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Resumen La comprensión lectora resulta fundamental en la vida escolar de los niños, dado que constituye el principal mecanismo para la adquisición de nuevos conocimientos. Distintos estudios han analizado la relación entre la comprensión lectora, las habilidades lingüísticas y el nivel lector de los sujetos. Sin embargo, resulta importante para el estudio del procesamiento textual, atender también al tipo de estructura de los textos. El presente trabajo se propone comparar el desempeño de un grupo de niños hispanohablantes en comprensión oral y escrita de dos tipos textuales distintos: narrativos y expositivos. Para ello, se evaluó a un grupo de 32 niños de 4to grado de una escuela primaria del conurbano bonaerense argentino mediante pruebas de comprensión oral y escrita de textos narrativos y expositivos. Además, se administró una prueba de vocabulario y de precisión y velocidad en la lectura de palabras. Los resultados señalaron la existencia de correlaciones entre la comprensión oral y escrita de los dos tipos textuales evaluados, y entre el desempeño en comprensión oral y escrita y el nivel de vocabulario de los niños. El análisis comparativo entre modalidades de presentación señaló un desempeño significativamente superior en la comprensión de textos narrativos orales frente a los escritos. Esta diferencia no se trasladó a los textos expositivos en los cuales los niños obtuvieron desempeños bajos, en ambas modalidades. Los datos obtenidos sugieren que los textos expositivos presentan un formato con características específicas que complejizan la comprensión de los niños más allá del soporte en el cual se presenten.
Abstract Reading comprehension is the ability to create a mental representation of a written text. It constitutes the main mechanism through children incorporate new knowledge at school age. Reading comprehension achievement has been systematically associated with oral comprehension and reading rate. Furthermore, both oral and reading comprehension has been related to inferences generation and different linguistic abilities, like vocabulary and syntax processing. In the case of text comprehension, also orthographic recognition of written words plays a fundamental role and, for that reason, reading comprehension would be a greater challenge than oral comprehension for early readers. Indeed, word recognition during reading is essential for text meaning construction. It is well known that a slow and laborious reading mechanism would overload cognitive processing and that reading automaticity is essential to carry out text processing. Longitudinal studies realized in different orthographies indicated that reading rate was the variable that had greatest impact on reading comprehension in early readers. In studies carried out in shallow orthographies, it was also observed that reading performance have an important impact on reading comprehension measure after 3 to 5 years of instruction. However, although impact of reading skills and oral comprehension mechanisms on reading comprehension has been reported in several studies, there is another important factor to consider: text structure. Studies propose that children tend to understand "narrative schemas" more easily since they are exposed to this type of text from a very early age. Likewise, all narrative texts present, in general, the same type of structure, respect temporal sequence of events and focus on story characters, their actions and motivations. In contrast, expository texts present new information to children, are oriented to a specific topic, contain less familiar and more technical vocabulary and a higher level of abstraction. This type of structure presents numerous cohesive connections and greater propositional density than narrative texts. The present study aims to compare listening and reading comprehension of narrative and expository text. For this, a group of 32 4th graders was evaluated in oral and reading comprehension of narrative and expository texts. In reading comprehension test, children read narrative and expository texts and then orally answered a series of questions. In oral comprehension, both narrative and expository texts were read aloud to children and then they answered questions about the texts orally. Vocabulary and reading rate were also measured. Data analysis shows correlations between oral comprehension and vocabulary. Reading comprehension were associated to vocabulary, oral comprehension and reading rate. Results suggest that oral and reading comprehension are associated with different linguistic skills and to each support access skills. In comprehension test, measures show higher performance in narrative oral comprehension texts when compared to reading comprehension. This result could be related to children reading rate. In fact, reading performance shows that children were "slow readers" according to the reading tests scales used in this study. Difference between oral and written comprehension in narrative texts, was not transferred to expository. In this type of texts children had low scores, without significant differences, in oral and reading comprehension. Results suggested that expository structures challenge children comprehension in both, oral and written modality. It is suggested that different types of expository texts difficult hierarchization of information that allows, in turn, the construction of text mental representation. Data of this study suggest the importance of establish interventions that allow children to improv text processing for access higher levels of comprehension in different textual structures. Furthermore, it is necessary in educational practices to expose children to expository structures from an early age. On the other hand, it is necessary to rethink reading instruction methods that originate low reading performance.
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Objective: This study was done to investigate the repeatability measurements in reading rate using the Universiti Teknologi MARA Malay related words (UiTM-Mrw) reading chart and Universiti Teknologi MARA Malay unrelated words (UiTM-Muw) reading chart. Methodology: Thirty normally sighted participants were randomly recruited through randomised sampling (mean age =21.5±1.1 years). Participants were instructed to read aloud, clearly and as quickly as possible at 2 different sessions using two different charts. The two charts were selected at random sequence. A minimum of 7 days interval was used to minimizethe learning affect. The time taken to read each chart was recorded and any errors while reading was noted. Reading performance was quantified as reading rate in words per minute (wpm). Results: Comparison of reading rate between session 1 and session 2 was not significantly different(p=0.894, df=1, F=0.018) for UiTM-Mrw reading chart. The reading rate between session 1 and 2 also showed no significant difference (p=0.99, df=1, F=2.811) in UiTM-Muw reading chart. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) showed a good consistency in repeatability for both UiTM-Mrw reading chart and UiTM-Muw reading chart with ICC values of 0.849 and 0.814 respectively. The Bland and Altman plot between measurement of reading rate in session 1 and session 2 showed a good agreement in UiTM-Mrw reading chart and UiTM-Muw reading chart. Conclusion: Both UiTM-Mrw reading chart and UiTM-Mur reading chart showed a good consistency and good agreement in repeated measurement of reading rate.
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A Malay Language Related Reading Text Test was developed to assess reading performance among primary school children. One hundred and twenty normally sighted primary school children were randomly selected from year 2 and 3 (mean age 8.5 ± 0.5 years) and year 4 and 5 (mean age 10.5 ± 0.5 years). Subjects were asked to read all fi ve reading text aloud, correctly and according to their usual reading speed in random order. Time to complete each reading paragraph was recorded and any error or guessing was noted. Reading speed and reading rate were measure as word per minute (wpm). The mean reading speed for grade 1 was 88.81 ± 1.95 (SE) wpm and the reading rate was 87.20 ± 1.98 (SE) wpm. For grade 2, reading speed was 108.12 ± 1.66 (SE) wpm while reading rate was 107.22± 1.67 (SE) wpm. Reading speed and reading rate among subjects were not signifi cantly different (p > 0.05) either for grade 1 or 2 with p value 0.91 and 0.57 respectively. Comparison between each text also showed that there was no signifi cant different (p > 0.05). All texts that were developed were statistically homogenous indicating that the reading texts test can be use in random order and will not affect the reading assessment in primary school children.
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Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of visual training aimed at reducing crowding in dyslexic children. Study Design: Single-masked crossover pilot study. Place and Duration of Study: University of Turin and the Gradenigo Hospital, Department of Ophthalmology, Turin, between January and November 2013. Methodology: 15 dyslexic children underwent a visual training devised to reduce crowding. Patients were asked to recognize trigrams of letters with different spacing displayed at different eccentricities on both sides of the fixation point. As a placebo half of the sample was administered a contrast sensitivity test. Average reading rate for words and non-words with different interletter spacing was measured before and after the visual training and the placebo. The sample was divided into two subgroup: G1, who was first administered the training, and G2, who underwent first the placebo trial. Results: After the training in G1 reading rate for words increased from 1.54 syl/sec (±0.60) to 1.74 syl/sec (± 0.64) (P= .001). Reading rate for non-words improved from 0.94 (0.68-1.55) syl/sec to 1.03 (0.85-1.63) syl/sec. No significant improvement was found after the administration of the placebo (T2) when testing words and non-words Analysis of variance showed a significant placebo x treatment effect for words (P= .001) and a barely significant effect for non-words (P= .05). In G2 no significant improvement was found after the placebo both at words and non-words (from 1.69 syl/sec [±0.83] to 2.01 syl/sec [±0.94] for words, from 1.07 syl/sec [±0.51] to 1.08 syl/sec [±0.50] for nonwords). In this group the training increased the reading rate for words and non-words (from 2.01 syl/sec to 2.12 syl/sec [±1.13]; non-words: from 1.08 syl/sec to 1.22 syl/sec [±0.59]). However, analysis of variance did not show a significant effect of the treatment (words: P= .70; non-words: P= .85). Conclusion: Factors other than visuoperceptive, in particular the phonological impairment, could help to account for the controversial results obtained in the small group of dyslexic children recruited in this study. In future investigations, performed on a larger sample, a classification aimed at ruling out patients mainly affected by phonological defects should be considered, in order to select the appropriate target suitable for such kind of approach.