Wolf and Bowers (1999) described a model in which phonological awareness (PA) and naming speed (NS) make independent contributions to reading ability. We tested this model in a sample of 201 Grade 3 Arabic-speaking children in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Measures of general cognitive ability, vocabulary, PA, NS, word reading, and reading…

Disciplinary literacy encompasses not only the ability to read the texts of a discipline, but also to engage in the practices and discourse of that discipline. At the center of the discipline of history is inquiry. For these students to move from their ninth grade expectations about history toward the authentic discipline of history, they would…

In this article, I review and discuss the work presented in this special issue while focusing on a number of issues that warrant further investigation in validation research. These issues pertain to the nature of the validation processes, the processes and mechanisms that support validation during comprehension, the factors that influence…

Our aim in the present paper is to discuss a "cognitive view" of reading comprehension, with particular attention to research findings that have the potential to improve our understanding of difficulties in reading comprehension. We provide an overview of how specific sources of difficulties in inference making, executive functions, and…

Cognitively based views of reading emphasize that proficient readers use both metacognitive and cognitive strategies that facilitate comprehension of text. Metacognitive strategies are self-monitoring and self-regulating behaviors that focus on the processes and products of reading including the reader's awareness of whether or not he or she…

Using a Chinese Word Associates Test (WAT-C), this study examined the vocabulary depth of second language learners of Chinese and its contribution to the learners' reading comprehension. Results showed no significant effects of word frequency, word class (i.e., adjectives vs. verbs), and type of association relationships (i.e., paradigmatic vs.…

Narrative language proficiency is a critical contributor to academic success for school-aged students. This article presents a narrative language intervention, Supporting Knowledge in Language and Literacy (SKILL), that is based on research in the fields of developmental psycholinguistics and discourse processing. SKILL was designed to provide…

The aim of the study was to investigate differences in cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in the reading comprehension of narrative and expository texts among students with learning disabilities (SLD) and without learning disabilities (SWOLD). A total of 122 fifth and sixth graders took part in the study. Half of them (n = 61) were SLD…

This study investigated the relationship between specific cognitive patterns of strengths and weaknesses (PSWs) and the errors children make in reading, writing, and spelling tests from the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Third Edition (KTEA-3). Participants were selected from the KTEA-3 standardization sample based on five cognitive…

The ability to read is the gateway to success in modern knowledge-driven societies. Thus, it is vital to make sure that no child is left behind in his or her endeavor to acquire the cognitive processes needed to understand age-appropriate texts. One significant milestone on the way to reach proficiency in this respect is memorization of certain…

Translation has long played a role in linguistic and literary studies research. More recently, the theoretical and methodological concerns of process research have given translation an additional role in cognitive science. The interest in the cognitive aspects of translation has led scholars to turn to disciplines such as cognitive linguistics,…

Topic-specific didactical design research provides means not only to investigate how to learn but also what to learn, i.e., for specifying learning contents by analyzing students' comprehension processes in detail. This important characteristic of didactical design research is exemplarily shown for students' difficulties in finding symbolic…

Background: Research has shown substantial belief change as a result of reading text and the pervasive influence of prior belief in the evaluation of short arguments. Both outcomes have been attributed to the depth to which the text or the argument has been processed. This study brings together critical thinking and text comprehension research by…

This study investigated the attributes of 297 instances of student mathematical thinking during whole-class interactions that were identified as having the potential to foster learners' understanding of important mathematical ideas (MOSTs). Attributes included the form of the thinking (e.g., question vs. declarative statement), whether the…

This study investigated visual statistical learning (VSL) in 24 deaf signers and 24 hearing non-signers. Previous research with hearing individuals suggests that SL mechanisms support literacy. Our first goal was to assess whether VSL was associated with reading ability in deaf individuals, and whether this relation was sustained by a link between…