Improving reading comprehension: Effects from interventions Monica Melby-Lervåg

My talk 1. The foundation of reading comprehension 2. Reading comprehension and dyslexia 3. To examine the effects from an intervention 4. Effects from interventions directly targeting reading comprehension 5. Effects from interventions targeting underlying components of reading comprehension (general cognitive processes, decoding, vocabulary).

1. The foundation of reading comprehension

Background working memory? Inference skills? Morphology? Syntax?

The study 198 unselected Norwegian speaking children Assessment scheme Middle of 2nd grade End of 2nd grade Middle of 3rd grade End of 3rd grade Middle of 6th grade Middle of 7th grade Lervåg & Melby-Lervåg, work in progress

NARA T2NARA T3NARA T4 NARA T5NARA T6 NARA T1 Morpheme Generation Syntactic Skills Vocabulary Width Inference Skills TOWRE A TOWRE B Listening Recall Backward Digit Recall Vocabulary Definitions Vocab. Width Residual Syntac. Skills Residual Morph. Gen.. Residual Inf. Skills Residual Vocab. Def. Residual Linguistic Comprehension Word Decoding Working Memory Reading Comprehension Initial Status Reading Comprehension Early Growth Reading Comprehension Later Growth 3.55** 2.21**.735* 1.02**.614** -.20**.622*.058*

2. Reading comprehension and dyslexia

FAMILY RISK OF DYSLEXIA

Study Meta-analysis of studies examining reading comprehension and underlying skills in children with dyslexia (Snowling & Melby-Lervåg, submitted) A systematic search detected 123 studies that used a family risk methodology to study reading disorders

Effect size Cohens d Example d = -1.00

Results

Preschool

Primary school

3. To examine the effects from an intervention

Pretest Chose a group of children Intervention Posttest

Pretest Chose a group of children Intervention Posttest

Pretest Chose a group of children Intervention Posttest No intervention /irrelevant intervention Randomize the children in a training and an intervention group Posttest Pretest

Study: A syntehesis of meta-analyses Melby-Lervåg, Lervåg & Hulme, work in progress.

Method Systematic search for reviews of educational interventions that have used a quantitative summary of results after 1998 The meta-analysis had to examine an intervention that could in some way inform about amelioration of difficulties related to: Decoding, reading comprehension, language skills, mathematic skills, general learning disorders, attention/hyperactivity, other behavioral/emotional problems or bullying. The meta-analysis had to provide a mean effect size of an academic achievement or behavioral outcome that was based on a group design (i.e. meta-analyses purely based on single case studies were excluded) 70 meta-analyses included, 3145 single studies Melby-Lervåg, Lervåg & Hulme, work in progress.

Differences in mean effect size for different designs

Only 233 of the 3145 intervention studies were randomised controlled trials. Serious methodological weaknesses, studies not suited to conclude about intervention effects

5. Effects from interventions targeting reading comprehension or underlying components of reading comprehension

A. Interventions targeting reading comprehension directly

Clarke, Snowling, Truelove og Hulme (2010) Compared three interventions for 160 children in 4th grade. Selected on the basis of a reading comprehension screening of 1200 children. Intervention: 1. Linguistic comprehension 2. Reading comprehension3. Combined -Vocabulary (60 new words) -Narratives -Oral language use -Listening comprehension -Meta-cognitive strategies (repeated reading, thinking aloud, visualisation) -Use of these strategies when reading text and in questions -Inferences, rcognise and use - Narratives and txt production A combination (50/50 %).

Results Figure from the paper:

B. Interventions targeting reading comprehension indirectly through Domain General Cognitive Skills

Effects from computerised working memory training

Study Redick, Melby-Lervåg & Hulme (work in progress). 2012: 23 studies New study: 82 studies with 102 independent experiments

NARA T2NARA T3NARA T4 NARA T5NARA T6 NARA T1 Morpheme Generation Syntactic Skills Vocabulary Width Inference Skills TOWRE A TOWRE B Listening Recall Backward Digit Recall Vocabulary Definitions Vocab. Width Residual Syntac. Skills Residual Morph. Gen.. Residual Inf. Skills Residual Vocab. Def. Residual Linguistic Comprehension Word Decoding Working Memory Reading Comprehension Initial Status Reading Comprehension Early Growth Reading Comprehension Later Growth 3.55** 2.21**.735* 1.02**.614** -.20**.622*.058*

Results Decoding Studies Treated controls Untreated controls Mean effect size d immediatly after training

Verbal abilities Studies Mean effect size d immediatly after training Treated controls Untreated controls

Reading comprehension Studies Mean effect size d immediatly after training Treated controls Untreated controls

Similar findings for auditory processing training

C. Interventions targeting reading comprehension indirectly through decoding/phonological awareness

Numerous of well controlled studies have shown that phonological awareness in combination with letter knowledge training can improve word decoding skills……….. Unfortunatly, not that many have reported transfer effects to standardised tests of reading comprehension

10 studies met inclusion criteria for word decoding. Effects were moderate: 0.47 SD better (95% CI 0.06 to 0.88) Only three studies reported data on transfer effects to reading comprehension: 0.14 SD better (95% CI to 0.74)

RCTs that combine phonological awareness/letter knowledge and vocabulary intervention shows promising effects on reading comprehension Wolff, 2011 (d = 0.41, lasted at follow up)

D. Interventions targeting reading comprehension indirectly through vocabulary/linguistic comprehension

Linguistic comprehension intervention Three times a week, (2 x 45 minutes, 1 x 10 min individually). Rogde, Melby-Lervåg & Lervåg (submitted) Dialogical reading Narrative skills Expressive language tasks Vocabulary instruction 115 second language learners randomised in two groups. Training group received 20 weeks of intervention

Vocabulary embedded in the training program d = 0.53** immediatly after training, d = 0.44* follow up

Distal measures: Do the effects of training transfer to standardized tests of expressive language? d = 0.51** immediatly after training, d = 0.28 (p = 0.064) follow up

Distal measures: Do the effects of training transfer to standardized tests of receptive language? d = 0.02 immediatly after training, d = 0.06 follow up

My talk 1. The foundation of reading comprehension 2. Reading comprehension and dyslexia 3. To examine the effects from an intervention 4. Effects from interventions directly targeting reading comprehension 5. Effects from interventions targeting underlying components of reading comprehension (general cognitive processes, decoding, vocabulary).

Take-home message 1 From family risk studies of dyslexia it is clear that children with dyslexia have impared word decoding and reading comprehension skills. From an early age they also have poor phonological awareness and often also broader language skills. From longitudinal studies we know that vocabulary, grammar skills and word decoding are uniqly related to the growth in reading comprehension. Thus, for interventions to be succsessfull they should focus on these areas.

Take-home message 2 Effects on reading comprehension can be obtained by interventions either focusing on reading comprehesion directly (strategies etc), through linguisitc comprehension/vocabulary or through decoding/phonological awareness. But… Effects are not easily obtained. Requires hard and systematic work over time.

Take-home message 3 Reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of literacy. Therefore more studies should focus on this and measure this with standardised tests that has good psychometric properties. There is a great need in education for high quality randomised intervention studies. Many studies have used poor designs, too few participants and interventions lacking a theoretical and empirical rationale. This has given us misleading results and lead us astray.

Foto: Kathrine Nordli, «Airborne» Thank you for the attention!