The growth trajectories of oral and silent word reading fluency before and after COVID-19

IF 4.7 1区教育学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Learning and Instruction Pub Date : 2025-03-06 DOI:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102105

George K. Georgiou , Tomohiro Inoue , Michael McMann , Scott McKenzie , Rauno Parrila

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose

We examined the growth of word-reading fluency (oral and silent) in two cohorts of English-speaking Canadian children in Grades 1 to 4 and whether the COVID-19 pandemic had an effect on it.

Method

The first cohort comprised 997 children (49% females) who were in Grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 in September 2018. The second cohort comprised 797 children (48% females) who were in Grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 in September 2020. Each cohort was assessed five times on a measure of oral word-reading fluency (Test of Sight Word Reading Efficiency) and on a measure of silent word-reading fluency (Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency).

Results

Results of multigroup latent basis growth modeling showed that whereas oral word-reading fluency followed decelerating growth from Grades 1 to 4, silent word-reading fluency showed slower growth in Grade 1 and prolonged growth thereafter. Our results further showed that although children's initial performance levels were slightly lower after the school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their growth in both oral and silent word-reading fluency was generally faster after the schools reopened, catching up with the pre-pandemic levels of children's reading fluency.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that silent and oral word-reading fluency may differ not only in their predictors (as shown in previous studies), but also in their growth trajectories. COVID-19 impacted not only the initial performance levels, but also the growth trajectories in oral and silent word-reading fluency.

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来源期刊

Learning and Instruction Multiple-

CiteScore

11.30

自引率

4.80%

发文量

109

期刊介绍： As an international, multi-disciplinary, peer-refereed journal, Learning and Instruction provides a platform for the publication of the most advanced scientific research in the areas of learning, development, instruction and teaching. The journal welcomes original empirical investigations. The papers may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches. They may refer to any age level, from infants to adults and to a diversity of learning and instructional settings, from laboratory experiments to field studies. The major criteria in the review and the selection process concern the significance of the contribution to the area of learning and instruction, and the rigor of the study.