Stahl, S. A., Jacobson, M. G., Davis, C. E., & Davis, R. L. (1989). Prior knowledge and difficult vocabulary in the comprehension of unfamiliar text. Reading Research Quarterly, 24(1), 27-43.
Stahl, S.; Jacobson, M.; Davis, C.; Davis, R.
1989
Stahl, S. A., Jacobson, M. G., Davis, C. E., & Davis, R. L. (1989). Prior knowledge and difficult vocabulary in the comprehension of unfamiliar text. Reading Research Quarterly, 24(1), 27-43.
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A series of studies was conducted to examine whether vocabulary difficulty & prior knowledge interact in text comprehension, or whether a S with prior knowledge can use it to compensate for difficult vocabulary, or vice versa. Groups of sixth graders were pretaught either relevant or irrevelant information about an Amazonian tribe. They then read a passage from a fifth-grade textbook, either in the original or in a version with difficult synonyms inserted. In study 1 (N = 90), both vocabulary difficulty & preteaching affected free recall, but the two factors did not interact. Ss given the synonyms version recalled less information, suggesting vocabulary difficulty is a factor in the development of a coherent text base. Preteaching appeared to have an independent effect on the information chosen as important. In study 2 (N = 92), vocabulary difficulty was found to affect Ss' exact replacement of function words, but not content words, in a standard cloze test. Preteaching had no effect. In study 3 (N = 99), vocabulary difficulty alone affected Ss' ability to recognize order. Preteaching did affect Ss' ratings of the importance of events in the passage, as predicted, but specific ratings were not consistent with the predictions. Results suggest that vocabulary difficulty & preteaching may affect comprehension independently, not interactively. Vocabulary difficulty seems to affect microprocessing, leading to difficulties developing a coherent text base. Preteaching may affect macroprocessing, or the selection of items as important.
The results of this study confirm the past research indicating that prior knowledge and vocabulary difficulty both appear to affect revall from text, but that these effects are independent, not interactive. Giving students relevant information about an unfamiliar topic appeared to facilitate comprehension. Substituting difficult synonyms for text words appeared to impair comprehension, even when only one word out of every six content words was changes. This results contrasts with that of Freebody and Anderson (1983a), who found that a substitution ratio of one out of every six content words did not affect comprehension.
90
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