RESUMO

Resumen El presente trabajo se propuso analizar la contribución de la comprensión de lenguaje oral y la velocidad y la precisión en la lectura de palabras en la comprensión lectora en lectores iniciales del español que crecen en contextos de pobreza urbana. Para ello, se evaluó a 31 niños de 3er grado que crecían en barrios socialmente vulnerables de la provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, mediante pruebas de comprensión lectora, precisión y velocidad lectora, vocabulario y procesamiento morfosintáctico. Los resultados de la muestra total indican que la medida de comprensión lectora se asoció a las medidas de vocabulario, procesamiento de lenguaje oral, y velocidad y precisión en la lectura. En contraposición a resultados obtenidos en otras lenguas de ortografía transparente, el análisis de una regresión indicó que la comprensión lectora estuvo mayormente explicada por la medida de precisión y no de velocidad en la lectura de palabras. A fin de enriquecer el análisis de los datos, a partir de los resultados en la prueba de comprensión de textos se conformaron dos grupos de niños con diferente nivel de comprensión lectora: un grupo de niños con un nivel de comprensión lectora cercano a la media obtenida (21 sujetos) y un grupo de niños cuyo desempeño se ubicó en un desvío por debajo de la media en la medida de comprensión (10 sujetos). Los resultados de una prueba de comparación de medias mostraron que entre grupos de niños con diferente nivel de comprensión lectora las habilidades que se diferenciaron fueron las relacionadas al procesamiento morfosintáctico.

Abstract The present study aims to analyze the contribution of oral language and reading comprehension skills in early readers of Spanish who grow up in poverty context in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For this, reading comprehension, reading accuracy, reading fluency, vocabulary and morphosyntax processing were tested in 31 3rd graders. Full sample data analysis show that reading comprehension measures was associated with vocabulary, oral language processing, reading speed and accuracy. In contrast to results obtained in other languages with transparent orthographies, regression analysis shows that reading comprehension was mainly explained by reading accuracy and not by reading speed. In order to improve the data analysis, two groups of children with different levels of reading comprehension were selected: one group (21 children) whose level of comprehension was near to the average obtained and one group of children (10 subjects) with lower reading comprehension level. The results of a mean comparison test showed that in groups of children with different levels of reading comprehension, the skills that differed were those related to morphosyntactic processing.

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O presente estudo teve como objetivo analisar se a Compreensão de Textos Literários e Científicos de uma amostra de alunos do Ensino Médio contribuiu para o Desempenho Acadêmico desses alunos em disciplinas que não apenas de linguagem. Participaram dessa pesquisa 75 estudantes do Ensino Médio de uma escola Pública do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. A média de idade foi de 17,07 anos (DP = 0,74). A compreensão de leitura científica foi avaliada com dois pequenos textos seguidos de perguntas de múltipla escolha, o teste de Compreensão de leitura literária foi um teste de Cloze, a inteligência geral foi avaliada pelas Matrizes Progressivas de Raven e a avaliação de desempenho escolar foi calculada pela média do Coeficiente de Rendimento dos alunos. Análises de regressão mostraram que a Compreensão de Leitura de Textos Científicos contribuiu para o desempenho acadêmico medido pelo coeficiente de rendimento médio, mesmo depois de controlado a inteligência não verbal. Os resultados corroboram com estudos que apontam a importância da compreensão de texto para o sucesso acadêmico em todo o ciclo escolar. (AU)

The present study aimed to analyze whether high school students' Comprehension of Literary and Scientific Texts out of a sample of High School students is associated with the academic performance in subject matters not related to language specifically. Seventy-five high school students from a public school in the state of Rio de Janeiro participated in this research. The mean age was 17.07 years (SD = 0.74). Scientific reading comprehension was assessed with two small texts followed by multiple choice questions, the literally reading comprehension was followed by a Cloze test, overall score was assessed using Raven Progressive Matrices and the mean grade score from the students was a measure of their school performance. Regression analyzes showed that Reading Comprehension of Scientific Texts contributed to academic performance measured by the mean score of grades even after controlling for nonverbal intelligence. The results corroborate studies that point out the importance of text comprehension for academic success throughout the school cycle. (AU)

Este estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar si la comprensión de los textos literarios y científicos de una muestra de estudiantes de secundaria contribuyó con el desempeño académico de estos alumnos en asignaturas además de las de lenguaje. Setenta y cinco estudiantes de secundaria de una escuela pública en el estado de Río de Janeiro participaron en esta investigación. La edad promedio fue de 17.07 años (DE = 0.74). La comprensión lectora científica se evaluó con dos textos pequeños seguidos de preguntas de opción múltiple, la prueba de comprensión lectora literaria fue una prueba Cloze, la inteligencia general se evaluó mediante las Matrices Progresivas de Raven y la evaluación del desempeño escolar se calculó mediante promedio del coeficiente de desempeño de los estudiantes. Los análisis de regresión mostraron que la comprensión lectora de textos científicos contribuyó al rendimiento académico medido por el coeficiente de rendimiento promedio, incluso después de controlar la inteligencia no verbal. Los resultados corroboran con estudios que señalan la importancia de la comprensión de textos para el éxito académico a lo largo del ciclo escolar. (AU)

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Background: This paper argues that Cultural-Historical neuropsychology provides a solid theoretical framework for the assessment of reading difficulties. Objective: The objective of the paper is to discuss how reading process and reading difficulties are perceived through the prism of Cultural-Historical neuropsychology. Design: This paper is of a theoretical and methodological nature, directed to practice and research in the field of neuropsychology. Results: This paper provides an outline of the fundamental concepts and principles of Cultural-Historical theory that are relevant to the assessment of reading difficulties. It provides a blueprint for the assessment of difficulties in reading Spanish via a presentation of data on common mistakes and their relationship to neuropsychological factors. Conclusion: The crucial role of in-school teaching in facilitating students to avoid developing reading difficulties, or to overcome them, is highlighted.

RESUMO

A fluência de leitura envolve acurácia, velocidade de leitura e prosódia, sendo seu papel relevante na compreensão de leitura. Estudos com a fluência de leitura são escassos no Brasil, principalmente quando se refere a intervenção. A fim de auxiliar estudos brasileiros futuros, este scoping review tem como objetivo apresentar os artigos de revisão existentes sobre intervenção em fluência de leitura, buscando analisar as implicações dos resultados destas pesquisas para a prática interventiva em fluência de leitura. Os resultados demonstram nove estudos de revisão em que a leitura repetida é a estratégia mais utilizada e mais eficaz quando associada a outras estratégias. Além disso, grande parte dos estudos mostram o impacto positivo na compreensão de leitura. Conclui-se, portanto, que foi possível rastrear e analisar os estudos de intervenções eficazes em fluência de leitura, para que assim sirvam de referência para novas pesquisas brasileiras voltadas ao tema, auxiliando os profissionais.

Reading fluency involves accuracy, reading speed and prosody, with its relevant role in reading comprehension. Studies with reading fluency are scarce in Brazil, especially when referring to the intervention. In order to assist future Brazilian studies, this scoping review aims to present the existing review articles on intervention in reading fluency, seeking to analyze the implications of the results of these research for the interventional practice in reading fluency. The results show 9 review studies in which repeated reading is the most used and most effective strategy when associated with other strategies. In addition, most studies show a positive impact on reading comprehension. It is concluded, therefore, that it was possible to track and analyze the studies of effective interventions in reading fluency, so that they thus serve as a reference for new Brazilian research focused on the theme, assisting professionals.

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El presente trabajo busca contribuir a la comprensión de las dificultades en la adquisición de velocidad lectora en niños que crecen en contextos de pobreza. Se realizaron dos estudios: el primero se propuso comparar los perfiles cognitivos de niños con y sin dificultad en el desarrollo de la velocidad en el reconocimiento de palabras. Participaron 68 niños de 6to grado de zonas vulneradas del conurbano bonaerense: 22 niños presentaban adecuada precisión pero baja velocidad lectora y 46 niños conformaron el grupo de comparación, con niveles promedio de precisión y velocidad. A ambos grupos se les administraron pruebas de conciencia fonológica, denominación rápida, memoria verbal y escritura convencional. Exceptuando la prueba de memoria, en el resto de las pruebas el grupo con baja velocidad lectora presentó desempeños inferiores a los del grupo de comparación. El segundo estudio buscó explorar en qué medida una intervención pedagógica permitía mejorar la velocidad lectora. Para ello, los "lectores lentos" del Estudio 1 participaron de una situación pre-test-intervención para promover el desarrollo de la velocidad lectora vía formación de representaciones ortográficas-postest. Los resultados del Estudio 2 mostraron que la intervención con lecturas repetidas y aceleradas de palabras modificó significativamente el tiempo de lectura de las palabras de entrenamiento. Los datos también sugieren que el trabajo con unidades subléxicas en la intervención permitió transferir la velocidad ganada en las palabras de entrenamiento a palabras de transferencia, palabras no trabajadas en las sesiones, pero con unidades subléxicas incluidas en las palabras de entrenamiento.

Reading speed is achieved based on automatic word recognition and, together with prosody, constitutes an essential link between word recognition and text comprehension. Despite the relevance of reading speed acquisition for success at school, a high percentage of children growing up in poverty contexts face difficulties in achieving automatic word recognition. Consequently, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of difficulties in reading speed acquisition in children growing in poverty contexts. Two studies were designed. In the first study, in order to explore the origin of difficulties in developing word reading speed, a comparison of the cognitive profiles of children from low-in-come backgrounds with and without difficulties in this ability was carried out. In a previous study, norms were obtained for accuracy and speed in a word reading test. Participants were 168 6th grade children from several educational institutions attending children growing up in poverty contexts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the present study, the same word reading test was administered to 96 6th grade children. Based on the norms obtained in the previous study, two groups of children were identified: a group who performed at or above the 50th percentile in reading accuracy but below the 30th percentile in reading speed and another groupper forming at or above the 50th percentile in both measures. The first group was made up of 22 children, and the second one, of 46 children. The remaining 28 children were not included in the study because they performed below the 50th percentile in reading accuracy. Additional tests measuring phonological awareness, rapid naming, verbal memory and word spelling were administered to children in both groups. Between-groups comparisons in these tasks showed that children with speed acquisition difficulties underperformed the other group in the tests tapping phonological awareness, rapid naming and spelling. These results suggest that the children in the group experiencing reading difficulties were still using the phonological route for word recognition. The second study aimed to explore whether a specifically designed educational intervention could enable children with low reading speed from the previous study to increase their reading speed. Both groups of children (with and without reading speed difficulties) were administered two additional reading tests: an experimental test comprising target words which would subsequently be included in the training study for the children with reading speed difficulties; and a reading test of additional words and pseudo words not targeted in the training study, but considered transfer items because they comprised sub lexical units that were included in the target words to be trained during the intervention. These same reading tests were re-administered as a post-test, after the reading intervention for the reading speed difficulties group. The training study aimed to promote reading speed via the acquisition of orthographic representations. The intervention involved two weekly individual sessions lasting 20 minutes each. Each child participated of a total of 15 sessions. Each session included repeated and accelerated reading of lexical units, as well as activities for promoting the analysis of sublexical units included in the target words and also present in the transfer pseudo words from the post-test. The comparison between the pre- and post-test performance of the training group showed a statistically significant increase in reading speed both of trained and transfer words, an increase that was not obtained for the comparison group. This result suggests that during the intervention children were able to develop orthographic representations of the trained lexical units, but also of the sub lexical units that were present in both the target and the transfer words. Educational implications from this study point to the importance of repeated and accelerated reading for increasing speed, a critical reading ability.

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Resumen Las dificultades de aprendizaje constituyen una problemática frecuente en las escuelas. Aunque diversos instrumentos de evaluación neuropsicológica han sido creados, la mayoría se han desarrollado y estandarizado para población no colombiana, o no están diseñados para niños menores de seis años y no permiten relacionar claramente las habilidades académicas y los procesos cognitivos subyacentes a ellas. El objetivo de este estudio es construir los datos normativos de la batería ENLEF en población infantil colombiana a partir de la evaluación de la influencia de las variables sociodemográficas en el desempeño de la prueba. Participaron 516 niños y niñas escolarizados de entre cuatro y siete años, quienes fueron evaluados por psicólogos entrenados con la batería ENLEF. Los resultados mostraron una influencia de la edad y el estrato sobre el desempeño de los participantes en la mayoría de las pruebas. Sin embargo, en algunas pruebas de lenguaje y de lectura se observó solo una influencia del estrato socioeconómico. Los resultados del presente estudio permiten el uso de la ENLEF en la población infantil colombiana como una alternativa culturalmente contextualizada para la evaluación de funciones cognitivas y habilidades de lectoescritura. Además, se confirma la influencia de la edad y el nivel socioeconómico sobre el desarrollo cognitivo.

Abstract Learning disabilities are a frequent problem identified at school. Although there are several neuropsychological tests available, most of them have been developed and standardized for non-Colombian population, haven't been designed for children below six years old, and don't allow to clearly relate academic skills with cognitive process. The aim of this study was to develop normative data for the ENLEF test for Colombian children, by assessing the influence of sociodemographic characteristics on the test performance. Trained psychologists assessed 516 school-children aged from four to seven years using the ENLEF test. Results showed an influence of age and socioeconomic status on the participants' performance in most of the subtest. Nevertheless, in some language and reading subtests, only the influence of socioeconomic status showed an influence on the performance. These results allow the use of the ENLEF test for children in Colombia, as a culturally-contextualized option to assess cognitive functions and reading and writing skills. Furthermore, influence of age and socioeconomic status on cognitive development is also confirmed.

RESUMO

AIM: The study aimed to provide information about the concurrent and discriminant validation of the Scale of Evaluation of Reading Competence by the Teacher (EACOL), which is composed of 27 dichotomous items concerning reading aloud (17 items) and reading silently (10 items). SAMPLES: Three samples were used in this validation study. The first was composed of 335 students with an average age of 9.75 years (SD = 1.2) from Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais State), Brazil, where the full spectrum of reading ability was assessed. The second two samples were from São Paulo city (São Paulo State), Brazil, where only children with reading difficulties were recruited. The first São Paulo sample was labeled "SP-screening" and had n = 617, with a mean age of 9.8 years (SD = 1.0), and the other sample was labeled "SP-trial" and had n = 235, with a mean age of 9.15 years (SD = 0.05). METHODS: Results were obtained from a latent class analysis LCA, in which two latent groups were obtained as solutions, and were correlated with direct reading measures. Also, students' scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale and on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire tested the discriminant validation. RESULTS: Latent groups of readers underlying the EACOL predicted all direct reading measures, while the same latent groups showed no association with behavior and intelligence assessments, giving concurrent and discriminant validity to EACOL, respectively. CONCLUSION: EACOL is a reliable screening tool which can be used by a wide range of professionals for assessing reading skills.

RESUMO

Este trabajo busca contribuir al estudio de las dificultades lectoras en niños que crecen en contextos de pobreza. Al comenzar el 1er año escolar se evaluó a 60 niños con pruebas de sensibilidad fonológica, memoria fonológica, denominación rápida, conocimiento de letras, lectura y escritura de palabras familiares, reconocimiento de acciones lectoras, vocabulario e inteligencia no verbal. Al finalizar el año se identificó a dos grupos: 25 buenos lectores y 24 malos lectores. Se comparó retrospectivamente su perfil cognitivo inicial. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en vocabulario, reconocimiento de acciones lectoras e inteligencia no verbal, pero sí en el procesamiento fonológico y el conocimiento alfabético. Asimismo, se encontró que la diferencia entre grupos en la lectura y escritura de palabras familiares se ampliaba durante el año. Se considera que las dificultades de los niños son el resultado de la interacción entre factores cognitivos y características del proceso de instrucción escolar.(AU)

This paper explores the reading difficulties of children growing in poverty. At the beginning of the 1st school year, 60 children were given tests of phonological sensitivity, phonological memory, rapid naming, letter knowledge, reading and spelling of familiar words, identification of reading actions, vocabulary and non verbal intelligence. At the end of the year two groups were identified: 25 good readers and 24 poor readers and their initial cognitive profiles were retrospectively compared. No statistically significant differences were found in vocabulary knowledge, intelligence or identification of reading actions. There were significant differences in phonological processing and alphabetic knowledge. Additionally, the performance gap between good and poor readers widened during the year. These results were interpreted as indication that the difficulties of children growing in poverty are the consequence of the interaction between cognitive factors and school instruction.(AU)