Story Comprehension According to Reading Performance Conditions in Upper Elementary Children With Borderline Intellectual Functioning

This study aimed to examine the differences in story comprehension abilities and error patterns between children with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) and their chronological age-matched (CA) peers under different reading conditions. Participants included 10 children with BIF and 10 typically developing CA children in the 5th and 6th grades. Story comprehension tasks were administered under two conditions: independent reading and Reading While Listening (RWL). Comprehension was assessed across two domains: factual information and inferential understanding. The results showed that children with BIF scored significantly lower in story comprehension compared to their CA peers. Both groups achieved significantly higher scores in the RWL condition than in the independent reading condition. Error analysis indicated that, in factual comprehension tasks, the predominant error type for both groups in the independent reading condition was errors related to factual understanding and question interpretation. Notably, in text-connecting inference tasks, the RWL condition led children with BIF to shift from passive responses such as “I don’t know” to other error types, reflecting greater task engagement. In contrast, for missing-information inference tasks, inference errors were the most frequent error type seen across both groups, regardless of condition. These findings suggest that RWL is an effective support strategy for children with BIF, as it both reduces the burden of decoding and improves access to stories. However, persistent difficulties in higher-order inferential processes highlight the need for instructional strategies that combine auditory scaffolding with explicit supports to foster story comprehension and reasoning skills.