Progress in Language Abilities Related to Reading Comprehension – Domain Specific Intervention on Executive Functioning

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Abstract

A reduced ability to work with information contained in a text is usually registered in low-achieving students. One important internal factor influencing reading comprehension concerns the child’s executive functioning. The current study investigated whether the domain-specific intervention ExeFun-READ targeting language abilities related to reading comprehension and executive functioning in primary school children would be effective in improving their scholastic performance in their reading domain and executive functioning. ExeFun-READ is designed to address the relations between domain-specific versus thinking-skill-oriented (domain-general) instruction. A child’s active learning is focused on semantic, phonetic, morphological and syntactical comprehension of linguistic material. In total, 151 students attending grade four from seven elementary schools took part in the project. The study concerned a pretest-intervention-posttest experimental design with three conditions: the experimental condition, an active, and a passive control group. To assess the children’s level of EF, the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System test battery was used; to assess children’s language ability in reading domain, the Cognitive Abilities Test (the verbal battery, Thorndike & Hagan, 1986 [1]), was used. In the current study, the intervention led to improved language abilities related to reading comprehension, but in terms of executive functioning the improvement only extended to switching fluency. Regarding the effects of the ExeFun-READ intervention on children’s reading abilities, specified as language abilities related to reading comprehension, significant improvements were found in vocabulary, completion of sentences, and classification of terms in the group of children that received the ExeFun-READ intervention.

Authors 5

1. Iveta Kovalčíková

   University of Prešov

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Education , Research Center of Cognitive Education , University of Presov in Presov , Slovakia;

   Faculty of Education, Research Center of Cognitive Education, University of Presov in Presov, Slovakia;

2. Jochanan Veerbeek Aachen Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences , Leiden University , Netherlands;

   Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Leiden University, Netherlands;

3. Bart Vogelaar Aachen Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Psychology , Leiden University , Netherlands;

   Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Netherlands;

4. Martin Klimovič

   University of Prešov

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Communicative and Literary Education , University of Presov in Presov , Faculty of Education , Slovakia;

   Department of Communicative and Literary Education, University of Presov in Presov, Faculty of Education, Slovakia;

5. Eva Gogová

   University of Prešov

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Communicative and Literary Education , University of Presov in Presov , Faculty of Education , Slovakia;

   Department of Communicative and Literary Education, University of Presov in Presov, Faculty of Education, Slovakia;