Basic reading and reading-related language skills in adults with deficient reading comprehension who read a transparent orthography

Irit Bar-Kochva,Josef Schrader,Thomas Dresler,Hannes Schröter,Hans-Christoph Nuerk,Réka Vágvölgyi,Benjamin Nagengast

doi:10.1007/s11145-021-10147-4

Abstract

This study set out to examine the basic reading skills (accuracy and fluency in decoding, word and text reading) and some of the reading-related language skills (phonological awareness and rapid-naming) of 54 adults with low reading comprehension, who read the transparent German orthography. Participants were born in Germany and showed a typical non-verbal processing speed. With the exception of reading accuracy, participants were expected to present deficits in all basic reading and reading-related skills. The average performance in measures of decoding and word reading fluency was extremely low. A notable proportion of the sample, however, did not present a deficit in these measures. As expected, the average rate of reading errors was generally low. Nevertheless, text reading accuracy was deficient for one quarter of the sample. Tests addressing the reading-related language skills also indicated an average low performance in phonological awareness, but not in rapid-naming. Here too, a notable variance was observed. These results suggest that deficits in the basic reading skills and in phonological awareness characterise, on average, adults with low reading comprehension. At the same time, significant deficits in reading comprehension in this population do not necessarily imply deficits in the more basic skills of reading as well. In addition, the results indicate that reading accuracy constitutes a source of difficulty for some of these adults, despite the reading of a transparent orthography. The sources for the variance in performance throughout the different reading and reading-related measures remain to be explored.

Highlights

Low reading ability in adulthood has consistently been reported in large-scale studies worldwide
According to Egloff et al (2011), functional illiteracy is evident when the written language competencies of adults are lower than the expected minimum and lower than those naturally expected in order to meet the demands of society
We addressed two questions: The first, do adults with low reading comprehension, who read the German orthography, show deficits in the fluency of decoding and word reading, in text reading rate, in phonological awareness and in RAN when compared to norms of adults and of children? The literature reviewed above led us to hypothesise that participants would present, as a group, deficits in these measures

Summary

Introduction

Low reading ability in adulthood has consistently been reported in large-scale studies worldwide. Adults with low literacy skills experience great difficulties in using printed information in their daily life. For this reason, they have been referred to as “functional illiterates” (UNESCO, 1978). Because the term “functional illiteracy” does not communicate its distinction from illiteracy well, it is recommended to avoid the use of this term, and to refer to “adults with low literacy skills” instead (Grotlüschen & Buddeberg, 2020). This is the term used in the present work

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