From Bibliophile to Sesquipedalian: Modeling the Role of Reading Experience in Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

Figures & data

Figure 1. Timeline of the longitudinal study.

Table 1. Means and standard deviations for the observed variables.

	Task	Age (years)	n	M	SD	Sample min	Sample max	Task max	Cronbach’s α
School entry variables	Letter knowledge	4	788	12.82	9.09	0	42	51	.74
	Naming Vocabulary	4	782	22.97	3.15	5	33	36	.74
Word reading efficiency	Phonemic decoding	10	597	40.40	10.98	7	64	66	.96
	Sight word reading	10	598	68.63	10.97	21	95	108	.94
Leisure reading	Time spent reading	11	298	2.18	0.97	1	4	4
	Read for fun	11	298	2.89	1.07	1	4	4
	Read stories or novels	11	298	2.96	1.00	1	4	4
Vocabulary	BPVS everyday vocabulary	12	261	135.05	14.18	83	162	168	.95
	Physics vocabulary set 1	12	259	6.25	2.93	0	13	17	.63
	Physics vocabulary set 2	12	246	8.92	3.02	1	16	16	.68
	Biology vocabulary set 1	12	259	9.56	3.04	1	16	16	.71
	Biology vocabulary set 2	12	246	8.81	2.75	0	15	15	.70
Reading comprehension	Easier passage	12	242	8.58	2.36	1	13	13	.66
	Harder passage	12	232	7.81	2.64	0	13	13	.72

Table 2. Pearson correlations between observed variables. *p<.05;**p<.01

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
1.Letter Knowledge age 4	-
2.Vocabulary age 4	.46**	-
3. Sight Words age 10	.26**	.15**	-
4. Phon Decoding age 10	.19**	.14**	.72**	-
5. Time spent reading age 11	.06	.07	.15*	.19**	-
6. Read for fun age 11	.23**	.16*	.22**	.30**	.51**	-
7. Read novels age 11	.21**	.16*	.20**	.22**	.35**	.54**	-
8. Reading comprehension easier passage age 12	.44**	.34**	.32**	.34**	.03	.23**	.27**	-
9. Reading comprehension harder passage age 12	.38**	.31**	.28**	.33**	.02	.31**	.34**	.62**	-
10. BPVS Vocabulary age 12	.45**	.55**	.32**	.33**	.02	.26**	.28**	.57**	.56**	-
11. Physics vocabulary age 12	.38**	.41**	.21**	.15*	.06	.18**	.13	.32**	.30**	.61**	-
12. Biology vocabulary age 12	.40**	.42**	.29**	.28**	.09	.27**	.32**	.44**	.47**	.70**	.54**

Figure 2. Mediation model showing standardized coefficients for the association between word reading efficiency (age 10), leisure reading (age 11), reading comprehension and vocabulary (age 12).

Data availability statement

The data for this project are openly availablein the UK Data Archive: https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/853894/