Language Deficits in Poor L2 Comprehenders: The Simple View
Richard L. Sparks (EdD, University of Cincinnati) is Professor Emeritus of Special Education, Mt. St. Joseph University, Cincinnati, OH.
Abstract
The simple view of reading (SVR) model proposes that reading comprehension is the product of word decoding and language comprehension, and that both components make independent contributions to reading skill (Gough & Tunmer, 1986). The model posits that there are good readers and three types of poor readers—dyslexic, hyperlexic, and garden variety—who exhibit different profiles of strengths and/or deficits in word decoding and language comprehension. In this study, 165 first‐ and second‐year high school students studying Spanish as a second language in the United States were administered standardized measures of Spanish word decoding, pseudoword decoding, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Participants' scores were compared to monolingual Spanish readers from grades 1 to 9 and then classified according to SVR reader types. The majority of students met the hyperlexic profile (good word decoding, poor reading comprehension). No participant fit the dyslexic criteria (poor decoding, good reading comprehension), and none met the good reader criteria (good word decoding, good reading comprehension) at a level higher than that of second‐grade monolingual Spanish learners.
Number of times cited: 4
- Richard L. Sparks and Julie Luebbers, How Many U.S. High School Students Have a Foreign Language Reading “Disability”? Reading Without Meaning and the Simple View, Journal of Learning Disabilities, 51, 2, (194), (2018).
- Richard L. Sparks, Julie Luebbers and Martha E. Castañeda, How Well Do U.S. High School Students Achieve in Spanish When Compared to Native Spanish Speakers?, Foreign Language Annals, 50, 2, (339-366), (2017).
- Ibrahim A. Asadi, Reading Comprehension Subgroups in Arabic: A Simple but Not a Multiplicative Model, Reading & Writing Quarterly, (1), (2017).
- Summer Loomis, Using Speaking Test Data to Define the Advanced Proficiency Level for L2 Arabic Speakers, Foreign Language Annals, 48, 4, (604-617), (2015).
