A1 Journal article (refereed)
How Are Practice and Performance Related? Development of Reading From Age 5 to 15 (2021)
van Bergen, E., Vasalampi, K., & Torppa, M. (2021). How Are Practice and Performance Related? Development of Reading From Age 5 to 15. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(3), 415-434. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.309
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: van Bergen, Elsje; Vasalampi, Kati; Torppa, Minna
Journal or series: Reading Research Quarterly
ISSN: 1936-2722
eISSN: 0034-0553
Publication year: 2021
Volume: 56
Issue number: 3
Pages range: 415-434
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Publication country: United States
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.309
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/68400
Abstract
Does reading a lot lead to better reading skills, or does reading a lot follow from high initial reading skills? The authors present a longitudinal study of how much children choose to read and how well they decode and comprehend texts. This is the first study to examine the codevelopment of print exposure with both fluency and comprehension throughout childhood using autocorrelations. Print exposure was operationalized as children’s amount of independent reading for pleasure. Two hundred children were followed from age 5 to age 15. Print exposure was assessed at ages 5, 7, 8, 9, and 13. Prereading skills were tested at age 5 and reading skills at ages 7, 8, 9, 14, and 15 (the latter with the Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA]). Before children learned to read (i.e., age 5), prereading skills and print exposure were not linked. Path analyses showed that children’s print exposure and reading skills reciprocally influence each other. During the early school years, the effects run from reading fluency to comprehension and print exposure, so from skills to amount. The effect of accumulated practice only emerged in adolescence. Reading fluency, comprehension, and print exposure were all important predictors of age 15 PISA reading comprehension. These findings were largely confirmed by post hoc models with random intercepts. Because foundational reading skills predicted changes in later reading comprehension and print exposure, the authors speculate that intervening decoding difficulties may positively impact exposure to and comprehension of texts. How much children read seems to matter most after the shift from learning to read to reading to learn.
Keywords: reading; literacy; reading comprehension; fluency; children (age groups); reading as recreation; motivation (mental objects); committing oneself; attitudes; children's literature; longitudinal research
Free keywords: decoding; comprehension; motivation/engagement; fluency; developmental theories; attitudes; children’s literature; emergent literacy; longitudinal analysis; path analysis
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Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2021
JUFO rating: 2