O'Reilly, T. & McNamara, D. S. (2007)
The impact of science knowledge, reading skill, and reading strategy knowledge on more traditional 'high-stakes' measures of high school students' science achievement
American Educational Research Journal 44(1), 161-196 · 10.3102/0002831206298171
In a 1,651-student study, reading skill helped students compensate for low science knowledge, with a larger effect for higher-knowledge students (a Matthew pattern); the companion SERT training study (n=42) shows training toward domain-general logic displacing domain-specific knowledge use -- a trainable, domain-general mechanism D1-P6 denies exists.
Used in Dossier 1
This critic is attached to the exact objection and inference it challenges, not merely to the topic.
D1 · O6 — Reading skill, knowledge and text cohesion interact · targets A6 I5
Source provenance
abstract onlyThe ERIC abstract and citation record were read; the full article was not opened. The abstract attributes compensation to reading skill, not specifically to strategy knowledge.
relevant excerpt(s) readRelevant passages from an openly hosted author PDF were reviewed for the SERT claim; this audit did not perform an end-to-end methodological read.
abstract onlyThe bibliographic record and abstract-level description were reviewed; the full article was not independently read in this audit.
Primary targets: P01 P06
Availability: closed / restricted · abstract only
The ERIC abstract and citation record were read; the full article was not opened. The abstract attributes compensation to reading skill, not specifically to strategy knowledge.
Registry verification: no
Availability: closed / restricted · abstract only
The ERIC abstract and citation record were read; the full article was not opened. The abstract attributes compensation to reading skill, not specifically to strategy knowledge.
Registry verification: no
Positions (3)
Reading skill helped high-school students compensate for low science knowledge on most achievement measures, with a larger effect for higher- than lower-knowledge students (n=1,651) -- a trainable, domain-general competence operating independently of topic knowledge.
“Reading skill helped the learner compensate for deficits in science knowledge for most measures of achievement and had a larger effect on achievement scores for higher knowledge than lower knowledge students.”
Hirsch's response — not found
no response in the ten books -- zero mentions of McNamara
The SERT training study (n=42) found that training helped participants use domain-general logic rather than domain-specific knowledge to make sense of text -- the general mechanism Hirsch's no-general-skill claim denies exists.
“helped these participants to use logic, or domain-general knowledge, rather than domain-specific knowledge to make sense of the text”
Hirsch's response — not found
no response in the ten books -- zero mentions of McNamara
High-knowledge readers benefit from a minimally coherent text, because the rewards of active inferential processing occur at the level of the situation model -- so more knowledge is not monotonically better.
“readers who know little about the domain of the text benefit from a coherent text, whereas high-knowledge readers benefit from a minimally coherent text… the rewards to be gained from active processing are primarily at the level of the situation model.”
Hirsch's response — not found
no response in the ten books -- zero mentions of McNamara