This meta-analysis examined the contribution of prosodic sensitivity to reading comprehension, and characterized the pathways by which this contribution occurs and the factors affecting it. Using meta-regression with robust variance estimation to synthesize and quantify 53 papers comprising 62 studies on word reading (77 effect sizes, N = 6,043…

Theories of reading comprehension have widely predicted a role for syntactic skills, or the ability to understand and manipulate the structure of a sentence. Yet, these theories are based primarily on English, leaving open the question of whether this remains true across typologically different languages such as English versus Chinese. There are…

Background: Foundation Phase teachers in the South African Department of Basic Education system daily encounter a challenge with learners struggling to read with understanding. This motive was displayed and made available to readers and authors by the recent Progress in International Reading Literacy 2021, which articulated that learners in the…

The science of reading (SOR) refers to the sum of what we know about how people learn to read based on empirical studies across multiple disciplines. The purpose of this review was to identify research evidence to inform the SOR for multilingual learners (MLs). We reviewed 30 systematic reviews related to reading and reading instruction for MLs…

Glossing is a widely used and examined vocabulary learning tool, and one of the major branches of glossing research has compared the relative effects of first language (L1) and second language (L2) glosses on reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. However, the findings in this literature have not been consistent, calling for a…

This study examined the crosslinguistic sharing of morphological awareness (MA) in biliteracy development. The analysis included 34 correlational studies with 41 independent samples (N = 4,104). Correlational coefficients were meta-analyzed, yielding four main findings: (a) the correlation between first language (L1) and second language (L2) MA…

This systematic review aims to synthesize the literature on the effects of cross-linguistic transfer on Spanish/English bilinguals' reading comprehension skills. The search yielded at least 90 studies in which participants were Spanish/English bilinguals aged birth to Grade 12. Researchers assessed participants' decoding and/or linguistic…

Purpose: The present study aimed to systemically summarize the structural relationships among correlated components of second language (L2) reading comprehension to investigate the extent to which the two major components -- language comprehension abilities and decoding skills -- could account for reading comprehension in L2 contexts in accordance…

This meta-analysis aims to quantitatively synthesize the relation between the essential components of reading and reading comprehension in children whose first language is Spanish and who are learning to read in Spanish in a monolingual setting. Searches were conducted in WOS, Scopus, and ERIC from 2000 to 2021. We used a random effects model and…

Background/Context: Literacy skills are critical to understanding information presented in written or oral formats and communicating effectively with others. These skills are important to students' success in school and later in life, including improved individual health and economic outcomes, increased civic engagement, and enhanced community…

We examined the relation of morphological awareness with language and literacy skills, namely phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, vocabulary, word reading, spelling, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension. We also examined potential moderators of the relations (grade level, orthographic depth of language, receptive vs.…

We examined the relation of morphological awareness with language and literacy skills, namely phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, vocabulary, word reading, spelling, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension. We also examined potential moderators of the relations (grade level, orthographic depth of language, receptive vs.…

This meta-analysis investigated the overall effects of glossing on L2 vocabulary learning from reading and the influence of potential moderator variables: gloss format (type, language, mode) and text and learner characteristics. A total of 359 effect sizes from 42 studies (N = 3802) meeting the inclusion criteria were meta-analyzed. The results…

It has been commonly reported by teachers and learners the strong and positive relationship between lexis and reading comprehension. This claim has been usually grounded on experience. In consequence, this paper attempts to find research-based evidence to support the connection between lexis and reading comprehension. To do this, a review of 128…

Translation and language teaching techniques which take language learners' first language (L1) as point of reference for teaching the second language (L2) have been long discouraged on the ground that these teaching techniques would end in the fossilization of L2 structure forms in the learner's Interlanguage system. However, in recent years, the…