Grant Closed

Development of Oral and Silent Reading Fluency and Their Relation with Reading Comprehension in First Through Third Grade Students

NCER
Program: Education Research Grants
Program topic(s): Literacy
Award amount: $1,600,000
Principal investigator: Young-Suk Kim
Awardee:
University of California, Irvine
Year: 2012
Project type:
Exploration
Award number: R305A150589

Purpose

Despite the recognized importance of reading fluency for reading comprehension development, research has tended to focus on oral reading fluency with little knowledge of how silent reading fluency develops over time and how to best support children during the transition from oral to silent reading. The goals of this study were to: (1) explore development of oral and silent reading fluency (including reading prosody) and their relation with reading comprehension for first through third grade students; (2) examine whether the relation varies as a function of students' word reading proficiency; (3) document and describe current classroom instruction in oral and silent reading fluency; and (4) identify promising instructional practices for oral and silent reading fluency development.

Project Activities

Three hundred and seventy first grade students were recruited to participate in this longitudinal project, and were followed until the end of third grade. Three times each year (fall, winter, and spring) silent and oral reading fluency, reading prosody, and reading comprehension were assessed. When students were reading, their eye movements were measured to assess their fluency, thus allowing researchers to examine both reading rate and moment-to-moment reading behaviors. Reading prosody was assessed using audio recordings of children's oral reading. Additionally, in each year of the study, researchers observed and videotaped classrooms (Fall, Winter, and Spring) to assess classroom instruction around oral and silent reading fluency.

Structured Abstract

Setting

This study was conducted in a relatively large school district in north Florida.

Sample

Participants included 370 first grade children. Researchers will follow the children from first to third grade.
Intervention
In this exploratory study, the researchers examined the development of oral and silent reading fluency and the instructional practices that facilitate this development. The purpose of these efforts was to identify possible targets for intervention at the instructional level. The findings from the study provided critical information about developing instructional approaches and interventions intended to improve students' reading fluency (both oral and silent modes) and ultimately reading comprehension.

Research design and methods

To assess the development of oral and silent reading fluency, researchers gathered student assessment data three times a year (fall, winter, and spring) from grades 1-3 (a total of 9 waves of data collection) on oral language skills, word reading proficiency, oral and silent reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Researchers utilized eye-tracking technology to accurately measure moment-to-moment reading behaviors as well as each child's reading rate during oral and silent reading. To examine the classroom instructional behaviors associated with the development of oral and silent reading fluency, researchers gathered classroom observation data three times per year (fall, winter, and spring) from grades 1-3. Observation data included field notes, videotaping, and an observation coding system.

Control condition

Due to the nature of the research design, there was no control condition.

Key measures

Researchers assessed students' language and literacy skills in reading comprehension, oral reading fluency, silent reading fluency, word reading accuracy, word reading fluency, and oral language skills. Oral and silent reading fluency were assessed using the Florida Assessment for Instruction in Reading (FAIR) and the Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and Comprehension (TOSREC). Both the FAIR and the TOSREC were administered as both an oral and a silent reading task. Children's eye movement during oral and silent reading was recorded using eye-tracking technology. This technology uses a laptop and desk mounted version of the EyeLink 2k monitoring system. The EyeLink 2k system allowed researchers to measure the number of words read as well as the duration of first fixation, gaze duration, total viewing time, and fixation probability. This technology also allowed the research team to compare these measures for oral and silent reading tasks. Additionally, participants' oral reading was recorded in order to analyze features of reading prosody, such as the number and duration of pauses while reading, and the change in pitch while reading. For classroom observations, researchers used a researcher-developed observation coding system. The primary outcome variable of interest in this study, reading comprehension, was assessed with the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Comprehension subtest, the Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation Passage Comprehension subtest, and the Woodcock-Johnson-III Passage Comprehension subtest.

Data analytic strategy

A variety of analytic methods were used to examine the data for this study. Researchers used structural equation modeling (SEM) as the primary analytical strategy. Specifically, the researchers used a multiple indicator growth model to assess the development of silent and oral reading fluency, reading prosody, and reading comprehension across nine time points from first to third grade. The associations between these trajectories and possible moderators were also analyzed using multiple indicator growth models. To assess the dimensionality of prosody, researchers used exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, the variation in word reading accuracy between skilled and less-skilled readers was assessed using measure invariance modeling in SEM.

Key outcomes

Several findings from this project include:

People and institutions involved

IES program contact(s)

Elizabeth Albro

Elizabeth Albro

Commissioner of Education Research
NCER

Products and publications

Select Publications:

Gilbert, J., Petscher, Y., Compton, D. L., & Schatschneider, C. (2016). Consequences of misspecifying levels of variance in cross-classified longitudinal data structures. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 182749.

Kim, Y. S. G. (2023). Executive functions and morphological awareness explain the shared variance between word reading and listening comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 27(5), 451-474.

Kim, Y.G. (2015). Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 50(4): 459-481.

Kim, Y.-S. G., & Petscher, Y. (2016). Prosodic sensitivity and reading: An investigation of pathways of relations using a latent variable approach. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108, 630-645.

Kim, Y. S. G., & Wagner, R. K. (2015). Text (Oral) Reading Fluency as a Construct in Reading Development: An Investigation of Its Mediating Role for Children from Grades 1 to 4. Scientific Studies of Reading, 19(3): 224-242.

Kim, Y. S. G., Little, C., Petscher, Y., & Vorstius, C. (2022). Developmental trajectories of eye movements in oral and silent reading for beginning readers: A longitudinal investigation. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 18708.

Kim, Y. S. G., Petscher, Y., & Vorstius, C. (2021). The relations of online reading processes (eye movements) with working memory, emergent literacy skills, and reading proficiency. Scientific Studies of Reading, 25(4), 351-369.

Kim, Y. S. G., Petscher, Y., & Vorstius, C. (2019). Unpacking eye movements during oral and silent reading and their relations to reading proficiency in beginning readers. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 58, 102-120.

Kim, Y.-S., Petscher, Y., & Foorman, B. (2015). The unique relation of silent reading fluency to end-of-year reading comprehension: Understanding individual differences at the student, classroom, school, and district levels. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 28, 131-150.

Kim, Y. S. G., Quinn, J. M., & Petscher, Y. (2021). Reading prosody unpacked: A longitudinal investigation of its dimensionality and relation with word reading and listening comprehension for children in primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 113(3), 423.

Kim, Y.-S. G., Vorstius, C., & Radach, R. (2018). Does online comprehension monitoring make a unique contribution to reading comprehension in beginning readers? Evidence from Eye Movements. Scientific Studies of Reading, 22 (5), 367-383.

Petscher, Y., Quinn, J. M., & Wagner, R. K. (2016). Modeling the co-development of correlated processes with longitudinal and cross-construct effects. Developmental Psychology, 52(11), 1690.

Wawire, B. A., & Kim, Y. S. G. (2018). Cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge: Causal evidence and nature of transfer. Scientific Studies of Reading, 22(6), 443-461.

Wolters, A. P., Kim, Y. S. G., & Szura, J. W. (2022). Is reading prosody related to reading comprehension? A meta-analysis. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26(1), 1-20.

Supplemental information

Co-Principal Investigator: Yaacov Petscher

Previous Award Number: R305A120147
Previous Institution: Florida State University

  • Eye movements during oral reading were more strongly related to their word reading proficiency than those during silent reading (Kim, Petscher, & Vorstius, 2019).
  • Various eye movement indicators captured a single dimension for developing readers, which contrasts with previous hypothesis based on adult data. The team also found that children are sensitive to inconsistency in short stories. This monitoring captured in children's eye movements was related to reading comprehension indirectly via their word reading and listening comprehension (Kim, Vorstius, & Radach, 2018).
  • Results revealed that various measures of reading prosody using spectrographic analysis and a rating scale largely capture a common underlying construct, reading prosody. Furthermore, the development of reading prosody showed a nonlinear trajectory from Grade 1 to Grade 3 with a steep growth followed by slow down. Reading prosody also had a bidirectional relation with text reading efficiency, but the nature of bidirectionality differed as a function of features of reading prosody. (Kim, Quinn, & Petscher, 2021).
  • Analysis of classroom data found that students' cumulative instructional experiences over time (beyond a single year) predicts their reading achievement in Grade 2 and Grade 3 (Kim & Wagner, 2015).

Questions about this project?

To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.

 

Questions about this project?

To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.

 

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