Effectiveness of a Partial Read-Aloud Test Accommodation to Assess Reading Comprehension in Students With a Reading Disability

Abstract

This experiment examined whether a partial read-aloud accommodation with pacing (PRAP) would improve the reading comprehension of poor decoders but not average decoders compared to standard testing procedures. Participants were 82 third graders with at least average listening comprehension skills: 28 were poor decoders, and 54 were average decoders; mean age 8 years, 9 months (8:9). In the PRAP condition, students' were paced through the Gates MacGinitie reading comprehension test. The examiner read aloud only directions, proper nouns, and questions with multiple choice answers while students read the passages independently. PRAP was compared to a standard testing condition and a pacing only condition. Poor decoders' reading comprehension was significantly higher under PRAP than under either the pacing or standard testing ( p < .01), whereas average decoders did not benefit from the PRAP procedure. Results support PRAP as a valid test accommodation procedure for readers who struggle with decoding but not listening comprehension. Results support the simple view of reading and show its value in the design of test accommodations for a specific type of reading disability.

The Interaction of Cognitive Profiles and Text-to-Speech Software on Reading Comprehension of Adolescents With Reading Challenges

“…Hypothesis 1. Results of this study align with previous findings (i.e., Giusto & Ehri, 2019;Raskind & Higgins, 1998) and confirm the first hypothesis; only those participants with a dyslexic (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2005) profile (LC > D), demonstrated statistically significant gains in reading comprehension in the TTS condition as compared to the no-TTS condition; these gains had a large effect size (1.58 grade level performance boost). Conversely, the reading comprehension of struggling readers with a hyperlexic profile (D > LC; Catts et al, 2003) deteriorated when using TTS compared to reading with no-TTS.…”

“…TTS software displays text on a computer monitor while speech synthesizers simultaneously read the words aloud. Both Higgins (1998), and, Giusto andEhri (2019) contend that TTS would be particularly helpful for struggling readers who are challenged to decode written text but have no difficulties understanding spoken language. Text-to-speech software is hypothesized to facilitate more efficient word identification (i.e., decoding component of SVR) for struggling readers through synchronized auditory presentation of text (Staels & van den Broeck, 2015).…”

Teachers’ self-reported instructional practices for reading comprehension instruction to non-readers

“…With reference to my literature, the Grades 4-5 ESL syllabus (MoEAC, 2016) recommends the use of read-aloud assessment in understanding learners' reading competences. In the same vein, Giusto and Ehri (2019) propound reading aloud assessment as exclusively suited for non-readers and their findings indicate a remarkable improvement in L2 poor decoders with ISSN 2303-3037 (Print) ISSN 2503-2291 average listening comprehension skills. This aligns with Lukas's opinion that reading aloud is helpful in identifying non-readers in a mainstream class and Chris's opinion that it helps in diagnosing non-readers.…”