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Background: Prior research has indicated that high levels of motivation and subjective well‐being can predict engagement in challenging academic situations and achievement. Yet studies in the field have yielded inconsistent results in young elementary school students indicating a need to further examine this topic. This is particularly urgent for young children during the foundational years of early elementary school when they are learning critical academic skills including reading. Method: We examined the relationships between reading motivation, school‐based well‐being as covitality, and literacy achievement in 268 second graders in the process of reading acquisition in Hebrew. Well‐being and reading motivation were examined by questionnaires designed and/or adapted for young elementary school students and literacy skills by language and reading tests. Results: Findings showed a positive correlation between reading motivation and full‐scale covitality scores, as well as most of its first order factors (gratitude, optimism, zest and persistence). Furthermore, both reading motivation and covitality were positively correlated to reading skills and language abilities. Significant differences were found between students with low–medium reading motivation and those with high motivation in all covitality subfactors and most literacy measures, in favour of children with high reading motivation. Conclusions: The worrisome picture, that children with low reading motivation also report low levels of covitality, suggests that proper attention should be paid throughout first grade to both reading motivation and school‐based well‐being, both of which might affect learning. Because children's cognitive readiness is related to their socioemotional well‐being, children with poor language abilities and emergent literacy skills may require special support to prevent their expected reading difficulties and the negative emotions attached to them. Thus, designing reading instruction programmes that implement motivational aspects should be a high priority interest for educators that teach young children. Implications for Practice: What is already known about this topic?There is a correlation between reading motivation and reading achievement for students in various grade levels, and a similar positive correlation has been found between school‐related well‐being and academic achievement.The very few studies that have investigated whether there is a positive correlation between reading motivation and school well‐being have been conducted almost exclusively with adolescents.Correlational studies have demonstrated that students with lower levels of reading motivation and school‐based well‐being have lower academic achievement when compared with their peers with higher levels of motivation and school‐based well‐being. What this paper adds?In a sample of second‐grade students, the associations between the following three factors were examined: reading motivation, school‐based well‐being (covitality) and reading achievement.Reading motivation, school well‐being and reading achievement are all positively correlated.Students with high levels of reading motivation also demonstrate significantly higher levels of school‐based well‐being and reading achievement when compared with their peers with lower reading motivation level. Implications for theory, policy, or practiceThe explicit cultivation of reading motivation and school‐based well‐being should be a central goal during reading instruction as they are both correlates of reading achievement.The educational context in which the act of reading takes place should be considered because emotional factors interact with cognitive processes during reading instruction, and these emotional factors can be leveraged to encourage children to engage with literacy activities.Students' levels of school‐based well‐being and its emotional correlates can be explicitly addressed by schools and are critical in creating an encouraging learning environment for young elementary school students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research has shown that achievement goals and reading instruction play important roles in students' reading performance. However, little is known about the specific effects of different types of achievement goals and reading instructional practices on reading performance in mainland China. Methods: This study used Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 data to examine the effects of Chinese students' achievement goals and perceived reading instruction on reading performance. Four districts in mainland China, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang (B–S–J–Z), participated in PISA 2018. A profile of B–S–J–Z students' achievement goals and perceived reading instruction compared with those in other East Asian societies is presented. The relative contributions of different achievement goals, instructional practices at the student and school levels, and their interactive effects on reading performance are then examined by using hierarchical linear modelling. Results: The results show that performance and avoidance goals are important for B–S–J–Z students' reading performance when classroom and school teaching environments are considered. The disciplinary climate, adaptative instruction and teachers' stimulation are positively related to reading performance at both the student and school levels. Some cross‐level interactions between personal achievement goals and school reading instruction are found. Conclusions: The findings suggest that achievement goals and reading instructional practices at both the student and school levels contribute to Chinese students' reading performance. The relationships between school reading instruction practices and students' reading performance vary for different achievement goals. Highlights: What is already known about this TopicAchievement goals affect student reading performance.Mastery‐oriented reading instructional practices impact students' goal adoption and reading performance.Few studies have investigated the interactions between achievement goals and instructional practices in the reading domain on a large and systematic scale.Achievement goals and reading instruction in East Asian societies are influenced by Confucian culture. What this paper addsCompared with students from other East Asian societies, B–S–J–Z students had a higher degree of mastery and performance goals and held positive perceptions about reading instruction.Performance and avoidance goals showed positive effects on students' reading performance.The disciplinary climate, adaptive instruction and teachers' stimulation had significant positive effects on reading performance at both the student and school levels; teacher support only showed a positive effect at the student level.There are cross‐interaction effects between achievement goals at the student level and reading instructional practices at the school level. Implications for theory, policy or practiceThe similarities and differences between the findings in this study and previous studies conducted in Western countries suggest the importance of examining the complexity of achievement goals in different cultural settings.Effective reading instructional practices and adaptive achievement goals can increase students' reading performance.Having positive achievement goals seems especially important for facilitating students' reading performance in schools that demonstrate a low degree of effective instructional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading amount is decisive for individual students' academic success as well as for the general strength of democratic societies. Still, the amount of both leisure‐time and school‐related reading is decreasing. To reverse this trend, more knowledge of what drives students' school reading is needed. Drawing on Self‐Determination Theory (SDT), the study is based on structured interviews with 259 students in Grades 6 and 9 from 14 different schools. Descriptive statistical analyses were made to map students' perceptions of themselves as readers and their school‐related reading practices and to find out what regulates students' motivation for in‐class reading. Although students express a strong will to become good readers, our data indicate that students are mainly driven by controlled motivation for their school‐related reading; autonomous motivation was only expressed by a minority of students in Grade 6. What would make students read more are mainly text and instruction related factors such as more interesting texts and more time allocated to reading. Our results point to a great potential for more in‐class reading across the curriculum, reading sessions that need to be regularly scheduled using carefully selected texts. In line with SDT, our findings highlight the importance of fulfilling students' need for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in order for them to develop more self‐determined behaviour, such as leisure‐time reading – which in turn will boost their reading self‐concept. Highlights: What is already known about this topicStudents who practice reading more tend to become more competent readers and therefore develop a more positive relationship with reading and themselves as readers (reading self‐concept).Autonomous motivation strongly predicts reading achievement, whereas controlled motivation negatively predicts reading outcomes.The amount of both leisure‐time and school‐related reading is decreasing in many parts of the western world, highlighting the need for schools to find new ways of engaging students in reading practices. What this paper addsStudents want to be good readers and know that they need to read more to become good readers.In contrast to leisure‐time reading, students' school‐related reading practices are driven far more by controlled than autonomous motivation, especially by the time they reach secondary school.Students would read more if they were provided with more interesting texts, the possibility to choose, and if more class time were allocated to reading. Implications for theory, policy or practiceAutonomy‐supporting reading sessions need to be regularly and amply scheduled across the curriculum to ensure reading practices that can develop reader competence.Schools need to ensure that students have access to a variety of texts to choose from according to both personal interest and level of difficulty.Educators need to design reading practices that fulfil students' need for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in order for them to develop more self‐determined behaviour and a more positive perception of themselves as readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous work suggests that children can teach themselves new written words via reading aloud texts independently (i.e., orthographic learning via self‐teaching). In self‐teaching in Chinese, regular phonetic radicals and transparent semantic radicals facilitate orthographic learning. The present study examined the roles of phonetic and semantic radicals in both orthographic learning and oral vocabulary learning via self‐teaching among Chinese children. Methods: Thirty‐four Mandarin‐speaking second graders read aloud and comprehended 12 stories annotated with Pinyin, a phonetic script in Chinese. Each story included a semantic–phonetic compound pseudocharacter appearing five times. The phonetic radicals were classified as one‐third regular, one‐third semiregular and one‐third irregular. These phonetic radicals carried full, partial or no phonetic information, depending on their regularity. Moreover, half of the semantic radicals were either transparent or opaque, meaning that they were semantically related or unrelated to the meaning of the pseudocharacters, respectively. Learning outcomes included participants' oral vocabulary learning and orthographic learning regarding word recognition and spelling. Results: In addition to the well‐studied orthographic learning, children can also achieve vocabulary learning via self‐teaching. Results indicate that transparent semantic radicals facilitated orthographic and vocabulary learning. Moreover, vocabulary learning was facilitated by regular phonetic radicals but hindered by semiregular phonetic radicals. Conclusions: These findings, together, point to the roles of phonetic and semantic radicals in Chinese children's orthographic and vocabulary learning. Findings advance our understanding of self‐teaching across writing systems and add to the educational value of self‐teaching. Highlights: What is already known about this topic Chinese children can achieve orthographic learning via self‐teaching.Regular phonetic radicals facilitate orthographic learning.Transparent semantic radicals support orthographic learning. What this paper adds Chinese children can also accomplish oral vocabulary learning through self‐teaching.Regular phonetic radicals and transparent semantic radicals facilitated vocabulary learning.Semiregular phonetic radicals hindered vocabulary learning. Implications for theory, policy or practice Self‐teaching is also an effective tool for oral vocabulary learning.Children seem to utilise phonetic and semantic cues separately in their orthographic and vocabulary learning via self‐teaching.Partial phonetic cues pose challenges to children's vocabulary learning, in which cases children may need explicit, external support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research on academic development has mainly focused on early time periods with less attention on individual differences in development in the later school years. Methods: To improve our knowledge of how students develop academically during later school years, this study used a multivariate growth model to investigate the developmental trajectories of literacy and math skills in a sample of Australian students in fifth through ninth grades (n = 114). Results: Students progressed at greater average rates in math from primary to secondary school than in literacy. Both literacy and math skills showed significant individual differences in growth rate at Grade 9. There was no evidence of an association between change in math and change in literacy. Primary school socioeconomic status was not a statistically significant predictor of inter‐individual differences in the development of either literacy or math. Conclusions: These results, taken together, suggest that both domain‐general and domain‐specific influences act on the development of these academic skills. Highlights: What is already known about this topicWe know that developmental trajectories for literacy and math skills demonstrate considerable inter‐individual variation in the early school years. The Integrated Intelligent Architecture model, a cognitive model that incorporates procedural knowledge and planning behaviour with the construction–integration process, suggests that these inter‐individual differences will persist into later school years.The developmental trajectories of literacy and math skills are inter‐related and are likely influenced by both domain‐general and, to a lesser degree, domain‐specific factors.There is substantial evidence that socioeconomic status acts as a domain‐general predictor of individual differences in school achievement over time. What this paper addsMuch of the research to date has focused on early developmental time periods with less attention devoted to individual differences in development in the later school years. Less is known about developmental trajectories of writing. This study helps to fill these gaps by using a multivariate framework focused on the core academic outcomes of literacy and math to examine individual differences in development during the later school grades.By examining whether development in literacy is associated with development in math, or whether developmental trajectories unfold independently of each other, we can provide evidence for domain‐specific or domain‐general influences on academic development. SES was included as a potential domain‐general predictor in the model. Implications for theory, policy or practiceOur results suggested that continued knowledge‐integration processes may underlie literacy and math ability in ninth grade.Additionally, this study provided evidence for domain‐general and domain‐specific influences on the development of academic skills from primary to secondary school. SES was not a significant domain‐general predictor, suggesting that other domain‐general predictors should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Considering (1) that reading proficiency is fundamental for educational success, (2) the reciprocal relationship between affective aspects of reading (e.g., reading attitude and motivation) and reading behaviour and ability, (3) the alarming decline in students' reading attitude throughout primary and secondary education and (4) the rather large group of pre‐service teachers starting teacher education with a negative reading attitude, this study used a person‐centred approach to examine the development of pre‐service teachers' reading attitude throughout teacher education and how it relates to their perceived reading ability and reading behaviour. Methods: In a sample of 128 pre‐service teachers, cluster (movement) analysis was executed at the start of teacher education and near graduation to identify different reading attitude clusters and possible changes throughout teacher education. A distinction between purpose (recreational vs academic) and context (personally vs socially oriented) was made when assessing reading attitude components. Results: Three reading attitude profiles (i.e., personally oriented, socially oriented and low attitude) were corroborated at both measurement occasions. Cluster movement analysis identified that the majority remained in the same profile over time (53–62%). When pre‐service teachers did switch profile, they most likely evolved towards the personally‐ or socially‐oriented profile (reading as a mere personal activity vs willing to interact about reading, respectively). Convergent validity evidence was found in that pre‐service teachers in the low‐attitude profile (24%) were least likely to read and perceived themselves as least competent in reading. They further appeared to be least willing to invest in reading promotion in their future school(s) of all profiles. Conclusions: It may be worrisome that about one fourth of the pre‐service teachers in this sample enters the profession with a rather negative reading attitude. Encouragingly, the majority of pre‐service teachers either retained or increased their positive reading attitude throughout teacher education. Highlights: What is already known about this topicDifferences in reading attitude are related to differences in reading behaviour and perceived reading ability.There is a declining trend in primary and secondary school students' reading attitude, starting at the end of primary school.Nearly half of all pre‐service teachers start teacher education with a negative reading attitude. What this paper adds Person‐centred movement analysis provided a basis to map the stability and change of pre‐service teachers' reading attitude profiles' throughout teacher education.Pre‐service teachers' reading attitude remains rather stable throughout teacher education and is related to reading behaviour and perceived reading ability.Almost one fourth of the pre‐service teachers graduate with a quite negative reading attitude. Implications for theory, policy or practice The urgency to address reading attitude more adequately in teacher education and to attend more closely to pre‐service teachers' individual differences in reading attitude.The importance of using a longitudinal approach to gain insight into reading attitude development throughout teacher education and preferably also during the first crucial years in the profession.This longitudinal study could be a possible step in the process of (re)designing teacher education programs and continuing professional development trajectories in relation to reading attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Research in Reading is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Research in Reading is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The importance of reading motivation has led to the development of a large number of self‐report reading motivation measures; however, there is still a need for a usable measure of adolescent reading motivation that captures a large number of theoretically and empirically distinct constructs. Methods: The current paper details the development and validation of a computer adapted measure of reading motivation, the Adaptive Reading Motivation Measure (ARMM), which assesses constructs of curiosity, involvement, interest, value, challenge, grades, recognition, competition, avoidance, self‐efficacy, perceived difficulty, preference for autonomy, social motivation, prosocial goals and antisocial goals for reading. Results: Model fit indicated that hierarchical multidimensional models fit better than models without a hierarchical structure. The validation results indicate that females scored higher than men and younger students scored higher than older students on most ARMM scores when scores were derived using a higher order model. In addition, these scores correlated significantly to reading behaviour, engagement and achievement and indicated high reliability. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the ARMM would be a valid measure to assess a large number of reading motivation constructs in a short period of time within a classroom setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reading researchers have generally considered that reading is an interactive combination of top‐down (higher‐level language skill) and bottom‐up (lower‐level language skill) processes. Nevertheless, the mechanisms through which readers apply these skills for online text comprehension are unclear. Methods: The present study thus used eight classical Chinese (CC) texts and their corresponding vernacular translation (VT) texts for controlling the text structure and meaning to explore such mechanisms in high school students. Results: With partial‐out to the influences of (a) students' language achievement scores, (b) word frequency and (c) word length, we observed no significant difference in comprehension accuracy between the CC and VT texts, and the CC texts involved a significantly lower reading speed than did the VT texts. Moreover, the first fixation duration, gaze duration, rereading time and total reading time for the CC texts were longer than those for the VT texts. For all events, CC text reading required a longer fixation duration and significantly longer rereading time and total reading time than did VT text reading. Further observations show that students comprehended CC texts by adjusting their lower‐ and higher‐level language skills. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that even if CC texts contain a relatively high number of low‐frequency words, as readers get more and more contextual information from the text, they can gradually apply higher‐level reading skills to understand the meaning of the text, which can ease the dependence on word decoding. Highlights: What is already known about this topicLower‐ and higher‐level language skills—which reflect lexical access and higher order text integration, respectively—affect reading comprehension.Theory and research in reading comprehension have emphasised the interactive process of both language skills to lead to successfully understanding text. What this paper addsBy using classical Chinese texts and their corresponding vernacular translations to control the meaning of texts, text event structures and the corresponding word sequence, we determined that high school students comprehended classical Chinese texts by adjusting their lower‐ and higher‐level language skills.This study also revealed students' dynamical adjustment of lower‐ and higher‐level language skills within construction and integration phases according to various events. Implications for theory, policy or practiceThis study demonstrated that word‐based eye‐movement measures can reflect the processing of lower‐ and higher‐level components in online reading and can reveal the even construction and integration processes of construction–integration model theory.By thoroughly examining reading strategies for texts structured according to events, this study revealed how high school students can achieve a certain degree of comprehension of classical Chinese texts through the use of higher‐level language skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of enjoyment of reading on reading achievement among adolescents using a sample of 65 countries. Our results indicate that although enjoyment of reading is a significant predictor of reading achievement and can explain as much as 18% of the variation in such achievement on its own at country level, there are significant cross‐country differences in the pattern of this relationship. Our main finding is that after controlling for demographic differences such as gender and socio‐economic status, enjoyment of reading is positively associated with reading achievement in high academic performance countries and negatively associated with such achievement in low academic performance countries. Highlights: What is already known about this topicPrior research has identified enjoyment of reading as a predictor of reading achievement.There have however been few cross‐country studies of this relationship.Empirical findings have been mixed because of inconsistencies across survey items, settings and participants. What this paper addsThe current study examines this relationship using a large‐scale cross‐country sample.Target population and survey items remain unchanged across countries. Implications for theory, policy or practiceEnjoyment of reading can predict as much as 18% of the variation in reading literacy on its own after controlling for other predictors.The relationship is positive for countries with high mean reading achievement scores and negative for others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interventions can enhance students' motivation for reading, but few researchers have assessed the effects of the specific motivation‐enhancing practices that comprise these interventions. Even fewer have evaluated how students' perceptions of different intervention practices impact their later motivation and academic outcomes. In this study, we utilised data from a study of Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction, a programme designed to enhance seventh‐grade students' reading comprehension and motivation. We examined the effects of students perceiving one practice from this intervention, emphasising the importance of reading, which was designed to enhance their task values for reading (Eccles‐Parsons et al.,). Unexpectedly, structural equation modelling analyses showed that students' perceptions of importance support predicted their later competence‐related beliefs, but not their task values. Students' competence‐related beliefs predicted their reading comprehension and behavioural engagement, whereas students' task values predicted reading engagement. However, there were no significant indirect effects of perceiving importance support on students' reading outcomes. Highlights: What is already known about this topicInterventions targeting students' task values have improved their academic outcomes in science and math.Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction is a successful multifaceted reading comprehension intervention programme, implemented by classroom teachers. It includes a variety of theoretically based practices to enhance students' reading motivation, including the practice of importance support to increase students' task values. What this paper addsStructural equation modelling analyses showed that students who perceived more importance support during Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction reported higher competence‐related beliefs, but not task values.This study is one of very few that have measured students' perceptions of individual teacher‐delivered motivation‐enhancing practices in the reading classroom. Implications for theory, policy or practiceThe findings show that students who perceive more of the practice of importance support show higher motivation to learn.However, results suggest that value‐targeting intervention practices might affect students' competence‐related beliefs more strongly than their task values in some circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual differences in motivational beliefs, such as writing efficacy and attitudes toward writing in different contexts (academic, recreational, print or digital), are hypothesised to account for variability in writing performance. This study tested this proposition with 185 middle school students (58% were male), examining if writing self‐efficacy and attitudes toward writing made a statistically significant and unique contribution to predicting performance on a norm‐referenced writing measure, after variance related to gender, free/reduced lunch status, student's first language, disability status, reading self‐efficacy and attitudes toward reading were first controlled. Collectively, writing attitudes and self‐efficacy accounted for statistically significant and unique variance in writing scores after the other variables were controlled, providing support for the theoretical proposition that writing motivational beliefs are important ingredients in middle school students' writing. Highlights: What is already known about this topic?Motivational variables contribute to students' writing engagement and performance.Attitudes toward writing predict students' writing performance on researcher‐designed measures.Self‐efficacy toward writing predict students' writing performance on researcher‐designed measures after controlling for reading motivational beliefs, gender, language, poverty and language. What this paper adds?Collectively, students' attitudes toward writing and self‐efficacy for writing accounted for unique variance in performance on a norm‐referenced measure of writing.Attitudes toward writing academically and recreationally in digital contexts make unique contributions to predicting writing performance.Motivational beliefs are especially important in predicting the writing performance of students with disabilities. Implications for theory, policy or practice?Greater attention needs to be paid to the motivational beliefs of developing writers if we want to enhance their writing performance.It is especially important to devote attention to the motivational beliefs of students with disabilities.Attention to students' attitudes toward writing in digital contexts needs to become more prominent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing number of students whose primary language does not match the language of their schools and a steadily growing performance gap has prompted widespread attention to support emergent literacy gains for those students. This study randomly assigned schools in a Southwestern U.S. state with English language learners (ELLs) in kindergarten and first grade to an experimental computer‐assisted instruction (CAI) condition or a ‘business as usual’ control. The study tracked ELLs performance over one academic year using a nationally normed standardised reading test. The results demonstrated first‐grade students in the experimental condition demonstrated greater gains compared with the control students in the domains of vocabulary, phonics, phonological awareness and text comprehension. Gains for kindergarten were less consistent; however, the lowest language proficient students using CAI experienced greater gains in vocabulary when compared with controls. Results extend prior studies targeting ELL students' reading skill development with targeted CAI interventions. What is already known about this topic English language learners (ELLs) face additional struggles in gaining literacy proficiency in the early grades. Computer‐assisted instruction (CAI) programs support learning for non‐ELLs, provided the instructional materials target specific literacy needs directly. Efficacy of CAIs (and any instructional program) is dependent upon the match between learner needs, classroom curriculum and programmatic features. What this paper adds Large randomised control trial testing the effects of a CAI on ELL literacy development in kindergarten and first‐grade students. Measures of progressive learner development in critical literacy skills using a nationally normed measure of reading achievement. Explicit attention to the levels of language proficiency intersecting with the use of the CAI to identify interaction effects Implications for theory, policy or practice Computer‐assisted instruction support for second language learners can be effective for targeted literacy gains, provided the program materials support critical literacy needs. Use of CAI may be instrumental to support emergent literacy given the ability to capitalise on the proposed pedagogical interventions for second language learners. Stress the importance of maintaining attention to the existing language skills of second language learners when examining the efficacy of literacy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is increasing recognition of the contribution of affective factors such as motivation to the development of reading competence. Reading activity is theorised to mediate associations between motivation and achievement, but this has been tested empirically only rarely. Method: This study employed structural equation modelling to test a hypothesised model of relations between the reading self‐concept, intrinsic motivation, activity and achievement of a sample of 4,067 grade 6 students in Ireland and to explore whether the relations were moderated by gender or socioeconomic status (SES). Results: Intrinsic motivation and self‐concept were significantly associated with reading activity, which, in turn, significantly predicted reading achievement. Girls had higher intrinsic motivation and reading activity than boys, but there was no gender difference in reading self‐concept. High‐SES students had higher reading self‐concept, intrinsic motivation and activity than low‐SES and medium‐SES students. The strength of the associations among the constructs under study did not vary by gender or SES. Conclusions: Findings suggest that efforts aimed at increasing students' intrinsic reading motivation may lead to increased reading activity and reading competence, irrespective of gender or SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine what components of executive function (EF) – inhibition, shifting and updating/working memory – predict reading comprehension in young adults. Ninety university students (65 females, 25 males; mean age = 21.82 years) were assessed on shifting (Planned Connections and Colour/Shape Shifting), inhibition (Colour‐Word Stroop and Number Stroop), updating/working memory (Digit Memory and Listening Span), reading fluency (Word Reading Efficiency), vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test), and reading comprehension (Nelson‐Denny Reading Test). The results of path analysis indicated that only shifting predicted directly reading comprehension. These findings extend those of previous studies showing that different EF components predict different reading outcomes and suggest that EF has a place in reading comprehension models over and above traditional predictors of reading comprehension such as reading fluency and vocabulary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]