Impact of a Technology-Mediated Reading Intervention on Adolescents' Reading Comprehension

In this experimental study we examined the effects of a technology-mediated, multicomponent reading comprehension intervention, Comprehension Circuit Training (CCT), for middle school students, the majority of whom were struggling readers. The study was conducted in three schools, involving three teachers and 228 students. Using a within-teacher design, middle school teachers' reading classes were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 9) or business as usual (n = 7) conditions. In the CCT condition, students received, on average, 39 lessons of video-modeled instruction in word reading, vocabulary, and comprehension instruction during reading intervention classes. Results of multilevel structural equation models indicated statistically significant effects favoring the CCT condition on three measures: reading comprehension latent variable (ES = 0.14), proximal vocabulary (ES = 0.43), and silent reading efficiency (ES = 0.28). Subgroup analyses indicated that students with lower entry-level reading comprehension tended to benefit more from the CCT intervention in reading comprehension, silent reading efficiency, and state test scores.     

Individual differences in reading comprehension gains from assisted reading practice: pre existing conditions, vocabulary acquisition, and amounts of practice

We conducted a study of the effects of assisted reading practice (Shany & Biemiller, 1995). In this paper we examined the original data to find factors affecting gains in reading comprehension. We contrasted 14 children who had below median gains in reading comprehension and 15 who had above median gains. There were no significant correlations between pre-program language and reading measures and reading comprehension gains. High comprehension gainers made significantly larger gains in vocabulary. In the previous report on this research, we found that reading practice had large beneficial impact on reading comprehension. In this study we also found that children who gained significantly more vocabulary had also significantly higher gains in reading comprehension. Implications are discussed.     

Examining listening previewing as a classwide strategy to promote reading comprehension and vocabulary

Classwide instructional strategies to improve not only reading fluency but also comprehension and vocabulary knowledge are essential for student reading success. The current study examined the immediate effects of two classwide listening previewing strategies on reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Twenty‐one, fourth‐grade general education students were exposed to three experimental conditions including a silent reading control condition, a listening previewing condition, and a listening previewing with vocabulary previewing condition. For all conditions, students read grade‐level passages, answered 10 comprehension questions, and completed a vocabulary‐matching task. Results showed that both listening previewing conditions led to improvements in comprehension as compared to silent reading. Adding a vocabulary previewing component to listening previewing procedures resulted in the highest levels of comprehension and vocabulary. Applied implications and directions for future research are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An observation study of reading instruction provided to elementary students with learning disabilities in the resource room

This study documents the amount and quality of reading instruction provided to second‐ through fifth‐grade students with learning disabilities provided resource‐room services. Reading instruction provided by 10 special education resource‐room teachers was observed. Findings reveal that teachers and students were on task during instructional time that included phonological awareness, word study, comprehension, reading fluency, and vocabulary instruction of average to high average quality. Although class size was small overall, whole‐group instructional delivery was most common. Students made statistically significant gains in oral reading fluency but did not increase their standard scores on measures of comprehension or word reading. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Effects of the Functional Use of Certain Skills in Seventh-Grade Social Studies

Abstract

This study examined the causal relationships between three measures of reading achievement: phonics, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. Measures were obtained from 504 second-grade students at the beginning and end of the school year. A causal relationship was indicated if change in one of the three variables measured at the beginning of the year tended to precede change in the other variables measured at the end of the year. A cross-lagged panel analysis was used to test for such a pattern between the three variables. The findings indicate that phonics knowledge has a causal impact on both reading comprehension and vocabulary gains; reading comprehension has a causal effect on vocabulary gains. Further analysis of the data, using a path analysis model, verified these causal relationships. A second set of data obtained from 1,585 second-grade students at the beginning and end of another school year were used to examine these causal relationships once more. Path analysis findings again verified the relationships found in the first set of data. We concluded that phonics instruction designed to help students recognize the consistent graphophonic patterns in the English language should be emphasized in early elementary-grade reading instruction. We also determined that children’s early reading experiences should be “comprehension focused”; that is, children should be encouraged to make sense out of what they read. Additional research is suggested on the causal relationship between these variables using other assessment instruments, on the causal relationship between other reading variables, and on the relationship of these variables at higher grade levels.     

Promoting Reading Achievement and Countering the “Fourth-Grade Slump”: The Impact of Direct Instruction on Reading Achievement in Fifth Grade

Previous research has documented a substantial decline of standardized test scores of children from low-income backgrounds, relative to more advantaged peers, in later elementary grades, the so-called “fourth-grade slump.” This article examines changes in reading achievement from first to fifth grade for students in a large urban school system with a high proportion of students from economically deprived backgrounds. Students received first-grade reading instruction from Direct Instruction (DI), Open Court, or a mixture of reading curricula. Results indicate that students in schools using DI had significantly greater gains in both reading vocabulary and comprehension than students in the two other settings and that their average levels of achievement in fifth grade were above the national norms, thus countering the fourth-grade slump.     

Reciprocal teaching of reading comprehension in a New Zealand high school

This paper presents an experimental evaluation of a trial implementation of reciprocal teaching procedures by high school teachers to address reading comprehension deficits in a group of their students. Forty-six students with the lowest scores on a standardized test of reading comprehension in seven eighth-grade classes participated in the study. Following 3 hours of instruction in reciprocal teaching procedures, four classroom teachers and two support teachers ran eight reciprocal teaching groups. Four of these groups, 20 students in all, were exposed to between 12 and 16 reciprocal teaching sessions, while 15 students in the other four groups received between six and eight sessions. The remaining 11 students served as a no-treatment comparison group. Pre- and posttest scores on the standardized test served as the dependent measure. Significant gains were observed with students in the extended program, with no significant differences observed between the short program and comparison groups. Follow-up assessments of extended program students between 3 and 7 months later showed a maintenance of comprehension gains. Implications for high schools are discussed in terms of the absence of student progress with insufficient spaced practice in metacognitive skill training and strategic resourcing for remedial comprehension instruction.     

Effectiveness of Supplemental Kindergarten Vocabulary Instruction for English Learners: A Randomized Study of Immediate and Longer-Term Effects of Two Approaches

Abstract

A two-cohort cluster-randomized trial was conducted to estimate effects of small-group supplemental vocabulary instruction for at-risk kindergarten English learners (ELs). Connections students received explicit instruction in high-frequency decodable root words, and interactive book reading (IBR) students were taught the same words in a storybook reading context. A total of 324 EL students representing 24 home languages and averaging in the 10th percentile in receptive vocabulary completed the study (Connections n = 163 in 75 small groups; IBR n = 161 in 72 IBR small groups). Although small groups in both conditions made significant immediate gains across all measures, Connections students made significantly greater gains in reading vocabulary and decoding (d =.64 and.45, respectively). At first-grade follow-up, longer-term gains were again greater for Connections students, but with smaller effect sizes (d =.29 and.27, respectively). Results indicate that explicit Connections instruction features designed to build semantic, orthographic, and phonological connections for word learning were effective for improving proximal reading vocabulary and general decoding; however, increases in root word reading vocabulary did not transfer to general vocabulary knowledge.     

Effects of Technology-Mediated Vocabulary Intervention for Third-Grade Students with Reading Difficulties

Abstract

In this experimental study, we examined the effects of a technology-mediated intervention to improve students’ understanding of academic vocabulary and its impact on measures of vocabulary and comprehension. The Vocabulators program was implemented in two states involving 24 teachers and 200 third-grade students identified as in need of supplemental vocabulary instruction. Individual students within each classroom were randomly assigned to treatment (n?=?100) or typical instructional practices (n?=?100) conditions. In the treatment condition, students received, on average, 29 lessons on vocabulary and comprehension. Results of linear regression analyses showed statistically significant and practical effects on experimenter-developed proximal measures of decoding (ES = 0.52), expressive vocabulary (ES = 0.78), receptive vocabulary (ES = 0.51), and near transfer measures of understanding vocabulary in sentences (ES = 0.65), and informational text comprehension (ES = 0.28). Group performance did not differ statistically on near transfer measures of sentence verification with vocabulary and narrative text comprehension as well as distal standardized measures of general vocabulary or reading comprehension. Findings suggest the potential impact of technology-based vocabulary/comprehension lessons to supplement typical instruction.     

A Comparison of Multiple-Strategy Methods: Effects on Fourth-Grade Students’ General and Content-Specific Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Development

Abstract

In this study, we compared the effects of two experimental multiple-strategy approaches (content-area comprehension and vocabulary) to typical fourth-grade social studies instructional practices. An 18-week, cluster-randomized study was conducted to estimate effects measured by normative-referenced reading comprehension and vocabulary measures and researcher- and district-developed measures of social studies vocabulary and content. Forty-eight teachers and their respective 903 students from 15 schools were randomly assigned by school to one of three conditions: content vocabulary, content reading comprehension, or typical practice. Experimental teachers participated in 6 professional development sessions over 21 weeks. Structural equation modeling results indicated reliable differences favoring both experimental conditions over typical practice on the social studies content measure and substantively important effects on content and standardized vocabulary measures. Students in the vocabulary intervention also outperformed typical practice peers on the curriculum-based vocabulary assessment. Effects of the comprehension and vocabulary conditions were comparable except for the significant effect of vocabulary on the curriculum-based vocabulary measure. Effect sizes for teaching quality on the standardized comprehension measure ranged from d = .26 to .32; however, these effects were not statistically significant.     

Developmental Relations Between Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension: A Latent Change Score Modeling Study

The present study followed a sample of first‐grade (N = 316, M_age = 7.05 at first test) through fourth‐grade students to evaluate dynamic developmental relations between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Using latent change score modeling, competing models were fit to the repeated measurements of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension to test for the presence of leading and lagging influences. Univariate models indicated growth in vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension was determined by two parts: constant yearly change and change proportional to the previous level of the variable. Bivariate models indicated previous levels of vocabulary knowledge acted as leading indicators of reading comprehension growth, but the reverse relation was not found. Implications for theories of developmental relations between vocabulary and reading comprehension are discussed.     

Examining the Efficacy of Targeted Component Interventions on Language and Literacy for Third and Fourth Graders Who are at Risk of Comprehension Difficulties

Testing a component model of reading comprehension in a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy of 4 interventions that were designed to target components of language and metacognition that predict children’s reading comprehension: vocabulary, listening comprehension, comprehension of literate language, academic knowledge, and comprehension monitoring. Third- and 4th-graders with language skills falling below age expectations participated (N = 645). Overall, the component interventions were only somewhat effective in improving the targeted skills, compared to a business-as-usual control (g ranged from ?.14 to .33), and no main effects were significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Effects did not generalize to other language skills or to students’ reading comprehension. Moreover, there were Child Characteristic × Treatment interaction effects. For example, the intervention designed to build sensorimotor mental representations was more effective for children with weaker vocabulary skills. Implications for component models of reading and interventions for children at risk of reading comprehension difficulties are discussed.     

Beyond breadth: the contributions of vocabulary depth to reading comprehension among skilled readers

This study investigated the relationships among vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, reading comprehension, and reading rate among college‐aged students. While the relationships of some of these variables have been explored in previous research, the current study's focus on the role of vocabulary depth on the literacy measures within a sample of skilled readers is new and produced several interesting findings. First, consistent with the hypotheses, both vocabulary breadth and depth were significantly correlated with reading comprehension and reading rate. Second, while both types of vocabulary knowledge explained unique variance in reading comprehension, only vocabulary breadth explained unique variance in reading rate. Finally, although vocabulary breadth was significantly correlated with both of the vocabulary depth measures, the two depth measures were not significantly correlated with each other. This work implies that a strong depth of vocabulary affects reading comprehension, in addition to the well‐established relationship between vocabulary breadth and comprehension.     

The Impact of Vocabulary Instruction on Passage-Level Comprehension of School-Age Children: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

A meta-analysis of vocabulary interventions in grades pre-K to 12 was conducted with 37 studies to better understand the impact of vocabulary on comprehension. Vocabulary instruction was found to be effective at increasing students' ability to comprehend text with custom measures (d = 0.50), but was less effective for standardized measures (d = 0.10). When considering only custom measures, and controlling for method variables, students with reading difficulties (d = 1.23) benefited more than three times as much as students without reading problems (d = 0.39) on comprehension measures. Gains on vocabulary measures, however, were comparable across reading ability. In addition, the correlation of vocabulary and comprehension effects from studies reporting both outcomes was modest (r = .43).     

Examining Child and Word Characteristics in Vocabulary Learning of Struggling Readers

Although instruction has been shown to be effective at increasing vocabulary knowledge and comprehension, factors most important for promoting the acquisition of novel vocabulary are less known. In addition, few vocabulary studies have utilized models that simultaneously take into account child-level, word-level, and instructional factors to better understand the acquisition of novel vocabulary from informational text. Sixty-eight children with reading difficulties in Grades 3–5 were randomly assigned to either vocabulary strategy instruction or traditional comprehension instruction with both groups reading the same set of expository texts. Crossed random-effects models were used to predict item-level variance in vocabulary acquisition. Results indicated main effects for condition favoring vocabulary instruction, child-level predictors (vocabulary and knowledge of the content), and word-level factors (frequency and imageability). One interaction was significant, indicating that students with higher vocabulary scores were more likely to do better when provided vocabulary instruction than students with lower prior vocabulary.     

The Impact of Item Dependency on the Efficiency of Testing and Reliability of Student Scores From a Computer Adaptive Assessment of Reading Comprehension

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the extent to which students who took a computer adaptive test of reading comprehension accounting for testlet effects were administered fewer passages and had a more precise estimate of their reading comprehension ability compared to students in the control condition. A randomized controlled trial was used whereby 529 students in Grades 4–8 and 10 were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, both of whom took a computerized adaptive assessment of reading comprehension. Participants in the experimental condition had ability scores estimated as a function of an item response model, which accounted for item-dependence effects in the reading assessment, whereas control students took a version where item-dependence effects were not controlled. Results indicated that examinees in the experimental condition took fewer passages (average Hedges' g = 0.97) and had more reliable estimates of their reading comprehension ability (average Hedges' g = 0.60). Findings are discussed in the context of potential time savings in assessment practices without sacrificing reliability.     

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.

     

Effects of metacognitive strategy instruction and instruction time on reading comprehension

Ten-year-old students in an experimental group and a control group were tested for metacognitive abilities in reading comprehension before and after implementation of treatment in the experimental group. The teachers of the students in the experimental group were trained in metacognitive strategy instruction and in optimizing instruction time for reading comprehension. The learning gains made by the students in the experimental group in metacognitive abilities for reading comprehension turned out to be significantly greater than those made by the students in the control group. In the next school, year the students in the former experimental group and the former control group were tested for reading comprehension. It turned out that the students in the former experimental group had significantly better results on reading comprehension than the students in the former control group.     

Reading Intervention for Poor Readers at the Transition to Secondary School

This study evaluated two 20-week reading interventions for pupils entering secondary school with reading difficulties. The interventions were delivered by trained teaching assistants (three 35-min sessions per week). 287 pupils (ages 11–13) from 27 schools were randomly allocated to three groups: reading intervention (targeting word recognition and decoding skills), reading intervention plus comprehension, or a waiting list control group. Neither intervention produced statistically significant gains in word reading but the reading intervention plus comprehension intervention produced significant gains in reading comprehension (d = 0.29) and vocabulary (d = 0.34). Further evaluations of methods to improve word reading in this population are needed.     

Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension‐fostering and Comprehension‐monitoring Activities with Ten Primary School Girls

Abstract This paper reports an experimental evaluation of a direct instruction procedure in which children are taught and practise activities to both foster and monitor their comprehension while reading. Three different class groups of low comprehenders, Standard 4, Form 1 and Form 2, were serially exposed to 21 days of 20‐25 minutes instruction in four study activities: summarising, questioning, clarifying and predicting. Instruction was by reciprocal teaching whereby the adult tutor and children took turns leading a dialogue centred around the important topics of the instructional text. The design of this study incorporated both with‐subjects multiple baseline and between‐subjects comparisons, the no treatment comparison groups being average and above average comprehending class peers. Daily comprehension assessment on a different text at the same difficulty level as that used for reciprocal teaching and pre and post intervention scores on a reading comprehension test served as the dependent measures for the study. Results show significant increases in accuracy on comprehension tests for all experimental groups upon introduction of the reciprocal teaching procedure. On completion of the intervention two of these groups scores matched those of the above average controls. Follow‐up probes eight weeks later showed that all groups had maintained their comprehension gains.