TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving reading comprehension in the primary grades
T2 - Mediated effects of a language-focused classroom intervention
AU - Language And Reading Research Consortium (Larrc)
AU - Jiang, Hui
AU - Logan, Jessica
AU - Justice, Laura M.
AU - Lomax, Richard
AU - O’Connell, Ann
AU - Pentimonti, Jill
AU - Petrill, Stephen A.
AU - Piasta, Shayne B.
AU - Gray, Shelley
AU - Restrepo, Maria Adelaida
AU - Cain, Kate
AU - Catts, Hugh
AU - Bridges, Mindy
AU - Nielsen, Diane
AU - Hogan, Tiffany
AU - Bovaird, Jim
AU - Nelson, J. Ron
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
PY - 2019/8
Y1 - 2019/8
N2 - Purpose: This article includes results from a multistate randomized controlled trial designed to investigate the impacts of a language-focused classroom intervention on primary grade students’ proximal language skills and distal reading comprehension skills. Method: The sample included 938 children from 160 classrooms in 4 geographic regions in the United States; each classroom was randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental conditions (2 variations of a language-focused intervention) or business-as-usual control. For this study, the 2 experimental conditions were collapsed, as they represented minor differences in the language-focused intervention. All children completed assessments at multiple time points during the academic year. Proximal measures (curriculumaligned measures of vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and understanding narrative and expository text) were administered throughout the school year. Distal measures of reading comprehension were administered at the beginning and the end of the school year. Results: Multilevel multivariate regression was conducted with results showing that students receiving the languagefocused intervention significantly outperformed those in the control group in comprehension monitoring and vocabulary, with effect sizes ranging from 0.55 to 1.98. A small effect in understanding text (narrative) was found in 3rd grade only. Multilevel path analyses were then conducted to examine if the intervention had a positive impact on reading comprehension through the influence of proximal language outcomes. In all 3 grades, instruction impacted reading comprehension via the mediation of vocabulary, with sizable effects (1.89-2.26); no other indirect pathways were significant. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that a languagefocused intervention can positively impact students’ performance on language measures that are closely aligned with the intervention, with indirect, large effects on distal reading comprehension measures. Theoretically, this study provides causally interpretable support for the language bases of reading comprehension.
AB - Purpose: This article includes results from a multistate randomized controlled trial designed to investigate the impacts of a language-focused classroom intervention on primary grade students’ proximal language skills and distal reading comprehension skills. Method: The sample included 938 children from 160 classrooms in 4 geographic regions in the United States; each classroom was randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental conditions (2 variations of a language-focused intervention) or business-as-usual control. For this study, the 2 experimental conditions were collapsed, as they represented minor differences in the language-focused intervention. All children completed assessments at multiple time points during the academic year. Proximal measures (curriculumaligned measures of vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and understanding narrative and expository text) were administered throughout the school year. Distal measures of reading comprehension were administered at the beginning and the end of the school year. Results: Multilevel multivariate regression was conducted with results showing that students receiving the languagefocused intervention significantly outperformed those in the control group in comprehension monitoring and vocabulary, with effect sizes ranging from 0.55 to 1.98. A small effect in understanding text (narrative) was found in 3rd grade only. Multilevel path analyses were then conducted to examine if the intervention had a positive impact on reading comprehension through the influence of proximal language outcomes. In all 3 grades, instruction impacted reading comprehension via the mediation of vocabulary, with sizable effects (1.89-2.26); no other indirect pathways were significant. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that a languagefocused intervention can positively impact students’ performance on language measures that are closely aligned with the intervention, with indirect, large effects on distal reading comprehension measures. Theoretically, this study provides causally interpretable support for the language bases of reading comprehension.
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U2 - 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-19-0015
DO - 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-19-0015
M3 - Article
C2 - 31390289
AN - SCOPUS:85071351803
SN - 1092-4388
VL - 62
SP - 2812
EP - 2828
JO - Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders
JF - Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders
IS - 8
ER -