Influence of topic interest on children's reading comprehension
Published
Journal Article
Previous research indicates that children comprehend more of high-than low-interest material when each child is given a mixture of both types of material. This effect could be due to a contrast effect whereby children selectively respond to the more appealing topics in their set of passages. In the present study fifth grade children each received either all high-interest cloze passages or all low-interest cloze passages but not both. Children's cloze responses were scored by the exact replacement method and by a method which included synonyms as correct. Results were that children comprehended more of high- than low-interest material, indicating that the interest effect is not dependent on a contrast phenomenon. Synonym production data indicated that high-achieving children generated more synonyms than low-achieving children and that boys produced more synonyms than girls. Thus, scoring synonyms as correct appears to have informational value. © 1978, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Asher, SR; Hymel, S; Wigfield, A
Published Date
- January 1, 1978
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 10 / 1
Start / End Page
- 35 - 47
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1554-8430
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1086-296X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1080/10862967809547253
Citation Source
- Scopus