Understanding How Language-Specific and Domain-General Resources Support Comprehension

ABSTRACT

A large body of work has demonstrated that reader resources influence inference processes and comprehension, but few models of comprehension have accounted for such resources. The Direct and Mediational Inference model of comprehension (DIME) assumes that general inference processes mediate the effects of reader resources on general comprehension proficiency. The current study proposes an extension of DIME, the Inferential Mediation Model (IMM), to account for comprehension as it occurs while reading a particular text. College students were administered a battery of reader resource measures. In addition, they completed a think-aloud tool that measured comprehension and readers’ inference processes while reading specific texts. A path analysis revealed that inference processes partially mediate the relationships between reader resources and comprehension performance. These results support the DIME and IMM, and suggest that inference processes that support mental model construction mediate the impact of reader resources on comprehension.

Notes

¹ Unfortunately, demographic information about the sample used in this study was not available. The data were collected over a decade ago, when it was not common practice to report detailed demographic data. As such, we provided information about the population of NIU from which the sample was derived.

² Although there is an updated version of the Author Recognition Task (i.e., Acheson, Wells, & MacDonald, 2008), the data used in the current study were collected before this updated version was published.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Institute of Educational Sciences (under Grant R305A150193 and R305G040055) and the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literacy (CISLL) at Northern Illinois University.