Development and Interactions among Academic Performance, Word Recognition, Listening, and Reading Comprehension

This study investigated how the development of word recognition, listening and reading comprehension skills correlates with academic performance over the course of elementary school. The Contrastive Test of Listening and Reading Comprehension and the Words and Non-words Reading Competence Test were used to assess 301 Brazilian students attending the 1st to 4th grades of elementary education, whose academic performance records were provided by the school at the end of the year. Analysis shows a significant effect of grade level on all variables and a pattern of higher scores in items that can be read by logographic strategy and lower scores for items that need orthographic processing. Several significant correlations between measured skills and academic performance were found, though the pattern of these correlations shifted within different grade levels. There were stronger relations between academic performance and more elementary abilities, such as logographic strategy of reading and listening comprehension in the 1st grade, and with more complex skills developing during the next three grades, as shown by the increase of correlations with alphabetic and orthographic strategies and reading comprehension. These data can help guide practices that stimulate relevant skills in each school level.