Predicting Children's Reading Comprehension: A Short-term Longitudinal Approach

Purpose: This study was a short-term longitudinal study to examine how vocabulary and morphological awareness of kindergarten(Time 1) and word reading and reading fluency of first-year(Time 2) affect reading comprehension(Time 2). Method: A total of 67 children were participated both Time 1 and Time 2. At the Time 1 vocabulary and morphological awareness and word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension were examined at the Time 2. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, t-test were conducted and then a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Results: First, there were significant positive correlations among variables. Second, there were significant differences in variables according to reading comprehensive level of first graders. Third, the reading fluency had the highest influence on reading comprehension. Conclusion: There were that vocabulary, word reading, morphological awareness, and reading fluency are closely related to reading comprehension in first-year students. The result presents direction and guidance for reading education.