The Effect of Non-Content Vocabulary on the Content Reading Comprehension in a High School Science Classroom

It has been noted that students in secondary science, Regents courses tended to struggle with reading comprehension of the Regents questions. The focus of this study was to look at students’ struggles with non-content vocabulary as a factor in their issues comprehending content specific readings, with most of the study focused on Regents questions. Factors that contributed to limited lexicon development and reading comprehension such as socioeconomic status, the focus of vocabulary and literacy development within content courses, and appropriateness of reading level of Regents questions to their target audience were a focus of the study. Synthesis of quantitative data along with qualitative data showed promising trends that aligned with the literature focused on life-long development of readers and creating motivation for learning