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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Reading comprehension and vocabulary
T2 - is vocabulary more important for some aspects of comprehension?
AU - Cain, Kate
AU - Oakhill, Jane
PY - 2014/12
Y1 - 2014/12
N2 - The influence of vocabulary breadth (number of words known) and vocabulary depth (what is known about those words) on different aspects of text comprehension was examined in 83 10- to 11-year-olds. Vocabulary was not an important predictor of comprehension for details explicitly stated in the text. In contrast, vocabulary was related to inference making and, in particular, measures of vocabulary that assessed what was known about individual words predicted unique variance in global coherence inferences. The pattern of findings supports previous research reporting that measures of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are important predictors of both reading comprehension and comprehension-related skills, and critically identifies that some aspects of vocabulary knowledge may be more important for higher-level comprehension skills than others.
AB - The influence of vocabulary breadth (number of words known) and vocabulary depth (what is known about those words) on different aspects of text comprehension was examined in 83 10- to 11-year-olds. Vocabulary was not an important predictor of comprehension for details explicitly stated in the text. In contrast, vocabulary was related to inference making and, in particular, measures of vocabulary that assessed what was known about individual words predicted unique variance in global coherence inferences. The pattern of findings supports previous research reporting that measures of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are important predictors of both reading comprehension and comprehension-related skills, and critically identifies that some aspects of vocabulary knowledge may be more important for higher-level comprehension skills than others.
KW - vocabulary
KW - inference making
KW - text comprehension
KW - lexical quality
U2 - 10.4074/S0003503314004035
DO - 10.4074/S0003503314004035
M3 - Journal article
VL - 114
SP - 647
EP - 662
JO - L'année Psychologique
JF - L'année Psychologique
SN - 0003-5033
IS - 4
ER -