Risk Factors of Difficulty in Reading Comprehension at Third to Sixth Japanese Graders: The Effects of Understanding the Reversible Relationships

Abstract

e present study investigated the risk factors that disturb comprehension of the main idea in passages. Participants were 1,168 children in third to sixth grade. Tests on text comprehension of multiple paragraphs, understanding sentences, and understanding the reversible relationships of a single paragraph were undertaken.e odds ratio was calculated to identify the risk factors which would cause non-attainment of the test on comprehension of a multiple-paragraph text. e analysis con rmed consistent in uence of scores of the test for understanding reversible relationships of a single paragraph, despite controlling for understanding of conjunctions and directives, level of working memory, and performance of reading kanji words. From these results, a poor understanding of the reversible relationships of a single paragraph is a risk factor that causes di culty in comprehending the main idea of a passage.

Contribution of the Incomplete Use of Macro-Rules to Reading Comprehension Difficulty in Japanese Fourth to Sixth Graders

“…e method for giving answers and the evaluation criteria thereof are presented in Table 1. A score of 1 or less out of a possible score of 3 was regarded as non-attainment in accordance with Sato et al (2017) for the multiple and single paragraphs. To examine the ability to read sentences, uent searching of kana words, reading Kanji words, and auditory WM, the 10th percentile of scores was calculated and classi ed Participants were required to select one correct answer from three choices.…”

“…is test examined the comprehension of the main ideas (MI) of multiple paragraphs. In the MP-MI test, which Sato et al (2017) employed, three test items were provided: Two items concentrated on the main ideas of the paragraphs and one item on the main ideas of whole sentences. e legibility of the sentences in the test corresponded to a fourth grade level (Sato et al, 2017).…”

“…ey found that poor understanding of the reversible relationships of a single paragraph is a background factor involved in the di culties of comprehending the main ideas of multiple paragraphs. Sato et al (2017) found that Kanji reading di culty contributes to reading comprehension di culty independently. However, it is imperative to clarify the degrees of di culty in decoding skills, which interfere with reading comprehension.…”

“…A consideration of Ishiwatari and Muramoto's (2011) results suggests the importance of studying the relative contribution of the three types of macro-rules so as to understand the causes of reading comprehension di culty. Sato, Narukawa, Naka, Mekaru, Nakamura, and Koike (2017) examined the background factors of low performance in reading comprehension by conducting multiple logistic analysis. ey found that poor understanding of the reversible relationships of a single paragraph is a background factor involved in the di culties of comprehending the main ideas of multiple paragraphs.…”