Reading Outcomes Research Articles

On the cusp of predictability: Disruption in the typical association between letter and word identification at critical thresholds of RAN and phonological skills

Early identification is important for improving reading outcomes for children at risk for reading difficulties, but current methods tend to perform sub-optimally in identifying true risk. One possible reason is that whereas most prediction models assume linear relationships among risk and reading outcome measures, qualitatively different patterns of association may exist among the measures at different skill levels. We implemented dynamic non-linear modeling to test this possibility in two distinct samples of children: 1) 225 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten with concurrent data and 2) 104 children with longitudinal (pre-)kindergarten and second-grade reading scores. Cusp catastrophe modeling was used to evaluate the moderating effects of rapid automatized naming (RAN) and phonological processing, two foundational pre-reading skills, on the concurrent and longitudinal relationship between letter identification and word reading. We further tested whether RAN and phonological processing have independent non-linear effects on the letter-word reading relationship above and beyond that of a single skill. Deficits in RAN and phonological processing beyond a critical level were associated with non-linear changes in the prediction of word reading from letter knowledge, both concurrently and longitudinally, fully supporting the cusp model over the competing models. These findings demonstrate the importance of implementing non-linear models for predicting risk for reading difficulties. There was no evidence for the interactive effects of RAN and phonological processing on reading. Instead, in accordance with the basic tenants of the double-deficit hypothesis, current results suggest that the constructs represent two salient but separable causes of reading impairment, even at the earliest stages of reading ability. These findings suggest that models predicting which at-risk children will develop poor reading must diverge from assumptions of relationships observed in typical reading.

Prosodic sensitivity and phoneme awareness as predictors of reading fluency in German

There are contradictory findings in the literature about prosodic sensitivity’s contribution to reading. In this study, we examined whether prosodic sensitivity makes a unique contribution to different reading outcomes in German after controlling for the effects of phonological awareness. Word reading, nonword reading and sentence reading as well as phonological awareness (PA), prosodic sensitivity (PS), and nonverbal IQ were assessed in a sample of N = 207 8- to 10-year-old German-speaking children in third grade. Results showed that after controlling for PA, PS was predictive of only sentence reading. A commonality analysis further showed that PS and PA share about 22% of the explained variance (R2 = .13) in sentence reading, while PS uniquely contributes 18% and PA 60% of this variance. The results indicate that PS is more strongly related to reading tasks with semantic demands.

Textual Syntactic Complexity and Its Role In Second Language Reading Outcomes In Indonesia

This paper examines the role of syntactic complexity in L2 reading outcomes across different EFL proficiency levels in an Indonesian university. Indonesian university students (N = 148) at Intermediate and Advanced levels of proficiency read four English passages differing in syntactic complexity. The latter was measured by several widely used text modelling tools. Participants read two low and two high complexity texts and completed a post-test comprehension test. Syntactic complexity had a statistically significant but low magnitude effect size, accounting for 2%-5% of the variance of reading performance between the L2 English proficiency levels. There were also noticeable differences in text analysis measures across the different complexity tools. The usefulness of syntactic complexity as an isolated dimension of text complexity is evaluated. The contribution of this study to the field both in theory and practice is presented.

Textual Syntactic Complexity and Its Role In Second Language Reading Outcomes In Indonesia

This paper examines the role of syntactic complexity in L2 reading outcomes across different EFL proficiency levels in an Indonesian university. Indonesian university students (N = 148) at Intermediate and Advanced levels of proficiency read four English passages differing in syntactic complexity. The latter was measured by several widely used text modelling tools. Participants read two low and two high complexity texts and completed a post-test comprehension test. Syntactic complexity had a statistically significant but low magnitude effect size, accounting for 2%-5% of the variance of reading performance between the L2 English proficiency levels. There were also noticeable differences in text analysis measures across the different complexity tools. The usefulness of syntactic complexity as an isolated dimension of text complexity is evaluated. The contribution of this study to the field both in theory and practice is presented.

Executive functions in Chinese kindergarten children with early reading problems.

Learning to read Chinese is a complex task that draws on a range of executive function (EF) skills since early development. However, no studies have examined EF as a potential contributing factor to early reading problems among Chinese children. The present longitudinal study identified 48 poor readers and 48 normal readers among a sample of 190 Chinese children at the end of kindergarten. Measures of EF skills (working memory, inhibition control, and cognitive flexibility) and reading outcomes (word reading, sentence reading fluency, and sentence reading comprehension) were administered to the children. The two groups were retrospectively compared on the EF measures after age and nonverbal IQ were considered. Poor readers were found to perform significantly worse than normal readers in all the examined EF skills. Correlation and regression results revealed a relatively different nature of the relationship between EF and reading in poor readers as compared with normal readers. Inhibition control predicted reading outcomes in poor readers only, while cognitive flexibility predicted reading outcomes in normal readers only. Working memory was significantly correlated to word reading in poor readers and to reading comprehension in normal readers. The results are discussed in terms of the special characteristics of the Chinese language.

Effects of explicit training in (meta-)cognitive strategy use in English (L3) on high school students' reading outcomes in Arabic (L1)

Effects of explicit training in (meta-)cognitive strategy use in English (L3) on high school students' reading outcomes in Arabic (L1)

Assessment of effective strategy instruction and reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is a critical skill for student success in school, the workplace, and daily life, yet many students display significant reading comprehension deficits. This article describes the impact effective strategy instruction can have on the reading outcomes of students with learning disabilities and related challenges. A discussion on the various methods (e.g., written retell, oral retell, comprehension questions) for assessing reading comprehension and examples of practical applications of reading comprehension assessments for classroom use are included.

Preschool linguistic indicators of elementary reading achievement

Literacy is a relatively new development in the evolution of human cognitive abilities. This biological-cultural gap can be bridged only by explicit instruction that modifies the operation of the underlying visual and linguistic neural structures. Literacy development relies on very different fundamental abilities, some of which are genetically determined while others are shaped by early experiences. The process of reading acquisition is therefore very vulnerable as it depends on the early development of different cognitive domains. The main questions of the current research are: (1) What characterises children who are at risk of reading disorders among Hungarian preschool children? (2) What are the early linguistic indicators of poor reading development? Our short-term longitudinal study followed 148 children from kindergarten to first grade through the initial processes of learning to read. We explored the relationship between earlier linguistic skills and later reading achievements by measuring a set of linguistic skills in kindergarten age and reading performance in first grade. Our preliminary results suggest that the group of children with the poorest reading outcomes has not only been significantly weaker in phonological processing tasks but in a number of language skills according to preschool assessments. Poor readers showed significantly lower levels than children with average reading outcomes in phonological, lexical and morphosyntactic tasks. Results suggest that reading outcomes among first-grade children might be predictable based on a screening test measuring linguistic skills at different levels of language. This result makes the early identification and development of children at risk for reading disorders possible.

Prosodic Skills and Reading Acquisition in Spanish Primary School Children: Analysis Using the PEPS-C Test.

Although previous studies have considered the relationship between prosody skills and the acquisition of reading skills, few have performed comprehensive, simultaneous assessments of different oral language prosody skills and, to our knowledge, none have been carried out in Spanish. Our study analyses the relationship between prosody and reading skills. Sixty-one second-grade Spanish schoolchildren participated in this study. Prosodic skills were assessed using the Spanish version of the Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication battery, available in different languages. Reading comprehension, word/non-word reading skills, phonological awareness and vocabulary were also evaluated. The results show that prosody was significantly related to word and non-word reading, but phonological awareness was the only significant predictor of these reading outcomes. Prosodic skills contribute to explaining reading comprehension even after controlling for the effect of vocabulary and phonological awareness. The results highlight the role of prosodic skills in reading acquisition in Spanish. Comparison with previous studies in English-language populations demonstrates the existence of cross-linguistic differences.

Exploring Thresholds in the Foundational Skills for Reading and Comprehension Outcomes in the Context of Postsecondary Readers

There is a range of reasons why college students may be underprepared to read, but one possibility is that some college students are below a threshold of proficiency in the component skills of reading. The presence of thresholds means that when students fall below that threshold, their proficiency in that component skill of reading is not sufficient for there to be a relationship with comprehension performance. The present study assessed (a) whether there were thresholds in proficiencies in foundational skills, (b) whether students falling below the thresholds were disproportionately in developmental literary programs (i.e., institutionally designated as underprepared), and (c) the implications of being below the thresholds on engaging in strategic processing during reading. College students were administered assessments of foundational literacy skills, text comprehension, and strategic processing of texts. The sample included students who were enrolled in developmental literacy programs and students who were not. Thresholds were found in the foundational skills associated with word-, sentence-, and discourse-level processing. Participants below these thresholds were represented disproportionately by students determined to be underprepared for college and assigned to developmental literacy programs. Finally, students falling below the thresholds demonstrated lower reading strategy scores than students above the threshold.

What’s the Purpose? A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Purposes for Reading in Secondary Classrooms

Supporting the wide range of readers in secondary disciplinary classrooms can involve a number of helpful scaffolds and instructional routines, and the role of reading purpose may be particularly important. Research suggests that reading purposes impact reading processes and outcomes, and also that disciplinary experts have discipline-specific purposes for reading. In this qualitative-dominant, mixed-methods study, five high school classrooms were studied to explore what kind of purposes teachers establish for reading in the disciplines and how students perceive those reading purposes. Teachers’ (n = 7) reading purposes and related instruction were explored via observations and interviews, and high school students’ (n = 135) perceptions of reading purposes for discipline-specific readings in English, Social Studies, and Science were studied via survey. Each classroom was one case in this collective case study with subsequent quantitative analyses to explore differences in students’ perceptions of reading purposes based on their reading levels. Results suggest that teachers created reading purposes aligned with three main goals: fostering general comprehension, building disciplinary topic knowledge, and enacting disciplinary expert habits of reading. Findings also suggest that students articulated purposes for reading generally, but with few connections to the reading practices of disciplinary experts. Chi Square analyses of the student level data showed no significant differences between students’ perceptions of reading purposes based on their reading levels. Implications, particularly related to the distinction between reading for authentic disciplinary purposes and reading for “school” purposes, are explored.

Markers of At-Risk Literacy Development in Gifted Students

This study explored the role that select components of executive functioning play in predicting reading outcomes in gifted students both directly and indirectly through a broader set of preliteracy skills. A comparison of mediation models indicated the relationships between working memory and inhibition to reading outcomes were fully, rather than partially, mediated by the preliteracy skills. The relationship between inhibition and reading outcomes was mediated through symbol imagery. Symbol imagery served as a mediator to all reading outcomes in this study (Letter Word, Oral Reading Fluency [ORF], and Northwest Evaluation Association Reading Fluency). A measurement of Working Memory in kindergarten was related to ORF in the second grade through speeded naming as a mediator. Neither early phonological processing nor early processing speed were related to the reading outcomes. Implications regarding the use of screening measures for identifying reading difficulties in primary age gifted students are discussed.

Towards Individuated Reading Experiences: Different Fonts Increase Reading Speed for Different Individuals

In our age of ubiquitous digital displays, adults often read in short, opportunistic interludes. In this context of Interlude Reading , we consider if manipulating font choice can improve adult readers’ reading outcomes. Our studies normalize font size by human perception and use hundreds of crowdsourced participants to provide a foundation for understanding, which fonts people prefer and which fonts make them more effective readers. Participants’ reading speeds (measured in words-per-minute (WPM)) increased by 35% when comparing fastest and slowest fonts without affecting reading comprehension. High WPM variability across fonts suggests that one font does not fit all. We provide font recommendations related to higher reading speed and discuss the need for individuation, allowing digital devices to match their readers’ needs in the moment. We provide recommendations from one of the most significant online reading efforts to date. To complement this, we release our materials and tools with this article.

Relations of Vocabulary and Cognitive Skills With Reading Performance of North Korean Students in South Korean Schools.

We examined if North (n = 123) and South Korean (n = 123) children in Grades 3 to 8 studying in South Korea differ in their reading, vocabulary, and literacy-related cognitive skills, and whether language and literacy-related skills contribute to reading outcomes differently among North and South Korean children. The results showed that South Korean students performed better in syllable deletion, RAN-Letters, vocabulary, decoding fluency, and reading comprehension after controlling for age and SES. No differences were observed in phonological awareness, RAN-Digits, and visual processing tasks. A multigroup path analysis showed that phonological awareness and vocabulary were more strongly associated with decoding fluency for the South than the North Korean students, whereas the opposite was true for visual processing. The results suggest that South Korean vocabulary knowledge may be a significant factor in addressing the academic difficulties facing North Korean children in South Korean schools and that it is important to consider linguistic characteristics when examining the variations in reading skills and vocabulary knowledge of North Korean students in South Korean schools. These findings have implications for North Korean children's literacy instruction in South Korean schools.

Contributions of bilingual home environment and language proficiency on children's Spanish-English reading outcomes.

This study examines the influence of language environment on language and reading skills and the cross-linguistic contributions to reading outcomes in 132 Spanish-English bilingual children ages 7-12 (52% female; 98% Hispanic). We present three major findings: children's language knowledge is separable into general (e.g., phonological awareness) and language-specific (e.g., meaning, grammar) skills; regular Spanish use positively relates to children's Spanish language and reading skills and does not limit English skills; and Spanish reading comprehension is positively associated with English reading comprehension. The model explains a significant percentage of the variance in English (R2 =.89) and Spanish (R2 =.87) reading comprehension outcomes. Findings shed light on the interdependence of Spanish and English as they relate to bilingual reading acquisition.

Reading from Screen Vs Reading from Paper: Does It Really Matter?

ABSTRACT This study investigated whether reading comprehension would differ when the texts are studied and tested on screen or on paper. Participants were 69 college students who were attending a college in midwestern United States. Participants read two expository texts each, under comparable paper and screen conditions and answered comprehension questions. Test forms and the order of the conditions were counterbalanced. The correlations between reading outcomes and reader characteristics were examined. Participants also completed a survey on their views on the two media (paper or screen). The results did not indicate a significant difference on students’ reading comprehension as a function of medium and reader characteristics. However, students reported preferring paper-based reading for complex material.

Reading enhancements for students with autism spectrum disorder: A matched randomized pilot experimental study

BackgroundFor students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), improving reading comprehension is critical for increasing both their opportunities for successful postsecondary experiences including attending college and obtaining meaningful employment. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of a multicomponent reading intervention on the vocabulary and reading outcomes of middle grade students with ASD. MethodWe conducted a matched randomized pilot experimental study for students with ASD in grades 3–8 (N = 28) identified by their district personnel as having reading difficulties (i.e., not passing state reading test). An independent researcher matched participants according to symptom severity and reading fluency and then randomly assigned a member of each pair to treatment or comparison condition. Participants in treatment condition were provided 1:1 instruction for 23–30 sessions (M = 27) of 30 min each four to five days per week. Instructional components included (a) vocabulary instruction; (b) fluency with text, and (c) reading comprehension. In this pilot study, data were analyzed using repeated measures multilevel models in HLM 7. Due to the associated low statistical power to detect effects, the small sample size, and the exploratory nature of the study, we selected an alpha level of 0.10. Data were modeled as student-level variables classifying students based on their ASD symptomology from mild (level 1) to severe (level 3). ResultsThe multicomponent intervention was associated with significant gains in WJ-PC scores of 22.62 (se = 8.19, df = 3, p = .070) for students at GARS severity level 1. Significant gains favoring the intervention were also detected on vocabulary score of 10.19 (se = 2.78, df = 3, p = .035) and for students rated at GARS severity level 1 and for students rated at GARS severity level 2 [vocabulary score 5.46 (se = 1.60, df = 3, p = .042)]. Significant effects were not detected for scores on a standardized measure of reading and fluency (TOSREC), and a researcher-developed measure of reading comprehension. ConclusionsThis pilot study shows enough promise to warrant future studies employing larger sample sizes and fully powered randomized control trial (RCT) studies. Although growth is modest and appears to be limited to participants who are in the mid to higher range of the autism spectrum, considering the large percentage of students with ASD in the mid to higher range, this study contributes to the development of evidence-based practices. We interpret the findings as having implications for future research with larger sample sizes and in providing initial guidance on instruction for consideration by practitioners.

Addressing inequity and underachievement: Intervening to improve middle leaders’problem-solving conversations

Reducing inequity is the moral imperative confronting today’s educational leaders. Central to reducing inequity is leaders’ ability to solve the school-based problems that contribute to it, while building the positive and trusting professional relationships required for teachers to commit to the hard work of improvement. A theory of collaborative problem-solving informed our intervention designed to improve the effectiveness of leaders’ behaviour as they worked with their teachers to accelerate the reading achievement of students yet to reach age-related standards. A concurrent mixed methods design was used to evaluate the impact of the intervention by analysing transcripts of interviews and leader-teacher conversations and student reading achievement data. Leaders’ effectiveness in their conversations improved significantly as did the reading outcomes of their target students. Our findings suggest that even short interventions grounded in strong theory with appropriate learning opportunities can affect a positive change in leadership behaviour and student outcomes.

English Education Master Students' Perceptions on Metacognitive Strategy in Academic Reading

Abstract
 Metacognitive strategy can bring about varied fruitful influential impacts toward academic reading enterprises endured by graduate university EFL learners. In this present small-scale qualitative study, the researcher aimed to profoundly investigate English Education Master Students’ perceptions on metacognitive strategy in academic reading. To achieve this research objectivity, this study employed a qualitative content analysis method to obtain more specific portrayals out of the gathered data. 10 online Likert-scale questionnaire items were distributed to 18 English Education Master Students, batch 2019, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. After obtaining the intended data from this first research instrument, the researcher also planned to make use of 5 open-ended written narrative inquiry questions to be responded to by 3 randomly selected interviewees derived from similar research samplings. Two major-specific themes were revealed namely: (1) Metacognitive strategy has successfully promoted more positive academic reading behaviors and (2) Metacognitive strategy allowed graduate university EFL learners to achieve more fruitful academic reading outcomes. The main conclusion of these aforementioned findings is the internalization of metacognitive strategy at the beginning of academic reading dynamics is indispensably crucial in which graduate university EFL learners can potentially transform into more mature, strategic, critical, and proficient L2 academic readers.
 Keywords: Metacognitive strategy, academic reading, students’ perceptions

Lexiland: A Tablet-based Universal Screener for Reading Difficulties in the School Context

Massive and timely screening of the student population for early signs of reading difficulties is needed to implement timely effective remediation of these difficulties. However, traditional approaches are costly and hard to apply. Here, we present Lexiland, a tablet-based reading assessment tool for kindergarten and primary school children developed to be applied in school settings with minimal personnel intervention. Following a story line, players help a character of the game perform several tasks that measure different predictors of reading outcomes. Most of the tasks that usually involve a verbal response were switched to receptive tasks to demand a touch-screen response only. The tablet application was administered to a sample of N = 616 5-yo kindergarten children and to a sub-sample of these children twice during the following two years (First and Second Grades). Applying logistic regression and cross-validation, we selected a reduced subset of tasks that can predict with great sensitivity and specificity, whether a five-year-old child will have reading difficulties by the end of first grade (sensitivity 90% and specificity 76%) and two years later (sensitivity 90% and specificity 61%). Importantly, Lexiland is a scalable tool to implement universal screening, given the increasing availability of devices able to run android and iOS applications.