Relations among reading skills and sub-skills and text-level reading proficiency in developing readers

Despite the recent attention to text reading fluency, few studies have studied the construct of oral reading rate and accuracy in connected text in a model that simultaneously examines many of the important variables in a multi-leveled fashion with young readers. Using Structural Equation Modeling, this study examined the measurement and structural relations of the rate and accuracy of variables important in early reading: phonemic blending, letter sounds, phonograms, decoding, single-word reading, reading comprehension, and text reading as well as reading comprehension among second grade readers. The effects from phonemic blending fluency and letter sound fluency to decoding were completely mediated by phonogram fluency, decoding fluency, single-word reading fluency, and reading comprehension had direct effects on the text reading fluency of the second grade students. Understanding the relationship among the many component skills of readers early in their reading development is important because a deficiency in any of the component skills has the potential to affect the development of other skills and, ultimately, the development of the child as a proficient reader.     

An eye tracking study of digital text reading: a comparison between poor and typical readers

Reading and Writing - The inclusion of technology in schools, coupled with the importance of promoting reading for students with difficulties in particular, has increased the need for investigating...     

Contribution of discourse and morphosyntax skills to reading comprehension in Chinese dyslexic and typically developing children

This study aimed at identifying important skills for reading comprehension in Chinese dyslexic children and their typically developing counterparts matched on age (CA controls) or reading level (RL controls). The children were assessed on Chinese reading comprehension, cognitive, and reading-related skills. Results showed that the dyslexic children performed significantly less well than the CA controls but similarly to RL controls in most measures. Results of multiple regression analyses showed that word-level reading-related skills like oral vocabulary and word semantics were found to be strong predictors of reading comprehension among typically developing junior graders and dyslexic readers of senior grades, whereas morphosyntax, a text-level skill, was most predictive for typically developing senior graders. It was concluded that discourse and morphosyntax skills are particularly important for reading comprehension in the non-inflectional and topic-prominent Chinese system.     

Heterogeneity in adult dyslexic readers: Relating processing skills to the speed and accuracy of oral text reading

Subgroups of Finnish dyslexic adults (N = 84)displaying, relative to each other, a distinctivecombination of accuracy and speed of oral text readingwere compared in phonological and orthographicprocessing, verbal short-term memory and readinghabits. Inaccurate phonological decoding appeared todetermine the number of errors made in text reading,while inability to utilize effectively rapid lexicalaccess of words manifested as slow text reading speed.Phonological and orthographic word recognitionprocesses were less tightly integrated among dyslexicthan normal readers. Our results indicate thatadvanced orthographic processing skills might help anumber of the dyslexic readers to compensate for theirserious phonological deficits. The subgroups alsodiffered from each other in reading habits. Arelatively fast reading speed, even with numerouserrors, appears to be more rewarding in everydayreading than a slower but more accurate readingstyle.     

The component skills underlying reading fluency in adolescent readers: a latent variable analysis

This study investigated the component skills underlying reading fluency in a heterogeneous sample of 527 eighth grade students. Based on a hypothetical measurement model and successive testing of nested models, structural equation modeling revealed that naming speed, decoding, and language were uniquely associated with reading fluency. These findings suggest that the ability to access and retrieve phonological information from long-term storage is the most important factor in explaining individual differences in reading fluency among adolescent readers. The ability to process meaning and decode novel words was smaller but reliable contributors to reading fluency in adolescent readers.     

The effect of inter-letter spacing on reading performance and eye movements in typically reading and dyslexic children

Recent studies have suggested that an increase of inter-letter spacing may improve reading performance of dyslexic readers by reducing visual crowding. However, these results have been difficult to replicate.This study directly compares reading accuracy and comprehension, as well as reading speed, and number and duration of fixations of 38 dyslexic and 32 typically reading children (10–14 years old) in regular, spaced (+2,5 pt), and condensed (−1,5 pt) conditions using a natural sentence-reading paradigm.Inter-letter spacing did not affect reading accuracy, comprehension, or speed. The lack of effects of inter-letter spacing was observed in both dyslexic and typical readers. Inter-letter spacing did not impact the number of fixations, but increased inter-letter spacing led to shorter fixations in dyslexic children. Decreased inter-letter spacing resulted in longer fixations in both groups.These results do not support the claim that dyslexics are more influenced by crowding than age-matched controls.     

Correction to: Assessing the direct and indirect effects of metalinguistic awareness to the reading comprehension skills of struggling adult readers

Reading and Writing - In the original publication of the article.     

Knowledge of suffixed words: A comparison of reading disabled and nondisabled readers

The present study was undertaken to measure and compare reading disabled and nondisabled readers’ semantic and syntactic knowledge about derivational suffixes as a function of modality (reading versus listening) and as a function of the “neutrality” of the derivative (neutral versus nonneutral). In the present study, neutrality refers to how straightforward and productive is the relationship between the root and derived form, with “completeness” qualifying as a neutral derivative and “completion” a nonneutral derivative. Two experimental tests were designed for the study. The Semantics test measured ability to extract lexical-semantic information from suffixed words, and the Syntax test measured knowledge regarding the part-of-speech contribution of derivational suffixes. In each test the target words were divided equally between neutral and nonneutral derivatives and between items that were either read or listened to. Participants included 20 sixth-grade reading disabled students (6RD), 20 fourth-grade normal readers (4N), and 20 sixth-grade normal readers (6N). In both the Semantics test and the Syntax test all groups scored better on neutral than on nonneutral derivatives while listening and reading, and the RD students were no more affected by neutrality than the nondisabled readers. In the Semantics test all groups scored better in listening than in reading, but the RD group showed the greatest oral-reading difference. The RD group also scored better in listening than reading in the Syntax test (real words), whereas the two nondisabled groups scored better in reading than in listening. Thus, the RD students were better able to demonstrate their knowledge of suffixed words in oral language measures than in reading measures.     

A comparison of social skills in Turkish children with visual impairments,children with intellectual impairments and typically developing children

The purpose of this study was to compare the social skills of five groups of children: children with visual impairments attending inclusive education schools, children with visual impairments attending schools for the blind, children with intellectual impairments attending inclusive education schools, children with intellectual impairments attending segregated special education schools, and typically developing children. A hundred and sixty-nine children aged from 7 to 12 participated in the study. The children's social skills were rated by their teachers on the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) – Turkish Form. The results suggested significant group differences between children attending inclusive education schools and children attending special education schools. Analysis of the findings indicated that children with visual impairments and children with intellectual impairments had poorer social skills than typically developing children; however children with visual impairments and children with intellectual impairments attending inclusive education schools had higher social skills than children attending segregated special education schools. The findings of the study were discussed and suggestions for future research were provided.     

Development of text reading in Japanese: an eye movement study

This study examined age-group differences in eye movements among third-grade, fifth-grade, and adult Japanese readers. In Experiment 1, Japanese children, but not adults, showed a longer fixation time on logographic kanji words than on phonologically transparent hiragana words. Further, an age-group difference was found in the first fixation duration on hiragana words but not on kanji words, suggesting character-type-dependent reading development in Japanese children. Examination of the distributions of saccade landing positions revealed that, like adults, both third and fifth graders fixated more on kanji than on hiragana characters, which suggests that even young children utilize the same oculomotor control strategy (the kanji targeting strategy) as Japanese adults. In Experiment 2, we examined whether the proportion of kanji characters in a text affected adult reading performance. Japanese adults made more refixations and regressions in texts with a high proportion of hiragana characters. The results of both experiments suggest that differences between kanji and kana affect the reading efficiency of school-age children and that maturation of reading skills allows adults to optimize their strategy in reading kanji and kana mixed texts.     

Accelerating the development of reading,spelling and phonemic awareness skills in initial readers

In Experiment 1, it was found that 5-year-oldnew school entrants taught by a syntheticphonics method had better reading, spelling andphonemic awareness than two groups taughtanalytic phonics. The synthetic phonicschildren were the only ones that could read byanalogy, and they also showed better reading ofirregular words and nonwords. For one analyticphonics group the programme was supplemented byphonological awareness training; this led togains in phonemic awareness but not reading orspelling compared with the other analyticphonics group. The synthetic phonics programmewas taught to the analytic phonics groups aftertheir initial programmes had been completed andpost-tested. The group that had hadphonological awareness training did not performbetter than the other two groups when tested 15months later; this was also the case when thesame comparison was made for the the subset ofchildren that had started school with weakphonological awareness skill. Speed of letterlearning was controlled for in Experiment 2; itwas found that the synthetic phonics groupstill read and spelt better than the analyticphonics group. It was concluded that syntheticphonics was more effective than analyticphonics, and that with the former approach itwas not necessary to carry out supplementarytraining in phonological awareness.     

Interventions for reading difficulties: a comparison of response to intervention by ELL and EFL struggling readers

This article explores whether struggling readers from different primary language backgrounds differ in response to phonologically based remediation. Following random assignment to one of three reading interventions or to a special education reading control program, reading and reading-related outcomes of 166 struggling readers were assessed before, during, and following 105 intervention hours. Struggling readers met criteria for reading disability, were below average in oral language and verbal skills, and varied in English as a first language (EFL) versus English-language learner (ELL) status. The research-based interventions proved superior to the special education control on both reading outcomes and rate of growth. No differences were revealed for children of EFL or ELL status in intervention outcomes or growth during intervention. Oral language abilities at entry were highly predictive of final outcomes and of reading growth during intervention, with greater language impairment being associated with greater growth.     

The contribution of attentional processes to calculation skills in second and third grade in a typically developing sample

Attention is an important, multifaceted cognitive domain that includes many key cognitive processes involved in learning. This study aimed to identify the predictive links between different components of attentional skills and core calculation skills development, using two standardized measures assessing calculation (AC-MT 6–11) and attention skills (CAS) in a sample of 143 typically developing children of age range from 7.6 years to 9.4 years. The results showed that in 2nd grade, selective visuo-spatial attention emerged as an important predictor in the written calculation task, while the ability to inhibit distracting information seemed to better predict accuracy in oral calculation. In 3rd grade, visuo-spatial components of attention emerged as no longer predictive, whereas planning and active visuo-spatial attention abilities emerged as predictive of accuracy in the oral calculation task. These results confirm previous findings about the contribution that attentional skills may have in calculation skills development, supporting evidence for progressive automation attentional components over time.

     

The use of phonological, orthographic, and contextual information during reading: a comparison of adults who are learning to read and skilled adult readers

The purpose of this study was to assess the role that phonological, orthographic, and contextual sources of information play in a group of adults who were learning to read compared to adult skilled readers. Participants read short paragraphs that contained a correct homophone, an incorrect homophone, or a spelling control. Target words were orthographically similar or dissimilar, and they appeared in context that predicted the target or was neutral with respect to the target. The pattern of data obtained for skilled readers was consistent with past work (Rayner et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 24(2), 476–497, 1998). Skilled readers showed no reading time differences between the correct homophone and the incorrect homophone, as long as the two were orthographically similar, but reading times on these words were faster than the spelling control condition. The pattern of data for the adults who were learning to read was different. These readers were actually better at noticing that an incorrect version of the homophone was present. Importantly, we did find consistent significant differences between the incorrect homophone condition and the spelling control condition. This suggests the adults who were learning to read use phonological codes during word recognition, but they do so less efficiently than skilled readers.     

The relationship of rapid serial naming and word reading in normally developing readers: An exploratory model

Even though researchers have established that rapid serial naming (RSN), or the ability to name within a restricted category of visual stimuli quickly, is a significant predictor of word reading, the predictive nature of RSN is not well understood. To investigate the relationship of RSN and other variables thought to contribute to beginning word reading (phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, memory span, processing speed, and articulation), a preliminary/exploratory model of word reading was developed and then tested by path analysis. Results indicated that no variable in the model could fully `explain' RSN; processing speed, but not articulation, contributed to RSN performance. RSN and orthographic knowledge were significantly related, but this relationship was due to the effects of processing speed. In terms of their unique contributions to the variance in word reading, RSN, phonological awareness, and orthographic knowledge were independent of each other. While these results pertain only to normal readers and are preliminary in nature, they may provide a basis for a clear interpretation of similar studies conducted with both normal and dyslexic readers.     

Visual behavior and self-efficacy of game playing: an eye movement analysis

ABSTRACT

This study was to investigate the role of students’ game self-efficacy in their game performance as well as in their visual behavior distributions and transfer patterns during their gameplay. A total of 48 university students were recruited for participating in a gameplaying task while wearing with an ASL Mobile Eye eye-tracker. After the gameplay, each participant was asked to report their self-efficacy of the gameplay. Based on the self-reported game self-efficacy (GSE) score, the participants were divided into the higher and lower GSE groups. Independent t tests were used to compare their game performances and eye-tracking indices for each area of interest. A lag sequential analysis was used to profile the visual transfer pattern for each group. The results showed that the higher GSE group had better performances than the lower GSE group. During the gameplay, the higher GSE students tended to pay more attention to the critical information for a successful play. In addition, the lag sequential analyses revealed different visual transfer patterns for the two GSE groups. The higher GSE group tended to show a critical-factor-centralized visual-trasfer pattern which demonstrated more planning and monitoring gameplaying strategies; while the lower GSE students, probably lacking the self-confidence of gameplaying, tended to pay more attention to the remaining time for the game.This study may provide suggestions for future game-based leraning system designs.     

Externalizing behavior problems and interest in reading as predictors of later reading skills and educational aspirations

This study examined the developments in children’s externalizing problems and interest in reading during their first four years of school (Grades 1–4) and investigated whether this development predicted the children’s Grade 6 reading skills and educational aspirations. Data comprised (1) teachers’ ratings of externalizing problems and children’s (N = 642; 43% girls) self-ratings of their interest in reading, collected between Grades 1 and 4, and (2) measures of reading fluency and comprehension, and children’s self-reports of educational aspirations, collected at Grade 6. First, latent growth modeling showed that a higher level of externalizing problems in Grade 1 was associated with a lower concurrent interest in reading. Second, a positive association between the initial level of interest in reading and a linear change in externalizing problems indicated that children with a lower interest in reading in Grade 1 were rated by teachers as exhibiting higher levels of externalizing problems, which nonetheless declined over the course of their first four years of school more than among other children. Third, a higher initial level of externalizing problems with a linear change in these problems across Grades 1–4 was a predictor of lower subsequent educational aspirations and poorer reading comprehension in Grade 6. Analysis of the indirect effects indicated that a higher level of externalizing problems was associated with a lower concurrent interest in reading, which, in turn, was related to poorer future reading fluency and lower educational aspirations. The findings imply that problem behaviors are interlinked with academic skill development and motivation across the first six years of school.