Introduction 1
0.1 Research Orientation 1
0.2 Objective of the Study 2
0.3 Outline of the Book 7
0.4 Summary 8
Chapter One Literature Review 9
1.1 Related Theories 9
1.1.1 An Overview of Schema Theory 9
1.1.2 Cognitive Views on Reading 14
1.1.3 Analysis of Narrative Text 20
1.1.4 Factors Constraining Inferential Process 26
1.2 Related Empirical Studies 45
1.2.1 On-line Inference Measures 45
1.2.2 Previous Studies of Thematic Inferential Activities 52
1.3 Summary 67
Chapter Two Models of Thematic Inference Generation and Theoretical Framework of the Present Study 69
2.1 Definition of Key Concepts 69
2.1.1 Theme 69
2.1.2 Reading Ability 71
2.1.3 Working Memory 72
2.2 Models of Generation of Relevant Thematic Inferences 75
2.2.1 The Minimalist Hypothesis 75
2.2.2 The Constructionist Theory 76
2.2.3 The Current-state Selection Theory 78
2.3 Theoretical Framework of the Present Study 80
2.4 Summary 86
Chapter Three General Methodology and Pilot Studies 87
3.1 General Design of the Study 87
3.2 Research Questions of the Study 89
3.3 Selection of Reading Comprehension Testing Materials 91
3.4 Selection of Participants 92
3.4.1 Selection of Skilled and Less Skilled Readers 92
3.4.2 Selection of High-span and Low-span Readers 93
3.4.3 Participants Selected for the Main Studies 99
3.5 Pilot Studies 101
3.5.1 Pilot Study 1 102
3.5.2 Pilot Study 2 104
3.5.3 Pilot Study 3 106
3.6 Summary 109
Chapter Four The Effects of Two Reader-based Factors on Thematic Inference Generation 110
4.1 Experiment 1 110
4.1.1 Research Questions 111
4.1.2 Method 112
4.1.3 Results of Experiment 1 120
4.1.4 Discussion 125
4.2 Experiment 2 131
4.2.1 Research Questions 132
4.2.2 Method 132
4.2.3 Results of Experiment 2 133
4.2.4 Discussion 138
4.3 Comparison of Participants'Response Latencies in Experiments 1 and 2 143
4.4 Summary 145
Chapter Five The Effects of Two Text-based Factors on Thematic Inference Generation 147
5.1 Experiment 3 147
5.1.1 Research Questions 148
5.1.2 Method 149
5.1.3 Results of Experiment 3 153
5.1.4 Discussion 156
5.2 Experiment 4 160
5.2.1 Research Questions 160
5.2.2 Method 161
5.2.3 Results of Experiment 4 164
5.2.4 Discussion 167
5.3 Summary 172
Chapter Six Testing the Time Course of Thematic Inferential Processing in a Narrative Discourse Context 175
6.1 Research Questions 176
6.2 Method 177
6.2.1 Participants 177
6.2.2 Materials 178
6.2.3 Research Design 181
6.2.4 Procedure 181
6.3 Results 182
6.3.1 Comprehension 183
6.3.2 Lexical Decision Errors 186
6.3.3 Lexical Decision Latencies 188
6.4 Discussion 194
6.4.1 The Time Course of Thematic Inference Generation 194
6.4.2 The Ability to Generate Knowledge-based Thematic Inferences 198
6.5 Summary 201
Chapter Seven General Discussion 203
7.1 General Discussion of the Experiments 203
7.2 Thematic Inferential Model of Narrative Text Comprehension 207
7.3 Summary 217
Chapter Eight Conclusion 218
8.1 Major Findings 218
8.2 Implications of the Study 222
8.2.1 Theoretical Implications 223
8.2.2 Methodological Implications 225
8.2.3 Pedagogical Implications 226
8.3 Limitations of the Study 231
8.4 Suggestions for Further Studies 234
8.5 Summary 238
References 239
Appendices 269
Appendix Ⅰ Results of Pilot Study 1 269
Appendix Ⅱ Results of Pilot Study 2 270
Appendix Ⅲ Results of Pilot Study 3 271
Appendix Ⅳ Instructions for Pilot Study 1(Scale) 273
Appendix Ⅴ Instructions for Experiment 1 and Experiment 2(Scale) 278
Appendix Ⅵ Instructions for Experiment 3 280
Appendix Ⅶ Instructions for Experiment 4 281
Appendix Ⅷ Instructions for Experiment 5 282
Appendix Ⅸ Instructions for the Assessment of Working Memory Capacity 283
Abbreviations 285
后记 286
Table 1.1 Properties of causal relations:event A causes event B 21
Table 3.1 Number of participants in the experiments 100
Table 3.2 Distribution of participants in terms of majors 101
Table 4.1 Results of independent samples t-test of participants'reading comprehension scores 112
Table 4.2 Test sentences used in the experimental conditions in Experiments 1 and 2 117
Table 4.3 Mean response errors as a function of priming condition and reading skill 121
Table 4.4 Mean response times as a function of priming condition and reading skill 122
Table 4.5 Results of independent samples t-test for thematic ratings 125
Table 4.6 Results of independent samples t-test of participants'reading span scores 133
Table 4.7 Mean response errors as a function of priming condition and reading span 134
Table 4.8 Mean response time as a function of priming condition and reading span 135
Table 4.9 Results of independent samples t-test for thematic ratings 137
Table 4.10 Results of independent samples t-test of skilled and high-span readers'response latencies 143
Table 4.11 Results of independent samples t-test of less skilled and low-span readers'response latencies 144
Table 5.1 Results of independent samples t-test of participants'reading comprehension scores 149
Table 5.2 Results of independent samples t-test for response times to target sentences as a function of title 154
Table 5.3 Results of within-participants effects for response latencies of title priming condition 155
Table 5.4 Results of between-participants effects for response latencies of title priming condition 155
Table 5.5 Results of post hoc comparison for response latencies as a function of titling conditions 156
Table 5.6 Results of independent samples t-test of participants'reading comprehension scores 162
Table 5.7 Results of independent samples t-test of participants'sentence reading times 165
Table 5.8 Results of paired samples t-test of skilled readers'sentence reading times 166
Table 5.9 Results of paired samples t-test of less skilled readers'sentence reading times 166
Table 6.1 Results of independent samples t-test of subjects'reading comprehension scores 178
Table 6.2 Characteristics of inference test words 179
Table 6.3 Samples of passages,target items,and comprehension items taken from List A 180
Table 6.4 Participants'comprehension scores as a function of SOA 183
Table 6.5 Results of ANOVA for comprehension scores as a function of reading skill and SOA conditions 184
Table 6.6 Participants'mean lexical decision error for targets as a function of SOA 187
Table 6.7 Participants'mean lexical decision latencies for targets as a function of SOA 189
Table 6.8 Results of within-participants effects for lexical decision latencies 189
Table 6.9 Results of between-participants effects for lexical decision latencies 191
Table 6.10 Results of paired samples t-test for lexical decision latencies as a function of appropriateness and SOA for skilled readers 192
Table 6.11 Results of independent samples t-test of the response lateneies as a function of SOA for skilled and less skilled readers 193
Figure 1.1 A simplified interactive parallel processing sketch 19
Figure 1.2 Representation of a story structure defined by story grammar 25
Figure 2.1 A simplified representation of working memory 73
Figure 4.1 Mean response errors as a function of reading skill and priming condition 122
Figure 4.2 Mean response latencies as a function of reading skill and priming condition 124
Figure 4.3 Mean response errors as a function of reading span and priming condition 135
Figure 4.4 Mean response latencies as a function of reading span and priming condition 137
Figure 5.1 Mean response latencies as a function of reading skill and title priming condition 157
Figure 5.2 Mean sentence reading times as a function of reading skill and priming condition 168
Figure 6.1 Mean lexical decision errors as a function of reading skill and appropriateness 188
Figure 6.2 Mean lexical decision latencies for topic words as a function of reading skill 190
Figure 6.3 Mean lexical decision latencies for topic words as a function of SOA condition and appropriateness 191
Figure 6.4 Mean lexical decision latencies as a function of reading skill and SOA 193
Figure 7.1 Thematic inferential model of narrative text comprehension for EFL learners 210