Predicting Early Reading Comprehension Skills

Kendeou, P., van den Broek, P., White, M. J., & Lynch, J. S. (2009). Predicting Reading Comprehension in Early Elementary School: The Independent Contributions of Oral Language and Decoding Skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(4), 765-778. doi: 10.1037/a0015956

Background

Research shows that developing children’s oral language and decoding skills early in their life contribute to reading comprehension in early elementary school.

Aims

This study investigated the relation between the oral language and decoding skills of children from preschool to early elementary school in the United States. It also examined the impact of children’s oral language skills at an early age on children’s reading comprehension at a later age.

Sample

While 297 children participated in this study at two test points, complete data were collected from only 113 children in the four- to six-year-old cohort and 108 children in the six- to eight-year-old cohort.

Method

At Time 1, the children’s narrative comprehension and vocabulary were assessed as well as their decoding skills, letter and word identification. At Time 2, all procedures were repeated except for the exclusion of the phonological awareness and letter identification tests, and the inclusion of the reading comprehension task for the eight-year-old children.

Findings

The findings showed that children’s oral language skills and decoding skills, such as phonological awareness and letter and word identification, developed during the preschool years, predicted their reading comprehension in second grade. Oral language skills (vocabulary and discourse comprehension), and decoding skills are both necessary and they contribute independently to later reading comprehension success.

Implications

The findings have implications for comprehension assessment, intervention and direct instruction. As reading comprehension skills predict future comprehension performance in reading, the authors advocate conducting early assessment of comprehension skills to identify children with difficulties in reading comprehension. They suggest the use of non-reading contexts in assessing comprehension (e.g., listening and television comprehension) for early identification of children who are likely to experience later difficulties in reading comprehension. Teachers can make use of activities around television viewing or listening to develop and foster comprehension strategies even before the beginning of formal instruction or for older, struggling readers who experience decoding difficulties. With regard to direct instruction, the authors recommend the teaching of decoding skills and oral language skill development including narrative comprehension be part of the curriculum.

Original article retrieved from Google Scholar.