For those who missed last issue's introduction to the Topical Review series, this new monthly feature is designed to provide a continuing series of authoritative reviews on topics of central importance to the field of learning disabilities. While some reviews may focus on basic research on the physiological, cognitive, or social characteristics of learning disabled children, others will examine evidence for the efficacy of various remedial techniques. The present article is a continuation of last month's discussion of individual differences in cognitive processes related to reading. The article contains an excellent presentation of recent research that demonstrates several different ways the ability to use context can influence reading performance.---J.K.T.
The literature on individual differences in cognitive processes that operate at the text level is reviewed. Less-skilled readers display performance deficits on a wide variety of short-term memory tasks, probably due to an inability to efficiently employ various memory strategies, and most certainly due to inadequate phonological coding. Poor readers are not characterized by a general ability to use contextual information to facilitate word recognition. However, situations where such readers fail to utilize context to facilitate ongoing word recognition will arise when their slow and inaccurate decoding of words renders the context useless. Poor readers do display comprehension deficits that are independent of word-decoding skill, due to deficient syntactic abilities and to more general metacognitive strategies. The general conclusions from this review and from Part I are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
1. Mann, V.A.Reading and language skill. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, March 1981.
2.
2. Coomber, J.E.A psycholinguistic analysis of oral reading errors made by good, average, and poor readers (Technical Report No. 232). Wisconsin Research and Development Center, University of Wisconsin, September 1972.
3.
Allington, R.L.Effects of contextual constraints upon rate and accuracy. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1978, 46, 1318.
4.
Allington, R.L., & Fleming, J.T.The misreading of high-frequency words. Journal of Special Education, 1978, 12, 417–421.
5.
Allington, R.L., & Strange, M.Effects of grapheme substitutions in connected text upon reading behaviors. Visible Language, 1977, 11, 285–297.
6.
Andolina, C.Syntactic maturity and vocabulary richness of learning disabled children at four age levels. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1980, 13, 372–377.
7.
Bauer, R.H.Memory processes in children with learning disabilities: Evidence for deficient rehearsal. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1977, 24, 415–430.
8.
Bauer, R.H.Memory, acquisition, and category clustering in learning-disabled children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1979, 27, 365–383.
9.
Berger, N.S.Why can't John read? Perhaps he's not a good listener. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1978, 11, 633–638.
10.
Bickley, A. C., Ellington, B.J., & Bickley, R.T.The cloze procedure: A conspectus. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1970, 2, 232–249.
11.
Biemiller, A.The development of the use of graphic and contextual information as children learn to read. Reading Research Quarterly, 1970, 6, 75–96.
12.
Biemiller, A.Relationship between oral reading rates for letters, words, and simple text in the development of reading achievement. Reading Research Quarterly, 1977-1978, 13, 223–253.
13.
Biemiller, A.Changes in the use of graphic and contextual information as functions of passage difficulty and reading achievement level. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1979, 11, 307–319.
14.
Brady, S., Shankweiler, D., & Mann, V.Speech perception and memory coding in relation to reading ability. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1982, in press.
15.
Bransford, J.D., & Johnson, M.K.Consideration of some problems in comprehension. In W.G. Chase (Ed.), Visual Information Processing. New York: Academic Press, 1973.
16.
Bransford, J.D., Stein, B.S., & Vye, N.J.Helping students learn how to learn from written texts. In M. Singer (Ed.), Competent Reader, Disabled Reader: Research and Application. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates, 1982.
17.
Brown, A.L.Metacognition: The development of selective attention strategies for learning from texts. In M. Kamil (Ed.), 30th Yearbook of the National Reading Conference. Clemson, N.C.: National Reading Conference, 1981.
18.
Byrne, B.Deficient syntactic control in poor readers: Is a weak phonetic memory code responsible?Applied Psycholinguistics, 1981, 2, 201–212. (a)
19.
Byrne, B.Reading disability, linguistic access and short-term memory: Comments prompted by Jorm's review of developmental dyslexia. Australian Journal of Psychology, 1981, 33, 83–105. (b)
20.
Byrne, B., & Shea, P.Semantic and phonetic memory codes in beginning readers. Memory & Cognition, 1979, 7, 333–338.
21.
Carver, R.P., & Hoffman, J.V.The effect of practice through repeated reading on gain in reading ability using a computer-based instructional system. Reading Research Quarterly, 1981, 16, 374–390.
22.
Cohen, R.L., & Netley, C.Short-term memory deficits in reading disabled children, in the absence of opportunity for rehearsal strategies. Intelligence, 1981, 5, 69–76.
23.
Cromer, W.The difference model: A new explanation for some reading difficulties. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1970, 61, 471–483.
24.
Cummings, E.M., & Faw, T.T.Short-term memory and equivalence judgments in normal and retarded readers. Child Development, 1976, 47, 286–289.
25.
Curtis, M.E.Development of components of reading skill. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1980, 72, 656–669.
26.
Daneman, M., & Carpenter, P.A.Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1980, 19, 450–466.
27.
DiVesta, F.J., Hayward, K.G., & Orlando, V.P.Developmental trends in monitoring text for comprehension. Child Development, 1979, 50, 97–105.
28.
Doehring, D.G.Acquisition of rapid reading responses. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1976, 42 (2. Serial No. 165).
29.
Downing, J.Learning to read with understanding. In C.M. McCullough (Ed.), Persistent Problems in Reading Education. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 1980.
30.
Eeds, M.What to do when they don't understand what they read—research based strategies for teaching reading comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 1981, 34, 565–571.
31.
Ehrlich, S.F.Children's word recognition in prose context. Visible Language, 1981, 15, 219–244.
32.
Fletcher, J.M., Satz, P., & Scholes, R.J.Developmental changes in the linguistic performance correlates of reading achievement. Brain and Language, 1981, 13, 78–90.
33.
Garner, R., & Reis, R.Monitoring and resolving comprehension obstacles: An investigation of spontaneous text lookbacks among upper-grade good and poor comprehenders. Reading Research Quarterly, 1981, 16, 569–582.
34.
Godfrey, J.J., Syrdal-Laksy, A.K., Millay, K.K., & Knox, C.M.Performance of dyslexic children on speech perception tests. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1981, 32, 401–424.
35.
Goldman, S.R., Hogaboam, T.W., Bell, L.C., & Perfetti, C.A.Short term retention of discourse during reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1980, 72, 647–655.
36.
Guthrie, J.T.Reading comprehension and syntactic responses in good and poor readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1973, 65, 294–299.
37.
Guthrie, J.T., & Tyler, S.J.Psycholinguistic processing in reading listening among good and poor readers. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1976, 8, 415–426.
38.
Hansen, J.The effects of inference training and practice on young children's reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 1981, 16, 391–417.
39.
Holmes, D.K., & McKeever, W.F.Material specific serial memory deficit in adolescent dyslexics Cortex, 1979, 15, 51–62.
40.
Hulme, C.The effects of manual training on memory in normal and retarded readers: Some implications for multi-sensory teaching. Psychological Research, 1981, 43, 179–191.
41.
Jackson, M.D.Further evidence for a relationship between memory access and reading abilityJournal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior1980, 19, 683–694.
42.
Jackson, M., & McClelland, J.L.Processing determinants of reading speed. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1979, 108, 151–181.
43.
Jenkins, J.R., & Party, D.Instructional variables in reading comprehension. In J.T. Guthrie (Ed.), Comprehension and Teaching. Newarb, Del.: International Reading Association.
44.
Juel, C.Comparison of word identification strategies with varying context, word type, and reade skill. Reading Research Quarterly, 1980, 15.
45.
Katz, R.B., Shankweiler, D., & Liberman, I.YMemory for item order and phonetic recoding in the beginning reader. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1981, 32, 474–484.
46.
Kintsch, W.Concerning the marriage of research and practice in beginning reading instruction. In L.B. Resnick & P. Weaver (Eds.). Theory and Practice of Early Reading. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates, 1979.
47.
Lachman, R., Lachman, J., & Butterfield, E.Cognitive Psychology and Information Processing: An Introduction. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1979.
48.
Levin, J.R.Inducing comprehension in poor readers: A test of a recent model. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1973, 65, 19–24.
49.
Linden, M., & Wittrock, M.C.The teaching of reading comprehension according to the model of generative learning. Reading Research Quarterly, 1981, 17, 44–57.
50.
Manis, F.R., & Morrison, F.J.Processing of identity and position information in normal and disabled readers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1982, 33, 74–86.
51.
Mann, V.A., Liberman, I.Y., & Shankweiler, D.Children's memory for sentences and word strings in relation to reading ability. Memory & Cognition, 1980, 8, 329–335.
52.
McClure, J., Kalk, M., & Keenan, V.Use of grammatical morphemes by beginning readers. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1980, 13, 262–267.
53.
Menyuk, P., & Flood, J.Linguistic competence, reading, writing problems and remediation. Bulletin of the Orton Society, 1981, 31, 13–28.
54.
Merrill, E.C., Sperber, R.D., & McCauley. C.Differences in semantic encoding as a function of reading comprehension skill. Memory & Cognition, 1981, 9, 618–624.
55.
Meyer, B.J.F., Brandt, D.M., & Bluth, G.J.Use of top-level structure in text: Key for reading comprehension of ninth-grade students. Reading Research Quarterly, 1980, 16, 72–103.
56.
Mitchell, D.C.The Process of Reading. Chichester: John Wiley, 1982.
57.
Newman, D.S., & Hagen. J.W.Memory strategies in children with learning disabilities. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 1981, 1, 297–312.
58.
Paris, S.G.Comprehension monitoring, memory, and study strategies of good and poor readers. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1981, 13, 5–22.
59.
Pearson, P.D., & Camperell, K.Comprehension of text structures. In J.T. Guthrie (Ed.). Comprehension and Teaching. Newark, Del.: International Reading Association, 1981.
60.
Perfetti, C.A., Goldman, S.R., & Hogaboam, T.W.Reading skill and the identification of words in discourse context. Memory & Cognition, 1979, 7, 273–282.
61.
Perfetti, C.A., & Hogaboam, T.Relationship between single word decoding and reading comprehension skill. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1975, 67, 461–469.
62.
Perfetti, C.A., & Lesgold, A.M.Discourse comprehension and sources of individual differences. In M. Just & P. Carpenter (Eds.). Cognitive Processes in Comprehension. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates, 1977.
63.
Perfetti, C.A., & Lesgold, A.M.Coding and comprehension in skilled reading and implications for reading instruction. In L.B. Resnick & P. Weaver (Eds.), Theory and Practice of Early Reading. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates, 1979.
64.
Perfetti, C.A., & Roth, S.Some of the interactive processes in reading and their role in reading skill. In A. Lesgold & C. Perfetti (Eds.), Interactive Processes in Reading. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates, 1981.
65.
Ruddell, R.B.The effect of similarity of oral and written patterns of language structure on reading comprehension. Elementary English, 1965, 42, 403–410.
66.
Schvaneveldt, R., Ackerman, B.P., & Semlear, T.The effect of semantic context on children's word recognition. Child Development, 1977, 48, 612–616.
67.
Schwantes, F.M.Effect of story context on children's ongoing word recognition. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1981, 13, 305–311.
68.
Schwantes, F.M., Boesl, S.L., & Ritz, E.G.Children's use of context in word recognition: A psycholinguistic guessing game. Child Development, 1980, 51, 730–736.
69.
Schwartz. R.M., & Stanovich, K.E.Flexibility in the use of graphic and contextual information by good and poor readers. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1981, 13, 263–269.
70.
Semel, E.M., & Wiig, E.H.Comprehension of syntactic structures and critical verbal elements by children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1975, 8, 53–58.
71.
Shankweiler, D., Liberman, I.Y., Mark, L.S., Fowler, C.A., & Fischer, F.W.The speech code and learning to read. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 1979, 5, 531–545.
72.
Simpson, G.B., Lorsbach, T.C., & Whitehouse, T.Encoding and contextual components of word recognition in good and poor readers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1982, in press.
73.
Singer, M.H., & Crouse J.The relationship of context-use skills to reading: A case for an alternative experimental logic. Child Development, 1981, 52, 1326–1329.
74.
Singer, H., & Donlan. D.Active comprehension: Problem-solving schema with question generation for comprehension of complex short stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 1982, 17, 166–186.
75.
Smiley, S., Oakley, D., Worthen, D., Compione, J., & Brown, A.Recall of thematically relevant material by adolescent good and poor readers as a function of written versus oral presentation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1977, 69, 381-387
76.
Smith, F.Understanding Reading. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978.
77.
Stanovich, K.E.Toward an interactive-compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 1980, 16, 32–71.
78.
Stanovich, K.E.Word recognition skill and reading ability. In M. Singer (Ed.), Competent Reader, Disabled Reader: Research and Application. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates, 1982.
79.
Stanovich, K.E., West. R.F., & Feeman, D.J.A longitudinal study of sentence context effects in second-grade children: Tests of an interactive compensatory model. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1981, 32, 185–199.
80.
Sticht, T.G.Applications of the audread model to reading evaluation and instruction. In L.B. Resnick & P. Weaver (Eds.), Theory and Practice of early reading. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates, 1979.
81.
Strange, M.The effect of orthographic anomalies upon reading behavior. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1979, 11, 153–161.
82.
Swanson, L.Verbal encoding effects on the visual short-term memory of learning disabled and normal readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1978, 70, 539–544.
83.
Tarver, S.G., Hallahan, D.P., Kauffman, J.M., & Ball, D.W.Verbal rehearsal and selective attention in children with learning disabilities: A developmental lag. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1976, 22, 375–385.
84.
Torgesen, J.K.Memorization processes in reading disabled children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1977, 69, 571–578.
85.
Torgesen, J.K.Performance of reading disabled children on serial memory tasks. Reading Research Quarterly, 1978-1979, 14, 57–87.
86.
Torgesen, J.K., & Goldman, T.Verbal rehearsal and short-term memory in reading-disabled children. Child Development, 1977, 48, 56–60.
87.
Vellutino F.R.Dyslexia: Theory and Research. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1979.
88.
Vogel, S.A.Syntactic abilities in normal and dyslexic children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1974, 7, 103–109.
89.
Weber, R.M.First graders' use of grammatical context in reading. In H. Levin & Williams (Eds.). Basic Studies in Reading. New York: Basic Books, 1970.
90.
West, R.F., & Stanovich, K.E.Automatic contextual facilitation in readers of three ages. Child Development, 1978, 49, 717–727.
91.
Whaley, J.F., & Kibby, M.W.The relative importance of reliance on intraword characteristics and interword constraints for beggining reading achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 1981, 74, 315–320.
92.
White, C.V., Pascarella, E.T., & Pflaum, S.W.Effects of training in sentence construction on the comprehension of learning disabled children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1981, 73, 697–704.
93.
Wilkinson, A.C.Children's understanding in reading and listening. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1980, 72, 561–574.
