Comparing the Effectiveness of Three Learning Methods—Vocabulary Learning, a Text-Reader Program, and a Combined Method—in Remediating Reading Disorders Among 9–11-Year-Old Children in Iran
Keywords:
Reading disorder, Vocabulary learning, Text, reader program, Reading fluency, Reading comprehension, Learning disabilities, ChildrenAbstract
Purpose: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of vocabulary learning, a text-reader program, and a combined vocabulary learning–text-reader method in improving reading performance among Iranian children aged 9–11 years with reading disorders.
Methods and Materials: A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with three parallel intervention groups was employed. The participants were 30 children aged 9–11 years with reading disorders recruited from primary schools and learning-disability centers in Tehran, Iran, and assigned to vocabulary-learning, text-reader, and combined-method groups, with 10 participants in each group. Reading performance was assessed before and after the intervention in terms of overall reading performance, word-reading accuracy, nonword decoding, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Each group participated in 12 sessions of approximately 60 minutes, conducted three times weekly for four weeks. The vocabulary-learning intervention emphasized explicit lexical and semantic instruction; the text-reader intervention employed synchronized visual and auditory reading practice; and the combined intervention integrated both approaches. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance and multivariate analysis of covariance with pretest scores entered as covariates.
Findings: ANCOVA showed a significant effect of intervention condition on overall posttest reading performance after controlling for baseline scores, F(2, 26) = 34.37, p < .001, partial η² = .726. The combined method significantly outperformed vocabulary learning and the text-reader program, while the text-reader program was also significantly superior to vocabulary learning. MANCOVA indicated a significant overall intervention effect on the combined reading outcomes, Wilks' Λ = .214, F(8, 44) = 6.77, p < .001, partial η² = .552. Significant group effects were found for word-reading accuracy, F(2, 25) = 12.84, p < .001, nonword decoding, F(2, 25) = 16.31, p < .001, reading fluency, F(2, 25) = 21.76, p < .001, and reading comprehension, F(2, 25) = 7.62, p = .003.
Conclusion: The combined vocabulary learning–text-reader method was the most effective intervention, suggesting that integrating lexical-semantic instruction with synchronized visual–auditory reading practice may provide a more comprehensive approach to remediating reading disorders in children.
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