ABSTRACT
Expository text is pervasive throughout the school day of children and adolescents. Informational text * is heard, read, spoken, and written on most school days by most students. Expository writing is the most common type of writing in elementary and secondary curricula (Graham & Perin, 2007). The chief commodity in school is information, the content embodied in expository text. As students learn about history, science, geography, or government, they are being educated about the natural world we inhabit and the institutions that form the social fabric of life. These informational transactions occur seamlessly across modalities where connections are the rule rather than the exception. Thus, students are commonly asked to summarize in writing information that they have heard or read, and after doing so, it may be apparent that they need to search for additional material to read. Expository discourse is also prominent in home and social contexts outside of school in discussions of sports, social relationships, likes and dislikes, and analyses of events; in these contexts, informational discourse and personal narratives are often seamlessly interwoven (Berman & Nir-Sagiv, 2007). It is not surprising, then, that the topic of assessing how well (or poorly) expository text is comprehended and produced by students is of great interest and relevance for language clinicians, teachers, special educators, parents, and district/state/ federal bodies charged with assessing student learning.
