Investigating the contributions of background knowledge and reading comprehension strategies to L2 reading comprehension: an exploratory study

While a number of studies have investigated the influence of background knowledge and reading comprehension strategies on comprehension, no L2 research exists examining and comparing the unique contributions of these two variables examined together. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the combined and individual contributions of background knowledge and reading comprehension strategies to reading comprehension. Data collected from 20 university-level English language learners were analyzed using regression analyses. The results indicated that background knowledge and reading comprehension strategies, operationalized as self-questioning, combined to account for a significant portion of variance in reading comprehension scores, with self-questioning being a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than background knowledge.     

产出性和接受性词汇知识对阅读理解影响的相关研究

词汇是语言的基本组成要素之一,对语言学习十分重要。鉴于词汇知识对语言学习的重要性,国内外存在较多关于词汇知识和听说读写等语言技能学习之间关系的研究,但研究结果呈现多样化。本研究针对低能力水平英语学习者,从接受性和产出性的词汇知识角度,探讨词汇知识与阅读理解之间的关系。     

A case study of questioning for reading comprehension during guided reading

This case study explored how a teacher's questioning during guided reading scaffolded six children's understanding of reading. Observations and interview data conveyed that questioning statements and the teacher's involvement as a respondent prompted children's engagement and understanding of the text. Insufficient wait time and open questions with a closed intent seemed to stifle children's understanding of reading. Conclusions suggest teachers' relaxation of questioning to a conversational manner may enable guided reading to be an opportunity to develop children's comprehension on all levels.     

Lexical inference in L2: predictive roles of vocabulary knowledge and reading skill beyond reading comprehension

The current study examined the predictive roles of L2 vocabulary knowledge and L2 word reading skills in explaining individual differences in lexical inferencing in the L2. Participants were 53 Israeli high school students who emigrated from the former Soviet Union, and spoke Russian as an L1 and Hebrew as an L2. L2 vocabulary knowledge and decoding accuracy predicted L2 reading comprehension, which in turn was strongly related to lexical inferencing abilities in the L2. In addition, decoding accuracy predicted additional variance in lexical inferencing, beyond the role of reading comprehension. These findings support the idea that beginning L2 readers with more precise and efficient lexical representations demonstrate better lexical inferencing abilities, most likely due to the increased automatization of word reading, which frees up resources for higher level processing. These results suggest that lexical inferencing from text in the L2 might be limited not only by vocabulary knowledge and higher order comprehension processes, but also by basic decoding skills.     

The validity of reading comprehension rate: Reading speed,comprehension, and comprehension rates

This article describes a secondary analysis of a brief reading comprehension rate measure, percent comprehension questions correct per minute spent reading (%C/M). This measure includes reading speed (seconds to read) in the denominator and percentage of comprehension questions answered correctly in the numerator. Participants were 22 4th‐, 29 5th‐, and 37 10th‐grade students. Results showed that reading speed accounted for much of the variance in Broad Reading Cluster scores and subtest scores of the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement across all grade levels. Converting reading speed to the rate measure %C/M increased Broad Reading Cluster variance accounted for in the 4th‐ and 5th‐grade sample, but decreased the Broad Reading Cluster variance accounted for in the 10th‐grade sample. Discussion focuses on the importance of reading speed and the failure to enhance validity of a brief rate measure in more skilled readers by incorporating a direct measure of comprehension. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The effect of visual imagery training on the reading and listening comprehension of low listening comprehenders in Year 2

A study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of a representational visual imagery training programme on the reading and listening comprehension of a group of poor listening comprehenders in Year 2 (mean age: 7 years 8 months). Results indicated that relative to a matched control group, the experimental group improved significantly on a curriculum-based test of listening comprehension, a standardised test of reading comprehension and a measure of story event structure, with results approaching significance on an adapted test of listening comprehension. The implications of the results for early institution of visual imagery training in the context of listening comprehension instruction are discussed.     

The origin of centrality deficit in text memory and comprehension by poor comprehenders: a think-aloud study

The present study employed a think-aloud method to explore the origin of a centrality deficit (i.e., poor recall of central ideas) found in poor comprehenders (PC). Moreover, utilizing the diverse think-aloud responses, we examined the overall quality of text processing employed by PC during reading, in order to shed more light on the cognitive underpinnings underlying their poor comprehension and memory after reading. To address these goals, adolescents with good and poor comprehension, matched on reading (decoding) skills, were asked to state aloud whatever comes to their mind during the reading of two expository texts. After reading, the participants freely recalled text ideas and answered multiple-choice questions on the texts. Results indicated that PC exhibited lower performance than good comprehenders (GC) on the recall and comprehension tasks. The think-aloud protocols indicated that PC generated fewer responses than GC that reflect high-level, deep text processing, and more responses that reflect low-level, surface text processing. Furthermore, compared to GC, PC reinstated fewer prior text ideas, with this reduction being significantly greater for central than for peripheral ideas. Finally, the proportions of deep processing responses in general were positively associated with participants’ performance on recall and comprehension tasks. These findings suggest that PC exhibit poor text comprehension and memory, particularly of central ideas, because they construct a low-quality, poorly-connected text representation during reading, and produce fewer, less-elaborated retrieval cues for subsequent text comprehension and memory. This explanation is further illuminated in the context of previous findings and theoretical accounts.

     

Prior knowledge,reading skill,and text cohesion in the comprehension of science texts

This study examined how text features (i.e., cohesion) and individual differences (i.e., reading skill and prior knowledge) contribute to biology text comprehension. College students with low and high levels of biology knowledge read two biology texts, one of which was high in cohesion and the other low in cohesion. The two groups were similar in reading skill. Participants' text comprehension was assessed with open-ended comprehension questions that measure different levels of comprehension (i.e., text-based, local-bridging, global-bridging). Results indicated: (a) reading a high-cohesion text improved text-based comprehension; (b) overall comprehension was positively correlated with participants' prior knowledge, and (c) the degree to which participants benefited from reading a high-cohesion text depended on participants' reading skill, such that skilled participants gained more from high-cohesion text.     

论背景知识在阅读理解中的作用

背景知识的作用在近20年已引起语言学家的广泛注意。本文首先介绍了几种阅读理论，然后依据图式理论，阐述了该理论在阅读理解中的作用，认为充分利用读者所具有的图式，即背景知识，并发挥其认知能力，将会改查传统的阅读理解中所存在的不足之处，使读者在阅读理解中积极的参与思考，从而提高他们的理解技巧，使理解更快，更准确，更全面，最后指出该作用对教学的启发。     

A preliminary investigation of the concurrent validity of reading comprehension rate: A direct,dynamic measure of reading comprehension

Reading comprehension rate (RCR) is a direct measure of reading skills that may be useful in formatively evaluating students reading beyond the fourth‐grade level. To investigate the concurrent validity of RCR, we correlated RCR, reading comprehension level (RCL), and words correct per minute (WC/M) with the Broad Reading Cluster Scores of the Woodcock‐Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ‐III ACH) across 88 students in 4th, 5th, and 10th grades. Results showed that aloud‐RCR was significantly correlated with the WJ‐III ACH scores for 4th‐grade (r = .90; n = 22), 5th‐grade (r = .87; n = 29), and 10th‐grade (r = .65; n = 37) students. Regression analysis specified a one‐predictor model for 4th‐grade students (aloud‐RCR), a two‐predictor model for 5th‐grade students (WC/M and aloud‐RCR), and a one‐predictor model for 10th‐grade students (WC/M). Discussion focuses on directions for future research and applied issues related to RCR probe passage development. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 373–388, 2007.     

Word reading and reading comprehension: stability, overlap and independence

Longitudinal twin data were analyzed to investigate the etiology of the stability of genetic and environmental influences on word reading and reading comprehension, as well as the stability of those influences on their relationship. Participating twin pairs were initially tested at a mean age of 10.3 years, and retested approximately five years later. Both word reading and comprehension were found to be highly stable, and genetic influences were primarily responsible for that stability. In contrast to studies with younger participants, no unique genetic influences were observed at follow-up testing in this older sample. High genetic correlations were obtained between word reading and reading comprehension at both ages, indicating common genetic influences. However, significant genetic influence on comprehension was also observed, independent of that on word reading. Although the phenotypic relation between the two measures appeared to decline across time, the genetic etiology of this relation was highly stable.     

Component skills of text comprehension in less competent Chinese comprehenders

The present study examined the role of verbal working memory (memory span and tongue-twister), two-character Chinese pseudoword reading (two tasks), rapid automatized naming (RAN) (letters and numbers), and phonological segmentation (deletion of rimes and onsets) in inferential text comprehension in Chinese in 31 less competent comprehenders compared with 37 reading comprehension control students and 23 chronological age controls. It was hypothesized that the target students would perform poorly on these cognitive and linguistic tasks as compared with their controls. Furthermore, verbal working memory and pseudoword reading would explain a considerable amount of individual variation in Chinese text comprehension. RAN would have a nonsignificant role in text comprehension. Structural equation analyses and hierarchical multiple regression analyses generally upheld these hypotheses. Our findings support current literature of the role of verbal working memory in reading comprehension found in English. The results, however, suggest differential role of the constructs and the tasks in reading comprehension and provide some answers for comprehension impairment in Chinese students.     

语篇知识的利用与英语阅读能力的提高研究

语言存在于语篇之中,而不是句子之中。语言问题的研究离不开语篇分析。语篇分析对语言学研究具有重大的理论价值,语篇知识的掌握具有实际应用价值。在英语教学中,阅读、写作和翻译能力的提高及语法知识的掌握等都需要运用语篇知识。本文集中讨论语篇知识对学生英语阅读能力的影响,以及如何教授语篇知识的相关问题。     

Effects of immigrant background on text comprehension,vocabulary, and reading motivation: A longitudinal study

The purpose of this paper is to examine disparities in important components of reading acquisition in the context of migration. Previous empirical studies showed significant differences in reading skills between students with and without immigrant backgrounds. Data of N = 712 students tested in grades 3, 4, and 6 were analyzed with respect to group differences in reading acquisition. The autoregressive cross-lag panel-model and the latent growth curve models revealed negative effects of immigrant background on the relative position of children in the domains text comprehension and vocabulary as well as a negative effect on relative changes in vocabulary and positive effects on relative changes in reading motivation. Social inequality could not fully explain the identified effects. Immigrant background did not predict absolute growth of text comprehension, vocabulary, and reading motivation. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.     

The contribution of knowledge about anaphors,organisational signals and refutations to reading comprehension

Expository texts contain rhetorical devices that help readers to connect text ideas (within a text and with prior knowledge) and to monitor reading. Rhetorical competence addresses readers' skill in detecting, understanding and using these devices. We examined the contribution of rhetorical competence to reading comprehension on two groups of 11‐ to 13‐year‐old students: low‐level (Study 1) and high‐level (Study 2) reading skills. The measures of rhetorical competence assessed students' knowledge about anaphors, organisational signals and refutations. In both studies, each measure of rhetorical competence contributed significantly to reading comprehension once prior knowledge, working memory and decoding skills were controlled for. This contribution was higher in Study 2. Furthermore, whereas in Study 1, each measure of rhetorical competence had a unique contribution to reading comprehension when controlling for the other measures of rhetorical competence, in Study 2, only the knowledge about organisational signals and refutations had this unique contribution.