and more capacity can be used for understanding the text.
6.6 CONCLUSION
The present dissertation highlights the importance of lexical quality in reading comprehension in the intermediate elementary grades. First, there is universal semantic priming in children both across tasks (various types of relations) and across reading levels. Children varying in decoding and reading comprehension levels all benefit from semantic activation, due to relations between words. Second, in addition to word decoding, not only vocabulary breadth but also vocabulary depth and connections between words have an impact on reading comprehension skill. Third, a reciprocal relation between vocabulary and reading comprehension was evidenced: vocabulary influences reading comprehension development and vice versa. In addition, cognitive factors play a role in reading development. Decoding skills did not influence reading comprehension development, suggesting that vocabulary becomes the primary constraining factors as students become older and decoding skills become automatized. Finally, an intervention focusing on vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth and connections between words all fostering word-to- text integration skills, is effective in enhancing reading comprehension skills.
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