Types of comprehension processes and the preliminary knowledge-use effect: Analogical transfer of learning from text

This study examined what types of comprehension strategies promote the spontaneous transfer in a later problem solving task. In Experiment 1, 40 undergraduates read and comprehended an abstract text (cooperatively with a partner or individually) with a think-aloud method, and solved a target problem later. The comprehension processes for the text were found to be classified into three categories; GID (generate examples, integrate them, and develop them into other examples) type, GI (generate examples and integrate them, but not develop them into other examples) type, and GN (generate examples but not integrate them) type. The learners of GID type performed better than the others in the transfer task. In Experiment 2, 66 undergraduates read one of three types of texts composed in accordance with the comprehension processes found in Experiment 1, and solved the target problem. None of the types of texts promoted spontaneous transfer in the target problem. These results suggest that learning with GID strategy leads to spontaneous transfer only if learners spontaneously produce elaborations.