Text Reading Fluency Error Analysis of Korean 1st and 2nd Graders with Developmental Dyslexia considering Semantic Knowledge

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of text reading fluency error analysis of Korean 1st and 2nd graders with developmental dyslexia considering semantic knowledge. Methods: Thirty developmental dyslexic children were divided into two groups of 15 children, one group with poor vocabulary and the other not. Both groups had similar word decoding abilities as determined by Korean Language based Reading Assessment (Pae, Kim, Yoon, & Jang, 2015). The children had normal intelligence and difficulties in reading. The task was the text taken from Korean Language based Reading Assessment. Considering semantic knowledge, the performance of text reading fluency and error types, the results of miscue analysis (MA) and Linguistic pattern analysis (LPA) were compared. Results: The group with poor vocabulary exhibited a lower frequency of errors in substitution and correction by miscue analysis. They also showed a lower error frequency in phoneme-grapheme non-correspondent errors by linguistic pattern analysis. Conclusion: According to the automaticity theory, we need to read texts with understanding on a semantic basis. Even with the same level of decoding, there were more errors in text reading fluency due to limited semantic knowledge in the group with poor vocabulary. Paragraphs in textbooks in the 1st and 2nd grades in Korea contain several phoneme-grapheme non-correspondent ‘eojeols’ that combine grammatical morpheme graphemes. Therefore, in addition to reading errors of grapho-phonology in syllable units, reading errors considering triple word-form bases should be examined.