Vocabulary Is Important for Some, but Not All Reading Skills

TLDR

Evidence links oral vocabulary to reading comprehension, but its relation to word‑level reading skills remains unclear and findings are discussed within current models of reading development. This study investigated vocabulary and literacy in 81 children aged 8 to 10 years. Vocabulary uniquely predicts exception word reading and reading comprehension but not text reading accuracy, decoding, or regular word reading; children with poor comprehension exhibit vocabulary weaknesses and lower exception word accuracy, demonstrating that oral vocabulary is linked to some but not all reading skills.

Abstract

Although there is evidence for a close link between the development of oral vocabulary and reading comprehension, less clear is whether oral vocabulary skills relate to the development of word-level reading skills. This study investigated vocabulary and literacy in 81 children aged 8 to 10 years. In regression analyses, vocabulary accounted for unique variance in exception word reading and reading comprehension, but not text reading accuracy, decoding, or regular word reading. Consistent with these data, children with poor reading comprehension exhibited oral vocabulary weaknesses and read fewer exception words correctly. These findings demonstrate that oral vocabulary is associated with some, but not all, reading skills. Results are discussed in terms of current models of reading development.