Explaining Variation in Reading Comprehension in Northern Sotho-English Bilingual Readers: A Simple View of Reading Perspective on Longitudinal Data

The Simple View of Reading (SVR) proposes that successful reading comprehension depends on proficient decoding and on linguistic comprehension. Some have found the SVR too simplistic and argue that other skills, such as reading fluency, explain unique variance in reading comprehension. Using longitudinal data from a sample of 103 children, our aim was to assess the validity of the SVR in Northern Sotho-English bilingual children in South Africa. Learners were assessed on various language and literacy skills, including word decoding, reading fluency, linguistic comprehension (in Grade 2), and reading comprehension (in Grade 3), in both Northern Sotho and English. Regression analyses indicated that decoding, linguistic comprehension and fluent reading were critical component skills of reading comprehension in English, but that only decoding and fluent reading, and not linguistic comprehension, were unique predictors of reading comprehension in Northern Sotho. Our data partially support the SVR, emphasizing the importance of implementing teaching strategies in South Africa that facilitate the development of underlying reading comprehension skills. However, the SVR is not an exhaustive model of reading comprehension in this population, as below-threshold levels in decoding suppressed the relationship between linguistic comprehension and reading comprehension in the L1.