Reading and listening at three school stages: cloze tests and their response analysis

This paper reports the results of cloze tests in the reading and listening modes together with a computer analysis of responses to the tests. The subjects were groups of Scottish school children at the ages of 8-9, 11-12 and 13–14 years sampled over the whole country as part of a national survey of English language; the cloze tests were only a small part of the whole testing programme which also contained three other major reading tests. Approximately 400 subjects took cloze tests in each mode at each age. The test material was the same throughout for all stages tested. Two tests, each containing one narrative and one expository text were used. The mode of presentation did not significantly affect the types of cloze responses offered nor the total scores of the tests at any stage. However, results indicated better performance for older subjects when they read, and for the youngest group when they listened to, expository though not narrative passages. The comparisons of the results for the three different school stages showed continuing interdependence of reading and listening ability through the ages tested. The different cloze response patterns for the two types of text (in either mode) as well as the only moderate correlation between the texts, indicated that success in comprehending narratives may not necessarily transfer to comprehending information.     

An Evaluation of Schoolwide Early Language and Literacy (SWELL) in Six Disadvantaged Schools

A within‐school evaluation of Schoolwide Early Language and Literacy (SWELL) was undertaken in six disadvantaged schools in NSW in 1995 and 1996 using a sample of Kindergarten students in each school before (control group) and after (experimental group) the implementation of SWELL. As many control and experimental students as could be accessed were tested on four different early literacy measures when they were mid‐way through Year 1. Assessment at the end of the Kindergarten year and mid‐way through Year 1 indicated that experimental students significantly outperformed their control counterparts on tests measuring pseudoword decoding and reading connected text at the end of Kindergarten, and on tests measuring pseudoword decoding, reading connected text, invented spelling, and a standardised reading measure mid‐way through Year 1.     

The Relative Effect of a Code-Oriented and a Meaning-Oriented Early Literacy Program on Regular and Low Progress Australian Students in Year 1 Classrooms which Implement Reading Recovery

A within-school study of the effects of two different early literacy instructional programs on the reading proficiency of Year 1 students was undertaken in three schools in New South Wales, Australia all of which used Reading Recovery. The first program under examination was a "meaning"-oriented program used by six Kindergarten and Year 1 classrooms in the three schools. The second program, a "code"-oriented one, was implemented in the same six Kindergarten and Year 1 classrooms one year later. The code-oriented program, known as Schoolwide Early Language and Literacy (SWELL), stresses the explicit instruction of phonological awareness and the alphabetic code in context. All students, including both regular and Reading Recovery students, in the six non-SWELL classrooms were tested on four early literacy measures at the end of Year 1 when they had completed two years of schooling (comparison group). At the end of the following year, all Year 1 students in the six SWELL classrooms were tested on the same early literacy measures, when they had completed two years of schooling (experimental group). Results indicated that all regular and Reading Recovery students in SWELL classes significantly outperformed their regular and Reading Recovery counterparts in non-SWELL classes on tests measuring pseudoword decoding, reading connected text, invented spelling, and a standardised reading measure at the end of Year 1. However, Reading Recovery students as a group, whether in SWELL or non-SWELL classes, did not reach the average level of their peers on any of the four literacy measures used. Implications for the most effective combination of whole-class and tutorial programs for children at-risk of literacy failure are considered in the discussion.     

A longitudinal study of two groups of children with early reading problems

The word lists of the Standard Reading Inventory were administered to five successive classes of beginning third graders in a single school. Those students scoring at the two lowest levels, preprimer and primer, all of whom had received consistent individualized reading instruction, were interviewed and tested individually when they were in junior or senior high school. The preprimer group continued to show serious disability at follow-up, with a mean retardation of 4.5 years in reading and 5.9 years in spelling, and continued to require help from learning-disabilities teachers. The primer group, only 1–2 years retarded in reading and spelling, were coping academically with little special help.     

Family risk of dyslexia is continuous: individual differences in the precursors of reading skill

The development of 56 children at family risk of dyslexia was followed from the age of 3 years, 9 months to 8 years. In the high-risk group, 66% had reading disabilities at age 8 years compared with 13% in a control group from similar, middle-class backgrounds. However, the family risk of dyslexia was continuous, and high-risk children who did not fulfil criteria for reading impairment at 8 years performed as poorly at age 6 as did high-risk impaired children on tests of grapheme-phoneme knowledge. The findings are interpreted within an interactive model of reading development in which problems in establishing a phonological pathway in dyslexic families may be compensated early by children who have strong language skills.     

Specific reading difficulties in Chinese, English, or both: longitudinal markers of phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and RAN in Hong Kong Chinese children

What are the longitudinal cognitive profiles of Hong Kong Chinese children with specific reading difficulties in Chinese only, in English only, or both? A total of 16 poor readers each of Chinese (PC) and English (PE) and 8 poor readers of both orthographies (PB) were compared to a control sample (C) of 16 children; all were drawn from a statistically representative sample of 154 Hong Kong Chinese children tested at ages 5 to 9 years. PE and PB children's mothers had lower education levels than did the other groups. With children's ages and mothers' education levels statistically controlled, the PE, PC, and PB groups were significantly lower than the C group on phonological awareness. The PB and PE groups also scored significantly lower than the others on English vocabulary across years, whereas the PC and PB groups were significantly poorer than the C and PE groups on morphological awareness across years. Finally, the PB group was significantly slower than the other groups on speed naming at every age tested, underscoring the potential importance of automaticity in reading across orthographies. Findings highlight the need to consider the issue of how to identify reading difficulties in a second language.     

Background factors and preschool test scores as predictors of reading: a nine-year longitudinal study

Approximately 400 children were first tested at 4, and background factors were ascertained at that time. Further testing included a kindergarten reading readiness test and reading tests at grades 3 and 8. The best preschool predictors of reading were naming tests for boys, and general verbal ability for girls. At the kindergarten level a quantitative test surpassed tests of phonemic awareness and language in predicting reading, for both boys and girls. Family history of learning disability and preschool test behavior contributed to prediction of reading. Effects of birth order were strongest at the preschool level, and handedness had its only effects at that level. Relationships of some factors to reading differed by gender. Socioeconomic status had significant effects only for boys, and a speech delay only for girls. Conclusions were that some background factors may contribute to the preschool prediction of reading, and particularly to the prospective identification of poor readers.     

Implications of Overlapping Difficulties in Mathematics and Reading on Self-Concept and Academic Achievement

In this study, the relationship between adolescents’ difficulty in mathematics and reading and the influence on academic self-concept and school grades was examined. The participants (N = 585; 299 girls, 286 boys) were one age group of ninth-graders whose mathematics and reading skills were assessed at the end of comprehensive school at age 16 years. Five student profile groups were found using cluster analysis: best achievers, normal achievers (NA), the reading difficulty (RD) group, the mathematical difficulty (MD) group, and the learning difficulty (LD) group. Post-hoc tests revealed that the RD group and the LD group had a higher academic self-concept than the MD group. In school grades history, surprisingly, the NA group and the RD group performed equally well across all school grades. Students in the MD group performed as poorly as the LD group. The results emphasise the prolonged and generalised effects of especially MD on students’ academic careers.     

Longitudinal correlates of reading comprehension difficulties in Chinese children

The present study explored the early predictors of reading comprehension difficulties in Chinese children. We originally recruited 290 Beijing and 154 Hong Kong children and further selected from each sample those (30 from Beijing and 22 from Hong Kong sample) in the lowest 25 % on reading comprehension tests across the last two consecutive testing years (Beijing: ages 9 and 10; Hong Kong: ages 8 and 9) as poor comprehenders. These groups were matched to a group of children from the same sample whose reading comprehension was above 30 % across the two final years and matched on mothers’ education levels, age, nonverbal reasoning at age 4, and Chinese word reading across the same final two consecutive years. We then examined early linguistic/cognitive skills at ages 5–9 that could distinguish the poor and typically developing groups in each city separately. Compared to the control group, poor comprehenders from both samples performed significantly and consistently worse on word reading at early ages, and generally worse on morphological compounding awareness, phonological awareness, and vocabulary knowledge from ages 6 and onwards. In addition, lexical tone sensitivity across ages and grammatical sensitivity (administered at age 5 only) failed to distinguish the two groups for the Beijing sample but did for Hong Kong children.     

Cognitive processing rates among disabled and normal reading young adults: A nine year follow-up study

Forty adults who had been diagnosed as reading disabled when they were children and 40 adults from a matched control group of normal readers were tested to assess the diagnostic utility of a newly developed set of tests as well at to ascertain whether or not reading disability persists into early adulthood. The new measures, designed to examine cognitive processing rates in disabled and normal adult readers, included expressive verbal fluency, confrontation naming, and perceptual speed. Evidence for significantly slower cognitive processing rates and persistent problems in reading and spelling was apparent among the young adult disabled readers. Spatial and mathematical ability levels were well within the normal range.     

Role of visual attention in cognitive control of oculomotor readiness in students with reading disabilities

This study investigated eye movement and comprehension therapy in Grade 6 children with reading disabilities (RD). Both order of therapy and type of therapy were examined. Furthermore, the implications of visual attention in ameliorating reading disability are discussed. Thirty-one students with RD were identified using standardized reading comprehension tests. Eye movements were analyzed objectively using an infra-red recording device. Reading scores of participating children were 0.5 to 1 SD below the national mean. Testing took place before the start of therapy (T1) and was repeated after 12 weeks (T2) and 24 weeks (T3) of therapy. One group of students had eye movement therapy first, followed by comprehension therapy; in the other group, the order was reversed. Data were evaluated using a repeated measures MANOVA and post hoc tests. At T1, mean reading grade was 2 years below grade level, and eye movement scores were at about Grade 2 level. Mean growth in reading comprehension for the total sample was 2.6 years (p < .01) at T3; equally significant improvement was measured in eye movements (p < .01). Learning rate in reading comprehension improved from 60% (T1) to 400% (T3). Although within-group differences were statistically significant, between-group differences were not significant for comprehension or eye movements. Order of therapy (comprehension first or eye movements first) was not significant. Improvements in within-group scores for comprehension and eye movements were consistently significant at T2 and T3. Eye movement therapy improved eye movements and also resulted in significant gains in reading comprehension. Comprehension therapy likewise produced improvement both in eye movement efficiency and in reading comprehension. The results support the notion of a cognitive link among visual attention, oculomotor readiness, and reading comprehension.     

Developmental dyslexia: Is it different from other forms of reading disability?

A controversy whether developmental dyslexia is qualitatively different from other forms of reading disability has existed among reading specialists for many years. In the present study, the hypothesis that the etiology of dyslexia is different from that of other forms of reading disability because of differences in the components that malfunction was tested. A number of studies have shown that the two components that contribute to a large proportion of variance in reading are decoding and comprehension. It is, therefore, possible that a breakdown of different components could lead to different forms of disabilities. College students who were poor readers were assigned to two groups on the basis of their IQ. Conforming to the traditional criterion of dyslexia, those who had an IQ of 95 and above were considered as dyslexic. Those who had an IQ of 85 or below were placed in the Nonspecific Reading-Disabled group. These two groups of poor readers and a group of normal readers were administered a large number of reading-related tests. It was found that the two reading-disabled groups differed from each other in six of the seven areas assessed. There was very little overlap of scores between the two groups in these areas. The results were interpreted to suggest that poor decoding skill is the etiology of developmental dyslexia and that it differs from other forms of reading disability which are caused by generalized cognitive deficits.     

Phonological awareness, vocabulary, and word reading in children who use cochlear implants: does age of implantation explain individual variability in performance outcomes and growth?

The phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary, and word reading abilities of 19 children with cochlear implants (CI) were assessed. Nine children had an implant early (between 2 and 3.6 years) and 10 had an implant later (between 5 and 7 years). Participants were tested twice over a 12-month period on syllable, rhyme, and phoneme awareness (see James et al., 2005). Performance of CI users was compared against younger hearing children matched for reading level. Two standardized assessments of vocabulary and single word reading were administered. As a group, the children fitted early had better performance outcomes on PA, vocabulary, and reading compared to hearing benchmark groups. The early group had significant growth on rhyme awareness, whereas the late group showed no significant gains in PA over time. There was wide individual variation in performance and growth in the CI users. Two participants with the best overall development were both fitted with an implant late in childhood.     

Computerised formative assessment of reading comprehension: field trials in the UK

Increased curriculum time allocated to reading might not be effective in raising achievement. Teachers need to closely monitor and manage both the quality and quantity of individualised reading of all their pupils for optimal effectiveness. ‘Learning information systems’ (LIS) for reading such as the ‘Accelerated Reader’ (AR) enable this through individualised computerised assessment of pupil comprehension of ‘real books’, with feedback to both pupil and teacher. This study explored the impact of AR on reading achievement in 13 schools of different types spread across the UK, the majority socio‐economically disadvantaged. Participating pupils were aged 7–14 years. Pre‐post norm‐referenced gains in reading achievement were measured by group paper‐reading tests and a computer‐based adaptive reading test. The implementation integrity of AR was assessed by direct observation by researchers and through data generated by the programme itself. On both paper and computer‐based reading tests, on aggregate pupils in the 13 schools gained in reading at abnormally high and statistically significant rates. Boys tended to show larger gains than girls on the paper test. However, implementation integrity was very variable. In particular, some teachers failed to intervene in response to AR data indicating that pupils were reading ineffectively. AR appears to have potential for raising reading achievement, but only if implemented appropriately.     

Beyond phonological skills: broader language skills contribute to the development of reading

This paper reports a study that followed the development of reading skills in 72 children from the age of 8.5 to 13 years. Each child was administered tests of reading, oral language, phonological skills and nonverbal ability at time 1 and their performance on tests of reading comprehension, word recognition, nonword decoding and exception word reading was assessed at time 2. In addition to phonological skills, three measures of non‐phonological oral language tapping vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension were unique concurrent predictors of both reading comprehension and word recognition at time 1. Importantly, all three measures of oral language skill also contributed unique variance to individual differences in reading comprehension, word recognition and exception word reading four and a half years later, even when the autoregressive effects of early reading skill were controlled. Moreover, the extent to which a child's word recognition departed from the level predicted from their decoding ability correlated with their oral language skills. These findings suggest that children's oral language proficiency, as well as their phonological skills, influences the course of reading development.     

The impact of media multitasking on learning

While multitasking is not a new concept, it has received increasing attention in recent years with the development of new media and technologies. Recent trends appear to suggest that multitasking is on the rise among the younger generation. The purpose of the study is to determine if students obtain more or less information in multitasking conditions. We examined the relationships of multitasking to attention, cognitive load and media with 130 college student participants. In this study, participants were given a timed (16 minutes) reading comprehension test in three conditions: Silence (only reading), Background multitasking (reading with a non-tested video shown simultaneously), and Test multitasking (reading with a tested video shown simultaneously) conditions. Our findings indicated that: (1) participants in the Background condition performed as well as those in the Silence condition, and (2) when participants were tested on their video comprehension, the group in the Test condition performed significantly better than the group in the Background condition. The results of this study suggest that cognitive load plays an important role in determining how much information is retained when students perform more than one task at a time.     

The Relations of Early Television Viewing to School Readiness and Vocabulary of Children from Low-Income Families: The Early Window Project

For two cohorts of children from low- to moderate-income families, time-use diaries of television viewing were collected over 3 years (from ages 2-5 and 4-7 years, respectively), and tests of reading, math, receptive vocabulary, and school readiness were administered annually. Relations between viewing and performance were tested in path analyses with controls for home environment quality and primary language (English or Spanish). Viewing child-audience informative programs between ages 2 and 3 predicted high subsequent performance on all four measures of academic skills. For both cohorts, frequent viewers of general-audience programs performed more poorly on subsequent tests than did infrequent viewers of such programs. Children's skills also predicted later viewing, supporting a bidirectional model. Children with good skills at age 5 selected more child-audience informative programs and fewer cartoons in their early elementary years. Children with lower skills at age 3 shifted to viewing more general-audience programs by ages 4 and 5. The results affirm the conclusion that the relations of television viewed to early academic skills depend primarily on the content of the programs viewed.     

A Four Year Follow‐up Study of Low Socioeconomic Status,Latin American Children with Reading Difficulties

This paper presents the results of a follow‐up study of reading difficulties among Spanish‐speaking Latin American children of low socioeconomic background (SES) over four school years. The research started with a group of 93 children with reading difficulties (RD) by 2nd and 3rd grade teachers in four schools and a control group of 63 children without reading difficulties (ND), belonging to the same schools. Both groups were equivalent in age, grade, gender and SES. All children were tested on reading decoding and comprehension, reading and writing pseudo‐words, verbal abilities, visual perception, phonological processing, and the WISC‐R. Neither SES nor IQ accounted significantly for the reading difficulties in the RD group. The most predictive variables of the final reading level in the RD group were phonological processing, verbal abilities, and the initial level of decoding. After four years, 17% of the initial RD children had reached an average level of reading, but 11% of this group remained with severe reading difficulties and may be considered as dyslexic children. The RD children who became average readers were not significantly different from the control group in verbal abilities, nor in phonological processing. Nevertheless, they were significantly different in terms of IQ scores. The neuropsychological characteristics of the children with severe reading difficulties appear similar to those found in children with dyslexia in more developed countries.     

Measuring Change in Adult Literacy Programs: Enduring issues and a Few Answers

Problems in the measurement of student change in adult literacy programs were investigated through repeated testing of a group of students in Adult Basic Education and General Educational Development classes and through computer simulations. Ninety-two students were tested at three points in time with a battery of norm-referenced reading and mathematics tests as well as with tests of reading rate and decoding developed for this study. Change scores were found to vary across tests, with significant declines as well as gains. No significant differences in change scores were found for amount of instructional time or for attendance rate, and a large amount of group heterogeneity was revealed through an analysis of growth patterns. Computer simulations showed that with populations smaller than 200, aggregating grade-equivalent scores can lead to distorted mean changes when compared to aggregate means of equal-interval scale total scores. In contrast, simulations of regression to the mean caused by guessing on multiple-choice tests showed that this effect was relatively small. These results strongly support the conclusion that adult literacy programs cannot be evaluated effectively by any single measure. These findings also support the current efforts to construct multiple indicator systems for evaluating adult literacy programs, systems that attend to the multiple goals of such programs and are free of elementary-level and secondary-level conventions such as grade equivalents.