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Good and Poor Readers' Recall of Familiar and Unfamiliar Text
Abstract
This study investigated poor readers' use of prior knowledge in reading by comparing good and poor readers' recall of familiar and unfamiliar text. Thirty-one third graders and thirty-one fifth graders, reading on a third grade level, and twenty fifth graders, reading on a fifth grade level, read and orally recalled two third grade expository passages, one on a familiar topic and one on an unfamiliar topic, which were very similar in structure. Both fifth grade groups recalled more than the third graders on the familiar passage. The fifth grade good readers recalled more than the poor readers and third graders on the unfamiliar passage. All groups recalled more on the familiar than unfamiliar passage, but the poor readers' mean difference score between the two passages was greater than the other two groups' mean difference scores. These findings suggest that poor readers' comprehension, in particular, suffers when their use of prior knowledge is restricted, as when reading unfamiliar material. Also, it appears that poor readers can do an adequate job of comprehending if given familiar material to read on an appropriate level.
... Similarly, Adams, Bell, and Perfetti (1995) observed that readers with high knowledge of football but with low reading skills comprehended a text about football as well as did readers with high reading skills but with low knowledge of football (fourth and seventh grade). Taylor (1979) showed a significantly larger gap in performance on recall between reading the familiar and unfamiliar topic in poor readers (fifth graders who read a thirdfourth grade level) than good readers (third graders at a third-fourth grade level). The author concluded that poor readers' reading would be more compromised than good readers when the use of prior knowledge is restricted. ...
... The author concluded that poor readers' reading would be more compromised than good readers when the use of prior knowledge is restricted. Taken the findings together, it appears that prior knowledge is supportive of poor readers' comprehension and perhaps, based on Taylor (1979), more so than for good readers. ...
... Among them, more studies have examined informational text comprehension than narrative text comprehension. Studies on the relationship between topic knowledge and informational text comprehension in L1 have consistently reported that knowledge about a topic of a text can facilitate L1 informational reading comprehension on that topic (Ho, Tsai, Wang, & Tsai, 2014;Spilich, Vesonder, Chiesi, & Voss, 1979;Taylor, 1979;Waniek & Schäfer, 2009;Yochum, 1991). ...
Reading development in students who are second language learners (SLLs) has been a concern of many educators. It is important to understand reading development in students who are SLLs to effectively support their reading development. The dissertation consists of two studies, presented in two stand-alone manuscripts, that aimed to deepen our understanding in the role of general knowledge and reading motivation in reading development in students who are SLLs, along with students who are monolinguals (MLs). Students who were MLs were also included in the studies to explore how similar or different the role of general knowledge and reading motivation are in reading development of students who are SLLs and students who are MLs. In the first study of this dissertation, I explored the contributions of kindergarten general knowledge and third-grade reading motivation to reading growth from first through fifth grade in U.S. students, using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99. The longitudinal associations of the predictors with reading growth were examined because the findings can contribute to understanding reading difficulties emerging in later grades. The main statistical approaches included factor analysis to identify motivational constructs and multi-group latent growth modeling to examine how the two predictors simultaneously predict reading growth, while controlling for early decoding skills and demographic covariates. The results indicated that early general knowledge predicted reading growth to a similar extent between the two groups (approximately beta = .20 on a growth slope). In addition, third-grade reader self-perception explained reading growth similarly in both groups (approximately beta = .09 on a growth slope), even after accounting for early general knowledge. In the second study of this dissertation, I investigated the role of fourth-grade science knowledge (a proxy for general knowledge) and reading motivation in fourth-grade reading comprehension of informational and narrative texts. The study used three merged international datasets (PIRLS 2011, TIMSS 2011, and the combined dataset of TIMSS and PIRLS 2011). By using the international datasets, the study was able to investigate reading development in fourth-grade students from five countries. Factor analyses were used to identify motivational constructs for reading, and the associations of reading comprehension of each genre with science knowledge and reading motivation were examined with multi-group multilevel regression, controlling for demographic covariates. The results indicated that science knowledge, reader self-perception, and reading attitudes predicted informational and narrative reading comprehension to a similar extent between students who were SLLs and students who were MLs (approximately R2 = .40). The concurrent and longitudinal association between general knowledge and reading development suggests that enhancing knowledge at the beginning of schooling and in the middle grades may support reading development in students who are SLLs as well as students who are MLs. However, policies related to reading development (e.g., the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act) have often focused on enhancing reading skills apart from knowledge development. It is important to convince policy makers that enhancing students’ knowledge has the potential to support reading development not only in students who are MLs but also students who are SLLs. Additionally, the two studies revealed that reader self-perception significantly predicted reading development concurrently and longitudinally for both language groups. Professional development for teachers to enhance reader self-perception of students may benefit students’ reading development, regardless of language status.
... Meanwhile, text-based processing strategies used by readers to make sense of a text. These strategies include making meaning from linguistic knowledge such as grammatical, semantic, or phonic knowledge to recognize unknown words, guessing the context from making connections between paragraphs, and re-reading (Hudson, 2011;Taylor, 1979). ...
... The differences between good reader and poor reader in using metacognition strategies to understand reading text have become the center of investigation for researchers. The results shows that, compared to poor readers, good readers have more various strategies when reading; deliberately choose strategies to fit reading purposes; use more strategies in reading; and rely on their prior knowledge when understanding reading text (Alsheikh & Mokhtari, 2011;Hudson, 2011;Iwai, 2011;Lee, 2011;Brown, 1980;Taylor, 1979). ...
... However, Taylor explains that good reader, somehow, also uses text-based strategies when reading unfamiliar text instead of using knowledge-based strategies (Taylor, 1979). Both good and poor readers will use text-based processing strategies to try to understand unfamiliar text since the use of prior knowledge is very restricted. ...
Reading is a skill mastered and gained through mindful effort. It is a complex skill, made up of different processes happening simultaneously through implementing various strategies used interchangeably. This article briefly discusses the approaches, models, and strategies in reading, especially reading unfamiliar texts.
... Therefore, comprehension of written text may be poor because of the failure to make adequate use of prior knowledge. Also important is the ability to use schemata in reading and this may differ from one reader to another (Taylor, 1979). ...
... Taylor's findings suggest that poor readers' comprehension suffers when their use of prior knowledge is restricted, especially when 33 reading unfamiliar topics. She also cncluded that poor readers' comprehension can be adequate when given familiar material on an appropriate level (Taylor, 1979). ...
... The advanced reading group scored higher on the post-test for inferential meaning than did the beginning and intermediate groups. This supported the work of Taylor (1979) who also found that good readers achieved higher scores than poor readers whether reading familiar or unfamiliar text. ...
... In studies by both Berkowitz and Taylor (1981), and McKenzie and Neilsen (1981), readers performed better on comprehension measures after reading familiar text than unfamiliar text. Holmes 6 (1981) and Taylor (1979) also reported similar results, but in these two studies differences were found between good and poor readers that did not occur in the two studies previously cited. In these latter studies, the reading ability of the studerits interacted with the familiarity of the topic. ...
... Given this constraint, junior high, high school or college students would have been suitable subjects. Though there has been some 32 33 quantification of college students' knowledge and misconceptions in physics (McCloskey, Caramazza, and Green, 1980;Hewson, 1982), most of the research in prior knowledge has used elementary or junior high school students as subjects (Anderson and Smith, 1983;Holmes, 1981;Hare, 1982;Lipson, 1982;Taylor, 1979;Maria and MacGinite, 1983). Of elementary and junior high students, eighth graders were thought to have had a reasonable amount of experience with a lecture format. ...
... Some studies have used subjects in pilots who had similar characteristics to those used in the final investigatioi to ascertain familiarity of topics (McKenzie, Neilsen, and Braun, 1981;Berkowitz and Taylor, 1981;Taylor, 1979), and inferred that their sample would have similar knowledge. ...
... Pearson, Hansen, and Gordon (1979) found that second grade students with a well developed schemata on spiders were able to answer more questions, particularly inferential questions, about a passage than those with a weakly developed schemata. Taylor (1979) investigated poor readers' use of prior knowledge in reading by comparing good and poor readers' recall of familiar and unfamiliar text. Her findings suggested that third and fifth grade poor readers' comprehension suffers when their use of prior knowledge is restricted, as when reading unfamiliar material. ...
... In most of the previous studies f written multiple choice tests or retellings were used to determine the effectiveness of the treatments (Alexander et al., 1979;Bransford and Johnson, 1972;Holtzman et al., 1982;Taylor, 1979 The major implication from the present study relates to use of the dominant language for presentation of advance organizers to bilingual learning disabled students. When the dominant language on the CALP language proficiency measure was equal or greater in English, the students scored better when the advance organizer was presented in ...
... Merkley (1997) and Simmons (1994) continued the discussion and explained that anticipation guides helped the students to compare their prior knowledge with the information in the reading material. Furthermore, Duffelmeyer et al. (1987) and Duffelmeyer (1994) Wilson and Hammill (as cited in Merkley, 1997), Pearson, Hansen, and Gordon (1979), and Taylor (1979) stated that the students' prior knowledge affected their comprehension of the reading material. Baldwin, Pe1eg-Bruckner, and McClintock; ...
... Hammill (as cited in Merkley, 1997), Pearson, Hansen, and Gordon (1979), and Taylor (1979) all believed that the activation of the students' prior knowledge was important because prior knowledge affected comprehension of the reading material. ...
... However, researchers who have simultaneously compared good and poor readers and manipulated text familiarity have found that good and poor readers have similar levels of short-term recall when the text is familiar. Taylor (1979) found no difference between good and poor third-grade readers' recall of familiar text, but the poor readers were signifi-We thank the participating students in the Musk ego-Norway School District, Wisconsin. We are especially indebted to reading specialist Jo Pirlott. ...
... Students with high reading ability but low knowledge of baseball were no more capable of recall or summarization than were students with low reading ability and low knowledge of baseball. This finding appears to contradict previous research (Taylor, 1979) in which good readers, when as equally unfamiliar with the content of a passage as were poor readers, were more able to recall it than were poor readers. It is possible that differences in content between the studies is responsible for the differences in results. ...
We investigated how prior knowledge influences the amount of short-term nonverbal and verbal memory and long-term retention in students of high and low ability in reading comprehension. Sixty-four junior high students were divided into four equal-sized groups on the basis of preassessed reading ability (high and low) and preassessed amount of existing prior knowledge about baseball (high and low). Each subject silently read an account of a half inning of a baseball game. After reading, each subject recalled the account nonverbally by moving figures and verbally by retelling the story. After an interpolated task, they summarized the game and sorted passage sentences for idea importance. There was a significant main effect for prior knowledge on all measures. No interactions between prior knowledge and ability were found. These results delineate the powerful effect of prior knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Como resultado, la representación sobre el contenido del texto que construyen es muy pobre. Dos de las principales características de estas representaciones son su excesiva dependencia del texto -pues, independientemente del nivel lector, cuantas más dificultades encuentra el lector más se basa su lectura en el texto- (Taylor, 1985) y su escaso grado de estructuración (Scardamalia y Bereiter, 1984: Pearson y Camperelí, 1985Gallini, 1989;Sánchez Miguel, 1989). ...
En los últimos años se ha producido un profundo cambio conceptual respecto a la lectura. Los resultados de la investigación en este campo han ido mostrando que los postulados formulados por los modelos predominantes antes de finales de los 70, que concebían al lector como un receptor pasivo del contenido del texto o como un ejecutor de destrezas rutinarias, y que durante mucho tiempo han servido de fundamento a los procedimientos tradicionales de enseñanza de la comprensión lectora, carecen de validez. Ante ello han ido surgiendo una serie de modelos alternativos (interactivos, metacognitivos, etc.) Que, desde una perspectiva cognitiva, consideran que la comprensión lectora es un proceso de construcción del significado del texto en el que el lector participa activamente, y en el que interactúan múltiples variables. La investigación en el seno de estos modelos ha demostrado que la ejecución efectiva dentro de cualquier dominio complejo, como lo es el proceso de comprensión lectora, requiere conocimiento sobre ese dominio, procedimientos específicos para operar en él y conocimientos y estrategias más generales que favorezcan la actuación consciente y el autocontrol. También se ha comprobado que las personas con déficits cognitivos suelen experimentar problemas en todas estas áreas, por lo que la instrucción más efectiva es la que las tiene en cuenta a todas ellas, y fomenta la participación activa y la actuación independiente. Sin embargo, son muy escasos los programas que, centrándose en el proceso, se han desarrollado para enseñar estrategias múltiples de comprensión a personas con déficits cognitivos y, con frecuencia, en la rehabilitación de estos sujetos se siguen utilizando los procedimientos tradicionales de enseñanza de la comprensión lectora, que fundamentalmente se centran en el producto.
Por ello, con el objetivo de establecer el marco general y los principios básicos necesarios para crear un programa de instrucción adecuado (y una batería de evaluación válida para comprobar su eficacia), en la primera parte de esta tesis: se describe brevemente el contexto general en el que se enmarca nuestro estudio, y se analizan los principales modelos generales sobre lectura y específicos sobre comprensión lectora que se han propuesto; nos ocupamos de la naturaleza y funcionamiento de las principales variables, procesos y componentes que intervienen en la actividad de comprensión de textos; se analizan los distintos métodos que se han propuesto para evaluar la comprensión lectora, haciendo especial hincapié en sus ventajas y limitaciones; se describen las diferencias entre los lectores de alta y baja capacidad de comprensión; se revisan algunos de los estudios experimentales de intervención que han intentado mejorar la comprensión lectora en alumnos de educación básica; nos ocupamos de precisar lo que entendemos por "sujetos con déficits cognitivos", y abordaremos la cuestión de su enseñanza, especialmente en relación a la comprensión lectora. Tras revisar los supuestos teóricos que han guiado nuestra investigación se describe y discute, en la segunda parte, el trabajo experimental realizado, el cual ha consistido en el diseño y valoración de un programa encaminado a la enseñanza de estrategias múltiples para la comprensión de textos a personas con déficits cognitivos. Los resultados obtenidos muestran la superioridad del programa que hemos creado frente a un procedimiento tradicional de enseñanza de la comprensión lectora. En concreto, nuestro programa fue claramente superior a la hora de favorecer el desarrollo del conocimiento y uso de las estrategias de control del proceso de comprensión, y del uso de las estrategias necesarias para la realización de inferencias y predicciones, y también se mostró superior para fomentar el desarrollo del conocimiento y uso de estrategias de síntesis.
... These children gain less benefit in the development of the textbase but increased knowledge facilitates the formation of a more coherent situation model. These observations are consistent across studies comparing the performance of low and high knowledge readers (Best et al., 2008;Taylor, 1979;Yekovich, Walker, Ogle, & Thompson, 1990). ...
To determine the influence background knowledge has on the reading comprehension of primary school-aged children, a critical review was conducted. Twenty-one studies were identified according to pre-determined criteria that focused on the link between background knowledge and reading comprehension of children in the mid to late primary years. The review highlighted that higher levels of background knowledge have a range of effects that are influenced by the nature of the text, the quality of the situation model required, and the presence of reader misconceptions about the text. The review also indicates that background knowledge impacts differentially on stronger and weaker readers. Findings suggest that readers with lower background knowledge benefit more from text with high cohesion, while weaker readers with a high degree of background knowledge were able to compensate for their weak reading skills. Implications of the findings for early years classroom practice are outlined, together with suggested future research directions.
... Increasing of the skills of foreign-language reading comprehension is seen in relation to gaining general knowledge in various scientific areas (social and natural sciences) in relevant languages (English, German), as well as various vocabulary, speech acts in simulation of social situations. We also agree with research by Steffensen, Joag-Dev, & Anderson, 1979;Taylor, 1979;Johnson, 1982;Carrell, 1983;Steffensen, 1986;Švecová & Pavlovičová, 2012 who identified the need of relevant general information for reader, the ability to activate and related gained knowledge with new conformation and their use. In LIP, the students of various scientific study programmes studying foreign language for specific academic purposes worked with general, gained and new information related to the area of science. ...
The aim of this study is an examination of dynamics of reading comprehension in a foreign language through the linguistic intervention programme. The point of that was to examine an influence of the linguistic intervention programme on reading comprehension skills. The linguistic intervention programme represents a method of active social learning, autonomous learning and a set of strategies and specific methods of foreign language learning. Two hundred and twenty one university students took part in this experiment, where we used as research methods - an observation and a test of foreign-language proficiency focusing on reading comprehension skills (English, German). The results have shown interesting findings in the direction of supporting or obstructing variable on the process of reading comprehension in a foreign language.
... To date, there have been several studies on the relationship of reading ability to sensitivity to various discourse elements such as inferences and macro-level characteristics of text versus micro-level characteristics (e.g., Dungan, 1977;Eamon, 1978-79;Hildyard & Olson, 1978;Marshall & Glock, 1978-79;Meyer et al., 1980;Palmer et al., 1980;Smiley et al., 1977;Spiro, 1980;Taylor, 1979Taylor, , 1980Tierney et al., 1978-79;Vipond, 1980;Weisberg, 1978;Winograd, Note 6). A common conclusion from many (but not all) of the studies is that good readers are more sensitive to the various aspects of discourse being investigated. ...
Using a story grammar, the present research probed the extent to which good readers in the third, sixth, and eleventh grades expect structures in stories, studied the nature of their expectations, and examined age-related similarities and differences in structural expectations. It was concluded that readers' responses to two tasks (a prediction task and a macro-cloze task) could be accounted for by the theory that readers expect particular structural elements and sequences of elements in stories, and that third-grade children tended to employ structural expectations less frequently than the older children. Readers at all three ages appeared to have similar structural expectations. The results were compared to other studies that used related procedures./// [French] Cette recherche, en utilisant une grammaire du récit, a approfondi l'étendue par laquelle les bons lecteurs des classes de neuvième, sixième et première prévoient les structures des récits qu'ils lisent, elle a également étudié la nature de leurs prévisions et examiné les ressemblances et différences ayant rapport à l'âge dans les prévisions structurelles. On en a conclu que les réponses des lecteurs à deux tâches (une tâche de prévision et une tâche "macro-cloze") peuvent être expliquées par la théorie suivante: les lecteurs prévoient des éléments structurels particuliers et des séquences d'éléments dans les récits et les éléves de neuvième tendent à déployer des prévisions structurelles de façon moins fréquente que les éléves plus âgés. Les lecteurs des trois niveaux ont semblé avoir des prévisions structurelles similaires. On a comparé les résultats à d'autres études qui ont utilisé des procédés ayant les mêmes rapports./// [Spanish] Utilizando una gramática con historias, la presente investigación examinó hasta qué punto buenos lectores de grados 3, 6 y 11 esperaban encontrar estructuras en las historias, estudió la naturaleza de lo esperado, y examinó similaridades y diferencias de expectativa estructural con relación a edad. Se llegó a la conclusión que las respuestas de los lectores a dos actividades (una de predicción y otra de completar "cloze"), podía atribuirse a la teoría que lectores esperan ciertos elementos y secuencias de elementos estructurales en historias, y que niños del tercer grado tendían a expresar expectativa estructural con menos frecuencia que los alumnos mayores. Los lectores de las tres diferentes edades parecían tener expectativas estructurales similares. Los resultados se compararon con otros estudios que utilizaron procedimientos relacionados.
... Similarly, manipulating other aspects of text also produces inconsistent results. Some students benefitted from having background knowledge of some text context (Cote et al., 1998; Marr & Gormley, 1982; Miller & Keenan, 2009; Taylor, 1979). However, prior knowledge was not associated with improvements in recall of all content (Yochum, 1991), and students could also misuse prior knowledge, particularly when making inferences (Malicky & Norman, 1988). ...
The purpose of this narrative synthesis is to determine the reliability and validity of retell protocols for assessing reading comprehension of students in grades K-12. Fifty-four studies were systematically coded for data related to the administration protocol, scoring procedures, and technical adequacy of the retell component. Retell was moderately correlated with standardized measures of reading comprehension and, with older students, had a lower correlation with decoding and fluency. Literal information was retold more frequently than inferential, and students with learning disabilities or reading difficulties needed more supports to demonstrate adequate recall. Great variability was shown in the prompting procedures, but scoring methods were more consistent across studies. The influences of genre, background knowledge, and organizational features were often specific to particular content, texts, or students. Overall, retell has not yet demonstrated adequacy as a progress monitoring instrument.
... Differences in moral judgment development were expected to affect the comprehension of the moral texts in particular ways. In previous research, it has been demonstrated that familiarity with the content of a text improves recall Crafton, 1983;Spilich et al., 1979;Taylor, 1979). Similarly, it was hypothesized that participants who on the DIT ranked Stages 5 and 6 items as highly important (implying that Stages 5 and 6 schemas were evoked) would also recall more Stage 5 reasons in the narratives (indicating that Stage 5 moral schemas were evoked during the reading recall task). ...
Much attention has been focused on the importance of reading moral stories to children (e.g., W. Bennett, 1993). Although research on general discourse comprehension is flourishing, little attention has been given to how moral discourse is understood by individuals; that is, what affects an individual's comprehension of a moral text? Eighth-grade and college students read and recalled four complex moral narratives in which moral arguments at different Kohlbergian stages were embedded. Participants then took the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a measure of moral judgment development. Those with higher reasoning scores on the DIT reconstructed more high-stage moral arguments during recall, including adding high-stage moral reasoning that was not in the original text. Significant age-level differences in cumulative moral judgment concepts were also found. Prior moral knowledge affected the comprehension of complex moral narratives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Comparisons between good and poor readers showed that good readers retained more of a text they had read (Ryan, 1981). This was not the consequence of differing short-term memory abilities; rather, it was general knowledge that was responsible for the improved retention (Taylor, 1979). The influence of prior knowledge on reading comprehension of readers with learning disabilities was also examined. ...
The study examines the relationship between general knowledge, skills in applying reading strategies, and reading comprehension for ninth-grade students at varying educational levels: academic, semi-academic, vocational and learning disabilities. Two hundred and five students received a battery of tests evaluating their general knowledge, skills in applying four reading strategies (summary, self-questioning, clarification and prediction), and two reading comprehension tests. The findings revealed differential contributions of general knowledge and strategy application to reading comprehension. Compared with the academic students, semi-academics have deficient strategic skills. Vocational students, in addition to deficient strategic skills, have poor general knowledge, which further impedes their reading comprehension. The deficiency of students with learning disabilities goes beyond these two components. These results led us to recommend different foci of comprehension intervention for each group.
... The results of such studies indicate that those children with high prior knowledge have better text comprehension (e.g., Taft & Leslie, 1985), and that prior knowledge benefits inference-making in particular (e.g., Marr & Gormley, 1982;Pearson, Hansen, & Gordon, 1979). Other investigations have shown that relevant background knowledge can compensate for the problems of poor readers (e.g., Adams, Bell, & Perfetti, 1995;Recht & Leslie, 1988;Taylor, 1979). Cain, Oakhill, Barnes, and Bryant (2001) showed, however, that differences in comprehension might occur even when prior knowledge is equated between groups with different levels of reading skill. ...
This study investigates how, and to what extent, young readers (7–8year-olds) use text information or their prior knowledge
when answering comprehension questions about narrative texts. The children were asked to explain how they found out their
responses by answering the following question: “how do you know this answer?” Their answers and justifications were analysed
both qualitatively and quantitatively. The text proved to be the main source of information for these readers. However, sometimes
the children seemed to ignore the text and over rely on their prior knowledge to answer the questions. The procedure of asking
children to justify their answers was shown to be a good way of specifying more precisely some of their problems in text comprehension.
It also seemed to encourage them to look back at the text and review their responses and, as such, it could be considered
a useful tool to improve children’s reading comprehension.
... Las figuras 1 y 2 ofrecen un ejemplo de un párrafo de un texto expositorio y su representación en diagrama de flujo. El objeto de enseñar a realizar diagramas de flujo de textos es doble; primero, el diagrama de flujo de teXtos imita la manera en que se estructura el conocimiento (Anderson, 1976; Smith, 1980; Posner, Nota 4) y se supone que se organizan las estructuras del texto (Armbruster & Anderson, 1980; Meyer et al., 1980; Taylor, 1979 ; Dansereau , Nota 5; Schallert, Tierney & Ulerick , Nota 6). Así, parecería económico y lógico articular el conocimiento previo así como el reconocimiento individual de la estructura del texto dentro de un marco de referencia jerárquico. ...
Knowledge of text structure discriminates between good and poor readers. Therefore, an instruction programme focused on text structure should facilitate reading comprehension. The aim of the study is to train less skilled readers to focus their attention on the text�s structure. The approach adopted was to teach students how to elaborate flow diagrams using particles as logic and structural markers of the text. The use of flow-charts as a tool to learn about the text structure and recognize indicators is proved useful and shown to improve reading strategies. El conocimiento de la estructura del texto discrimina a los buenos lectores de los peores. Una instrucción centrada en la estructura del texto debería facilitar la comprensión de la lectura. Se plantea una investigación cuyo objeto es ver los resultados de entrenar a los lectores menos diestros en fijar su atención en la estructura de los textos. El entrenamiento se centró en la enseñanza de la realización de diagramas de flujo utilizando las partículas como marcadores lógicos y estructurales del texto. Se demuestra que el empleo de diagramas de flujo como herramienta para buscar la estructura del texto y reconocer sus indicadores es útil y mejora las estrategias de lectura.
... Here we consider the specific postulate that prior knowledge could compensate for conditions in which there is a reduced working memory capacity (cf. Adams et al., 1995; Taylor, 1979; West, Stanovich, & Cunningham, 1995). To the extent that knowledge facilitates lexical access, organizational and integration processes, and construction of a situation model, knowledge should reduce demands on working memory. ...
An experiment is reported in which young, middle-aged, and older adults read and recalled ambiguous texts either with or without the topic title that supplied contextual knowledge. Within each of the age groups, the participants were divided into those with high or low working memory (WM) spans, with available WM capacity further manipulated by the presence or absence of an auditory target detection task concurrent with the reading task. Differences in reading efficiency (reading time per proposition recalled) between low WM span and high WM span groups were greater among readers who had access to contextual knowledge relative to those who did not, suggesting that contextual knowledge reduces demands on WM capacity. This position was further supported by the finding that increased age and attentional demands, two factors associated with reduced WM capacity, exaggerated the benefits of contextual knowledge on reading efficiency. The relative strengths of additional potential predictors of reading efficiency (e.g., interest, effort, and memory beliefs), along with knowledge, WM span, and age, are reported. Findings showed that contextual knowledge was the strongest predictor of reading efficiency even after controlling for the effects of all of the other predictors.
... When texts are inconsistent with readers' activated knowledge structures, readers will understand poorly (Bransford & Johnson, 1972), misrecall (Steffensen, Joag-Dev, & Anderson, 1979), and even distort memory to fit with their schematic structures (Bartlett, 1932;Reynolds, Taylor, Steffensen, Shirey, & Anderson, 1982). Similarly, recall of a text is superior when the reading topic is familiar (Crafton, 1983;Taylor, 1979) or when it conforms to background knowledge Spilich et al., 1979). ...
Moral text processing was used as an ecologically valid method for assessing implicit and explicit moral understanding and development. The authors tested undergraduates, seminarians, and graduate students in political science and philosophy for recall of moral narratives and moral expository texts. Multivariate analyses of covariance using educational experience as an independent variable, age and moral judgment score as covariates, and recall of embedded moral arguments as a dependent variable revealed a relation between education and level of moral arguments recalled. Lower stage moral reasoning was best recalled by undergraduates, whereas higher stage reasoning was best recalled by graduate students, with seminarians intermediate for both types of text. Moral judgment score was related to recall of the highest level moral arguments even when age and educational experience were controlled. Moral judgment development appeared to be particularly helpful in recall of expository compared with narrative texts.
Purpose: The work at hand examines the effects of cultural texts, integrated in the language teaching and learning, on students’ communicative competence in third and fourth forms secondary school. It has been noticed that some teachers of English do not yet distinguish a literary (cultural) text from a scientific or technical one precisely while determining pedagogic purposes. Methodology: To gather data in this research, an experimental study was conducted in third and fourth forms secondary school in Goma. Findings: The overall findings have revealed that cultural texts influence both reading comprehension, retelling and interpretation skills, a real gateway to communicative competence enhancement. In other words, this study brings a new vision to the practice of communicative activities as currently carried out in Goma secondary schools. Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: It arises English teachers’ concern not only for the message expressed by the text, but also for the exploitation of students’ cultural values and schemata to heighten their communicative competence.
Translational research—a bridge between research in more controlled settings and application in more complex contexts—is an essential step in developing effective evidence-based practices. Yet, it is rare. Previous lab-based research has recommended wakeful rest (WR)—a relaxed state of mind in the absence of activity—as a classroom intervention to promote memory consolidation and improve both short- and long-term memory. We implemented the proposed WR intervention in a simulated classroom context. The results did not support the recommendations from studies in more controlled settings: WR did not improve participants’ short- or long-term memory. We discuss the importance of translational research in applying promising principles to classroom settings before making recommendations for practice.
We investigated linguistic factors that affect peoples’ trust in science and their commitment to follow evidence-based recommendations, crucial for limiting the spread of COVID-19. In an experiment ( N = 617), we examined whether complex (vs. simple) scientific statements on mask-wearing can decrease trust in information and its sources, and hinder adherence to behavioral measures. In line with former research on social exclusion through complex language, we also examined whether complexity effects are mediated via feelings of social exclusion. Results indicate that negative effects of text complexity were present, but only for participants with a strong conspiracy mentality. This finding informs how to increase trust in science among individuals with a high conspiracy mentality, a population commonly known for its skepticism towards scientific evidence.
We investigated linguistic factors that affect peoples’ trust in science and their commitment to follow evidence-based recommendations, crucial for limiting the spread of COVID-19. In an experiment (N = 617), we examined whether complex (vs. simple) scientific statements on mask-wearing can decrease trust in information and its sources, and hinder adherence to behavioral measures. In line with former research on social exclusion through complex language, we also examined whether complexity effects are mediated via feelings of exclusion. Results indicate that negative effects of text complexity were present, but only for participants with a strong conspiracy mentality. This finding informs how to decrease distrust in science among individuals with high conspiracy mentality, a population commonly known for its rejection of scientific evidence.
The aim of the current research study was to examine the dynamics of foreign language competence as applied in a programme designed for foreign language competence development in an academic environment. The programme, named The Linguistic Intervention Programme, represented a variety of active social learning techniques, self-regulated learning and a set of specific foreign language teaching strategies. One hundred and three university students participated in the research experiment. The research method utilized a foreign language proficiency test to serve as the appropriate tool to study the effects of the LIP techniques on the sample. The findings reveal that the result of the LIP in foreign language competence does not depend on the selection of foreign languages, meaning that the LIP is efficacious no matter what language is used in application of the techniques.
Although the concept of general reading skill has been assumed to be the primary contribution to comprehension, a demonstration that reading skill contributes to comprehension independent of domain knowledge has been lacking. This research investigates the relative contribution and trade-off effects of children’s knowledge and reading skill in text comprehension in a single study. Children in Grades 4 through 7, grouped as high or low reading skill and high or low knowledge on the basis of a domain-specific topic, participated in this study. Comprehension was measured in two parallel texts: one domain specific and one domain general. The results suggested that domain knowledge and reading skill can be traded in order to achieve similar levels of comprehension. Reading skill compensates for deficient knowledge and specific knowledge compensates for deficient reading ability.
This research explored the implications for assessment derived from a view of literacy as an interactive process that varies from reading situation to situation. Specifically, this research examined the variability existing within and among a group of less able readers with comparable scores on a standardized reading test under reading conditions representing different combinations of familiarity, text type, length, and mode of reading. The results indicated that each factor investigated had a differential effect on individual student's reading comprehension. These results imply the need to identify the various conditions that contribute to functional literacy and incorporate them in our assessments and instructional procedures.
A study investigated the relationship between reading achievement and predictive abilities for narrative text structure of 96 fourth grade and 70 sixth grade readers. The subjects (1) silently read incomplete stories and then told the rest orally, and (2) silently read stories that had parts deleted and then orally gave information they thought could fit in the blank sections. The degree to which readers expected particular story structures was revealed by the extent to which their responses matched the story parts predicted by the J. M. Mandler and J. S. Johnson grammar. The major finding was that, on the whole, at each grade level, there was a positive relationship between reading achievement and the ability to anticipate narrative text structure during reading. The relationship was consistent across grades. In addition, there was no significant difference between fourth grade and sixth grade readers in the extent to which particular story structures were expected. (Author/FL)
The present study was designed to investigate the effects of classroom instruction on good and poor readers’ use of description and comparison top‐level structures for signalled and non‐signalled passages. The subjects were 52 tenth grade students, 20 good and 32 poor readers, who were randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions within regular classroom settings. Training, provided by the English teacher on four consecutive days, included the use of description and comparison top‐level structures. All subjects were tested on the fifth day using a written recall task for signalled and non‐signalled forms of comparison and description passages. Analysis of variance showed significant differences between good and poor readers on all measures; between treatment and control poor readers for use of structure and signalling; and between description and comparison passages for poor readers in both conditions. It was concluded that training in a natural instructional setting can improve poor readers’ ability to use top‐level structure in signalled and non‐signalled passages.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of prior knowledge, explicitness and clause order on fifth‐ and sixth‐grade readers’ ability to infer causal cohesive ties in text. One hundred sixty‐eight fifth‐ and sixth‐grade students were randomly assigned from three prior knowledge blocks to participate. A text booklet comprised of four versions of six experimental passages was developed: an explicit‐normal‐clause‐order version, an implicit‐normal‐clause‐order version, an explicit‐reversed‐clause‐order version, and an implicit‐reversed‐clause‐order version. Comprehension of the causal relationships in the passages was measured by free recall task, a yes‐no‐why question, cohesion cloze tasks, literal and inferential questions. Significant effects for explicitness were found for fifth‐grade readers on all variables but only on the cohesion cloze task for sixth‐grade. Significant effects for prior knowledge were found for fifth‐ and sixth‐grade students on all variables except the cohesion cloze task. Significant effects for clause order were found for fifth‐grade readers’ on literal comprehension and for fifth‐ and sixth‐grade readers on the cohesion cloze task. There was a significant interaction between prior knowledge and clause order on the literal comprehension variable for fifth grade. No other significant interactions with prior knowledge were found.
We observe that at‐risk readers often have narrow notions about the reading process and their own roles as readers. Examples of such notions are provided, and research related to at‐risk readers’ comprehension strategies is reviewed. We suggest that several aspects of typical reading instruction for at‐risk readers may contribute to their views about reading and behaviors as readers: opportunity to read, content of discussions about reading, and teacher responses to miscues. Aspects of the broader classroom environment, particularly emphases on competition and “doing work,” may also affect at‐risk readers’ conceptions of reading and behaviors as readers. We offer several suggestions for evaluating these aspects of the classroom environment and for helping at‐risk readers rethink their views about reading.
Reading is a complex cognitive process in which the reader, through interaction with the text, constructs meaning. During
the last 20 years, advances in theory and research have improved our understanding of the reading process. Although reading
researchers might disagree about the exact nature of the processes involved in skilled reading, it might be generally agreed
that the most important components of reading are word recognition and comprehension. In identifying and making sense out
of the words being read, readers employ orthographic and contextual information, together with the knowledge and expectations
they bring to the reading episode.
Although research on reading and comprehension indicates that subjects’ prior knowledge plays an important role in learning new information from text, several methodological (as the diversity of methods to consider subjects’ prior knowledge) and theoretical (as lack of model of knowledge representation) difficulties make hard to understand the outcomes of the studies in this area. Some researches show that prior knowledge have no effect on reading comprehension. However, most of the studies show that prior knowledge have impact on reading performances. If they can act to distord text, interfering with new information to align it with reader’s previous ideas, they have also positive impact. Often, a modification of reading time is observed when subjects have high knowledge about the topic of the text. We think that these results suggest that prior knowledge can facilitate the reader’s knowledge base activation, his inference activity and his perceptions of the importance of information. To have a complete portrait about this question, we have to examine the relationships between prior knowledge and some other related subjects as, other kinds of knowledge, text- and other reader-based factors, etc.
Typescript. Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1987. Bibliography: leaves [207]-220. Photocopy. x, 220 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm
Bibliography: leaves 42-44 Supported in part by the National Institute of Education
Manipulated comprehension of metaphorical passages by prior presentation or nonpresentation of a short title reflecting their theme or main idea. Word order was varied independently by presenting the material in 1 of 3 forms: (a) random words, (b) random phrases, and (c) prose. In Exp. I with 120 undergraduates, both variables facilitated free recall performance with no interactions. In Exp. II with 240 undergraduates, a paced binary-recognition test followed the same input conditions. Ss who understood the theme performed better only with those words prejudged as thematically relevant, indicating a true semantic effect and a process of matching test words to an internally stored thematic surrogate. Results suggest that an abstract representation of a passage's central meaning is used as a mnemonic device in the retention of prose. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Described 4 models for accounting for reading difficulty: defect, deficit, disruption, and difference. Poor readers fitting 2 of these models, a Difference group (assumed to read word-by-word) and a Deficit group (assumed to have relatively inadequate vocabulary skills) were compared with each other and with good readers. Ss were 64 male undergraduates. As hypothesized, the Difference group but not the Deficit group read as well as good readers when material was presented in preorganized phrases. Results support the notion that 1 source of comprehension difficulty can be attributed to a difference in the way some poor readers organize reading input. Implications for differential diagnosis, remediation, and research are discussed.
2 experiments concerned with memory and comprehension of prose passages were conducted with children from second through seventh grade. In both experiments the major variable was the provision of appropriate frameworks for comprehending ambiguous sections of the passages. In the initial experiment, recognition of themecongruent and incongruent foils was the main metric, while in the second experiment intrusions in recall and postrecall interviews were used to measure the influence of preexisting expectations on story comprehension and recall. The main effect was the striking absence of developmental trends; children behaved like adults in both the recall and recognition studies. Recall of ambiguous passages was enhanced if a relevant framework was given intrusions reflected the prior orientation, and the subjects had difficulty distinguishing between their own embellishments and the actual story content. Under recognition conditions, children treated themecongruent foils as if they were target items and incongruent foils as if they were distractors. It is argued that for children as well as adults schemata provide the interpretive framework for comprehending discourse.
When the variables of juncture, pitch, and stress were analyzed for a large sample of oral reading behavior from 7-year-old children, different behavior patterns emerged for children at different stages of reading progress. The behavior of the best readers suggested the hypothesis that they were processing cues at the intersentence, sentence, phrase, and word level whereas the behavior of the poor readers was dominated by part-word and word cues. The study provides further behavioral evidence that the quality of early reading progress is related to the organization of the sequential decoding activity, and implies a processing advantage for linguistic over visual cues.
The present paper presents a series of studies showing that relevant contextual knowledge is a prerequisite for comprehending prose passages. Four studies are reported, each demonstrating increased comprehension ratings and recall scores when Ss were supplied with appropriate information before they heard test passages. Supplying Ss with the same information subsequent to the passages produced much lower comprehension ratings and recall scores. Various explanations of the results are considered, and the role of topics in activating cognitive contexts is discussed.
Bibliography: leaves 28-31
Schema-directed processes in language comprehension Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading Contextual prerequisites for understanding: Some in-vestigations of comprehension on recall
- R C Anderson
- J D Johnson
ANDERSON, R. C. Schema-directed processes in language comprehension (Technical Report No. 50). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading, 1977. r380 Journal of Reading Behavior BRANSFORD, J. D., & JOHNSON, M. K. Contextual prerequisites for understanding: Some in-vestigations of comprehension on recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1972, 11, 711-726
Schema-directed processes in language comprehension
ANDERSON, R. C. Schema-directed processes in language comprehension (Technical Report
No. 50). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading, 1977.
Journal of Reading Behavior