Cognitive Processing Challenges Associated with Low Literacy in Adults

Sabatini, John; O’Reilly, Tenaha; Dreier, Kelsey; Wang, Zuowei

doi:10.1002/9781119261407.ch1

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Sleep deprivation also impacts reading, language, and cognitive abilities, influencing test performance, but also promoting the tendency to skip the instructions (Mathew et al, 2018). Hearing and vision deficits may have gone uncorrected in some adults and also should be checked upon the diagnosis, along with cognitive skills such as rapid automatized naming, working memory, and attention (Sabatini et al, 2019). Such factors should not be overlooked in the literacy assessment, both in research and practical contexts.…”

Section: Closing Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, controlling known cognitive factors related to reading (like the phonology, rapid automatized naming levels, and others) explains only around 30% of the variance in reading (e.g., Compton et al, 2001;Debska et al, 2021). Models of reading developed when researching children are inadequate for adults (Sabatini et al, 2019). This indicates that studies of reading should consider more context-dependent, socioeconomic, and literacy practices factors when explaining the reading level.…”

Section: Closing Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of adults with low literacy skills: a review of methods

Chyl,

Dębska,

Pokropek

et al. 2024

Front. Educ.

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The paper reviews the methods for assessing different components of reading skills in adults with reading difficulties, along with functional reading skills. We are particularly interested in the assessment methods available to researchers and practitioners, developed predominantly in the research context, and not available solely in English. We discuss the large-scale international study, PIAAC, as an example of a framework for such assessments. Furthermore, we cover the following types of assessment tools: (1) self-assessment questionnaires, probing into comprehension difficulties and reading habits; (2) measures of print exposure, such as author recognition tests, correlating with other reading-related skills; (3) measures of word recognition and decoding, including reading aloud of words and pseudowords, as well as silent lexical decision tasks; (4) fill-in-the-blank tasks and sentence reading tasks, measuring predominantly local comprehension, entangled with decoding skills; (5) comprehension of longer reading passages and texts, focusing on functional texts. We discuss comprehension types measured by tests, text types, answer formats, and the dependence problem, i.e., reading comprehension tests that can be solved correctly without reading. Finally, we tap into the new ideas emerging from the AI systems evaluation, e.g., using questions generated from news articles or Wikipedia or asked directly by search engines users. In the concluding section, we comment on the significance of incorporating background information, motivation, and self-efficacy into the assessment of adult literacy skills.

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Section: Closing Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Closing Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of adults with low literacy skills: a review of methods

Chyl,

Dębska,

Pokropek

et al. 2024

Front. Educ.

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“…This may help explain why interventions focused on struggling adult readers have yielded limited gains, except in improving decoding skill (e.g., Alamprese et al, 2011). While word reading appears to be critical for these readers, reading comprehension involves a series of other component reading skills (e.g., vocabulary, morphology, sentence processing) that are known to be important in this population and others (Barnes et al, 2017;Cain & Oakhill, 2007;Mellard et al, 2010;Sabatini et al, 2018;Tighe & Schatschneider, 2016). Importantly, these component reading skills do not operate independently of one another, but rather, are thought to interact in complex ways (Perfetti et al, 2005;Perfetti & Stafura, 2014;Sabatini et al, 2019).…”

Section: Implications For Theory Policy or Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring moderational and mediational relations among word reading, vocabulary, sentence processing and comprehension for struggling adult readers

Feller

Talwar

Greenberg

et al. 2023

Journal Research in Reading

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Background: A significant portion of adults struggle to read at a basic level. Word reading (defined here as decoding and word recognition) appears to play a pivotal role for this population of readers; however, less is known about how word reading relates to other important semantic processes (e.g., vocabulary, sentence processing) known to account for a large portion of variance in reading comprehension. This study used the Reading Systems Framework to explore the extent that moderational and mediational relations existed between word reading and semantic processing abilities in predicting reading comprehension. Methods: Participants (N = 169) completed the Reading Inventory and Scholastic Evaluation, which consists of a series of subtests intended to measure decoding/word recognition, vocabulary, sentence processing and reading comprehension.Results: A moderated mediation model was constructed to assess the extent to which moderational and mediational relations between word reading and semantic processing were predictive of comprehension. Results suggested that word reading moderated the effect of vocabulary knowledge on comprehension among struggling adult readers. Additionally, semantic processing at the word (i.e., vocabulary) and sentence level both significantly mediated the relation between word reading and comprehension.

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“…Adult learner populations have rich and diverse histories with language, literacy, and education experience, especially compared to skill-matched child learners. Research also shows that adults with low literacy use cognitive reading component skills and strategies differently than children who read at the same level (Binder et al, 2019;Sabatini et al, 2019). Teaching adults comprehension skills using materials developed for children is less optimal in comparison to using materials that account for and accommodate the rich and diverse characteristics of adult learner populations.…”

Section: Adult Learner-oriented Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An intelligent tutoring system for improving adult literacy skills in digital environments

Hollander¹,

Sabatini²,

Graesser³

2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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Twenty-first century literacy includes a mixture of digital and print literacy skills and strategies.AutoTutor for Adult Reading Comprehension is a web-based intelligent tutoring system that isdesigned to help adult learners develop effective reading comprehension strategies. Lessons spanbasic reading skills (vocabulary, word parts), comprehension of sentences and texts in differenttext genres and rhetorical structures, including digital documents and media. The AutoTutorsystem features an accessible interface, conversational trialogues with helpful and engagingcomputer agents, and material and scenarios that were developed specifically for adult learners.Studies suggest that this system significantly improves learning outcomes when used inconjunction with classroom instruction. Materials described in this article are free and readilyavailable to adult educators and their students.

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Cognitive Processing Challenges Associated with Low Literacy in Adults

Cited by 7 publications

References 79 publications

Assessment of adults with low literacy skills: a review of methods

Assessment of adults with low literacy skills: a review of methods

Exploring moderational and mediational relations among word reading, vocabulary, sentence processing and comprehension for struggling adult readers

An intelligent tutoring system for improving adult literacy skills in digital environments

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