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Conceptual coherence, comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition: A knowledge effect?

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Reading and Writing
Authors:
Gina Cervetti at University of Michigan
Gina Cervetti
Tanya S. Wright at Michigan State University
Tanya S. Wright
Hyejin Hwang at University of Minnesota
Hyejin Hwang
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Abstract

Previous research has documented the role of readers’ existing topic knowledge in supporting students’ comprehension of text; yet, we know less about how to build students’ knowledge in order to support comprehension and vocabulary learning. In the current study, we test the hypothesis that knowledge can be built and leveraged simultaneously in the interest of students’ literacy development through the use of conceptually coherent text sets. Fourth grade students (N = 59) were randomly assigned to read either a set of six informational texts that cohered around a set of concepts related to the topic birds (CC texts) or a set of texts that addressed a range of topics (NCC group texts). After reading, we assessed students’: (1) knowledge of the concepts in the conceptually coherent text set, (2) knowledge of target concept-related words that appeared in their respective text sets, (3) knowledge of general academic words that appeared in both texts sets, (4) comprehension of a novel text on a related topic, and (5) interest in the topic of the conceptually coherent texts. Results revealed that students who read the conceptually coherent texts demonstrated more knowledge of the concepts in their texts, more knowledge of the target words in their texts, and had better recall of the novel text compared to students who read unrelated texts. Findings suggest that there is potential for knowledge and vocabulary to be built during English language arts through a focus on conceptual coherence in the design of reading experiences for students.
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Conceptual coherence, comprehension, and vocabulary
acquisition: A knowledge effect?
Gina N. Cervetti
1
•Tanya S. Wright
2
•
HyeJin Hwang
1
Published online: 28 January 2016
Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
Abstract Previous research has documented the role of readers’ existing topic
knowledge in supporting students’ comprehension of text; yet, we know less about
how to build students’ knowledge in order to support comprehension and vocabu-
lary learning. In the current study, we test the hypothesis that knowledge can be
built and leveraged simultaneously in the interest of students’ literacy development
through the use of conceptually coherent text sets. Fourth grade students (N =59)
were randomly assigned to read either a set of six informational texts that cohered
around a set of concepts related to the topic birds (CC texts) or a set of texts that
addressed a range of topics (NCC group texts). After reading, we assessed students’:
(1) knowledge of the concepts in the conceptually coherent text set, (2) knowledge
of target concept-related words that appeared in their respective text sets, (3)
knowledge of general academic words that appeared in both texts sets, (4) com-
prehension of a novel text on a related topic, and (5) interest in the topic of the
conceptually coherent texts. Results revealed that students who read the concep-
tually coherent texts demonstrated more knowledge of the concepts in their texts,
more knowledge of the target words in their texts, and had better recall of the novel
text compared to students who read unrelated texts. Findings suggest that there is
potential for knowledge and vocabulary to be built during English language arts
through a focus on conceptual coherence in the design of reading experiences for
students.
Keywords Knowledge Vocabulary Comprehension Elementary
&Gina N. Cervetti
cervetti@umich.edu
1
School of Education, University of Michigan, 610 E. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109,
USA
2
Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, 351 Erickson Hall, 620 Farm
Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
123
Read Writ (2016) 29:761–779
DOI 10.1007/s11145-016-9628-x
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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... Ivey (2002) suggested different reading materials to build comprehension and interest. Cervetti et al. (2016) determined that focusing text sets on concepts improved student comprehension, knowledge and vocabulary, and Batchelor (2017), agreed that through text sets reading comprehension is improved and history comes to life. ...
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