Cognitive componential modelling of reading in ten- to twelve-year-old readers

The longitudinal project attempts to estimate the parameters of a priori postulates with their measurement errors, and the goodness-of-fit of model-implied population covariance sigma matrices with observed sample covariance matrices, using linear structural equation modelling (LISREL). The present report deals with Phase 2 of the project (see Leong 1988 for Phase 1 results) and involved 252 ten-to twelve-year-old readers. Three latent exogenous components were postulated: (a) orthographic/phonological component, (b) morphological component, and (c) sentence comprehension component. These constructs were subserved by 8 measurable indicators (5 lexical decision and 3 vocalization tasks). These 8 independent tasks were all administered on-line via the microcomputer under laboratory conditions with combined, scaled accuracy and latency measures as indices of efficiency in processing the reading related tasks. The latent endogenous or dependent component Reading Performance was subserved by standardized vocabulary and reading comprehension tests. Maximum likelihood analyses using LISREL VI to test the approximation of the hypothesized model show a good fit for the grade 4 data, a reasonable fit for grade 5, and a less unambiguous fit for grade 6. These results are generally confirmed with the simultaneous structural analyses of Phase 2 and Phase 1 (N=298 students) multisamples. Multi-components and multi-levels of reading for these age groups are emphasized.