Reading Comprehension Assessment through Retelling: Performance Profiles of Children with Dyslexia and Language-Based Learning Disability

Abstract

Purpose: To study reading comprehension performance profiles of children with dyslexia as well as language-based learning disability (LBLD) by means of retelling tasks.Method: One hundred and five children from 2nd to 5th grades of elementary school were gathered into six groups: Dyslexia group (D; n = 19), language-based learning disability group (LBLD; n = 16); their respective control groups paired according to different variables – age, gender, grade and school system (public or private; D-control and LBLD-control); and other control groups paired according to different reading accuracy (D-accuracy; LBLD-accuracy). All of the children read an expository text and orally retold the story as they understood it. The analysis quantified propositions (main ideas and details) and retold links. A retelling reference standard (3–0) was also established from the best to the worst performance. We compared both clinical groups (D and LBLD) with their respective control groups by means of Mann–Whitney tests.Results: D showed the same total of propositions, links and reference standards as D-control, but performed better than D-accuracy in macro structural (total of links) and super structural (retelling reference standard) measures. Results suggest that dyslexic children are able to use their linguistic competence and their own background knowledge to minimize the effects of their decoding deficit, especially at the highest text processing levels. LBLD performed worse than LBLD-control in all of the retelling measures and LBLD showed worse performance than LBLD-accuracy in the total retold links and retelling reference standard.Those results suggest that both decoding and linguistic difficulties affect reading comprehension. Moreover, the linguistic deficits presented by LBLD students do not allow these pupils to perform as competently in terms of text comprehension as the children with dyslexia do. Thus, failure in the macro and super-structural information processing of the expository text were evidenced.Conclusion: Each clinical group showed a different retelling profile. Such findings support the view that there are differences between these two clinical populations in the non-phonological dimensions of language.

Comprensión Narrativa: Análisis del Concepto y una Propuesta Metodológica

“…En los ejemplos de las Tablas 1 y 2, se usó la tarea del recontado como ejemplo, ya que es uno de los criterios que se usa a menudo para decir que alguien entendió una historia (ser capaz de contarla a otra persona). Consecuentemente, es también una medida frecuente en evaluaciones formales e informales de comprensión narrativa (e.g., Cleave et al, 2012;Kida et al, 2016;Westerveld & Roberts, 2017; ver también las revisiones de Leslie & Caldwell, 2017;Stahl, 2009). Sin embargo, las funciones narrativas se pueden traducir fácilmente a otras tareas complementarias o menos exigentes, incluso preguntas o ejercicios de identificación/ reconocimiento.…”

Narrative Comprehension: Concept Analysis and a Methodological Proposal (Preprint)

“…The FUN method opens a spectrum of possibilities for such criteria. Retelling was used as an example here because of its centrality in informal and formal assessments of story comprehension (e.g., Cleave, Bird, Czutrin & Smith, 2012;Kida, De Ávila & Capellini, 2016;Westerveld & Roberts, 2017; see also Leslie & Caldwell, 2017;Stahl, 2009). COMPREHENSION AND NARRATIVE 22 However, the FUN method can help plan other complementary or less demanding tasks, including identification/recognition questions and exercises.…”

“…A possible objection to the use of different texts in studies using time-series or repeatedmeasures designs is that the materials may not be equivalent. Recent studies suggest, however, that even standardized procedures employing customized "textoids" (Marmolejo-Ramos, 2007) are subject to problems of equivalence (Kida, De Ávila & Capellini, 2016). Indeed, the insistence on making the texts completely equivalent can, in the end, result in almost identical stories, which is also a problem for the test-retest process.…”

Lectoescritura inicial en Latinoamérica y el Caribe: una revisión sistemática

“…Entre 1995 y 2015, no se encontró ningún artículo relacionado a LEI y discapacidades en la región de LAC. Esta actualización de la revisión sistemática identi có una investigación de no intervención cuantitativa (Kida et al, 2016) que se enfocó en los niños con una LBLD (discapacidad de aprendizaje basada en el lenguaje) y con dislexia. La adición de un nuevo estudio en 2016 es entonces un paso importante para abordar el vacío de evidencia sobre LEI para niños con discapacidades.…”