Introduction to the special issue on advances in the understanding of reading comprehension deficits

Abstract

Decades of research have established the importance of recognizing and decoding words proficiently to be a good reader; indeed, difficulty with recognizing and decoding words is a hallmark characteristic of dyslexia. To this end, the cognitive characteristics of and intervention approaches for those with dyslexia have taken center stage in reading research. Nevertheless, while much remains to be understood about dyslexia, the endpoint of readingreading comprehension-remains understudied in comparison to word-level processes, particularly in those who struggle specifically with reading comprehension. This is important as studies have shown that while word-level processes are necessary, they are not sufficient for reading comprehension (e.g., Catts et al., 2006;Oakhill et al., 2003). On the more extreme end, this is represented by the fact that approximately 10% of poor comprehenders do not have deficits at the word level (Catts et al., 2003; Nation & Snowling, 1998;Stothard & Hulme, 1995). This class of poor readers is referred to as those with Specific Reading Comprehension Deficits (S-RCD).S-RCD is a particularly intriguing poor reader profile as it is illustrative of the need to understand comprehension processes as distinct from word-level processes. S-RCD has emerged not only as a behavioral profile but also as a corresponding neurobiological profile, resembling typical readers in areas of orthographic and phonological processing, but with anomalous connectivity between language and declarative memory areas of the brain (Cutting et al., 2013). While S-RCD itself is an important reader profile to study, gleaning an understanding of this reader profile also provides insights about reading comprehension processes more generally. Specifically, by identifying how reading comprehension can go awry, S-RCD highlights the necessary components and processes that transform words on a page to meaningful thoughts and interconnected schemata. Given that more than 60% of children cannot read proficiently (NAEP, 2019) and ameliorating reading comprehension

Reading Comprehension Predictors in European Portuguese Adults

“…Reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading, although it remains an understudied subject when compared to word-level processes ( Barquero and Cutting, 2021 ). One can define reading comprehension as the ability to draw and construct meaning from the text ( Snow and RAND Reading Study Group, 2002 ) through an interactive process whereupon the reader extracts explicit information or infers implicit information through textual cues or the activation of background knowledge ( Day and Park, 2005 ).…”