Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Elizabeth Meisinger

Committee Member

Gustaf Seimyr

Committee Member

John Sabatini

Committee Member

Randy Floyd

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the contributions of oral and silent reading fluency to comprehension in grade four students (N = 192). Participants were administered grade-level CBM probes and i-Ready Diagnostic measures of comprehension. Eye movements, spectrographic measures of prosody, reading rate, and accuracy were extracted from the CBM readings. A two-factor measurement model was proposed, with an oral reading fluency factor and a silent reading fluency factor. Additionally, a mediation model was proposed to consider oral contributions to silent reading (and, subsequently, comprehension). Results instead supported a bifactor model, indicating a general reading fluency factor and two specific factors, oral and silent reading fluency. SEM was used to examine the contributions of these three factors, all of which contribute uniquely and significantly to comprehension. However, a mediation model was not supported, suggesting that oral and silent fluency are related by its general factor. These findings are generally consistent with extant literature, though the dimensional structure of reading fluency for modality serves as a new contribution to the field. More research on fluency at this depth is needed to replicate and expand upon these findings and to further explore reading development. Keywords: Fluency, oral, silent, modality, reading comprehension, dimensionality

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

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