Abstract:

This study aims to examine the reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge and working memory performances of primary school third-grade students having learning difficulties and of their peers who don’t have any learning difficulty. For this purpose, the comparative descriptive research design was used in the study. The participants of the study consist of a total of 44 primary school third-grade students, 22 of whom were diagnosed with learning difficulties and the remaining 22 of whom have normal reading achievements with typical development. To collect the data related to reading, a grade-appropriate narrative text and reading comprehension questions, the vocabulary knowledge subtests of the Turkish School Age Language Development Test, and the verbal memory subtests of the Working Memory Scale were used. The effect sizes for the differentiation between the groups were calculated and the relationships among the variables were examined for both of the groups. The results showed that the students with learning difficulties significantly failed in reading comprehension, reading speed, vocabulary knowledge, and verbal working memory assessments, comparing to their typically developing peers. Significant relationships were found among the variables at both of the groups. The study’s findings were discussed in light of the information on the literature.

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