This study examined whether the simple view of reading framework is consistently applicable among high school Korean EFL learners. In addition, it was investigated whether an oral reading fluency component is an efficient predictor for reading comprehension on top of decoding skills and linguistic comprehension skills. Thirty tenth-grade students in Korean high school were selected as participants in this research, and their decoding skills, listening comprehension, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension in English were assessed. The data demonstrated that decoding was not an important component in predicting English reading proficiency, which does not support the original version of the simple view of reading. Instead, it was revealed that oral reading fluency had a strong predictive power of reading comprehension. Furthermore, it was found that the model should be modified as an additive model (listening comprehension + fluency) instead of a productive one. The result is discussed with respect to reading comprehension, taking into account learners’ grade level and EFL learners’ English education circumstances.

The Simple View of Reading

The twofold purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine the relative importance of decoding skills to reading comprehension in reading development and to identify which reader characteristics and reading assessment characteristics contribute to differences in the decoding and reading comprehension correlation. A meta-analysis of 110 studies found a sizeable average corrected correlation (r¯c = .74). Two reader characteristics (age and listening comprehension level) were significant moderators of the relationship. Several assessment characteristics were significant moderators, particularly for young readers: the way that decoding was measured and, with respect to the reading comprehension assessment, text genre; whether or not help was provided with decoding; and whether or not the texts were read aloud. Age and measure of decoding were the strongest moderators. We discuss the implications of these findings for assessment and the diagnosis of reading difficulties.

/pdf/decoding-and-reading-comprehension-a-meta-analysis-to-41tbsgwbbq.pdf

Decoding and Reading Comprehension A Meta-Analysis to Identify Which Reader and Assessment Characteristics Influence the Strength of the Relationship in English

Direct and mediated effects of language and cognitive skills on comprehension of oral narrative texts (listening comprehension) for children.

In this two-year longitudinal study, we sought to examine the developmental relationships among early narrative listening comprehension and language skills (i.e., vocabulary knowledge, sentence memory, and phonological awareness) and the roles of these factors in predicting narrative listening comprehension at the age of 6 years. We also sought to examine the role of inference-making skills as longitudinal and concurrent predictors of other language skills and listening comprehension from the age of 4 to 6 years. One hundred thirty Finnish-speaking children participated in the study. A theoretical model of the developmental relationships among the variables was proposed and the associations were analyzed by means of path analysis. Results showed that inference skills, assessed through picture-book viewing, made a significant and unique contribution to variation in later narrative listening comprehension. Inference skills also played an indirect role in narrative listening comprehension by making a significant contribution to vocabulary knowledge even after controlling for earlier vocabulary knowledge and sentence memory. Although vocabulary knowledge and sentence memory were related to concurrent narrative listening comprehension, they did not predict later listening comprehension over and above the autoregressor. The results are discussed in terms of the predictive validity and diagnostic sensitivity of inference skills assessments in listening comprehension. Implications for research and theory are also discussed.

The Role of Inference Making and Other Language Skills in the Development of Narrative Listening Comprehension in 4–6-Year-Old Children

Pathways of relations of language, cognitive, and literacy skills (i.e., working memory, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, inference, comprehension monitoring, word reading, and listening comprehension) to reading comprehension were examined by comparing four variations of direct and indirect effects model of reading. Results from 350 English-speaking second graders revealed that language and cognitive component skills had direct and indirect relations to listening comprehension, explaining 86% of variance. Word reading and listening comprehension completely mediated the relations of language and cognitive component skills to reading comprehension and explained virtually all the variance in reading comprehension. Total effects of component skills varied from small to substantial. The findings support the direct and indirect effects model of reading model and indicate that word reading and listening comprehension are upper-level skills that are built on multiple language and cognitive component sk...

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED602712.pdf

Why the Simple View of Reading Is Not Simplistic: Unpacking Component Skills of Reading Using a Direct and Indirect Effect Model of Reading (DIER).

We present a meta-analysis to test the validity of the Simple View of Reading Gough & Tunmer (Remedial and Special Education, 7:6–10, 1986) for beginner readers of English and other, more transparent, orthographies. Our meta-analytic approach established that the relative influence of decoding and linguistic comprehension on reading comprehension is different for readers of different types of orthography during the course of early reading development. Furthermore, we identified key differences in the relations among different measures of decoding and reading comprehension between readers of English and other more transparent orthographies. We discuss the implications for reading instruction and the diagnosis of reading difficulties, as well as our theoretical understanding of how component skills influence reading comprehension level.

The simple view of reading:is it valid for different types of alphabetic orthographies?

The current study analyzed the relationship between text comprehension and memory skills in preschoolers. We were interested in verifying the hypothesis that memory is a specific contributor to listening comprehension in preschool children after controlling for verbal abilities. We were also interested in analyzing the developmental path of the relationship between memory skills and listening comprehension in the age range considered. Forty-four, 4-year-olds (mean age = 4 years and 6 months, SD = 4 months) and 40, 5-year-olds (mean age = 5 years and 4 months, SD = 5 months) participated in the study. The children were administered measures to evaluate listening comprehension ability (story comprehension), short-term and working memory skills (forward and backward word span), verbal intelligence and receptive vocabulary. Results showed that both short-term and working memory predicted unique and independent variance in listening comprehension after controlling for verbal abilities, with working memory explaining additional variance over and above short-term memory. The predictive power of memory skills was stable in the age range considered. Results also confirm a strong relation between verbal abilities and listening comprehension in 4- and 5-year-old children.

Listening comprehension in preschoolers: the role of memory

According to multicomponent models (Oakhill & Cain, 2007a), text comprehension is a complex process that requires the processing of explicit (i.e., information presented in the text) and implicit information (i.e., information inferable from the text or from previous knowledge), and involves various components. This study investigated (a) preschoolers' understanding of explicit and implicit information in oral texts and (b) the role of verbal and inferential skills in the processing of explicit and implicit information. Two hundred twenty-one 4- to 6-year-olds were evaluated as to their listening text comprehension and the following components: receptive vocabulary, verbal intelligence, and inferential skills. Working memory was a control variable. Results showed that (a) explicit information was easier to process than implicit information; and (b) all the components considered, except receptive vocabulary, accounted for comprehension of both types of information, and their role was stable in the age rang...

Listening Text Comprehension of Explicit and Implicit Information in Preschoolers: The Role of Verbal and Inferential Skills

A longitudinal study analyzed (a) which lower- and higher-level semantic components uniquely predicted listening text comprehension and (b) the nature of the relation (i.e., direct and indirect) between the predictors and listening text comprehension in preschoolers. One-hundred and fifty-two children participated in the present study (68 females; mean age = 4;10 years/months and 5;5 years/months at Time 1 and Time 2, respectively). Participants were administered measures to evaluate listening text comprehension (Time 1 and Time 2) and (a) expressive and receptive word knowledge (lower-level semantic components), and (b) inferential skills and the ability to use context (higher-level semantic components) (Time 1). Verbal short-term and working memory were also included as control variables. Data were analyzed using path analysis models. Results showed that both types of semantic components (a) accounted for unique variance in listening text comprehension at Time 2, with lower-level semantic components explaining a larger proportion of variance than higher-level semantic components; (b) were related to later listening text comprehension through direct and indirect relations. Memory resources did not significantly contribute to listening text comprehension. The results are discussed in light of their theoretical relevance and educational/practical implications.

Listening text comprehension in preschoolers: a longitudinal study on the role of semantic components

The study explored narrative production and comprehension in typically developing Italian–English sequential bilinguals. Thirty 5- to 6-year-olds and 32 6- to 7-year-olds were presented with story telling and retelling tasks, each followed by comprehension questions in Italian (their first language) and English (their second language). The macrostructure of narratives produced was analyzed, considering total amount of relevant information, story complexity, and mental state terms. Comprehension questions focused on implicit story information (i.e., characters’ mental states and goals). The results indicated that (a) older children outperformed younger ones on all measures; (b) an advantage of first language (Italian) over second language (English) emerged for younger children; and (c) comprehension and production were both more accurate in story retelling than in telling. Theoretical and methodological implications of these results are discussed.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0142716415000417

Elena Florit

Papers

The simple view of reading:is it valid for different types of alphabetic orthographies?

Listening comprehension in preschoolers: the role of memory

Listening Text Comprehension of Explicit and Implicit Information in Preschoolers: The Role of Verbal and Inferential Skills

Listening text comprehension in preschoolers: a longitudinal study on the role of semantic components

Narrative competence of Italian-English bilingual children between 5 and 7 years