The relationship between reading working memory and reading comprehension of Iranian second-cycle high school students from a psycho-linguistic viewpoint

This mixed-methods research studies the relationship between reading working memory and reading comprehension among high school students from a psycho-linguistic view. The research population included all 11th grade female students of high schools in Rasht in 1397-98. The research sample consisted of 120 female students who took part at the pilot and final study and they were selected through convenience sampling method. The research tools were the researcher-made reading comprehension test and the nativised version of Daneman & Carpenter’s working memory (taken from Ghavāmi, 1397). After final distribution of the researcher-made reading comprehension test and the nativised version of Daneman & Carpenter’s working memory test among the participants, data were analyzed, using the Pearson correlation and Regression. The results showed there is a significant positive relationship between the reading comprehension test scores and those of storage component of working memory (r  =0/59) and reading working memory (r  =0/67), while there was no relationship between the reading comprehension test scores and the scores of processing component of working memory (r= 0/17). Following Swanson and Berniger (1995), the significant positive relationship between reading comprehension scores and those of storage component of working memory could be justified, saying that, the people’s performance on reading comprehension and verbal working memory is directed by a system with a general capacity. Accordingly, working memory could affect reading comprehension, since it provides a measure for the capacity of storage in different verbal tasks. Considering the role of reading comprehension in understanding instructional materials, and having in mind the relationship between reading comprehension and working memory, it could be said that the performance on reading comprehension could be improved through strengthening working memory. The implications of the findings would be discussed.