National Research
TITLE:
A Comparison of Eye Movement Measures across Reading Efficiency Quartile Groups in Elementary, Middle, and High School Students in the U.S.
AUTHORS:
Alexandra N. Spichtig, Jeffrey P. Pascoe, John D. Ferrara, and Christian Vorstius
PUBLICATION:
Journal of Eye Movement Research, Volume 10(4), 2017
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
This cross-sectional study examined eye movements during reading across grades in students with differing levels of reading efficiency. Eye-movement recordings were obtained while students in grades 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 silently read normed grade-leveled texts with demonstrated comprehension. Comparisons indicated that students in higher reading rate quartiles made fewer fixations and regressions per word, and had shorter fixation durations. These indices of greater efficiency were also characteristic of students in upper as compared to lower grades, with two exceptions: (a) between grades 6 and 8, fixations and regressions increased while reading rates stagnated and fixation durations continued to decline, and (b) beyond grade 6 there was relatively little growth in the reading efficiency of students in the lower two reading rate quartiles.
“These present results shed light on some of the underlying difficulties that less efficient readers are facing.”
TITLE:
Reading Motivation and Reading Success: A Two-Way Street
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
This report focuses on two key domains of motivation (reading interest and reading confidence) and how they relate to reading comprehension, efficiency, and overall reading proficiency. Across all grade groups (grades 2-5; 6-8; and 9-12), students who reported higher levels of interest and confidence also demonstrated significantly higher levels of reading comprehension and reading efficiency (p < .001). As well, increases in interest and confidence over the school year were larger in students who increased their reading proficiency to a greater extent.
“Reading motivation and reading success go hand-in-hand.”
TITLE:
Reading Efficiency: The Gateway to Comprehension & Motivation
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
When reading is slow and arduous, comprehension and motivation suffer. Analyses of national data clearly showed that students who read more efficiently also had higher levels of comprehension and motivation. Across all grade groups (grades 2-5; 6-8; and 9-12), students in higher reading rate quartile groups always achieved significantly higher comprehension levels and reported significantly higher levels of reading interest and self-efficacy (p < .001).
“Reading efficiency gains together with improved reading comprehension contribute to significant reading proficiency growth. Reading efficiency is critically associated with continued enthusiasm for reading and perseverance throughout the high school years.”
TITLE:
The Effect of Reading Plus on Reading Proficiency Growth: National Results for the 2015-2016 School Year
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
Students who completed at least 100 Reading Plus lessons significantly increased their capacity to comprehend progressively more complex texts, developed their capacity to understand higher level vocabulary, and improved their reading efficiency. (p < .001). The results also showed that students developed more confidence and increased their interest in reading.
“Reading Plus practice improves students’ reading proficiency and motivation, which in turn increases the likelihood that they will use reading as a means to expand their knowledge, to be entertained, and to seek inspiration.”
Title:
Building capacity in low-performing readers: Results of two months of Reading Plus practice
Summary of Findings:
The results of the first two months of Reading Plus practice are exceptionally encouraging. The data indicate that even the most severely struggling students are benefitting from Reading Plus practice. For severely challenged readers facing Common Core demands, this first report indicates that it may be possible to narrow substantially the gap between where students are and where they are expected to be with consistent and well-designed opportunities to read.
“Even with rigorous criteria, each group increased capacity to efficiently read more complex text.“
Title:
The Decline of Comprehension-Based Silent Reading Efficiency in the U.S.: A Comparison of Current Data with Performance in 1960
Authors:
Alexandra N. Spichtig, Elfrieda H. Hiebert, Christian Vorstius, Jeffrey P. Pascoe, P. David Pearson, and Ralph Radach
Publication:
Reading Research Quarterly, Volume 51(2), 2016, pp. 239-259.
Summary of Findings:
This national study measured the comprehension-based silent reading efficiency of U.S. students in Grades 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12, and compared the results to those obtained from U.S. students in 1960. The results suggest that, in comparison to 1960, present-day students are less efficient readers and are more reliant on the sub-lexical analysis of text, rather than reading with the automaticity that can only be developed with practice and wide reading.
“The present research adds to an ample body of evidence suggesting that the reading proficiency of students in the U.S. is declining. The majority of our high school graduates lack adequate reading proficiency and have little experience with the sorts of challenging text they will face in postsecondary educational settings.”
TITLE:
Comprehension-Based Silent Reading Rates: What Do We Know? What Do We Need to Know?
AUTHORS:
Elfrieda Hiebert, S. Jay Samuels, and Timothy Rasinski
PUBLICATION:
Literacy Research and Instruction, Volume 51(2), 2012, pp. 110-124.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:
This paper reviews research on the development of silent reading habits and examines instructional practices that can lead to good reading efficiency and strong comprehension. The authors argue that what can be accomplished in digital contexts, such as instantaneously adjusting scaffolds and text difficulty in response to student performance, allows for “precision in scaffolding that is difficult to achieve in a classroom setting or even a tutoring one.”
“The fact that the yearlong gains made by the primarily low achieving students in this silent reading intervention were substantially larger than the mean overall gains at the state and district levels is noteworthy.”
“Children who do not develop reading fluency, no matter how bright they are, will continue to read slowly and with great effort.”
Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and its Implications for Reading Instruction
Title:
Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and its Implications for Reading Instruction
Publication:
Report of the National Reading Panel, Report of the Sub-Groups (MIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 2000
Summary:
The report reviewed and assessed scientific research on reading instruction conducted by the National Reading Panel and various other researchers. In the chapter on fluency, it describes how eye-movement research in the past “has provided a perspective from which to observe the fluent reading process.” Through studies of eye-movement measures by Stanford E. Taylor, founder of Taylor Associates, and other researchers, it was found that fluent readers make fewer fixations, shorter duration of fixations, and fewer regressions than those of poor readers. Taylor’s norms for oculomotor behavior with over 12,000 students were cited.