Individual Differences in Text Comprehension as a Function of Test Anxiety and Prior Knowledge

1999 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander E. Minnaert
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Test Anxiety ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Intellectual Ability ◽  
Choice Response ◽  
Comprehension Monitoring ◽  
Monitoring Task ◽  
The Relationship

This study investigated the relationship between reading comprehension and comprehension monitoring with undergraduates (223 women, 69 men). Further, the effect of test anxiety and of prior knowledge on reading comprehension and on comprehension monitoring was examined in groups of students of equal intellectual ability. Students with high scores on reading comprehension performed better on a comprehension monitoring task as well. Individual differences in reading comprehension with a multiple-choice response format emerged as a function of the interaction between test anxiety and prior knowledge. Students with low prior knowledge and high test anxiety performed worst of all. We found a far less detrimental effect of test anxiety and prior knowledge on monitoring comprehension than on reading comprehension.

Reading Comprehension

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reese Butterfuss ◽  
Jasmine Kim ◽  
Panayiota Kendeou
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
Multiple Texts ◽  
Conflicting Information ◽  
Knowledge Revision ◽  
Text Reading ◽  
Memory Contents ◽  
Models Of Reading

Reading comprehension requires the construction of a coherent mental representation of the information in a text. Reading involves three interrelated elements—the reader, the text, and the activity, all situated into a broader sociocultural context. The complexity inherent in reading comprehension has given rise to a multitude of influential models and frameworks that attempt to account for the various processes that give rise to reading comprehension: for example, activation of prior knowledge and integration of incoming information with currently active memory contents. Other models and frameworks attempt to account for the components that constitute reading comprehension, such as decoding, vocabulary, and language comprehension. Many of the most prominent models of reading comprehension describe single readers engaging with single texts. Several recent models attempt to account for the additional complexity of comprehending multiple texts. Along with engaging in comprehension of multiple texts comes the need to contend with multiple information sources (i.e., sourcing). As such, researchers have developed models and frameworks to capture the processes learners engage in when the need to engage in sourcing arises, such as when readers encounter conflicting information. Much theorizing in the reading comprehension literature has implicated typical readers, which suggests that many models and frameworks may not represent all readers across various skill levels. Existing research has identified several sources of individual differences in reading comprehension that in part determine the success of comprehension processes. Such individual differences include working memory, executive functions, vocabulary, inferencing, and prior knowledge. Prior knowledge is particularly important because of its power to both facilitate and interfere with comprehension processes. As such, the need to overcome the disruptive influence of incorrect prior knowledge (i.e., knowledge revision) becomes especially important when readers encounter information that conflicts with that prior knowledge.

Relationship between Rate of Preparation for, and Processing of, an Event Requiring a Choice Response

1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Maylor ◽  
P. M. A. Rabbitt
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Choice Response ◽  
Response Stimulus ◽  
Group Response ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Practice Trials ◽  
Experimental Trials ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

It is known that alcohol increases the time taken to identify signals and to make responses to them, but it is not known whether it also slows the rate of preparation for such events. These two performance parameters are not necessarily related, as age affects the former but not the latter. Twenty subjects participated in a 4-choice reaction time experiment in which they received no alcohol (NA) in the first session and either no alcohol (10 subjects) or 0.8 ml alcohol (A) per kg body weight (10 subjects) in the second session. In each session there were 300 practice trials, followed by 400 experimental trials at each one of five Response–Stimulus Intervals (RSI: 50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 msec). There was a significant effect of alcohol such that the reduction in response time from the first to the second session was 39 msec larger for the NA/NA group than for the NA/A group. Response time decreased significantly with increasing RSI, but there was no interaction between the effect of alcohol and RSI. Thus, alcohol slows the processing of an event requiring a choice response; however, like age and individual differences, but unlike practice, alcohol has no effect on the rate of preparation for that event. In addition, an analysis of what happened before and after an error revealed that practice and increasing RSI produce real improvements in performance rather than shifts in the tradeoff between speed and accuracy, whereas alcohol produces a real impairment. It is concluded that the relationship between the rate of preparation for, and processing of, a stimulus is not simple, as one factor (practice) influences both rates, whereas other factors (alcohol, individual differences, and age) influence the rate of processing only.

scholarly journals Predictors and outcomes of behavioral engagement in the context of text comprehension: when quantity means quality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivar Bråten ◽  
Natalia Latini ◽  
Ymkje E. Haverkamp
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Reading Motivation ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Behavioral Engagement ◽  
Written Responses ◽  
Educational Implications ◽  
Intrinsic Reading Motivation

AbstractUsing a path analytic approach with a sample of Norwegian undergraduate readers, we investigated the effects of behavioral engagement on text comprehension as reflected in students’ post-reading written reports on the topic in question. Results indicated that the behavioral engagement components of writing time and the length of the written responses had distinctive, unique effects on comprehension performance, and that behavioral engagement also mediated the effects of cognitive (prior knowledge, working memory) and motivational (intrinsic reading motivation) individual differences on comprehension performance. Prior knowledge about the topic affected comprehension performance directly as well as indirectly through behavioral engagement. The results highlight the importance of behavioral engagement in the context of written comprehension assessment, and both theoretical and educational implications of these results are discussed.

The Effect of Perceived Interest and Prior Knowledge on L2 Reading Comprehension via Several Assessment Methods in a Higher Education Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Ana Cristina Lahuerta Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
L2 Reading ◽  
Assessment Tasks ◽  
Written Recall ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
L2 Reading Comprehension

The aim of the present study is to examine the effect of perceived interest and prior knowledge on EFL reading comprehension. Participants were 227 undergraduates with advanced competence in English. With respect to the method, participants had to read a 450-word text entitled Wales. After that, they had to complete a Perceived Interest Questionnaire (PIQ), which consisted of 9 items and two assessment tasks: a written recall and a multiple choice task. The results of our study show the significant effect of perceived interest and prior knowledge on L2 reading comprehension. Thus, comprehension assessed via written recall and multiple choice questions had higher scores when readers read texts related to their interests. Besides, prior knowledge had a positive effect on the reader’s comprehension irrespective of the assessment method used. This study concludes that different assessment tasks may be crucial factors that affect the relationship between factors like interest and prior knowledge, and L2 reading comprehension.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND TOPIC INTEREST IN SECOND LANGUAGE READING

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia L. Carrell ◽  
Teresa E. Wise
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Significant Interaction ◽  
Second Language Reading ◽  
American University ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
Topic Interest ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between prior knowledge of and interest in a topic is complex. Although knowledge and interest may often go hand in hand, they do not necessarily correlate. The purpose of this study was to separate the effects of prior knowledge and topic interest on second language reading comprehension. Participants in the study were 104 students of English as a second language in an English-for-academic-purposes program at a large American university. On the basis of a prior-knowledge test and a topic-interest inventory, each student read passages and took multiple-choice comprehension tests on topics for which they had all four possible combinations of high and low topic interest and high and low prior knowledge. Results on the reading comprehension measure for the two main effects of prior knowledge and topic interest, although in the expected direction, did not reach significance, possibly because of a significant interaction between those two variables. There was also a significant effect for English proficiency level, as well as a significant interaction between interest and gender, with males more influenced by high topic interest than females. Our results are compared to those of other first and second language studies that have explicitly investigated the interrelationships among topic interest, prior knowledge, and gender.

The relationship between vocabulary knowledge and L2 reading/listening comprehension: A meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 136216882091399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songshan Zhang ◽  
Xian Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
L2 Reading ◽  
Vocabulary Depth ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
L2 Reading Comprehension

This study set out to investigate the relationship between L2 vocabulary knowledge (VK) and second-language (L2) reading/listening comprehension. More than 100 individual studies were included in this meta-analysis, which generated 276 effect sizes from a sample of almost 21,000 learners. The current meta-analysis had several major findings. First, the overall correlation between VK and L2 reading comprehension was .57 ( p < .01) and that between VK and L2 listening was .56 ( p < .01). If the attenuation effect due to reliability of measures was taken into consideration, the ‘true’ correlation between VK and L2 reading/listening comprehension may likely fall within the range of .56–.67, accounting for 31%–45% variance in L2 comprehension. Second, all three mastery levels of form–meaning knowledge (meaning recognition, meaning recall, form recall) had moderate to high correlations with L2 reading and L2 listening. However, meaning recall knowledge had the strongest correlation with L2 reading comprehension and form recall had the strongest correlation with L2 listening comprehension, suggesting that different mastery levels of VK may contribute differently to L2 comprehension in different modalities. Third, both word association knowledge and morphological awareness (two aspects of vocabulary depth knowledge) had significant correlations with L2 reading and L2 listening. Fourth, the modality of VK measure was found to have a significant moderating effect on the correlation between VK and L2 text comprehension: orthographical VK measures had stronger correlations with L2 reading comprehension as compared to auditory VK measures. Auditory VK measures, however, were better predictors of L2 listening comprehension. Fifth, studies with a shorter script distance between L1 and L2 yielded higher correlations between VK and L2 reading. Sixth, the number of items in vocabulary depth measures had a positive predictive power on the correlation between VK and L2 comprehension. Finally, correlations between VK and L2 reading/listening comprehension was found to be associated with two types of publication factors: year-of-publication and publication type. Implications of the findings were discussed.

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