TL;DR: The authors, The Sense of Being Literate: Historical and Cross-Cultural Features, is a collection of essays about the development of reading in the industrialized world with particular reference to the non-western world.
Abstract: Contents: Preface. Part I: R. Barr, Society and Literacy. S.B. Heath, The Sense of Being Literate: Historical and Cross-Cultural Features. P. Foster, A. Purves, Literacy and Society with Particular Reference to the Non-Western World. R.L. Venezky, The Development of Literacy in the Industrialized Nations of the West. J.T. Guthrie, V. Greaney, Literacy Acts. R-M. Weber, Linguistic Diversity and Reading in American Society. J.S. Chall, J.R. Squire, The Publishing Industry and Textbooks. P. Shannon, Politics, Policy, and Reading Research. Part II: M.L. Kamil, Task and Format Variables in Reading Research. A. Graesser, J.M. Golding, D.L. Long, Narrative Representation and Comprehension. S. Bovair, D.E. Kieras, Toward a Model of Acquiring Procedures from Text. C.A. Weaver, III, W. Kintsch, Expository Text. R.J. Tierney, T. Shanahan, Research on the Reading-Writing Relationship: Interactions, Transactions, and Outcomes. R. Calfee, E. Hiebert, Classroom Assessment of Reading. D. Reinking, L. Bridwell-Bowles, Computers in Reading and Writing. R. Waller, Typography and Discourse. Part III: P.B. Mosenthal, Constructs of Reader Process. L.C. Ehri, Development of the Ability to Read Words. K.E. Stanovich, Word Recognition: Changing Perspectives. R. Beach, S. Hynds, Research on Response to Literature. T.P. McNamara, D.L. Miller, J.D. Bransford, Mental Models and Reading Comprehension. M. Daneman, Individual Differences in Reading Skills. K.K. Wixson, M.Y. Lipson, Perspectives on Reading Disability Research. F.R. Vellutino, M.B. Denckla, Cognitive and Neuropsychological Foundations of Word Identification in Poor and Normally Developing Readers. S.G. Paris, B.A. Wasik, J.C. Turner, The Development of Strategic Readers. M. Hegarty, P.A. Carpenter, M.A. Just, Diagrams in the Comprehension of Scientific Texts. L. Mikulecky, R. Drew, Basic Literacy Skills in the Workplace. R.C. Anderson, W.E. Nagy, Word Meanings. Part IV: P.D. Pearson, Literacy and Schooling. E. Sulzby, W. Teale, Emergent Literacy. C. Juel, Beginning Reading. I. Beck, M. McKeown, Conditions of Vocabulary Acquisition. P.D. Pearson, L. Fielding, Comprehension Instruction. L.R. Roehler, G.G. Duffy, Teachers' Instructional Actions. R. Barr, R. Dreeben, Grouping Students for Reading Instruction. J.V. Hoffman, Teacher and School Effects in Learning to Read. D.E. Alvermann, D.W. Moore, Secondary School Reading. P. Johnston, R. Allington, Remediation. Epilogue: P.B. Mosenthal, M.L. Kamil, Understanding Progress in Reading Research.
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple model of reading is proposed, which holds that reading equals the product of decoding and comprehension, and it is argued that there must be three types of reading disability, resulting from an inability to decode or inability to comprehend, or both.
Abstract: To clarify the role of decoding in reading and reading disability, a simple model of reading is proposed, which holds that reading equals the product of decoding and comprehension. It follows that there must be three types of reading disability, resulting from an inability to decode, an inability to comprehend, or both. It is argued that the first is dyslexia, the second hyperlexia, and the third common, or garden variety, reading disability.
TL;DR: In this paper, a simple view of reading was outlined that consisted of two components, decoding and linguistic comprehension, both held to be necessary for skilled reading, and three predictions drawn from the simple view were assessed in a longitudinal sample of English-Spanish bilingual children in first through fourth grade.
Abstract: A simple view of reading was outlined that consisted of two components, decoding and linguistic comprehension, both held to be necessary for skilled reading. Three predictions drawn from the simple view were assessed in a longitudinal sample of English-Spanish bilingual children in first through fourth grade. The results supported each prediction: (a) The linear combination of decoding and listening comprehension made substantial contributions toward explaining variation in reading comprehension, but the estimates were significantly improved by inclusion of the product of the two components; (b) the correlations between decoding and listening comprehension tended to become negative as samples were successively restricted to less skilled readers; and (c) the pattern of linear relationships between listening and reading comprehension for increasing levels of decoding skill revealed constant intercept values of zero and positive slope values increasing in magnitude. These results support the view that skill in reading can be simply characterized as the product of skill in decoding and linguistic comprehension. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the simple view for the practice of reading instruction, the definition of reading disability, and the notion of literacy.
TL;DR: Evidence is presented in support of the idea that many poor readers are impaired because of inadequate instruction or other experiential factors, and Hypothesized deficits in general learning abilities and low-level sensory deficits have weak validity as causal factors in specific reading disability.
Abstract: We summarize some of the most important findings from research evaluating the hypothesized causes of specific reading disability (dyslexia) over the past four decades. After outlining components of reading ability, we discuss manifest causes of reading difficulties, in terms of deficiencies in component reading skills that might lead to such difficulties. The evidence suggests that inadequate facility in word identification due, in most cases, to more basic deficits in alphabetic coding is the basic cause of difficulties in learning to read. We next discuss hypothesized deficiencies in readingrelated cognitive abilities as underlying causes of deficiencies in component reading skills. The evidence in these areas suggests that, in most cases, phonological skills deficiencies associated with phonological coding deficits are the probable causes of the disorder rather than visual, semantic, or syntactic deficits, although reading difficulties in some children may be associated with general language deficits. Hypothesized deficits in general learning abilities (e.g., attention, association learning, cross-modal transfer etc.) and low-level sensory deficits have weak validity as causal factors in specific reading disability. These inferences are, by and large, supported by research evaluating the biological foundations of dyslexia. Finally, evidence is presented in support of the idea that many poor readers are impaired because of inadequate instruction or other experiential factors. This does not mean that biological factors are not relevant, because the brain and environment interact to produce the neural networks that support reading acquisition. We conclude with a discussion of the clinical implications of the research findings, focusing on the need for enhanced instruction.
TL;DR: Language and literacy skills were assessed in 83 8 1/2-year olds whose language development had been impaired at 4 years of age, and there were only weak links between expressive phonological disorders and later ability to read either meaningful text or non-words.
Abstract: Language and literacy skills were assessed in 83 8 1/2-year olds whose language development had been impaired at 4 years of age. Provided that language problems had resolved by age 5 1/2 years, literacy development was normal, but many of the children who still had verbal deficits at 5 1/2 years of age did have reading difficulties and persisting oral language impairments later on. In these children, reading comprehension tended to be poor relative to reading accuracy. Syntactic competence in the preschool period accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in literacy attainments, after allowing for the effects of non-verbal ability. There were only weak links between expressive phonological disorders and later ability to read either meaningful text or non-words.