Reading ability of elementary school children: A componential analysis

Abstract

It was hypothesized that there are three independent levels of reading processing: Letter and word level, sentence level, and discourse level. Reading speed of 117 fifth-grade children were assessed, and clause length, position in each sentence, and position in passage were found to affect the speed independently. These features therefore must correspond respectively to the levels mentioned above. Since working memory capacity possibly determined the functioning of the three levels, reading span as the capacity was assessed in the study and incorporated into a multivariate path model, in order to predict ability in reading comprehension. The span and vocabulary explained the child's general reading ability. The ability together with domain specific knowledge explained the child's domain specific reading comprehension. Finally, the applicability of those findings to the programs to assist children who have difficulty in reading comprehension was discussed.