EARLY READING ACQUISITION AND ITS RELATION TO READING EXPERIENCE AND ABILITY 10 YEARS LATER

A group of 1st-graders who were administered a battery of reading task s in a previous study were followed up as 11th graders. Ten years late r, they were administered measures of exposure to print, reading compr ehension, vocabulary, and general knowledge. First-grade reading abili ty was a strong predictor of all of the 11th-grade outcomes and remain ed so even when measures of cognitive ability were partialed out. Firs t-grade reading ability (as well as 3rd- and 5th-grade ability) was re liably linked to exposure to print, as assessed in the 11th grade, eve n after 11th-grade reading comprehension ability was partialed out, in dicating that the rapid acquisition of reading ability might well help develop the lifetime habit of reading, irrespective of the ultimate l evel of reading comprehension ability that the individual attains. Fin ally, individual differences in exposure to print were found to predic t differences in the growth in reading comprehension ability throughou t the elementary grades and thereafter.