A Cross-Linguistic, Longitudinal Study of the Foundations of Decoding and Reading Comprehension Ability. (3rd September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Caravolas, Markéta; Lervåg, Arne; Mikulajová, Marína; Defior, Sylvia; Seidlová-Málková, Gabriela; Hulme, Charles
• Is Part Of: Scientific studies of reading. Volume 23:Number 5(2019)
• Page Start: 386
• Page End: 402
• Publication Date: 2019-09-03
• Subjects: Reading -- Periodicals; 428.405
• DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2019.1580284
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1088-8438

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The present study investigated the moderating role of orthographic consistency on the development of reading comprehension in four language groups (English, n = 179; Spanish, n = 188; Czech, n = 135; Slovak, n = 194) from kindergarten to Grade 2. In all languages, early variations in phoneme awareness/letter knowledge, rapid automatised naming, and emerging decoding skills, but not oral language, predicted variations in decoding skills at the end of Grade 1; these in turn predicted reading comprehension in Grade 2. For the three consistent orthographies (Spanish, Slovak, and Czech), kindergarten language skills were another significant predictor of Grade 2 reading comprehension. This effect was absent in the English sample, where variations in decoding skills were a more powerful predictor. These results provide the first longitudinal evidence for effects of orthographic consistency on the development of reading comprehension and provide support for the simple view of reading.