| The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of passage decodability and percentage of high frequency words on oral reading text rate and accuracy across time in second-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students with reading disabilities. Students participating in the experimental group received explicit phonological awareness instruction combined with word identification strategy skills instruction (Phonological and Strategy Training Program [PHAST]) for 27 weeks, and students of the control group received their typical special education reading instruction. Eight passages, eight nondecodable word lists, and one high frequency word list were administered at each assessment. Oral reading text rate and accuracy were assessed in passages that systematically varied in or controlled for one of two text features, percentage of decodable words and percentage of high frequency words. Repeated measures analysis of variance were used to statistically evaluate students' oral reading text rate and oral reading text accuracy over time for the PHAST and control group. For the PHAST and control group combined, oral reading accuracy and rate was dependent on the percentage of high frequency words. When accounting for time, oral reading accuracy and rate performance remained similar in passages containing a high percentage of high frequency words and decreased in passages containing a low percentage of high frequency words. Regardless of passage decodability level, oral reading accuracy improved over time. |
