Effects of Levels of Processing and Gender Differences on Recognition of Oral Prose

Abstract

The study used a two-randomized group design to examine the effects of levels of processing (LOP) and gender on recognition of oral prose. Eighty (80) third-year undergraduate students (40 males and 40 females) randomly selected from the Department of Sociology/Anthropology of University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), participated in the study. They were aged between 20 and 28 years, with a mean age of 22.89 years. Levels of processing were varied into deep and shallow processing treatment conditions, and participants in both conditions were later given a recognition test (OPAT 11). ANOVA results showed significant effect of LOP on recognition of oral prose, F(1, 72) = 4.82, p < .05. Female participants' performance on the recognition of oral prose was slightly higher than that of male participants, although their mean scores were not significantly different. The interaction effect between LOP and gender on the response measure was also not statistically significant. It was concluded that LOP can be a powerful tool for increasing the recognition of information that students need to acquire.