A Componential Approach to Training Reading Skills: Part 1. Perceptual Units Training

A set of three component-specific instructional systems for improving critical reading skills was developed and evaluated. The skill components that were the focus of training had been shown in prior research to represent particular sources of processing difficulty for young adult, poor readers and, based on a model of component interaction, were predicted to have a potentially strong impact on the performance of other component processes. Each instructional system focused on developing automaticity in the performance of a particular skill: (a) perceptual encoding of multiletter units appearing within words (SPEED); (b) phonological decoding of orthographic information in words (RACER); and (c) use of context frames in retrieving and integrating word meanings (SKIJUMP). The SPEED evaluation study is described in Part 1. All subjects reached high levels of performance in perceptual encoding skills. In addition, improvements in perceptual encoding skills led to improvements in decoding and word recognition, following predicted patterns of component interaction.