To understand how to learn to read

As part of an experiment on the normalization of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, the present study stresses the relationship of reading comprehension to decoding as well as to the battery's other aptitudes in 216 first and secondgraders in Lausanne primary schools. Children had to read to themselves and execute orders given in sentences of progressive complexity. An analysis of variance shows a strong grade effect. A multiple regression analysis confirms the close link between understanding and decoding and, moreover, shows that written comprehension also depends on oral language factors. A qualitative analysis tracks the progression of the comprehension of written sentences according to their grammatical complexity.