Abstract
The developmental changes using the Sentence Verification Technique （SVT） tests, which were able to assess the three different levels (the surface form, the text base, and the situation model level) for text comprehension based on Kintsch’s model, were investigated in Japanese elementary school children. Then, the relationship between the text comprehension ability and working memory capacity was examined for 2nd-, 4th-, and 6th-grade students （N=114） in study 1. As a result, although the text comprehension ability and working memory capacity increased with the grade in school, the correlation between them was not observed. On the other hand, the text comprehension ability was significantly positively correlated with vocabulary for 2nd- and 4th-grade students （N=68） in study 2. Especially, their vocabulary size affected text processing at the situation model level, which requires the integration between text information and prior knowledge. These results suggested that children's vocabulary size enhanced by various experiences including book reading might facilitate reading comprehension activating prior knowledge.
