The Effects of Repeated Readings and Attentional Cues on the Reading Fluency and Comprehension of Learning Disabled Readers

Abstract

Thirty-two learning disabled (LD) students read passages of equivalent difficulty one, three, and seven times. Half the students were instructed to read “quickly and correctly” and half to “remember as much as they could about the story.” Words read correctly per minute (WPM) on the final reading served as one dependent measure; the percentage of story propositions (POP) retold following the final reading was the other. Separate ANOVAs were calculated. For WPM, a significant main effect for readings was obtained: Students read more fluently on seventh than third readings and on third than first readings. For POP, significant main effects for both readings and cues were obtained: Students retold more of the stories after three readings than after one and students cued to remember retold more of the stories than students cued for fluency. Differences between LD and average third-grade readers on the same tasks are discussed.