Reading is a goal directed activity. Text
information that closely matches a reader s goal is
more relevant, whereas information that does not
match the goal is less relevant. Relevance
instructions are prompts that provide criteria for
focusing reading goals. Relevance instructions help
readers generate goals and specific strategies for
reading, allocate resources in a more systematic
way, and learn more. This book presents a taxonomy
of relevance instructions and summarizes research on
this topic. A model of goal-focusing is presented
that explains how relevance affects text
processing. A study examining the effect of
specificity of relevance instructions on reading
time and learning is presented.
information that closely matches a reader s goal is
more relevant, whereas information that does not
match the goal is less relevant. Relevance
instructions are prompts that provide criteria for
focusing reading goals. Relevance instructions help
readers generate goals and specific strategies for
reading, allocate resources in a more systematic
way, and learn more. This book presents a taxonomy
of relevance instructions and summarizes research on
this topic. A model of goal-focusing is presented
that explains how relevance affects text
processing. A study examining the effect of
specificity of relevance instructions on reading
time and learning is presented.