What are the characteristics of adult readers in entry level tertiary settings?
1. Is there a relationship between levels of reading skills and demographic characteristics of age, gender, and ethnicity2. As predicted by the simple view of reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), is a strong positive correlation between decoding and listening comprehension evident in the general population3. As predicted by the simple view of reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), is a negative correlation between decoding and listening comprehension evident in less-skilled adult readers4. Are readers with fewer skills less efficient at decoding than skilled readers?5. Do readers with low reading skills exhibit poor receptive vocabulary?6. Is a ‘spiky profile’ of strengths and weaknesses of reading skill sub-components evident7. Is there a relationship between readers’ self-concept and attitude to reading, and their assessed reading skills?
Setting•3 government funded organizations known as Private Training Establishments (PTEs) •in the same, mid-size NZ city•assess unit standards on the NZQA framework up to, and including, level 3•3 general groups: employment skills, security work training, and specific trade skills
Participants
•52 adults:40 male,12 female
•age range:16 years to over 50 years
•75% aged less than 30 years while 11.5% were over 40 years
•22(42%) NZ Euro/Pakeha, 20 (38%) Maori, 2 (4%) Pasifika, 5 (10%) Maori, Euro, and 3 (6%) Pasifika, Euro
Measures
Individual interviews approx one hour:
• collection of personal information, 2 part motivation-to-read profile/self-concept-as-a-reader survey and conversational interview• decoding test• word recognition test• sentence comprehension test• reading comprehension test• receptive vocabulary test.
Results______________________________________________________ Highest possible Range Mean SD score ________________________________________________________Bryant decoding 50 0-49 36.15 13.23
WRAT4 Word Reading 70 25-70 55.02 9.98 WRAT4 Comprehension 50 9-50 37.73 10.12 PPVT-111 204 129-196 167.46 16.98 ________________________________________________________
Correlation between Measures
___________________________________________________________
decoding comp
word reading 0.89* 0.85*
Receptive vocab 0.60* 0.84*___________________________________________________________
*p< 0.01
To examine decoding skills andreceptive vocabulary skills among less-skilled adult readers (sub-questions 4 and 5) participants were grouped into two groups (skilled and less-skilled readers) using the WRAT4 sentence comprehension raw scores.
•correlation between this subgroup (22 less-skilled readers) and decoding scores as measured by the Bryant was 0.62 (p< 0.01) and the correlation with receptive vocabulary skills as measured by PPVT-111 was 0.64 (p< 0.01)
•a significant positive correlation between receptive vocabulary skill and less-skilled readers and between decoding skill and less-skilled readers.
The 52 participants divided into 4 groups of readers to examine in detail specific characteristics including demographic and skill relationships (sub-question 1), correlation between decoding and listening comprehension among less-skilled readers, and patterns of strengths and weaknesses in the sub-components of reading (sub-questions 3 and 6).
Numbers of Readers in the Four Groups (N=52)______________________________________________________________________
Low High comp (≤162) comp (≥163)
_______________________________________________________________________
Low decoders (≤39) 16 (Group1) 5 (Group 2)
High decoders (≥40) 5 (Group 3) 26 (Group 4)
_______________________________________________________________________
Note. The comprehension and decoding values represent raw scores
Gender and Age Band Information for the Four Reading Groups (N=52) __________________________________________________ Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 LD/LC LD/HC HD/LC HD/HC___________________________________________________________ (n=16) (n=5) (n=5) (n=26) ___________________________________________________________Gender
Male (n=40) 12 3 3 22
Female (n=12) 4 2 2 4___________________________________________________________Age band
16-19 yrs (n=26) 7 4 2 13
20-29 yrs (n=13) 3 0 3 7
30-39 yrs (n= 7) 2 1 0 4
40+ yrs (n= 6) 4 0 0 2___________________________________________________________Note. LD=low decoder; LC=low comprehender; HD= high decoder; HC= high comprehender.
Ethnic Information for the Four Reading Groups (N=52) _______________________________________________________________________
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 LD/LC LD/HC HD/LC HD/HC___________________________________________________________ (n=16) (n=5) (n=5) (n=26) ___________________________________________________________Ethnicity
European (n=22) 4 3 0 15
Maori (n=20) 10 0 3 7
Eur-Maori (n= 5) 1 0 2 2
Eur-Pasifika (n=3) 1 1 0 1
Pasifika (n= 2) 0 1 0 1___________________________________________________________Note. LD=low decoder; LC=low comprehender; HD= high decoder; HC= high comprehender.
Listening Vocabulary
The words a person knows/understands when they hear them in spoken English.
Build vocabulary in contexts with regular revision and practice.
Decoding
Sight word recognition: relying on visual memory to recognise words without sounding out
Teaching consonants and vowels and the sounds they represent
Analogy to known words...familiar letter patterns/chunks (e.g. an in fan, man, pan; prefixes and suffixes)...treat such word parts as wholes (don’t have to sound out).
Print Exposure• Increasing reading mileage
Direct Instruction• Word analysis: Prefixes-roots-suffixes/Greek combining forms• Associational instruction:
Semantic mappingSynonyms/antonymsHomographs/Homonyms/Homophones
Teaching Dictionary/Thesaurus Skills Using Context Clues
Strategies for teaching vocabulary
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