Investigating the Relationship between Comprehension and Word Recognition: Oral Reading Analysis of Children with Comprehension or Word Recognition Disabilities

Abstract

Two types of disabled readers were identified: those with good comprehension but poor word recognition (HiC-LoWR) and those with poor comprehension but adequate word recognition (LoC-HiWR). All Ss read orally a grade 3 and a grade 5 story, and their reading performance was evaluated. Preliminary analyses indicated that, contrary to expectations, HiC-LoWR Ss used contextual information less well and corrected fewer errors. When Ss' oral reading of stories of comparable difficulty was contrasted, HiC-LoWR Ss, as expected, used contextual information to better advantage. Results suggested there is more involved in comprehending text than the ability to recognize individual words.