Development of Text-Processing Skills in High-, Average-, and Low-Achieving Primary School Children

Abstract

This longitudinal study is focused on the development of learning strategies in low-, average-, and high-achieving children from third to fifth grade (i.e., from age 9-10 to age 11-12). Children's comprehension and learning of expository texts were examined on micro-, local-, and global-level processing skills. The aims were to provide a characterization of individual differences in learning strategies, and to depict the development of text learning skills over a critical 2-year period, when children are expected to master basic reading skills and to develop text comprehension skills. The results supported the prediction of gradual increase in higher level processing skills with age. Even though this development was evident also in micro-level processes, the most critical development from age 9 onward took place in local-and global-level processing. However, developmental patterns were dependent on the initial skill and achievement level of a child. Clear progression could be found in average-and high-achieving students' local-and global-level coherence processes and learning strategies. This development was most striking in the extreme group of top-achievers, whereas lowachieving children's skills evidenced slow progression and, compared to others, even relative regression. The same developmental patterns were found in students' grade-point-averages.The present study aimed at examining the development of text-processing skills in low-, average-, and high-achieving primary school children from third to fifth grade within a longitudinal research paradigm. Children's comprehension and learning of expository texts were examined on three levels: micro-, local-and global-361

Children’s Use of Comparative Text Signals: The Relationship between Age and Comprehension Ability

“…Readers with low levels of comprehension skills had consistently lower competency in using signaling words, in comparison to the highly skilled readers. Similar to Vauras, Kinnunen and Kuusela (1994), there was little diff erence among grade levels for the low ability group. Unlike Vauras, Kinnunen and Kuusela (1994), there were also few signifi cant improvements with age for the high comprehension ability group.…”

“…Similar to Vauras, Kinnunen and Kuusela (1994), there was little diff erence among grade levels for the low ability group. Unlike Vauras, Kinnunen and Kuusela (1994), there were also few signifi cant improvements with age for the high comprehension ability group. This diff erence in fi ndings may be because signaling knowledge is one component of a larger array of comprehension processes in which readers engage.…”

“…Consideration of both of these factors is important because readers' overall comprehension ability may infl uence the development of text processing skills. In a longitudinal study of children's text processing skills, Vauras, Kinnunen and Kuusela (1994) found that readers' initial comprehension abilities predicted their growth in coherence building processes; highly skilled readers had greater gains than readers who were classifi ed as less skilled. This infl uence is similar to a Matthew eff ect (Stanovich, 1986), in which the diff erence between skilled and less skilled readers increases over time due to the quality and quantity of their reading experiences.…”

Prediction of the development of reading comprehension: a longitudinal study

“…Research has indeed shown both younger and poorer readers to have more problems with these processes during listening comprehension than older and better readers (e.g., Cain & Oakhill, 1998;Yuill & Oakhill, 1991). In a longitudinal study of the text processing skills of third through fifth grade children, moreover, Vauras, Kinnunen, and Kuusela (1994) found a general tendency for young children to process text in a linear element-by-element manner and a general tendency for higher level processing skills to be increasingly utilized with age; the specific developmental patterns they observed, however, were found to depend on the initial listening comprehension skills of the children: low achieving children showed very slow or no progress while average and high achieving children showed clear progress. Other studies testing the 'simple reading view' show a clear word decoding by listening comprehension interaction for beginning versus proficient readers.…”

Moral Virtue and Practical Wisdom: Theme Comprehension in Children, Youth, and Adults

“…Theme extraction depends on experience, including specific knowledge required for interpreting story events, and the cognitive capability to hold in mind all the critical events of a story. Among children, influences include not only basic reading comprehension skills (Goldman, Reyes, & Varnhagen, 1984), but also exposure to literature (Lehr, 1988), level of achievement (Vauras, Kinnunen, & Kuusela, 1994), distractibility (McKenna & Ossoff, 1998), and moral development (Narvaez et al, 1999). In particular, Narvaez and colleagues (Narvaez et al, 1998; Narvaez et al, 1999) have demonstrated that children do not necessarily understand the theme of a moral story the way adults do.…”