Simple but complex: components of the simple view of reading across grade levels

TLDR

The study examined how verbal proficiency and reading fluency contribute to reading comprehension across fourth, seventh, and ninth grades within the simple view of reading framework. The simple view of reading accounted for a significant, though decreasing, proportion of reading comprehension variance, with decoding’s contribution declining and listening comprehension’s contribution rising from fourth to seventh grade, while verbal proficiency and fluency added substantial variance across all grades.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the simple view of reading (SVR) and contributions of verbal proficiency and reading fluency to reading comprehension for fourth‐, seventh‐ and ninth‐grade readers ( N =271). The SVR explained a significant proportion of variance in reading comprehension for all grades with decreasing explained variance in higher grades. The variance explained by decoding decreased from fourth grade to higher grades. The variance explained by listening comprehension increased from fourth‐ to seventh‐grade, but did not change from seventh‐ to ninth‐grade. In all grades, verbal proficiency and reading fluency contributed substantial additional variance to reading comprehension beyond the SVR. Changes in the predictive relation between listening and reading comprehension and factors influencing reading comprehension in each grade are discussed.