Sources of Individual Differences in Reading Comprehension and Reading Fluency

• Published in: Journal of educational psychology Vol. 95; no. 4; pp. 719 - 729
• Main Authors: Jenkins, Joseph R, Fuchs, Lynn S, van den Broek, Paul, Espin, Christine, Deno, Stanley L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-12-2003
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Context Effect; Developmental psychology; Educational psychology; Elementary Education; Elementary School Students; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Individual Differences; Male; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reading Comprehension; Reading Fluency; Reading Skills; Verbal Fluency; Vocabulary Skills; Human; Verbal comprehension; Verbal fluidity; School age; Language; Interindividual comparison; Language development; Cognition; Cognitive development; Experimental study; Child; Oral reading
• ISSN: 0022-0663; 1939-2176
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-0663.95.4.719

This study examined the common and distinct contributions of context-free and context reading skill to reading comprehension and the contributions of context-free reading skill and reading comprehension to context fluency. The 113 4th-grade participants were measured in reading comprehension, read aloud a folktale, and read aloud the folktale's words in a random list. Fluency was scaled as speed (words read correctly in 1 min) and time (seconds per correct word). Relative to list fluency, context fluency was a stronger predictor of comprehension. List fluency and comprehension each uniquely predicted context fluency, but their relative contributions depended on how fluency was scaled (time or speed). Results support the conclusion that word level processes contribute relatively more to fluency at lower levels while comprehension contributes relatively more at higher levels.