Relationships among reading skills of adults with low literacy

Abstract

In this study, confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine the interrelationships among latent factors of the simple view model of reading comprehension (word recognition and language comprehension) and hypothesized additional factors (vocabulary and reading fluency) in a sample of 476 adult learners with low literacy levels. The results provided evidence for reliable distinctions between word recognition, fluency, language comprehension, and vocabulary skills as components of reading. Even so, the data did not support the hypothesis that the simple view needs to be expanded to include vocabulary or fluency factors, as has been posited in a few prior studies of younger and more able readers. Rather, word recognition and language comprehension alone were found to account adequately for variation in reading comprehension in adults with low literacy.

Figure 1. Path Models for the Best-fitting One-, Two-, and Three-Factor Models. Solid lines indicate significant paths (|z|>1.96)

WRAT = WRAT Reading; WJWID = Woodcock-Johnson (WJ) Letter Word Identification; WJWA = WJ Word Attack; WJOC = WJ Oral Comprehension; WJUD = WJ Understanding Directions; WJSR = WJ Story Recall; WJPV = WJ Picture Vocabulary; BNT = Boston Naming Test; WJFLU = WJ Reading Fluency; NBRS = NAAL Basic Reading Skills; TWSW = TOWRE Sight Word Efficiency; TWPD = TOWRE Phonological Decoding Efficiency.