Is there a difference between reading and oral comprehension at the end of the fundamental course?

Oral comprehension has been largely overlooked compared to written comprehension, not only in research but also in teaching, especially in Brazil. To address this gap, the present study compared the comprehension of oral (OC) and written (WC) texts in 336 8th-grade students (average age = 14 years, 192 girls). The texts were balanced for complexity and length and followed by multiple-choice questions targeting literal or inferential understanding. Students were divided into groups according to their reading performance: low (LPR) (64 = 19%), medium (MPR) (197 = 58.6%), and high (HPR) (75 = 22.3%). Results showed that students achieved higher scores on written modality (WM) questions than on oral modality (OM) questions, and lower scores on inferential questions compared to literal ones, with the LPR group performing worst overall. Similar results emerged in the within-subject analysis. These findings suggest that distinct profiles of written and oral comprehension exist among students at the end of elementary school. Moreover, implicit content appears to pose a greater challenge in OM than in WM. Understanding the relationship between these two skills can provide insights into the origins of reading and listening comprehension difficulties to inform both pedagogical and clinical interventions.