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The tricone is stuffed let’s trip out and put
a new one on.
The characteristics of adult readers in entry level tertiary
settings
What are the characteristics of adult readers in entry level tertiary settings?
1. Is there a relationship between levels of reading skills and demographic characteristics of age, gender, and ethnicity2. As predicted by the simple view of reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), is a strong positive correlation between decoding and listening comprehension evident in the general population3. As predicted by the simple view of reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), is a negative correlation between decoding and listening comprehension evident in less-skilled adult readers4. Are readers with fewer skills less efficient at decoding than skilled readers?5. Do readers with low reading skills exhibit poor receptive vocabulary?6. Is a ‘spiky profile’ of strengths and weaknesses of reading skill sub-components evident7. Is there a relationship between readers’ self-concept and attitude to reading, and their assessed reading skills?
Setting•3 government funded organizations known as Private Training Establishments (PTEs) •in the same, mid-size NZ city•assess unit standards on the NZQA framework up to, and including, level 3•3 general groups: employment skills, security work training, and specific trade skills
Participants
•52 adults:40 male,12 female
•age range:16 years to over 50 years
•75% aged less than 30 years while 11.5% were over 40 years
•22(42%) NZ Euro/Pakeha, 20 (38%) Maori, 2 (4%) Pasifika, 5 (10%) Maori, Euro, and 3 (6%) Pasifika, Euro
Measures
Individual interviews approx one hour:
• collection of personal information, 2 part motivation-to-read profile/self-concept-as-a-reader survey and conversational interview• decoding test• word recognition test• sentence comprehension test• reading comprehension test• receptive vocabulary test.
Results______________________________________________________ Highest possible Range Mean SD score ________________________________________________________Bryant decoding 50 0-49 36.15 13.23
WRAT4 Word Reading 70 25-70 55.02 9.98 WRAT4 Comprehension 50 9-50 37.73 10.12 PPVT-111 204 129-196 167.46 16.98 ________________________________________________________
Correlation between Measures
___________________________________________________________
decoding comp
word reading 0.89* 0.85*
Receptive vocab 0.60* 0.84*___________________________________________________________
*p< 0.01
To examine decoding skills andreceptive vocabulary skills among less-skilled adult readers (sub-questions 4 and 5) participants were grouped into two groups (skilled and less-skilled readers) using the WRAT4 sentence comprehension raw scores.
•correlation between this subgroup (22 less-skilled readers) and decoding scores as measured by the Bryant was 0.62 (p< 0.01) and the correlation with receptive vocabulary skills as measured by PPVT-111 was 0.64 (p< 0.01)
•a significant positive correlation between receptive vocabulary skill and less-skilled readers and between decoding skill and less-skilled readers.
The 52 participants divided into 4 groups of readers to examine in detail specific characteristics including demographic and skill relationships (sub-question 1), correlation between decoding and listening comprehension among less-skilled readers, and patterns of strengths and weaknesses in the sub-components of reading (sub-questions 3 and 6).
Numbers of Readers in the Four Groups (N=52)______________________________________________________________________
Low High comp (≤162) comp (≥163)
_______________________________________________________________________
Low decoders (≤39) 16 (Group1) 5 (Group 2)
High decoders (≥40) 5 (Group 3) 26 (Group 4)
_______________________________________________________________________
Note. The comprehension and decoding values represent raw scores
Gender and Age Band Information for the Four Reading Groups (N=52) __________________________________________________ Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 LD/LC LD/HC HD/LC HD/HC___________________________________________________________ (n=16) (n=5) (n=5) (n=26) ___________________________________________________________Gender
Male (n=40) 12 3 3 22
Female (n=12) 4 2 2 4___________________________________________________________Age band
16-19 yrs (n=26) 7 4 2 13
20-29 yrs (n=13) 3 0 3 7
30-39 yrs (n= 7) 2 1 0 4
40+ yrs (n= 6) 4 0 0 2___________________________________________________________Note. LD=low decoder; LC=low comprehender; HD= high decoder; HC= high comprehender.
Ethnic Information for the Four Reading Groups (N=52) _______________________________________________________________________
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 LD/LC LD/HC HD/LC HD/HC___________________________________________________________ (n=16) (n=5) (n=5) (n=26) ___________________________________________________________Ethnicity
European (n=22) 4 3 0 15
Maori (n=20) 10 0 3 7
Eur-Maori (n= 5) 1 0 2 2
Eur-Pasifika (n=3) 1 1 0 1
Pasifika (n= 2) 0 1 0 1___________________________________________________________Note. LD=low decoder; LC=low comprehender; HD= high decoder; HC= high comprehender.
Percentages of self-concept survey responses for each reading skill group.
Percentages of value of reading survey responses for each reading skill group.
So what does this mean for us as
tutors of level 1-3 courses?
Listening Vocabulary
The words a person knows/understands when they hear them in spoken English.
Build vocabulary in contexts with regular revision and practice.
Decoding
Sight word recognition: relying on visual memory to recognise words without sounding out
Teaching consonants and vowels and the sounds they represent
Analogy to known words...familiar letter patterns/chunks (e.g. an in fan, man, pan; prefixes and suffixes)...treat such word parts as wholes (don’t have to sound out).
Print Exposure• Increasing reading mileage
Direct Instruction• Word analysis: Prefixes-roots-suffixes/Greek combining forms• Associational instruction:
Semantic mappingSynonyms/antonymsHomographs/Homonyms/Homophones
Teaching Dictionary/Thesaurus Skills Using Context Clues
Strategies for teaching vocabulary
