The role of word-recognition accuracy in the development of word-recognition speed and reading comprehension in primary school: A longitudinal examination

• Published in: Cognitive development Vol. 56; p. 100949
• Main Authors: Karageorgos, Panagiotis, Richter, Tobias, Haffmans, Maj-Britt, Schindler, Julia, Naumann, Johannes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Primary school children; Reading comprehension; Reading development in German; Word-recognition accuracy; Word-recognition speed; Primary school children; Reading development in German; Word-recognition accuracy; Word-recognition speed; Reading comprehension
• ISSN: 0885-2014; 1879-226X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100949

•Reading speed improves after a sufficient level of reading accuracy is achieved.•The sooner an accuracy level is attained, the larger the gains for reading speed.•Early achievement of an accuracy level leads to larger gains in text comprehension. Recent studies suggest that readers need to reach a certain word-recognition accuracy threshold first before word-recognition speed starts to improve. In a longitudinal study, 1095 German primary school children were followed from Grades 1–4. Word-recognition accuracy and speed were assessed at the end of Grades 1–4 and reading comprehension at the end of Grades 2–4. The growth curves of word-recognition speed and reading comprehension were hypothesized to be steeper for children who achieved a basic word-recognition accuracy of 71 % compared to children who failed to reach this threshold by the end of Grade 1. Multilevel growth models revealed that the improvement of word-recognition speed and reading comprehension was more pronounced for children who reached the critical threshold by the end of Grade 1. Moreover, the overall pattern was that children who reached the basic word-recognition accuracy in later grades showed flatter trajectories of word-recognition speed and reading comprehension over the primary school years. These findings suggest that good word-recognition accuracy lays the foundation for the development of word-recognition speed and reading comprehension in German primary school children.