Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Comprehension strategies for younger and older adults: An application of van Dijk and Kintsch's strategic model of comprehension
Abstract
Effective comprehension across the life-span is critical for healthy and productive aging. Past studies of comprehension indicate that comprehension may decline with age, while other works find that decline is not evident or is evident in specific contexts alone. The present study considers van Dijk and Kintsch's (1983) bi-level strategic comprehension model in explaining previous findings and in helping understand the nature of comprehension across the lifespan. Four hypotheses are addressed: (1) Older adults more frequently use global strategies for comprehension than do younger adults; (2) Younger adults more frequently use local strategies than do older adults; (3) Younger adults employ more avoidance strategies than do older adults; and (4) Older and younger adults will differ in strategy choices in situations for which they have limited situational models. In part one of a two part study, 80 individuals (40 younger and 40 older adults) indicated the strategies they used in comprehension. In part two, 10 older and 10 younger adults engaged in a conversation and responded to open-ended questions in order to identify their conversational strategies. The two-part study concludes that both groups use global comprehension strategies, while older adults use fewer local and fewer avoidance strategies than younger adults. The study supports van Dijk and Kintsch's (1983) and others' contention that comprehension is a complex, lifespan developmental process. Given that older adults rely less on sentence-level processing and in-text cues, this study explains findings of recall decline in detail specific information. The study finds no difference in global strategy use, suggesting that although people do not employ more global strategies, situational models become their primary mode for comprehension. Finally, the study suggests that, due to experience, older adults are more aware than younger adults that they can not avoid problems in comprehension.
Subject Area
Communication|Linguistics|Gerontology|Developmental psychology|Cognitive therapy
Recommended Citation
Gernant, Renea Bernice, "Comprehension strategies for younger and older adults: An application of van Dijk and Kintsch's strategic model of comprehension" (1998). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9838592.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9838592