Identifying Individual Differences in Reading: What Are We Looking For?

• In Event: Reconceptualizing Individual Differences in Reading

Abstract

Objectives
Our objective is to encourage a conversation about what the field is looking for in investigating individual differences in reading. The investigation of individual differences should help us understand why readers differ in aspects that matter, including: how they develop as readers over the lifespan; their success in accomplishing reading-related tasks; how they respond in particular reading situations; what reading behaviors they choose to engage in; how they think of themselves as readers, and what they think reading is. But how well does the research accomplish this?
Perspectives
We initially consider the investigation of individual differences per se (e.g., Corno, 2003; Reeve, 2006; Magliano & Perry, 2008) to lay out the general territory and establish a context within which to explore the possibilities for reading research. We then consider the overarching models of reading processes and reading development (e.g, Chall, 1983; Kintsch, 1998; Stanovich, 1986) on which investigations of individual differences in reading are primarily based. Finally, after our overview of what current research on individual differences in reading is looking for, we suggest a re-orientation away from reading processes to center attention on the reader (e.g., Gray, 1951).
Method of Inquiry
Given our broad guiding question and the prolific research on individual differences in reading, we use representative examples from the empirical research to illustrate important patterns and influences related to the study of individual differences in reading, but do not undertake a more systematic review.
Results
The research tells a generally atomistic story, at its best pulling together some threads across various categories of possible differences between readers. There is a heavy focus on cognitive processes and reading acquisition, and emphasis on identification of factors related to reading disabilities. There is often a sense of "sampling" from a menu of possible factors, but the meanings of the measured constructs do not fall within a framework binding together the different roles these variables play in contributing to individual differences in reading. The interactive and layered nature of processing-related, motivational, and contextual contributors to what a given reader does in a given situation is often not taken into account.
Conclusions and Significance
One way to unify the work on individual differences in reading is to re-cast this enterprise as understanding individual differences in readers. Taking reading as the essentially complex behavior of a person rather than a dis-assembled set of processes or forces (motivational, psycho-physical, cognitive, contextual) means that we begin from a relatively unified view. Such a unified view supports the articulation of a unified theoretical rationale for aspects of the reader to foreground in a particular investigation, as well as providing a home for the findings of each investigation within a well-structured and continually more fleshed-out story about interesting differences between and within readers. It also has implications for instruction, including the need to foster students' awareness of the author when they are reading and the importance of bringing together in-school and out-of-school reading, and for policy-making, suggesting a more cautious, nuanced use of research results.

Authors

• Sandra Michelle Loughlin, University of Maryland

• Patricia A. Alexander, University of Maryland - College Park