Reading Research: What do we need to know?

John R. Kirby

Queen’s University

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Overview

• Introduction• What we need more of:

– Research that links• Processes to outcomes• Lower-level to higher level processes• Qualitative with quantitative data

– Topics• Bilingualism• Word reading processes• Compensation and accommodations in dyslexia• Multimedia reading• Higher-level comprehension

• Conclusion

Introduction

• We have already learned a great deal• There has been a staggering amount of

research on reading in the last few decades• However, …• There is still need for research at all levels of

processing in reading, from neurological and genetic factors to higher-level comprehension

• There is still need for research in all contexts of reading, from early home experience through school instruction to lifelong learning

• I focus on a few …

Research that links …

1. Processes to outcomes– Eye movements to comprehension

processes, linked to learning, understanding, and appreciation

2. Lower-level to higher level processes– How do enhanced word-reading processes

lead to better comprehension?– Do they always? (e.g., Cain et al.)

3. Qualitative with quantitative data– Do strategy reports correspond to strategies

used?

Bilingualism

• Bilingualism and biliteracy are becoming more normal around the world than monolingualism and monoliteracy

• How does one literacy support the next? Does information/skill transfer in terms of:– phonological awareness?– orthographic/morphological knowledge?– comprehension strategies?

• How should we measure second-language reading skill?– Need more studies of other languages

• Do effects depend upon specific languages (e.g., English-French)?

• E.g., Cormier, Siegel, Wade-Woolley

Word Reading Processes

• Phonological– What we’ve learned most about– What are its sources?

• Orthographic– Automaticity of word/chunk recognition– Why we are so fast recognizing (some) words– What are its sources? (e.g., Levy et al., 2006)(RAN)

• Morphological– A key to meaning, syntax, spelling, pronunciation– E.g., Carlisle, Bryant

• Vocabulary– Whatever Andy Biemiller says

Compensation and accommodations in dyslexia

• Lefly & Pennington (1991) estimated 22-25% of dyslexics “compensate” somehow for their word reading problems, to develop “normal” reading performance

• Many reading disabled students are entering higher education, some receiving “accommodations”

• We need to understand how compensations and accommodations work

• Perhaps these compensations would be of value to other reading disabled students

• E.g. Parrila

Multimedia reading

• More and more reading and learning is done on-line or in hypertext– Many new advantages, what possible disadvantages?– Issues of navigation, cut-and-paste, visual-verbal

integration, etc

• Problems of cognitive load (e.g., Schnotz), sense-of-knowing, information evaluation

Higher-level comprehension

• Current measures of reading comprehension measure different things, and behave differently (e.g., Keenan)– What are the underlying constructs?

• There seems to be a mismatch between theory and measures; theory refers to higher level integration processes that seem absent from most measures

• Do school and university environments espouse deeper learning but encourage surface learning?

• Important distinction between comprehending text and learning from text (Kintsch)

Conclusion

• No shortage of research left to do!