The relationship between knowledge of English connectives and reading comprehension skills of Dutch secondary school students

Abstract

Connectives form a special domain of vocabulary that shows the reader how text segments are semantically related to each other. Previous research has found that knowledge of connectives significantly contributes to the reading comprehension of L2 learners in a naturalistic setting. The present study aimed to find out whether this positive contribution of connective knowledge could also be found for foreign language learners in a formal setting. To do this, the reading comprehension and knowledge of English connectives of 50 Dutch havo-4 secondary school students was measured, along with the control variables vocabulary knowledge, word reading fluency, working memory, out-of-school language exposure and age of acquisition. A multilevel linear regression model showed that knowledge of connectives significantly contributed to reading comprehension above and beyond vocabulary knowledge. It was hypothesized that vocabulary knowledge would influence the contribution of knowledge of connectives to reading comprehension, however, no such influence was found. Participants received the same amount of benefit from their connective knowledge, irrespective of their vocabulary size. The results of this study have extended the unique contribution of knowledge of connectives to reading comprehension to a different learning context: instructed foreign language learning. Implications and suggestions for the educational practice are discussed.