kate cain - reading development and difficulties - dyslexia guild summer conference 2011

Reading development and difficul2es: what skills do you need to be a good comprehender?

Kate Cain Lancaster University, UK [email protected]

What is reading? A story was direct and simple ….. a story was a form of

telepathy. By means of inking symbols onto a page, she was

able to send thoughts and feelings from her mind to her

reader’s. It was a magical process, so commonplace that no

one stopped to wonder at it. Reading a sentence and

understanding it were the same thing; as with the crooking

of a finger, nothing lay between them.

(Atonement, Ian McEwan, 2002, p. 23)

Overview of talk

•  Reading comprehension –  overview of reading comprehension

•  Reading comprehension difficul2es –  idenEficaEon of poor comprehenders –  aspects of comprehension that they find hard

•  Reading comprehension development –  skills that predict outcomes

•  Consequences of poor reading comprehension

What is reading comprehension?

Molly was carrying the glass of juice. She tripped on the step. Mum fetched the mop.


Comprehension is an INTEGRATIVE process, in which informa2on from different sentences is combined


Comprehension is an INTEGRATIVE process, in which informaEon from different sentences is combined

and Comprehension is a CONSTRUCTIVE process, in which explicit informaEon in a sentence or sentences is supplemented by knowledge about the world from long-‐term memory.


Outcome of skilled comprehension is the construc2on of a coherent and integrated representa2on of the state of affairs (or situa2on) described in the text – a Mental Model or Situa-on Model

(Gernsbacher, 1990; Johnson-‐Laird, 1983; Kintsch, 1998)

Overview of talk





Poor comprehenders: iden2fica2on

Reading comprehension scores are poor rela2ve to both chronological age and word reading accuracy

chron.

age word

reading reading comp.

sight vocab

(max=45) Good comps

7,8 7,8 8,3 38

Poor comps

7,9 7,10 6,7 37

WriYen vocabulary

Gates MacGini2e Vocabulary subtest

cap

cat

car

can

a different sword

weapon

practice

turn

team

spurt

Word reading and text comprehension

Neale Analysis of Reading Ability

Poor comprehenders: iden2fica2on

Reading comprehension scores are poor rela2ve to both chronological age and word reading accuracy

chron.

age word

reading reading comp.

sight vocab

(max=45) Good comps

7,8 7,8 8,3 38

Poor comps

7,9 7,10 6,7 37

Overview of talk





Key skills for reading comprehension

Integra2on and inference making -‐  the ability to integrate sentences within a text -‐  the ability to integrate informaEon in the text with general

knowledge

Comprehension monitoring -‐ the ability to check your understanding of a text: if a

miscomprehension has occurred, remedial acEon can be taken

Knowledge and use of story structure

-‐ understanding of narraEves (and other genres) can be guided by knowledge about typical structure

Inference and integra2on

Inferences to connect ideas and to incorporate background knowledge to make sense of a text: Debbie was going out for the aTernoon with her friend Michael. By the Eme they got there they were very thirsty. Michael got some drink out of his bag and they shared that. The orange juice was very refreshing.

Q: Where did Michael get the orange juice from?

Cain & Oakhill (1999) Reading and Writing, 11, 489-503


Inferences to connect ideas and to incorporate background knowledge to make sense of a text: … Debbie put on her swimming costume but the water was too cold to paddle in, so they made sandcastles instead. They played all aTernoon and didn't noEce how late it was. Then Debbie spoZed the clock on the pier. … Q: Where did they spend the a=ernoon?



Inferences to connect ideas and to incorporate background knowledge to make sense of a text: …Debbie put on her swimming costume but the water was too cold to paddle in, so they made sandcastles instead. They played all aTernoon and didn't noEce how late it was. Then Debbie spoZed the clock on the pier. … Q: Where did they spend the a=ernoon?



0102030405060708090

literal integrative generalknowledge

goodcomprehenderspoorcomprehenders

* *

% C O R R E C T


Comprehension monitoring

Inconsistency detec2on in short stories: Last night Jill walked home through the woods. There was no moonlight so Jill could hardly see her way. She walked along the path. The moon was so bright that it lit the way. Jill lives at the other side of the wood.

Oakhill et al. (2005) Reading and Writing, 18, 657-713

Comprehension monitoring

Oakhill, et al (2005)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

near far

goodcomprehenderspoorcomprehenders

*

No. of inconsistencies detected

Oakhill et al. (2005) Reading and Writing, 18, 657-713


Story ‘anagram’ task (adapted Stein & Glenn, 1982):

Tom ate every single cornflake. Once there was a skinny mouse called Tom. Tom nibbled a hole in the box and slipped inside. Tom found a big box of cornflakes in the kitchen. Tom was very full and went to sleep. Tom was hungry and wanted to eat some.

Cain & Oakhill (2006) BJEP, 76, 683-696


Story ‘anagram’ task (adapted Stein & Glenn, 1982):

Once there was a skinny mouse called Tom. Tom found a big box of cornflakes in the kitchen. Tom was hungry and wanted to eat some. Tom nibbled a hole in the box and slipped inside. Tom ate every single cornflake. Tom was very full and went to sleep.



0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

story structure

good comprehenders

poor comprehenders


*

Reading comprehension difficul2es: summary

o  Some children demonstrate unexpectedly poor reading comprehension in rela2on to their age and word reading ability.

o  Their difficul2es:

–  extend to a range of discourse-‐processing skills

–  are apparent when reading is not required (listening comprehension)

Overview of talk





Word reading and reading comprehension

o  Language base of word reading development has been extensively researched: o  strong evidence for a relaEon between phonological skills and word reading ability !


o  Language base of word reading development has been extensively researched: o  strong evidence for a relaEon between phonological skills and word reading ability !

o  Rela2vely few studies of how early language skills predict later discourse comprehension: o  reading outcome measures vary: oTen confound assessment of comprehension with decoding

o  fail to take early discourse comprehension (autoregressor) into account

Key skills for reading comprehension

Integra2on and inference making -‐  the ability to integrate sentences within a text -‐  the ability to integrate informaEon in the text with general

knowledge

Comprehension monitoring -‐ the ability to check your understanding of a text: if a

miscomprehension has occurred, remedial acEon can be taken


-‐ understanding of narraEves (and other genres) can be guided by knowledge about typical structure

Reading comprehension development

Do discourse processing skills play a unique role in the development of reading comprehension?

Longitudinal study Time 1, 7 to 8 years: 102 children Time 2, 8 to 9 years: N=92 Time 3, 10 to 11 years: N=80

Oakhill & Cain (in press) Scientific Studies of Reading

Measures: Ages 8, 9, 11 years

Reading: word reading & reading comprehension (NARA)



Neale Analysis of Reading Ability


Reading: word reading & reading comprehension (NARA) Phonological skills: phoneme dele2on, odd-‐one-‐out


Phoneme dele2on

Measure of phonological awareness that is highly correlated with word reading ability

“Say 'broom' without the ‘buh’ sound” Target response: room Say 'floor' without the ‘luh’ sound Target response: foor


Odd-‐one-‐out

Measure of phonological awareness that is highly correlated with word reading ability

“Which is the odd word out: the word that starts/end with a

different sound?” plum plane drum plod sand hand band sack



Reading: word reading & reading comprehension (NARA) Phonological skills: phoneme dele2on, odd-‐one-‐out Vocabulary (word knowledge): wriYen (Gates) & recep2ve

(BPVS)


WriYen vocabulary



cap

cat

car

can

a different sword

weapon

practice

turn

team

spurt

Recep2ve vocabulary

Bri2sh Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS)



Reading: word reading & reading comprehension (NARA) Phonological skills: phoneme dele2on, odd-‐one-‐out Vocabulary (word knowledge): wriYen (Gates) & recep2ve

(BPVS) Grammar (sentence comprehension): recep2ve (TROG)


Sentence comprehension

Test for Recep2on of Grammar (TROG)


The boy chasing the horse is fat


Reading: word reading & reading comprehension (NARA)

Phonological skills: phoneme dele2on, odd-‐one-‐out

Vocabulary (word knowledge): wriYen (Gates) & recep2ve (BPVS)

Grammar (sentence comprehension): recep2ve

Discourse: inference & integra2on, comprehension monitoring, knowledge and use of story structure


Longitudinal: word reading T1-‐3


word reading

verbal IQ

7-8 years 10-11 years 8-9 years

word word

phoneme deletion

.51 .51

.27

.54 phoneme deletion

.16

odd-one-out .25

.17

recept. vocab recept. vocab .38 .20

Longitudinal: word reading T1-‐3


word reading

verbal IQ


word word

phoneme deletion phoneme deletion

odd-one-out

recept. vocab recept. vocab

Χ2(11) = 9.98, p > .10; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA = .00

Longitudinal: comprehension T1-‐3


comprehension

recept. vocab


comp comp

monitoring monitoring

story structure inference

.49 .45

.15

.19 .15

.24

.29 verbal IQ

.20

.28

.45

.41

Longitudinal: comprehension T1-‐3


comprehension

recept. vocab


comp comp

monitoring monitoring

story structure inference

verbal IQ

Χ2 (18) = 24.19, p > .10; CFI = .995, RMSEA = .058

Reading comprehension development: summary

o  Acquisi2on of good word reading skills does not guarantee successful comprehension

o  There is a clear dissocia2on between the skills that predict word reading and reading comprehension within and over 2me:

o  word reading is predicted by skills that enable successful decoding of the printed form of a word

o  reading comprehension is predicted by skills that enable the reader to extract meaning from the text and construct a coherent representaEon of meaning

Overview of talk





Consequences

o  What happens to poor comprehenders?

o  Does poor comprehension lead to broader language and learning difficul2es?

•  WriZen vocabulary knowledge •  RecepEve vocabulary •  Morphological awareness

WriYen vocabulary


cap

cat

car

can

a different sword

weapon

practice

turn

team

spurt

Consequences of poor comprehension: sight vocabulary

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

8 years 11 years

mean raw sc

ores

Age at tes2ng

Good comprehenders

Poor comprehenders

*

Time F(1,29) = 43.83, p < .001 Group F(1,29) = 7.43, p < .015 Time X Group F(1,29) = 7.67, p < .01

Cain & Oakhill (in press) Journal of Learning Disabilities

Recep2ve vocabulary

Bri2sh Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS)

Oakhill & Cain (in press) Journal of Learning Disabilities

Consequences of poor comprehension: recep2ve vocab

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

8 years 11 years

stan

dardised

scores

Age at tes2ng

Good comprehenders

Poor comprehenders

Time F(1,29) = 245.57, p < .001 Group F(1,29) = 7.16, p < .015 Time X Group F(1,29) = 4.76, p < .05

Cain & Oakhill (in press) Journal of Learning Disabilities

*

Consequences: morphological awareness

Tong et al. (in press) Journal of Educational Psychology

Inflec2onal morphology •  push: pushed:: lose: (lost) change from present to past tense

Derived morphology •  paint is to painter as bake is to (baker) transformaEon from verb to noun

Consequences: morphological awareness

Tong et al. (in press) Journal of Educational Psychology

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Morph at 8 years Morph at 10 years

poor comps

average comps

good comps

Consequences: summary

o  Poor comprehenders do not ‘spontaneously’ recover and improve their comprehension skills.

o  In addi2on, poor comprehension may adversely affect other aspects of language development:

o  children with poor reading comprehension at 8 years have lower vocabulary and morphological knowledge than their peers 2-‐3 years later

Conclusions

•  Skilled reading (and listening) results in a coherent and integrated representa2on of a text’s meaning

•  Some children experience significant reading (and listening) comprehension problems despite acquiring fluent and accurate word reading skills –  they have difficulEes on a range of discourse-‐level

tasks, including inference, comprehension monitoring, and use of story structure

Conclusions

o  Poor comprehenders do not ‘grow out’ of their difficul2es, without interven2on

•  their comprehension difficulEes persist •  other language skills fail to develop in line with peers

Prac2cal implica2ons

o  For assessment o  we must be aware that comprehension can be limited not just by word reading proficiency, but by other skills that aid the extracEon of meaning and enable the reader to build an accurate and complete representaEon of the text’s meaning

o  For teaching o  we should not focus on the teaching of decoding/word reading to the exclusion of other skills

o  we can foster discourse-‐processing skills through listening tasks in poor and beginner readers

Thank you for listening

[email protected]

kate cain - reading development and difficulties - dyslexia guild summer conference 2011

Documents