Anna Steenberg Gellert

Cloze Tests May be Quick, But Are They Dirty? Development and Preliminary Validation of a Cloze Test of Reading Comprehension

A commonly held view is that cloze tests may well provide a quick measure of something reading related, but that they are not suitable for assessments of understanding of ideas beyond the sentence boundary. The present article presents challenges to this view. It is argued that word gaps can be carefully selected so that filling them in requires proper understanding of the ideas of the text. The reliability and validity of such a comprehension-focused cloze test was demonstrated in a study of 204 Danish adults attending reading courses or general education. The quick (10 min) cloze comprehension test correlated strongly (r = .84) with a standard (30 min) question-answering comprehension test. Only a small part of this correlation was accounted for by decoding ability or vocabulary. The cloze test was somewhat more sensitive to decoding ability than the question-answering comprehension test was, and it provided a better fit to the participants’ self-reported reading difficulties.

Dyslexia in a second language?—a dynamic test of reading acquisition may provide a fair answer

Dyslexia is hard to diagnose in a second language. Poor performance on a test of reading may be caused by poor language proficiency in the second language or by limited schooling rather than by poor reading ability per se. This confound was supported in a study of 88 adult second language learners and 65 native language speakers. The incidence of dyslexia in the second language learners varied widely depending on the measure of reading. In order to reduce language and schooling confounds, a dynamic test of acquisition of basic decoding ability was developed. In the dynamic test, participants are taught three novel letters and to synthesise the letter sounds into new words. Results from the study indicated that the dynamic test provided results in accordance with the current IDA definition of dyslexia, while significantly reducing the influence second language vocabulary and amount of schooling. With the dynamic measure, the same cut-off point between dyslexic and non-dyslexic performance appeared valid in both native language speakers and second language learners.

Does a Dynamic Test of Phonological Awareness Predict Early Reading Difficulties? A Longitudinal Study From Kindergarten Through Grade 1

A few studies have indicated that dynamic measures of phonological awareness may contribute uniquely to the prediction of early reading development. However, standard control measures have been few and limited by floor effects, thus limiting their predictive value. The purpose of the present study was to examine the predictive value of a dynamic test of phonological awareness while controlling for both letter knowledge and standard phonological awareness using measures with no floor effect. We administered a dynamic test of phonological awareness along with traditional tests of phonological awareness and letter knowledge to 160 children in the fall of kindergarten. Reading outcomes were studied at three test points: at the end of kindergarten, in the first half of Grade 1, and at the end of Grade 1. The results indicated that the dynamic test of phonological awareness contributed significantly to the prediction of children’s reading development in kindergarten and the first half of Grade 1 after control for static phonological awareness and letter knowledge. However, the unique prediction value of the dynamic test of phonological awareness did not extend to the end of Grade 1.

Try a Little Bit of Teaching: A Dynamic Assessment of Word Decoding as a Kindergarten Predictor of Word Reading Difficulties at the End of Grade 1

ABSTRACT The present study examined the construct and predictive validity of a dynamic test of decoding. In theory, a dynamic test provides a direct measure of potential for learning. In this study, children were taught 3 novel letters and how to blend the sounds of those into new words, then they were tested on different words comprising the 3 letters. The study followed 171 children from kindergarten to the end of Grade 1. The dynamic test was found to add significantly to the longitudinal prediction of word reading difficulties at the end of Grade 1 even after controlling for a wide range of standard predictors. The dynamic test correlated strongly with concurrent measures of early reading, letter knowledge, and phoneme awareness but less strongly with vocabulary and nonverbal intelligence. It is suggested that the dynamic test taps learning of sublexical units and processing essential for initial reading development.

Predicting reading disabilities using dynamic assessment of decoding before and after the onset of reading instruction: a longitudinal study from kindergarten through grade 2

The present study examined the predictive validity of a dynamic test of decoding in which participants are taught three novel letters and how to synthesize the corresponding letter sounds into new words. One version of this dynamic test was administered to 158 kindergarten children before the onset of formal reading instruction along with traditional predictors of reading. Similarly, a parallel version of the dynamic test was administered to the same children after a few months of formal reading instruction. At the end of grade 2, the children were assessed on outcome measures of reading and categorized as having disabilities with either accuracy or fluency measures. Administered before as well as after the onset of formal reading instruction, the dynamic test of decoding contributed uniquely to the prediction of difficulties with reading accuracy at the end of grade 2 after control for traditional predictors of reading. Difficulties with reading fluency were also predicted by the dynamic decoding test, but the unique prediction value was more limited. This study showed that a dynamic assessment of decoding can be a useful addition to traditional test batteries for early identification of children at risk for reading disabilities. Even when taken before formal reading instruction, a combination of the dynamic assessment and two traditional measures (letter knowledge and rapid automatized naming) yielded a very high prediction accuracy of reading difficulties at the end of grade 2.

Does repeated reading predict reading development over time? A study of children from Grade 3 to 4

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether immediate gains in reading fluency achieved during repeated reading of text can predict long-term reading development over and above traditional predictors of reading development. Eighty-one Grade 3 children read texts three times consecutively and were instructed either to read as quickly as possible (speed-focused repeated reading), or to retell the text afterwards (meaning-focused repeated reading). Measures of text reading fluency, sentence reading fluency, and text comprehension were administered to the children in Grades 3 and 4 to assess their reading development over time. The results indicate that childrens immediate response to repeated reading can contribute to the prediction of their development of reading fluency over time. Even after controlling for individual differences in general cognitive ability, word reading fluency, rapid automatized naming, and vocabulary, the experimental measure with meaning-focused repeated reading remained a significant predictor.

Forbedring af læse-, skrive- og IT-færdigheder for kortuddannede voksne : En nordisk forundersøgelse

Rapporten belyser omfanget af laesevanskeligheder blandt voksne i Sverige, Danmark, Norge, Finland og Island - med saerligt henblik pa kortuddannede. Der gives en oversigt over de vigtigste tilbud og ...