Vocabulary does not complicate the simple view of reading

• Published in: Reading & writing Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 435 - 451
• Main Authors: Braze, David, Katz, Leonard, Magnuson, James S., Mencl, W. Einar, Tabor, Whitney, Van Dyke, Julie A., Gong, Tao, Johns, Clinton L., Shankweiler, Donald P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Decoding; Education; Factor Analysis; Gates MacGinitie Reading Tests; Intelligence Tests; Language; Language and Literature; Language Processing; Language Skills; Linguistics; Literacy; Neurology; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (Revised); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; Psycholinguistics; Reading Comprehension; Reading Skills; Reading Tests; Regression (Statistics); Social Sciences; Structural Equation Models; Verbal Ability; Vocabulary; Vocabulary Development; Wechsler Intelligence Scales Short Forms; Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement; Word Recognition; Young Adults; United States > US; Vocabulary; Adult literacy; Oral language; Structural equation modeling; Simple view of reading; Reading comprehension
• ISSN: 0922-4777; 1573-0905
• DOI: 10.1007/s11145-015-9608-6

Gough and Tunmer’s ( 1986 ) simple view of reading (SVR) proposed that reading comprehension (RC) is a function of language comprehension (LC) and word recognition/decoding. Braze et al. ( 2007 ) presented data suggesting an extension of the SVR in which knowledge of vocabulary (V) affected RC over and above the effects of LC. Tunmer and Chapman ( 2012 ) found a similar independent contribution of V to RC when the data were analyzed by hierarchical regression. However, additional analysis by factor analysis and structural equation modeling indicated that the effect of V on RC was, in fact, completely captured by LC itself and there was no need to posit a separate direct effect of V on RC. In the present study, we present new data from young adults with sub-optimal reading skill ( N  = 286). Latent variable and regression analyses support Gough and Tunmer’s original proposal and the conclusions of Tunmer and Chapman that V can be considered a component of LC and not an independent contributor to RC.