Text (Oral) Reading Fluency as a Construct in Reading Development: An Investigation of Its Mediating Role for Children From Grades 1 to 4

Abstract

In the present study we investigated a developmentally changing role of text reading fluency in mediating the relations of word reading fluency and listening comprehension to reading comprehension. We addressed this question by using longitudinal data from Grades 1 to 4, and employing structural equation models. Results showed that the role of text reading fluency changes over time as children’s reading proficiency develops. In the beginning phase of reading development (Grade 1), text reading fluency was not independently related to reading comprehension over and above word reading fluency and listening comprehension. In Grades 2 to 4, however, text reading fluency completely mediated the relation between word reading fluency and reading comprehension whereas it partially mediated the relation between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. These results suggest that text reading fluency is a dissociable construct that plays a developmentally changing role in reading acquisition.

What Is Listening Comprehension and What Does It Take to Improve Listening Comprehension?

“…Much evidence has provided support for the simple view of reading in several languages (Catts, Adlof, & Ellis Weismer, 2006 ;Johnston & Kirby, 2006 ;Joshi & Aaron, 2000 ;Joshi, Tao, Aaron, & Quiroz, 2012 ;Kendeou, van den Broek, White, & Lynch, 2009 ;Kim, 2015 ;Protopapas, Mousaki, Sideridis, Kotsolakou, & Simos, 2013 ), and showed that oral language skills such as vocabulary and listening comprehension are critical for reading comprehension, and their importance increases as children develop reading skills (Foorman, Koon, Petscher, Mitchell, & Truckenmiller, in press ;Kim & Wagner, 2015 ;Kim, Wagner, & Lopez, 2012 ). Despite its recognized importance, however, what it takes to develop listening comprehension has been nebulous, which is in stark contrast to our understanding about skills that contribute to word reading (see Adams, 1990 ;Bowey, 2005 ;National Early Literacy Panel, 2008 ).…”

Low-skilled adult readers look like typically developing child readers: a comparison of reading skills and eye movement behavior

“…For adults, recognizing the same words out of context may be different than recognizing words in context. Future studies on text reading fluency would be informative to reveal struggling adult readers' text processing (e.g., see Kim & Wagner, 2015 for the role of text reading fluency in reading comprehension over and above word reading and language comprehension; see also for adults). Research has consistently indicated that reading fluency (Fuchs et al, 2001;Klauda, & Guthrie, 2008 regarding children; see Rasinski et al, 2005 for adults).…”

“…As individuals become skilled readers, they learn to construe meanings, make connections, and infer meaning beyond the cursory interpretation. With text experience and automaticity, the influence of word reading on reading comprehension decreases and other skills such as language comprehension and vocabulary become more important (Hoover & Gough, 1990;Kim & Wagner, 2015;Mellard & Fall, 2012). Beginning readers rely heavily on decoding processes in order to decipher the written code and translate it into phonological representation.…”

“…Language comprehension is highly predictive of reading comprehension, accounting for unique variance above and beyond decoding skill (e.g., Hoover & Gough, 1990;Kendeou, van den Broek, White, & Lynch, 2009;Kim & Wagner, 2015). The relationship between language comprehension and reading comprehension continues to increase in later grades (Adlof, Catts, & Little, 2006;Hoover & Gough, 1990;Kim & Wagner, 2015).…”

A critical view of reading comprehension tests

“…Ler envolve o reconhecimento de palavras, a compreensão da linguagem (Kim & Wagner, 2015), além de processar os aspectos gráficos do texto, integrá-los com aspectos sintáticos, semânticos e o conhecimento de mundo. Pensar num modelo teórico que explique a compreensão de leitura é um desafio para pesquisadores (Florit & Cain, 2011).…”