Abstract
Purpose
We investigated the roles of leisure reading and word reading ability in vocabulary and reading comprehension development in 598 adolescents at ages 10, 11, and 12 (285 girls, 313 boys).
Method
Structural equation modeling was used to test whether word reading was associated with vocabulary and reading comprehension: a) directly; b) indirectly via leisure reading; or c) both.
Results
We found both direct and indirect effects of word reading on vocabulary: word reading ability directly predicted outcomes, and also predicted the amount of leisure reading, which in turn predicted vocabulary. For reading comprehension we observed direct but not indirect effects of word reading. As expected, vocabulary and reading comprehension outcomes were strongly correlated.
Conclusion
Our findings demonstrate the direct effect of word reading ability in predicting vocabulary and reading comprehension, and reveal a crucial mediating role of leisure reading in the development of vocabulary.
We investigated the roles of leisure reading and word reading ability in vocabulary and reading comprehension development in 598 adolescents at ages 10, 11, and 12 (285 girls, 313 boys).
Method
Structural equation modeling was used to test whether word reading was associated with vocabulary and reading comprehension: a) directly; b) indirectly via leisure reading; or c) both.
Results
We found both direct and indirect effects of word reading on vocabulary: word reading ability directly predicted outcomes, and also predicted the amount of leisure reading, which in turn predicted vocabulary. For reading comprehension we observed direct but not indirect effects of word reading. As expected, vocabulary and reading comprehension outcomes were strongly correlated.
Conclusion
Our findings demonstrate the direct effect of word reading ability in predicting vocabulary and reading comprehension, and reveal a crucial mediating role of leisure reading in the development of vocabulary.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 514-526 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Scientific Studies of Reading |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 26 Apr 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Apr 2022 |
Bibliographical note
© 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Keywords
- Psychology (miscellaneous)
- Education