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Open research questions in Reading and Literacy Development

2,880 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 18,577 Reading and Literacy Development papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Capturing meaningful individual differences in early reading skills. Remaining sensitive to growth over relatively short instructional intervals. Identifying at-risk students and providing targeted interventions.

    Longitudinal factorial stability and growth of foundational reading skills in at-risk and non–at-risk kindergarteners · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a need for longitudinal studies that examine the factorial invariance and growth trajectories of foundational reading skills in kindergarten. Prior work has documented relatively stable predictive relations between early CBM and later reading outcomes, but has not explicitly tested longitudinal measurement invariance.

    Longitudinal factorial stability and growth of foundational reading skills in at-risk and non–at-risk kindergarteners · 2026 · DOI

  • The gap is the need for increased research into understanding what works in literacy instruction and intervention for adolescents. The gap is the lack of understanding of effective word-reading interventions for adolescents, particularly in the context of morphological instruction and phonological awareness.

    What Works for Teaching Word Reading to Adolescents? A Meta-Analytic Investigation · 2026 · DOI

  • Investigate the longitudinal relationships between morphological awareness, phonological awareness, and reading comprehension. Examine the unique associations of morphological and phonological awareness with reading comprehension in other languages. Explore the effects of instructional interventions on the development of morphological awareness and reading comprehension.

    Morphological awareness shows a more robust unique association with reading comprehension than phonological awareness in Chinese children in Grades 3–5 · 2026 · DOI

  • The unique associations of morphological and phonological awareness with reading comprehension in Chinese children remain uncertain. Prior work has not fully considered the proximal reading and language skills that may influence the relationship between metalinguistic skills and reading comprehension.

    Morphological awareness shows a more robust unique association with reading comprehension than phonological awareness in Chinese children in Grades 3–5 · 2026 · DOI

  • Investigate the relation between reading comprehension and other skills, such as working memory or attention, in children with ASD. Examine the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving reading comprehension in children with ASD.

    Reading comprehension differences between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and low cognitive abilities and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and intact cognitive skills: the roles of decoding, fluency and morphosyntax · 2024 · DOI

  • The gap in previous studies is that they have mainly focused on children with ASD and intact cognitive skills. The role of fluency and morphosyntax in reading comprehension remains underexplored.

    Reading comprehension differences between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and low cognitive abilities and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and intact cognitive skills: the roles of decoding, fluency and morphosyntax · 2024 · DOI

  • Investigating other potential factors that could influence the results, - Exploring the relationship between NV IQ and other aspects of language processing, - Replicating the study with a larger sample size, - Examining the neural mechanisms underlying the observed effects

    Non-verbal skills in auditory word processing: implications for typical and dyslexic readers · 2024 · DOI

  • Further research is needed to understand what works in literacy instruction and intervention for adolescents - Research should investigate the effects of word-reading interventions on different subgroups of adolescents - Studies should examine the effects of word-reading interventions on literacy outcomes measured by standardized and non-standardized assessments

    What Works for Teaching Word Reading to Adolescents? A Meta-Analytic Investigation · 2026 · DOI

  • further research is needed to understand the neural mechanisms involved in literacy acquisition, - studies should investigate the effects of different instructional methods on reading development, - research should be conducted to develop more effective interventions for children with dyslexia

    Print Exposure Interaction with Neural Tuning on Letter/Non-Letter Processing During Literacy Acquisition: An ERP Study on Dyslexic and Typically Developing Children · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should explore more detailed interventions and participant characteristics to further clarify these effects.

    Effects of Syntactic Skill Interventions on Passage- and Sentence-Level Reading Comprehension in Pre-K–12 Students: A Meta-Analytic Review · 2026 · DOI

  • In secondary school, students are increasingly required to spell morphologically complex, subject‐specific words, but such words are challenging to spell, and few studies have investigated how morphological knowledge contributes to spelling and writing performance in secondary students.

    Relationships Between Morphological Knowledge, Spelling and Writing in Adolescents · 2026 · DOI

  • ABSTRACT Background Literature circles are widely associated with gains in reading comprehension and engagement, yet their application in Arabic literacy classrooms, particularly those shaped by diglossia and bilingualism, remains underexplored.

    Recontextualizing Literature Circles for Arabic Literacy Classrooms: A Human‐Centred Approach to Fostering Belonging · 2026 · DOI

  • Book access alone was insufficient to produce significant gains, highlighting the importance of comprehensive, motivation‐focused strategies to promote leisure reading among adolescents.

    Reversing the Decline: Evidence From a Quasiexperimental Study on How Classroom Practices Support Adolescents' Reading Motivation and Amount · 2026 · DOI

  • However, the influence of socioevaluative pressure such as expectations regarding their reading abilities remains underexplored.

    Threat-Triggering Instructions Modulate the Expression and Amplitude of the Phonological Deficit in Reading of Children With Developmental Dyslexia · 2026 · DOI

  • Elementary students with learning disabilities (LDs) often have limited opportunities to learn science, and little is known about how special educators engage in science instruction.

    Science Instruction for Students With Learning Disabilities: A National Survey of Elementary Special Education Teachers · 2026 · DOI

  • This review synthesized experimental studies ( k = 26) published since 2011 and found that while reporting of Tier 2 intervention fidelity has improved, many studies provide limited information about school-implemented Tier 1 instruction.

    Fidelity of Implementation and Instructional Alignment in Tier 2 Interventions: An Updated Review of Experimental Studies · 2026 · DOI

  • Across outcomes, findings were mixed, with several studies reporting growth in both intervention and business-as-usual conditions.

    Language Comprehension Interventions for English Learners With or at Risk for Reading Difficulties: A Research Synthesis · 2026 · DOI

  • BACKGROUND: This study examines the relationship between secondary school students' reading culture and their critical reading self-efficacy (CRSE), addressing a gap in the literature on affective factors associated with critical literacy.

    Secondary school students’ reading culture and ıts role in critical reading self-efficacy perceptions · 2026 · DOI

  • Future studies are recommended to examine these relationships across diverse populations using longitudinal or experimental designs.

    Secondary school students’ reading culture and ıts role in critical reading self-efficacy perceptions · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research is needed to better understand the salient characteristics that influence which children benefit more from brief instruction and those that need more intensive support.

    An Integrated Narrative and Phonological Awareness Intervention for Preschool Children at Risk of Developing a Reading Disability · 2025 · DOI

  • However, the moderating roles of WM's subcomponents, as phonological short-term memory (PSTM) and executive working memory (EWM), on L2 grammar acquisition remain underexplored.

    The moderating effect of phonological short-term memory and executive working memory on relative clause use in narrative tasks · 2025 · DOI

  • For causal data, listening comprehension was excluded from moderation analysis due to insufficient studies.

    Content knowledge and comprehension: A meta-analytic review of correlational and causal associations. · 2025 · DOI

  • There is currently insufficient evidence to suggest the relative efficacy of one intervention over another.

    Evidence‐based support provided to struggling readers in later primary years in the UK: A scoping review · 2024 · DOI

  • Conclusions The findings provide a first solid understanding of the children's literacy phenomenon in the less investigated educational and cultural environment of Romania and encourage further research on this important topic.

    Antecedents of child literacy in Romania · 2024 · DOI

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2,880 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 18,577 Reading and Literacy Development papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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