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How do latent decoding and language predict latent reading comprehension: across two years in grades 5, 7, and 9?

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Abstract

This investigation examined the structural relations among latent variables of language, decoding, and reading comprehension, invariance of the patterns of predictions, and unique and common variance over two years in grade cohorts 5 to 6, 7 to 8, and 9 to 10. Participants were 321 students in grade 5 in six elementary schools, 299 students in grade 7 in three middle schools, and 137 students in grades 9 in one high school in Florida. The dimensionality of language measures (vocabulary and syntax) and decoding measures (real word and nonword fluency) was examined using confirmatory factor analysis and related to a reading comprehension factor consisting of state and national tests. Structural relations among language, decoding, and reading comprehension were stable across grade cohorts. The interaction of decoding and language in predicting reading comprehension was significant only in the grade 5 cohort, thereby confirming a multiplicative functional form only in that cohort. Multiple group invariance testing using structural equation modeling allowed results across grade cohorts to be compared, revealing the increasing importance of language over decoding to predicting reading comprehension in the middle and high school cohorts. By high school, language and reading comprehension were essentially one dimension. The contribution of shared variance in language comprehension and decoding in jointly predicting reading comprehension was large in all cohorts. Implications for the Simple View of Reading and for education are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through a subaward to Florida State University from Grant R305F100005 to the Educational Testing Service as part of the Reading for Understanding Initiative. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute, the U.S. Department of Education, the Educational Testing Service, or Florida State University.

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  1. Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, 2010 Levy Ave., Ste. 100, Tallahassee, FL, 32310, USA

    Barbara R. Foorman, Yi-Chieh Wu, Jamie M. Quinn & Yaacov Petscher

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Barbara Foorman, Yi-Chieh Wu, Jamie M. Quinn, and Yaacov Petscher are at the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University.

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Foorman, B.R., Wu, YC., Quinn, J.M. et al. How do latent decoding and language predict latent reading comprehension: across two years in grades 5, 7, and 9?. Read Writ 33, 2281–2309 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-020-10043-3

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