How problems of reading fluency and comprehension ...

This article was downloaded by: [University of Texas at Tyler] On: 31 January 2012, At: 11:46 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Reading Research and Instruction Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ulri19

How problems of reading fluency and comprehension are related to difficulties in syntactic awareness skills among fifth graders a

Kouider Mokhtari & H. Brian Thompson a

b

Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

b

Limestone Elementary School, Sand Springs, Oklahoma Available online: 28 Jan 2010

To cite this article: Kouider Mokhtari & H. Brian Thompson (2006): How problems of reading fluency and comprehension are related to difficulties in syntactic awareness skills among fifth graders, Reading Research and Instruction, 46:1, 73-94 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19388070609558461

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

How Problems of Reading Fluency 73

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

How Problems of Reading Fluency and Comprehension Are Related to Difficulties in Syntactic Awareness Skills Among Fifth Graders Kouider Mokhtari Miami University, Oxford, Ohio H. Brian Thompson Limestone Elementary School, Sand Springs, Oklahoma Abstract In this study, we assessed and analyzed 5th grade students' levels of syntactic awareness in relation to their reading fluency and comprehension. The aim was to examine the role of syntactic awareness (children's awareness of the syntactic structure of sentences and their ability to reflect on and manipulate that structure) as a potential source of reading fluency and comprehension difficulty for these readers. We found that the students' levels of syntactic awareness were significantly related to their reading fluency (r= .625) and reading comprehension performance (r= .816). These relationships indicate that lower levels of syntactic awareness correspond to poor reading fluency and poor comprehension among these readers. These findings have important implications for research and instruction addressing the relative contributions of broader language skills to the development of reading fluency and comprehension among struggling readers.

Introduction The ability to read fluently and with adequate comprehension is considered the hallmark of skilled reading. Both fluent reading and comprehension skills have been shown to depend to some degree on the readers' sensitivity to the phonemic structure of language (e.g., Adams, 1990; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). This important association between skilled reading and sensitivity to the phonemic structure of spoken language has been quite well documented in experimental, clinical, and developmental training studies (for a comprehensive review see Adams, 1990; Goswami & Bryant, 1990). For instance, the longitudinal studies investigating the relationship between phonological awareness and reading development indicate that different aspects of phonological awareness at various ages can predict reading abilities in school-age children (e.g., Bryant, Nunes, & Bindman, 1998). In addition, comparison studies with

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

74 Reading Research and Instruction, Volume 46, No. 1 * Fall 2006

children and adults have shown that good readers often outperform poor readers on measures of phonemic awareness (e.g., Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 1994; Vellutino, Scanlon, Sipay, et al, 1996). Finally, intervention studies show that specific instruction in phonemic awareness tasks such as letter-sound identification and manipulation improve reading and spelling abilities (e.g. Vellutino, Scanlon, Sipay, Small, Pratt, Chen, & Denkla, 1996). However, despite the large body of evidence pointing to a close relationship between children's phonemic awareness and reading development, little is known about the potential role of broader language skills (e.g., morphological and syntactic awareness) in the development of reading fluency and reading comprehension ability. One limitation of the existing research, according to Nation & Snowling (2000) is that poor decoding skills appear to have been confounded with poor reading comprehension, making it difficult to sort out possible causal relationships between these two aspects of reading. In other words, the customary cooccurrence of poor word decoding and poor comprehension skills may have obscured the role played by broader language skills in reading development. A second limitation relates to the lack of clarity of the importance and relevance of reading fluency and its relation to both reading comprehension and syntactic skills, especially in light of recent research advances on the relation between reading comprehension and broader language skills with particular focus on sentence and text-level skills. Recent and emerging research on the role of broader language skills on reading ability have shown that the ability to read fluently and with adequate comprehension remains a challenge for many normally developing and struggling readers despite demonstrated mastery of basic abilities in word decoding and phonemic awareness skills. In a study examining the factors influencing syntactic awareness among poor and normal comprehenders, Nation and Snowling (2000) point out that "Although in the general population comprehension and reading accuracy are strongly correlated (with correlation coefficients varying between 0.3 and 0.6; see Juel, Griffith, & Gough, 1983), studies have shown that approximately 10% of children can be classified as having poor reading comprehension, despite possessing average-for-age reading accuracy (Nation & Snowling, 1997; Yuill & Oakhill, 1991, p. 230)."

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

How Problems of Reading Fluency 75

Language and literacy researchers (e.g., Bentin, Deutsch, & Liberman, 1990; Cain & Oakhill, 2004; Demont & Gombert, 1996; Leikin, 2002; Nation, Clarke, & Snowling, 2002; Stothard & Hulme, 1992; Yuill & Oakhill, 1991) generally agree that text comprehension is a complex task that involves a number of cognitive, linguistic, and sociocultural dimensions. This view is consistent with the model of reading comprehension articulated in the Rand Reading Study Group report (2001) in which comprehension is viewed as "the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language" and reading fluency is "conceptualized as both an antecedent to and a consequence of comprehension" (p. 11). According to this report, "some components of reading fluency—quick and efficient recognition of words and at least some aspects of syntactic parsing— appear to be prerequisites for comprehension" (p. 35). The report cautioned that recent efforts to improve early reading achievement through skills-based instruction could be undermined unless a greater emphasis is placed on teaching children reading comprehension skills and strategies that go beyond basic skills, particularly phonemic awareness and phonics. Kuhn & Stahl (2003) recently suggested that proficient reading requires more than automaticity of individual word decoding. They maintain that fluency development, defined as not only accuracy and automaticity of individual word decoding but also as prosodic interpretation of the text being read, is needed for children to comprehend what they read. Kuhn & Stahl (2003) argued that to be able to read prosodically or with proper expression, children must be able to do more than decode words and translate text signals into speech. They concur with other researchers (e.g., Dowhower, 1987; Schreiber, 1980, 1987, 1991) that readers must demonstrate an understanding of the syntactic structures of text by chunking groups of words into phrases or meaningful syntactic units. They must also incorporate a set of suprasegmental features (e.g., stress and intonation patterns) that both speakers and hearers would interpret as expressive of the meaning of the text read. Chafe (1988) suggested that to read a sentence with proper intonation, one must assign syntactic roles to the words in the sentence. The assignment of syntactic roles is a key component of constructing a coherent interpretation of the text read. In much of the newly published research on reading fluency, attention is given to the reader's ability to adhere to the author's syntactic structure of sentences in text. In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report entitled Listening to Children Read Aloud, the

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

76 Reading Research and Instruction, Volume 46, No. 1 * Fall 2006

authors state that "recognizing the author's syntax can be critical since identical groups of words may represent various meanings when read with different syntactical patterns displayed through intonation, stress placements, or insertions of pauses" (Pinnell et al., 1995, p. 15). This adherence to the author's intended syntactic conventions during oral reading requires the reader to be aware of the ideas that are expressed in the text. Only through reading with an understanding of syntactic structures can a reader comprehend the author's intended purpose (Pinnell etal., 1995). These observations are consistent with findings from a relatively small, but growing number of studies (e.g., Carlisle, 2004; Demont & Gombert, 1996; Gottardo, Stanovich, & Siegel, 1996; Leikin, 2002; Lyster, 2002; Mahony, Singson, & Mann, 2000; Nation & Snowling, 2004; Nation, Clarke, Marshall, & Durand, 2004; Stothard & Hulme, 1992; Yuill & Oakhill, 1991), which have shown that children's ability to read is greatly influenced by their degree of sensitivity to broader language processes including word formation (Morphological Awareness), sentence structure (Syntactic or Grammatical Awareness), and discourse structure (Textual Awareness). These researchers concur that readers identify certain words by their morphological and syntactic structures; they learn that events that have already occurred are marked by morphological inflections such as 'ed'; and are able to determine that sentences are formed using a certain word order. While it is unclear how readers actually use knowledge of morphology and syntax when constructing meaning, the structure of words and sentences provides a grammatical foundation for linking forms and meanings in a systematic way. The relatively small research base investigating the influence of syntactic or grammatical awareness on children's ability to read has shown that the ability to identify and manipulate the syntactic structure of spoken language is generally related to reading development. Examples of findings relating syntax to reading include children's difficulty in detecting and correcting syntactic errors (e.g., Bentin, Deutsch, & Liberman, 1990; Demont & Gombert, 1996; Gottardo, Stanovich, & Siegel, 1996; Leikin, 2002), preschool children who later develop reading problems showing a more limited array of syntax in their speech than control children (Nation & Snowling, 2000, 2004), using first graders' syntactic awareness skills as a predictor of second grade word recognition, even when controlling for the effects of phonological awareness and

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

How Problems of Reading Fluency 77

general ability (Tunmer, 1989), students using less complex syntactic structures when writing, and their speech is marked with a greater number of grammatical errors than good readers (Scott, 2004), and differences in sentence processing between normal and dyslexic readers, suggesting the existence of a syntactic processing weakness for readers with dyslexia (Leikin, 2002). The findings of these studies and others highlight the important role syntax plays in reading development and provide documented evidence that that poor comprehenders appear to have language processing difficulties encompassing awareness of the syntactic or grammatical structure of the language, although their decoding skills are often adequate. Many of these language-processing weaknesses have typically been associated with word decoding, sentence or text comprehension. The role of syntax has recently been highlighted in two major research handbooks edited by reputable researchers in this area including Berman (2004) and Stone, Silliman, Ehren, & Apel (2004). In the present study, we seek to contribute to this important line of research by examining the role of syntactic awareness not just on reading comprehension, but also on reading fluency and its relation to syntactic awareness among a group of struggling 5th grade students. While reading fluency is a critically important aspect of reading development (Walker, Mokhtari, Sargent, 2006), it has not been carefully examined with all its components (i.e., accuracy, rate, and prosody) in relation to broader language-processing skills such as syntax. We concur with Nation & Snowling (2000) that: Since fluent reading requires that the meanings of single words be integrated at the sentence and text levels and that ongoing comprehension be monitored, sensitivity to the syntactic and semantic constraints of the language might be viewed as a resource that 'bootstraps' literacy development. (Walker, Mokharti, & Sargent, 2006). Aims of the present study In this study, we examined the role of syntactic awareness (children's awareness of the syntactic structure of sentences and their ability to reflect on and manipulate that structure) as a potential source of reading difficulty among 5th grade readers. We were interested in finding out (1) whether students' levels of syntactic awareness were significantly associated with their ability to read fluently, and (2) whether low levels of syntactic awareness could be associated with difficulties in reading

78 Reading Research and Instruction, Volume 46, No. 1 * Fall 2006

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

comprehension performance. Encouraged by the findings from prior research on the importance of syntactic awareness in reading ability, we predicted that higher levels of syntactic awareness would correspond to higher levels of reading fluency and comprehension among fifth-grade readers. Conversely, we anticipated that lower levels of syntactic awareness would correspond to poor reading fluency and comprehension performance. Method Participants The participants in this study consisted of thirty-two (n=32) fifthgrade students enrolled in a suburban neighborhood school in the south central United States. The average age of the students was approximately eleven and one half years. As Table 1 indicates, twenty (63%) of the participants were of Caucasian decent, two (6%) were African-American, three (9%) were Hispanic-American, and seven (22%) were American Indian. All students were born in the United States and speak English as their primary language at home, and represented a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds ranging from upper-middle to lower middle class, with the majority being from working class families. Table 1 Description of Participants by Age, Gender, and Ethnicity Number Percent Age Mean 11.32 .64 SD Gender 53.1 Male 17 Female 15 46.9 32 100 Total Ethnicity Caucasian 20 62.5 Am. Indian 7 21.9 African Am. 2 6.3 9.4 Hispanic 3 32 100 Total

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

How Problems of Reading Fluency 79

School records indicated that these students exhibited a wide range of abilities with respect to reading achievement as measured by standardized reading tests and state-mandated criterion-referenced tests. Records further showed that of the total number of students, seven received daily Title I assistance in reading led by the second author (BT), who was the Title I teacher at the time of the study. In addition, three of the students qualified for Special Education services in the area of reading because of an identified learning disability and one received supplemental instruction in the school's Gifted and Talented program. No students received special education services in the areas of speech and language development. The 32 students were enrolled in a fifth-grade self-contained classroom in a small neighborhood school with a total school enrollment of approximately 308 students in grades one through six. This classroom was selected for participation in the study as several of the students were suspected, by their teacher, of having language-related problems, which may explain some of the problems they were having in reading and writing. The curriculum materials used in the target classroom consisted of the Harcourt Reading Basal Trophies Series (2002), which feature an integrated Language Arts program incorporating reading, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and writing based on state standards. Data Collection: Materials and Procedures All 32 students completed a set of assessment measures aimed at determining levels of syntactic awareness in relation to their oral reading fluency and comprehension performance. Over a period of approximately four weeks, each student completed two standardized reading achievement tests (one norm-referenced, the other criterion-referenced), a reading fluency assessment battery, including an assessment of reading rate, decoding accuracy, and prosody or expression, and a test of syntactic awareness. A brief description of each of these measures follows. Test of Language Development- Intermediate [TOLD-II: 3] (Hammill & Newcomer, 1996). We used the TOLD-II: 3 test to assess the students' understanding and use of different aspects of grammatical or syntactic ability. Although the test battery consists of six subtests, only three of the subtests (namely Sentence Combining, Word Ordering, and Grammatical Competence) were designated for the assessment of syntactic awareness. The result of the three subtests yielded a Syntax Quotient (SyQ) which we used to determine the subject's syntactical knowledge or abilities. The TOLD-II: 3 is considered to be a valid and reliable test of

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

80 Reading Research and Instruction, Volume 46, No. 1 * Fall 2006

language ability assessment. Coefficients for all subtests exceed .84, and all composites are .90 or greater. We used the Syntax Quotient as a unit of analysis representing students' levels of syntactic awareness. NAEP'S Integrated Reading Performance Record [IRPR] (Pinnell et al., 1995). IRPR is designed to measure three interrelated reading fluency components: Word reading accuracy, reading rate, and prosodic performance or expression. These components are measured by listening to the students reading and responding to a grade-appropriate passage aloud. Decoding accuracy was measured by listening to students reading aloud, via a miscue analysis, while reading rate consisted of timing the reading, which was converted into a word per minute (WPM) rate. We assessed prosodic performance by using the NAEP fluency scale This scale is considered one of the most appropriate oral reading analysis procedures for the assessment of prosodic reading ability (Pinnell et al., 1995). We conducted the oral reading fluency assessments individually. Following NAEP guidelines, we asked each student to read a fifth gradelevel passage silently. This reading was followed by a response to three comprehension questions designed to familiarize the students with the contents of the passage before they were asked to read it aloud. Finally, we asked the students to read the passage aloud. The students' oral reading performance was tape-recorded for analysis by two (in a few cases three judges) using the NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Scale. We compared the judges' ratings for agreement (96%), and we discussed the emerging discrepancies until we reached consensus. This process resulted in reading fluency ratings ranging from 4 (Fluent) to 1 (Non-Fluent), which was ultimately used as a unit of analysis for students' reading fluency performance. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (MacGinitie & McGinite, 1989). The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test is a general reading test consisting of two subtests: vocabulary and comprehension. The Gates test is a standardized reading test, which was regularly administered to all students in the school. It is a commonly used measure of reading comprehension and vocabulary with adequate technical adequacy as indicated by the test's reported reliability and validity data with reliability coefficients ranging from .90-.95 for vocabulary and .88-.94 for comprehension. We used the Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) scores as units of analysis representing reading comprehension performance on a norm-referenced reading test.

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

How Problems of Reading Fluency 81

Oklahoma Criterion-Referenced Reading Test (Oklahoma Department of Education, 2002). This state-mandated test is used to measure students' reading achievement based on pre-established state curriculum standards. The test has adequate psychometric properties (reliability coefficients ranging from .90 to .94) and is considered a reliable and valid test of reading achievement for Oklahoma students. We used the Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) scores as units of analysis representing reading comprehension performance on a criterion-referenced reading test. Data Analyses We analyzed the data obtained by using basic descriptive statistics, which provided a description of the subjects in terms of demographics including age, gender, and ethnicity. We used correlation analyses to determine whether students' levels of syntactic awareness were related to their reading fluency and comprehension performance. Results Table 2 presents descriptive statistics pertaining to the subjects' performance in syntactic awareness, reading fluency (decoding accuracy, reading rate, prosody) and comprehension (vocabulary knowledge, text comprehension). As the data in Table 2 show, there was a fair amount of variability in performance in each of the main dependent variables as indicated by the standard deviations and range statistics. School records depicting student performance on criterion-referenced assessments in reading indicate that this group of students appears to be quite characteristic of most fifth grade students in terms of demographics, reading ability levels, and overall educational achievement.

82 Reading Research and Instruction, Volume 46, No. 1 * Fall 2006

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

Table 2 Means and Standard Deviations for Student performance (N= 32) on Syntactic Awareness, Reading Fluency, & Reading Comprehension Mean (SD) Min Range Max 94.06 (12.32) 124 52 Syntactic Awareness1 72 Reading Fluency2 Decoding Accuracy Reading Rate Prosody

94.28 (4.25) 106.47 (28.53) 2.641 (0.84)

Reading Comprehension (Gates3) 53.50(18.41) Vocabulary 50.78(16.05) Comprehension 52.50 (17.30) Composite Reading Comprehension (CRT4)

731.44(54.04)

13

86 55 1

99 163 4

108 3

15 25 22

99 99 99

84 74 72

647

830

183

1. Syntactic Awareness scores reflects students' Syntactic Quotient, which consists of performance on three of the TOLD subtests (namely Sentence Combining, Word Ordering, and Grammatical Competence) yielding standard scores ranging from 0100. 2. Reading Fluency scores are based on decoding accuracy (Percent of words read correctly), reading rate (Words correct per minute), and prosodic performance (Scale from 4 [Fluent] to 1 [Non-Fluent]) 3. Reading Comprehension performance on the Gates-MacGinite test is based on Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) Scores. 4. Reading Comprehension performance on the Oklahoma CRT reading test is based on Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) Scores.

Table 3 presents results pertaining to whether students' syntactic or grammatical awareness is significantly related to reading fluency (reading rate, decoding accuracy, prosodic performance) and reading comprehension. The results revealed a statistically significant correlation between students' syntactic awareness and each of the three components of reading fluency, including reading rate (r=.50; p< .01), decoding accuracy (r=.51; p< .01), and prosodic performance (r=.62; p< .01). We found a similar pattern of relationships with respect to performance on two reading comprehension measures—one norm-referenced (GatesMacGinite), the other criterion-referenced (Oklahoma Criterion-Reference Reading Test). Specifically, we found a significant relationship between

How Problems of Reading Fluency 83

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

students' syntactic awareness and their reading comprehension performance as measured by the Gates MacGinitie reading test (r=.816; p < .01) and the state's criterion referenced reading test (r=.700; p < .01). Table 3 Correlations among Syntactic Awareness, Reading Fluency and Comprehension Syntactic Reading Reading Decoding Gates Awareness Fluency Rate Accuracy CRTReading Comprehension (Gates) Syntactic Awareness Oral Reading Fluency Reading Rate .568** .500**

.877**

Decoding 4 5 3 * * 5 1 6 ** 5 9 0 ** 4 g 0 ** Accuracy Reading Comprehension .887** .700** .723** .611** (CRT) ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

.431*

The relationships among students' syntactic awareness and performance on reading fluency and comprehension were also graphically depicted in Figures 1-3 for reading fluency and in Figures 4-5 for reading comprehension performance, respectively. We generated these charts by categorizing the syntactic awareness performance data into four percentile range groups. Thus, the first group (n= 7) represents subject cases that fell below the 25th percentile, the second group (n= 9) represents cases falling between the 25th and 50th percentile, the third group (n= 9) represents cases between the 50th and 75th percentile, and the fourth group (n=7) represents cases at or above the 75th percentile. These figures seem to

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

84 Reading Research and Instruction, Volume 46, No. 1 * Fall 2006

indicate that, as predicted, students' higher levels of syntactic awareness corresponded to higher levels of reading fluency among the fifth graders in this study. Conversely, lower levels of syntactic awareness corresponded to poorer performance in reading fluency among these students. The data shown in Figures 4 and 5 seem to indicate that lower levels of syntactic awareness correspond to relatively poor reading comprehension performance among the fifth graders in this study. Conversely, students' higher levels of syntactic awareness corresponded to higher levels of reading comprehension among the fifth graders in this study. These findings are noteworthy in light of the recent advances in reading research, particularly those related to reading fluency and comprehension.

140 130 120 110 f 100-

I 90| 80-] 70 60 50 40 Below 25th Pctile

25th-50th Pctile 50th-75th Pctile Syntactic awareness levels

Above 75th Pctile

Figure 1. Relationship between syntactic awareness and reading rate

How Problems of Reading Fluency 85

110 |1OO-|

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

I 90" I

80-I

g

7060 Below 25th Pctile

25th-50th Pctile

50th-75th Pctile

Above 75th Pctile

Syntactic Awareness Levels

Figure 2. Relationship between syntactic awareness and decoding accuracy A

3.5* 3" § 2.5 %

^A-

2

-

" ' ''

to 1.5 -

*

,-

0.5n-

Below 25th Pctile

25th-50th Pctile

50th-75th Pctile

Above 75th Pctile

Syntactic Awareness Levels

Figure 3. Relationship between syntactic awareness and oral reading fluency

86 Reading Research and Instruction, Volume 46, No. 1 * Fall 2006

100 90 80S 70a. 60504030 20

Downloaded by [University of Texas at Tyler] at 11:46 31 January 2012

c o "55 c