The effect of general relevance instructions on shallow and deeper learning and reading time

ABSTRACT: The relevance effect refers to the facilitative effect of relevance instructions on learning. The authors examined the effect of general prereading relevance instructions on fact and concept learning, essay quality, and reading time. College students either did or did not receive relevance instructions before reading an expository text. Researchers found that general relevance instructions facilitated fact and concept learning and essay quality but did not lead to an increase in reading time. These findings supported the no-increased-effort hypothesis, which states that general relevance instructions help readers construct a more integrated mental representation of the text without increasing processing time. The authors attribute these effects to the goal-focusing nature of relevance instructions.