The Effects of Content Schema on Reading Comprehension for Hispanic, Black, and White Cultural Groups
Schreck, Janice Vanderploeg
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/66059
Description
Title
The Effects of Content Schema on Reading Comprehension for Hispanic, Black, and White Cultural Groups
Author(s)
Schreck, Janice Vanderploeg
Issue Date
1981
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Reading
Language
eng
Abstract
This research examined the relationship between content schema and reading comprehension for fifth- and sixth-grade readers from three different American cultural groups. The primary intent of the study was to determine whether students would comprehend culturally familiar reading material better than culturally unfamiliar reading material. Three groups, each comprised of 20 students, represented each of three cultural backgrounds: Hispanic, Black, and White. Every student read three passages, each constructed to reflect content peculiar to one each of the three cultural groups. Comprehension was measured by cloze performance, free recall, and responses to literal and inferential questions. Time to complete each reading task and oral reading word recognition accuracy was also assessed. Additionally, students rated the three passages for degree of familiarity, interest, enjoyment, reading difficulty, and comprehension difficulty.
For participants in this study, the results indicated that cultural familiarity significantly facilitated comprehension and memory for connected discourse. Students in each of the three cultural groups produced more correct information and fewer responses inconsistent with textual content on their respective culturally familiar passage than on either of the two less culturally familiar passages. In no instance did girls and boys differ overall, either in their comprehension and memory performance or in their perceptions about passage attributes. The greatest degree of variability among readers occurred when students rated the passages in terms of interest, enjoyment, reading difficulty, and comprehension difficulty. In many instances, students' perceptions of these passage characteristics were not reflective of their actual test performance.
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