Differences in the Components and Relations of a Multidimensional Model of Reading Comprehension in Low and Average 8- to 11-Year-Old French Readers.

International audienceIf the simple view of reading earlier characterised reading comprehension as a product of decoding and linguistic comprehension, research has evolved to a more complex simple view including speed or fluency as a major factor of reading comprehension. Through this complex simple view approach, multidimensional models of reading comprehension emerged, which, in addition, proposed the implication of other cognitive skills. The purpose of our study is; Firstly, as we hypothesised a structural theoretical model of the relationships between oral language skills, decoding and word fluency, oral text comprehension, reading fluency and reading comprehension, we want to test if this model fits the data obtained from 8 to 11-year-old French students and to identify the contribution and relations of each skill to reading comprehension. Secondly, we want to explore the relations of text fluency with other components of the model and with reading comprehension. Thirdly, we try to identify variations of the relations between these components according to the average or low level of reading achievement of pupils. The results obtained by studying differences in the relationships between multiple predictors of reading comprehension for low and average primary school readers seem to indicate that proficiency in reading is acquired by passing from an independent participation of the OLS and WLS to reading comprehension, as stated by the simple view of reading, to a more integrated functioning with some links between these two groups of skills, which calls for more complex views of reading