Determining the role of vocabulary, attention and working memory in explaining primary school students' reading fluency and reading comprehension achievements

Determining the factors associated with the reading and comprehension processes, revealing the role of the relevant factors in reading, and supporting the reading processes are of great importance. The purpose of this study is to determine the role of vocabulary, attention and verbal memory performance in explaining primary school students' fluent reading and reading comprehension success. Another aim of the research is to reveal the relationships between the fluent reading, reading comprehension, vocabulary, attention and verbal memory performances of primary school students and the demographic characteristics of the students. The research, which was carried out in line with the stated objectives, was designed with predictive relational scanning, one of the quantitative research methods. The accessible universe of the research consists of primary school students studying in the province of Istanbul in the 2022-2023 academic year. The sample of the research consists of a total of 654 students continuing their education at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades in 6 official primary schools determined to represent 3 different regions in terms of socioeconomic conditions in the Beylikdüzü district of Istanbul in the 2022-2023 academic year. Although different measurement tools were used within the scope of the research, "Reading Comprehension Achievement Test" was used to determine the students' reading comprehension success; "Primary School Vocabulary Test" was used to determine their vocabulary levels; "Working Memory Scale" was used to determine their working memory and verbal memory performances; "Stroop Test TBAG Form" was used to evaluate attention skills; and "Prosodic Reading Scale" was used to evaluate reading prosody. Necessary ethical permissions were obtained from the researchers. In data analysis, frequency and percentage analyses, Independent Samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation test and hierarchical regression analyses were performed using the SPSS 23 program. It was concluded that the number of correct words read per minute and prosody in the 2nd grade model tests were for verbal memory performance; the number of correct words read per minute in the 3rd grade model test was for verbal memory performance; and the comprehension in the 3rd grade level model test were for attention and verbal memory predictor variables that gave a non-significant value after the presence of the vocabulary predictor variable. It is recommended to benefit from the results obtained through the research in the evaluation and support of the reading and comprehension success of primary school students.