The effect of test expectation, subject matter, and passage length on study tactics and retention

Abstract

This experiment investigated the effects of length of passage, type of test readers were told to expect, and subject matter on three outcome variables: retention of information, reading speed, and highlighting patterns. College students read either a long or a short version of one of two passages then took a multiple‐choice test containing main point and detail questions. Reading speed and highlighting were affected substantially by passage length. There was also a subject matter by length effect on retention. The study provides evidence that much of the previous reading comprehension research may not permit conclusions about studying textbooks for classroom type tests. Implications for further research are also discussed.

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