PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS RELATED TO READING FLUENCY DURING THE TRANSITION FROM ORAL TO SILENT READING

The present study investigated how reading fluency is related to social desirability and academic self-concept during a critical period in reading development for children. It was predicted that social desirability would be a better predictor of oral reading fluency, while academic self-concept would be a better predictor of silent reading fluency. Participants were sixty third-grade students from Catholic schools in a large metropolitan area. All children completed measures of oral reading fluency, silent reading fluency, academic self-concept, and social desirability. Multiple regression and dominance analysis supported the hypothesized relationships. Social desirability had a significant negative relationship with oral reading fluency, while academic self-concept was unrelated to oral reading fluency. In addition, academic self-concept had a significant positive relationship with silent reading fluency, while social desirability had a smaller, but still significant, negative relationship with silent reading fluency. The present findings suggest that psychosocial factors like social desirability and academic self-concept may help identify children who are at risk for reading underachievement. Future research should use a longitudinal design to examine if measuring social desirability and academic self-concept in third grade can predict important outcomes, such as reading fluency in fourth grade or beyond.M.S. in Psychology, May 201