The Influence of Instructional Practices on Reading Motivation in Finland

Interest in reading contributes to reading activity and to the amount of reading, which in turn promotes students’ reading performance. Teachers (and their instruction) provide an important supporting environment for children’s learning and motivation. Child-centred teaching practices that are sensitive to the development of children’s autonomy, competence beliefs, and social interactions with peers support interest in reading.

Author: Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen

Source: Lerkkanen, M-K. (2018). The influence of instructional practices on reading motivation in Finland. In Orellana García P. & Baldwin Lind P. (eds.). Reading Achievement and Motivation in Boys and Girls, Literacy Studies 15, 65-78. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-75948-7_4

Differences between individuals in terms of development of reading skills and interest in reading start before entering school.
Educational contexts that promote children’s autonomy to initiate tasks and complete them, without applying strict performance criteria, have been shown to strengthen children’s interest in reading.
Motivation combined with effort is the key to success at school.
While intrinsic motivation involves students’ thoughts, ability, beliefs, and emotions in learning situations, extrinsic motivation often works only while external reward is available.
The value aspect of achievement motivation includes three components: attainment value, utility value, and intrinsic (or interest) value.
Students’ interest in reading is typically high at the beginning of school but often decreases during the elementary school years.

Defining intrinsic motivation

This is motivation that comes from within the individual, and relates to engaging in interesting, challenging, and joyful activities that provide internal satisfaction.

Defining extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation is derived from external sources (such as a reward system in the classroom) that is unrelated to the learning of the skill itself.

Gender differences

Girls typically demonstrate higher levels of interest and a stronger self-concept of ability concerning reading. They also typically outperform boys in most literacy tasks at school.
There is greater variance within groups of boys and within groups of girls than there are differences between genders.

Child-centred practices

Based on the work of Piaget and Vygotsky, child-centred practices recognise children as active knowledge constructors.
Teachers assist and facilitate children’s learning by providing them with both guidance and opportunities to direct their own exploration of objects and academic topics; thus, teaching is like a partnership between the teacher and the children.
Child-centred classrooms are characterised by a shared responsibility for management and learning, active teacher support for children’s learning efforts and social skills, and teaching practices that are sensitive to children’s needs and interests.

The study

The findings of a large-scale First Steps study on how Finnish teachers’ instructional practices are associated with children’s interest in reading are summarised in this study.

Research question:

How do teaching practices and the quality of teacher-child interactions observed in classrooms influence children’s motivation in reading, particularly among boys and at-risk children in the early school years?

Participants in the First Steps study were originally approximately 2000 children and their parents and teachers from 4 municipalities in Finland. The study includes several yearly assessments of students’ academic performance, motivation, social skills, and wellbeing.

Findings

Reading interest declined from kindergarten to Grade 4.
Girls were more interested in literacy learning than boys.
Poor readers had lower reading interest.
Children at risk of reading difficulties had poorer pre-reading skills, reading achievement and motivation. Moreover, parental expectations and beliefs about their abilities were lower, and they received less parental support for reading at home.
In kindergarten classrooms (where teachers predominantly applied child-centred teaching practices), children showed more interest in reading than in classrooms characterised by predominantly teacher-directed teaching practices.
The higher the quality of classroom organisation, the greater the children’s motivation in that particular classroom.
The quality of emotional and instructional support from the teacher related to children’s motivation, which was related to phonological skills.
The more stress a teacher reported, the lower the children’s motivation.

Implications

Teaching practices that are sensitive to the development of children’s autonomy, self-efficacy, and social interactions with peers can support their interest in reading.

Raising children’s curiosity (by giving them choices and supporting their autonomy to make choices themselves) can support students to sustain their interest in a task or activity.

Teacher’s positive verbal reinforcement toward a child’s (deserved) effort rather than toward their intelligence may increase intrinsic motivation.

Mistakes and misunderstandings should be considered learning opportunities.

Teachers need to support children’s connection with others in the classroom. High-quality classroom interactions should be emotionally supportive, caring, and respectful.

Lifewide Learning for Early Reading Development

Using the longitudinal reading scores of 6,874 students from 424 schools at 12 sites across Africa and Asia, results showed there was 1) a modest but consistent relationship between students’ home literacy environments and reading scores, and 2) a strong relationship between reading gains and participation in community reading activities, suggesting that interventions should consider both home and community learning environments and their differential influences on interventions across different low-resource settings.

Authors: Amy Jo Dowd, Elliott Friedlander, Christine Jonason, Jane Leer, Lisa Zook Sorensen, Jarrett Guajardo, Nikhit D’Sa, Clara Pava, & Lauren Pisani

Source: Dowd, A. J., Friedlander, E., Jonason, C., Leer, J., Sorensen, L. Z., Guajardo, J., D’Sa, N., Pava, C., & Pisani, L. (2017). Lifewide learning for early reading development. In A. Gove, A. Mora, & P. McCardle (Eds.), Progress toward a literate world: Early reading interventions in low-income countries, New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 155, 31–49.

This study examined the relationships between children’s reading abilities and the enabling environment for learning in the context of Save the Children’s Literacy Boost programme. Using the longitudinal reading scores of 6,874 students from 424 schools at 12 sites across Africa and Asia, results suggested there was 1) a modest but consistent relationship between students’ home literacy environments and reading scores, and 2) a strong relationship between reading gains and participation in community reading activities, suggesting that interventions should consider both home and community learning environments and their differential influences on interventions across different low-resource settings.

Repeated attempts to affect student learning exclusively through schools have largely failed.
Learning is influenced by the enabling environment outside school, whether captured as materials, being surrounded by readers, good reading habits, or reading together.

Defining Literacy Boost

This aims to improve classroom reading pedagogy and to engage students, families, and communities in reading activities outside of school.
The programme focuses on lifewide learning: children’s engagement in enjoyable, cognitively demanding, literacy-related activities not only in school but also in their homes and communities.
The programme provides child-friendly reading materials and encourages caregivers to undertake literacy-supporting activities (such as reading and talking with their children).
The programme provides opportunities to participate in community activities, such as reading in groups or pairs or borrowing materials from a local mini-library.
The programme reaches over 1.5 million children in 32 countries and has two intervention components: teacher training and community action.

The study

This study investigated how home- and community-enabling environments contribute to children’s learning. This was achieved using longitudinal data from 12 sites across Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malawi, the Philippines, and Rwanda.

Research hypotheses:

H1: At baseline, the enabling environment of the home (specifically reading materials and literacy habits) will be positively associated with students’ reading achievement, controlling for demographic and school characteristics.

H2: At endline, the enabling environment of the community (specifically the amount of community reading activities in which a student participates) will be positively associated with how much the student learned, regardless of starting achievement level, baseline home learning environment, demographic, and school characteristics.

The sample was drawn from 12 sites (each of which had between 25 and 85 schools). In each school, 20 students (10 boys and 10 girls) were randomly selected to participate in the study. Datasets include between 338 and 827 students in Grades 1–4.

Measures

Reading Assessment

Untimed letter identification
Fluency
Comprehension

Home Enabling Environment

The reading materials index sums the different reading material types at home, with child-friendly materials (×3).
The reading habits index sums the number of times in the past week household members a) were seen reading, b) read to the student, c) helped or encouraged the student to study, and d) told the student a story.

Community Enabling Environment

This refers to the degree of participation in Literacy Boost community reading activities during past week, as follows: a) meeting with a reading buddy, b) borrowing books from a book bank, c) attending a reading camp, d) participating in a ‘make-and-take’ activity to create reading materials to take home, and e) participating in a read-a-thon.

Findings

Hypothesis 1

It was found that 5 of the 12 sites featured a statistically significant but small positive relationship between reading habits and baseline skills, whereas one site showed a negative relationship.
It was found that 3 sites featured a small statistically significant positive relationship between reading materials and baseline skills, and one site featured a small statistically significant negative relationship.

Hypothesis 2

In 7 out of 12 sites, participation in community reading activities was significantly and positively related to reading gains across skills with effect sizes that range from small to quite large.

Implications

Home environment influences reading skills, even taking other background characteristics into account. Reading habits significantly predict achievement more often than reading materials. Participation in community reading activities is typically positively related to students’ reading gains, and the magnitude of the effect is greater for advanced skills.

Literacy Programs Efficacy for Developing Children’s Early Reading Skills in Familiar Language in Zambia

In this study, the comparative efficacy of a phonics-based reading programme and a language experience approach-based literacy programme to develop reading skills among Zambian early childhood school learners were investigated. The learners (N = 1986) took either the phonics-based reading programme (n = 1593) or the alternative language experience approach-based programme (n = 393). Results suggest that learners in the phonics-based literacy programme demonstrated significantly better results in letter-sound knowledge and in reading skills.

Authors: Francis K. Sampa, Emma Ojanen, Jari Westerholm, Ritva Ketonen, & Heikki Lyytinen

Source: Sampa, F.K., Ojanen, E., Westerholm, J., Ketonen, R., & Lyytinen, H. (2018) Literacy programs efficacy for developing children’s early reading skills in familiar language in Zambia, Journal of Psychology in Africa, 28(2), 128-135, DOI: 10.1080/14330237.2018.1435050

Use of the familiar language for early literacy acquisition is an international standard and especially well-founded among readers whose familial language is transparent.
Zambia has adopted the Primary Reading Programme (PRP) and the Primary Literacy Programme (PLP) for literacy instruction in the early grades using seven familiar indigenous languages: Cinyanja, Icibemba, Chitonga, Kiikaonde, Silozi, Lunda, and Luvale.

Defining the Primary Reading Programme

This programme is a language experience programme in which learners acquire literacy for reading and writing by building on the oral language that they have already acquired.
Familiar language was used for learning to read for one year in Grade 1 and English was used from Grade 2.

Defining the Primary Literacy Programme

This is a phonics-based reading programme in which learners are meant to acquire literacy by learning letter-sound connections in a familiar language.
The programme focuses on a decoding process where learners are taught to break down written language into small and simple components by identifying and storing sounds of the letters and assembling the sounds according to the sequences of letters.
Familiar language was used for learning to read from Grade 1 to the end of Grade 2, and only oral English was introduced in Grade 2.

The Language Experience Approach

This approach promotes reading and writing through the use of personal experiences and oral language.
Learners do not breakdown sounds individually, but take words at face value and associate them with prior knowledge.

The study

The purpose of this study was to compare the relative efficacy of a phonics-based approach and language experience-based approach to teaching early literacy to Zambian early-grade learners.

Research question:

What is the comparative efficacy of a phonics-based programme and a language experience-based programme in teaching reading to Zambian early childhood learners with linguistic diversity?

Participants were 1986 early childhood school learners who were randomly selected from 200 schools in 16 Zambian school districts. Samples for the PRP comprised 393 learners from 40 schools. Samples for PLP comprised 1593 learners from 160 schools.

Findings

Learners in the PLP obtained higher mean rank scores on at least some of the reading skill tests, although the effects sizes were small.
Overall, the results could be interpreted as supporting PLP efficacy in teaching reading to children in Cinyanja, Icibemba, Kiikaonde, and Silozi.
Learners who used Cinyanja or Icibemba as their home language for reading instruction obtained higher mean rank scores in the PLP compared to the PRP in several reading skill tests.
Learners who used Kiikaonde or Silozi as their home language for reading instruction obtained higher mean rank scores in the PLP compared to the PRP in letters-sound knowledge only.

Summary

Early childhood learners taking the PLP performed relatively better in reading skills acquisition compared to those taking the PRP. This may be because Zambian languages contain grapheme-phoneme correspondences that behave consistently. All African languages are relatively new and are transparent orthographies, which makes initial literacy learning much easier than in English, where each of the vowels may represent different phonemes. Orthographic consistency facilitates more rapid development of phonemic awareness and consequently the basic reading skill. The most appropriate instruction methods focus on teaching connections between spoken and written language at the level of phonemes and graphemes. A fluent reading skill of a familiar language facilitates learning of more complicated orthographies such as English.

Implications

There was a large number of learners with a zero score in reading skill tests revealing that the implementation of both programmes was far from attaining a satisfactory level.
Overall, the results from this study may be interpreted as being favourable toward the PLP, which has placed much emphasis on teaching the basic key components of learning to read (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension), and has also placed much emphasis on the phonics approach for teaching reading.

The Role of Reading Disability Risk and Environmental Protective Factors in Students’ Reading Fluency in Grade 4

This study explored the role of reading disability risk in kindergarten and environmental factors in Grades 1–3 on reading fluency in Grade 4. Evidence was found that environmental protective factors predicted students’ improved reading fluency and reading disability risk predicted fewer protective environmental factors, which partially mediated the effect of reading disability risk on reading fluency.

Authors: Noona Kiuru, Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen, Pekka Niemi, Elisa Poskiparta, Timo Ahonen, Anna-Maija Poikkeus, & Jari-Erik Nurmi

Source: Kiuru, N., Lerkkanen, M.-K., Niemi, P., Poskiparta, E., Ahonen, T., Poikkeus, A.-M., & Nurmi, J.-E. (2013). The role of reading disability risk and environmental protective factors in students reading fluency in Grade 4. Reading Research Quarterly, 48(4) pp. 349–368 | doi:10.1002/rrq.53

Fluent reading is a necessary skill for academic success as well as gathering information from printed and electronic sources.
The risk of reading disability may result in poor reading skills.
Not all children at risk end up with poor literacy skills. Protective factors, such as positive relationships with adults and peers, may affect development of fluent reading despite the reading disability risk.

Defining fluent reading

Fluent reading is the ability to read with accuracy, speed, and proper expression and comprehension. It refers to the whole reading process from word decoding to word meaning and the construction of phrase- and passage-level meaning.

Defining reading disability

Reading disability is a difficulty in word decoding or slow, dysfluent, and inaccurate reading.

The risk of reading disability is thought to be 17%–20% of children, and is more common among boys, children of parents with low education, and children with low general ability.

Learning to read in Finnish is relatively easy, because Finnish has highly regular orthography and simple syllabic structure. However, reading disability is still present in Finland.

Defining peer acceptance

Peer acceptance is defined as experiences of being liked or accepted by the members of one’s peer group, companionship, and having a sense of connection to the larger peer group.

Defining good teacher-student relationships

Good teacher-student relationships are characterised by high degrees of warmth, support, and sensitivity, and provide a safe context for the development of academic competences.

Defining good home-school collaboration

This is a genuine partnership, including mutual respect, trust, and two-way communication, between parent and teacher with shared values and expectations about how to support the child.

The study

Protective environmental factors such as peer acceptance, good teacher-student relationships, and good home-school collaboration may promote the development of good reading fluency among children with a risk for reading disability.

Research questions:

To what extent do environmental protective factors predict students’ reading fluency in Grade 4?
To what extent does the risk of reading disability measured in kindergarten predict protective factors in students’ interpersonal environment during Grades 1–3?
To what extent does the risk of reading disability measured in kindergarten predict students’ reading fluency in Grade 4?
To what extent is the effect of reading disability risk on subsequent reading fluency mediated via protective factors from students’ interpersonal environment?

Participants were 538 students and their parents and teachers from 3 medium-sized towns and one municipality in Finland.

Findings

Children with a risk of reading disability in kindergarten had lower reading fluency in Grade 4 compared to children who did not have reading disability risk in kindergarten.
Children with a risk of reading disability were less accepted in their peer group, and their teacher showed less positive affect toward them, the quality of the partnership between their parents and teachers was lower, and they had fewer environmental protective factors.
Peer acceptance, teachers’ positive affect for the student, and higher cumulative environmental support were related to better reading fluency in Grade 4.
The effect of reading disability risk in kindergarten on subsequent reading fluency was partially mediated through teachers’ positive affect for the student during Grades 1–3.
The effect of reading disability risk in kindergarten on subsequent reading fluency was partially mediated through cumulative environmental support during Grades 1–3.
The effects of environmental protective factors on subsequent reading fluency did not significantly differ between the students with or without reading disability risk.

Implications

We can predict children’s reading fluency in Grade 4 already in kindergarten by testing their reading disability risk (although the association is moderate). Therefore, other factors are considered important.
The risk of reading disability in kindergarten predicts poorer peer acceptance, less sensitive teacher attitude, and reduced cooperation between teacher and parents.
Less sensitive teacher attitude and cumulative environmental factors partly explain the association between reading disability risk in kindergarten and reading fluency in Grade 4; however, reading disability risk in kindergarten is also independently associated with reading fluency in Grade 4.
It is important that students receive support in their learning from the beginning of school, that the teacher is sensitive toward the student, and that students are accepted by their peers.

The Role of Teaching Practices in the Development of Children’s Interest in Reading and Mathematics in Kindergarten

This study explored the extent to which teaching practices observed in kindergarten classrooms predict children’s interest in reading and mathematics. In classrooms where the teachers placed greater emphasis on child-centred teaching practices than on teacher-directed practices, the children showed more interest in reading and mathematics.

Authors: Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen, Noona Kiuru, Eija Pakarinen, Jaana Viljaranta, Anna-Maija Poikkeus, Helena Rasku-Puttonen, Martti Siekkinen, & Jari-Erik Nurmi

Source: Lerkkanen, M-K., Kiuru, N., Pakarinen, E., Viljaranta, J., Poikkeus, A.-M., Rasku-Puttonen, H., Siekkinen, M. & Nurmi, J.-E. (2012). The role of teaching practices in the development of children’s interest in reading and mathematics in kindergarten. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 37, 266-279.

Teachers’ instruction and classroom practices have been shown to contribute to children’s learning and academic outcomes.
Less is known about the effects on children’s motivation toward academic subjects.

Defining interest in academic subjects

Motivation directs students’ behaviour and effort in learning situations.

Student interest in various school subjects and academic topics is of interest, as well as how much they like and enjoy doing tasks related to these topics.

Interest, intrinsic motivation, preference, and task motivation are concepts referring to this kind of interest.

Defining Achievement Goal Theory

Achievement goal theory refers to different kinds of goals and behaviour (such as mastery, performance-approach or performance-avoidance) thatdirect students’ engagement in achievement tasks.

Other concepts used to describe motivational patterns in academic environments are achievement beliefs, expectancies, and motivational strategies.

Defining child-centred practices

Children are recognised as active knowledge constructors. Teachers assist and facilitate children’s learning by providing them with guidance and opportunities to direct their own exploration of objects and academic topics, making teaching akin to a partnership between the teacher and the children. Practices include shared responsibility for management and learning, active teacher support for children’s learning efforts and social skills, and teaching practices that are sensitive to children’s needs and interests.

Defining teacher-directed practices

In this didactically-oriented kind of teaching, teachers emphasise the provision of information and employ structured, drill-and-practice group lessons that are fast-paced, teach discrete skills in small steps, and include praise when predetermined goals are reached. Teacher-controlled classrooms where the acquisition of ‘basic’ academic skills through oral recitation and worksheets are given considerable weight, whereas children’s interests and social skill development receive little attention and peer interaction is not applied.

The study

Teachers differ widely in their teaching practices and classroom instruction. The present study examined the extent to which teaching practices observed in kindergarten classrooms would predict children’s interest in reading and mathematics. We expected that child-centred teaching practices (being sensitive to children’s needs and interests) would increase children’s autonomy in initiating tasks and completing them, and by doing so, strengthen children’s interest in reading and mathematics.

Research questions:

To what extent do kindergarten classrooms differ with respect to children’s interest in reading and mathematics?
To what extent do observed teaching practices predict classroom differences identified in children’s interest in reading and mathematics, after controlling for classroom differences in pre-skills in reading and maths?

Participants were 515 kindergarten-aged children and their 49 teachers from 3 municipalities in Finland. Children’s pre-skills in reading and mathematics were investigated during the autumn and their interests were investigated during spring. Teachers were observed using the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (ECCOM).

Findings

It was found that 12% of the total variation in interest in reading and 4% of the interest in math was due to differences between kindergarten classrooms.
The more child-centred and the less teacher-directed the observed teaching practices, the higher the reading motivation and interest in maths were among children in the particular classroom.
The components ‘climate’ and ‘instruction’ relating to child-centred teaching practices were found to have the highest positive correlation with children’s interest.
Climate included support for communication skills, interpersonal skills, student engagement, and individualisation of learning activities, while instruction included learning standards, coherence of instructional activities, teaching concepts, and instructional conversation.
The associations between the observed teaching practices and interest were somewhat stronger in reading than in maths.

Implications

Using child-centred practices in teaching, such as allowing children a lot of freedom to choose tasks and complete them without the pressure of getting the right answer, increases children’s motivation to study, which may lead to better academic achievements.

Examples of child-centred teaching practices

Children are allowed to take responsibility to the degree they are able.
There is a mixture of the teacher and children making choices.
The teacher encourages children to engage in conversation and elaborate on their thoughts.
The teacher provides opportunities for cooperative, small-group activities that promote peer interaction.
The teacher is attentive to children’s individual skill level and adapts tasks accordingly.
Attention is given to connections occurring between/within academic lessons.
Tasks and lessons are designed to teach identifiable concepts and to develop comprehension.

Working Toward a More Literate World: Reading Intervention Commentary

This issue of New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development summarises recent and ongoing work to establish evidence-based practices in early reading instruction and intervention, and to improve access to and quality of literacy programmes in low- and middle-income countries. In this article, I present my own thoughts on the importance and implications of the reviewed articles.

Author: Maureen W. Lovett

Source: Lovett, M. W. (2017). Working toward a more literate world: Reading intervention commentary. In A. Gove, A. Mora, & P. McCardle (Eds.), Progress toward a literate world: Early reading interventions in low-income countries, New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 155, 131–141.

Projects of varying sizes and goals conducted at multiple sites in several countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America are described in this review.
There is a commitment to documenting the efficacy and effectiveness of these programmes using the methodological standards of intervention science and education research whenever possible; that is, controlled evaluations, cluster random assignment, objective measurement, and longitudinal designs.
Data from these projects have informed plans for future programming in countries worldwide, and results from large scale-ups have provided insight into the most important factors necessary for scale-up and sustainability.
Access to early education has improved substantially in many countries; however, access and quality are two quite different factors.

The study

Review of the articles of this issue of New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development and some thoughts on their importance and implications are presented in this study.

Factors important to implementation success

Extent of implementation and intervention (including intensity and frequency of the intervention and the fidelity of its implementation)
Duration (longer is better)
The extent to which the environment is enabling and facilitative.

Possibilities in lowest resourced countries

Reading is a system that relies on written language skills and requires (and draws upon) speech and oral language development.
Inability to understand the language of instruction is a major barrier in schools; thus, teaching to read in the mother tongue first may be important.
It is important to integrate oral language, phonics, and authentic writing in multilingual and multicultural environments to attain better results.
Teacher and student attendance is important; absenteeism and tardiness are considerable detractors from instructional time.
Availability of reading materials is important when trying to learn to read.
Learning to read fluently requires thousands of hours of practice and the development of a complex, consolidated system of linguistic skills.
The importance of parental (especially maternal) literacy attainment to children’s early reading progress has been long recognised. This helps parents to navigate and access health and educational services for their children and alters how they interact with their young children.
Even the most promising evidence-based instructional programme will fail to deliver positive outcomes if not implemented with skill and intensity by teachers who understand the program, its goals, and how to teach with fidelity.
Even when partnerships are successful and scale-up commitments strong, there often remain huge needs around teacher training and support. Such training takes time; thus, it is recommended to carefully calibrate time expectations for scale-up.
Technology offers more possibilities for support to the teachers, and also to students who do not have access to school.

Reading Comprehension: Core Components and Processes

Reading comprehension is multidimensional and complex. In this article, the theoretical and empirical literature on the construction of meaning during reading comprehension is reviewed, from which implications for research, practice, and policy related to instruction and assessment are derived. It is focused specifically on the inferential processes that extract meaning from text and the sources of knowledge that facilitate the extraction and construction of meaning.

Authors: Panayiota Kendeou, Kristen L. McMaster, & Theodore J. Christ

Source: Kendeou, P., McMaster, K.L., & Christ, T.J. (2016). Reading comprehension: Core components and processes. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(1), 62-69. DOI: 10.1177/2372732215624707

Despite efforts to improve reading performance among children in the United States, 44% of fourth-grade and 46% of eight-grade children failed to meet the standards for reading proficiency.
Proficient reading in fourth grade requires students to make simple inferences, draw conclusions, and make evaluations about the texts they read.
Proficient reading in eighth grade requires students to make simple inferences, connect parts of the text, and substantiate judgments about text content.
Students who do not meet these standards fail to derive and use the overall meaning of the text: they fail to perform the fundamental inferential processes that construct meaning while reading.
Students who experience such difficulties are likely to struggle throughout both education and employment.

Component skills behind reading comprehension

Word decoding
Reading fluency
Vocabulary knowledge
Language comprehension
Prior knowledge
Comprehension monitoring
Working memory

Demands of reading comprehension

To understand a sentence, it is necessary to visually process the words; identify their phonological, orthographic, and semantic representations; and connect the words using rules of syntax to understand the underlying meaning of the sentence.
It is necessary to integrate meaning across sentences, make use of relevant background knowledge, generate inferences, identify the text structure, and take into consideration the authors’ goals and motives.

Simple View of Reading

Decoding includes processes needed to decipher written code such as phonological processing, orthographic processing, and word recognition.
Language comprehension includes processes (such as vocabulary and inference making) needed to build a coherent mental representation.

Construction–Integration model

This model describes reading comprehension as the activation and integration of text information and relevant background knowledge into a coherent mental representation.

Inferences as a basis for reading comprehension

Inference refers to information retrieved from memory or generated during reading to fill in information that is not in a text.
Inference capability is one of the unique, significant predictors of reading comprehension.
The development of inference skills begins well before formal reading instruction starts. For example, 2-year-olds can generate causal inferences between sequential events.
The ability to draw inferences is a general skill.

How to improve inference making

Pre-teaching activities are designed to activate background knowledge and direct students’ attention to important parts of text.
Systematic questioning can be used about key parts of text, with feedback.
Teachers can apply specific strategies, such as looking for clues and thinking aloud.
Readers can apply self-questioning.
Graphic models can be used to fill in gaps in text.
Preventative instruction can be applied to focus on language comprehension in young children, including inference-making as a general language skill. This may serve to circumvent later reading comprehension difficulties.

Assessment of inference processes

Engaging in inference making to construct a mental representation of what the text is about is the process of reading comprehension, whereas the mental representation itself is the product of reading comprehension.
Summative evaluation is used to discern the state of achievement, which summarises performance at a particular point in time.
Formative evaluation is used to discern the needs of a student with respect to instruction and curriculum and is used to improve achievement.
The assessment of the reading product might be of interest for summative evaluation; however, reading processes might be of more interest for formative evaluation.
Some measures for reading include Comprehension Efficiency (COMPreading), The Reading Strategies Assessment Tool (RSAT), the Multiple-Choice, Open-Ended, Cloze, Comprehension Assessment (MOCCA), and the Bridging Inferences Test (Bridge-IT).

Knowledge as the necessary source for reading comprehension

At various levels of the reading comprehension process, the reader draws on different sources of knowledge: linguistic knowledge about phonology, syntax, and morphology; orthographic knowledge about the orthographic system; and general knowledge about text structure and the world.
General knowledge can both facilitate and disrupt reading comprehension: high levels of accurate knowledge can facilitate reading comprehension, but inaccurate knowledge can severely disrupt reading comprehension.

A Review on the Important Role of Vocabulary Knowledge in Reading Comprehension Performance

Vocabulary learning is a dominant feature of language acquisition. Students and teachers alike know that many of the reading comprehension breakdowns experienced by students involve word recognition and lexical access. This review is an attempt to broaden knowledge of the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension performance.

Authors: Soodeh Hamzehlou Moghadam, Zaidah Zainal, & Mahsa Ghaderpour

Source: Moghadam, S.H., Zainal, Z., & Ghaderpour, M. (2012). A review on the important role of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension performance. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 66, 555-563. DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.300

Language acquisition is an active procedure that requires learners to continually acquire vocabulary from the target language.
The amount of familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary is one of the most significant elements in discerning a text’s degree of complication.
Ignorance of the differences between second language (L2) and foreign language can result in confusion in the practice of language learning, teaching, and research work.

Defining vocabulary knowledge

Vocabulary knowledge refers to knowledge of the following: the spoken form of a word, the written form of a word, the parts in a word that have meaning, the link between a particular form and a meaning, the concepts a word may possess and the items to which it can refer, the vocabulary that is associated with a word, a word’s grammatical functions, a word’s collocations, and a word’s register and frequency.
Receptive/passive vocabulary knowledge is the language input that learners receive from others through listening or reading and try to understand it.
Productive/active vocabulary knowledge is the language output that learners convey as messages to others through speaking or writing.
Educated native-English speakers know approximately 20,000 word families and each year of their early life they learn (on average) 1,000 word families.
Knowledge of the most frequent 5000 words should provide sufficient vocabulary to facilitate reading authentic texts.
Depth of knowledge is a network of links between words; it refers to the way they associate and interact with each other, and may be restricted in use according to register and context.

Significance of vocabulary learning

Vocabulary appears to be a sound indicator of language ability because learners regularly make use of dictionaries (rather than grammar books).
A large number of words are required to become competent in a foreign language.

Vocabulary knowledge breadth and depth correlate quite significantly (approximately .8) and are both capable of explaining a considerable portion (over 50%) of the variance in reading comprehension scores.
Vocabulary knowledge is fundamental in reading comprehension because it functions in the same way as background knowledge in reading comprehension.

Summary

Vocabulary knowledge is essential for reading comprehension.
Both aspects of vocabulary knowledge—depth and breadth—are required.
Depth of vocabulary, breadth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension are highly and positively correlated.

RESOLV: Readers’ Representation of Reading Contexts and Tasks

The present study introduces reading as problem SOLVing (RESOLV), a theoretical model to account for readers’ construction and management of goals during text comprehension and use. The data supports the view that reading decisions and processes are guided by readers’ perceptions and attributions regarding the task statement as well as more implicit cues from the reading context.

Authors: Jean-Francois Rouet, M. Anne Britt, & Amanda M. Durik

Source: Rouet, J.-F., Britt, M.A., & Durik, A.M. (2017) RESOLV: Readers’ Representation of Reading Contexts and Tasks, Educational Psychologist, 52(3), 200-215, DOI: 10.1080/00461520.2017.1329015

The present study introduces RESOLV, a theoretical model to account for readers’ construction and management of goals during text comprehension and use. Using RESOLV, it is assumed that readers construct two types of mental models prior to reading: the context model and the task model. First, the RESOLV model is represented and two core hypotheses are articulated. Then, evidence supporting these hypotheses is presented and discussed. The data supports the view that reading decisions and processes are guided by readers’ perceptions and attributions regarding the task statement as well as more implicit cues from the reading context.

In contemporary societies, reading serves an increasing range of goals and purposes.
Effectively selecting and making use of multiple sources of information requires a set of advanced literacy skills that extend beyond word decoding and passage comprehension.
Skilled reading—particularly applied to multiple sources and functional contexts—involves the ability to decide what to read and how to read it.
Reading always takes place in a context that motivates readers’ engagement with text.
What readers read and how they read it depends on the reason why they read and the way they intend to use the information.
When readers read multiple sources, their decisions depend on their initial representation of contextual demands and opportunities, which we refer to as a context model.
Readers’ context models are based on the selection and prioritisation of selected cues from the context, which readers can then turn into a set of initial goals and actions: a task model.

The role of goals and standards in reading

Readers may independently establish their own reading goals; however, goals often result from the readers’ interactions with their physical and social environment.
Readers’ memory for text varies as a function of the perspective they are assigned at the time of reading.
The purposeful nature of reading is even more apparent in situations involving the use of texts to answer specific questions or prompts.
Mature readers are able to describe the strategies and actions that match the demands of specific situations, based on several dimensions and features of the situations.

Standards of coherence theory

Comprehending a text means constructing a coherent mental representation of the situation described in the text.
This requires the readers to engage in a complex process of connecting the contents at more and more local levels, and generating the inferences needed to establish and maintain coherence.
Standards determine whether the reader feels that comprehension is complete or that additional inferential processes are required.
Competent readers adopt standards that meet the demands of the reading context and task.

The COPES model

Conditions, operations, products, evaluations, and standards (COPES) are core dimensions of learning tasks.
The model is a four-phase process model of studying, which includes task definition, goal setting and planning, enacting study tactics and strategies, and metacognitively adapting studying.
Within the model, it is important to recognise students’ perceptions and inferences regarding assigned study tasks.

Defining the RESOLV model

Assumptions

It is assumed that reading behaviour is adaptive and serves purposes that the individual deems valuable enough to warrant the investment of significant cognitive resources.
It is acknowledged that human processing resources are limited, placing constraints on the organisation and sequencing of the reading activity; readers will optimise the amount of text information to be processed and the depth of processing as a function of cost–benefit analysis.
It is assumed that readers perform ‘feeling of knowing evaluations’ (FOKE) prior to and during reading.
Readers evaluate the physical, cognitive, and emotional cost relative to the benefits of reading actions with respect to achieving their goals (the cost–benefit assumption).
Decisions to use specific reading actions correspond to an activation level and a threshold value.

Overview

Reading takes places within a physical and social context that sets conditions and resources for reading.
The model provides specific mechanisms to explain how readers construct a representation of the reading task, including constraints such as time, stakes, and cost–benefit ratio.
The context includes the request, the requester, the audience, support and obstacles, and readers’ assessment of themselves as cognitive and social agents.
Readers’ personal resources include pre-existing context schemata, knowledge of reading tasks and strategies to address them, self-regulation skills, and the skills and knowledge required to decode and comprehend written texts.
To participate in reading, three types of constructs are necessary: a context model, a task model, and reading processes and outcomes.
Readers’ initially form a mental model of the physical and social context.
Based on their context model, the reader builds a task model defined as a representation of the end goal and a set of means that can be used for achieving that goal.
Reading activity is seen as a sequence of processes, decisions, and actions that are selected through cost–benefit analysis in the service of reader-generated goals.
Reading results in outcomes that are used to engage in self-regulation mechanisms such as moving along a goal structure, making different decisions or engaging in different actions, redefining the task for one-self, or even reconsidering the context.
Self-regulation decisions are closely related to readers’ FOKE as well as their cost–benefit analysis and decision thresholds.

Context model

The context model includes subjective representation of the physical and social situation that precedes and surrounds any reading experience.
Reading is always motivated by some kind of need.
Readers’ processing of contextual features always play a part in their engagement with text.
Readers vary in the type of cues they attend to or focus on in a given reading context, and how they interpret those cues.
Context models are defined as a type of mental model: representations that people construct about their environment, the objects they interact with, and themselves.
Construction of a context model is typically achieved through two core processes: feature extraction and recognition and instantiation of a pre-existing schema.

Task model

The task model includes subjective representation of the goal to be achieved and the means available to achieve it.
Task model processes involve selecting prominent cues from the context model, interpreting the request, setting and updating goals/plans, and detecting and handling obstacles and impasses.
Goal setting operates on a subset of contextual cues that have been foregrounded through deliberate or incidental selection.
Reading goals in turn fuel readers’ decisions and actions regarding what to read and how to read it. Understanding of a desirable outcome also informs the calibration of a processing level.
Task models are not very detailed or elaborated; rather, the initial goal representation gets updated as a function of reading outcomes.

Hypotheses derived from the RESOLV model

Readers base their reading decisions on their interpretation of task demands (the task model hypothesis)
Readers represent contextual cues beyond the task statement itself (the context model hypothesis)

Empirical evidence for the hypotheses

Experienced readers can make detailed decisions about what to read or to skip in a text as a function of their interpretation of the task demands.
Students actively control their intake of information as a function of their understanding of the task demands; however, there are substantial individual differences within this.
Comprehension skill, domain knowledge, and other factors can mediate the relationship between the task and reading processes.
Readers’ developing awareness of the structure and affordance of texts also impact their task models, as indicated by the strategies they use to address the question.
The most efficient information searchers spend more time studying a table of contents or an index, rather than searching through content pages.
Readers make decisions regarding what to read and how to read it based on their reading goals and means available to achieve these goals; that is, their task model.
There is evidence that students take into account contextual dimensions such as the subject matter and the type of source when establishing monitoring standards for themselves.
There is initial evidence that readers construct a representation of both explicit and implicit elements of the context and that what they encode about the situation can influence reading actions when holding the specific task instructions constant.

Summary

Compared to prior frameworks, RESOLV emphasises the role of explicit and implicit contextual cues as well as readers’ prior experiences with similar contexts.
The RESOLV model is based on the assumption that readers form a task model based on their context model; that is, an interpretation of the task instructions and other relevant cues of the reading environment.
Readers’ task models are the result of their interpretation of contextual demands, which may vary as a function of readers’ perceptions of communication partners’ authority, likelihood of success, effort, and stakes.
Within the RESOLV model, reading is considered a sequence of decisions that are made based on the reader’s cost–benefit analysis.

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Role of Quantity and Quality of Child-Directed Speech in Vocabulary Development

This study examined the quantity and quality of caregiver input longitudinally with a sample of 50 parent-child dyads. The aim was to determine which aspects of input for children aged 18, 30, and 42 months contribute most to vocabulary skill throughout early development when measured at ages 30, 42, and 54 months. Results show that additional variation in later vocabulary ability can be explained by controlling for socioeconomic status, input quantity, and children’s previous vocabulary skill, by using a diverse and sophisticated vocabulary with toddlers, and by using decontextualised language (such as narrative) with pre-school-age children.

Author: Meredith L. Rowe

Source: Rowe, M.L. (2012). A longitudinal investigation of the role of quantity and quality of child-directed speech in vocabulary development. Child Development, 83(5), 1762-1774. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01805.x

One of the most powerful predictors of a child’s ability to learn to read and succeed in school is vocabulary size at the start of kindergarten.
Children’s vocabulary size and rate of development vary widely. While it is acknowledged that some of this variability is likely due to genetics, environmental factors also play an integral role.
One important environmental factor that contributes to individual differences in early vocabulary development is the linguistic input to which children are exposed.
Linguistic input may be quantitative (the amount of talking) or qualitative (specific types of speech or diversity of input).
It is possible that diversity of vocabulary input plays a more significant role in vocabulary growth when children get older, and quantity plays a more important role when children are in the earlier stages of vocabulary acquisition.
The amount of input (quantity) and specific types of input (quality), although strongly related, may be confounded by socioeconomic status (SES).
Research to date on parental use of sophisticated vocabulary and decontextualised language has shown positive findings in relation to children’s vocabulary skill; however, the work is scarce and limited to studies of low-income families and to parents talking to children age 3 years or older.

The study

The goal of the present study was to examine parents’ use of sophisticated vocabulary and decontextualised language with their children to determine whether these input quality measures can explain children’s subsequent vocabulary skill over and above the quantity of input to which children are exposed.

Research questions:

How much variation is there across families in terms of quantity and quality of parental talk to children aged 18, 30, and 42 months, and does this variation relate to SES?
Does variation in child vocabulary skill at 30, 42, and 54 months relate to quantity and quality of parent input?
Do measures of input quality also explain variation in later vocabulary skill when controlling for SES, previous vocabulary skill, and quantity of input?

Participants were 50 children and their primary caregivers. One of the primary caregivers is a father and the rest are mothers. The average education level of the primary caregivers is 15.8 years. The home visits used in this study were conducted at 18, 30, 42, and 54 months of age.

Findings

There was significant variety among parents in terms of the quantity and quality of their child-directed speech.
The proportion of words used that were rare and the proportion of total utterances that were decontextualised increased over time.
Primary caregiver education was positively related to both quantity and quality measures; more highly-educated parents used more word tokens and more diverse vocabulary than parents with fewer years of education.
Education was positively related to rare word use and to decontextualised utterances, and also to children’s scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), a measure of vocabulary comprehension.
There were positive relations between PPVT scores and both input quantity and vocabulary diversity.
At 42 and 54 months, PPVT scores were found to relate to vocabulary sophistication at the previous age (30 and 42 months, respectively).
The number of narrative utterances and explanations were significantly related to PPVT at the final age.
In addition to prior vocabulary skill and parent education, the quantity of parent input at 18 months was found to be a positive predictor of child vocabulary at 30 months.
Children whose parents used a wider range of vocabulary with their child at 30 months demonstrated higher PPVT scores 1 year later, controlling for children’s vocabulary knowledge at the time of the interaction, parent education, and amount of parental talk.
Children whose parents used more decontextualised language with their child at 42 months demonstrated greater vocabulary skills 1 year later, controlling for children’s vocabulary skill at the time of the interaction, parent education, and quantity of parental talk. This model explains 79% of the variation in PPVT scores at 54 months.

Summary

The present study demonstrates that specific measures of input quality relate to child vocabulary skill at different points in development, even when controlling for SES and quantity of input.
The results are consistent with a developmental scenario in which quantity of input is most important during the 2^nd year of life, the diversity or sophistication of the vocabulary in the input is most important during the 3^rd year of life, and the use of decontextualised language (such as narrative and explanations in the input) is most beneficial during the 4^th year of life.
It would be helpful for parents to concentrate on the quality of their talk, incorporating a diverse and sophisticated vocabulary with toddlers and engaging their preschool children in conversations about past or future events.