Seeks to identify difference between six proficient and less proficient college freshmen in their use of personal evocations and reflections in the reading transaction. Finds that, although proficient readers integrate textual cues and prior knowledge in a process of reflecting about stories and characters, less proficient readers seem to approach…

Examines the effects of 2 levels of prior knowledge and 2 types of text structure on the recall and question performance of 90 fifth graders who were average readers. Finds that prior knowledge has a greater effect on question performance than on recall performance and that it only enhances the recall of one section of the text information. (MG)

Examines the effect of headings on memory as a function of readers' preexisting knowledge of passage topic. Employs a multiple-choice retention test. Finds that headings facilitate recognition memory by activating schemas and that such organizational effects of headings benefit main-idea information more than detail information. (RS)

Examines the effects of prior topic knowledge and vocabulary knowledge on tenth graders' recall of different aspects of passage content in a magazine article about a baseball ceremony. Finds 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…

Develops a text-specific prior knowledge measure that predicts the likelihood of a student's success in recalling the content of a reading passage. (HOD)

Describes two experiments that were conducted to determine the relative influence of text data and prior knowledge on the kinds of inferences children make when answering questions about stories. (HOD)

Results of this investigation indicate that the possession of high prior knowledge concerning the topic read greatly aided comprehension of that topic. (HOD)

Examines material imported into emergent readings--material that is not contained in the original written text of a book--as evidence of the types of information emergent readers use. Pinpoints four sources of nontext importations in the emergent readings: material from illustrations, from prior read-aloud sessions, from personal experience and…

Examines the relative importance of vocabulary difficulty and prior knowledge on comprehension of narrative passages. Finds that knowledge-based preinstruction can significantly improve comprehension of a text dealing with an unfamiliar topic, but cannot compensate for difficult text vocabulary. (RS)

Examines the effects of prior knowledge and oral reading accuracy on miscues and comprehension of third-grade average readers who read expository passages orally. Finds that children with high prior knowledge made fewer miscues which resulted in meaning loss, and that their miscues were graphically less similar to the text word. (MM)

Examines proficient and less proficient high school comprehenders' use of strategies as they read three passages with different top-level structures: collection, causation, and comparison. Finds that both groups of readers use similar strategies. Finds that proficient comprehenders use more previous knowledge on the collection passage and more…

Reports on a study that was designed to determine the differential holes that three variables--accessing word meaning, integrating prior knowledge, and using text structure to organize ideas--play, not only in comprehension, but also in metacomprehension. (HOD)

Concludes that sixth-grade students taught with methods that used a structured overview to activate background knowledge, the cloze procedure to develop an inferential thinking strategy, and a self-monitoring checklist to maintain the strategy increased their inferential comprehension skills as measured by both immediate and delayed transfer…

Examines the effects of a 10-week program designed to heighten fifth- and eighth-grade students' awareness of information explicitly stated in text, implied by text, and found only in the individual's knowledge base. (FL)

Examines the influence of prior knowledge and text genre on prediction strategies of eleventh grade and graduate student readers. Finds that readers' prior knowledge may significantly influence the nature of readers' prediction strategies. Uses qualitative analysis of verbal report data to examine variation in types of prediction strategies.…