Intact text-specific reading skill in amnesia.

Amnesic patients were studied to determine whether the acquisition and retention of item-specific skills can be supported by nondeclarative (implicit) memory. In Exp 1, Ss read 2 different passages 3 times in succession. Reading speed improved at a similar rate in both amnesic patients and normal Ss and was specific to the text that was read. In Exp 2, amnesic patients and normal Ss read a passage 3 successive times and then reread the same passage after a 0-sec, 10-min, 2-hr, or 1-day delay. In both groups, facilitation persisted for at least 10 min and disappeared within 2 hrs. It is suggested that facilitated reading speed depends importantly on both semantic and perceptual information and that such information can be supported by nondeclarative memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonemic segmentation skill and beginning reading.

Investigated the relation of phonological awareness to learning to read in 63 1st-grade children (mean age 6 yrs 2 mo), who were administered tests of verbal intelligence, phonemic segmentation ability, and reading achievement. Verbal intelligence was measured using the PPVT—Form A. Results indicate that the relation of nondigraph word segmentation to reading achievement is greater than that of digraph word segmentation to reading achievement and that this relation is nonlinear. Consistent with the claim of a causal connection between phonological awareness and reading acquisition, a contingency analysis of the data revealed that phonemic segmentation ability is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for learning to read. The data were also subjected to a path analysis, which indicated that phonological awareness affects reading comprehension indirectly through phonological recoding and that the development of phonological awareness is not greatly affected by method of instruction. Implications of these findings for educational practice are briefly indicated. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships of three components of reading fluency to reading comprehension.

This study examined the relationships of 3 levels of reading fluency--the individual word, the syntactic unit, and the whole passage--to reading comprehension among 278 5th graders heterogeneous in reading ability. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that reading fluency at each level related uniquely to performance on a standardized reading comprehension test in a model including inferencing skill and background knowledge. The study supports an automaticity effect for word recognition speed and an automaticity-like effect related to syntactic processing skill. In addition, hierarchical regressions using longitudinal data suggest that fluency and reading comprehension have a bidirectional relationship. The discussion emphasizes the theoretical expansion of reading fluency to 3 levels of cognitive processes and the relations of these processes to reading comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between single word decoding and reading comprehension skill.

Conducted a study with 64 3rd and 5th graders from a predominantly White, working-class neighborhood. Ss classified as skilled and less skilled in reading comprehension, on the basis of their scores on the Reading Subtest of the Metropolitan Achievement Test, differed in vocalization latencies to single printed words. Overall, vocalization latencies were shorter for the skilled group than the less skilled group, and there was an interaction between word type and comprehension skill. Comprehension groups showed large vocalization latency differences for pseudowords and for low frequency English words but smaller differences for high frequency English words. Knowledge of word meanings may be a less significant factor in vocalization latency for the skilled group than for the unskilled group. It is suggested that at least some unskilled comprehenders may have failed to develop automatic decoding skills and that this failure may lead to diminished comprehension skills sharing a common processing capacity with nonautomatic decoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Word knowledge and working memory as predictors of reading skill.

Three measures of working memory capacity and three measures of word knowledge were used as predictors of three different measures of reading skill. The results demonstrated that the size of a reader's vocabulary and the speed of accessing it are independent of a "depth" measure of word knowledge and that reading comprehension, reading speed, and text inferencing ability are all independent measures of reading skill. A series of regression analyses were conducted to derive a causal model of the three reading performance measures. The results indicated that working memory efficiency during reading was related to comprehension, whereas a more passive working memory capacity measure was related to reading speed. Moreover, text inferencing ability was related only to word knowledge. We conclude that concepts such as "reading skill," "working memory," and "word knowledge" are multidimensional constructs that cannot be captured by a single variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Signaling in expository hypertexts compensates for deficits in reading skill.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 101(2) of Journal of Educational Psychology (see record 2009-04640-014). The URL published for the supplemental material was incorrect. The correct URL is provided in the erratum.] Expository hypertexts may contain specific types of signals such as navigable topical overviews and hyperlinks that map conceptual relationships between text contents. Two experiments with German university students (N = 130, 75% female, mean age 25 years) were conducted to test the hypothesis that hypertext-specific signals particularly support learners with badly routinized reading skills in organizing and integrating complex learning materials. The experiments were based on naturalistic texts and essay-writing tasks typical for exam preparation. Learning outcomes were measured by characteristics of participants' essays (amount of knowledge, knowledge focusing, knowledge integration). In both experiments, a hypertext with a high amount of signaling yielded better learning outcomes than did a linear text for readers with a low level of skill, whereas there were no differences for readers with a high level of skill (ΔR2 from .03 to .08 for the interaction). In Experiment 2, the same interaction pattern was found for hypertext with a high versus a low amount of hypertext-specific signals (ΔR2 from .04 to .10). Moreover, a lack of signals led to less efficient navigation behavior. These results demonstrate that hypertexts equipped with hypertext-specific signals may compensate for deficits in reading skill. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Joint picture-book reading correlates of early oral language skill

The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between joint picture-book-reading experiences provided in the home and children's early oral language skills. Subjects were 41 two-year-old children and their mothers. Measures included maternal report of the age at which she began to read to the child, the frequency of home reading sessions, the number of stories read per week, and the frequency of visits by the child to the local library. Measures of language skill used were the child's receptive and expressive scores on the revised Reynell Developmental Language Scales. Multiple regression analyses indicated that picture-book reading exposure was more strongly related to receptive than to expressive language. Age of onset of home reading routines was the most important predictor of oral language skills. Directions of effect, the importance of parental beliefs as determinants of home reading practices, and the possible existence of a threshold level for reading frequency are discussed.     

Cognitive development and reading: The relation of reading-specific multiple classification skill to reading comprehension in elementary school children.

Cognitive flexibility, the ability to consider multiple aspects of stimuli simultaneously, develops over the elementary school years and can be measured with a multiple classification task. Although prior research indicates a significant relation between domain-general multiple classification skill (e.g., classifying objects by shape and color simultaneously) and reading, a precise relation between these abilities has not been found. A reading-specific multiple classification task was designed that required children to classify printed words along phonological and semantic dimensions simultaneously. Reading-specific multiple classification skill made a unique contribution to children's reading comprehension over the contributions made by children's age, domain-general multiple classification skill, decoding skill, and verbal ability. Additionally, training in reading-specific multiple classification facilitated children's reading comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of adolescent reading comprehension in language 1 and language 2: A longitudinal analysis of constituent components.

This study investigated the relationship between reading comprehension development of 389 adolescents in their dominant language (Language 1 [L1], Dutch) and a foreign language (Language 2 [L2], English). In each consecutive year from Grades 8 through 10, a number of measurements were taken. Students' reading comprehension, their linguistic knowledge (vocabulary and grammar knowledge) and processing efficiency (speed of word recognition and sentence comprehension) in both languages, and their metacognitive knowledge about reading were assessed. The relative strengths of the effects of these components of reading were analyzed to distinguish among 3 hypotheses about the relationship between L1 and L2 reading comprehension: the transfer hypothesis, the threshold hypothesis, and the processing efficiency hypothesis. The transfer hypothesis predicts a strong relationship between L1 and L2 reading comprehension and a strong effect of metacognitive knowledge on L2 reading comprehension, whereas the threshold and processing efficiency hypotheses predict a more important role of language-specific knowledge and processing skills. Results support the transfer hypothesis, although language-specific knowledge and fluency also contribute to L2 reading performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Basic decoding components in reading: Two dissociable feature extraction processes.

Two views of the feature-extraction process underlying visual word recognition are contrasted. One asserts that features that span individual letters (configurational features) are functional. The other asserts instead that preliminary letter identification alone subserves word recognition. Configurational feature theory predicts that since case alternation eliminates configurational features, words should be more disrupted than nonwords because words have more configurational features than nonwords. The alternative theory predicts that since only preliminary letter identification underlies both word and nonword recognition, any effect of case alternation should be at least as disruptive to nonwords as to words. Two experiments, with 66 undergraduates, varied the utility of configurational features by case alternation and demonstrated that lexical decision provides data consistent with configurational feature theory, but naming latency provides data consistent with preliminary letter identification. Additional findings suggest that configurational features subserve only a familiarity discrimination process that can be recruited for some tasks but is eschewed for others. Tasks that require that a word be uniquely specified rely on preliminary letter identification; case alternation effects in these latter tasks may reflect delays in the mapping of abstract information back on to the original sensory pattern (perceptual integration). (French abstract) (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing print exposure and orthographic processing skill in children: A quick measure of reading experience.

In a study of 3rd- and 4th-grade children it was established that orthographic processing ability can account for variance in word recognition skill after the variance due to phonological processing has been partialed out. This independent orthographic variance was related to performance on a new measure of individual differences in exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test, that has a very brief administration time. Additionally, some of the orthographic processing variance linked to word recognition ability was not shared with either phonological processing measures or with print exposure. The results of the study were supportive of the idea that there are individual differences in word recognition ability caused by variation in orthographic processing abilities that are in part determined by print exposure differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural components of reading time and recall for sentences in narratives: Exploring changes with age and reading ability.

Multiple regression techniques were used to examine whether indices of cognitive processes known to affect adults are also related to sentence reading times and recall of children. In a self-paced task, good and poor readers in Grades 5 and 7 read narratives presented 1 sentence at a time. For all readers, longer reading times were associated with indices of microstructure processes (e.g., words, propositions). Poor readers in both grades differed from good readers in that shorter reading times were associated with macrostructure processes (e.g., causal relations), providing correlational evidence for a compensatory role in reading. Independent of reading skill, younger children differed from older children in that greater numbers of causal relations were associated with better sentence recall. The role that knowledge of causal relations may play in developmental change and individual differences in reading speed and recall is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comprehension calibration and recall prediction accuracy of texts: Reading skill, reading strategies, and effort.

High school students at 3 levels of verbal skill rated their own recall (prediction accuracy) and comprehension (calibration accuracy) of 3 expository texts accompanied by 3 different sets of instructions. All sets of instructions emphasized reading for understanding, and two of them also involved key words (given or personally selected), which were to be used during study. Students assessed which instructions they preferred and estimated their general verbal and memory skills. Three major results were obtained (a) Students seemed to assess their general verbal and memory skills quite well. (b) Acceptable levels of comprehension calibration and recall prediction accuracy were found. Verbal-skill differences were found for recall prediction accuracy but not for comprehension calibration accuracy. (c) students had study preferences—the most preferred way to study increased performance but reduced prediction accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory skill.

Argues that acquired memory skills best account for individual differences in memory performance. W. G. Chase and K. A. Ericsson's (1982) theory that improved memory or memory skills are due to the acquisition of more efficient storage and retrieval processes using long-term memory (LTM) is presented. This theory specifies 3 principles that characterize the structure of memory skills: (1) Information rapidly stored in LTM is encoded in terms of knowledge structures in semantic memory (meaningful encoding); (2) during storage in LTM, special retrieval cues are explicitly associated with the memory encoding of the presented information (retrieval structure); and (3) encoding and retrieval operations using LTM can be dramatically sped up by practice, making the rate of information storage in LTM comparable to that of short-term memory. Empirical evidence of the exceptional performance of a large number of memory experts is examined in the light of these principles. It is contended that strong evidence for these principles has also been found for normal Ss, when they are given more than a couple of hours of practice or training on memory tasks. It is concluded that expert memory skill is related to normal Ss' superior memory for meaningful information. (French abstract) (4? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of cognitive component processing skills that support skilled reading.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the differences in component processing skills of students of different ages and the developmental changes that occurred over 1 yr. The Ss in Exp 1 were 112 students in Grades 2–5 from a school district in western Massachusetts. They were administered a computer battery of tasks designed to measure speed and accuracy of processing on a number of component reading skills. The component skills measured were letter processing, word naming, pseudoword naming, concept activation, and syntactic and semantic processing. Of the original 112 students, 59 were located 1 yr later and were given parental permission to participate in a follow-up experiment. The 2 experiments trace the development of component processing skills and discuss the implications for a theory of development of component skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Instructional Hierarchy: A conceptual model for understanding the effective components of reading interventions.

Examines the Instructional Hierarchy, a conceptual framework for refining the notion of academic responding according to a learning hierarchy and describing treatment components (e.g., modeling, drill, reinforcement, etc.) that correspond to different stages of the learning hierarchy. Academic responding occurs within the context of classroom curricular activities. Teachers allocate time to instruction; students are either academically engaged or not engaged during that time. The research on the relationship between different treatment components and student responding is reviewed and recommendations for the practice of academic intervention in reading and for future research in this area are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of young children's reading self-concepts: An examination of emerging subcomponents and their relationship with reading achievement.

Development of reading self-concept in young children was examined in 4 experiments. Experiment 1 revealed a negative item response phenomenon similar to that reported by H. W. Marsh (see record 1986-11523-001), who found that children's responses to negative items on a self-concept scale were inconsistent with their responses to positive items. In Experiment 2, developmental psycholinguistic factors were considered in an effort to eliminate the negative item response phenomenon by changing the wording and presentation of the items. Experiment 3 suggested that reading self-concept may be defined as comprising three subcomponents: perceptions of competence in reading, perceptions of difficulty with reading, and attitudes toward reading. Experiment 4 showed how the relations among these subcomponents change with increasing age and how they relate to the development of reading and reading-related skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Precursors of reading skill from infancy to first grade in Finnish: Continuity and change in a highly inflected language.

The course of language acquisition from infancy to public primary school was followed in a sample of 56 Finnish children to examine precursors to reading at first grade. Structural equation modeling of continuity suggested effects from growth in early vocabulary to mastery of inflectional forms at preschool age. The early language directly influenced early phonological awareness (PA) and only indirectly influenced later development in PA and word reading. The course of development in PA progressed from detecting larger multiphonemic units toward recognizing and producing phonemes in words, which, in turn, were positively associated with differences in producing new words by deleting and blending phonemes at kindergarten age. Including word reading before school entry levelled out the influence of the concurrent phonemic awareness factor on reading at first grade. Hence, in a highly inflected language with a transparent orthography, the pathway to reading consisted of skills learned in succession, the last phase being characterized by simultaneous development involving phonemic awareness and emerging reading skill. The finding led to the conclusion that, in addition to universal routes, language- and culture-specific routes to literacy must be acknowledged when searching for the precursors to reading at school age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suggested reading.

Provides a bibliography of suggested readings on psychological assessment, psychological tests and public responsibility, and American attitudes toward intelligence tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)