Memory,Print Exposure,and Metacognition: Components of Reading in Chinese Children

This study examined the relative contributions of visual and verbal memory, metacognition about reading, and print exposure to reading comprehension among 100 Chinese fifth graders. The four concurrently measured componential skills were substantially associated with reading comprehension and reliably distinguished between good and poor readers. In a hierarchical regression, after controlling for the effects of verbal intelligence, both verbal and visual memory abilities predicted unique variance in reading comprehension. The distinctness of each memory skill underscores the existence of two unique memory processes in Chinese reading. Future research should examine the longitudinal contributions of these cognitive abilities to reading comprehension.     

The effects of print exposure on sentence processing and memory in older adults: Evidence for efficiency and reserve

The present study was an examination of how exposure to print affects sentence processing and memory in older readers. A sample of older adults (N = 139; Mean age = 72) completed a battery of cognitive and linguistic tests and read a series of sentences for recall. Word-by-word reading times were recorded and generalized linear mixed effects models were used to estimate components representing attentional allocation to word-level and textbase-level processes. Older adults with higher levels of print exposure showed greater efficiency in word-level processing and in the immediate instantiation of new concepts, but allocated more time to semantic integration at clause boundaries. While lower levels of working memory were associated with smaller wrap-up effects, individuals with higher levels of print exposure showed a reduced effect of working memory on sentence wrap-up. Importantly, print exposure was not only positively associated with sentence memory, but was also found to buffer the effects of working memory on sentence recall. These findings suggest that the increased efficiency of component reading processes that come with life-long habits of literacy buffer the effects of working memory decline on comprehension and contribute to maintaining skilled reading among older adults.     

Correlates of syntactic development in kindergartners: Deficiency vs. proficiency

In a search for correlates of oral language deficiency, a sentence imitation task (SOLST) was used to select 20 syntactically deficient and 20 syntactically proficient kindergarten subjects. The groups were compared on a battery of tasks measuring oral language comprehension and production, verbal and nonverbal intelligence, visual-motor skill, manual dexterity, right-ear advantage, reading readiness, and later reading achievement. On 8 of the 11 variables, the delayed group performed significantly less well than the controls, although Pearson correlation coefficients of other measures with measures of syntax were generally low to moderate. Negative correlations of some variables with right-ear advantage raise the possibility of reverse dominance in some of the experimental subjects. In addition, there was confirmation for poor performance on the Stephens Oral Language Screening Test resulting in subsequent reading difficulties.     

Effects of verbal working memory and cumulative linguistic knowledge on reading comprehension1

Abstract: In the present study, the effects of verbal working memory (VWM) and cumulative linguistic knowledge (CLK) on reading comprehension were investigated using an individual difference approach. We examined whether VWM and CLK are distinct verbal factors and whether each has independent influences on reading comprehension. VWM was tested using the Japanese Reading Span Test (RST). CLK was assessed using information, vocabulary, and similarity subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale‐Revised (WAIS‐R), as well as with the Hyakurakan kanji reading test. The differences between VWM and CLK were examined using correlation analyses between reading comprehension scores, and digit forward and backward span scores. The results showed that VWM and CLK were independent of each other, and that VWM and CLK independently contributed to reading comprehension. The obtained correlations also showed that CLK was independent of any type of short‐term memory, and that the VWM measured using the RST had little correlation with digit span.     

Adolescent reading skill and engagement with digital and traditional literacies as predictors of reading comprehension

This study investigates the concurrent predictors of adolescent reading comprehension (literal, inferential) for fiction and non‐fiction texts. Predictors were examined from the cognitive (word identification, reading fluency), psychological (gender), and ecological (print exposure) domains. Print exposure to traditional and digital texts was surveyed using a diary method of reading habits. A cross‐sectional sample of 312 students in early (11–13 years) or middle adolescence (14–15 years) participated from a range of SES backgrounds. Word identification emerged as a strong predictor of reading comprehension across adolescence and text genres. Gender effects favouring female students were evident for reading frequency but not for reading skill itself. Reading habits also differed, and comprehension advantages were observed among females for fiction and males for non‐fiction. Age effects emerged for reading frequency, which was lower in middle adolescence. Although more time was spent on digital than on traditional texts, traditional extended text reading was the only reading habit to predict inference‐making in comprehension and to distinguish skilled from less skilled comprehenders. The theoretical and educational implications of these results are discussed.     

双重缺陷汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童的言语工作记忆和阅读能力研究

选取语音意识和快速自动命名双重缺陷的汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童,探讨其言语工作记忆和阅读能力的发展特点。实验选取双重缺陷的发展性阅读障碍（DD）、年龄匹配（CA）和能力匹配（RL）三组儿童各25名,要求他们完成言语工作记忆（数字广度、汉字广度）和阅读（一分钟词汇阅读、三分钟句子阅读）任务。结果发现,DD儿童的数字倒背位数、一分钟读词数、三分钟读过字数和句子理解正确率均显著低于CA儿童,而与RL儿童差异不显著;DD儿童的句子阅读正确率显著低于CA、RL儿童。表明双重缺陷DD儿童在言语工作记忆和阅读能力上存在一定程度的发展滞后和缺陷。     

To read or not to read: a meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood

This research synthesis examines whether the association between print exposure and components of reading grows stronger across development. We meta-analyzed 99 studies (N = 7,669) that focused on leisure time reading of (a) preschoolers and kindergartners, (b) children attending Grades 1-12, and (c) college and university students. For all measures in the outcome domains of reading comprehension and technical reading and spelling, moderate to strong correlations with print exposure were found. The outcomes support an upward spiral of causality: Children who are more proficient in comprehension and technical reading and spelling skills read more; because of more print exposure, their comprehension and technical reading and spelling skills improved more with each year of education. For example, in preschool and kindergarten print exposure explained 12% of the variance in oral language skills, in primary school 13%, in middle school 19%, in high school 30%, and in college and university 34%. Moderate associations of print exposure with academic achievement indicate that frequent readers are more successful students. Interestingly, poor readers also appear to benefit from independent leisure time reading. We conclude that shared book reading to preconventional readers may be part of a continuum of out-of-school reading experiences that facilitate children's language, reading, and spelling achievement throughout their development.     

Examining the Effects of Skill Level and Reading Modality on Reading Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of reading skill and reading modality (oral versus silent) on reading comprehension. A normative sample of sixth-grade students (N = 74) read texts aloud and silently and then answered questions about what they read. Skill in word reading fluency was assessed by the Test of Word Reading Efficiency, Second Edition (Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 2012), and students were identified as either normal or at-risk readers based on those scores. A 2 (reading skill) X 2 (reading modality) mixed factorial ANOVA was conducted. Results revealed that both normal and at-risk readers demonstrated better comprehension of text read orally as compared to text read silently. The middle school curriculum requires independent silent reading, yet students may enter middle school without the literacy skills they need to be successful. These findings suggest that students transitioning to middle school may benefit from additional pedagogical support in silent reading comprehension.     

The Measurement of Verbal Working Memory Capacity and Its Relation to Reading Comprehension

Ninety-four subjects were tested on the Daneman and Carpenter (1980) reading span task, four versions of a related sentence span task in which reaction times and accuracy on sentence processing were measured along with sentence-final word recall, two number generation tasks designed to test working memory, digit span, and two shape-generation tasks designed to measure visual-spatial working memory. Forty-four subjects were retested on a subset of these measures at a 3-month interval. All subjects were tested on standard vocabulary and reading tests. Correlational analyses showed better internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the sentence span tasks than of the Daneman-Carpenter reading span task. Factor analysis showed no factor that could be related to a central verbal working memory; rotated factors suggested groupings of tests into factors that correspond to digitrelated tasks, spatial tasks, sentence processing in sentence span tasks, and recall in sentence span tasks. Correlational analyses and regression analyses showed that the sentence processing component of the sentence span tasks was the best predictor of performance on the reading test, with a small independent contribution of the recall component. The results suggest that sentence span tasks are unreliable unless measurements are made of both their sentence processing and recall components, and that the predictive value of these tasks for reading comprehension abilities lies in the overlap of operations rather than in limitations in verbal working memory that apply to both.     

Studying the consequences of literacy within a literate society: The cognitive correlates of print exposure

Most studies of the cognitive consequences of literacy have attempted to compare the performance of literate individuals with that of illiterate individuals. We argue that it is not absolutely necessary to examine illiterates in order to study the cognitive consequences of reading experience because there is enormous variation in exposure to print even within a generally literate society. In the present study, we tested several methods of assessing differential exposure to print and demonstrated that all have significant correlations with measures of vocabulary, cultural knowledge, spelling ability, and verbal fluency. Several indicators of print exposure predicted variance in these knowledge domains even when general ability and reading-comprehension skill were statistically controlled. Our results, although correlational, suggest that print exposure is an independent contributor to the development of certain verbal skills.     

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF WIDE READING ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Previous research on the relationship between wide reading and listening comprehension provided indirect evidence that wide reading may be impacting children's listening comprehension. In the present study we looked at growth in listening comprehension of 146 children from third grade to fifth grade and their fifth-grade estimate of accumulated wide reading as measured by an instrument using a checklist-with-foils logic, the Title Recognition Test. Employing hierarchical multiple regression, we isolated the relationship between wide reading and listening comprehension. The results indicated that individual differences in growth of listening comprehension from third grade to fifth grade were significantly related to wide reading. These findings imply that reading a lot may influence listening comprehension, thus adding support to the educational practice of providing time for children to read independently and encouraging more and varied reading outside of school.     

汉语综合理解能力的测试及其初步分析

采用两个测试,多媒语言理解测试和文章的阅读理解测试,分别测量了大学生的汉语综合理解能力和阅读理解能力.多媒语言理解测试根据Gernsbacher的多媒理解量表编制而成.文章的阅读理解测试是莫雷编制的<语文阅读水平测量>中的一个分测验.测斌结果表明(1)两个测试之间有显著相关和较高的一致性,说明阅读是汉语综合理解的一个重要方面;(2)汉语综合理解能力有两个成分外部语言和内部语言理解能力;(3)书面语言的阅读理解与口头语言的听力理解显著相关,说明外部语言的理解受信息传递方式的影响较小.     

Low working memory capacity is only spuriously related to poor reading comprehension

Accounts of comprehension failure, whether in the case of readers with poor skill or when syntactic complexity is high, have overwhelmingly implicated working memory capacity as the key causal factor. However, extant research suggests that this position is not well supported by evidence on the span of active memory during online sentence processing, nor is it well motivated by models that make explicit claims about the memory mechanisms that support language processing. The current study suggests that sensitivity to interference from similar items in memory may provide a better explanation of comprehension failure. Through administration of a comprehensive skill battery, we found that the previously observed association of working memory with comprehension is likely due to the collinearity of working memory with many other reading-related skills, especially IQ. In analyses which removed variance shared with IQ, we found that receptive vocabulary knowledge was the only significant predictor of comprehension performance in our task out of a battery of 24 skill measures. In addition, receptive vocabulary and non-verbal memory for serial order—but not simple verbal memory or working memory—were the only predictors of reading times in the region where interference had its primary affect. We interpret these results in light of a model that emphasizes retrieval interference and the quality of lexical representations as key determinants of successful comprehension.     

Influence of verbal and nonverbal references to print on preschoolers' visual attention to print during storybook reading

How much do preschool children look at print within storybooks when adults read to them? This study sought to answer this question as well as to examine the effects of adult verbal and nonverbal references to print on children's visual attention to print during storybook reading. Forty-four preschool-aged children participated in this study designed to determine the amount of visual attention children paid to print in 4 planned variations of storybook reading. Children's visual attention to print was examined when adults commented and questioned about print (verbal print condition) or pointed to and tracked the print (nonverbal print condition), relative to 2 comparison conditions (verbatim reading and verbal picture conditions). Results showed that children rarely look at print, with about 5%-6% of their fixations allocated to print in verbatim and verbal picture reading conditions. However, preschoolers' visual attention to print increases significantly when adults verbally and nonverbally reference print; both reading styles exerted similar effects. The authors conclude that explicit referencing of print is 1 way to increase young children's contacts with print during shared storybook reading.     

Pantomime, praxis, and aphasia.

The production and comprehension of pantomimed movements by asphasic subjects were studied with respect to their relationship to the aphasic deficit on one hand and apraxia on the other. At issue was whether impaired use of pantomime is a manifestation of reduced symbolic capacity or purely a manifestation of an apraxic impairment of purposeful movement or both. Tests of pantomime included a Pantomime Recognition Test, a nonverbal Transitive Pantomime Production Test, and an Intransitive Pantomime Production Test (to oral command). Imitation of Nonmeaningful Movements served as a measure of apraxia, uncontaminated by symbolic or linguistic factors. Imitation of Meaningful Movements taken from the pantomime tasks was also tested. Independent measures of auditory comprehension, picture naming, and reading comprehension were used as indices of language impairment. Intellectual function was measured by the Performance scale of the WAIS. Thirty aphasic subjects were examined. Twenty healthy age-matched normals served to establish scoring standards for the pantomime tests. Multiple regression analysis revealed significant, independent contributions from both auditory comprehension and imitation of Nonmeaningful Movements to all of the tests of pantomime production and pantomime recognition. All measures of pantomime production and pantomime recognition were strongly intercorrelated. While the three language measures were strongly correlated with each other, auditory comprehension was the only one of them that was significantly and consistently related to the pantomime tests. None was related to the imitation of nonmeaningful movement. The results are taken as indicating (1) that pantomime production and imitation share common factors with both praxis and auditory comprehension; (2) apraxia entails impairment of both production and interpretation of purposeful movements. Possible theoretical accounts for these results are offered.     

Differential effects of oral reading to improve comprehension with severe learning disabled and educable mentally handicapped students

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of oral reading as a teaching technique for improving reading comprehension of 11 Educable Mentally Handicapped or Severe Learning Disabled adolescents. Students were tested on their ability to answer comprehension questions from a short factual article. Comprehension improved following the oral reading for students with a reading grade equivalent of less than 5.5 (measured from the Wide Range Achievement Test) but not for those students having a grade equivalent of greater than 5.5. This association was statistically significant (p = less than .01). Oral reading appeared to improve comprehension among the poorer readers but not for readers with moderately high ability.     

Development of Lexical and Sentence Level Context Effects for Dominant and Subordinate Word Meanings of Homonyms

Nine-ten-and twelve-year-old children (N = 75) read aloud dominant, subordinate or ambiguous bias sentences (N = 120) that ended in a homonym (BALL). After the sentence (1,000 ms), children read aloud targets that were related to the dominant (BAT) or subordinate (DANCE) meaning of the homonym or control targets. Participants were also divided into three reading skill groups based on an independent measure of single word oral reading accuracy. There were three main developmental and reading skill findings. First, 9-year-olds and low skill readers showed lexical level facilitation in accuracy. Second, 9- and 10-year-olds or low and moderate skill readers showed lexical level facilitation in reaction time. Third, 12-year-olds or high skill readers showed sentence level facilitation in reaction time with high skill readers additionally showing sentence level inhibition in reaction time. These results show that lexical level context effects decreased and that sentence level context effects increased with development and skill. These results are discussed in terms of connectionist models of visual word recognition that incorporate distributed attractor principles.     

The effects of linearity on sentence comprehension in oral and silent reading

This study examined the effects of linearity of language (e.g., de Saussure, 1916/1972) on performance on a sentence comprehension task, manipulating (a) presentation method (simultaneous, phrase, or flow) and (b) reading method (oral or silent reading). The study also examined the predictive powers of the digit span test (DST) and the reading span test (RST) for task performance. Fifty‐four undergraduate and graduate students participated in the experiment. The results showed that the DST score predicted performance on both garden‐path (GP) and non‐garden‐path (NGP) sentences, whereas the RST score did so only for GP sentences. This suggests that the sentence comprehension task requires not only comprehension but also temporarily storing verbal information, and that the RST score reflects the degree of tolerance for deviation from linearity. The results also revealed that silent reading has an advantage over oral reading in simultaneous presentation and vice versa in flow presentation, whereas the difference between reading methods disappeared in phrase presentation. This suggests that oral and silent reading require different strategies to facilitate sentence comprehension.     

Generating inferences from written and spoken language: A comparison of children with visual impairment and children with sight

The two experiments reported here investigated the ability of sighted children and children with visual impairment to comprehend text and, in particular, to draw inferences both while reading and while listening. Children were assigned into ‘comprehension skill’ groups, depending on the degree to which their reading comprehension skill was in line with that predicted by their decoding skill. They then read (either print or Braille) and listened to a series of novel short stories. These were followed by a series of questions, which required either the generation of inferences, or an answer that could be taken literally from the text. The results suggest that children with and without sight are comparable in their ability to draw inferences, and that children with visual impairment show an advantage for literal questions under auditory presentation.     

Mothers' Attention‐getting Utterances During Shared Book Reading: Links to Low‐income Preschoolers' Verbal Engagement,Visual Attention,and Early Literacy

This study examined associations among low‐income mothers' use of attention‐getting utterances during shared book reading, preschoolers' verbal engagement and visual attention to reading, and their early literacy skills (N = 51). Mother–child shared book reading sessions were videotaped and coded for each utterance, including attention talk, contextualized talk, de‐contextualized talk, and print talk. Preschoolers' attention during book reading was assessed using two measures: verbal engagement by using a rating scale of preschoolers' involvement in book reading discussion and visual attention by coding visual gaze. Findings indicated that mothers' attention talk was positively associated with children's verbal engagement, while maternal print talk was associated with children's visual attention. Further, low‐level maternal print talk was associated with higher early decoding scores of children when it was accompanied with high‐level maternal attention talk. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.