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Examining the contributions of syntactic awareness and syntactic knowledge to reading comprehension
Author(s) -
Brimo Danielle,
Apel Kenn,
Fountain Treeva
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of research in reading
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.077
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9817
pISSN - 0141-0423
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9817.12050
Subject(s) - reading comprehension , syntax , comprehension , vocabulary , reading (process) , linguistics , psychology , computer science , cognitive psychology , natural language processing , philosophy
Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effect(s) of syntactic knowledge and syntactic awareness on adolescents' reading comprehension. Method One hundred and seventy‐nine, 9th and 10th grade students' syntactic awareness, syntactic knowledge and reading comprehension skills were assessed. In addition, other known contributors to reading comprehension were assessed including word level reading, short‐term memory and vocabulary knowledge skills. Results Path analysis was used to analyse the direct and indirect effects of syntactic awareness and syntactic knowledge on reading comprehension. Students' syntactic knowledge directly accounted for significant variance in reading comprehension. Syntactic awareness indirectly accounted for significant variance in reading comprehension through syntactic knowledge. Conclusions This study confirmed the significant effects of syntactic knowledge and syntactic awareness on reading comprehension among adolescent students. This is one of the very few studies to examine both knowledge and awareness of syntax simultaneously and to determine that syntactic knowledge mediates the contribution of syntactic awareness to adolescent students' reading comprehension.