Psicothema was founded in Asturias (northern Spain) in 1989, and is published jointly by the Psychology Faculty of the University of Oviedo and the Psychological Association of the Principality of Asturias (Colegio Oficial de Psicología del Principado de Asturias).
We currently publish four issues per year, which accounts for some 100 articles annually. We admit work from both the basic and applied research fields, and from all areas of Psychology, all manuscripts being anonymously reviewed prior to publication.
Marta Álvarez-Cañizo, Elena Cueva, Fernando Cuetos, and Paz Suárez-Coalla
Universidad de Oviedo
Background: Studies of the relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension have traditionally focused on primary schools and narrative texts. However, reading fluency continues to develop during secondary school, when the texts used most are expository texts. Method: The aim of our study was to investigate reading fluency and reading comprehension in secondary-school students, comparing two texts (i.e. narrative and expository) containing various types of sentences (i.e. declarative, adversative and enumerative sentences). Results: We found differences in reading fluency between narrative and expository texts, the expository text being read with a more marked prosody (pauses and melodic contour) suggesting that readers rely on this for their understanding. In addition, we also found a relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension, with a greater relationship of prosodic variables with the expository text than with the narrative one. Conclusions: Our results confirm that reading fluency continues to develop during secondary school. The expository text, due to its increased difficulty, seemingly needs to lean on and exaggerate the prosody more when reading in order to understand it.
Fluidez lectora y comprensión en estudiantes españoles de secundaria. Antecedentes: tradicionalmente, los estudios sobre fluidez lectora y comprensión se centraban en primaria y usaban textos narrativos. Sin embargo, la fluidez lectora continúa desarrollándose en Educación Secundaria, en la que los textos más usados son expositivos. Método: el objetivo de nuestro estudio era investigar la fluidez y la comprensión lectoras en estudiantes de Secundaria, comparando dos textos (narrativo y expositivo) con distintos tipos de oraciones (declarativa, adversativa y enumerativa). Resultados: encontramos diferencias en fluidez lectora entre textos, con una prosodia más marcada (pausas y contorno melódico) en el texto expositivo, sugiriendo que los lectores confían en ella para su comprensión. Además, encontramos una mayor relación de variables prosódicas con el texto expositivo que con el narrativo. Conclusiones: nuestros resultados confirman que la fluidez lectora continúa desarrollándose en Secundaria. Parece que el texto expositivo, debido a su mayor dificultad, requiere un mayor apoyo y exageración de la prosodia al leerlos para poder comprenderlos.
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https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2019.196