The Role of Semantic Awareness (Hyponymy and Synonymy) in the Process of Reading Comprehension in Persian-Speaking Children

چکیده مقاله

In this article the relation between reading comprehension ability and linguistic variable, semantic awareness, is surveyed. The main goal of the present research is to investigate the role of semantic awareness (hyponymy and synonymy) in the process of reading comprehension in Persian-speaking elementary school students. The findings of this research can be used by semantic, linguistic and psycholinguistic specialists. To evaluate the students, three tests (synonymy, hyponymy and reading comprehension) were constructed. The research was conducted to decide whether there exists a positive correlation between reading comprehension and semantic awareness. The study was based on Connectionist Model. The subjects were 129 elementary school students, including 60 second graders and 69 third graders. The correlations between the variables were measured by Pearson correlation coefficient, using SPSS software. The analysis of data indicated that reading comprehension ability and the ability to recognize synonymy were correlated. And also the ability to recognize hyponymy was correlated with reading comprehension ability. It implies that semantic awareness (synonymy and hyponymy) is correlated to reading comprehension and it may improve reading comprehension. A higher level of semantic knowledge causes faster lexical access and activation of semantic network and eventually causes faster reading comprehension process.

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