A componential approach to understanding reading and its difficulties in preadolescent readers |
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Authors: | Che Kan Leong |
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Institution: | (1) University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada |
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Abstract: | The present study is predicated on the logic of interrelated functional information processing components as an approach to
understanding reading and its difficulties in preadolescent readers. The structural equation modelling (and its variants)
involved these three latent components: (a) orthographic/phonological component, (b) morphological component, and (c) sentence
and paragraph comprehension component. These components were subserved by a total of ten measurable tasks, all administered
on-line via the microcomputer under laboratory conditions with reaction time measures as indices of mental representation
of word knowledge and sentence/paragraph comprehension. The latent dependent component of reading performance was subserved
by standardized vocabulary and reading comprehension tests. The total sample consisted of 298 children in grades, 4, 5, and
6. Maximum likelihood analyses using LISREL show that the data in general do not disconfirm the proposed model for grade 4
readers. The three-component model, with some variables set free, provides a reasonable fit for the grade 5 data but less
claim could be made about the goodness of fit for grade 6. The results show the mutually reinforcing and mutually facilitating
effects of multilevels and multicomponents of reading. Word structure and word knowledge are particularly predictive of reading.
The present Phase 1 work would be validated in a follow-up of another cohort of readers and would also lead to the systematic
training of some of the components with poor readers.
This study was supported by a grant (No. 410-86-0048) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. |
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