Components of Reading Ability: Multivariate Evidence for a Convergent Skills Model of Reading Development

Abstract

Elementary and middle school children were given a large battery of tests evaluating reading subskills and reading-related cognitive abilities. These measures were used to define latent constructs representing skills and abilities believed to be important components of reading comprehension. Hypothesized relationships among these constructs were specified within the context of a structural model we call the "Convergent Skills Model of Reading Development," and developmental differences in the relative contribution made by each construct to reading comprehension performance were assessed through confirmatory factor analysis using the LISREL and AMOS programs. Results provide qualified support for the model and were interpreted as consistent with the major premises of both Gough and Tunmer's (1986) "Simple View" and Sticht's (1979) "Audread" models of reading.Because written English is an alphabetic orthography and because of the high degree of redundancy characteristic of any alphabetic orthography, the load on visual memory in print processing is extraordinary. Thus to reduce this load to manageable pro-

The role of vocabulary, working memory and inference making ability in reading comprehension in Down syndrome

“…The convergent skills model (Vellutino et al, 2007) hypothesizes that language comprehension and the semantic and syntactic skills that underlie language comprehension are more strongly related to reading comprehension in older, more advanced readers. This is based on the assumption that language processes do not become fully operative until the child is able to identify the printed versions of the vast majority of the words they are able to comprehend in spoken language.…”

“…In support of the SVR, word recognition skills and components of linguistic comprehension (vocabulary and grammar) have been found to be significant predictors of reading comprehension in typically developing children (e.g., Catts, Adlof, Hogan & Weismer, 2005, Kendeou, Savage & van Den Broek, 2009Muter, Hulme, Snowling, Stevenson, 2004). According to the convergent skills model proposed by Vellutino et al (2007) the relative contribution of word reading and language skills to reading comprehension are not stable across development; word reading is the best predictor of reading comprehension in the early stages of reading development, while language skills become the dominant predictor once accurate word identification has been achieved.…”

“…The convergent skills model (Vellutino et al 2007) views semantic and syntactic knowledge as key skills that feed into language comprehension and hence into reading comprehension. The lexical quality hypothesis (Perfetti & Hart, 2002) connections between what is presently being read and existing knowledge (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994).…”

The Cbal Reading Assessment: An Approach for Balancing Measurement and Learning Goals

“…The first set of skills, called prerequisite skills, includes all of the skills needed to understand print, including oral reading fluency, word recognition, and decoding. Although some of these skills (e.g., decoding) are not typically addressed on high-stakes assessments, recent research has confirmed that providing feedback about students' mastery of prerequisite skills can help to move learning forward since deficiencies in critical prerequisite skills can compromise a 4 reader's ability to efficiently apply needed higher-order skills (Perfetti, 1985;Vellutino, Tunmer, & Jaccard, 2007).…”

“…The first set of skills, called prerequisite skills, includes all of the skills needed to understand print, including oral reading fluency, word recognition, and decoding. Although some of these skills (e.g., decoding) are not typically addressed on high-stakes assessments, recent research has confirmed that providing feedback about students' mastery of prerequisite skills can help to move learning forward since deficiencies in critical prerequisite skills can compromise a 4 reader's ability to efficiently apply needed higher-order skills (Perfetti, 1985;Vellutino, Tunmer, & Jaccard, 2007).The second skill set is called model building skills to emphasize its role in helping readers develop coherent mental representations of the information presented in stimulus materials. This second group includes all of the skills needed to form a coherent mental representation of a text, that is, its gist, including: (a) comprehending the literal meaning of individual sentences, (b) inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words, (c) using text-based inferences to infer cross-sentence links, (d) generating global inferences when required information is, or is not, highly activated in the text, and (d) using a text's network of hierarchical and logical relationships (i.e., its structure) to develop a more complete mental model of text content (Kintsch, 1998).…”