Abstract
To profile children's reading comprehension, we developed a dynamic approach with componential abilities (orthographic knowledge, vocabulary, sentence-integration) being assessed within the same texts and provided with feedback in addition to the global comprehension of these texts. In 275 Dutch third to fifth graders, we investigated to what extent the response accuracy for questions on componential abilities on first attempts and after feedback predicted global text comprehension within the same texts as well as the prospective development in a standardized reading comprehension test. We found that global text comprehension was increased by each correctly answered question on a componential ability on first attempts and by each correctly answered sentence-integration question after feedback. The accuracy on first attempts also explained unique variance of the growth in the standardized reading comprehension test. A dynamic approach may thus help to arrive at a better understanding of the profiles of children's reading comprehension.
Highlights
To profile children's reading comprehension, we developed a dynamic approach with componential abilities being assessed within the same texts and provided with feedback in addition to the global comprehension of these texts
The reading comprehension test scores were strongly correlated with the percentage of correct first attempts for the componential ability questions but weak to moderate with the performance after feedback
We found evidence for the suitability of a dynamic approach for profiling of children's instructional needs in reading comprehension in terms of the focus and intensity of instruction
Summary
To profile children's reading comprehension, we developed a dynamic approach with componential abilities (orthographic knowledge, vocabulary, sentence-integration) being assessed within the same texts and provided with feedback in addition to the global comprehension of these texts. A dynamic approach in which the componential abilities (orthographic knowledge, vocabulary, sentence-integration) are assessed within the same texts and the responsiveness to feedback after mistakes is measured may provide a better insight into the required focus and intensity of instruction (Den Ouden et al, 2019). Since not all information is directly expressed in the text, the reader has to interpret the link between adjacent phrases and sentences (e.g., cohesive ties, semantic mapping) and has to infer implicitly provided information across the whole text by integrating background knowledge (Cain & Oakhill, 2014) Via these so-called sentence-integration abilities, the reader constructs a more abstract and elaborate mental representation of the situation described in the text (situation model), which goes beyond the literal meaning (Van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983). Several studies found that both uniquely predict reading comprehension abilities (Oakhill & Cain, 2012; Silva & Cain, 2015)
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