Influence of prior knowledge and interest on fourth- and fifth-grade passage comprehension on the Qualitative Reading...

In 2 experiments, we examined the influence of prior knowledge and interest on 4th- and 5th-grade students' passage comprehension scores on the Qualitative Reading Inventory-4 (QRI-4) and 2 experimenter-constructed passages.

In Experiment 1, 4th- and 5th-grade students were administered 4 Level 4 passages or 4 Level 5 passages from the QRI-4. Prior knowledge was assessed by key concept questions from the QRI-4. Interest was rated on a 5-point scale. In Experiment 2, 4th- and 5th-grade students were administered 2 passages from the QRI-4 and 2 experimenter-constructed passages. One general question was used to assess prior knowledge, and 3 measures were used to assess interest.

Prior knowledge as measured by key concept questions on the QRI-4 or a general question had minimal impact on passage comprehension. More important, only one third of the prior knowledge questions on the QRI-4 were related to a comprehension question. When these question pairs were analyzed, having prior knowledge was still not predictive of comprehension performance. Interest level had minimal impact on comprehension performance.

This study's findings raise concerns about the usefulness of prior knowledge assessments on the QRI-4. Interest had little impact on comprehension performance. Educational implications are discussed.