Guru Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences Influence of Phonological Awareness, Morphological Awareness and Non-verbal ability on Reading Comprehension in Malayalam

Non-verbal ability In the context of observations that students lack mastery of elementary reading comprehension in Malayalam even by the end of 5-7 years of formal schooling, this study applies multiple regression analysis for reading comprehension. Longitudinal survey data from a representative sample of 159 lower primary students from grade 2 to 4 revealed Reading Comprehension as significantly and positively related to Morphological Awareness, Phonological awareness and Ravens non-verbal ability. The three predictors account for near 1/3 of the variation in reading comprehension in Malayalam of elementary school learners. Findings suggest enhancing phonological and morphological awareness in order to develop reading comprehension. © 2013 Guru Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences Understanding meaning from the written text is crucial to effective reading. Meaningful reading is inevitable in education, and is indispensable for student and adult lives. Reading comprehension, a core component of language skills, is however an advanced and complicated skill. Comprehension allows the reader to interact with the text in a meaningful way. It is th