A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Cognitive Skills and Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to collect and examine studies as to how factors such as vocabulary, fluency, prior/background knowledge, critical thinking and active reading under cognitive skills correlate with reading comprehension (RC)and also to draw out conclusion by synthesizing the results of the studies through systematic review and meta-analysis. Out of 770 studies gathered and examined, a total of 24 datasets (n = 8,390) provided unaccustomed data on the association between cognitive skills and reading comprehension. The collective findings synthesized in the included studies established the following: the variables being correlated to RC had a significant- direct and indirect -relationship to RC; the variables being correlated to RC influenced the continuous growth of RC of the participants; in spite of the fact that the variables being correlated to reading comprehension had a common significant effect, each of the variable had an independent contribution to it; and grade level and age were found to be related to gains in reading comprehension. The findings showed that there was a strong relationship between the variables cognitive skills and reading comprehension, as proven by the synthesis of the studies considered in this investigation.