The Component Structure of Preliteracy Skills Further Evidence for the Simple View of Reading

The simple view of reading (SVR) provides a conceptual framework for describing the processes involved when readers comprehend text. Strong evidence for the SVR comes from factor-analytic studies showing dissociations between decoding and comprehension skills. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether predecoding and comprehension components exist in Canadian English-speaking prereaders with the use of principal components analysis. All children (N = 36) were administered a battery of prereading measures designed to assess predecoding skills and listening comprehension. Principal components analysis demonstrates that listening comprehension and predecoding measures loaded as distinct components. The findings provide support for the SVR framework and suggest that such structures do not simply reflect instruction. Implications for school psychologists working in early intervention are discussed.