Although instruction has been shown to be effective at increasing vocabulary knowledge and comprehension, factors most important for promoting the acquisition of novel vocabulary are less known. In addition, few vocabulary studies have utilized models that simultaneously take into account child-level, word-level, and instructional factors to…

Schools in Ireland vary in how they introduce reading in the two official languages, Irish and English. There is particular variability within immersion (Irish medium) schools. Some introduce Irish reading first (IRF) and others English reading first (ERF). This study compared the development of Irish and English skills in children attending…

Models of irregular word reading that take into account both child- and word-level predictors have not been evaluated in typically developing children and children with reading difficulty (RD). The purpose of the present study was to model individual differences in irregular word reading ability among 5th grade children (N = 170), oversampled for…

This study investigated the relationship between syntactic comprehension at the sentence level and text-level comprehension. The study isolated the specific contribution of syntax by asking whether sentence comprehension efficiency of difficult syntactic constructions explained variance in text comprehension after controlling for sentence…

This article presents findings of an efficacy trial examining the effect of a multitiered instruction and intervention model on first grade at-risk students' reading outcomes. Schools (N = 16) were randomly assigned to the treatment or control condition. In the fall of Grade 1, students were assigned to an instructional tier on the basis of…

This study investigates the literacy skills of 193 students across grades three, five, seven, and nine in one private English medium school in Kerala, India. Students were assessed on their ability to read phonologically regular and irregular words, fluency with grade-level text, vocabulary knowledge, and comprehension skill. Results showed that…

Purpose: Natural reading experiences provide an opportunity for the development of orthographic word knowledge as well as other forms of partial word knowledge. The purpose of this study was to compare the orthographic word knowledge growth of school-age children with relatively low language skills (LL group) to that of age- and gender-matched…

Fluent reading enables readers to focus on gaining meaning from what is read. This crucial facet of reading is often neglected instruction in elementary and is nearly non-existent in middle and high school instruction (Allington, 1983; Rasinski, Padak, McKeon, Wilfong, Friedauer, & Heim, 2005). At the elementary level, fluency instruction focuses…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using flashcards to develop automaticity (rapid word recognition) with key vocabulary words and phrases in order to improve fluency and reading comprehension skills for participants with and without diagnosed learning disabilities enrolled in a high school Spanish course. Eighty-seven…

We examined the relations of teacher knowledge (n = 42 first-grade teachers), explicit decoding instruction provided, and students' (n = 437) word-reading gains. Results revealed an interaction between teacher knowledge and observed decoding instruction: For students of more knowledgeable teachers, more time in explicit instruction predicted…

The purpose of this mixed-methods research was to examine the impact of mediated cognitive strategy intervention on the reading comprehension and self-efficacy of Palestinian-Arab middle school students with learning disabilities. Eighteen seventh-grade students with LD who were placed in two self-contained special education classrooms and their…

An experimental study involving 32 second-grade poor readers found that students involved in dyad reading groups (buddy reading groups) made greater achievement gains on all reading outcomes (vocabulary and comprehension) than the matched control students. (IAH)