A Review of Models of Reading Comprehension with Implications for Adults with mTBI and the Campus Reader

Introduction This purpose of this report is to review theoretical models of reading comprehension and to consider how key concepts relate to adults with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and the CampusReader project. Below, the overarching theoretical principles from the review are briefly summarized. 2. Interactions occur within the individual, involving both top down and bottom up reading 3. Successful comprehension and retention depends on the ability to reliably access and integrate background knowledge, and the ability to generate, maintain and update iterative An empirically grounded theoretical framework is needed to describe the reading comprehension process in order to (1) anticipate the aspects of that process that can be disrupted as a consequence of an acquired brain injury, and (2) guide the Campus Reader strategy and feature selection process. For this project, we describe four models drawn from the education and cognitive psychology fields to conceptualize the aspects of reading we believe are most pertinent to the purposes of the CampusReader. Viewing reading from these multiple conceptualizations is necessary to identify potential breakdowns in the reading process and to generate ideas for strategy supports. At the broadest level, we present a model that captures the interactive processes occurring between the individual, the text, and the reading activity (RAND Reading Study Group; 2002). Next, we describe a model that conceptualizes the overall reading processes activated within the individual (Perfetti, Landi, & Oakhill, 2005). To highlight aspects of comprehension we anticipate are particularly difficult for our target population, we review more fine-grained conceptual factors specific to the construction of meaning once word recognition has occurred portrayal of those factors. Finally, we present a model to account for the role of working memory, retrieval and encoding processes (Baddeley, 2000) in reading comprehension. 1. Overall, these four models collectively capture aspects of the reading comprehension process particularly pertinent to the CampusReader project. Note that we recognize that the conceptualization of reading and reading comprehension processes in particular continues to be actively debated and is driven by ongoing inquiries. We selected models we believe have particular utility for guiding our intervention project. However, we remain open to questioning assumptions made by the selected models, and to revising our theoretical grounding when empirical findings from other researchers or derived from our study suggest practical implications for doing so (i.e. a need to revise our intervention approach). A complete view of the reading comprehension process must account …