Effects of varying textual characteristics of the referent on reading and writing scientific texts [Efectos de manipular caracterÍsticas textuales del referente en la lectoescritura de textos cientÍficos]

Abstract

An experiment assessed the effects of manipulating some textual elements of scientific articles (making them non-structured) on the functional level (intra-situational or extra-situational) at which psychology undergraduate students posed and justified research questions. Twenty undergraduate students from a public university were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The experimental group was exposed to corrective training, during which participants were required to identify the elements of a scientific article and to answer questions about the article. Participants in the control group also read the articles, but did not receive corrective training. A pre-test post-test design was used. Compared to a previous study in which participants were exposed to structured articles, both the percentage of correct responses and the level at which participants elaborated and justified their research questions were considerably low. The students used the technical terms incorrectly when they stated and justified the research questions. The importance of identifying strategies to improve reading and writing of technical materials by novice researchers is discussed. © 2014, Sociedad Mexicana de Analisis de la Conducta. All right reserved.