Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

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

Version 1 : Received: 24 July 2023 / Approved: 27 July 2023 / Online: 28 July 2023 (08:26:24 CEST)

How to cite: Kovalčíková, I.; Veerbeek, J.; Vogelaar, B.; Klimovič, M.; Gogová, E. Progress in Language Abilities Related to Reading Comprehension – Domain Specific Intervention on Executive Functioning. Preprints 2023, 2023071948. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202307.1948.v1 Kovalčíková, I.; Veerbeek, J.; Vogelaar, B.; Klimovič, M.; Gogová, E. Progress in Language Abilities Related to Reading Comprehension – Domain Specific Intervention on Executive Functioning. Preprints 2023, 2023071948. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202307.1948.v1

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.

Keywords

reading comprehension; language; executive functioning; domain-specific cognitive stimulation; low-performing pupil; Exefun-READ

Subject

Social Sciences, Language and Linguistics

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