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Text complexity in elementary classrooms is typically measured by traditional readability tools, which rely on surface-level measures of word and sentence complexity. Theoretical and empirical work on text complexity, however, indicates that additional measures of semantics, syntax, and discourse structure may be equally important for understanding how young children process texts. This study evaluated the components of two available text analysis tools representing different generations of readability: the Lexile Framework and the Coh-Metrix Text Easability Assessor. Using multilevel modeling, informational passage readings were nested in 5133 second-grade children in 459 schools to identify text variables that predicted changes in oral reading rate. Coh-Metrix dimensions of word concreteness, referential cohesion, and deep cohesion were uniquely associated with oral reading rate after controlling for traditional readability components. A full model including both the Lexile components and three Coh-Metrix dimensions provided the best fit to the data. Results suggest that measures of semantic complexity and text cohesion are needed to improve prediction of text difficulty for young readers and better inform text selection in the early grades. Implications for policy and practice under the Common Core State Standards, which emphasize reading complex texts across the gradespan, are discussed.

This quasi-experimental study aims to investigate the effects of Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), Assisted Repeated Reading (ARR), and Traditional Reading (TR) instructions integrated into an EFL reading program on EFL reading comprehension, silent reading rate, reading motivation, and attitudes toward EFL reading, by also addressing the potential effect of proficiency level. Adopting a mixed-method pretest-posttest research design, this 10-week study was conducted with mixed-proficiency university-level Turkish EFL learners divided into three experimental groups. A method incorporating 150-minute SSR or ARR instructions into the 150-minute intensive reading instruction in two groups was implemented, as compared against a TR group that received 300-minute traditional intensive reading instruction weekly. Data came from a reading comprehension and rate test, reading motivation questionnaire, participant reflections, and interviews. Findings indicated that SSR yielded significant benefits for reading comprehension of both low and high-proficiency participants. Moreover, SSR and ARR showed positive effects on intrinsic reading motivation, whereas TR contributed slightly to extrinsic reading motivation. Regarding the possible effect of proficiency, while SSR yielded more advantages for higher-proficiency learners, ARR and TR were comparatively more beneficial for lower-proficiency learners. Implications for pedagogy and future research for university-level EFL reading classes are discussed.

The study attempts to examine and diagnose Korean EFL high school students' English reading fluency using an informal reading inventory (IRI). In performing IRI reading tasks, 68 eleventh grade high school students were asked to read aloud the graded texts across 14 levels and answer the reading comprehension questions. As a result of the IRI administration, the data of the 68 students' oral reading fluency levels, word reading accuracy, decoding errors, and oral reading rate were collected. The results revealed that the students' ORF levels are widely dispersed. Notably, about 40 percent of the students seemed to be able to read the text of Levels 2 and 3 independently, while approximately 50 percent of the students showed a frustration level in reading at Levels 3 through 5. Besides, less variability was demonstrated in word reading accuracy except for the lower fluency group. The reading rates were found to increase as the participants' reading levels were higher despite the fact that there exists a significant difference in reading rate within and across the three reading fluency groups. These findings shed light on different aspects of L2 learners' reading development and allow us to draw pedagogical implications in the Korean EFL context.

In this article, a three-phase mixed-methods study was conducted to investigate timed reading effects on Chinese university students’ English as a foreign language (EFL) reading rate. First, two equivalent reading rate tests were designed and validated with 30 participants. Second, 81 university students from two intact classes participated in the main study. Quantitative analyses revealed that the timed reading group made significantly greater improvement in reading rate than the comparison group, while both groups progressed significantly in reading rate. Third, semi-structured interviews with 14 participants from the treatment group were conducted to investigate students’ perceptions of the effects of the timed reading approach. Despite some positive comments, some negative effects were identified. The findings shed new light on the implementation of timed reading instructions.

This study includes an evaluation, according to age, of the reading and global motion perception developmental trajectories of 2027 school age children in typical stages of development. Reading is assessed using the reading rate score test, for which all of the student participants, regardless of age, received the same passage of text of a medium difficulty reading level. The coherent motion perception threshold is determined according to the adaptive psychophysical protocol based on a four-alternative, forced-choice procedure. Three different dot velocities: 2, 5, and 8 deg/s were used for both assemblies of coherent or randomly moving dots. Reading rate score test results exhibit a wide dispersion across all age groups, so much so that the outlier data overlap, for both the 8 and 18-year-old student-participant age groups. Latvian children's reading fluency developmental trajectories reach maturation at 12–13 years of age. After the age of 13, reading rate scores increase slowly; however, the linear regression slope is different from zero and positive: F(1, 827)=45.3; p<0.0001. One hundred eighty-one student-participants having results below the 10th percentile were classified as weak readers in our study group. The reading fluency developmental trajectory of this particular group of student-participants does not exhibit any statistically significant saturation until the age of 18 years old. Coherent motion detection thresholds decrease with age and do not reach saturation. Tests with slower moving dots (2 deg/s) yield results that exhibit significant differences between strong and weak readers.

Purpose: To investigate visual performance during reading under different illumination sources. Methods: This experimental quantitative study included 40 (20 females and 20 males) emmetropic participants with no history of ocular pathology. The participants were randomly assigned to read a near visual task under four different illuminations (400-lux constant): compact fluorescent light (CFL), tungsten light (TUNG), fluorescent tube light (FLUO), and light emitting diode (LED). Subsequently, we evaluated the participants' experiences of eight symptoms of visual comfort. Results: The mean age of the participants was 19.86 ± 1.09 (range: 18-21) years. There was no statistically significant difference between the reading rates of males and females under the different illuminations (P = 0.99); however, the reading rate was fastest among males under CFL, and among females under FLUO. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a strong significant difference (P = 0.001) between males and females (P = 0.002) regarding the visual performance and illuminations. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the influence of illumination on reading rate; there were no significant differences between males and females under different illuminations, however, males preferred CFL and females preferred FLUO for faster reading and visual comfort. Interestingly, neither preferred LED or TUNG. Although energy-efficient, visual performance under LED is poor; it is uncomfortable for prolonged reading and causes early symptoms of fatigue.

The present work reviews the current knowledge of the development of reading prosody, or reading aloud with expression, in young children. Prosody comprises the variables of timing, phrasing, emphasis and intonation that speakers use to convey meaning. We detail the subjective rating scales proposed as a means of assessing performance in young readers and the objective features of each as markers of progress. Finally, we review studies that have explored the intricate relations between automaticity, prosody and comprehension.

This study examined how well elementary students’ performance on a set of commonly-used reading assessments conformed to a model of automatic print processing. The assessments included measures of word recognition-untimed, word recognition-timed, oral reading accuracy, oral reading rate, silent reading rate, and spelling. The proposed print-processing model, based on the work of Perfetti ( 1992 ) and Share ( 1995 ), held that contextual reading accuracy is directly related to automatized word knowledge which is directly related to reading rate. Structural equation modeling showed that the performance data had an acceptable fit to the proposed model and to a second, post hoc model in which automatic word recognition is directly related to contextual reading accuracy. However, additional regression analyses tended to favor the initial model. Because the six print-processing components in this study proved to be reliable and related, and because two of the components (word recognition–timed and spelling) are seldom used in conventional reading assessments, the results have important implications for practice.

A comparison reading performance was done between 8 students who are using Braille and 14 students who are using enlarged print to read. Reading performance was determined using reading rate (words per minute, wpm). Reading rate results showed no significant difference (p>0.05) between those using the Braille (16.62±11.61 wpm) and those using the enlarged print (27.21±24.89 wpm). This study has shown that Braille reader students read at lower reading rate compared to print reader students with visual impairment.

An individual diagnosed with dyslexia in childhood typically remains dyslexic throughout his/her life. However, the cognitive profile of adults with dyslexia has been less explored than that of children. This meta-analytic study is intended to clarify three questions: (1) To what extent, and in what manner, do adults with reading difficulties (dyslexia) differ from typical adult readers in measures of reading and writing competence and related cognitive skills?; (2) To what extent do speed measures pose a greater challenge than accuracy measures in an adult population that has already had years of print exposure?; and (3) To what extent does orthographic transparency modulate the reading profile of adults with dyslexia? A total of 178 studies comparing adults with dyslexia and matched controls were reviewed. The results showed that adults with dyslexia exhibited poor performance on almost all reading and writing tasks expressed by very large effect sizes (range 1.735  ≤ d ≤  2.034), except for reading comprehension ( d  = 0.729). Deficits in reading- and writing-related variables are also present but with a lower expression (range 0.591  ≤ d ≤  1.295). These difficulties are exacerbated for speed measures, especially for word and pseudoword reading, phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge. Orthographic transparency proved to be a significant moderator of dyslexic deficits in word and pseudoword reading, reading comprehension, spelling and phonological awareness, with the expression of the deficits being weaker on transparent—as opposed to intermediate and opaque—orthographies. Overall, the meta-analysis shows that reading and writing difficulties persist in adulthood and are more pronounced in speed measures. Moreover, symptoms are more severe for reading and writing than they are for measures tapping into the cognitive processes underlying reading skills. Orthographic transparency has a significant effect on the manifestation of dyslexia, with dyslexia symptoms being less marked on transparent orthographies. In addition, phonological awareness seems to be a minor problem in adulthood, especially for transparent orthographies.