VIDBE-Q Volume 68 Issue 1
grammatical structures to convey thoughts or comprehend ideas (Silverman et al.
2020). These linguistic skills contribute to the overall ability to communicate, and
they are integrally linked to reading comprehension.
In the Simple View of Reading, Hoover and Tunmer (2021) define reading as
the sum of language comprehension and word recognition. In this model phonemic
awareness provides readers with the skills needed to apply the letter and sound
system to decode unfamiliar words, skills of which are supported by phonological
awareness. Phonological and phonemic awareness are foundational reading skills
developed in early grades and connected to word recognition. As children progress
through their academic career, readers encounter increasingly complex linguistic
structures and challenging academic vocabulary (Cervetti et al., 2020). During
reading tasks, proficient readers rely on a bridging process between decoding and
language comprehension (Duke & Cartwright, 2021). Language comprehension
provides meaning to what is read. Readers who have a robust vocabulary (lexical
knowledge), strong sense of morphology (understanding of words and word parts),
and ability to apply grammatical rules (use of language structures) are shown to
have better comprehension than readers without these underlying foundational
skills (Cervetti et al., 2020; Duke & Cartwright, 2021). Cabell and Hwang (2020)
further argue that broad content knowledge (e.g. background in variety of topics
