The effects of vocabulary instruction on readers’ ability to make causal connections

Abstract

Recent research has shown that for comprehension to take place, a reader must form strong, coherent mental representations of text. The reader accesses prior knowledge, makes inferences when necessary, and makes causal connections. This study investigated the effects of teaching text specific vocabulary on eighth graders’ comprehension of expository text and their ability to make causal connections. The materials used were similar to those that children would read in school, and the vocabulary instruction was intended to enhance subjects’ knowledge of concepts with which they are somewhat familiar. The results of the study give convergent evidence that vocabulary instruction prior to reading improves comprehension. The results also indicate that vocabulary instruction was effective among students of varying reading abilities. Average ability subjects who received vocabulary instruction did as well as high ability subject who received no instruction. The results also show that text specific vocabulary instruction improves subjects’ ability to make causal connections while reading difficult expository text.

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