Defining the Role of Prior Knowledge and Vocabulary in Reading Comprehension: The Retiring of Number 41

Abstract

Although both prior topic knowledge and vocabulary knowledge have been known to affect comprehension in general, less is known about the specifics of the interactions between these factors. Using a magazine article about a ceremony marking the retirement of a baseball player's jersey number, this study examines the effects of knowledge of baseball in general and of the career of Tom Seaver in specific and of knowledge of word meanings in general and of words used in the passage specifically on tenth graders' recall of different aspects of passage content. Vocabulary knowledge tended to affect the number of units recalled overall; prior knowledge influenced which units were recalled. Prior topic knowledge influenced whether subjects produced a gist statement in their recall and how well they recalled numbers relevant to Seaver's career. High knowledge subjects also tended to focus more on information given about his career than low knowledge subjects. Specific and general domain knowledge were so closely related that their effects could not be disentangled. A qualitative analysis of the protocols confirmed the general trends in the quantitative analysis. Results suggest both that domain knowledge and vocabulary have independent effects on comprehension and that these effects are on what is comprehended as well as how much is comprehended.