Do Assessments of Preschoolers Comprehension Processes Predict Future Reading

描述(由申请者提供)：文盲在美国仍然是一个重要且具有挑战性的问题。迄今为止，大量研究表明，低效的单词识别-解码技能是阅读能力差和文盲的根源。然而，即使儿童确实拥有有效的单词识别-解码技能，儿童在阅读评估中的得分仍然很低，因为用于理解文本的过程很弱或效率低下。但是，理解过程对学龄前儿童未来阅读能力的预测能力如何？哪些过程最重要？遗憾的是，这些问题仍然没有答案，因为目前我们不评估学龄前儿童的理解过程，以预测他们未来的阅读能力。这种知识的缺乏是有问题的，因为我们知道，对理解过程的衡量可以预测学龄前儿童未来的阅读理解能力，而我们在这些问题真正开始之前就可以发现阅读中的潜在问题。事实上，这种检测既类似于早期检测拼写和音素解码问题的做法，也是对这种做法的补充。此外，这样的知识将使我们能够减少文盲，因为这些知识被用来创建干预计划，促进预阅读和开始阅读的读者理解过程的发展(识别->干预)。因此，本研究的目标是通过首先对学龄前儿童实施理解过程的测量，然后利用学龄前儿童在这些测量上的表现来预测他们未来的阅读理解能力，从而获得这种批判性知识。本研究还将理解过程的预测能力与其他已知的预测阅读理解能力的认知过程/资源(即较低水平的单词解码-识别过程、语言理解能力和词汇知识)进行了比较。为了完成这项具有理论和实践动机的研究，本项目采用了纵向设计，两个时间点相隔两年。在第一个时间点，学龄前儿童将完成(I)理解过程、(Ii)单词解码过程、(Iii)语言理解能力和(Iv)词汇知识的适合年龄的测量。在时间点2，相同的孩子将完成(I)阅读理解和(Ii)语言理解能力的年龄相宜的测量。本研究的结果将为在儿童开始阅读之前发现阅读理解中的潜在问题提供坚实的知识基础。这项研究还将消除一些在一年级结束时经常困扰贫困读者的自尊、自我概念和学习动机的低水平。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Illiteracy continues to be an important and challenging problem in the U.S. To date, numerous studies suggest that inefficient word identification-decoding skills are a source of poor reading and illiteracy. However, even if children do have efficient word identification-decoding skills children can still score poorly on assessments of reading because of weak or inefficient processes that are used for comprehending text. But how well do comprehension processes predict the future reading ability of preschoolers and which processes are most important? Sadly, these questions remain unanswered because currently we do not assess the comprehension processes of preschoolers in order to predict their future reading abilities. This lack of knowledge is problematic because i we knew that measures of comprehension processes predicted preschoolers' future reading comprehension abilities than we could detect potential problems in reading before these problems actually begin. Indeed, such detections would be both analogous to and complementary of the practice of early detections of problems with orthographic and phonemic decoding. Moreover, such knowledge would allow us to reduce illiteracy because such knowledge is used to create intervention programs that foster the development of comprehension processes in pre- and beginning readers (identification -> intervention). Therefore, the goal of the present proposal is to acquire this critical knowledge by first administering measures of comprehension processes to preschoolers and then by using the preschoolers' performances on these measures to predict their future reading comprehension ability. The present proposal also compares the predictive power of comprehension processes to other cognitive processes/resources that are known to predict reading comprehension ability (i.e., lower-level word decoding-identification processes, language comprehension ability, and vocabulary knowledge). To complete this theoretically- and practically-motivated research, the present project uses a longitudinal design with two time points that are two years apart. At time point one, preschoolers will complete age-appropriate measures of (i) comprehension processes, (ii) word decoding processes, (iii) language comprehension ability, and (iv) vocabulary knowledge. At time point 2, the same children will complete age-appropriate measures of (i) reading comprehension and (ii) language comprehension ability. The results of the present study will provide a strong foundation of knowledge for identifying potential problems in reading comprehension before a child begins to read. The present study will also eliminate some of the low-levels of self-esteem, self-concept and motivation to learn that often plague poor readers by the end of the first grade.