ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the comprehension of expository text can be facilitated by removing from the reader some of the cognitive load imposed by component reading processes and memory management processes. It presents s cognitive workbench model for processing expository. The more cognitive activities the reader must engage in concurrently, the less cognitive capacity is available for each. The human cognitive processing system is limited in capacity. The term ‘cognitive workbench’ is borrowed from Klatzky, who used it in a somewhat different sense. Instead, the cognitive workbench model assumes that the component processes are moved back and forth from the very large capacity long-term memory to the workbench according to a higher order program. Demand fetching of the elements needed for understanding expository text is likely to occur more often than pure prefetching, particularly on the first reading of an unfamiliar expository text. Some of the reallocations can be accomplished by changes in the form of the text.
