Abstract This study proposes and identifies two levels of word reading at which good comprehenders can obtain a similar understanding of written and spoken narrative texts: The oral-written matching ...functional and efficient thresholds. These thresholds are compared with the level of word reading over which a relationship between listening comprehension and reading comprehension is evident (a basic word recognition threshold) and with the level after which better word recognition does not result in improvements in reading comprehension (an upper word recognition threshold). The three first thresholds were calculated in a sample of 344 first to third-grade Spanish students who read and listened to two narrative texts of different difficulty and who were assessed on measures of comprehension and word recognition. Listening and reading comprehension were related when participants accurately read more than 73% of pseudowords in a list (basic word recognition threshold). For participants with good listening comprehension, reading comprehension performance matched listening comprehension once a moderate reading speed of ~ 66 decontextualized words per minute was achieved (oral-written matching functional threshold) or when the rate of reading the text was ~ 140 words per minute (oral-written matching efficient threshold). The value of the oral-written matching efficient threshold was, in this study, similar to the upper word recognition threshold identified by prior research. The thresholds calculated in this study delineate a sequence of increasingly challenges to the developing reader, allowing a nuanced description of the initial stages of reading development.
The present study investigated 3- to 7-year-olds' (N = 91) comprehension of two-clause sentences containing the temporal connectives before or after. The youngest children used an order of mention ...strategy to interpret the relation between clauses: They were more accurate when the presentation order matched the chronological order of events: "He ate his lunch, before he played in the garden" (chronological) versus "Before he played in the garden, he ate his lunch" (reverse). Between 4 and 6 years, performance was influenced by a combination of factors that influenced processing load: connective type and presentation order. An independent measure of working memory was predictive of performance. The study concludes that the memory demands of some sentence structures limits young children's comprehension of sentences containing temporal connectives.
•L1 prosodic sensitivity predicts L2 English reading comprehension.•English stress sensitivity is a unique mediator for this cross language relation.•English stress sensitivity contributes to reading ...lexically and prosodically.•Automaticity theory and lexical quality hypothesis can be integrated.•Extend automaticity theory and lexical quality hypothesis to suprasegmental domain.
This 1-year longitudinal study examined the role of Cantonese lexical tone sensitivity in predicting English reading comprehension and the pathways underlying their relation. Multiple measures of Cantonese lexical tone sensitivity, English lexical stress sensitivity, Cantonese segmental phonological awareness, general auditory sensitivity, English word reading, and English reading comprehension were administered to 133 Cantonese–English unbalanced bilingual second graders. Structural equation modeling analysis identified transfer of Cantonese lexical tone sensitivity to English reading comprehension. This transfer was realized through a direct pathway via English stress sensitivity and also an indirect pathway via English word reading. These results suggest that prosodic sensitivity is an important factor influencing English reading comprehension and that it needs to be incorporated into theoretical accounts of reading comprehension across languages.
Collects within a single volume state-of-the-art descriptions of important theories of reading development and disabilities. The included chapters focus on multiple aspects of reading development and ...are written by leading experts in the field.
This study investigated the relation between children's text comprehension, their ability to produce a coherent and cohesive story, and the extent to which external cues aid these aspects of ...narrative production. Children with reading comprehension difficulties demonstrated deficits in both aspects of story organization, relative to same‐age skilled comprehenders and younger children of equivalent comprehension ability. Their performance was poor when a topic title was used to elicit the narrative, but performance improved when stories were elicited with more informative verbal and pictorial prompts. Stories with poorer structures did not contain proportionately fewer connectives in general, but the type of connective included differed in relation to story event structure. These findings are discussed in relation to the use of coherence and cohesion in narratives and their relation to comprehension skill.
This study investigated the extent to which comprehension monitoring in children's first and second language predicts reading comprehension.
Children's ability to detect inconsistencies in orally ...presented stories was measured by response to a judgment question about whether the story made sense and by the identification of the inconsistency within the story. The participants included 115 English-French bilingual children (M
ageGrade2
= 7.8 years) recruited from a French immersion program in Canada.
In each language, two regressions were carried out to examine the contribution of comprehension monitoring to reading comprehension in Grades 2 and 3, and one regression was computed to examine the contribution of Grade 2 comprehension monitoring to Grade 3 reading comprehension. The concurrent results revealed that, in Grade 3, children's comprehension monitoring was a unique predictor of reading comprehension in English and French. This relationship was not observed in Grade 2. Notably, the longitudinal analyses indicated that Grade 2 children's comprehension monitoring in English made a significant contribution to English reading comprehension in Grade 3. However, this relationship was not established in French.
These results promote a call to include support for higher-level oral language skills during the early stages of bilingual reading instruction.
Children's comprehension of single texts relies on both foundational and higher-level skills. These are also assumed to support multiple-document comprehension, but their relative importance has not ...been examined, to date. Multiple-document comprehension additionally requires the identification and use of information about each document's source.
This study examined multiple-document comprehension in primary school-aged children. It sought to determine the relative importance of skills proposed to be common to both single-text and multiple-document comprehension (word reading fluency, verbal working memory, comprehension monitoring) and specific to the latter (source use). Single-text comprehension and prior topic knowledge were considered as moderator and control.
Participants were 94 children in the fourth year (mean age = 9; 7 years; 52% females).
Children read three documents on each of two topics (chocolate and video games). Multiple-document comprehension and source use were assessed through short essays. Independent measures of the fundamental and higher-level skills were used.
There was a significant direct and indirect influence of word reading fluency on comprehension of multiple documents on videogames and also an indirect influence of comprehension monitoring. Indirect influences of word reading fluency and comprehension monitoring on multiple-document comprehension for both topics were also apparent. Verbal working memory was not a unique predictor. When source information was identified, it was included to support the argument in the composition.
Efficient word reading, comprehension monitoring, and single-text comprehension are important for multiple-document comprehension in young readers. Implications of these findings and differences between the two document sets are discussed.
Background
Children's comprehension of single texts relies on both foundational and higher‐level skills. These are also assumed to support multiple‐document comprehension, but their relative ...importance has not been examined, to date. Multiple‐document comprehension additionally requires the identification and use of information about each document's source.
Aims
This study examined multiple‐document comprehension in primary school‐aged children. It sought to determine the relative importance of skills proposed to be common to both single‐text and multiple‐document comprehension (word reading fluency, verbal working memory, comprehension monitoring) and specific to the latter (source use). Single‐text comprehension and prior topic knowledge were considered as moderator and control.
Sample
Participants were 94 children in the fourth year (mean age = 9; 7 years; 52% females).
Methods
Children read three documents on each of two topics (chocolate and video games). Multiple‐document comprehension and source use were assessed through short essays. Independent measures of the fundamental and higher‐level skills were used.
Results
There was a significant direct and indirect influence of word reading fluency on comprehension of multiple documents on videogames and also an indirect influence of comprehension monitoring. Indirect influences of word reading fluency and comprehension monitoring on multiple‐document comprehension for both topics were also apparent. Verbal working memory was not a unique predictor. When source information was identified, it was included to support the argument in the composition.
Conclusions
Efficient word reading, comprehension monitoring, and single‐text comprehension are important for multiple‐document comprehension in young readers. Implications of these findings and differences between the two document sets are discussed.
Two studies investigated the ability to use contextual information in stories to infer the meanings of novel vocabulary by 9-10-year-olds with good and poor reading comprehension. Across studies, ...children with poor reading comprehension were impaired when the processing demands of the task were greatest. In Study 2, working memory capacity was related to performance, but short-term memory span and memory for the literal content of the text were not. Children with poor reading comprehension were not impaired in learning novel vocabulary taught through direct instruction, but children with both weak reading comprehension and vocabulary were. Implications for the relation between vocabulary development and text comprehension are discussed.
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