Links between early oral narrative and decoding skills and later reading in a New Zealand sample^*

^*Data presented in this article were collected when the second author was a doctoral student at the University of Otago. Portions of these data were presented at the International Reading Comprehension Symposium, University of Canterbury, 4 – 5 October 2012.

Abstract

We examined earlier oral narrative and decoding and later reading in two samples spanning the first four years of reading instruction. The Year 1 sample (n = 44) was initially assessed after one year of instruction (M = 6; 1 years) and followed through their third year (M = 8; 1 years); the Year 2 sample (n = 34) assessed after two years of instruction (M = 7; 0 years) and followed to their fourth year (M = 9; 0 years). Oral narrative and decoding were assessed initially, oral reading, retell, and maze fluency, plus reading age, obtained at outcome. For the Year 2 sample, oral narrative and decoding contributed to oral reading and comprehension two years later. For the Year 1 sample, decoding contributed to most reading outcomes, with narrative quality uniquely predicting Year 3 retell fluency. Post-hoc exploratory analyses suggest story memory indirectly contributed to Year 3 reading via Year 2 retell.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the contribution of student members of our research team, especially Jennifer Long, to collection and coding of narrative data. We also wish to indicate our gratitude to the participating children and school communities who made this research a possibility.

Notes

^* Data presented in this article were collected when the second author was a doctoral student at the University of Otago. Portions of these data were presented at the International Reading Comprehension Symposium, University of Canterbury, 4 – 5 October 2012.