In addition to testing the reading skills of ABE learners, the ARCS researchers administered a lengthy questionnaire, so we can give you more information about the people in Profile 9.

• Forty-two (42) percent are Native Speakers of English (NSE).
  
  
• The average age is 34.
  
  
• The average number of grades completed is 9.2.

• Oral Reading Accuracy:
  
  
  • Profile 9 learners read passages orally (not timed) with word recognition accuracy at a group average of GE 4, a score not different statistically from their average on word recognition (GE 3.5). Readers are usually able to decode words more accurately when reading passages, where they can use meaning and sentence structure to recognize familiar words, rather than when reading words from word lists where there are no contextual clues to aid decoding. But this is not the case with Profile 9 readers.

    Differences between oral reading GE and word recognition GE exist for all Profiles except for this group and for the groups composed of the weakest readers, Profiles 10 and 11. Most of the reader's attention is given to figuring out individual words. Even in text, words are read one-by-one as if they were on a word list.

    All skills at these levels are so immature that one reading component cannot support or compensate for another to result in more fluent oral reading and higher silent reading comprehension levels.

  Is there a difference in performance between Non-native Speakers of English (NNSE) and Native Speakers of English (NSE) on word recognition and oral reading accuracy?

  • Yes. Profile 9 has the largest complement of NNSE (58%) of all Profiles on this site (except for Profile 11, which is 100% NNSE). The NNSE are significantly better than NSE at word recognition and oral reading accuracy.
    
    
  • Why? Most NNSE are not having trouble learning to read English in the way adults become literate in a second language - by learning the rules of the language: those of phonics, orthography, and syntax. Most (75%) do not report a history of having had reading problems in their native languages. NSE readers, on the other hand, have had difficulty learning and applying these rules throughout K-12. Differences between the language groups clearly highlight the early and ongoing learning/reading difficulties of the NSE.
    

• Word Meaning (Vocabulary):

  Is there a difference in performance between NNSE and NSE on the word meaning measures?

  • Yes. The PPVT-III (receptive (listening) vocabulary) assesses word knowledge by asking the learner to pick out one of four pictures that best tells about a word spoken by the examiner. It is an assessment of verbal ability. Listening vocabulary scores range from "extremely low" to "moderately low" for NSE as well as NNSE, but as could be expected, NSE correctly identified more English words than the NNSE. Most of the NNSE in this group (73%) learned to speak English as adolescents or adults.
    
    
  • No. The average GE for both NSE and NNSE on the DAR word meaning test, "Tell me what X means," is low. There is no difference between language groups on this measure. The NSE may know more words (PPVT-III), but either they don't know them well enough to express the meanings or they have generalized trouble with expressive language. Either way, NSE have limited oral language skills. NNSE do not know as many words well enough, and they don't have as many words available to express their meanings.

• Print Skills (Alphabetics):

  Are the language groups different in manipulating sounds, knowing consonant sounds, and applying phonics rules when decoding?

  • No, in manipulating sounds (as measured by the TAAS). A quarter of the group, NSE and NNSE, are able to delete a consonant that is part of a blend, e.g., responding with lay when asked to: "Say play. Now say it again but don't say /p/." These deletions are the most difficult assessed. But only 2% are successful on all of the 13 consonant deletion tasks. (A letter within bars, e.g., /m/, denotes the sound of the letter, "mmm," not the name "em.") The language newcomers do as well as the native speakers.
    
    
  • No, in knowing the 21 consonant sounds. Only a couple of readers (NNSE) knew all 21 sounds.
    
    
  • Yes, in applying phonics rules when decoding (as measured by the WRMT). NNSE may be better able to apply rules of English phonics and orthography as seen in their significantly higher scores on decoding pseudowords (possible English syllables and words). Both groups, however, are in the "low" ranges on this measure. But again, NSE with K-12 education in English should be far ahead of learners new to the language.
    
    
  • No, in encoding. Both groups spell (encode) to the GE level that they decode (word recognition). The observed difference between the language groups on DAR spelling lists is not significant.

The following table gives the differences in performance on seven reading components by NSE and NNSE in Profile 9. A statistically significant difference on a component is noted by "*".

* significant difference between NSE and NNSE on word recognition, oral reading accuracy, word attack, and listening vocabulary

¹ Standard scores between 70 and 85 are in the "moderately low" range. Scores below 70 are in the "extremely low" range.

How can we determine a learner's reading comprehension potential if their oral reading accuracy is low? They can listen. There are listening comprehension tests that will give you a grade level at which your learner is able to understand reading passages. If they could read orally at a listening mastery level, they would be able to answer the comprehension questions at that level. We can say that a listening comprehension test is another measure of verbal ability and one that is directly related to measures of reading comprehension.

Browse Profile: Menu
	Description of the ARCS Comparison Profile 9
	Suggestions for Instruction for Profile 9 Learners
	Additional Profile 9 Information from the Research
	Comparison of the Three Profiles in the Low Intermediate Group
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