Literacy as a complex activity: deconstructing the simple view of reading

The Rose Review into the teaching of early reading recommended that the conceptual framework incorporated into the National Literacy Strategy Framework for Teaching – the Searchlights model of reading and its development – should be replaced by the Simple View of Reading. In this paper, we demonstrate how these two frameworks relate to each other, and show that nothing has been lost in this transformation from Searchlights to Simple View: on the contrary, much has been gained. That nothing has been lost is demonstrated by consideration of the underlying complexity inherent in each of the two dimensions delineated in the Simple View. That much has been gained is demonstrated by the increased understanding of each dimension that follows from careful scientific investigation of each. The better we understand what is involved in each dimension, the better placed we are to unravel and understand the essential, complex and continual interactions between each dimension which underlie skilled reading. This has clear implications for further improving the early teaching of reading.     

Gender differences in reading: Examining text-based interest in relation to text characteristics and reading comprehension

Reading is a key competence for knowledge acquisition and learning processes. One important source of reading motivation is interest. Even though students' text-based interest often differs by gender, it remains unclear which text factors underlie these differences and whether text-based interest relates to reading comprehension among boys and girls. In a sample of 514 elementary students (47.2% girls), this study examined whether text topic, protagonists' gender, and text difficulty affect boys' and girls' text-based interest and whether interest and reading comprehension are intertwined. Based on a repeated within-subject design using fourteen narrative texts, the results indicated that boys' interest was higher in texts with male-attributed topics, male protagonists, and in more difficult texts. In contrast, girls’ interest was only affected by text difficulty. Text-based interest and reading comprehension were significantly related, albeit stronger for boys than for girls. The findings are discussed regarding future implications for research and educational practice.     

The role of reading self-concept and home literacy practices in fourth grade reading comprehension

This study examined the relationships among reading comprehension, reading self-concept, and home literacy environment (HLE) in a sample (n = 67) of fourth grade children enrolled in an urban school district. Children’s reading comprehension, word reading, and verbal ability were assessed using standardized measures. Reading self-concept was assessed with a child-administered survey that is comprised of three subscales (i.e., competence in reading, perception of ease with reading, attitude towards reading). Information on child and family literacy practices was collected via a questionnaire administered to parents of participating children. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses demonstrated that all three reading self-concept subscales were positively related to reading comprehension after controlling for verbal ability and word reading skills, and aspects of HLE were positively related to aspects of reading self-concept. The findings support the inclusion of psychosocial and family literacy measures in future studies designed to investigate the process of reading comprehension for children beyond the primary grades.

Cross-language transfer in English immersion programs in Germany: Reading comprehension and reading fluency

Cross-language effects on reading skills are of particular interest in the context of foreign language immersion programs. Although there is an extensive literature on cross-language effects on reading in general, research focusing on immersion students and including different dimensions of reading acquisition such as reading fluency and reading comprehension is scarce. This study therefore investigated cross-language transfer between first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) reading fluency and reading comprehension in a group of 220 German elementary school students who were enrolled in English partial immersion programs. Students were tested in grades 3 and 4. Structural equation modeling was used to examine cross-language transfer in a cross-lagged panel design. Results showed moderate cross-language paths when controlling for autoregressive effects. These findings are in line with previous results showing reciprocal transfer effects between L1 and L2 reading comprehension and reading fluency. In addition, the overall dominance of paths from L2 to L1 over paths from L1 to L2 suggests immersion-specific relations that may be attributable to the plentiful opportunities for academic reading in the L2 at school. Hence, skills necessary for successful reading can evidently be acquired in an L2 context and transferred to the L1. These findings underline the importance of cross-language transfer between reading skills in immersion programs.     

Syllable-based reading improvement: Effects on word reading and reading comprehension in Grade 2

This study examined the effects of a syllable-based reading intervention for German second graders who demonstrated difficulties in the recognition of written words. The intervention focused on fostering word reading via syllable segmentation. The materials consisted of the 500 most frequent syllables typically read by 6- to 8-year-old children. The aims were to practice phonological recoding, consolidate orthographic representations of syllables, and routinize the access to these representations. Compared to children randomly assigned to a wait-list group, poor readers in the treatment condition showed significant improvements in standardized measures of phonological recoding, direct word recognition, and text-based reading comprehension after the 24-session intervention. Poor readers in the treatment condition also showed greater improvements in development of word recognition compared to children with efficient word recognition skills. The results provide evidence that a syllable-based reading intervention is a promising approach to increase struggling readers’ word recognition skills, which in turn will improve their reading comprehension.     

A quasi-experimental study of a peer-assisted strategy-based reading intervention in elementary school

Promising methods of reading instruction for elementary school students incorporate peer-assisted learning routines and reading strategies. In addition, models of reading comprehension point to the importance of various determinants of reading competence such as reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge. Multicomponent reading intervention programs need to be evaluated to determine IF and HOW they unfold their effects on the reading competence of elementary school students on the basis of such theoretical and empirical models. Accordingly, the present study was designed as a quasi-experimental study of a 20-lesson peer-assisted and strategy-based multicomponent intervention for whole-class instruction in elementary school. Linear mixed models and latent growth models were used to analyze the longitudinal data (pre-, post- and follow-up test) on the reading competencies (reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge, reading strategy competence, reading comprehension) and intrinsic reading motivation of students in the intervention (N = 187) and control group (N = 177). The results showed an interaction between the groups and the change in reading comprehension, indicating a significantly increased score in the intervention group at the posttest (d = 0.15) but not at the follow-up test (d = 0.12). The results of the latent growth model point to the importance of designing interventions that explicitly integrate reading strategies, reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge and also foster intrinsic reading motivation. In addition, reading fluency was revealed to be the strongest predictor of reading comprehension and the change in fluency over time was closely linked to reading comprehension development.     

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.     

Investigating the causes of reading comprehension failure: The comprehension-age match design

The reading-level (or reading-age) match design has become a widely-used tool for investigating the possible direction of the relation between particular skills and word reading ability: Cause or consequence. This paper outlines an analogous method for identifying candidate causes of reading comprehension failure, the `comprehension-age match design' and discusses the strengths and limitations of this design.     

Listening comprehension and reading comprehension in poor decoders: Evidence for the importance of syntactic and semantic skills as well as phonological skills

The relation between decoding and comprehensionin the oral and written modalities was studiedin a randomly selected group of nine-year-olds,subdivided into good, average and poordecoders. Performances on two types ofcomprehension tasks (story retelling andcloze tasks) were compared and related tophonological, syntactic and semantic abilities.(Story retelling demanded the ability to retellthe gist of a story, while the cloze tasksdemanded precise skills in drawing anaphoricreference across sentence boundaries.) Atwo-way analysis of variance using IQ ascovariate showed that poor decoders scoredlower than average and good decoders on allcomprehension tasks. This suggests a highdegree of interdependence between listeningcomprehension, reading comprehension anddecoding. The associated pattern of oralcorrelates furthermore varied with task demandsand to some extent, independent of modality.Vocabulary was related to the ability toretell a story. Syntax and, in particularphonemic awareness, were on the otherhand more strongly related to the ability todraw anaphoric reference. The results wereinterpreted in favor of ``the phonologicaldeficit hypothesis', but the interactionbetween linguistic sub-skills and task demandswas also underscored.     

Assessing construct of DIBELS: Measurement invariance of DIBELS subscales,from kindergarten to the first grade

A challenge using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) in studying reading growth is that reading skills children exhibit change by age. In order to study growth using changing subscales, it is necessary to examine measurement invariance and measurement structure underlying the different subscales. The purpose of this paper is to examine the measurement structure of the DIBELS subscales, particular measurement invariance. The results indicate that the DIBELS subscales do not seem to have metric invariance but they do share a common factor over time, suggesting that the same construct of reading skills were measured but they manifested in the different fashion over time.     

Let's eat grandma: Awareness of punctuation and capitalization rules' violations predicts the development of reading comprehension

An increasing body of evidence indicates that reading and writing are interconnected, but more studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms through which these two skills are associated. In this paper we report a study where we explored the relationship between second grade students' awareness of punctuation and capitalization rules' violations (a component of writing process) and their reading comprehension. The results showed that students' awareness of punctuation and capitalization rules’ violations was moderately corelated with reading comprehension (r = .64) and predicted reading comprehension tested in Spring after accounting for reading comprehension tested in Fall, word decoding fluency, listening comprehension, general cognitive ability, and demographic variables. Our findings outline an under-researched association between reading and writing and point out to a potential new avenue to improve reading comprehension.     

The role of phonological memory,word recognition,and comprehension skills in reading development: from preschool to grade 2

We examined the relationships among phonologicalawareness, phonological memory, and development ofreading skills in a longitudinal study, by following222 Finnish preschoolers through the grade 2.The main focus was on the role of phonological memoryin word recognition and comprehension. The skillsassessed were verbal abilities, phonological memory,phonological awareness, word recognition, listeningand reading comprehension, altogether comprising themost extensive set of variables so far used in thestudy of phonological memory and reading. We proposeda structural equation model for the developmentalrelationships among the variables. This model waslargely confirmed by the data. The most significantpredictor of word recognition was phonologicalawareness. Phonological memory had only a weak effecton phonological awareness at preschool age, andvia this connection, a weak indirect effect on grade 1 word recognition. Contrary toexpectations, phonological memory also had asignificant, albeit weak effect on grade 2word recognition. Phonological memory did notdirectly affect reading comprehension. However,it was strongly related to listeningcomprehension at preschool, and via the strongeffects of both listening comprehension and wordrecognition on reading comprehension, there weresignificant indirect effects of phonological memory onreading comprehension. The results also underline thestability of development of phonological memory, wordrecognition, and comprehension from preschool to theend of grade 2.     

A path analytic test of the reading strategies mediation model: Relating cognitive competences and motivational influences to individual differences in fifth-grade students' reading comprehension

This study examined a theoretical model hypothesizing that reading strategies mediate the effects of intrinsic reading motivation, reading fluency, and vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension. Using path analytic methods, we tested the direct and indirect effects specified in the hypothesized model in a sample of 1105 fifth-graders. In addition to standardized tests and questionnaires, we administered a performance test to assess students' proficiency in the application of three reading strategies. The overall fit of the model to the data was good. Both cognitive (fluency and vocabulary) and motivational (intrinsic reading motivation) variables had an indirect effect on reading comprehension through their influence on reading strategies. Reading strategies had a unique effect on reading comprehension and partially mediated the effects that cognitive and motivational variables had on fifth-graders' reading achievements.     

The effects of multimodal texts on science reading comprehension in Chilean fifth-graders: text scaffolding and comprehension skills

ABSTRACT

Reading comprehension is a crucial skill that elementary school students must develop in order to learn science. However, there is not yet enough research about the role that multimodal texts play in scaffolding student reading comprehension of complex scientific processes, such as energy transfer. This study explored how verbal and visual resources (scaffolding level) and individual differences (reading skills) contribute to science reading comprehension. One-hundred and sixty Chilean fifth-graders were assessed on reading skills, vocabulary, and prior science knowledge. A counterbalanced design was used to test two groups: Group 1 reads a text with low multimodal scaffolding and Group 2 reads a text with high multimodal scaffolding. Level of text scaffolding was determined by (1) image function, (2) visual-verbal relations, (3) presence of an explicit explanatory structure, and (4) lexico-grammatical resources. General monomodal and multimodal science reading comprehension were assessed with multiple-choice tests. An ANCOVA analysis revealed non-significant differences between groups after controlling for prior knowledge, fluency, and vocabulary. Likewise, a two-factor ANCOVA analysis showed that the high-multimodal scaffolding text significantly boosted science reading comprehension for low-skilled comprehenders. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for pedagogy and research, aiming to foster multimodal literacy for learning in content areas.     

The role of derivational morphology in the reading comprehension of Spanish-speaking English language learners

This study examined the relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in English among Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) followed from fourth through fifth grade. Students’ ability to decompose derived words while reading was assessed using an experimental task. Multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the contribution of performance on this task to reading comprehension above and beyond word reading skills, phonological awareness, and breadth of vocabulary knowledge. The relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension was found to strengthen between fourth and fifth grade, and in fifth grade, morphological awareness was found to be a significant predictor of reading comprehension. The findings were robust across two measures of reading comprehension and two methods of scoring the experimental task of morphological awareness, and thus support the inclusion of derivational morphology in a model of the English reading comprehension of Spanish-speaking ELLs.

Science Learning: A path analysis of its links with reading comprehension,question-asking in class and science achievement

The purpose of this research was to build and test a conceptual model of the complex interrelationships between students' learning in science (learning approaches and self-regulation), their reading comprehension, question-asking in class and science achievement. These variables were measured by means of a test and a series of questionnaires administered to 604 ninth-grade students, and the data collected were analysed using a correlational, cross-sectional design. Results of a path analysis indicated that (a) students’ self-regulated and intentional knowledge-constructing activity (self-regulated strategy use, deep approach and knowledge-building) were what chiefly accounted for their question-asking in class; (b) question-asking (high and low levels) was related directly to reading comprehension and indirectly, through its contribution to the this, to academic achievement; (c) reading comprehension was directly and negatively associated with surface approach and indirectly and positively related to deep approach and knowledge-building; and (d) some of these variables, particularly reading comprehension, accounted for academic achievement in science. This model explained nearly 30% of the variance in academic achievement and provided a substantial and distinctive insight into the web of interrelationships among these variables. Implications for future research and science teaching and learning are discussed (e.g. the importance of supporting students' efforts to learn science in a meaningful, active and self-regulated way and of improving their reading comprehension).     

Awareness of the structure and meaning of morphologically complex words: Impact on reading

Many new words middle school children encounter in books they read are relatively transparent derived forms whose meanings might be figured out through analysis of the word parts. Of importance is whether students can not only read and recognize the structure of morphologically complex words but also determine their meanings. This issue was addressed by investigating the relationship of third and fifth graders' awareness of the structure and meanings of derived words and the relationship of these forms of morphological awareness to word reading and reading comprehension. The results showed that awareness of structure was significantly related to the ability to define morphologically complex words; some aspects were also significantly related to the reading of derived words. The three morphology tasks accounted for significant variance in reading comprehension at both grade levels, but the contribution was stronger for the fifth than the third grade. It may be educationally noteworthy that morphological analysis contributed significantly to reading comprehension for the third graders because they are presumably just beginning to learn to read and understand morphologically complex words.     

The role of word recognition,oral reading fluency and listening comprehension in the simple view of reading: a study in an intermediate depth orthography

Empirical research has provided evidence for the simple view of reading across a variety of orthographies, but the role of oral reading fluency in the model is unclear. Moreover, the relative weight of listening comprehension, oral reading fluency and word recognition in reading comprehension seems to vary across orthographies and schooling years. This study aims to examine the direct effects of these three variables on reading comprehension and to test for the existence of indirect effects of word recognition and listening comprehension on reading comprehension via oral reading fluency in European Portuguese, an orthography of intermediate depth. A sample of 264 students was assessed at the end of grades 2 and 4. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that listening comprehension, word recognition and oral reading fluency predicted reading comprehension in both grade 2 and grade 4. Moreover, the three variables measured in grade 2 predicted later reading comprehension in grade 4. Listening comprehension was always the strongest predictor. Oral reading fluency mediated the relationship between word recognition and reading comprehension, but it was not a mediator variable in the relationship between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. These findings indicate that, similarly to what has been found for other orthographies, the simple view of reading is a valid framework to account for reading comprehension variability in European Portuguese and that interventions to increase reading comprehension levels should focus on word recognition, fluency, and, especially, listening comprehension.