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A. PIOLAT & J.Y. ROUSSEY
are interdependent, punctual modifications in the text may disrupt its overall structure, at
the same time as more global corrections may make local readjustments necessary. To revise
a text, the writer is thus confronted with the need to establish an order for making the
necessary series of corrections, while simultaneously monitoring the coherency and cohesion
of the text.
The on-line study of the progression of complex activities has become a crucial part
of research in cognitive psychology, as strategic decisions may be made at every stage of
the activity. The way in which a reviser, step by step, orders the corrections he or she decides
to make is in our mind the result of a strategic decision, even if that decision involves
proceeding ((at random».
The purpose of this study is to specify what these options are: How do revisers of varying
ages and levels of expertise string together a series of corrections in order to improve a text
in which errors have been deliberately introduced? What are the functional principles
underlying the way in which they proceed?
It appears relevant to us to distinguish between observable behavior and the processes
which, on the basis of predictions, make that behavior possible. Only differences between
procedures are observable. A given procedure results from the application of a strategy, which
in turn is characterized by the hypothetical aspects of the subject's functioning that are to
be established and validated. Before observing the way revisers actually operate, the strategies
they could potentially use were expressed here in concrete form as model procedures.
By hypothesis in this study, the correction-sequencing strategies that allow revisers to
transform a text as expected are based on the following functional principles:
- Correct errors in the text in their order of occurrence, starting at the beginning
and going to the end of the text. The spatial organization of texts (obvious
beginning and end, highly contingent linearization of words) can serve as
a support for the thorough scanning, verification, and correction of all
linguistic errors in the text.
- Either simultaneously or consecutively improve the within- and between-
statement levels of the text. Given that the management of a series of problems
pertaining to different linguistic levels may cause a cognitive overload, the
reviser can either handle these two levels at the same time (simultaneous
processing) or one after the other (consecutive processing).
- Make the corrections economically by moving as few linguistic items as
possible.
By combining these principles, three theoretical correction-sequencing strategies for
obtaining the expected final text were defined:
1. Simultaneous Strategy (S.S.)
- A single, in-order pass through the text.
- Simultaneous monitoring of all linguistic levels.
2. Local-then-Global Strategy (L.G.S.)
- At least two in-order passes through the text.
- Monitoring of the surface (within-statement) level first, then the deep
(between-statement) level.
3. Global-then-Local Strategy (G.L.S.)
- At least two in-order passes through the text.
- Monitoring of the deep (between-statement) level first, then the surface
(within-statement) level.
These theoretical correction-sequencing strategies are based on the assumption that a
reviser is an ideal executor who: