Articles

• Semiotics
• The Development of Representational Competence
• Measuring Representational Competence
• The Sentence Verification Technique (SVT)
• The Meaning Identification Technique (MIT)
• Representational Competence of Text (RCT)

Semiotics

Before discussing the importance of representational competence in cognitive development, it is essential to understand the nature of semiotics. Semiotics is the study of sign systems. Signs are representations humans develop which convey meaning. They consist of signifiers (eg. words, numbers, notes) which represent the signified (eg. meaning, quantity, sounds). Put simply, a sign is a unit of meaning.

The highest level sign system is language, also called a meta-sign-system. Meaning is also carried in other sign systems such as gestures (a frown conveys the meaning of dissatisfaction, a smile represents pleasure or approval), street signs (a stop sign conveys a particular meaning as does a yield sign), money (conveys meaning in the value associated with bills and coins), and written music (conveys meaning represented in sounds of varying pitch, volume, and speed), to name a few. Language differs in that it can be used to describe most other sign systems while the reverse is rarely so, thus the term meta-sign-system.

The complete system of signs in which a person develops is referred to as the semiosphere. From it a learner* adopts a portion of the entire system to form the extent of their knowledge. This knowledge is a very personalized set of signs based on all a person has ever experienced or learned . It is influenced by culture, socio-economic status, language, religion, parent's education, and political climate. As it develops, the systems of signs a person adopts effects all new knowledge that is acquired. Exposure to sign systems in varying degrees shapes how we learn and how we see the world. By adulthood these sign systems are fairly well entrenched and are reflected in patterns followed when approaching a learning situation. They can be referred to as routines, with particular behaviours being followed regularly when approaching various types of learning situations.

Think, for example, of how movie producers today might create an atmosphere that conveys a time past, perhaps the 1940s. They might ask what signs are associated with the 1940s. The first thing that comes to mind is clothing, fashion then differs from fashion today. Hair styles and automobiles are also "signs of the time". Black and white movies is another. Producers would thus combine these signs (and others) to produce a movie that appears to take place in the 40s. At the same time however, such a collection of signs may only be recognized as signifying the 40s by those not in the same culture as the movie producer. Those living in the East or in the jungles of Africa, or even south of the boarder, may associate a whole different system of signs to that period. Similarly, exactly the same words uttered on one occasion or in one situation, may convey a different meaning when uttered in another.

So how does semiotics relate to representational competence? Sign systems represent the influence of the environment on cognitive development, a very strong influence which is mediated by the quantity, quality, and nature of sign systems a learner is exposed to.

The Development of Representational Competence

The first sign system to develop, in infancy, is the distinction between positive and negative feedback. This distinction is characterized by words such as yes and no, and by gestures such as smiling and frowning (each from a different system of signs). This distinction, a simple dichotomous one, is at the core of all learning to follow. The distinction between positive and negative can be observed in infants' referential looking; an infant looks to her mother for approval before taking action, with an approving look the child will continue with the planned action, and with a disapproving look the child will rethink the action, modifying it until an approving look is received. Infants can understand the distinction between positive and negative some time before they can produce it themselves. Within the first year children can produce gestures such as nodding or shaking their heads to convey positive or negative feedback. By about a year and a half, children can produce the words yes and no as well as a number of other representations which convey equivalent meaning (yes/no, good/bad, smile/frown...). Later they can produce the same meaning through written words, another system of signs.

Two levels of representational competence exist: Level I and II. Level I is associated with the ability to recognize that some symbol represents something else. In early childhood, for example, the word "dog" comes to represent the furry household pet. Initially this representation may refer to a single dog, and maybe a cat, but not the dog next door. It develops however to exclude the cat and include the neighbour's dog, the dog down the street, Collies, German Shepards, and Chuauas, and itself becomes a representation of a class of objects.

Level II representational competence is associated with the ability to re-represent meaning with a different set of signs or a different sign system altogether. It is greatly influenced by a learner's ability to process negative feedback. When a learner identifies negative feedback, the system of signs that produced it is modified; they essentially re-think the strategies which produced it and tap into there knowledge to modify their behaviour . Positive feedback however does not facilitate this change; after all, why change something if it elicits praise.

Re-representation can be observed in learners' generation of paraphrases or synonyms. This ability to re-represent is accelerated at about age 12, a period associated with puberty and the development of complex thinking skills. It continues to develop well into adulthood and perhaps for a lifetime.

A skill that accelerates in growth at about the same age is the ability to represent meaning in sub-ordinate and super-ordinate terms. For a example, the relationship between grizzly and brown is: grizzly bears are brown. Similarly, the relationship between elephant and grey is: elephants are grey. Both of these together eventually generate the superordinate relationship: animal X is colour Y; the two original relationships become subordinate to the superordinate one (add a figure here).

Large bodies of knowledge can be associated with a superordinate relationship. Think for a moment, for example, how many subordinate relationships you can generate from knowing the superordinate relationship: warm-rise. This superordinate relationship, contained in the abstract concept of convection, can be used to give meaning to a number of phenomenon, ranging from how a balloon stays afloat, to the movement of whether systems, and even the movement of the earth's crust. This ability to give meaning to new experiences based on abstract concepts is a skill that accelerates in growth during the adolescent years.

The ability to represent the world through a system of signs appears to develop independent of other skills associated with intellectual development. Learners progress through a universal series of cognitive developments which range from the ability to recognize that objects exist even when they are not in sight in infancy, to complex higher-order thinking in adulthood. These developments, generally speaking, are built in, internally wired from birth and appear with maturation. Representational development, on the other hand, is highly effected by the environment, and less so by pre-wired developmental milestones.

Representational development proceeds differently across individuals, cultures, and geographic and economic areas. This is particularly evident in those from impoverished areas. The lack of exposure to a variety of experiences, and reduced quantity and quality of these exposures, appears to play a crucial role in the development of childrens' cognitive abilities, with early depravation snowballing into retarded growth later on; the rich get richer and the poor get poorer scenario. Similarly, as in the movie producer example above, meaning, as derived from experience, differs between groups. It could thus be argued that those from impoverished areas may be exposed to a different set of meanings (ie. signs), ones which may not be represented in mainstream assessment and instruction.

Measuring Representational Competence

Since representational competence cuts across all areas of meaning--or sign systems-- a wide variety of tests can be developed to measure it. These tests can probe equivalency of meaning in text, in math, in social situations, across cultures and economic areas, and over age. One relatively simple means of measuring representational competence of text is through a method called the Sentence Verification Technique (SVT) (Royer, Greene, & Sinatra, 1987). A similar measure is obtained from the Meaning Identification Technique (MIT), a test which was developed out of the SVT.

These types of test can be adapted to practically any subject area and any age group, to measure learners ability to recognize and generate meaning from text, and they can be developed by those who are not psychometric specialists.

Similarly, the test of Representational Competence of Text (RCT) also taps into a learners' ability to recognize equivalent meaning using different signs. This is done by presenting learners with five sentences of different wording, of which at least two have the same meaning, possibly more than two to keep them honest. This method can also be adapted for arithmetic, representing quantities, for example, in various sign systems such as numbers and graphics (eg. 3 and *** mean the same thing, as does 1/3 , 3/9 and ?#). This type of test affords a reduced strain on processing capacity which may have an effect on results obtained using the SVT or MIT. With the RCT, all of the sentences being compared for meaning are in clear view at all times while completing a test item, thus reducing the load on working memory.

At older ages this test can be adapted such that learners produce the representations, an assessment of learners' ability to generate equivalency of meaning across sign systems. This is possible because by this age working memory, or processing space, is maximized and skills learned through childhood are becoming increasingly more automated, freeing up processing space for other functions such as abstract reasoning and higher order thinking.

The Sentence Verification Technique (SVT)

Learners read passages 12 -16 sentences long suited to their ability level, then read through a list of test sentences which are divided into four categories, of which they identify them as new and old. The four categories of sentences include:

1. Originals: an exact same sentence that appeared in the passage.
2. Paraphrases: sentences that have the same meaning as one that appeared in the passage but is not worded the same.
3. Meaning change: sentences in which the meaning has changed as a result of rearranging the words, thus leaving the surface features of the sentence the same.
4. Destractors; sentences that did not appear in the passage but contain meaning related to the subject.

This test is sensitive to a number of factors.

1. Text readability
2. Differences in reading ability
3. Background knowledge
4. Predicts performance on college courses
5. Formal characteristics of text
6. Memory capacity
7. Passage comprehension
8. Differences between reading and listening comprehension
9. Correlates high with what it should and correlates low with what it shouldn't

Scoring the SVT test is a simple computation of percentage correct. This can be calculated for sentence types, for a whole passage, or for several passages. The average performance is about 75% correct. The level of difficulty should be reconsidered if overall group averages fall below 65% or above 85 %. The SVT, though still relatively effective and easy to create, has been replaced by the MIT, a more stream lined version of the test which corrected for some of the shortfalls of the SVT. (See Royer, Greene,. & Sinatra, 1987)

The Meaning Identification Technique (MIT)

Below is an example of a passage and a set of corresponding test sentences. It was taken from a grade 9 text book and modified slightly so that 12 sentences formed a coherent passage. In this case only two types of test sentences exist: paraphrases and meaning change sentences. Paraphrase sentences capture the meaning of a sentence that appeared in the passage but consist primarily of different words. Meaning change sentences do not capture the meaning of a sentence in the passage but do consist of words that appeared, perhaps rearranged syntactically. The number of sentences in the passage equal the number of sentences in the test.

The test passage below would be appropriate for grade 9 or 10 science students. It might be accompanied by a number of passages constructed from materials from science curriculum just below or just above the grade level of those being tested. In such a case a series of 6 tests distributed over three grade levels could be used to judge learners' understanding of science, and to place them in work groups based on their ability. There are many possible applications that can be derived from the MIT, though the structure of the test and the procedure for administering it would remain the same.

Learners first read through the passage(s), taking as much time as they need, then turn to the test and circle either old or new. Old represents a sentence that means the same as one that appeared in the passage, and new represents a sentence whose meaning had not appeared in the passage (see Marchand, Royer, & Greene, 1988).

Example of an MIT test passage

Types of cells and batteries

Test Sentences

Types of cells and batteries

Representational Competence of Text (RCT)

This test, like the SVT and MIT, taps a reader's ability to represent meaning from text. The RCT has the advantage of not being confounded by individual differences in memory, or processing capacity, since all of the sentences being judged remain in full view while completing a test item. It also has the advantage of being adaptable across many sign systems, the test items could as easily be objects as opposed to sentences. The SVT and MIT are limited to linguistic material ( see Shafrir, Sigel,& Kingsland, 1994?). Below is an example of an RCT test item.

Example RCT Test Item

References

Royer, J.M., Greene, B.A. & Sinatra, G.M. (1987) The Sentence Verification Technique: A practical procedure teachers can use to develop their own reading and listening comprehension tests. Journal of Reading, 30, 414-423.

Shafrir, U (in press). Representational Competence, (to appear in: I.E Sigel (Ed.), The development of representational thought: Theoretical Perspectives. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.

Shafrir, Siegel,& Kingsland, (1994) Representational Competence of Text in University Students, Paer presented at the Twenty-fifth Annual Symposium of the John Piaget Society, Berkeley, California.