Going beyond children’s single-text comprehension: the role of word reading, working memory, comprehension monitoring and source use in 4th graders’ multiple-document comprehension.

This study examines the contribution of fundamental (word reading fluency and verbal working memory) and higher-level (comprehension monitoring and source use) skills to 4th graders’ multiple-document comprehension. The latter variable was assessed using sets of three documents on two topics (videogames and chocolate). The role of single-text comprehension (i.e., reading comprehension) and prior topic knowledge was taken into account as moderator and control, respectively. There was a significant direct and indirect (i.e., mediated by reading comprehension) influence of word reading fluency on multiple-document comprehension. There was also an indirect influence of comprehension monitoring on comprehension of multiple documents. However, these effects were apparent only for the topic of videogames, but not chocolate. Verbal working memory and source use did not emerge as unique predictors for either topic. Results are discussed in relation to theoretical models of multiple-document comprehension and features of the documents used in the present study.