TY - JOUR
T1 - Comprehension in a Scenario-Based Assessment
T2 - Domain and Topic-Specific Background Knowledge
AU - McCarthy, Kathryn S.
AU - Guerrero, Tricia A.
AU - Kent, Kevin M.
AU - Allen, Laura K.
AU - McNamara, Danielle
AU - Chao, Szu Fu
AU - Steinberg, Jonathan
AU - O’Reilly, Tenaha
AU - Sabatini, John
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grants R305F100005 and R305A150176) and by the Office of Naval Research (grant ONR N00014-14-1-0343). The opinions and recommendations do not reflect those of the Department of Education, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), or the Office of Naval Research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2018/8/18
Y1 - 2018/8/18
N2 - Background knowledge is a strong predictor of reading comprehension, yet little is known about how different types of background knowledge affect comprehension. The study investigated the impacts of both domain and topic-specific background knowledge on students’ ability to comprehend and learn from science texts. High school students (n = 3,650) completed two background knowledge assessments, a pretest, comprehension tasks, and a posttest, in the context of the Global, Integrated, Scenario-based Assessment on ecosystems. Linear mixed-effects models revealed positive effects of background knowledge on comprehension and learning as well as an interactive effect of domain and topic-specific knowledge, such that readers with high domain knowledge but low topic-specific knowledge improved most from pretest to posttest. We discuss the potential implications of these findings for educational assessments and interventions.
AB - Background knowledge is a strong predictor of reading comprehension, yet little is known about how different types of background knowledge affect comprehension. The study investigated the impacts of both domain and topic-specific background knowledge on students’ ability to comprehend and learn from science texts. High school students (n = 3,650) completed two background knowledge assessments, a pretest, comprehension tasks, and a posttest, in the context of the Global, Integrated, Scenario-based Assessment on ecosystems. Linear mixed-effects models revealed positive effects of background knowledge on comprehension and learning as well as an interactive effect of domain and topic-specific knowledge, such that readers with high domain knowledge but low topic-specific knowledge improved most from pretest to posttest. We discuss the potential implications of these findings for educational assessments and interventions.
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U2 - 10.1080/0163853X.2018.1460159
DO - 10.1080/0163853X.2018.1460159
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85046446971
SN - 0163-853X
VL - 55
SP - 510
EP - 524
JO - Discourse Processes
JF - Discourse Processes
IS - 5-6
ER -