TEXT READING FLUENCY AND READING COMPREHENSION IN 8 TO 11 YEARS OLD

FRENCH CHILDREN

Maryse Bianco, G. Joet, L. Lima, A Nardy, M. Rémond, P. Colé et H. Megherbi. Université de Grenoble, Laboratoire des sciences de l’éducation, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble cedex 9. France maryse.bianco@upmf-grenoble.fr

Hong Kong , July 10-13, 2013

Supported by The French National Agency for Research- Grant ANR – 2010-BLAN-1907-OI

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

The contribution of decoding , word identification fluency and oral language to connected text fluency and reading comprehension in 8 to 12 years old French children

.

Purpose

Background Text reading fluency:

Ability to read accurately a connected text at a conversational rate with appropriate prosody.

Recent converging researches (Hudson & al; 2009; 2012; Kim & al., 2010;2012; 2013; Eason & al., 2012; Silverman & al., 2012): TRF is an independent construct from decoding and word fluency (while

related to) . The relationships between the components skills are changing over time

suggesting that text fluency integrates comprehension skills over and above identification skills as children are becoming expert readers.

Research Questions

1)

a) What are the predictors of TRF? Is oral language is an additional contributor and which aspects of oral language?

b) What are the relationships between oral language and TRF in explaining reading comprehension? Does TRF mediate the influence of oral language?

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

2 ) How do the relationships between factors of reading fluency and reading comprehension evolve with reading efficiency?

Sample

298 children ages 8 to 12 years old (mean = 9;7, sdt = 0;9)

148 boys, 150 girls

grades: 119 grade 3, 94 grade 4 85 grade 5

88.2% age appropriate grade, 3.7% skipped a grade and 8.1% repeated one.

Language: 85% French , 13% were bilinguals with French as dominant language, 2% another language as first language.

Socioeconomic status (SES): middle class

• 49.47% middle- to high-status homes

• 0.53 % middle low-status homes.

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

Text comprehension

• Reading comprehension: five narrative texts from 324 to 431 words

length (mean number = 391).

Silent reading followed by a set a questions both literal and inferential (text-based & knowledge based). Cronbach's alpha of .93.

• Oral comprehension: a standardized narrative test comprehension “Sacré nestor”

462 words , 12 questions. Cronbach's alpha of .76

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

Assessments

Reading fluency

• Decoding fluency: list of 40 pseudo-words

One to three syllables long; number of pseudo-words correctly read in one minute.

• Word reading fluency: list 50 words

One to three syllables long, 15 regular short words (1 ou 2 syllabes), 15 regular long words (3 syllabes), and 20 irregular words, 10 short and 10 long. Number of words correctly read in one minute.

• Text reading fluency:

Inspired from Dibels (Good & Kaminsky, 2002).

Children read aloud three connected texts for one minute each.

Mean number of words correctly read in one minute

Cronbach's alpha of .97.

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

Assessments

Oral Language

• Receptive Vocabulary:

shortened version of the French adaptation of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (EVIP, Dunn, Theriault-Whalen, & Dunn, 1993).

Cronbach's alpha of .81.

• Verbal reasoning: similarities sub-test of the WISC IV

Control measures

• Working Memory: The WISC IV digit span and backward digit span subtests were used.

• Non-verbal cognitive efficiency: Progressive matrix (Raven 1998).

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

Assessments

Grouping Procedure

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

K-means cluster analysis (Seifert & Bulcock, 1996) 2 groups: Average /good comprehenders (N = 189) (standardized mean= .63; std=.46)

Low comprehenders (N = 109) (standardized mean=-1.10; std=.65)

1-

• Adjusted model for average comprehenders (N=189)

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

Index

Adjusted model

Index

ᵡ²(df) 23.04*(14) CFI .98

ᵡ²/df 1.64 NNFI .95

SRMR .03 NFI .96

RMSEA (90%

CI)

.05 (.00, 10) AIC 85.04

AGFI .91

Variable R²

Reading Comprehension 0.43

Oral comprehension 0.26

Word reading fluency 0.47

Text reading fluency 0.67

Non verbal cognitive efficiency

Vocabulary

Verbal reasoning

Decoding fluency

Working memory

Word reading fluency

Text reading fluency

Listening

comprehension

Reading Comprehension

.15**

.35***

.12**

.31***

.17**

.13**

.27***

.24

***

.23

***

.23

***

.43

***

.14

.13

.11

.27

***

.11

.29***

• Adjusted model for low comprehenders (N=109)

« General disabled readers »

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

Non verbal cognitive efficiency

Verbal reasoning

Vocabulary

Decoding

fluency

Working

memory

Word

reading

fluency

Text reading fluency

Listening comprehension

Reading Comprehension

.30***

.23**

.77***

.24** .06

.15

.10

.35

***

.

.07

-,2

9**

*

-.1

8

.07

.24

**

.34***

Index

Adjusted model

Index

ᵡ²(df) 15,61*(18) CFI 1

ᵡ²/df .86 NNFI 1

SRMR .04 NFI .95

RMSEA (90% CI) .00 (.00, 07) AIC 69,61

AGFI .92

.20**

Variable R²

Reading Comprehension 0.21

Oral comprehension 0.23

Word reading fluency 0.59

Text reading fluency 0.72

Grouping Procedure

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

• Average readers (N= 118):

• > 40th percentile on decoding fluency and reading comprehension

• Low readers (N= 70):

• <25th percentile on decoding fluency

• Low comprehenders (N=30):

• <25th percentile on reading comprehension and > 40th percentile on decoding fluency

2-

Between groups differences in WRF and TRF

Between groups differences in WRF and TRF

s ns

Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

Text reading fluency Reading comprehension

4 unique predictors : decoding, word fluency and oral comprehension + non verbal skills Mediation: vocabulary is fully mediated by word reading fluency

4 unique predictors: listening comprehension, vocabulary and TRF + non verbal skills Mediation: decoding and word fluency fully mediated by TRF.

TRF is an important construct to consider in explaining reading comprehension.

TRF is a mediator to reading comprehension for word identification skills and some semantic and comprehension abilities.

TRF integrates comprehension skills as children are becoming expert readers prosodic component

Conclusions Text reading fluency and text reading comprehension

Text reading fluency Reading comprehension

2 unique predictors: decoding and word fluency TRF independent from listening comprehension

3 unique predictors: listening comprehension and TRF + non verbal skills Mediation: decoding and word fluency fully mediated by TRF.

The relationships between the components skills are changing with reading level

Average readers – • more complex model • integrative function of TRF

Struggling readers - • more simple model

Thank you for attention

Supported by The French National Agency for Research -Grant ANR – 2010-BLAN-1907-OI