Text Reading Fluency Research Articles

Longitudinal Observation of Text Reading Fluency in 1st Graders with and without Dyslexia

Objectives: Text reading fluency is an important skill for students using Korean which has a transparent orthography system. This study longitudinally observed text reading fluency in Korean first-grade students with and without dyslexia over 3 semesters. Methods: Forty children with dyslexia and forty typically developing children participated in the study. They were grouped based on their performance at the beginning of the second grade. All students exhibited normal levels of listening comprehension and nonverbal intelligence. Over the three semesters, participants read six texts at various decoding levels. We then analyzed the number of correctly read syllables per 10 seconds, text reading accuracy, and speed. Results: Both the dyslexia and typically developing group showed significant differences in the number of syllables read per 10 seconds at all time points. Text reading accuracy improved significantly from first to second semester of first grade for both the dyslexia and typically developing group. By first semester of second grade, students with dyslexia achieved approximately 80% accuracy. While dyslexic students’ reading speed significantly improved from second semester of first grade to the first semester of second grade, they remained slower than typically developing students. Typically developing students showed consistent improvements in reading speed across all time points. Conclusion: When intervening with lower-grade students with dyslexia in Korea, it’s crucial to conduct not only decoding but also text-level fluency activities. Providing individualized texts that are decodable for dyslexic children seems to be essential.

Beyond Word Recognition: The Role of Efficient Sequential Processing in Word- and Text-Reading Fluency Development

ABSTRACT Purpose Previous studies examining the inter-relations between serial and discrete naming with reading have found that the ability to efficiently process multiple items presented in a sequence (indexed by serial naming) is a unique predictor of word- and text-reading fluency. However, conclusions have been tempered by the concurrent nature of the available data and the uniformly low demands of the materials (words and texts). Here we go beyond previous studies by using more varied materials to examine the relations of serial and discrete naming with the discrete reading of words and the serial reading of word lists and connected text over time. Method Two hundred and eight English-speaking Canadian children (51% female, M age = 7.2 years) were followed from Grade 2 to Grade 5 and were assessed on serial and discrete digit naming and serial and discrete word reading at both measurement points. Results Strong associations between discrete naming and discrete reading already from Grade 2 indicated that short and high-frequency words were processed in parallel early in development. By Grade 5, when word recognition was presumably automatized, serial naming accounted for unique variance in serial reading of word lists and connected texts after controlling for discrete word reading. More importantly, Latent Change Score modeling indicated that serial naming was the main predictor of growth in serial reading from Grade 2 to Grade 5. Conclusion These findings suggest that, beyond individual word recognition, reading fluency development also requires efficient processing of multiple items presented in serial format (termed “cascaded processing”).

초등학생의 읽기유창성과 언어능력과의 관계

Objectives This study aimed to explore the connections between language skills (vocabulary, syntactic ability, expressive sentence pattern production) and reading fluency in elementary school students. Methods The research involved 51 children from grades 1 to 6 in elementary schools across Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Chungcheong. Various tools, such as the text reading fluency test, receptive vocabulary test, and syntatic comprehension test, were utilized. Additionally, tasks evaluating written and spoken expressive sentence patterns were carried out through a fill-in-the-blank test and a discourse completion task. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze performance across different grade levels (low, middle, and high), examining significant differences between the groups. Correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between each variable, and multiple regression analysis was performed to identify the factors influencing reading fluency. Results The study revealed variations in reading fluency and language skills (vocabulary, syntactic ability, scores on written tasks assessing expressive sentence patterns, and the number of expressive sentence types in oral tasks) among different grades. Correlation analysis indicated that scores on written tasks assessing expressive sentence patterns, receptive vocabulary, and the number of expressive sentence types in spoken tasks were correlated with reading fluency. As a result of multiple regression analysis, the explanatory power of linguistic variables on reading fluency was 51.9%. Conclusions In this study, we identified linguistic variables that are correlated with reading fluency in school-age children. Specifically, we found that the ability to produce expressive sentences was correlated with reading fluency. The results of this study suggest new implications for future reading fluency interventions.

Understanding the relation between reading and anxiety among upper elementary students with reading difficulties.

This study examined the relations between reading anxiety, general anxiety, and test anxiety in a sample of students with reading difficulties (n = 536). It also tested if dimensions of anxiety were differentially related to word reading accuracy and fluency, text reading fluency, or reading comprehension. The results indicated that the three anxiety measures were significantly related (r = 0.51 to 0.56, p < .001). Additionally, higher reading anxiety was related to poorer word reading fluency, text reading fluency, and comprehension outcomes. Further analyses indicated that these relations existed in students who fell in the middle and upper quantiles for reading, but not the lowest quantile. This pattern of findings suggests that the relation is complex and varies depending on severity of reading difficulty. Results may help to inform future efforts to support students with reading difficulties, including students with dyslexia.

Screening for Dyslexia in University Students: a Standardized Procedure Based on Conditional Inference Trees.

The focus of this study is on providing tools to enable researchers and practitioners to screen for dyslexia in adults entering university. The first aim is to validate and provide diagnostic properties for a set of seven tests including a 1-min word reading test, a 2-min pseudoword reading test, a phonemic awareness test, a spelling test, the Alouette reading fluency test, a connected-text reading fluency test, and the self-report Adult Reading History Questionnaire (ARHQ). The second, more general, aim of this study was to devise a standardized and confirmatory procedure for dyslexia screening from a subset of the initial seven tests. We used conditional inference tree analysis, a supervised machine learning approach to identify the most relevant tests, cut-off scores, and optimal order of test administration. A combined sample of 60 university students with dyslexia (clinical validation group) and 65 university students without dyslexia (normative group) provided data to determine the diagnostic properties of these tests including sensitivity, specificity, and cut-off scores. Results showed that combinations of four tests (ARHQ, text reading fluency, phonemic awareness, pseudoword reading) and their relative conditional cut-off scores optimize powerful discriminatory screening procedures for dyslexia, with an overall classification accuracy of approximately 90%. The novel use of the conditional inference tree methodology explored in the present study offered a way of moving toward a more efficient screening battery using only a subset of the seven tests examined. Both clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Evolução da tipologia dos erros e autocorreção na leitura textual em escolares

ABSTRACT Purpose: to verify the progress of error typology and percentage of self-correction in text reading and their association with reading fluency in second/third graders (group 1) and fifth/sixth graders (group 2) and the influence of education level on the typology of errors and percentage of self-correction. Methods: an observational, analytical, and longitudinal study. Altogether, 41 students were assessed during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding text reading fluency, percentage of self-corrections and errors, and error typology. The Wilcoxon and paired t-tests were used to compare means, and Pearson’s and Spearman’s tests for correlations. The p-value was set at p &lt; 0.05. Results: group 1 had a decrease in the percentage of errors and an increase, followed by a decrease, in self-corrections. Group 2 had an increase in the percentage of self-corrections, with no variation in errors. The association analysis revealed that the higher the reading speed, the lower the percentage of self-corrections. In the second assessment, group 1 had more self-corrections than group 2 and, in the third one, group 2 had more errors than group 1. Conclusion: the increase in reading fluency and the decrease in errors occur progressively - unlike self-correction, which varies throughout the school year. However, there is an inverse relationship between speed and self-correction.

Rhythm and Reading Abilities

This study was conducted to investigate the previously indicated causal relationship between reading impairment and difficulties in rhythm perception in an adult sample. In our study the comparison was made between the family risk for dyslexia and the no-risk for dyslexia groups to assess the possibility of shared risk factors. We hypothesized that a relationship exists between reading deficits and lower performance in rhythm perception within the family risk for dyslexia participant group. The participants were young adults (N = 119, aged from 20 to 48 years old). We assessed the reading abilities, rhythm perception performance and memory performance, and sensorimotor music reward experiences of our participants. Our results indicate that in adulthood rhythm perception appears to correlate with aspects of memory function, rather than with measures of reading fluency. Our results also suggest an indirect relationship between rhythm perception and word text reading fluency through short-term memory within the family risk for dyslexia group. A weak positive correlation between sensorimotor musical reward experience and pseudoword reading fluency was detected as well. We suggest family risk for dyslexia as an additional variable in future research.

Are children with early literacy difficulties at risk for anxiety disorders in late childhood?

The present study examined whether literacy difficulties in both grades 2 and 3 are associated with social and generalized anxiety within the school environment in grade 5 and if children with different literacy difficulties differ in anxiety levels compared to typically developing children in grade 5 after controlling for inattention. Sixty-nine Greek children with literacy difficulties and fifty-two children with typical literacy development were assessed at the beginning of grade 2 and at the end of grade 3 on standardized literacy measures (reading accuracy, text-reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling). In grade 5, teachers were asked to rate their children’s social and generalized anxiety levels and inattentive behavior in the school context. Results of one-way ANCOVAs showed that children with literacy difficulties were experiencing more social anxiety than typically developing children. Furthermore, children with both reading and spelling difficulties, but not those with single reading or spelling difficulties, had more social anxiety. These findings suggest that there is a close connection between early literacy difficulties and social anxiety in upper elementary grades and particularly among children with both reading and spelling difficulties. Implications for both teachers and other professionals who support children’s socioemotional development will be discussed.

Longitudinal contributions of morphological awareness, listening comprehension, and gains in word reading fluency to later word- and text-reading fluency

This study examined the contributions of morphological awareness, listening comprehension, and early gains in word reading fluency to later outcomes in word- and text-reading fluency. There were 83 participants in second and third grade who were followed across 18 months. Gains in word reading fluency across the first six months predicted both word- and text-reading fluency one year later, beyond variance accounted for by initial word reading fluency, phonological awareness, rapid naming, and two oral language skills. Initial morphological awareness predicted reliable additional variance in word- and text-reading fluency 18 months later. The contribution of listening comprehension was specific to outcomes in text reading fluency. In the last analyses, listening comprehension, but not morphological awareness, predicted unique variance in final text reading fluency beyond final word reading fluency. Findings are discussed in terms of the developmental time-course of reading fluency and the roles of the two oral language skills examined.

Self‐Regulation and Reading Comprehension: Integrating and Aligning to Improve Reading Outcomes

AbstractTwo potential pathways for improving reading outcomes for students with reading disabilities are presented: (a) systematically integrating self‐regulation instructional practices within reading interventions and (b) aligning small‐group reading intervention with core reading instruction to reduce the pressure on the executive system. Two separate studies conducted with fourth grade students with significant reading difficulties, one related to integrating self‐regulation within a reading intervention and one related to aligning core instruction and reading intervention, are presented. Similar to many past high‐quality studies conducted with older students with reading disabilities, results revealed no statistically significant differences on commercially developed measures of reading comprehension. However, results on standardized measures of word reading and text reading fluency and researcher‐developed measures of vocabulary and text comprehension underscore the promise of these approaches and support the notion that considering self‐regulation in the context of reading instruction may be a productive conduit for supporting the needs of students with significant reading difficulties.

Pathways from morphological awareness to reading fluency: the mediating role of phonological awareness and vocabulary

The goal of this study was to examine the relation of morphological skills with reading fluency in 2nd grade Greek-speaking children and if phonological awareness and vocabulary mediate their relation. The sample consisted of 105 2nd grade Greek-speaking students (46 males; Mage = 7.83 years, SD = 3.31). Morphological awareness was assessed with four tasks, examining inflectional and derivational morphology both at an epilinguistic and metalinguistic level. Reading fluency was assessed with oral and silent measures. Results of path analyses indicated that inflectional and derivational morphology contributed to reading fluency through multiple pathways, controlling for the effect of Rapid Automatized Naming. Phonological awareness fully mediated the relation of inflectional and derivational morphology with text reading fluency. Vocabulary partially mediated the relation of inflectional and derivational morphology with silent reading fluency. Furthermore, derivational morphology directly affected silent reading fluency. Overall, the relation of morphological awareness with reading fluency appeared to be dynamic and varied depending on the morphological awareness skill and measure of reading fluency. Regarding the mediating role of phonological awareness and vocabulary, the results showed that children in lower elementary grades in a transparent orthography with a rich morphological system used morphological skills as activators to existing phonological and semantic skills in supporting reading fluency processes.

Translation and cultural adaptation of the HELPS Reading Fluency Program into Brazilian Portuguese: A report of systematic adaptation processes and initial evidence of efficacy.

Across multiples languages, research demonstrates the important relationship between reading fluency and comprehension. Put simply, a fluent reader has greater attention and memory resources to use higher-order functions in reading, resulting in better comprehension of text. Some reading fluency interventions have shown positive results in improving students' text reading fluency and comprehension; however, this research has predominantly been conducted with English-speaking students. For instance, until this report, a comprehensive search revealed only one prior study that evaluated an intervention strategy designed to improve students' reading fluency in Brazilian Portuguese and no prior studies evaluated an intervention program with that population of students. The main goals of this two-part project were to (a) systematically translate, culturally adapt, and pilot test the Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies (HELPS) reading fluency program for use in Brazilian Portuguese (referred to as, HELPS-PB); and (b) conduct a preliminary quasi-experimental study of the HELPS-PB program with 23 students in grades 3 to 5 who needed a reading fluency intervention. This report documents the processes and successful adaptation of existing English- and Spanish-versions of HELPS into a new HELPS-PB program. It also offers preliminary evidence showing that students receiving HELPS-PB significantly improved their text reading fluency comparted to students in a control group. Implications for research, practice, and the adaptation of reading fluency programs into other languages are discussed.

A Virtual Tutoring Program to Increase Students’ Text Reading Fluency

Text reading fluency is an important reading goal for all students. Students with a known reading disability often need systematic and evidence-based instructional supports to reach grade-level benchmarks in fluency. A recent focus on high-impact tutoring practices has given attention to the virtual or remote implementation of programs. This article provides recommendations for educators interested in setting up and implementing fluency instruction virtually to improve elementary or middle school students’ text reading fluency. Key instructional elements and other considerations for virtual implementation are discussed.

Visual attention span as a predictor of reading fluency and reading comprehension in Arabic.

Visual attention span is a measure of multielement parallel processing. Individuals with higher visual attention span are expected to allocate more attention to letters within strings, which boosts letter identification and translates into more efficient reading. Given the high visual complexity of the Arabic writing system, we expected visual attention span to be an important predictor of reading in the Arabic language. Native Arabic readers from Grade 4 and Grade 5 were recruited in Iraqi schools. We assessed the contribution of visual attention span to their reading fluency performance in tasks of fully vowelized word and pseudo-word reading, non-vowelized text reading, and written text comprehension. Their phonological awareness, IQ, and single letter processing speed were further evaluated. Results showed that visual attention span was a significant unique predictor of all the reading measures. Visual attention span and phonological awareness accounted for a similar amount of variance in word and pseudo-word reading fluency. Visual attention span was a far higher predictor than phonological awareness for text reading fluency and the sole predictor of text comprehension. The role of visual attention span to reading is discussed by reference to current word recognition models. Higher involvement of visual attention is expected in vowelized script to compensate for increased crowding in the presence of diacritics. Visual attention would thus contribute to sub-lexical orthographic parsing and favor orthography-to-phonology mapping, in particular for the pseudo-words that do not benefit from efficient lexical feedback. In non-vowelized script, higher visual attention would enhance the accurate and fast identification of root letters within words, thus resulting in faster word recognition.

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

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, &amp; 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.

The Relations of Morphological Awareness with Language and Literacy Skills Vary Depending on Orthographic Depth and Nature of Morphological Awareness

We examined the relation of morphological awareness with language and literacy skills, namely phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, vocabulary, word reading, spelling, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension. We also examined potential moderators of the relations (grade level, orthographic depth of language, receptive vs. productive morphological awareness, inflectional vs. derivational vs. compound morphological awareness, and L1/L2 status). After systematic search, a total of 232 articles (965 unique samples, N = 49,936 participants, and 2,765 effect sizes in 17 languages) met inclusion criteria. Morphological awareness was, on average, moderately related to phonological awareness (r = .41), orthographic awareness (r = .39), vocabulary (r = .50), word reading (r = .49), spelling (r = .48), text reading fluency (r = .53), and reading comprehension (r = .54). Importantly, morphological awareness had a stronger relation with word reading in orthographically deep languages (.52) than in orthographically shallow languages (.38). The relation with vocabulary was stronger for upper elementary grades than for primary grades. The magnitude of the relation also varied by the nature of morphological awareness: productive morphological awareness had a stronger relation with phonological awareness and vocabulary than receptive morphological awareness; derivational morphological awareness had a stronger relation with vocabulary and word reading compared to inflectional morphological awareness; and compound morphological awareness had a weaker relation with phonological awareness but a stronger relation with vocabulary compared to inflectional morphological awareness. These results underscore the importance of morphological awareness in language and literacy skills, and reveal a nuanced and precise picture of their relations.

Investigating the Reading-Writing Relationship of Advanced Korean EFL Learners

The current study examined the potential contribution of advanced Korean EFL learners’ writing abilities to their reading comprehension abilities. A total of 191 college students participated in this study and were tested on writing and reading comprehension abilities as well as other literacy-related measures including listening comprehension, textreading fluency, and knowledge of vocabulary to control for their effects. In order to account for different aspects of writing and reading comprehension abilities, multiple measures of reading and writing abilities were adopted. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses demonstrated that the advanced Korean EFL learners’ English writing abilities had a significant effect on their reading comprehension abilities when other relevant literacy skills were controlled for. Furthermore, their writing abilities mediated the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension abilities. These results highlight the important pedagogical implications on the critical role of writing abilities in enhancing the reading comprehension abilities of L2 learners.

Early oral language precursors of different types of reading difficulties in a consistent orthography

The present longitudinal study examined whether early oral language skills of Greek-speaking children assessed in grade 1 can predict the type of reading difficulties (RD) in grade 2. Sixty-six typically developing (TD) children and eighty-seven children with RD were assessed on phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and vocabulary in the mid of grade 1. Children were classified in the two groups based on whether they scored consistently low (below the 25th percentile) or typically (above the 25th percentile) on standardized measures of text-reading fluency and reading comprehension at the end of grade 1 and the beginning of grade 2. Next, children with RD were assigned to two subgroups: the first group included children (N = 28) with predominantly reading fluency difficulties (RFD) and the second group included children (N = 59) with single reading comprehension difficulties (RCD). A series of binomial logistic regressions showed that children’s classification in an RD group than a TD group was predicted by PA, RAN, and vocabulary achievement. Subsequent multinomial logistic regressions indicated that vocabulary, PA, and MA predicted children’s classification in the RCD subgroup more than in the TD group. Furthermore, lower PA levels and higher RAN score predicted the classification of children in the RFD group than in the RCD or the TD group. These findings highlight the contribution of early oral language assessment to the identification of children with RD and specific types of RD. Theoretical implications for the role of oral language in reading will be discussed as well as practical implications for implementing customized interventions to match children’s educational needs on specific oral language deficits.

Cognitive Requirements of the Phonological Tests Affect Their Ability to Discriminate Children With and Without Developmental Dyslexia.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether the performance on each of seven phonological processing (PP) tests from the Russian Test of Phonological Processing (RuToPP), with their varying levels of linguistic complexity and composite phonological indices, are significant predictors of developmental dyslexia (DD) and can reliably differentiate children with and without reading impairment. Additionally, we examined the general contribution of phonological skills to text reading fluency in children with various levels of reading performance. A total of 173 Russian-speaking 7- to 11-year-old children participated in this study: 124 who were typically developing (TD) and 49 who had been diagnosed with DD. We assessed reading fluency with a standardized reading test and PP with the RuToPP. We investigated the potential of phonological skills to predict the presence or absence of a dyslexia diagnosis using multinomial logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and calculations of the sensitivity and specificity of each test and index. The contribution of phonological skills to reading fluency was also assessed in a mixed group of children. Six of seven RuToPP tests were significant predictors of dyslexia. However, while the RuToPP correctly identified 93%-99% of TD children, for children with dyslexia, it ranged from 4% to 47% depending on the test. In a mixed group of children with and without dyslexia, performance in the more complex phonological tests was a stronger predictor of reading fluency. Our findings are consistent with the literature on predictors of literacy skills and dyslexia while uniquely demonstrating the impact of the complexity level of the phonological tests on the classification outcome. PP is a significant and necessary predictor of reading skills, but it is not sufficient for diagnostic purposes. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.20779294.

Contribution of morphological awareness to reading fluency of children with and without dyslexia: evidence from a transparent orthography.

The goal of this study was to investigate the contribution of morphological awareness to reading fluency of children with and without dyslexia in a transparent orthography, such as the Greek one. The sample consisted of 256 Greek-speaking children (2nd grade: 32 dyslexic and 105 typical readers, 5th grade: 28 dyslexic and 91 typical readers). Morphological awareness was assessed with three tasks, examining inflectional, derivational, and compounding morphology. Reading fluency was evaluated at word, text, and silent level. The results indicated that dyslexic children both in 2nd and 5th grade face significant difficulties in inflectional, derivational, and compounding morphology compared to their peers. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that morphological awareness significantly contributed to reading fluency of children with and without dyslexia, after controlling for non-verbal intelligence, vocabulary, and phonological awareness. Among typical readers, results indicated that inflectional, derivational, and compounding morphology had a small but significant effect on word, text, and silent reading fluency in 2ndgrade and derivational and inflectional morphology on text and silent reading fluency in 5th grade, after controlling for non-verbal intelligence, vocabulary, and phonological awareness. For dyslexic children, a moderate-to-large effect of inflectional and derivational morphology on text and word reading fluency was restricted to 2nd grade. Overall, morphological skills may play a supportive role in reading fluency of Greek children in first and last elementary grades. On the other hand, for Greek children facing reading problems morphological skills appeared to have a strong role in reading fluency only in first grades. Our study provided some preliminary data for the dyslexics' ability of morphological processing as a scaffolding skill for reading fluency. Implications of these findings for education are discussed.