Examining the reading-related competencies of struggling adult readers: nuances across reading comprehension assessments and performance levels

Oral language comprehension of young adults with low-level reading comprehension

“…In line with the study’s prediction, listening comprehension contributed significantly to explaining the variance in reading comprehension. The finding that the contribution of word reading was insignificant once listening comprehension entered the equation is in contrast to previous reports from studies of English readers with low literacy skills ( Mellard and Fall, 2012 ; Talwar et al, 2021 ). The accuracy rate in word reading was very high, as would be expected from readers of a transparent orthography, even in the presence of a reading disability ( Wimmer, 1993 ).…”

“…Studies of adults with low literacy skills confirm the relations between both decoding and listening comprehension with reading comprehension ( Mellard et al, 2010 ; Sabatini et al, 2010 ; Mellard and Fall, 2012 ; Tighe and Schatschneider, 2016 ). The study by Mellard and Fall (2012) suggests, however, that decoding is a strong predictor of reading comprehension across reading levels among adults in the need of basic or secondary education, whereas the contribution of listening comprehension becomes significant once a certain threshold of reading skills has been reached (also see the study by Talwar et al, 2021 ). These results are in line with developmental studies of the SVR ( Catts et al, 2005 ).…”

Do Struggling Adult Readers Monitor Their Reading? Understanding the Role of Online and Offline Comprehension Monitoring Processes During Reading

“…Our hypothesis for online comprehension monitoring predicting a norm-referenced reading comprehension measure was only partially supported. Reflecting the growing body of past research with struggling adult readers, decoding and oral vocabulary were uniquely predictive of the norm-referenced reading comprehension measure (e.g., Sabatini et al, 2010;Talwar et al, 2021;Tighe et al, 2019). Online comprehension monitoring (reread and regression path durations) did not generalize to uniquely predict a norm-referenced measure of comprehension, which is consistent with the Kim et al (2018) study that also employed eye-tracking; however, this finding is inconsistent with past research that has suggested offline comprehension monitoring measures are predictive of norm-referenced reading comprehension measures over and above other offline component skills (Cain et al, 2004;Kolić-Vehovec & Bajšanski, 2006;Oakhill & Cain, 2012).…”

“…According to a recent international survey (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2019), a staggering one in five adults in the United States struggle with basic reading skills. To better understand the reading comprehension skills of struggling adult readers, a growing body of research has investigated the reading component skills (e.g., decoding, oral language) that underlie reading comprehension in this population (e.g., Talwar et al, 2021; Tighe & Schatschneider, 2016a). Some evidence suggests that struggling adult readers demonstrate difficulty with meta-cognitive skills during reading, which hinders their ability to reflect upon their comprehension of text (Thiede et al, 2010).…”

“…According to a recent international survey (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2019), a staggering one in five adults in the United States struggle with basic reading skills. To better understand the reading comprehension skills of struggling adult readers, a growing body of research has investigated the reading component skills (e.g., decoding, oral language) that underlie reading comprehension in this population (e.g., Talwar et al, 2021;Tighe & Schatschneider, 2016a). Some evidence suggests that struggling adult readers demonstrate difficulty with meta-cognitive skills during reading, which hinders their ability to reflect upon their comprehension of text (Thiede et al, 2010).Comprehension monitoring, which is a meta-cognitive skill defined as the ability to self-reflect on, evaluate understanding, and repair misunderstandings during reading, significantly predicts the reading comprehension skills of children at various developmental points (Kolić-Vehovec & Bajšanski, 2006) over and above other cognitive and reading components skills, such as decoding, language comprehension, and working memory (Cain et al, 2004;Oakhill & Cain, 2012).…”