Abstract
The effect of topic interest on reading comprehension was studied after covarying the effects of prior knowledge. Other variables in the multiple regression analyses were sex of subject and ability groups. The dependent variable in each equation was passage comprehension on the reading comprehension subtest of the Metropolitan Achievement Tests. Subjects were 212 eighth grade language arts students in three different reading ability groups. The subjects were administered: (1) a prior knowledge test, (2) an interest inventory, and (3) the reading comprehension subtest of the Metropolitan.The results revealed that different variables predicted comprehension for different passages. Prior knowledge was a statistically significant predictor on two of the five passages; reading ability on three passages; topic interest on two passages; and sex of subject on one passage. Separate analyses for males and females supported the position that, with respect to comprehension, boys are more influenced by their reading interests than are girls.