Abstract
Studies have suggested that reading speed (RS) or fluency should be a component of reading comprehension (RC) models. There is also evidence of a relationship between RS and RC. However, some questions remain to be explored, as the changes in such a relationship may be a function of development. In addition, while there are studies published with English speakers and learners, less evidence exists in more transparent orthographies, such as Portuguese. This study investigated the relationship between RC and RS in typical readers. Objectives included elucidating the following: (1) the contribution of RS to RC controlling for intelligence, word recognition, and listening and (2) the differential relationships and contributions of RS to comprehension in different school grades. The sample of participants comprised 212 students (M = 8.76; SD = 1.06) from 2nd to 4th grade. We assessed intelligence, word recognition, word RS, listening, and RC. Performance in all tests increased as a function of grade. There were significant connections between RC and all other measures. Nonetheless, the regression analysis revealed that word RS has a unique contribution to RC after controlling for intelligence, word recognition, and listening, with a very modest but significant improvement in the explanatory power of the model. We found a significant relationship between RS and RC only for 4th grade and such relationship becomes marginal after controlling for word recognition. The findings suggest that RS could contribute to RC in Portuguese beyond the variance shared with listening and, mainly, word recognition, but such a contribution was very small. The data also reveal a differential relationship between RS and RC in different school grades; specifically, only for the 4th grade does RS begins to relate to RC. The findings add a developmental perspective to the study of reading models.
Highlights
The National Reading Panel highlights three important areas for reading, learning and competence: alphabetics, which is related to word recognition skills; fluency, the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression; and comprehension, here understood as reading comprehension (RC) or reading competence, a complex process that integrates other abilities suchWord Reading Speed and Comprehension vocabulary comprehension and strategies for understanding
This componential view of reading is represented in cognitive models such as the Simple View of Reading (SVR), a model proposed by Gough and Tunmer (1986) that suggests that reading competence (R) can be explained by two components, decoding (D) and listening comprehension (LC), which is expressed by the formula R = D × LC
Results revealed that listening and RC, word recognition, and reading speed (RS) developed during the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades, and no significant differences were found between the more advanced grades
Summary
The National Reading Panel highlights three important areas for reading, learning and competence: alphabetics, which is related to word recognition skills; fluency, the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression (prosody); and comprehension, here understood as reading comprehension (RC) or reading competence, a complex process that integrates other abilities suchWord Reading Speed and Comprehension vocabulary comprehension and strategies for understanding. A relatively recent review on the theme-compiled studies in the area has corroborated the view of fluency as a concept that integrates accuracy, automaticity, and prosody in oral reading (Kuhn et al, 2010). This componential view of reading is represented in cognitive models such as the Simple View of Reading (SVR), a model proposed by Gough and Tunmer (1986) that suggests that reading competence (R) can be explained by two components, decoding (D) and listening comprehension (LC), which is expressed by the formula R = D × LC. CMR postulates that three domains can impact reading learning and competence: (1) the cognitive domain, comprising word recognition and comprehension (similar to SVR, but note that the “word recognition” component expands the idea of decoding); (2) the psychological domain, which includes motivation, interest, learning styles and other psychological phenomena; and (3) the ecological domain, including variables such as culture, home and classroom environments
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