Empirical research has systematically demonstrated the predictive role of reading, linguistic and metacognitive skills on reading comprehension performance. The study of the directionality of these relations and their relative contribution in the more advanced grades of primary school is an important aim for reading research, with practical…

Purpose: The study explored the distinct contributions of domain-general, behavioral, and reading-specific executive function to reading comprehension, and whether reading fluency and vocabulary moderate or mediate the relations between executive function and reading comprehension. Method: Data were collected from 129 4th and 5th graders (35.66%,…

Background: South Africa's PIRLS 2021 outcomes revealed that learners struggle with comprehension. The reasons for poor reading need to be identified and addressed to stem this challenge. Aim: This study assessed Sesotho Grade 4 learners' knowledge of simple and complex letter sounds, their oral reading fluency and the relationship to their oral…

Previous studies uncover that vocabulary knowledge may be related to compound structure awareness (the awareness of relational structure embedded in compound words), and they both contribute to reading comprehension. Yet, limited studies have examined the dynamic relationship between vocabulary knowledge and compound structure awareness, or their…

This study investigated the word reading and listening comprehension difficulties of fourth-grade students with significant reading comprehension deficits and the cognitive difficulties that underlie these weaknesses. Latent profile analysis was used to classify a sample of fourth-grade students (n = 446) who scored below the 16th percentile on a…

Background: Although Zimbabwe has performed quite well on Grade 6 SACMEQ literacy assessments compared to other African countries, reading levels are generally low and there is little research on reading literacy in Zimbabwean primary schools. Aim: Grade 3 and 4 learners' reading comprehension (RC), accuracy and speed in oral reading fluency (ORF)…

The relationship between reading comprehension and reading fluency for linguistically diverse learners continues to be a topic of education research. The problem is third and fourth-grade second-language learners possess adequate reading fluency skills but demonstrate distinct reading comprehension difficulties compared to native English-speaking…

Several cross-linguistic studies found that oral reading prosody (i.e., prosodic variations in reading aloud) correlates with reading comprehension. As an extension, the present study aimed to examine the relationship between oral reading prosody and beyond word-level reading abilities in tone languages like Mandarin. One hundred and nine…

Research has established that reading and writing skills are closely linked for most individuals, which can be explained by the shared knowledge and functional relations theoretical perspectives. The current study used quantile regression to explore differences between and within Grades 3-5 in the United States in the associations between a…

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the reading comprehension program prepared for primary school fourth grade students on students' reading comprehension skills. In this context, students' attitudes toward reading, reading motivation, fluent reading skills and reading comprehension strategies were considered in the study. The…

Purpose: This longitudinal study examined the contribution of preschool morphological awareness to word reading skills and reading comprehension, as well as to the developmental change of reading ability beyond other well-established oral language and cognitive predictors. A distinction was made between the domains of inflectional and derivational…

Up until third grade, reading instruction is focused on learning to read, while in fourth grade and up, students begin reading to learn (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2024; Grunke et al., 2013). This reading with purpose includes increasing critical thinking skills and using newfound reading skills to understand complex subjects such as math and…

Research has widely demonstrated the contribution of word reading, listening comprehension skills, and oral reading fluency to reading comprehension performance. However, the existence of reciprocal relations among these skills has been investigated less frequently. The authors examined the directionality of the relations among reading…

Background: According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS, 2006 with 87%, 2011 with 82%, 2016 with 78%, 2021 with 81%), an international reading comprehension assessment conducted at the Grade 4 level, South African learners perform very poorly in reading comprehension, even when reading in their African home languages.…

Background: Cognitive and linguistic factors have been incorporated into models to explain reading comprehension beyond classical models of reading. This study explores the contribution of executive functions, mainly domain-general and reading-specific cognitive flexibility, in reading comprehension of science texts in monolingual Spanish speaking…