Text cohesion interacts with background knowledge: low-knowledge readers benefit from high cohesion, high-knowledge readers from low cohesion (reverse cohesion effect)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 2 studies · 2 review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Readers with less knowledge recall more and answer inferential questions better after reading highly cohesive and coherent texts. → Reid Smith 2021 q2 i? High-knowledge children develop more complete situation models with lower-cohesion texts, which forces deeper processing. → Reid Smith 2021 (2)

Evidence¶

Reid Smith 2021¶

Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry & Lorraine Hammond (2021) The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A Critical Review, Reading Psychology, 42:3, 214-240, https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2021.1888348

q2 · i? · review · r2

Review reports McNamara et al. (1996) finding that low-knowledge readers benefit from cohesive texts that provide more support for textbase and situation model production.

"McNamara and colleagues (1996) deter- mined that readers with less knowledge were more able to recall key fea- tures and answer inferential questions after reading a highly cohesive and coherent text."

Reid Smith 2021 (2)¶

Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry & Lorraine Hammond (2021) The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A Critical Review, Reading Psychology, 42:3, 214-240, https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2021.1888348

q2 · i? · review · r2

Review reports the reverse cohesion effect for high-knowledge readers, who process low-cohesion texts more actively and form richer situation models.

"In contrast, high knowledge children developed a more complete situation model, and hence a greater understanding of the text, when the text had lower cohesion. For these readers, the additional processing required for low cohesion text forces them to produce a more complete situation model (McNamara et al., 1996)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

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

Related Claims¶

• Higher background knowledge enables better reading comprehension for both skilled and low-skilled primary readers — related
• Background knowledge has a greater impact on comprehension of expository texts than narrative texts for primary children — related
• Passage cohesion showed no effect on delayed recall; means showed greater recall from less cohesive passages — reports the opposite
• Prior biology knowledge tentatively moderates material effectiveness: non-STEM students favor narratives, STEM students favor expository texts for recall and understanding
• The context-learning effect did not significantly interact with reading comprehension ability, though the trend favored more able readers — related
• Learning mechanisms are triggered to a greater extent for non-STEM-background students in the narrative condition and for STEM-background students in the expository condition — related