Students learned more from context about words not previously known, but this prior-knowledge interaction appeared only in the multiple-choice data¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 1984 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? The interaction of learning from context with Prior Target Word Knowledge was significant for the multiple-choice data (F = 7.58, p < 0.01), with more learning on previously unknown words, but no such trend appeared in the interview analysis. → Nagy 1984

Evidence¶

Nagy 1984¶

Nagy, William E.; Herman, Patricia A.; Anderson, Richard C.; Pearson, P. David. (1984). Learning Words from Context. Center for the Study of Reading, Technical Report No. 319, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED248470

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Secondary interaction analysis in the same within-subject regression study: the prior-knowledge interaction reached significance only for the multiple-choice measure (F = 7.58, p < 0.01) and not for the interview measure, so the effect is measure-dependent.

"The interaction of learning from context with Prior Target Word Knowledge was significant for the multiple choice data, F = 7.58, p < 0.01; subjects learned more about words not previously known. There was no such trend in the interview analysis."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Prior Knowledge — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it
• Vocabulary — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• Eighth-grade students acquire measurable partial knowledge of unfamiliar word meanings incidentally while reading natural text, with a small but statistically reliable context-learning effect — related
• Incidental vocabulary exposure produces reliable learning, but learners pick up only a small share of the unknown words they meet — a broader claim this one bears on
• The more often learners meet a word while reading, the more likely they are to learn it incidentally; a meta-analysis of correlational studies finds a moderate correlation — related