Comprehension of Connected Discourse.

A rationale was developed for researching reading comprehension based on information gain. Previous definitions of comprehension which were reviewed included operational vs. nonoperational and skills vs. processes. Comprehension was viewed as an informational processing event which includes a constellation of cognitive and learning processes. Two arguments for this view were made: (1) Comprehension instruction can best be devised through an analysis of the component processes involved in the extraction and recall of factual and relational information in reading material and (2) instruction to increase comprehension ability can be predicated upon such an analysis. Information gain was defined as the extraction and recall of new information from a language stimulus and was purposed as a measure of comprehension. Discussion focused on types of information, information gain, stimulus and response variables which may affect information processing, and student variables. Discussion of theoretical issues underlying information processes included long-term and short-term memory, proactive and retroactive inhibition, and units of information processing. An extensive bibliography is included. (WB)