Emerging evidence suggests that executive function plays an important role in adult readers' understanding of text. This study examined the contribution of executive function to comprehension of expository science text among adult readers, as well as the role of vocabulary ability in the relation between executive function and text comprehension.…

Previous investigations of satire posit that satire comprehension is influenced by prior knowledge, satirical strategies, and other demographic features, such as age. However, these claims have not yet been tested using online processing techniques. In this study we investigate satire processing using newspaper headlines from the satirical…

In this review of literature we examine empirical research of individual differences in younger readers' knowledge and use of expository text structures. The goal of this review is to explore the influence of reader and text characteristics in order to better understand the instructional needs of elementary school readers. First we review research…

Boys identified as learning-disabled gifted or twice exceptional, at two different grade levels (5th or 6th grades, and 11th or 12th grades), were asked to read a history text with unknown vocabulary words, internal inconsistencies, and prior knowledge violations inserted to make immediate comprehension difficult. The students were asked to read…

A study assessed the effects of text structure and prior knowledge about its content on comprehension and recall of text by fourth and eighth grade students. Three groups, each with 15 students, were tested at each grade level. Subjects in the prior knowledge group heard and mastered a passage on one day and then heard, freely recalled, and…

This paper describes different approaches that have been used in research on reading, and reports on a study of reading comprehension in fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-grade students. Findings confirm that there are distinct age-related developmental levels in children's comprehension of literature. (PP)