Preschool Predictors of Later Reading Comprehension Ability : A Systematic Review

Abstract

The objective for this systematic review is to summarize the best available research on the correlation between preschool predictors related to reading and later reading comprehension ability. The review aims to answer the following questions: 1) What is the magnitude of the correlation between linguistic comprehension skills in preschool and later reading comprehension abilities? 2) To what extent do phonological awareness, rapid naming, and letter knowledge correlate with later decoding and reading comprehension skills? Do these variables contribute uniquely to reading comprehension after linguistic comprehension skills in preschool have been taken into account? 3) To what extent does working memory in preschool correlate with later reading comprehension abilities, and does this have an impact beyond linguistic comprehension skills? 4) To what degree do other possible influential variables (e.g., age, test types) contribute to explaining any observed differences between the included studies?