EXAMINING INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION BY PERSON- AND ITEM-LEVEL FACTORS IN SECONDARY STUDENTS

Abstract

Vocabulary knowledge is central to the process of reading comprehension (Cromely & Azevedo, 2007; Stahl & Nagy, 2005; Stanovich, 1986). The majority of our vocabulary knowledge is postulated to come from the process of incidental vocabulary acquisition (IVA) while reading (Nagy & Anderson, 1984). Prior studies have estimated an average probability of acquisition of 15% (Swanborn & de Glopper, 2000). Differential rates of acquisition for struggling readers have been demonstrated (Herman, 1985). Rates of acquisition may be influenced by manipulating the frequency of exposure during reading and the presence of morphologically complex words in a text. Morphologically complex words may be more easily acquired because the reader is familiar with some morphemes in the word and uses this knowledge to assist in determining the meaning of an unknown word containing any known morpheme (McBride-Chang, Wagner, Muse, Chow, & Shu, 2005). Multi-level item response crossed-random effects modeling statistical techniques allow a closer investigation into the person and word level factors that influence IVA which may provide clarification of which item-level factors (i.e., the number of contextual exposures and morphological complexity) and person-level factors (i.e., reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, basic reading skills, working memory, print exposure, and morphological awareness and analysis) (Cho, Partchev, & De Boeck, 2012). This study examined the influence of number of contextual exposures and morphological complexity of words as text level factors and the influence of general reading ability, vocabulary knowledge, working memory, and morphological awareness as person-level factors in a sample of 9th and 10th grade students (n = 78). Significant findings for item-level factors of exposure and person-level factors of reading comprehension, morphological awareness, and vocabulary were found as well as interactions between the number of exposures and reading comprehension ability.