Instructional text: the explanatory study text and its apparatus

Question: which parts a study text needs around its explanation, and what the evidence says about each. The problem in one sentence is in the frame.

This is a multivocal literature review (Garousi 2019) by one reviewer, searched on 2026-10-29.

Files

File Role
frame step 1: the problem, its terms, and what research and practice call each part
protocol how the pool was searched, counted, stopped and scored
sources the flow from hits to sources, then each source with its quality
review step 2: existing reviews, seminal works, one strand per sub-question, practice and Q/A
state of the art step 3: most adopted against best evidence; adoption counts; upper and lower bounds
position step 4: known, not known, where practice runs ahead of or ignores the evidence
against null and negative results, critiques, limits of the practice evidence
baseline step 5: the textbook section with its usual apparatus, and how to compare against it
shapes and checks proposals for the blocks of a study text and the checks a program could run
bibliography every cited work: key, citation, link
handoff works met here that belong to the sibling reviews, and one fix for the core
flow.json, openalex.tsv the flow as data; the formal strings for the counting script

Claims

Claim Grade Where
A text that states and refutes a misconception beats other conditions, mostly expository texts (g = 0.41, 44 comparisons; against expository text alone g = 0.36, 30 comparisons); a second pool of 294 effects agrees measured (two meta-analyses; the first read in full, the second secondary) review.md 0, 5
Whether the refutation effect lasts and holds across topics is unsettled; most tests are immediate and on one topic supported with caveat (critical review) review.md 0; against.md
Guided notes raise college achievement, d = 0.55; 0.78 against students' own notes, 0.27 against full instructor notes measured (meta-analysis, 12 studies, read) review.md 6
Learners value bold terms, glossaries, summaries and self-tests most measured, descriptive (surveys, secondary) review.md 2
Reported use and felt helpfulness of textbook aids do not predict exam scores measured, descriptive (two correlational studies, secondary) review.md 2; against.md
Specific objectives direct reading time and recall to what they name measured (experiments, abstracts); the trade-off is in the core (Klauer 1984) review.md 3
Aligning objectives, teaching and tests raises learning supported with caveat (before-and-after and correlational only; no controlled trial found) review.md 3; against.md
An end summary beat an opening one on the same page (an opening one on a separate page did as well); a short illustrated summary can match the full text supported with caveat (small, old experiments) review.md 4
Glossaries and in-text glosses are the weakest gloss forms for learning words measured, second language only (meta-regression, secondary) review.md 4
Printed explanations added to worked solutions give little; withholding them can teach concepts better measured (meta-analysis of 21 experiments; three experiments; secondary) review.md 7
Making a crib sheet does not teach, and expecting to use one breeds dependency supported with caveat (small within-student experiments with no group that did not build a sheet, secondary) review.md 6; against.md
Provided study guides help, or hurt, depending on the study measured, contested review.md 6; against.md
Open textbooks teach as much as commercial ones (g = 0.01, k = 22) measured (meta-analysis, read) review.md 0
Objectives first, key points or summary last, checks with answers: the shared template of OpenStax, the Carpentries and a course rubric convention, adopted (descriptive comparison) state-of-the-art.md
Backward design and course design rubrics improve courses convention, untested (one non-significant pilot) review.md 3, 8

Named baseline

  • The open-textbook section with its usual apparatus: objectives, bold terms defined in context, section summary, concept check with a key (OpenStax 2026b).
  • For a single lesson: the Carpentries episode, questions and objectives, challenges with solutions, key points (Carpentries 2026a).
  • Comparison: same content and time, objective-tagged and transfer items one week later, several topics, effect sizes with intervals (baseline.md).

Linked, not reviewed again

  • The six principles a study text serves are named once, in the evidence README.