The role of cognitive and psychosocial factors in development of readi̇ng and reading comprehension skills

The statement of the problem: In this study, it is aimed to examine which cognitive and psychosocial factors have an effect and role on reading skills. The sample of this research consists of 3 schools with the identical socioeconomic level from Istanbul, 8 first-grade classes which were chosen according to the evaluation of the teachers, 18 students with reading deficiency and, from the same grade, 20 student without any deficiencies, parents of those students and 8 first grade teachers. The variables whose effects on reading skills were examined consist of phonological awareness, rapid automized naming (RAN), age, gender, socioeconomiccultural status, parental education level, maternal working situation, learning disorder, attention and hyperactivity problems, behavioral and psychopathological reasons and reading comprehension. Method: In order to collect data, ‟Sociodemographic Data Form‟, ‟Child Behavior Check List‟, ‟DSM-5 Attention- Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Scale‟ were requested from the parents and, „‟Learning Disorder Symptom Scale‟ and „‟DSM-5 AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Scale‟ were requested from the teachers. And „‟Early Childhood Phonological Awareness Test EÇDFDÖ)‟, ‟ Rapid Automized Naming Test HOTİT)‟, ‟Word Reading Test KEOT)‟, ‟Text Reading Test and Reading Comprehension Questions‟ were implemented on students. In this research, the statistical assessment, SPSS 21.0 packaged software was used to analyze the data. While analyzing the data, Independent Sample T-test, Chi-Square analysis, multiple linear regression analyze and correlation analyze were used. Results: It is seen that children with reading deficit have significantly younger parents, their parent‟s academical level is lower and they spent less time in kindergarten than the average students in the control group. Also they have more attention and hyperactivity problems, they‟re less capable in emotional skills and they have sluggish cognitive tempo disorders. According to results of the research, it is seen that RAN and phonological awareness predicts reading abilities (fluency, accuracy and comprehension) at the rate of %62.9, %70, %74. Conclusion: As a result, this research emphasizes the importance of phonological awareness of children during kindergarten and also the psychosocial factors in reading skills.