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Across word reading development, there are important and evolving relationships between oral and written semantic knowledge. Recent research has focused on these relationships, with accumulating evidence supporting the role of word knowledge and related word characteristics as important factors influencing polysyllabic word reading abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate how semantic-related effects across child-level skills (e.g., general vocabulary knowledge), word-level properties (e.g., age of acquisition), child-by-word-level familiarity (e.g., item-level familiarity), and interactions between key child attributes and word characteristics (e.g., word reading skill by age of acquisition) contribute to polysyllabic word reading. Specifically, we emphasize the semantic contributions of word-level features to word reading development, which have been relatively underexplored in the literature. A sample of elementary school students oversampled for word reading difficulty (N = 92) in Grades 3 to 5 read a set of polysyllabic words (J = 45) and completed a battery of reading and language-related measures. Using cross-classified random-effects models and accounting for various control variables, semantic-related variables representing item-level familiarity; child-level set for variability; and word-level age of acquisition and number of morphemes were significant predictors in the main-effects model. A significant interaction between sight word efficiency and age of acquisition indicated higher probabilities of correctly reading polysyllabic words at lower levels of acquisition for better readers. Results indicate important semantic-related influences on polysyllabic word reading at the child, word, and child-by-word levels, suggesting meaningful relationships between knowledge of the orthographic form of a word and semantic knowledge in developing readers., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Given English orthography's quasi-regular nature, applying common decoding rules to a word does not always result in a correct pronunciation matching the stored phonological form (e.g., the word tongue). To arrive at a correct pronunciation, developing readers must make the match between a decoded pronunciation and a word's correct pronunciation stored in memory. Developmentally, this matching process varies as a function of child skill (e.g., decoding, vocabulary) and word characteristics (e.g., spelling-to-pronunciation transparency, concreteness), with each being continuously distributed. Spelling-to-pronunciation transparency ratings represent a global measure of the ease of arriving at a word's correct pronunciation from its decoded pronunciation and in experimental studies has been shown to be a critical dimension in assessing the difficulty of a word for developing readers (e.g., Steacy et al., 2022a, 2022b). This study aimed to create a database of spelling-to-pronunciation transparency ratings for the 23,282 most frequently written English words, made available in the supplemental materials for future analyses. We asked adults to rate words' spelling-to-pronunciation transparency on a scale of 1-6 (1 = very easy to match, 6 = very difficult). Results of multiple regression analyses revealed variance in ratings to be unaccounted for by other word features, demonstrating the uniqueness of these ratings. Furthermore, words that are considered irregular, classified previously as strange, or contained at least one schwa received higher ratings, demonstrating strong associations between transparency and regularity. Lastly, these ratings significantly predicted both adult word naming time and child word reading accuracy above and beyond other word features known to predict reading., (© 2023. The Psychonomic Society, Inc.)

Statistical views of reading highlight the link between proficient literacy and the assimilation of various regularities embedded in writing systems, including those in the mapping between print and meaning. Still, orthographic-semantic (O-S) regularities remain relatively understudied, with open questions regarding 3 issues: (a) how O-S regularities should be quantified, (b) how they impact the behavior of proficient readers, and (c) whether individual differences in sensitivity to these regularities predict reading skills. The goal of the current article is to address these questions. We start by reviewing previous studies estimating print-meaning regularities, where orthography-to-semantics consistency (OSC) is defined as the mean semantic similarity between a word and its orthographic neighbors. While we adopt this general strategy, we identify a potential confound in previous operational definitions. We therefore offer a modified measure, which we use to examine group-level OSC effects in available data sets of single word recognition and reading for comprehension. Our findings validate the existence of OSC effects but reveal variation across tasks, with OSC effects emerging more strongly in tasks involving a direct mapping of print to meaning. Next, we present a reanalysis of word naming data from 399 second through fifth graders, where we examine individual differences in reliance on O-S regularities and their relation to participants' reading skills. We show that early readers whose naming accuracy is more influenced by OSC (i.e., those who rely more on O-S) have better passage comprehension abilities. We conclude by discussing the role of O-S regularities in proficient reading and literacy acquisition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Developmental studies examining relations between word reading (WR) and decoding in typical and dyslexic populations routinely cut the reading distribution to form distinct groups. However, dichotomizing continuous variables to study development is problematic for multiple reasons. Instead, we modeled and visualized the parallel growth of WR and nonword reading (NWR) factor scores longitudinally in a Grade 1-4 developmental sample (N = 588). The results indicate that while WR and NWR growth factors are highly related (r = .71), the relation between WR and NWR trajectories change as a function of initial WR. Results are interpreted within computational models of dyslexia in which children with dyslexia overfit orthography → phonology relations at the level of the word, limiting the development of sublexical representations needed to read nonwords., (© 2020 Society for Research in Child Development.)

We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a randomized control trial to explore this question: Does "response/no response" best characterize students' reactions to a generally efficacious first-grade reading program, or is a more nuanced characterization necessary? Data were collected on 265 at-risk readers' word reading prior to and immediately following program implementation in first grade and in spring of second grade. Pretreatment data were also obtained on domain-specific skills (letter knowledge, decoding, passage comprehension, language) and domain-general skills (working memory, non-verbal reasoning). Latent profile analysis of word reading across the three time points with controls as a local norm revealed a strongly responsive group ( n = 45) with mean word-reading z scores of 0.25, 1.64, and 1.26 at the three time points, respectively; a mildly responsive group ( n = 109), z scores = 0.30, 0.47, and 0.55; a mildly non-responsive group ( n = 90), z scores = -0.11, -0.15, and -0.55; and a strongly non-responsive group ( n = 21), z scores = -1.24, -1.26, and -1.57. The two responsive groups had stronger pretreatment letter knowledge and passage comprehension than the two non-responsive groups. The mildly non-responsive group demonstrated better pretreatment passage comprehension than the strongly non-responsive group. No domain-general skill distinguished the four groups. Findings suggest response to early reading intervention was more complicated than response/no response, and pretreatment reading comprehension was an important predictor of response even with pretreatment word reading controlled.

The orthographic choice (OC) task-requiring individuals to choose the correct spelling between a word and a pseudohomophone foil (e.g., goat vs. gote)-has been used as an outcome measure of orthographic learning and as a predictor of individual differences in word reading development. Some consider the OC task a measure of orthographic knowledge (e.g., Conrad, Harris, & Williams (Reading and Writing, 26(8), 1223-1239, 2013)), whereas others have suggested that the task measures a reader's familiarity with the word's orthographic representation and thus measures word reading skill (e.g., Castles & Nation, 2006). We examined this assertion by testing OC task performance of individuals ages 8 to 18 (J = 296) and their ability to read the OC target words (I = 80) in isolation using crossed random effects item-response models. Results reveal that response on the OC task is not fully determined by the ability of an individual to read the target word in isolation. Specifically, the probability of choosing the correct orthographic form when the word was pronounced incorrectly was .79; whereas it was .90 when the word was pronounced correctly. Measures of receptive spelling and phonemic awareness (person-characteristics) and word frequency and orthographic neighborhood size (item-characteristics) accounted for significant variance in orthographic choice after controlling for target item reading and other reading-related abilities. We interpret the results to suggest that the OC task taps both item-specific orthographic knowledge and more general orthographic knowledge.

Models of word reading that simultaneously take into account item-level and person-level fixed and random effects are broadly known as explanatory item response models (EIRM). Although many variants of the EIRM are available, the field has generally focused on the doubly explanatory model for modeling individual differences on item responses. Moreover, the historical application of the EIRM has been a Rasch version of the model where the item discrimination values are fixed at 1.0 and the random or fixed item effects only pertain to the item difficulties. The statistical literature has advanced to allow for more robust testing of observed or latent outcomes, as well as more flexible parameterizations of the EIRM. The purpose of the present study was to compare four types of Rasch-based EIRMs (i.e., doubly descriptive, person explanatory, item explanatory, doubly explanatory) and more broadly compare Rasch and 2PL EIRM when including person-level and item-level predictors. Results showed that not only was the error variance smaller in the unconditional 2PL EIRM compared to the Rasch EIRM due to including the item discrimination random effect, but that patterns of unique item-level explanatory variables differ between the two approaches. Results are interpreted within the context of what each statistical model affords to the opportunity for describing and explaining differences in word-level performance.

This study explored the developmental trajectories and predictors of word reading and reading comprehension among young at-risk readers. In fall of first grade, 185 students identified as at-risk for reading difficulties were assessed on measures of domain-specific skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and vocabulary), domain-general skills (working memory, nonverbal reasoning, and processing speed), and word reading and reading comprehension. Word reading and reading comprehension were assessed again in spring of grades 1-4. Individual growth curve modeling showed that the children demonstrated decelerated growth on word reading and linear growth on reading comprehension, although their performance on both word reading and reading comprehension were consistently below average on national norms. After controlling for word reading and reading comprehension in first grade, letter knowledge predicted growth in word reading; vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning predicted growth in reading comprehension. That is, we found different developmental trajectories and different predictors for word reading and reading comprehension among our at-risk sample. Implications are discussed for theory and early reading instruction for at-risk children.

The overarching goal of the new Florida State University/Haskins Laboratory/University of Connecticut Learning Disability (LD) Hub project is to align computational and behavioral theories of individual word reading development more closely with the challenges of learning to read a quasi-regular orthography (i.e., English) for both typically developing (TD) children and, more specifically, children with dyslexia. Our LD Hub adopts an integrated approach to better understand the neurocognitive bases of individual differences in word reading development by specifically examining the experiential (exogenous) and child-specific (endogenous) factors that determine acquisition of orthographic-phonological knowledge at different subword granularities using behavioral and computational modeling. Findings are intended to enrich understanding of the processes that influence individual differences in word reading development in TD and dyslexic children and significantly inform issues of practice (e.g., curriculum, instruction, diagnosis, and intervention). Here, we briefly provide the rationale for the Hub and present findings from the initial behavioral and computational modeling studies., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

This study explored word reading accuracy and word learning efficiency in first- and second-grade students (N = 125). In two experiments, students participated in a short training exposing them to words that varied on orthographic regularity and imageability. In Experiment 1 the form of word feedback was manipulated (phonemic vs. whole word), whereas in Experiment 2 pretraining exposure was manipulated (training on meaning vs. imageability). Crossed random effects models were used to explore child- and item-level predictors related to number of exposures to mastery, posttest word reading performance, and maintenance performance after 1 week. Results from Experiment 1 indicate that imageability plays a role in irregular word learning. Results from Experiment 2 suggest that students who received imageability training required fewer exposures to reach mastery. There was a significant interaction between initial word reading skill and condition, with students with low word reading skills requiring fewer exposures for mastery if they were in the imageability condition. Overall, these findings suggest that word imageability significantly affects both word reading accuracy and rate of word learning., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Researchers have increasingly investigated sources of variance in reading comprehension test scores, particularly with students with reading difficulties (RD). The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine if the achievement gap between students with RD and typically developing (TD) students varies as a function of different reading comprehension response formats (e.g., multiple choice, cloze). A systematic literature review identified 82 eligible studies. All studies administered reading comprehension assessments to students with RD and TD students in Grades K-12. Hedge's g standardized mean difference effect sizes were calculated, and random effects robust variance estimation techniques were used to aggregate average weighted effect sizes for each response format. Results indicated that the achievement gap between students with RD and TD students was larger for some response formats (e.g., picture selection ES g = -1.80) than others (e.g., retell ES g = -0.60). Moreover, for multiple-choice, cloze, and open-ended question response formats, single-predictor metaregression models explored potential moderators of heterogeneity in effect sizes. No clear patterns, however, emerged in regard to moderators of heterogeneity in effect sizes across response formats. Findings suggest that the use of different response formats may lead to variability in the achievement gap between students with RD and TD students.

Purpose: In this article, we respond to Catts and Kamhi's (2017) argument that reading comprehension is not a single ability., Method: We provide a brief review of the impact of strategy instruction, the importance of knowledge in reading comprehension, and possible avenues for future research and practice., Results: We agree with Catts and Kamhi's argument that reading comprehension is a complex endeavor and that current recommended practices do not reflect the complexity of the construct. Knowledge building, despite its important role in comprehension, has been relegated to a back seat in reading comprehension instruction. In the final section of the article, we outline possible avenues for research and practice (e.g., generative language instruction, dialogic approaches to knowledge building, analogical reasoning and disciplinary literacy, the use of graphics and media, inference instruction) for improving reading-comprehension outcomes., Conclusions: Reading comprehension is a complex ability, and comprehension instruction should reflect this complexity. If we want to have an impact on long-term growth in reading comprehension, we will need to expand our current repertoire of instructional methods to include approaches that support the acquisition and integration of knowledge across a variety of texts and topics.

Dynamic assessment (DA) of word reading measures learning potential for early reading development by documenting the amount of assistance needed to learn how to read words with unfamiliar orthography. We examined the additive value of DA for predicting first-grade decoding and word recognition development while controlling for autoregressive effects. Additionally, we examined whether predictive validity of DA would be higher for students who have poor phonological awareness skills. First-grade students (n = 105) were assessed on measures of word reading, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and DA in the fall and again assessed on word reading measures in the spring. A series of planned, moderated multiple regression analyses indicated that DA made a significant and unique contribution in predicting word recognition development above and beyond the autoregressor, particularly for students with poor phonological awareness skills. For these students, DA explained 3.5% of the unique variance in end-of-first-grade word recognition that was not attributable to autoregressive effect. Results suggest that DA provides an important source of individual differences in the development of word recognition skills that cannot be fully captured by merely assessing the present level of reading skills through traditional static assessment, particularly for students at risk for developing reading disabilities., (© Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2015.)

Children (n = 747; 6.5 years) were assessed on domain-general processes and mathematics and reading-related competencies (start of first grade), addition retrieval (end of second grade), and calculations and word reading (end of third grade). Attentive behavior, reasoning, visuospatial memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) indirectly contributed to both outcomes, via retrieval. However, there was no overlap in domain-general direct effects on calculations (attentive behavior, reasoning, working memory) versus word reading (language, phonological memory, RAN). Results suggest ease of forming associative relations and abilities engaged during the formation of these long-term memories are common to both outcomes and can be indexed by addition-fact retrieval, but further growth in calculations and word reading is driven by different constellations of domain-general abilities., (© 2015 The Authors. Child Development © 2015 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.)

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the relation between morphological awareness on reading comprehension is moderated by multisyllabic word reading ability in fifth-grade students (N = 169, 53.7% female, 65.2% minority status, 69.2% free/reduced lunch status), oversampled for poor reading skill, when controlling for general knowledge and vocabulary. Based on the lexical quality hypothesis, it was expected that morphological awareness would have a stronger effect on comprehension for children with poor word reading skills, suggesting possible use of morphological awareness for word identification support. Results indicated that neither morphological awareness nor word reading was uniquely associated with reading comprehension when both were included in the model along with vocabulary and general knowledge. Instead, the interaction between word reading and morphological awareness explained significant additional variance in reading comprehension. By probing this interaction, it was determined that the effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension was significant for the 39% of the sample that had more difficulty reading multisyllabic words but not for students at the higher end of the multisyllabic word reading continuum. We conclude from these results that the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension is moderated by multisyllabic word reading ability, providing support for the lexical quality hypothesis. Although we have only correlational data, we suggest tentative instructional practices for improving the reading skill of upper elementary struggling readers.

In a sample of 195 first graders selected for poor reading performance, the authors explored four cognitive predictors of later reading comprehension and reading disability (RD) status. In fall of first grade, the authors measured the children's phonological processing, rapid automatized naming (RAN), oral language comprehension, and nonverbal reasoning. Throughout first grade, they also modeled the students' reading progress by means of weekly Word Identification Fluency (WIF) tests to derive December and May intercepts. The authors assessed their reading comprehension in the spring of Grades 1-5. With the four cognitive variables and the WIF December intercept as predictors, 50.3% of the variance in fifth-grade reading comprehension was explained: 52.1% of this 50.3% was unique to the cognitive variables, 13.1% to the WIF December intercept, and 34.8% was shared. All five predictors were statistically significant. The same four cognitive variables with the May (rather than December) WIF intercept produced a model that explained 62.1% of the variance. Of this amount, the cognitive variables and May WIF intercept accounted for 34.5% and 27.7%, respectively; they shared 37.8%. All predictors in this model were statistically significant except RAN. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the accuracy with which the cognitive variables predicted end-of-fifth-grade RD status was 73.9%. The May WIF intercept contributed reliably to this prediction; the December WIF intercept did not. Results are discussed in terms of a role for cognitive abilities in identifying, classifying, and instructing students with severe reading problems.

In this study, the authors explore a newly constructed dynamic assessment (DA) intended to tap inference-making skills that they hypothesize will be predictive of future comprehension performance. The authors administered the test to 100 second-grade children using a dynamic format to consider the concurrent validity of the measure. The dynamic portion of the assessment comprised teaching children to be "reading detectives" by using textual clues to solve what was happening in the story. During the DA children listened to short passages and answered three inferential questions (i.e., one setting, two causal). If children were unable to answer a question, they were reminded what a reading detective would do and given a set of increasingly concrete prompts and clues to orient them to the relevant portion of text until they could answer the question correctly. Results showed that the DA correlated significantly with a standardized measure of reading comprehension and explained a small but significant amount of unique variance in reading comprehension above and beyond vocabulary and word identification skills. In addition, results suggest that DA may be better than the standardized measure of reading comprehension at identifying intraindividual differences in young children's reading abilities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the construct and predictive validity of a dynamic assessment (DA) of decoding learning. Students (N = 318) were assessed in the fall of first grade on an array of instruments that were given in hopes of forecasting responsiveness to reading instruction. These instruments included DA as well as one-point-in-time (static) measures of early alphabetic knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonemic awareness, oral vocabulary, listening comprehension, attentive behavior, and hyperactive or impulsive behavior. An IQ test was administered in spring of second grade. Measures of reading outcomes administered in spring of first grade were accuracy and fluency of word identification skills and reading comprehension. Factor analysis using principal axis factor extraction indicated that DA loaded on a first factor that also included language abilities and IQ, which the authors refer to as the "language, IQ, and DA" factor. It was relatively distinct from two additional factors: (a) "speeded alphabetic knowledge and RAN" and (b) "task-oriented behavior." A three-level (children nested within classroom; classrooms nested within school) random intercept model with fixed effects predictors suggested that DA differed from word attack in predicting future reading skill and that DA was a significant predictor of responsiveness to instruction, contributing unique variance to end-of-first-grade word identification and reading comprehension beyond that explained by other well-established predictors of reading development.

Functional imaging research has yielded evidence of changes in poor readers after instructional intervention. Although it is well established that within the group of children with poor reading there are differences in behavioral response to intervention, little is know about the functional correlates of responsiveness. Therefore, we acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from children identified as "at risk for reading disability" who responded differently to a reading intervention (5 responders; 5 nonresponders; 4 controls). Groups differed in activation level of the left hemisphere posterior superior temporal and the middle temporal gyri, suggesting that future imaging studies should consider responders and nonresponders separately.

The purpose of this study was to identify important subject characteristics that predicted individual differences in responsiveness to word reading instruction in normally achieving and at-risk first grade children. This was accomplished by modeling individual word and nonword reading growth, and the correlates of change in these skills, in first grade students during two different phases of the school year. In the first phase of the study (October-January), word and nonword reading skill was modeled in normally achieving and at-risk children. Results of growth modeling indicated significant group differences in word and nonword reading growth parameters. A combination of phonemic awareness skill, advanced graphophoneme knowledge, and initial word/nonword reading skill predicted word and nonword reading growth in the control group, whereas, a combination of rapid naming speed, letter sound knowledge, and phonemic awareness skill predicted word and nonword reading growth in the at-risk group. In the second phase of the study (January-April), a subgroup of the at-risk subjects who exhibited limited growth in word reading skills during the first phase of the study was enrolled in 12 weeks of small group reading intervention designed to improve reading skills. Results of growth modeling indicated significant increases in word and nonword reading growth rates in this group during the intervention phase. Only rapid naming speed uniquely predicted word and nonword reading growth in the group of subjects receiving intervention.