An emergent interaction between reading fluency and vocabulary in the prediction of reading comprehension among French immersion elementary students

This study investigated an emergent interaction between word reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge in the prediction of reading comprehension among French immersion students in Grades 2 and 3. A group of 66 students were tested on measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, word reading accuracy, vocabulary, word reading fluency and reading comprehension in English and French at both time points. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine whether vocabulary and word reading fluency interact in predicting English and French reading comprehension. Regressions were constructed for each language and grade separately. Results showed that in Grade 2, word reading fluency and vocabulary contributed independently to reading comprehension, though an interaction between these variables was not observed in either language. By Grade 3, an interaction between these constructs emerged and was shown to predict reading comprehension in both English and French. Specifically, vocabulary was positively related to reading comprehension among students with moderate to high levels of fluency, while vocabulary did not uniquely contribute to reading comprehension among those who were less fluent. The emergence of an interaction in Grade 3 suggests that as students’ reading skills become more proficient, reading comprehension outcomes are better explained by taking into account the interaction between reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge.

     

Reading comprehension strategy instruction and attribution retraining for secondary students with learning and other mild disabilities

A pre-post experimental design with 6-week delayed posttest was implemented to investigate the effects of reading comprehension strategy (RCS) instruction with and without attribution retraining (AR) on reading outcomes for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders with learning and other mild disabilities. Students were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: RCS+AR, RCS, or a Read Naturally (Ihnot, 1992) comparison condition. Results indicated that compared to the comparison group, both strategy instruction groups performed better on a summarization measure of comprehension after treatment producing large effect sizes. Both groups also performed better after a 6-week delay; however, only the RCS+AR group maintained a large effect size. In addition, RCS+AR students displayed higher attributions for reading success at post- and delayed posttesting. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Goal orientation and reading comprehension strategy use among students with and without reading difficulties

Our aim in this paper was to provide an analysis of goal orientation parameters with respect to reading comprehension strategy use for students with and without reading difficulties (RD). Non-RD students appeared to be more mastery oriented and less performance avoidant compared to RD ones. Also, non-RD students used, more, deeper, more sophisticated and complex ones compared to those of RD students (who used fewer and more surface strategies). Non-RD children appeared to metacognitively monitor their comprehension process while their RD classmates were either ignorant of the existing comprehension problems or bridged meaning gaps in inappropriate ways.     

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.     

Reading comprehension in French 1st and 2nd grade children: Contribution of decoding and language comprehension

This paper reports a study conducted with French first-grade and second-grade children (mean age: 6;8 and 7;8 respectively). The first aim was to re-examine the Gough and Tunmer’s (1986) Simple View in assessing the specific contribution of decoding ability and language comprehension to reading comprehension. The second one was to analyse the difficulties of children in reading comprehension. Reading and listening comprehension were assessed using both visual and auditory version of the same test. Decoding ability was assessed by means of a nonword reading test. On the basis of reading comprehension scores, skilled and less skilled comprehenders were contrasted, and then two groups of less skilled comprehenders were differentiated on the basis of the decoding scores. Hierarchical regression analyses computed on the whole sample showed that listening comprehension was a more powerful predictor than decoding ability in first- and second-grade children. In both grades, the pattern of performance in less skilled comprehenders showed a relative independence between decoding and reading comprehension. The good decoders’ group and the poor decoders’ group showed similar poor performance in reading comprehension and poor performance in listening comprehension. However, their difficulties could stem from different sources. Some instructional recommendations were formulated taking into account individual differences in decoding and spoken language abilities, as soon as the first months of formal reading acquisition.     

Implementation and effects of explicit reading comprehension instruction in fifth-grade classrooms

In this intervention study, teachers tried to implement four instructional principles derived from the literature on research-based, explicit reading comprehension instruction in their fifth-grade classrooms. The principles focused on relevant background knowledge, reading comprehension strategies, reading-group organization, and reading motivation. Results indicated that during a five-month intervention period, students in the intervention group increased their strategic competence and comprehension performance relative to controls. However, no effect was found on reading motivation. The overall pattern of results is explained in relation to the implementation quality of the four instructional principles, with implementation data indicating that the principles of reading-group organization and reading motivation were particularly difficult for the teachers to translate into classroom practice.     

Reading comprehension difficulties experienced by students with learning disabilities

Abstract

Students with learning disabilities often experience poor comprehension due to their failure to read strategically and to spontaneously monitor their understanding while reading. This paper discusses in relation to current literature, the various problems with reading comprehension commonly experienced by students with learning disabilities. Specifically, these students may encounter problems in: (A) using background knowledge appropriately; (B) decoding and word recognition; (C) vocabulary knowledge; (D) fluency; (E) strategy use and metacognitive skills; and (F) differentiating between common text structures.     

Reading motivation and reading comprehension in Chinese and English among bilingual students

One hundred four Hong Kong Chinese fifth graders completed a questionnaire on eight separate motivational subscales related to reading separately for Chinese as a first language (L1) and English as a foreign language (EFL) in addition to measures of both Chinese and English reading comprehension. Motivations related to self-efficacy, curiosity, involvement, recreation, and social-peer attitudes were significantly higher for L1 as compared to EFL reading. No difference across EFL and L1 was found for the motivational subscales in the areas of school grades, instrumentalism, and social-family attitudes. Furthermore, instrumentalism was particularly strongly correlated with EFL reading comprehension, whereas recreation had the highest association with L1 reading comprehension. The eight subscales collectively explained 16% variance in Chinese and 12% variance in English reading comprehension. Results underscore the importance of different types of motivation for reading comprehension and the different roles each motivational aspect may play in L1 and EFL reading.     

Deaf college students' reading comprehension and strategy use

Two comprehension studies were conducted with 46 deaf college students. In the first, 20 deaf college students representing higher and lower reading-ability levels were tested for correctly stating the main idea of a passage, answering content questions, indicating their understanding of the words and phrases, and recognizing a topically incongruent sentence embedded in the passage. The results suggest that deaf students profess a better understanding of what they read than they are able to demonstrate. The students' inability to identify a topically incongruent sentence in the passage further suggests a need for them to more carefully and accurately evaluate their understanding of what they are reading. A second study investigated the effect of strategy review instruction on deaf college students' comprehension of short reading passages. Students reading at a higher level showed improved comprehension on the posttraining passage, but students reading at a lower level did not. Similarly, the control group of deaf students comparable to the higher-level readers did not show improved comprehension.     

Poetry immersion: Reading,writing and performing with secondary students

In an attempt to counter the culture of high-stakes testing and the instrumental coverage of poetry, the authors designed and taught a sustained, intensive poetry course to secondary students. In this article they advocate a deep genre study of poetry for students and teachers and highlight important principles from their work that are applicable in a variety of teaching contexts.     

Fourth grade follow-up of reading and spelling skills of French immersion students

Twenty-one French immersion and traditional English program students, originally assessed in first grade, were retested on single-word reading and spelling in fourth grade. The immersion students, who had shown equivalence with the control students on most written language measures in first grade, maintained their equivalence in fourth grade. Furthermore, they demonstrated slight superiority over the English program students in reading non-words. Their first-grade advantage in linguistic analysis ability may have helped their written English skills to develop comparably to those of the control subjects despite much less exposure to, and instruction in, written English. It is suggested that although no other advantage was seen at this time from their early heightened linguistic analysis ability, the French immersion subjects may surpass the English program students once they can join their linguistic analysis skill to greater expereince with written English.This research was funded by Grant A2008 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We would like to thank Dr. Barry Vail and the principals, staffs, and students of the Durham Board of Education, Ontario, for their generous cooperation in this study.     

The effect of a strategy training on reading comprehension in fourth-grade students

Previous studies have shown that instruction of reading strategies is an effective method for enhancing reading comprehension. However, many of the interventions in these studies focused on small groups of (poor) comprehenders and were provided by research assistants, making it time-consuming and relatively expensive. The authors implemented a strategy intervention to intact classrooms, consisting of reciprocal teaching and delivered by teachers. Participants were 510 typically developing fourth-grade students. A clustered randomized controlled trial was conducted with pretest, posttest, and follow-up measures to assess knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension. The results revealed that the intervention had an effect on knowledge of reading strategies at posttest and follow-up. However, the intervention did not affect reading comprehension performance. Together with the results of earlier studies, the present study raises the question whether strategy interventions are the most efficient to improve fourth-grade students' reading comprehension.     

Fostering the reading comprehension of secondary school students through peer-assisted learning: Effects on strategy knowledge, strategy use, and task performance

Based on the work of Fuchs and Fuchs [Fuchs, D., & Fuchs, L. S. (2001). Peer-assisted learning strategies in reading: Extensions for Kindergarten, first grade and high school. Remedial & Special Education, 22, 15–21], this study examined the effects of a peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) program on the reading comprehension of 7th-grade students. In a pretest–posttest (active) control group design, eight intact classes consisting of 186 students were assigned either to a PALS condition or to a traditional instruction condition (TI). In 17 lessons, students were instructed by their regular teachers in the understanding of age-appropriate reading material. Treatment success was assessed with both performance-related (reading comprehension) and strategy-related (declarative and procedural strategy knowledge) test tasks. At posttest, PALS students (a) scored higher on experimenter-constructed and standardized comprehension tests, (b) achieved higher scores on declarative and procedural measures of summarizing strategies, and (c) improved to a greater extent in their understanding of self-regulated reading activities than TI students.     

Reading for different goals: the interplay of EFL college students' multiple goals,reading strategy use and reading comprehension

This study explored the effects of achievement goals on English as a foreign language (EFL) college students' reading strategy use and reading comprehension from the perspective of multiple goals. Fifty‐seven participants verbalised their thoughts while reading an English expository essay. They also completed assessments on their reading goal profiles and reading proficiency. The results of stimulated recall indicated that participants with profiles characterised by strong mastery and strong performance goals used intra‐sentential, inter‐paragraph, intra‐paragraph and monitoring/evaluating strategies significantly more frequently than did their counterparts. In contrast, participants with profiles characterised by strong mastery but weak performance goals utilised these strategies more often than those participants with weak mastery but strong performance goals. The strong‐mastery–strong‐performance goal profile served as a significant, positive predictor for degrees of reading comprehension. In line with these findings, suggestions for EFL reading pedagogy are provided.     

Reading comprehension difficulties in children

This paper reports two studies investigating the nature of comprehension deficits in a group of 7–8 year old children whose decoding skills are normal, but whose reading comprehension skills are poor. The performance of these poor comprehenders was compared to two control groups, Chronological-Age controls and Comprehension-Age controls. The first study examined whether these comprehension difficulties are specific to reading. On two measures of listening comprehension the poor comprehenders were found to perform at a significantly lower level than Chronological-Age controls. However, they did not differ from a group of younger children matched for reading comprehension skills. This indicates that the observed comprehension difficulties are not restricted to reading, but rather represent a general comprehension limitation. The second study investigated whether these comprehension difficulties can be explained in terms of a memory deficit. The short-term and working memory skills of these three groups were examined. The poor comprehenders did not differ from their Chronological-Age controls on either of these tasks. In conclusion, it is argued that working memory processes are not a major causal factor in the creation of the comprehension difficulties identified in the present group of poor comprehenders.     

Reading comprehension instruction: summarization and self-monitoring training for students with learning disabilities.

Forty-five middle-school students with learning disabilities were randomly assigned to one of three reading-comprehension training conditions: (a) summarization training, (b) summarization training with a self-monitoring component, or (c) traditional instruction. All students were interviewed before and after training regarding the strategies they typically employ during reading comprehension; during one training session, "think aloud" protocols were collected. Results indicated that students with learning disabilities trained in summarization procedures performed statistically higher on all dependent measures. In addition, on some transfer measures, students who were trained in the monitoring component statistically outperformed those with only the summarization training.     

French immersion in Canada: Theory and practice

French immersion programs are rapidly becoming an integral part of the Canadian education system. Its educational and linguistic achievements have been the subject of an abundant literature that continues to grow. The popularity of the program has helped it expand at a phenomenal rate. From one school and a handful of students in the experimental classes 25 years ago, there are now more than 17,000 schools offering French immersion instruction to close to 250,000 students in all major Canadian cities.The major theoretical foundations on which French immersion was explicitly and sometimes implicitly based may be summarized as follows:

Reading comprehension and information processing strategies

The present study investigated the relationship between the reading comprehension and information processing strategies of relatively fluent oral readers of Oriya orthography. The study was necessary, because Oriya orthography has some significant differences from English orthography and these differences could bear implications for the reading strategies and processes. Hence, it was envisaged that findings in the field of reading research using English orthography may not hold good for the readers of Oriya orthography. One hundred students of grade V were taken as subjects in the present study. Reading comprehension tasks simultaneous and successive information processing tasks and a nonverbal measure of intelligence were administered to all the subjects. Results show that good comprehenders were relatively more intelligent than the poor comprehenders. So far as their performance on simultaneous and successive information processing strategies were concerned good cornprehenders were better off on both types of coding tasks and these differences were found to be statistically significant even after the effect of intelligence was partialled out. However, no differential proficiency on either of these coding strategies was observed neither for the good nor for the poor comprehender group.