and on some implications of these different traditions of storytelling. I draw on qualitative and quantitative research. I conclude by proposing some ideas teachers might consider as they plan instruction on world literature and by offering directions for future research.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/1002264

Cultural Background and Storytelling: A Review and Implications for Schooling

The assumption of traditional character educators that children build moral literacy from reading or hearing moral stories is challenged based on research findings. First, research in text comprehension indicates that readers do not understand texts the same way due to differences in reading skill and background knowledge. Second, moral comprehension research indicates that moral arguments are understood differently based on differences in moral schema development. Third, moral texts (e.g., that contain embedded moral reasoning) are understood and distorted differently by readers with different moral schemas. Fourth, children do not extract moral story themes as intended by the writer.

/pdf/does-reading-moral-stories-build-character-3ekmmxn27j.pdf

Does Reading Moral Stories Build Character

Much attention has been focused on the importance of reading moral stories to children (e.g., W. Bennett, 1993). Although research on general discourse comprehension is flourishing, little attention has been given to how moral discourse is understood by individuals; that is, what affects an individual's comprehension of a moral text? Eighth-grade and college students read and recalled four complex moral narratives in which moral arguments at different Kohlbergian stages were embedded. Participants then took the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a measure of moral judgment development. Those with higher reasoning scores on the DIT reconstructed more high-stage moral arguments during recall, including adding high-stage moral reasoning that was not in the original text. Significant age-level differences in cumulative moral judgment concepts were also found. Prior moral knowledge affected the comprehension of complex moral narratives.

/pdf/the-influence-of-moral-schemas-on-the-reconstruction-of-2mbfjvwle6.pdf

The influence of moral schemas on the reconstruction of moral narratives in eighth graders and college students

Two studies examined the effect of culturally based scripts and associated knowledge on memory for stories about people performing common activities. North American subjects read four stories about people riding a city bus, purchasing a record album, eating breakfast, and buying travel tickets. There were two versions of each story, one consistent with a North American cultural script and one with some foreign script unfamiliar to the subjects. Memory for the stories was tested at varying intervals, from immediately after reading the story to one week later. Results showed that the foreign stories were mis‐remembered to have been more like the American stories than they in fact were and that this effect was most strongly observed after one week. Such findings argue that any theory of the effects of script‐based knowledge on memory must examine different intervals of delay and consider the cultural origin of that knowledge.

D. John Lee

Papers

The effect of cultural script knowledge on memory for stories over time