Vol. 20:2 (2017) ► pp.147–169
Instability of word reading errors of typical and poor readers
We examined the instability of reading errors, that is whether a child reads the same word sometimes correctly and sometimes incorrectly, and whether typical readers differ in their instability from poor readers. With an interval of a few days, Dutch CVC words were read twice by typically developing first and second graders and reading-level matched poor readers. Error instability was considerable and second graders produced more unstable errors than first graders. Poor readers did not differ from typical readers, suggesting a developmental lag for poor readers. Of the word characteristics studied, frequency was the strongest predictor: the higher word frequency, the higher error instability. Our study indicates that error instability can be considered as an indicator of the transition from incompetence to reading competence.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Method
- 2.1Participants
- 2.2Procedure and instruments
- 2.2.1Reading tests
- Lexical decision test (LDT)
- Word decoding test (WDT)
- Nonword reading test
- 2.2.2Computer reading task
- Stimuli for the computer reading task
- Sampling from the lemma set
- 2.2.3Procedure
- General procedure
- Administration of the computer reading task
- 2.2.1Reading tests
- 2.3Data analyses
- 3.Results
- 3.1Stability of reading scores
- 3.1.1Test score stability
- 3.1.2Stability of item difficulty
- 3.2Instability of reading errors
- 3.2.1Subject analyses
- 3.2.2Item analyses
- 3.1Stability of reading scores
- 4.Discussion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
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References
This article is currently available as a sample article.
https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00002.ste