Relations Among Student Attention Behaviors, Teacher Practices, and Beginning Word Reading Skill
- 29 December 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Learning Disabilities
- Vol. 45 (5), 418-432
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219411431243
Abstract
The role of student attention for predicting kindergarten word reading was investigated among 432 students. Using Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Rating Scale behavior rating scores, the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, which yielded three distinct factors that reflected selective attention. In this study, the authors focused on the role of one of these factors, which they labeled attention-memory, for predicting reading performance. Teacher ratings of attention-memory predicted word reading above and beyond the contribution of phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, the relations between four teacher practices and attention ratings for predicting reading performance were examined. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors found significant interactions between student attention and teacher practices observed during literacy instruction. In general, as ratings of attention improved, better kindergarten word reading performance was associated with high levels of classroom behavior management. However, better word reading performance was not associated with high levels of teacher task orienting. A significant three-way interaction was also found among attention, individualized instruction, and teacher task redirections. The role of regulating kindergarten student attention to support beginning word reading skill development is discussed.Keywords
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- Assessment Data–Informed Guidance to Individualize Kindergarten Reading Instruction: Findings from a Cluster-Randomized Control Field TrialThe Elementary School Journal, 2011
- The Cognitive and Behavioral Characteristics of Children With Low Working MemoryChild Development, 2009
- Individualizing Student Instruction Precisely: Effects of Child × Instruction Interactions on First Graders’ Literacy DevelopmentChild Development, 2009
- From Reading Readiness to Reading Competence: The Role of Self-Regulation in At-Risk ChildrenScientific Studies of Reading, 2008
- A Reconsideration of Cognitive Load TheoryEducational Psychology Review, 2007
- Across the continuum of attention skills: a twin study of the SWAN ADHD rating scaleJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2007
- Different activation patterns for working memory load and visual attention loadBrain Research, 2007
- The influence of phonological processing and inattentive behavior on reading acquisition.Journal of Educational Psychology, 2006
- Dimensions of executive functioning: Evidence from childrenBritish Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2003
- Changing relations between phonological processing abilities and word-level reading as children develop from beginning to skilled readers: A 5-year longitudinal study.Developmental Psychology, 1997