The relation between shifting and reading comprehension in grade 3 students
Date
2018-08-29
Authors
Alabe Padua, Larissa
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Abstract
Reading comprehension is crucial for academic achievement. While word-level reading and oral language comprehension skills are well-established predictors of reading comprehension, emerging research has been investigating the role of executive function (EF) processes in reading comprehension. The role of shifting – one of the core EF processes – still is underexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between reading comprehension, shifting, and well-established components of reading comprehension in grade 3 students, across three different shifting tasks. Thirty-six children, ages 8 to 9 years, completed a collection of word-level reading, reading comprehension, receptive vocabulary and EF tasks (working memory and shifting). Results indicated that reading comprehension was significantly and moderately associated with all shifting tasks, word-level reading skills, and receptive vocabulary, but not with WM. In addition, each shifting task explained unique variance in reading comprehension after accounting for word-level reading skills. When receptive vocabulary was added to the regression analyses, shifting tasks did not explain significant variance in reading comprehension performance. Results of this study are discussed in relation to existing models of reading comprehension.
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Keywords
reading, reading comprehension, shifting, executive functions