ABSTRACT

International assessments show that 20% of adolescents cannot read simple texts with understanding. Despite this, research has focused on early reading in childhood and skilled reading in adulthood, neglecting reading development during adolescence. We report a longitudinal study assessing reading and vocabulary development at 12, 13 and 14 years in a sample of 210 adolescents who were unselected for ability. Word reading accuracy, word reading fluency, reading comprehension, receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary were assessed using standardized assessments. Latent variable models showed consistent rank order amongst individuals (high stability), significant progress over time, and evidence that achievement gaps between the least and most able adolescents were narrowing. Oral vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension were best conceptualized as indices of a common language construct. Low levels of reading proficiency were also observed in a substantial proportion of this sample, underlining the importance of providing ongoing reading and language support during adolescence.

摘要

国际评估表明，有20％的青少年无法在理解的情况下阅读简单的文章。尽管如此，研究仍集中在儿童早期阅读和成年后的熟练阅读上，而忽略了青春期的阅读发展。我们报告了一项纵向研究，评估了210名未选择能力的青少年在12、13和14岁时的阅读和词汇发展。使用标准化评估对单词阅读的准确性，单词阅读的流利度，阅读理解，接受词汇和表达词汇进行评估。潜在变量模型显示出个体之间的等级顺序一致（高稳定性），随着时间的推移取得了显着进步，并证明了能力最弱的青少年之间的成就差距正在缩小。最好将口语词汇知识和阅读理解概念化为共同语言结构的指标。在该样本的相当大一部分中，还发现阅读水平较低，这强调了在青春期提供持续阅读和语言支持的重要性。