The Effects of Content Schema on Reading Comprehension for Hispanic, Black, and White Cultural Groups

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Schreck, Janice Vanderploeg

• Education, Reading

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8127684

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/66059