Studies investigating individual differences in reading ability often involve data sets containing a large number of collinear predictors and a small number of observations. In this article, we discuss the method of Random Forests and demonstrate its suitability for addressing the statistical concerns raised by such data sets. The method is…

Theoretical and computational models of reading have traditionally been informed by specific characteristics of disabled readers. One of the most frequently studied marker effects of developmental dyslexia is the nonword-reading deficit. Disabled readers are generally believed to show a specific problem in reading nonwords. This study presents a…

This study examined the effects of assisted-repeated reading on four first-grade students whose reading ability varied (a special education student, a non-classified poor reader, an English Language Learner (ELL) student, and a general education student) to determine if an assisted-repeated reading intervention is differentially effective for…

The purpose of this paper is to present a developmental model of reading that encompasses changes across the lifespan. The author contends that until we adopt this lifelong perspective, we continue to run the risk of turning out undeveloped, unmotivated, and uncritical readers unable to fulfill their responsibilities within a democratic society.…

Addresses the question of the relative contributions of surface word forms and root morphemes in word representation and recognition. (FL)

Compares explanations of letter-detection errors in the word "the" based on the unitization hypothesis (errors occur because the word is processed as a whole unit, and lower order processes are not completed) to the structural model of reading (errors occur because the syntactic function of the word pulls attention away from this word).…

In attempts to understand the process of literacy acquisition, many researchers have devised models of reading. The basic elements of most reading acquisition models include word, or print knowledge and comprehension. The inadequacy and global nature of the conversational model of language proficiency provide impetus for C.E. Snow's development of…

Examines and rejects two traditional assumptions about fluent reading: that identification of letters is necessary to identify words; and that identification of words is necessary to comprehend. Proposes that identification and comprehension are two separate tasks and that a reader comprehends because he reads for meaning in the first place. (MB)

Presents case study of 40-month-old girl with word reading age of 8.5 years, focusing on her phoneme awareness, productive spelling, and phonological recoding. Concludes that her phonological recoding was an implicit process based on sublexical relations induced from her lexical representations rather than explicitly taught letter-sound…

Latent class modeling procedures were used in exploratory and confirmatory analyses of the prerequisite relations among five types of text-based inference question tasks for good and poor sixth-grade readers. All tasks types provided separate manifestations of the same underlying attribute for both good and poor readers. (Author/BS)

Four experiments tested the self-teaching hypothesis of word learning. Findings indicated that: (1) minimizing phonological processing significantly attenuated orthographic learning; (2) reduced orthographic learning was not attributable to alternative factors; and (3) contribution of pure visual exposure to orthographic learning is marginal. It…

The first section of this two-part collection of articles contains six papers and their discussions read at a symposium on Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. The papers cover the linguistic, perceptual, and cognitive components involved in reading. The models attempt to integrate the variables that influence the perception, recognition,…

The primary goal of the conference panel on modeling the reading process was to prepare a programatically related set of suggestions which could lead to a clearer account of reading and to an ability to pose successively better research questions. This panel report contains sections on the development of a model for word recognition during…

A 2-year longitudinal study investigated the causal contributions of phonological processing to early reading competency. Subjects, 161 kindergarten children, were tested with a battery of measures assessing letter knowledge, reading ability, and 5 phonological constructs: rapid naming ability, rhyming ability, phonological memory (successive…