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Exploring the role of knowledge in predicting reading and listening comprehension in fifth grade students
Elleman, Amy M. Steacy, Laura M. Gilbert, Jennifer Cho, Eunsoo Miller, Amanda C. Coyne-Green, Aviva Pritchard, Penn Fields, R. Stacy Schaeffer, Samantha Compton, Donald
Elleman, Amy M.
Steacy, Laura M.
Gilbert, Jennifer
Cho, Eunsoo
Miller, Amanda C.
Coyne-Green, Aviva
Pritchard, Penn
Fields, R. Stacy
Schaeffer, Samantha
Compton, Donald
Abstract
Various knowledge sources have been hypothesized to relate to individual differences in reading comprehension skill in developing readers. We present results from two studies using explanatory item-response models to examine the unique role of knowledge in predicting reading and listening comprehension in 5th grade students (mean age of 10.77 years). In study 1, we investigated the importance of different knowledge sources for comprehending grade-level passages. Participants were 254 students with a range of reading abilities. We found that passage-specific topic familiarity, general academic knowledge, and vocabulary knowledge were all significantly associated with the probability of correctly answering questions about a passage. In study 2, we examined the possible transfer mechanisms that allow knowledge in one area to influence comprehension in a related but unfamiliar area. Participants were 26 students embedded in an Interactive Humanities course focusing on the Renaissance period. Students listened to parallel passages on Guttenberg and the printing press and Twitter use in the Arab Spring and answered comprehension questions. The probability of answering a question about the novel Twitter passage was significantly predicted by the ability to answer the corresponding question on the familiar printing press passage. Results point to the importance of knowledge sources in accounting for variance in comprehension performance.
Keywords
Knowledge, Reading comprehension, Listening comprehension, Individual differences, Transfer
Date
2022
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
98
Issue
Page Range
1-13
Article Number
ACU Department
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled
Notes
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.