Enhancing Engineering Students’ Reading Comprehension of English for Science and Technology With the Support of an Online Cumulative Sentence Analysis System

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Yea-Ru Tsai

2014-09-01

Full Text Available For engineering students, reading in English is the core competence to absorb professional knowledge in academic settings and their future career, because many authentic textbooks and information about advanced technology have been published in English. The present study sets out to improve English reading comprehension among tertiary-level engineering students. An online reading strategy instruction based on cumulative sentence analysis (CSA was constructed to enhance the students’ reading comprehension of English technology texts. The comparison between the pre-test and post-test showed that the participants achieved a higher level of reading comprehension performance following the instruction. The findings clearly demonstrated that online CSA strategy instruction is an efficient and feasible approach to helping engineering students cope with their problems of reading English texts. Pedagogical implications are briefly discussed based on the findings of this study.

Word Reading Efficiency, Text Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension among Chinese Learners of English

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Jiang, Xiangying; Sawaki, Yasuyo; Sabatini, John

2012-01-01

This study examined the relationship among word reading efficiency, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension for adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Data from 185 adult Chinese EFL learners preparing to take the Test-of-English-as-a-Foreign-Language[TM] (TOEFL[R]) were analyzed in this study. The participants completed a…

Scaffolding and co-operative learning : Effects on reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in English as a foreign language

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Wachyunni, Sri

2015-01-01

For university students in Indonesia, English reading comprehension, which partially depends on vocabulary knowledge, is key to success in academic achievement. The current study was set up to compare the effect of two commonly known teaching interventions during a whole semester to improve reading

Academic Achievement of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in an ASL/English Bilingual Program.

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Hrastinski, Iva; Wilbur, Ronnie B

2016-04-01

There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students' American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing students. Two subgroups, differing in ASL proficiency, were compared on the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress and the reading comprehension subtest of the Stanford Achievement Test, 10th edition. Findings suggested that students highly proficient in ASL outperformed their less proficient peers in nationally standardized measures of reading comprehension, English language use, and mathematics. Moreover, a regression model consisting of 5 predictors including variables regarding education, hearing devices, and secondary disabilities as well as ASL proficiency and home language showed that ASL proficiency was the single variable significantly predicting results on all outcome measures. This study calls for a paradigm shift in thinking about deaf education by focusing on characteristics shared among successful deaf signing readers, specifically ASL fluency. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Using Genre Pedagogy to Teach Adolescent English Learners to Write Academic Persuasive Essays

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Ramos, Kathleen Ann

2015-01-01

The new "Common Core State Standards" (CCSS) (NGACBP & CCSSO, 2010) require teachers to prepare all learners, including adolescent English learners (ELs), to develop academic literacy practices. This article describes an instructional intervention in an urban public high school using the genre-based "Reading to Learn" (Rose…

Reading Strategies Employed by University Business English Majors with Different Levels of Reading Proficiency

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Chen, Jun; Intaraprasert, Channarong

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of reading strategies by the university Business English majors in relation to their levels of reading proficiency. The participants were 926 university Business English majors from 6 universities in southwest China. The Strategy Questionnaire for Business English Reading (SQBER) and the…

English L2 reading getting to the bottom

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Birch, Barbara M

2014-01-01

English L2 Reading, Third Edition offers teachers research-based insights into bottom-up skills in reading English as a second language and a solid foundation on which to build reading instruction. Core linguistic and psycholinguistic concepts are presented within the context of their application to teaching. The goal is to balance or supplement (not replace) top-down approaches and methodologies with effective low-level options for teaching English reading. The text's pedagogical features- Questions, Study Guide Questions. Discussion Questions, Spotlight on Teaching sections- engage readers o

Cross-Language Transfer of Word Reading Accuracy and Word Reading Fluency in Spanish-English and Chinese-English Bilinguals: Script-Universal and Script-Specific Processes

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Pasquarella, Adrian; Chen, Xi; Gottardo, Alexandra; Geva, Esther

2015-01-01

This study examined cross-language transfer of word reading accuracy and word reading fluency in Spanish-English and Chinese-English bilinguals. Participants included 51 Spanish-English and 64 Chinese-English bilinguals. Both groups of children completed parallel measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, word reading accuracy,…

The Correlation Between Students’ Vocabulary Mastery and Their Interest in English Toward Reading Comprehension in Descriptive Text

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Eva Faliyanti

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract :Vocabulary is one aspects  in reading comprehension. By having  a lot vocabulary, the students understand in reading comprehension. The interest in English also gives effect of students mastery in English. Before the students start to read they are must be interested in English first. Reading is one of skills in English that very essential for the students, because by reading the students can get information from the text. In this research the researcher focoses on reading comprehension in descriptive text. The problems formulation in this research are;(1 How far is the students score of ability in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (2 How far is the students score of ability in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (3 How far is the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text?. The objective of the research are; (1 To identify the students’ score in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (2 To identify the students’ score in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (3 To find out how far the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading compregension in descritive text.Theresearch was conducted at the second semester of Muhammadiyah University Students in Academic Year 2014/2015. The population of this research was 127 students. The researcher used cluster ramdom sampling in taking sample. In collecting the data the researcher used test and questionnarie, namely vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension in descriptive text. In questionnarie used to students interest in English and in analyzing the data, the researcher used Product Moment Formula.After analyzing the data by using the correlation product moment and Regression

Investigating Chinese English Majors’ Use of Reading Strategies : A Study on the Relationship between Reading Strategies and Reading Achievements 

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Sun, Ling

2011-01-01

For several decades, reading strategies have aroused many researchers’ interest.Readingis a very important language skill for English learners; however, many English majors feel that their reading proficiency is far from satisfying though they have studied English for more than ten years. Therefore, the current situation of using reading strategies among Chinese sophomore English majors is studied in this paper. The research aims to study the relationship between the use of reading strategies...

English as a Foreign Language Learners' Major and Meta-Cognitive Reading Strategy Use at Al-Balqa Applied University

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Abu-Snoubar, Tamador Khalaf

2017-01-01

This quantitative study aimed to investigate and compare the use of metacognitive reading Strategies among English as a foreign language students at Al-Balqa Applied University based on their academic field of study. The Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) (Mokhtari & Sheory, 2002) was the instrument employed. This survey divides the…

Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

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Cao, Fan; Perfetti, Charles A

2016-01-01

Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

Neural Signatures of the Reading-Writing Connection: Greater Involvement of Writing in Chinese Reading than English Reading.

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Fan Cao

Full Text Available Research on cross-linguistic comparisons of the neural correlates of reading has consistently found that the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG is more involved in Chinese than in English. However, there is a lack of consensus on the interpretation of the language difference. Because this region has been found to be involved in writing, we hypothesize that reading Chinese characters involves this writing region to a greater degree because Chinese speakers learn to read by repeatedly writing the characters. To test this hypothesis, we recruited English L1 learners of Chinese, who performed a reading task and a writing task in each language. The English L1 sample had learned some Chinese characters through character-writing and others through phonological learning, allowing a test of writing-on-reading effect. We found that the left MFG was more activated in Chinese than English regardless of task, and more activated in writing than in reading regardless of language. Furthermore, we found that this region was more activated for reading Chinese characters learned by character-writing than those learned by phonological learning. A major conclusion is that writing regions are also activated in reading, and that this reading-writing connection is modulated by the learning experience. We replicated the main findings in a group of native Chinese speakers, which excluded the possibility that the language differences observed in the English L1 participants were due to different language proficiency level.

Enhancing academic reading skills through extensive reading ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Abstract. The current study explores the feasibility of an extensive reading programme in the context of a low-income country (Mozambique), as well as the influence of extensive reading on academic reading. The programme took over 4 months and was conducted among 30 students majoring in Journalism at the Eduardo ...

THE RESULTS OF ENGLISH TEACHING AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR ACADEMIC STAFF IN THE ARTIFICIAL BILINGUALISM ENVIRONMENT

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T. P. Rasskazova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. In the conditions of the modern globalization, one of the most significant indicators of competitiveness of the universities is the academic mobility of students, graduate students, teachers and research associates that implies their free and competent enough foreign language skills, first of all English. Yet, until recently, comparatively little attention has been paid to foreign language skills of the Russian academic teaching staff. However, in recent years, with regard to the process acceleration of internationalization of the higher education to provide own effective functioning and remain a demanded one in education and training market, domestic higher education institutions are forced to quickly fill in the gaps of foreign language knowledge among academic teaching staff. The aim of this article is to analyse and describe the tuition outcomes for academic teaching staff based on the official exam results from Cambridge English Language Assessment for three years (2015–2017. Methodology and research methods. The research, which is grounded in interdisciplinary approach and lies at the intersection of psychology, linguistics and pedagogics, was conducted on the basis of the statistical analysis and generalization of mean scores of English language testing results, taking into account qualitative and quantitative standards of speech skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking and use of English (for levels B2, C1. Results and scientific novelty. The essential strengthening and development of the Cambridge English system for level increase of proficiency in English among the Russian academic teaching staff is proved. The data of external peer evaluation provided by exam centre Cambridge English Language Assessment including the foreign language training results of academic teaching staff are analysed. The results obtained show that contrary to the wide-spread opinion that productive skills (speaking and writing take longer

Forecasting Reading Anxiety for Promoting English-Language Reading Performance Based on Reading Annotation Behavior

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Chen, Chih-Ming; Wang, Jung-Ying; Chen, Yong-Ting; Wu, Jhih-Hao

2016-01-01

To reduce effectively the reading anxiety of learners while reading English articles, a C4.5 decision tree, a widely used data mining technique, was used to develop a personalized reading anxiety prediction model (PRAPM) based on individual learners' reading annotation behavior in a collaborative digital reading annotation system (CDRAS). In…

A SURVEY OF THE ENGLISH READING HABITS OF EFL STUDENTS IN INDONESIA

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Erna Iftanti

2012-07-01

Full Text Available This article investigated the English reading habits of Indonesian students of EFL. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey and interview validation. The questionnaires were distributed to 546 EFL college students in East Java. Based on the statistical analysis of the data, it is concluded that although the students have read English since elementary school, they do not indicate to have good English reading habits. Only few of them are identified to have good English reading habits as suggested by their eagerness to regularly spend time reading various types of English texts and their high motivation to read English for pleasure. The EFL students read English for some purposes, i.e. for school assignments, for pleasure, and for knowledge and English skills improvement. Their positive belief about reading does not motivate them to read English for pleasure; rather, it is school assignments that appear to be their biggest motivation.

Pre-TOEFL guide academic English practice

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Stirling, Bruce

2017-01-01

Preparing for TOEFL Do you plan to take TOEFL or IELTS but are not ready for the challenge? Do you need more practice? If you do, then this book is for you. It is also for those who just want to practice their academic English. Whatever your purpose, this book will give you the foundation in academic English you need for TOEFL and IELTS success.

Improvement of Engineering Students' Communication Skills in English through Extensive Reading

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Nishizawa, Hitoshi; Yoshioka, Takayoshi; Itoh, Kazuaki

The students' communication skills in English have improved after introducing Extensive Reading courses into the curriculum of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department. The students' average TOEIC scores, which used to be far lower than the ones of students in other educational institutions, have increased in recent two years. The students who used to avoid learning English have welcomed extensive reading of graded readers for foreign learners and books for native children of English. This is because the extensive reading causes less stress and it is enjoyable. The students who have read more than 0.2 million words of English texts have faster reading speed and more confidence in reading. They seem to change their reading style from English-to-Japanese translation (and comprehension in Japanese) to direct comprehension in English. Their listening comprehension is also improved. Extensive reading is an effective educational method to improve English communication skills of engineering students, and it also becomes a useful method of continuous education for engineers in need of improving their skills.

Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies of University of Botswana English as Second Language students of different academic reading proficiencies

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Joel M. Magogwe

2013-02-01

Full Text Available This study explored metacognitive awareness level of University of Botswana students in the Faculty of Social Sciences. It also considered the more recent research focusing on the role of metacognitive awareness in reading and how it relates to proficiency. The following questions are addressed: (1 What are the self-reported reading proficiencies of the University of Botswana students? (2 Are the University of Botswana students aware of their metacognitive reading strategies? (3 What kind of metacognitive reading strategies are frequently used? (4 Is there a difference in metacognitive awareness of reading strategies used by high- and low-proficiency students respectively? The Survey of Reading Strategies Questionnaire (SORS developed by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002, and the semi-structured interview technique were used to collect data for this study. The findings indicate that University of Botswana English as Second Language (ESL students reported high reading proficiency and high use of metacognitive strategies, but there was no vast difference in terms of proficiency. Students who reported their proficiency as high had an edge over low-proficiency ones mainly because their management and monitoring of reading was guided more by the goals they have set themselves than by the tests and assignments they were supposed to write.

LECTURA Y ESCRITURA ACADÉMICA EN INGLÉS BAJO LA MODALIDAD DE APRENDIZAJE MIXTO (B-LEARNING I ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING IN ENGLISH WITHIN BLENDED-LEARNING COURSES

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Audy Yuliser Castañeda Castañeda

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Nowadays ICTs worldwide use has transformed the global society. Through Virtual Learning Environments teaching is focused on the individual, in a way that, considering the differences among students, each of them is expected to follow his own learning paths. Within the syllabus design of university courses conductive to the degree of teacher of English as a Foreign Language (EFL at Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador, Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas (IPC Venezuela, there is a subject devoted to the development of reading and writing skills, namely Reading and Writing II, whose aim is to promote the students’ incorporation into the academic world pertaining their career as EFL educators, so that they learn how to communicate within such academic discourse community. The purpose of this action-research study was to describe an experience with the course Reading and Writing II course (academic period 2011-II within the b-learning modality in regards to the 42 participants’ motivation to high achievement, as evidenced by the number of students who passed, failed, or dropped the course, as well as by their grades at the end of the academic period. By means of surveys and direct observation, the participants’ perception was that there are advantages in using the IPC Virtual Learning Environment (IPCEVA, as well as some disadvantages and limitations, mainly due to the lack of some participants’ sufficient expertise in using ICTs

Design and Implementation of English Reading Examination System Based on WEB Platform

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Lan Guo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available For the self-assessment and practice-based improvement of students' English reading level, this paper designed an English reading test system based on the WEB platform, which will enrich the methods for students to improve their reading ability and will advance the informatization level of English tests. The system adopts the browser / server architecture with the back-end database SQL Server as the database management system and C # and ASP.NET as the programming language to meet multiple needs of English reading examinations and achieve the informatization management of English reading examinations. The design and implementation of the English reading examination system based on the WEB platform will not only improve the efficiency of the examination management, but also drive students to actively learn English reading, with certain application value.

English teachers’ perceptions of teaching reading and reading strategies to students with dyslexia

OpenAIRE

Grönblad, Johanna

2013-01-01

This is a study about English teachers’ perception on teaching students with dyslexia reading and reading strategies and their knowledge gained on the subject matter. The aim was to identify, describe and analyse the teacher‟s perceptions of teaching Swedish students with dyslexia in four Swedish mainstream secondary schools. The data for this study was collected by interviews from four English teachers in four different mainstream secondary schools. The results show that English teachers get...

“Read-To-Write-Tasks” in English for Specific Purposes Classes

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Galina Kavaliauskienė

2011-04-01

Full Text Available At university level students face demanding tasks of reading an enormous amount of professional materials in English. Writing various assignments is another challenging part of higher education. Online activities are the priority for conducting assignments at tertiary level. Students usually start doing the English for Specific Purposes (ESP course before learning subject-matters of the future profession, i.e. in their first year. The cornerstone of the ESP is unfamiliar lexis and numerous concepts of subject-matter. In order to succeed, students need to develop proficiency in reading professional texts and writing skillfully on relevant subject issues. The aim of this paper is to study, first, learners‘ attitudes to online reading of professional materials as well as to writing various assignments online and, second, to examine learners‘ self-assessment of proficiency in these skills. Our research employed brief written surveys designed in accordance with the standards in Social Sciences, which were administered to the students doing the ESP course, and the verbal data obtained during individual interviews intended to assess learners‘ success and achievements throughout the academic year. The respondents were the students specializing in psychology at Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania. All the participants were unanimous in the importance of writing and reading skills for the ESP tasks. 100% of respondents support reading professional materials, and 80% of respondents support exercising online writing. Self-assessment of reading proficiency demonstrates that 90% of students believe they possess very good or good skills of reading, and 70% of learners are sure of their good skills in writing. Respondents’ performance in these skills is less impressive. Some recommendations towards perfecting students’ proficiency in “read-to-write-tasks” are suggested. It is important to help learners develop better rates of reading

Predicting English Word Reading Skills for Spanish-Speaking Students in First Grade.

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Páez, Mariela; Rinaldi, Claudia

2006-10-01

This article describes the word reading skills in English and Spanish for a sample of 244 Spanish-speaking, English-learning (hence, bilingual) students in first grade and presents a predictive model for English word reading skills. The children in the study were assessed at the end of kindergarten and first grade, respectively. Data were gathered with 3 subtests of the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery and a researcher-developed phonological awareness task. Results showed that, on average, children's English word reading skills were similar to monolingual norms whereas their Spanish word reading skills averaged 1 SD below the mean. English vocabulary, English phonological awareness, and Spanish word reading skills in kindergarten were found to be significant predictors of English word reading skills in first grade. Educational implications for screening language and reading skills and promising areas for targeted instruction for this population are discussed.

General Education Teachers' Ratings of the Academic Engagement Level of Students Who Read Braille: A Comparison with Sighted Peers

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Bardin, Julie A.; Lewis, Sandra

2011-01-01

English and language arts teachers of braille-reading students in general education classes rated these students' academic engagement and the academic achievement of low- and average-achieving sighted students in the same classrooms. The braille readers were found to be statistically similar to the low-achieving students with regard to effort,…

Reading in L2 (English) and L1 (Persian): An Investigation into Reverse Transfer of Reading Strategies

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Talebi, Seyed Hassan

2012-01-01

This study investigates the effect of reading strategies instruction in L2 (English) on raising reading strategies awareness and use and reading ability of Iranian EFL learners in L2 (English) and L1 (Persian) as a result of transfer of reading strategies from L2 to L1. To this purpose, 120 students of intermediate and advanced English proficiency…

THE ENGLISH READING STRATEGIES OF TWO COLOMBIAN ENGLISH PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

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Ángela López Velásquez

2011-08-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on the findings of a research project that aimed at identifying the English reading comprehension strategies used by two preservice English teachers, one a successful reader and the other one a less successful reader. The participants were students of a B.Ed. undergraduate program at a public university located in the Colombian Eje Cafetero. Methodological procedures included the collection of reading data through think-aloud protocols, and analysis was based on the constant-comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1999. Findings suggest that three main differences characterized the reading of the two TEFL readers: the number of strategies evoked, the frequency of their use, and the effectiveness of the strategy used by each reader. The article addresses implications for reading instruction and research based on both cases.

The Effects of the CALL Model on College English Reading Teaching

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Dan Zhang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL is an important concept in English teaching method reform. College students’ English reading ability is an important indicator in the evaluation on the college students’ English proficiency. Therefore, this paper applies the CALL model in English reading teaching. Firstly, it introduces the application and development prospect of the CALL model, and analyzes its advantages and disadvantages; secondly, it analyzes the present situation of college English teaching and its influencing factors and then designs an application example to integrate the CALL model with different aspect of English reading. Finally, it analyzes the teaching results of college English reading under the CALL model. Therefore, in both theory and practice, this paper proves the effectiveness and innovativeness of the CALL model.

Effects of Academic and Non-Academic Instructional Approaches on Preschool English Language Learners' Classroom Engagement and English Language Development

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Markova, Ivana

2017-01-01

This research compared the relative impact of different preschool activities on the development of bilingual students' English-language skills. The study investigated whether bilingual preschool children would engage more, and use more of their second language (English), during free-play (non-academic) versus teacher-structured (academic)…

A Case Study Exploring the Reading Engagement of Middle Grades English Learners

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Protacio, Maria Selena

2017-01-01

This study investigates the reading engagement of four middle school English learners in their English or English as a Second Language classroom. Students with high levels of reading engagement are those who (a) are motivated to read, (b) use strategies when reading, (c) use reading as a way to construct meaning from texts, and (d) participate in…

Reading-Strategy Use by English as a Second Language Learners in Online Reading Tasks

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Park, Ho-Ryong; Kim, Deoksoon

2011-01-01

This study investigates adult English language learners' reading-strategy use when they read online texts in hypermedia learning environments. The learners joined the online Independent English Study Group (IESG) and worked both individually and collaboratively. This qualitative case study aims (a) to assess college-level ESL learners' use of…

Reading Interventions to Support English Language Learners

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Corella, Jolene

2012-01-01

High stakes assessments conducted in the southwestern United States demonstrate that fewer than 50% of English language learners (ELLs) are achieving proficiency levels in reading fluency. The purpose of this study was to understand if reading interventions using the framework of Samuels's repeated reading (RR) strategy increased student…

Teacher Beliefs regarding Bilingualism in an English Medium Reading Program

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Vaish, Viniti

2012-01-01

Reading classes in schools where English is the medium of instruction are increasingly servicing a linguistically diverse population; however, teacher-training for English teachers lacks a focus on bilingualism. Using the context of Singapore, this paper analyses beliefs on bilingualism of English teachers in an early intervention reading program.…

Iranian English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Stakeholders' Attitudes toward Using the Internet in EAP Courses for Civil Engineering Students: Promises and Challenges

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Atai, Mahmood Reza; Dashtestani, Reza

2013-01-01

English for academic purposes (EAP) has established itself as a considerable part of English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction in Iranian universities. Considering the Internet as a major educational source in EAP reading courses, it is highly important that the stakeholders have positive attitudes toward it and be aware of promises and…

Re-contextualising academic writing in English

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Sanne

six focal students’ challenges in re-contextualising themselves as writers in English in a new university environment, data were generated from regular interviews with the participants over one semester, supplemented by questionnaires, documentary evidence, and observational data. Analyses building......’ experiences as writers of English, manifested in three main areas of concern: ideational, linguistic, and interpersonal. These writing concerns were embedded in more global processes of establishing academic continuity and in managing English-mediated instruction and learning in the English...

Reading Test Performance of English-Language Learners Using an English Dictionary.

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Albus, Debra; Thurlow, Martha; Liu, Kristin; Bielinski, John

2005-01-01

The authors examined the effects of a simplified English dictionary accommodation on the reading-test performance of Hmong English-language learners (ELLs). Participants included a control group of 69 non-ELL students and an experimental group of 133 Hmong ELLs from 3 urban middle schools in Minnesota. In a randomized counterbalanced design, all…

The Religion of Learning English in "English": A Language Educator's Reading

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Gao, Xuesong

2011-01-01

This essay is my reading of "English," a novel based on author Wang Gang's experiences in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Northwest China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). As a language educator, I was particularly interested in the way that Wang describes learning English in the novel. The essay focuses on three…

Experience of Applying the CORE-Econ in English Reading Course

OpenAIRE

新里, 泰孝

2018-01-01

An e-book of CORE-econ project was used in a course of English reading, in autumn term 2016, spring and autumn terms 2017. My aims of English class are 1. quick reading and 2. understanding Economics in English. Especially in my class, students take no translation in principle. In this paper I report how to use the e-book and its effectiveness.

The Comparison of Students' Use of Metacognitive Reading Strategies between Reading in Bahasa Indonesia and in English

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Vianty, Machdalena

2007-01-01

This article reports an investigation into the students' use of metacognitive reading strategies that involve the use of analytic and pragmatic reading strategies when reading in the two languages: English and Bahasa Indonesia. One-hundred and one students from the English Study Program within the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of…

The relationship between brain reaction and English reading tests for non-native English speakers.

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Cheng, Pei-Wen; Tian, Yu-Jie; Kuo, Ting-Hua; Sun, Koun-Tem

2016-07-01

This research analyzed the brain activity of non-native English speakers while engaged in English reading tests. The brain wave event-related potentials (ERPs) of participants were used to analyze the difference between making correct and incorrect choices on English reading test items. Three English reading tests of differing levels were designed and 20 participants, 10 males and 10 females whose ages ranged from 20 to 24, voluntarily participated in the experiment. Experimental results were analyzed by performing independent t-tests on the ERPs of participants for gender, difficulty level, and correct versus wrong options. Participants who chose incorrect options elicited a larger N600, verifying results found in the literature. Another interesting result was found: For incorrectly answered items, different areas of brain showing a significant difference in ERPs between the chosen and non-chosen options corresponded to gender differences; for males, this area was located in the right hemisphere whereas for females, it was located in the left. Experimental results imply that non-native English speaking males and females employ different areas of the brain to comprehend the meaning of difficult items. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Lexical Density Of English Reading Texts For Senior High School

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Nesia, Bersyebah Herljimsi; Ginting, Siti Aisah

2014-01-01

This study deals with the lexical density especially the lexical items of English reading texts in the textbook for senior high school. The objectives of the study are to find out the lexical density especially the lexical items which formed in the reading texts of Look Ahead textbook and the type of genre which has the highest lexical density of the reading texts. This study was conducted by descriptive method with qualitative approach. The data of this research were the English reading text...

Linguistic Proficiency and Strategies on Reading Performance in English

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Seyed Hassan Talebi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available General English (L2 proficiency and reading strategies are believed to be highly effective in successful reading performance. However, available studies rarely investigated the combined effects of these two variables on successful reading. To fill this gap, 78 university students were divided into four groups of different degrees of these two variables in L2 and given a reading test in English and an interview for assessing how much of the problems in L2 reading among the four groups were rooted in linguistic competence and/or strategic competence. Findings evinced that the high general proficiency level coupled with high awareness and use of reading strategies would result in best performance and that the pattern of answers to different components of reading question is different in different groups. It is concluded that both of the variables should be emphasized simultaneously for the best performance in reading comprehension.

Examining Oral Reading Fluency Trajectories Among English Language Learners and English Speaking Students

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Shane R. Jimerson

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Students’ oral reading fluency growth from first through fourth grade was used to predict their achievement on the Stanford Achievement Test (9th ed.; SAT-9 Reading using a latent growth model. Two conditional variables related to student status were used to determine the effects on reading performance - English language learners (ELLs with low socioeconomic status and low socioeconomic (SES status alone. Results revealed that both types of student status variables reliably predicted low performance on initial first grade oral reading fluency, which later predicted fourth grade performance on the SAT-9. However, the reading fluency trajectories of the ELLs and monolingual English students were not significantly different. In addition, when both student status variables and letter naming fluency were used to predict initial oral reading fluency, letter naming fluency dominated the prediction equation, suggesting that an initial pre-reading skill, letter naming fluency, better explained fourth grade performance on the SAT-9 than either ELL with low SES or low SES alone. The discussion focuses on how to better enable these readers and how oral reading fluency progress monitoring can be used to assist school personnel in determining which students need additional instructional assistance.

Expand your English a guide to improving your academic vocabulary

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Hart, Steve

2018-01-01

Writing academic prose in English is especially difficult for non-native speakers, largely because the standard vocabulary used in this genre can be quite different from colloquial English. Expand Your English: A Guide to Improving Your Academic Vocabulary is a unique and invaluable guide that will enable the reader to overcome this hurdle. It will become the favourite go-to reference book for both beginners and for intermediate learners struggling with the complexities of English-language academic writing. Steve Hart covers 1,000 vocabulary items that are essential for good academic writing. The first section describes 200 key terms in detail, grouping them into logical sets of 10. Through careful repetition, the reader will find it easy to retain, retrieve, and reuse these essential phrases. The second section explains a further 800 terms, grouping them according to function, meaning, and the areas of an essay where they are likely to be used. The expansive scope of Expand Your English gives non-native spea...

Beyond (F)utilitarianism: English "as" Academic Purpose.

Science.gov (United States)

Pennycook, Alastair

1994-01-01

A discussion of the teaching of English for academic purposes (EAP) focuses on criticism that the content of such courses is thin and that they are offered as a service to other disciplines. It is proposed that the emphasis of EAP instruction be shifted to the role English plays as a medium for conveying meaning to the ways in which English is…

Acquiring Orthographic Processing through Word Reading: Evidence from Children Learning to Read French and English

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Pasquarella, Adrian; Deacon, Helene; Chen, Becky X.; Commissaire, Eva; Au-Yeung, Karen

2014-01-01

This study examined the within-language and cross-language relationships between orthographic processing and word reading in French and English across Grades 1 and 2. Seventy-three children in French Immersion completed measures of orthographic processing and word reading in French and English in Grade 1 and Grade 2, as well as a series of control…

English as an Academic Lingua Franca: The ELFA Project

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Mauranen, Anna; Hynninen, Niina; Ranta, Elina

2010-01-01

English is unquestionably the world language of academia--yet its most notable characteristic, being predominantly used by non-native speakers, has not seriously been taken on board in ESP descriptive studies. The project English as an academic lingua franca (ELFA) based at the University of Helsinki investigates academic discourses, branching out…

Exploring Relationships between Oral Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension amongst English Second Language Readers in South Africa

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Pretorius, Elizabeth J.; Spaull, Nic

2016-01-01

Most analyses of oral reading fluency (ORF) are based on L1 reading, and the norms that have been developed in English are based on first language reading data. This is problematic for developing countries where many children are learning in English as a second language. The aim of the present study is to model the relationship between English…

The English-Language and Reading Achievement of a Cohort of Deaf Students Speaking and Signing Standard English: A Preliminary Study.

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Nielsen, Diane Corcoran; Luetke, Barbara; McLean, Meigan; Stryker, Deborah

2016-01-01

Research suggests that English-language proficiency is critical if students who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) are to read as their hearing peers. One explanation for the traditionally reported reading achievement plateau when students are D/HH is the inability to hear insalient English morphology. Signing Exact English can provide visual access to these features. The authors investigated the English morphological and syntactic abilities and reading achievement of elementary and middle school students at a school using simultaneously spoken and signed Standard American English facilitated by intentional listening, speech, and language strategies. A developmental trend (and no plateau) in language and reading achievement was detected; most participants demonstrated average or above-average English. Morphological awareness was prerequisite to high test scores; speech was not significantly correlated with achievement; language proficiency, measured by the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4 (Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003), predicted reading achievement.

Reading, syntactic, orthographic, and working memory skills of bilingual Arabic-English speaking Canadian children.

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Abu-Rabia, Salim; Siegel, Linda S

2002-11-01

This study assessed the reading, language, and memory skills of 56 bilingual Arab-Canadian children age's 9-14. English was their main instructional language, and Arabic was the language spoken at home. All children attended a Heritage Language Program in Toronto where they were taught to read and write Arabic. The children were administered word and pseudo-word reading, language, and working memory tests in English and Arabic. The majority of the children showed at least adequate proficiency in both languages. There was a significant relationship between the acquisition of word and pseudo-word reading working memory, and syntactic awareness skills in the two languages. The poor readers in Arabic had lower scores on all linguistic tasks, except the visual task. There were no significant differences between bilingual English Arabic children and monolingual English-speaking children on the reading, language, and memory tasks. However, bilingual English Arabic children who had reading problems in English had higher scores on English pseudo-word reading and spelling tasks than monolingual English-speaking children with reading disabilities, probably because of positive transfer from the regular nature of Arabic orthography. In this case, bilingualism does not appear to have negative consequences for the development of language reading skills in both languages--Arabic and English--despite the different nature of the two orthographies.

The English Proficiency of the Academics of the Teacher Training and Education Institutions

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Ali Saukah

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The study is aimed at describing the general English proficiency level of the academics of Teacher Training and Education Institutions (LPTK's as indicated by their TOEFL scores. Specifically, the study is focused on finding out whether there is any difference among the academics' English proficiencies when they are grouped in terms of the geographic regions of their institutions and their fields of study. This study is also intended to reveal any possible relationship between the academics' English proficiency and their age. The results indicate that the English proficiency of the academics on the average is far below the average of that of the international students. The academics in West Java are the highest in their English proficiency, and the English group, as expected, has the best English proficiency. In addition, there is a negative correlation between English proficiency and age

Evidence That International Undergraduates Can Succeed Academically Despite Struggling with English

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Fass-Holmes, Barry; Vaughn, Allison A.

2015-01-01

Many American universities require international applicants whose native language is not English to submit English proficiency exam scores presumably because of proficiency's potential to predict future academic success. The present study provides evidence, however, that such applicants can succeed academically despite struggling with English.…

ESL Teachers' Perceptions about English Learners' Reading Motivation

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Protacio, Maria Selena; Jang, Bong Gee

2016-01-01

The role of motivation in engaging students in reading activities and thus improving their reading achievement has been widely reported for the past decades. However, despite the increasing numbers of English learners (ELs) in the United States, little is known about how teachers perceive their motivation to read. Focus group methodology was used…

THE SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH LANGUAGE READING CURRICULUM: A TEACHER’S PERCEPTIONS

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Hazlina Abdullah

2016-08-01

Abstract The Secondary School English Language Reading Curriculum: A teacher’s Perceptions. The problem of reading comprehension is not unique to only Malaysian graduates. In fact many students experience comprehension difficulties. This, some sudents need explicit comprehension strategy instruction. A rational starting point for this discussion is by defining what reading is. It is then followed by a brief review on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT which is adopted in the Malaysian Form 5 English Language Reading Curriculum. Involving the writer, the reader and the text, reading is actually a communication process where a reader is seen to perform an active role in a reading process. Based on the many previous researches, it is obvious that the teacher’s role in aiding students’ reading comprehension skills is vital. This also reflects the importance of the reading curriculum, as teachers will impkement their reading instruction based on the outlined curriculum. It is hoped that this study may benefit those involved in the curriulum development and examination syndicate, to enhance the teaching and learning processes of reading in the second language, not only among teachers in Malaysia but also world-wide. Keywords: English language Reading Curriculum, reading comprehension skill

Everyday Reading and Writing: English. 5112.24.

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Knowles, Marlene; Wardell, Arlene

A curriculum guide to help students improve their everyday English skills has been designed for the Dade County Public Schools. The course, for grades 8 through 12, is to help students learn to read, write, and interpret letters, business forms, instructions, signs, maps, and magazines. The practical subject matter emphasizes basic reading and…

Black English Annotations for Elementary Reading Programs.

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Prasad, Sandre

This report describes a program that uses annotations in the teacher's editions of existing reading programs to indicate the characteristics of black English that may interfere with the reading process of black children. The first part of the report provides a rationale for the annotation approach, explaining that the discrepancy between written…

The Application of Context Theory in English Teaching of Reading

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Zhu, Jiang; Han, Lemeng

2010-01-01

Context theory is a very important theory in English teaching, especially the teaching of reading. This paper first analyzes the theory of context, including the features of context and some principles in context theory. Then the paper discusses the application of context theory in English teaching of reading, including some problems met in…

[Japanese learners' processing time for reading English relative clauses analyzed in relation to their English listening proficiency].

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Oyama, Yoshinori

2011-06-01

The present study examined Japanese university students' processing time for English subject and object relative clauses in relation to their English listening proficiency. In Analysis 1, the relation between English listening proficiency and reading span test scores was analyzed. The results showed that the high and low listening comprehension groups' reading span test scores do not differ. Analysis 2 investigated English listening proficiency and processing time for sentences with subject and object relative clauses. The results showed that reading the relative clause ending and the main verb section of a sentence with an object relative clause (such as "attacked" and "admitted" in the sentence "The reporter that the senator attacked admitted the error") takes less time for learners with high English listening scores than for learners with low English listening scores. In Analysis 3, English listening proficiency and comprehension accuracy for sentences with subject and object relative clauses were examined. The results showed no significant difference in comprehension accuracy between the high and low listening-comprehension groups. These results indicate that processing time for English relative clauses is related to the cognitive processes involved in listening comprehension, which requires immediate processing of syntactically complex audio information.

Long-Term Experience with Chinese Language Shapes the Fusiform Asymmetry of English Reading

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Mei, Leilei; Xue, Gui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Chen, Chuansheng; Wei, Miao; He, Qinghua; Dong, Qi

2015-01-01

Previous studies have suggested differential engagement of the bilateral fusiform gyrus in the processing of Chinese and English. The present study tested the possibility that long-term experience with Chinese language affects the fusiform laterality of English reading by comparing three samples: Chinese speakers, English speakers with Chinese experience, and English speakers without Chinese experience. We found that, when reading words in their respective native language, Chinese and English speakers without Chinese experience differed in functional laterality of the posterior fusiform region (right laterality for Chinese speakers, but left laterality for English speakers). More importantly, compared with English speakers without Chinese experience, English speakers with Chinese experience showed more recruitment of the right posterior fusiform cortex for English words and pseudowords, which is similar to how Chinese speakers processed Chinese. These results suggest that long-term experience with Chinese shapes the fusiform laterality of English reading and have important implications for our understanding of the cross-language influences in terms of neural organization and of the functions of different fusiform subregions in reading. PMID:25598049

Psycholinguistic determinants of reading comprehension in english as a foreign language

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Javier Vivaldo-Lima

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to analyze the contribution of linguistic and psychological variables in the explanation of the variance associated with reading comprehension in English (L2. Two hundred and eighty Mexican university students participated in the study. The variables analyzed within the linguistic dimension were: reading strategies in Spanish, linguistic competence in English, and ability to perceive lexical transparency between L1 and L2. The psychological dimension evaluated the influence of the reader’s cognitive style, locus of control, and action control orientation on reading comprehension in L2. Subjects were administered a battery of seven evaluation instruments. Multiple regression analyses suggested a two-stage explanatory model of reading in L2. Firstly, psychological variables accounted for 10.0% of the variance in reading comprehension in the first language. Secondly, reading comprehension in Spanish, linguistic competence in L2, and perception of lexical transparency, accounted for 35.5% of the variance in reading comprehension in English.

Late Emerging Reading Difficulties in English Language Learners

OpenAIRE

Garcia, Nicole Marie

2015-01-01

Research has identified a group of students who do not begin to exhibit reading difficulties until fourth or fifth grade, suggesting late-emerging reading difficulties. Considering that these students do not show signs of reading difficulties in early grades, attempting to identify these students early becomes problematic. Additionally, little is known regarding the characteristics of late-emerging reading deficits within English language learner (ELL) populations. The purpose of this study w...

The Reading Strategies Used by Prospective English Teachers in Turkish ELT Context

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Solak, Ekrem; Altay, Firat

2014-01-01

The purpose of this research was to determine what types of reading strategies prospective English Teachers used to accomplish in their reading assignments and activities. The study was conducted at a state-run University, English Language Teaching Department in Turkey. The participants were 130 prospective English Teachers majoring English…

L2 Reading in Thailand: Vocational College Students' Application of Reading Strategies to Their Reading of English Texts

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Kasemsap, Bharani; Lee, Hugo Yu-Hsiu

2015-01-01

This study aims to explore the application of reading strategies to the reading of English texts by Thai vocational college students. Data were collected via questionnaire surveys, think-aloud experiments and semi-structured interviews. The research results reveal different typologies of reading strategies adopted by lower and higher level English…

Reading direction and the central perceptual span in Urdu and English.

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Paterson, Kevin B; McGowan, Victoria A; White, Sarah J; Malik, Sameen; Abedipour, Lily; Jordan, Timothy R

2014-01-01

Normal reading relies on the reader making a series of saccadic eye movements along lines of text, separated by brief fixational pauses during which visual information is acquired from a region of text. In English and other alphabetic languages read from left to right, the region from which useful information is acquired during each fixational pause is generally reported to extend further to the right of each fixation than to the left. However, the asymmetry of the perceptual span for alphabetic languages read in the opposite direction (i.e., from right to left) has received much less attention. Accordingly, in order to more fully investigate the asymmetry in the perceptual span for these languages, the present research assessed the influence of reading direction on the perceptual span for bilingual readers of Urdu and English. Text in Urdu and English was presented either entirely as normal or in a gaze-contingent moving-window paradigm in which a region of text was displayed as normal at the reader's point of fixation and text outside this region was obscured. The windows of normal text extended symmetrically 0.5° of visual angle to the left and right of fixation, or asymmetrically by increasing the size of each window to 1.5° or 2.5° to either the left or right of fixation. When participants read English, performance for the window conditions was superior when windows extended to the right. However, when reading Urdu, performance was superior when windows extended to the left, and was essentially the reverse of that observed for English. These findings provide a novel indication that the perceptual span is modified by the language being read to produce an asymmetry in the direction of reading and show for the first time that such an asymmetry occurs for reading Urdu.

Reading direction and the central perceptual span in Urdu and English.

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Kevin B Paterson

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Normal reading relies on the reader making a series of saccadic eye movements along lines of text, separated by brief fixational pauses during which visual information is acquired from a region of text. In English and other alphabetic languages read from left to right, the region from which useful information is acquired during each fixational pause is generally reported to extend further to the right of each fixation than to the left. However, the asymmetry of the perceptual span for alphabetic languages read in the opposite direction (i.e., from right to left has received much less attention. Accordingly, in order to more fully investigate the asymmetry in the perceptual span for these languages, the present research assessed the influence of reading direction on the perceptual span for bilingual readers of Urdu and English. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Text in Urdu and English was presented either entirely as normal or in a gaze-contingent moving-window paradigm in which a region of text was displayed as normal at the reader's point of fixation and text outside this region was obscured. The windows of normal text extended symmetrically 0.5° of visual angle to the left and right of fixation, or asymmetrically by increasing the size of each window to 1.5° or 2.5° to either the left or right of fixation. When participants read English, performance for the window conditions was superior when windows extended to the right. However, when reading Urdu, performance was superior when windows extended to the left, and was essentially the reverse of that observed for English. CONCLUSION: These findings provide a novel indication that the perceptual span is modified by the language being read to produce an asymmetry in the direction of reading and show for the first time that such an asymmetry occurs for reading Urdu.

Parent-child reading interactions among English and English as a second language speakers in an underserved pediatric clinic in Hawai'i.

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Kitabayashi, Kristyn M; Huang, Gary Y; Linskey, Katy R; Pirga, Jason; Bane-Terakubo, Teresa; Lee, Meta T

2008-10-01

The purpose of this study was to compare reading patterns between English-speaking and English as a Second Language (ESL) families in a health care setting in Hawai'i. A cross-sectional study was performed at an underserved pediatric primary care clinic in Hawai'i. Caregivers of patients between the ages of 6 months to 5 years were asked questions regarding demographics and parent-child reading interactions. Respondents were categorized into English-speaking or ESL groups based on primary language spoken at home. Pearson chi2 tests and Fisher exact tests were performed to compare demographic differences, reading frequency, and reading attitudes between groups. One-hundred three respondents completed the survey Fifty percent were ESL. All ESL respondents were of Asian-Pacific Islander (API) or mixed Asian ethnicity. All Caucasians in the study (n = 9) were in the English-speaking group. Between the English-speaking (n = 52) and ESL (n = 51) groups, there were no significant statistical differences in age or gender of the child, reading attitudes, or parent's educational status. Parents in the ESL group read to their children significantly fewer days per week than their English-speaking counterparts, had significantly fewer books in the home, and lived significantly fewer years in the United States. The findings suggest that API immigrant families share similar attitudes about reading as English-speaking families in Hawai'i but have significantly fewer books in their household and read significantly less frequently Physicians working with API populations should be aware that immigrant children may have fewer reading interactions and should counsel parents on the importance of reading daily.

Role of Narrative Skills on Reading Comprehension: Spanish-English and Cantonese-English Dual Language Learners

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Uchikoshi, Yuuko; Yang, Lu; Liu, Siwei

2018-01-01

This longitudinal study examined the role of narrative skills in English reading comprehension, after controlling for vocabulary and decoding, with a sample of 112 dual language learners (DLLs), including both Spanish-English and Cantonese-English children. Decoding, vocabulary, and narrative samples were collected in the winter of first grade and…

EFL Students’ Perceptions about a Web-Based English Reading Comprehension Course

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Érica Gómez Flórez

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Web-based distance education is an innovative modality of instruction in Colombia. It is characterized by the separation of the teacher and learners, the use of technological tools and the students’ autonomy development. This paper reports the findings of a case study that explores students’ perceptions about an English reading comprehension course in a web-based modality. Findings show that students have different opinions about the course, its content and objectives, its level of difficulty, the time students invested in the course, adults’ learning, and the role of the teacher. We perceived that this course represents an academic challenge; it is conducive to learning, and favors students’ autonomous use of time.

Academic Reading ability of first-year students: what's high school ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Both groups were administered a pre-test and post-test of academic reading ability. The dependent variable was academic reading ability and the independent variables were matric grade and prior exposure. Two measures of reading ability were used, namely a reading comprehension and a cloze passage. An analysis of ...

Teaching strategies for improving reading and writing in English ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Teaching strategies for improving reading and writing in English First Additional Language for men and women. ... Reading and writing have become one serious national issue in primary schools in South ... AJOL African Journals Online.

Linguistic Proficiency and Strategies on Reading Performance in English

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Talebi, Seyed Hassan

2015-01-01

General English (L2) proficiency and reading strategies are believed to be highly effective in successful reading performance. However, available studies rarely investigated the combined effects of these two variables on successful reading. To fill this gap, 78 university students were divided into four groups of different degrees of these two…

Free Reading Is UTOPIA

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LeCrone, Nancy

2010-01-01

In high school students get tied up in extracurricular activities and have little time for pleasure reading. It is true that with rigorous academic schedules they have little time for pleasure reading. Thus began a conversation with a sophomore English teacher at the author's high school. As they were discussing the plight of free reading he was…

Differences in the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies among Native and Non-Native Readers.

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Sheorey, R.; Mokhtari, K.

2001-01-01

Examines the differences in the reported use of reading strategies of native and non-native English speakers when reading academic materials. Participants were native English speaking and English-as-a-Second-Language college students who completed a survey of reading strategies aimed at discerning the strategies readers report using when coping…

Facilitating English-Language Learners' Oral Reading Fluency with Digital Pen Technology

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Chen, Chih-Ming; Tan, Chia-Chen; Lo, Bey-Jane

2016-01-01

Oral reading fluency is an indicator of overall reading competence. Many studies have claimed that repeated reading can promote oral reading fluency. Currently, novel Web- or computer-based reading technologies offer interactive digital materials that promote English oral reading fluency using the repeated reading strategy; however, paper-based…

Effects of EFL Individual Learner Variables on Foreign Language Reading Anxiety and Metacognitive Reading Strategy Use.

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Lien, Hsin-Yi

2016-08-01

Past research has shown an association between foreign language reading anxiety and reading strategy. However, individual variables tend to affect foreign language anxiety and strategy use. The present study examined a hypothesized model that specified direct and indirect effects among English and foreign languages readers' distinct variables, including academic level; self-perceived English level; and satisfaction with reading proficiency, reading anxiety, and metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. A total of 523 volunteer Taiwanese college students provided 372 valid responses to a written questionnaire (281 women and 91 men; M age = 19.7 years, SD = 1.1) containing the translated versions of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale, Survey of Reading Strategies Inventory, and self-assessment background questionnaire. The results showed that self-evaluation of reading proficiency did not correlate with academic level and readers' perceptions. Satisfaction had a direct effect on foreign language reading anxiety but not on metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Results of path analysis demonstrated that the perception learners who had their own reading proficiency predicted their foreign language reading anxiety and was a mediating variable for metacognitive reading strategy use. © The Author(s) 2016.

Computer assisted analysis of research-based teaching method in English newspaper reading teaching

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Jie, Zheng

2017-06-01

In recent years, the teaching of English newspaper reading has been developing rapidly. However, the teaching effect of the existing course is not ideal. The paper tries to apply the research-based teaching model to English newspaper reading teaching, investigates the current situation in higher vocational colleges, and analyzes the problems. It designs a teaching model of English newspaper reading and carries out the empirical research conducted by computers. The results show that the teaching mode can use knowledge and ability to stimulate learners interest and comprehensively improve their ability to read newspapers.

Whole Language-Based English Reading Materials

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Dian Erlina

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This Research and Development (R&D aims at developing English reading materials for undergraduate EFL students of Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN Raden Fatah Palembang, Indonesia. Research data were obtained through questionnaires, tests, and documents. The results of the research show that the existing materials are not relevant to the students’ need, so there is a need for developing new materials based on whole language principles. In general, the new developed materials are considered reliable by the experts, students, and lecturers. The materials are also effective in improving students’ reading achievement. The final product of the materials consists of a course book entitled Whole Language Reading (WLR and a teacher’s manual. WLR provides rich input of reading strategies, variety of topics, concepts, texts, activities, tasks, and evaluations. Using this book makes reading more holistic and meaningful as it provides integration across language skills and subject areas.

Predictive Validity and Accuracy of Oral Reading Fluency for English Learners

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Vanderwood, Michael L.; Tung, Catherine Y.; Checca, C. Jason

2014-01-01

The predictive validity and accuracy of an oral reading fluency (ORF) measure for a statewide assessment in English language arts was examined for second-grade native English speakers (NESs) and English learners (ELs) with varying levels of English proficiency. In addition to comparing ELs with native English speakers, the impact of English…

Exploring the Relationship among International Students' English Self-Efficacy, Using English to Learn Self-Efficacy, and Academic Self-Efficacy

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Wang, Chih-hsuan; Harrison, Jamie; Cardullo, Victoria; Lin, Xi

2018-01-01

One of the major challenges for international students to pursue academic goals in the United States is English language proficiency, which often negatively affects academic success. Even students with confidence in their English language proficiency encounter challenges using English in class. Previous research indicates self-efficacy positively…

A Comparative Study of Reading Strategies Used by Chinese English Majors

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Zhou, Xiaoqiong; Zhao, Yonggang

2014-01-01

In this thesis, by means of questionnaire, we made an investigation into the reading strategies used by Chinese first-year and third-year English majors. The purpose of this study attempts to identify the typical types of reading strategies among English majors in a normal university of China, and also, to examine what differences exist in…

Extensive Reading Program Which Changes Reluctant Engineering Students into Autonomous Learners of English

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Nishizawa, Hitoshi; Yoshioka, Takayoshi; Itoh, Kazuaki

This article introduces extensive reading (ER) as an approach to improve fundamental communication skills in English of reluctant EFL learners : average Japanese engineering students. It is distinct from concurrent translation approach from a perspective that the learners use English instead of Japanese to grasp the meaning of what they read and enjoy reading. In the ER program at Toyota National College of Technology, many students developed more positive attitude toward English, increased their reading speed, and achieved higher TOEIC scores, which was compared to those of the students before this ER program was introduced. Comparison between three groups of the students showed strong correlation between their TOEIC scores and the reading amount.

Psychometric Features of a Scale for Characterizing Motivation for Academic Reading

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Carla Muñoz Valenzuela

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The competencies associated with academic reading, especially the motivational aspects, are essential to undergraduate students’ academic success. Motivation is an emerging issue that has given rise to many studies, yet motivation for academic reading remains a subject rarely addressed or studied. To effectively support the learning process, a diagnostic that is capable of providing precise, valid and reliable information on the motivational aspects of reading in an academic context is necessary. This article presents the results of the process of construction and validation of the Motivation Scale for Academic Reading (EMLA-acronym in Spanish, which was based on the Expectancy & Value model of Jacqueline Eccles and Allan Wigfield (2002, hereinafter EyV. This instrument provides clues for motivational intervention to incentivize reading in an academic context. Likewise, we also report on the structure of the instrument, its theoretical foundations, its factor structure and reliability—psychometric characteristics that make EMLA a solid, valid and reliable instrument.

The Future of Reading and Academic Libraries

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Durant, David M.; Horava, Tony

2015-01-01

The e-book is raising fundamental questions around the dynamics and habits of reading; the role of books in the academic library; and the role of librarians in addressing new realities of reading and learning. Print and digital texts foster different styles of reading and different ways of thinking and doing research. This paper examines…

Learning to Read Setswana and English: Cross-Language Transference of Letter Knowledge, Phonological Awareness and Word Reading Skills

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Lekgoko, Olemme; Winskel, Heather

2008-01-01

The current study investigates how beginner readers learn to read Setswana and English, and whether there is cross-language transference of skills between these two languages. Letter knowledge, phoneme awareness and reading of words and pseudowords in both Setswana and English were assessed in 36 Grade 2 children. A complex pattern emerged.…

Relationships of French and English Morphophonemic Orthographies to Word Reading, Spelling, and Reading Comprehension during Early and Middle Childhood

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Abbott, Robert D.; Fayol, Michel; Zorman, Michel; Casalis, Séverine; Nagy, William; Berninger, Virginia W.

2016-01-01

Two longitudinal studies of word reading, spelling, and reading comprehension identified commonalities and differences in morphophonemic orthographies--French (Study 1, n = 1,313) or English (Study 2, n = 114) in early childhood (Grade 2)and middle childhood (Grade 5). For French and English, statistically significant concurrent relationships…

THE COMPARISON OF STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION IN RECOUNT TEXT INSTRUCTION BETWEEN USING STAD AND JIGSAW TECHNIQUE AT DIFFERENT READING FREQUENCY AT THE FIRST GRADE OF SMA N 1 RUMBIA ACADEMIC YEAR 2012/2013

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Didik Firnadi -

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Reading as one of the four skills has always been as a part of the syllabus in English instruction. Based on the Pra survey, reading comprehension of the students of the first grade of SMA N 1 Rumbia is still low, most of them still lack structure knowledge and vocabulary, and their reading frequency in reading is still low. There are two techniques presented as a solution in this research. They are STAD Technique and Jigsaw technique. The objective of this research is to find out the difference result of using STAD and Jigsaw technique toward students’ reading comprehension in recount text at different high and low reading frequency and to find out there is significant interaction and comparison of reading comprehension in recount text, learning technique, and different reading frequency at the first grade students of SMA N 1 Rumbia academic year 2012/2013. The method of investigation is held through quantitative research. The researcher uses true experimental research. In this experiment, the the researcher applies factorials design. The research is conducted at the first grade of SMA N 1 Rumbia in academic year 2012/2013. The population in this research is 180 students. It consisted 6 classes and each class consist 30 students. The researcher takes 52 students from total population as the sample, 26 students as experiment class and 26 as control class that match based on classification of student level. The researcher uses cluster random sampling as technique sampling. To analyze data, the researcher uses ANOVA TWO WAYS formula. The researcher got the result of Fhit is 18, 2 and Ftable  is 7, 14. It means that Fhit > Ftable. And the criterion of Ftest is Ha accepted if Fhit  > Ftable. So, there is any difference result of students’ Reading comprehension in recount text using STAD and Jigsaw, and STAD technique is more effective technique than Jigsaw technique toward students Reading comprehension at different reading frequency at the

READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS DEVELOPED BY ENGLISH TEACHERS OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN SURABAYA

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Mukhlisatun Muayanah

2014-06-01

Full Text Available According to the Competence Based Curriculum (KBK in the subject of English at Senior High School, the reading skill emphasizes the ability to read written English in the forms of narration, spoof/recount, procedures, report, news items (1st grade, anecdote, exposition, hortatory exposition (2nd grade, descriptions, explanation, discussion, and commentary (3rd grade. Therefore, the objective of teaching reading is to enable the students to have the ability to comprehend and interpret the content of many types of written English discourse.

PROVIDING ENGLISH LANGUAGE INPUT: DECREASING STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN READING COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE

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Elva Yohana

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The primary condition for successful in second or foreign language learning is providing an adequate environment. It is as a medium of increasing the students’ language exposure in order to be able to success in acquiring second or foreign language profciency. This study was designed to propose the adequate English language input that can decrease the students’ anxiety in reading comprehension performance. Of the four skills, somehow reading can be regarded as especially important because reading is assumed to be the central means for learning new information. Some students, however, still encounter many problems in reading. It is because of their anxiety when they are reading. Providing and creating an interesting-contextual reading material and gratifed teachers can make out this problem which occurs mostly in Indonesian’s classrooms. It revealed that the younger learners of English there do not received adequate amount of the target language input in their learning of English. Hence, it suggested the adoption of extensive reading programs as the most effective means in the creation of an input-rich environment in EFL learning contexts. Besides they also give suggestion to book writers and publisher to provide myriad books that appropriate and readable for their students.

English Language Proficiency Tests and Academic Achievement: A Study on the Malaysian University English Test as a Predictor of Technical Programme Undergraduates Academic Achievement

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Nurhazlini Rahmat

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In the Malaysian education system, English has always played an important role. In acknowledging its importance, Malaysian University English Test (MUET has been introduced to enable continued emphasis on this role.  MUET has been made compulsory for those who wish to pursue a first degree programme in local universities. This study aims to examine the relationship between English language proficiency test (as measured by MUET bands to predict the undergraduates academic achievement (as measured by Cumulative Grade Point Average score. It also aims to determine the recommended MUET band as an entry requirement for prospective technical programme undergraduates in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM. The study was carried out among 225 final year undergraduates of five different faculties in UPM, namely Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.  The data used were obtained by administering a brief questionnaire and were quantitatively analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 19.  The study revealed that there is a medium positive correlation between English language proficiency and academic achievement where students who have scored higher bands for MUET are the ones who obtained higher CGPA in their study. Based on the findings, it is recommended that UPM and other local universities make changes towards the minimum MUET entry requirement to help prospective undergraduates excel in their academic study. Keywords: English language proficiency, academic achievement, technical programme, MUET, CGPA

A Research on Reading Strategies among Non-English Major Postgraduates

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Yang, Yang

2016-01-01

As a very important skill both in English teaching and learning, reading strategy has been emphasized at home and abroad for a long time. Many scholars and teachers make research on undergraduates of English major or non-English major. However, the postgraduates are often neglected. Actually, it is also imperative to make a study among…

Does Teaching English in Saudi Primary Schools Affect Students’ Academic Achievement in Arabic Subjects?

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Othman Aljohani

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The global trend of introducing second language learning, namely, English, in primary schools is increasing. In Saudi Arabia, where English has never been taught in primary schools, the government to implement English as a second language at the primary level in 2005; however, this generated controversy. Opposition to the learning of English has been based on religious, cultural, and educational arguments. The latter argument consists of claims that learning English at a young age might influence children’s mother tongue development and influence their academic success. This paper investigates the impact of teaching English in Saudi primary schools on students’ achievement in Arabic-language subjects. This quantitative research aims to inform the debate on second language learning in primary schools by studying children’s examination results in the Arabic subject areas of grammar, reading, and writing. The sample consisted of primary school students from years 1 to 6 as well as year 6 students from the last year before (2004 and the first year after (2005 the introduction of English. Student results from four primary schools (two government schools and two private schools were collected and analysed. This study found no indication of a positive or negative impact of learning English on students’ achievement in Arabic subjects. However, private school students who studied English beginning in their first year of school had better results in the Arabic subjects that were the focus of this research. Keywords: second language acquisition, language impact, ESL

Academic Motivations of Pre-Service English Language Teachers

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Ariogul, Sibel

2009-01-01

This study examines the academic motivation, in a Turkish context, of Turkish pre-service English teachers to contribute field research. Students (n=287) completed the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test, and Pearson product…

75 FR 13751 - Office of English Language Acquisition; Overview Information; Language Enhancement, and Academic...

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2010-03-23

... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of English Language Acquisition; Overview Information; Language... Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) may... Secretary and Director, Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic...

Reading Habits of University ESL Students at Different Levels of English Proficiency and Education.

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Mokhtari, Kouider; Sheorey, Ravi

1994-01-01

Examines the degree to which the levels of English proficiency (high vs. low) and education (graduate vs. undergraduate) of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students were associated with differences in their reading behaviors. Finds that the subjects' level of education and English proficiency were associated with their reading behavior…

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMK NEGERI 8 SURAKARTA IN 2015/2016 ACADEMIC YEAR

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Syilvia Mustanuri Jannah

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The study is aimed at analyzing the implementation of teaching English at State Vocational High School 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 academic year. The objectives of the study are to describe and explain the implementation of teaching English at this school. In this research, there are seven components of the implementation of teaching English which are investigated, namely: learning objective, syllabus, instructional material, classroom procedure, techniques in teaching English, media, and assessment. The type of the study is descriptive qualitative research especially naturalistic approach. The data are derived from event, informant, and document. There are three methods of collecting data, namely: observation, interview, and document. The process of analyzing data includes data reduction, data display, and conclusion or verification. The results of the study are as follows: (1 There are two learning objectives of teaching English namely: general objective and specific objective. The general learning objective is based on curriculum and specific learning objective is based on the syllabus; (2 The type of syllabus is mixed syllabus, consisting of structural syllabus, notional syllabus and functional syllabus; (3 The instructional material used is printed material; (4 The classroom procedure used is observing, questioning, experimenting, associating, and communicating; (5 Techniques used in teaching English are reading aloud, silent reading, questioning session, group work, brainstorming, reading comprehension, individual, discussion, role play, and exercise modeling; (6 The media used in teaching learning process is white board and picture and image; and (7 Assessment types used are final test preparation, daily assessment, mid test, and final test.

English Word Reading Difficulties and Orthographic Processing Weaknesses in Chinese English Bilingual Adolescents with Dyslexia

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Tong, Xiuhong; McBride, Catherine

2017-01-01

Is dyslexia in Chinese for Chinese-English bilinguals associated with difficulties in reading English, given differences in L1 and L2 orthographies? Among 11 Hong Kong Chinese adolescents with dyslexia, who were diagnosed by professional psychologists using the diagnostic criteria set out in a standardized test, and 14 adolescents without…

Chinese Learners of English See Chinese Words When Reading English Words.

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Ma, Fengyang; Ai, Haiyang

2018-06-01

The present study examines when second language (L2) learners read words in the L2, whether the orthography and/or phonology of the translation words in the first language (L1) is activated and whether the patterns would be modulated by the proficiency in the L2. In two experiments, two groups of Chinese learners of English immersed in the L1 environment, one less proficient and the other more proficient in English, performed a translation recognition task. In this task, participants judged whether pairs of words, with an L2 word preceding an L1 word, were translation words or not. The critical conditions compared the performance of learners to reject distractors that were related to the translation word (e.g., , pronounced as /bei 1/) of an L2 word (e.g., cup) in orthography (e.g., , bad in Chinese, pronounced as /huai 4/) or phonology (e.g., , sad in Chinese, pronounced as /bei 1/). Results of Experiment 1 showed less proficient learners were slower and less accurate to reject translation orthography distractors, as compared to unrelated controls, demonstrating a robust translation orthography interference effect. In contrast, their performance was not significantly different when rejecting translation phonology distractors, relative to unrelated controls, showing no translation phonology interference. The same patterns were observed in more proficient learners in Experiment 2. Together, these results suggest that when Chinese learners of English read English words, the orthographic information, but not the phonological information of the Chinese translation words is activated. In addition, this activation is not modulated by L2 proficiency.

English Word-Level Decoding and Oral Language Factors as Predictors of Third and Fifth Grade English Language Learners' Reading Comprehension Performance

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Landon, Laura L.

2017-01-01

This study examines the application of the Simple View of Reading (SVR), a reading comprehension theory focusing on word recognition and linguistic comprehension, to English Language Learners' (ELLs') English reading development. This study examines the concurrent and predictive validity of two components of the SVR, oral language and word-level…

Grade 12 Diploma Examination, English 30. Part B: Reading (Multiple Choice). Readings Booklet. 1986 Edition.

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Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton.

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test (to be administered along with the questions booklet) contains 10 short reading selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama, including the following: "My Magical Metronome" (Lewis Thomas); "Queen Street…

Recreational Reading of International Students in Academic Libraries

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Bordonaro, Karen

2011-01-01

Recreational reading as a method of language learning has been a focus of investigation in second language education. This article considers recreational reading through the additional perspective of academic librarianship. Its purpose is to discover if recreational reading is a topic that lends itself to research through both perspectives. This…

The Influence of Parents' Backgrounds, Beliefs about English Learning, and a Dialogic Reading Program on Thai Kindergarteners' English Lexical Development

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Petchprasert, Anongnad

2014-01-01

This study investigated parents' backgrounds and their beliefs about English language learning, and compared the receptive English vocabulary development of three to six year-old-Thai children before and after participating in a parent-child reading program with the dialogic reading (DR) method. Fifty-four single parents of 54 children voluntarily…

Exploring Reading Comprehension Needs of Iranian EAP Students of Health Information Management (HIM): A Triangulated Approach

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Atai, Mahmood Reza; Nazari, Ogholgol

2011-01-01

Discipline-based English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading programs in Iran are designed to fill the gap between the students' general English reading competence and their ability to read authentic discipline-specific texts. This study attempted to assess target and present reading comprehension needs of EAP students of Health Information…

Storyboards and Reading Comprehension of Literary Fiction in English

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Molina Naar, José Mario

2013-01-01

This article reports on a study developed in order to help a group of six limited-proficient students of English (newcomers) to improve their reading comprehension of English novels by designing storyboards, a type of graphic organizer that condenses both images and scripts. The investigation was carried out in a public school in the state of…

The Digitization of Early English Books: A Database Comparison of Internet Archive and Early English Books Online

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Brightenburg, Cindy

2016-01-01

The use of digital books is diverse, ranging from casual reading to in-depth primary source research. Digitization of early English printed books in particular, has provided greater access to a previously limited resource for academic faculty and researchers. Internet Archive, a free, internet website and Early English Books Online, a subscription…

On the Relationship between the IELTS Listening and Listening in Academic English Programs

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Masood Khalili Sabet

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The challenge for many teachers teaching in academic English programs is, on the one hand, to actualize the objectives of their course and on the other hand, prepare their students for the important international tests such as IELTS and TOEFLE. The current study seeks to reconcile this challenge by drawing on the relationship between the IELTS listening and listening in academic English programs. The requirements of the two domains were compared through a semi – structured interview with five participating academic English instructors from two state universities of Iran. It was found that whilst IELTS listening bears a little bit of resemblance to the one aspect of academic listening - the literal understanding, there are also some very significant differences. The findings suggests that the type of listening the IELTS requires is different from academic listening in terms of pragmatic understanding, the integration of skills, multiplicity of texts for listening, information literacy and the concept of construct irrelevant variance. The findings also indicate the overall usefulness of the IELTS preparation practices within academic English courses.

Using Comic Books as Read-Alouds: Insights on Reading Instruction from an English as a Second Language Classroom

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Ranker, Jason

2007-01-01

A first-grade teacher used comic books as read-alouds during her implementation of a reading/writing workshop. The students, primarily English-language learners, were able to make use of this medium in order to learn new reading practices. The teacher used the comics to teach multiple aspects of various reading processes such as reading with an…

Actions of the Academic Literacy Laboratory of the University of São Paulo: promoting academic writing in the undergraduate and graduate programs

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Marília Mendes Ferreira

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The increasing internationalization of Brazilian universities requires its academic community not only to read, but also to communicate effectively in academic discourse in at least two languages - the mother tongue and a foreign language (mainly English. However, material conditions for meeting these demands are practically nonexistent in Brazilian higher education institutions (FERREIRA, 2015. The purpose of this article is to describe an action that aims to meet one of these demands imposed by internationalization – the socialization of academic production in English, French and Portuguese not only for reading purposes and assimilation of content, but above all for the publication in these languages. This action is undertaken by the Academic Literacy Laboratory at the University of São Paulo.

Adolescents' Use of Academic Language in Historical Writing

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Shen, Ting

2011-01-01

Despite its importance of academic language, research on academic language is often limited to academic vocabulary and focused on the English language learners. Informed by systemic functional linguistics, this study examined adolescents' use of academic language and the relationships between its use and students' reading ability and their writing…

Translanguaging in English Academic Writing Preparation

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Adamson, John; Coulson, David

2015-01-01

We investigate translanguaging (i.e. the co-use of first and second languages) in a Content and Language Integrated Learning course, as a pragmatic means to promote the skill of young university students in extended critical academic writing. We aimed to prepare new undergraduate students (n = 180) for courses where partial English-medium…

Overlap and Uniqueness: Linguistic Componential Traits Contributing to Expressive Skills in English as a Foreign Language

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Pae, Hye K.; O'Brien, Beth

2018-01-01

This study identified robust predictors of expressive skills in academic English as a foreign language. The participants were 92 Korean-speaking learners of English. The field test of the Pearson Test of English Academic was used as a secondary data analysis. Four communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and six enabling…

Music reading expertise modulates hemispheric lateralization in English word processing but not in Chinese character processing.

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Li, Sara Tze Kwan; Hsiao, Janet Hui-Wen

2018-07-01

Music notation and English word reading both involve mapping horizontally arranged visual components to components in sound, in contrast to reading in logographic languages such as Chinese. Accordingly, music-reading expertise may influence English word processing more than Chinese character processing. Here we showed that musicians named English words significantly faster than non-musicians when words were presented in the left visual field/right hemisphere (RH) or the center position, suggesting an advantage of RH processing due to music reading experience. This effect was not observed in Chinese character naming. A follow-up ERP study showed that in a sequential matching task, musicians had reduced RH N170 responses to English non-words under the processing of musical segments as compared with non-musicians, suggesting a shared visual processing mechanism in the RH between music notation and English non-word reading. This shared mechanism may be related to the letter-by-letter, serial visual processing that characterizes RH English word recognition (e.g., Lavidor & Ellis, 2001), which may consequently facilitate English word processing in the RH in musicians. Thus, music reading experience may have differential influences on the processing of different languages, depending on their similarities in the cognitive processes involved. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identifying Engineering Students' English Sentence Reading Comprehension Errors: Applying a Data Mining Technique

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Tsai, Yea-Ru; Ouyang, Chen-Sen; Chang, Yukon

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to propose a diagnostic approach to identify engineering students' English reading comprehension errors. Student data were collected during the process of reading texts of English for science and technology on a web-based cumulative sentence analysis system. For the analysis, the association-rule, data mining technique…

Secondary School Students’ English Literacy: Use of Interactive Read Aloud Instructional Strategy

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Mutiara Ayu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The Global era has had a great impact on the existence of English as a global language which requires students to be good at its every skill. It is believed that students’ English could be enhanced well with the use of certain strategies, one of which is Interactive Read Aloud Instructional Strategy (IRAIS. This study was aimed at examining the efficacy of IRAIS to help students to improve their English literacy achievements. Forty five out of 746 students were selected randomly as sample based on their grade levels (7th, 8th, 9th and their levels of comprehension. By using time series design, these students were given interventions for three months using IRAIS and their English achievements were obtained from pre- and post-tests of four English literacy skills. During the interventions, the progress of the students was also monitored regularly by using three formative tests.The results showed consistent progress on the students’ achievement during the interventions and upon their total English literacy achievement after the interventions. Among the four English literacy skills, the most significant improvement was in listening followed by writing, reading, and speaking. In terms of aspects of each literacy skill, the highest achievement scores were in inference of listening, narrative techniques of writing, vocabulary of reading, and vocal expression of speaking. These findings lead to the conclusion that IRAIS  is an effective strategy in helping students to improve their level of English proficiency.

A Study of English Language Learning Beliefs, Strategies, and English Academic Achievement of the ESP Students of STIENAS Samarinda

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Hayati, Noor

2015-01-01

This research aimed to investigate; students' English academic achievement, beliefs about English language learning, English language learning strategies, and the relationship of them. Descriptive and correlational design, quantitative methods were applied in this research. The students' final English scores of the first year, BALLI, and SILL were…

An action research study of collaborative strategic reading in English with Saudi medical students

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Al-Roomy, Muhammad

2013-01-01

This is an investigative action research study on ways of improving the reading comprehension skills of Arabic medical school students. The study first analysed the difficulties of teaching and learning English and reading in English in a Saudi university medical college. An intervention was planned and implemented based on Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR –Klingner and Vaughn, 1996). This involved using group work to teach explicitly a set of reading strategies to a class of students who...

PSYCHOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF TEACHING FUTURE NAVIGATORS READING ENGLISH AUTHENTIC SAILING DIRECTIONS

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Наталія Приміна

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In the given article the psychological peculiarities of teaching future navigators reading English professional authentic documentation have been analyzed. The psychological foundations of understanding printed information in general and foreign information particularly have been disclosed. The processes of textual information perception and visual material perception comprehension have been analysed. The language levels of foreign text comprehension have been examined. The peculiarities of perceptual transformation of foreign language information while reading English sailing directions have been found out.

Anxiety and Academic Reading Performance among Malay ESL Learners

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Mohd. Zin, Zuhana; Rafik-Galea, Shameem

2010-01-01

Research into the factors that contribute to reading performance decrement in L2 reading among ESL university students is still being extensively researched in the context of ELT. This is because successful academic performance is highly dependent on good reading ability. While it is widely accepted that poor reading performance is due to lack of…

The place of morphology in learning to read in English.

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Rastle, Kathleen

2018-02-24

Morphology is a major organising principle of English and other alphabetic languages, but has been largely neglected in theories of reading acquisition. In this article, I develop the view that learning to appreciate morphological relationships may be a vital part of acquiring a direct mapping between printed words and their meanings, represented in the ventral brain pathway of the reading network. I show that morphology provides an important degree of regularity across this mapping in English, and suggest that this regularity is directly associated with irregularity in the mapping between spelling and sound. I further show that while children in primary school display explicit knowledge of morphological relationships, there is scant evidence they show the rapid morphological analysis of printed words that skilled readers exhibit. These findings suggest that the acquisition of long-term morphological knowledge may be associated with the ongoing development of reading expertise. Implications for reading instruction are discussed. Copyright © 2018 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Will Aesthetics English Comic Books Make Junior High School Students Fall in Love with English Reading?

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Chou, Mei-Ju; Hsu, Yung-Hung; Chen, Ching-Chi

2015-01-01

The present study aims to investigate the effects of Aesthetics English comic books on EFL junior high school students' vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension, and English learning motivation. The participants in this study were 28 eighth graders from one class in a public junior high school in Pingtung in Taiwan. After ten weeks…

TOEFL and IELTS as Measures of Academic Reading Ability: An Exploratory Study.

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Buell, James G.

This paper discusses research conducted in the spring of 1991 that measured the relationship of reading subtest scores to teacher ratings of students' reading abilities. Sixty-eight advanced-level students in an intensive English program took an institutional version of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and a specimen reading…

Roles of Metalinguistic Awareness and Academic Extensive Reading in the Development of EFL/ESL Academic Writing Skills

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Grace H. Wang

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper argues that the development of academic writing proficiency may require both explicit metalinguistic awareness (MA and extensive reading (ER of academic texts. Specifically, it argues that: (a there may be a connection between explicit MA and the development of writing skills; (b there is a connection between ER and the development of writing skills, but academic ER may be required for development of academic writing skills; (c there may be a connection between explicit MA and the development of reading skills, which may be exploited for the development of academic ER skills, which in turn supports the development of academic writing skills.

After exit: Academic achievement patterns of former English language learners.

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Ester J. de Jong

2004-09-01

Full Text Available With few exceptions, accountability systems for programs for English language learners (ELLs have focused on the achievement patterns of ELLs who are still considered “limited English proficient” and program evaluations have been unable to answer the question whether ELLs actually catch up with English proficient peers after attending a bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL program. Disaggregating data for former ELLs can therefore provide important information for long-term district and program accountability. The study was concerned with the achievement patterns in English language arts, Math, and Science of former ELLs who attended a bilingual and a English as a Second Language (ESL program. It also explored whether length of program participation and grade level exited played a significant role in predicting academic achievement patterns for these exited students. Results indicate that 4th grade students more closely paralleled non- ELL students’ achievement patterns than 8th grade students, particularly for the BE students. While length of program participation is not a significant predictor of former ELLs’ academic success, exit grade does emerge as an important variable to take into consideration in setting exit guidelines.

An investigation into the English reading comprehension of Grade 10 English first additional language learners at a senior secondary school

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Chaka Chaka

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Poor levels of English first additional language (EFAL reading comprehension amongst school learners at most public schools in South Africa are a great concern. In fact, for learning to be successful and effective, learners need to be able to read well in EFAL. This is more so as EFAL serves as a language of learning and teaching (LOLT for most learning areas in South Africa’s public schools. Against this background, this study set out in 2012 to investigate the English reading comprehension of Grade 10 EFAL learners at a senior secondary school. Using purposive and voluntary sampling techniques, the study had 17 EFAL learners(M = 10, F–7 as its participants. It employed three reading measures, a recall task, a summary and a comprehension test, which were based on three English extracts, to assess participants’ reading comprehension. It then assessed and scored participants’ responses to the three tasks by using an oral reading rubric and two prepared marking memoranda. One of the findings of this study was that, of the three reading tasks administered, participants did slightly above average in the comprehension test, but performed below average in the two other tasks – the recall and summary tasks.

EXPLORING STUDENTS‟ DIFFICULTIES IN READING ACADEMIC TEXTS

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Ira Ernawati

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Academic texts play an important role for university students. However, those texts are considered difficult. This study is intended to investigate students‘ difficulties in reading academic texts. The qualitative approach was employed in this study. The design was a case study. The participants were ten students from fifth semester of CLS: EE (Classroom Language and Strategy: Explaining and Exemplifying class who were selected by using purposive sampling. The data were gathered from students‘ journal reflections, observation, and interview. The finding shows that the students encountered reading difficulties in area of textual factors, namely vocabulary, comprehending specific information, text organization, and grammar and human factors including background knowledge, mood, laziness, and time constraint.

The Academic English Language Needs of Industrial Design Students in UiTM Kedah, Malaysia

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Adzmi, Nor Aslah; Bidin, Samsiah; Ibrahim, Syazliyati; Jusoff, Kamaruzaman

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyse the academic English language lacks and needs of Industrial Design students in Universiti Teknologi MARA Kedah (UiTM). It highlights the lacks and needs for English for Academic Purposes in helping the students to succeed in the program through the usage of English language. The research tools used were in…

Reading and E-reading for Academic Work: Patterns and Preferences in Theological Studies and Religion

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Timothy Dwight Lincoln

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This article reports on a 2012 survey of library patrons at ATLA-affiliated libraries regarding academic reading habits and preferences. The research questions for the study were: [1] To what extent is academic reading done as e-reading?; [2] What features do participants value in e-books?; [3] What library sources do patrons want made available to them electronically?  The method used in the study was an online survey. A total of 2,578 individuals took the survey in the spring of 2012. Key findings were that half of respondents regularly read journal articles on a computer screen and  one  in five regularly reads or listens to e-books in their academic work. Participants wanted e-books to enable them to perform keyword searches, move around quickly within the text, and annotate the text electronically. Seven out of ten participants stated that they would like libraries to provide reference works, Bible commentaries, circulating titles, and textbooks in electronic format. It appeared that the distinction between library-owned resources and those owned by an individual disappeared in the minds of many respondents. The author concludes that theological library directors should consider spending a significant proportion of their collection budget on electronic resources now, despite ongoing difficulties that academic publishers face in making a transition to digital publishing. The author also interprets findings in light of Fred Davis’ model of technology acceptance.

EFL Learners' Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies

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Al-Mekhlafi, Abdo Mohammed

2018-01-01

Reading, a literacy skill, is of great importance to all educational systems. Even in tertiary education, many EFL learners have trouble in reading academic texts in English, as they are often found to be using ineffective reading strategies. A review of relevant literature provides insights into a range of issues relating to the teaching of…

Young Spanish-English Speaking Children's Reading Attitudes in Relation to Language Skills

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Wood, Carla L.; Gabas, Clariebelle M.

2017-01-01

Background: Reading attitudes are recognised as an influencing factor on the language and literacy achievement of school age monolingual English-speaking children. The relationship between reading attitudes and achievement in young Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) remains understudied. Purpose: The aim of the current study was to describe…

The Cooperative Learning Effects on English Reading Comprehension and Learning Motivation of EFL Freshmen

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Pan, Ching-Ying; Wu, Hui-Yi

2013-01-01

This experimental study aims to investigate the effects of using cooperative learning to enhance the English reading comprehension and learning motivation of EFL freshmen by comparing the cooperative learning instruction and traditional lecture instruction. This experiment was implemented in a Freshman English Reading course, a two credit course,…

The Reading Comprehension Strategies of Second Language Learners: A Spanish-English Study

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Acosta Caballero, Karen Anelice

2012-01-01

Reading comprehension of school-aged students is an important topic of research; however, research on the reading comprehension of adult foreign/second language learners whose first language is English is limited, especially studies investigating the reading comprehension strategies that readers of different proficiency levels use when they…

Genre Analysis On Reading Passages Grade VII English Textbooks

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Sukma, Ardini Nur

2010-01-01

Referring to the latest curriculum, School-Based Curriculum, every English textbook should provide genres based on the level of literacy of each grade. On this paper, I analyzed English textbooks published by Erlangga ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ English on Sky (EOS), and by Pakar Raya -- Let?óÔé¼Ôäós Talk. This paper focuses on how are the reading passages of the textbooks compatible with ?óÔé¼?ôStandard Isi?óÔé¼?Ø?. Coinciding with the statement of the problems, the objectives of this paper are to describe the...

THE EFFECT OF JIGSAW II TOWARD LEARNING MOTIVATION AND READING COMPREHENSION AT THE SECOND GRADE OF ENGLISH STUDENTS IN STKIP DHARMA BAKTI

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eka melati

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In teaching Reading, learning motivation and reading comprehension are essential. Ideally, after students learn the reading skills, both of their learning motivation and reading comprehension are better than before. In fact, the students still face some problems in comprehending the text. The problems are: they got low score of reading comprehension, they are lack of motivation, they are lack of vocabulary mastery, their reading achievement is still low, and the lecturer always uses small group discussion method without any variation. The purpose of this research was to find out the effect of JIgsaw II on learning motivation and reading comprehension.This study was an experimental research. Poupulation of this research was the second grade students of English Department of STKIP Dharma Bakti Lubuk Alung academic year 2010/2011 who was totally 133 students. The sample was selected by cluster random technique. The instruments were questionnaire of learning motivation and test of reading comprehension. The data were analyzed manually by t-test formula.The result of this study were learning motivation of students who were taught by Jigsaw II was better than those who were taught by small group discussion; and reading comprehension of students who taught by Jigsaw II was better than those who taught by small group discussion. It concluded that Jigsaw II produced better result on learning motivation and reading comprehension. It was implied that Jigsaw II could be used as method of teaching reading for English students.Doi: 10.22216/jit.2014.v8i2.211 

Actions of the Academic Literacy Laboratory of the University of São Paulo: promoting academic writing in the undergraduate and graduate programs

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Marília Mendes Ferreira

2016-09-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2016v69n3p125 The increasing internationalization of Brazilian universities requires its academic community not only to read, but also to communicate effectively in academic discourse in at least two languages - the mother tongue and a foreign language (mainly English. However, material conditions for meeting these demands are practically nonexistent in Brazilian higher education institutions (FERREIRA, 2015. The purpose of this article is to describe an action that aims to meet one of these demands imposed by internationalization – the socialization of academic production in English, French and Portuguese not only for reading purposes and assimilation of content, but above all for the publication in these languages. This action is undertaken by the Academic Literacy Laboratory at the University of São Paulo.

ELF in English language teaching: Researching attitudes of Serbian academic community

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Ošmjanski Vera B.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the empirical part of the research was to explore the attitude of the Serbian academic community towards the English language used as lingua franca (ELF, i.e. neutral variety of the English language. The results might be a starting point in considering whether to include ELF in the language policy and, consequently, into English curricula in Serbia. The research included members of Serbian academic community, students of different departments, and English language teachers in the state owned and privately owned universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. After examining their attitudes towards key postulates of ELF the conclusions are that it is necessary to start discussions about the concepts of the variety and to reassess current deeply rooted ideas about the English language from the perspective of modern linguistic trends. The need for a more liberal approach to the variety is not generated only in the needs of the market, i.e. those people to whom English is a practical means of international communication, but also the need to adjust ELT (English Language Teaching to modern linguistic tendencies and the European Council recommendations.

Increasing Academic Growth through Motivating Students To Read.

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Duignan, Sandra; Klioris, Ann; Porter, Jennifer; Rockett, Nicole; Vogwill, Kathy

This report describes a program for increasing academic growth through motivating students to read. The targeted population includes kindergarten, first, third, and high school special education students. The lack of motivation in reading was documented through data revealed by pre-surveys and post-surveys of students' interest in books. Analysis…

Investigating Metacognitive Awareness and Reading Strategy Use of EFL Korean University Students

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Hong-Nam, Kay; Page, Larkin

2014-01-01

The metacognitive awareness and reading strategy use by Korean university students in Korea was investigated. The relationships between reading strategy use, self-rated English proficiency, and self-rated reading proficiency were examined. Differences in reading strategy use were also explored by gender and academic classification. Problem-solving…

Construct Validity of the Nepalese School Leaving English Reading Test

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Dawadi, Saraswati; Shrestha, Prithvi N.

2018-01-01

There has been a steady interest in investigating the validity of language tests in the last decades. Despite numerous studies on construct validity in language testing, there are not many studies examining the construct validity of a reading test. This paper reports on a study that explored the construct validity of the English reading test in…

Rigor or Restriction: Examining Close Reading with High School English Language Learners

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Thomason, Betty; Brown, Clara Lee; Ward, Natalia

2017-01-01

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing student subgroup in the United States, and public schools have the challenging task of teaching ELLs both English language and academic content. In spite of the attention given to improving outcomes for ELLs, the achievement gap between ELLs and native English speakers persists, especially…

Strategies to Support High School Students’ Reading Comprehension in the English Language

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Zabala Palacio Freddy Oswaldo

2004-08-01

Full Text Available Teachers are often concerned about the low reading level of their students in both English and Spanish. One way to solve this problem is by using reading strategies. Promoting the development of reading competences in English will offer the students tools that allow them to comprehend texts and will contribute to a closer relation with the second language culture. This article reports on a study carried out when doing my teaching practice in a public high school in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2002. The main objective of my research project was to support the development of eleventh graders’ reading comprehension competence in English. Hence, I refer to the group’s views on English reading comprehension, their handling of strategies to develop reading competence in English and their progress after having applied those strategies. Key words: Foreign Language-Teaching, Reading Strategies El bajo nivel de lectura en los estudiantes de inglés y español es una de las preocupaciones comunes de los docentes. Una forma de solucionar este problema es a través del uso de estrategias de lectura. De tal manera, promover el desarrollo de competencias lectoras en los estudiantes de inglés les ofrecerá herramientas que les permitirán comprender los textos y contribuirá a crear una relación más cercana entre ellos y la cultura de la segunda lengua. Este artículo reporta un estudio llevado a cabo durante mi práctica docente en una escuela pública de Bogotá, Colombia, en el año 2002. El objetivo principal de mi proyecto de investigación fue apoyar el desarrollo de la competencia en comprensión de lectura en el idioma inglés en estudiantes de undécimo grado. Por lo tanto, menciono los puntos de vista de los estudiantes sobre la comprensión de lectura, la forma como utilizan las estrategias para desarrollar esta competencia en inglés y su proceso después de su acercamiento a la comprensión lectora a través del uso de las mismas

Reading Trends and Perceptions Towards Islamic English Websites as Teaching Materials

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Khairuddin, Zurina; Shukry, Azimah Shurfa Mohammed; Sani, Nurshafawati Ahmad

2014-01-01

This paper is a study of the reading trends and perceptions of Muslim Malaysian undergraduate students towards Islamic English websites as pedagogical materials in English language classrooms. Data was collected through a set of questionnaires to 180 students from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Universiti Sultan…

Print exposure, reading habits, and reading achievement among deaf and hearing college students.

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Marschark, Marc; Sarchet, Thomastine; Convertino, Carol M; Borgna, Georgianna; Morrison, Carolyn; Remelt, Sarah

2012-01-01

This study explored relations of print exposure, academic achievement, and reading habits among 100 deaf and 100 hearing college students. As in earlier studies, recognition tests for book titles and magazine titles were used as measures of print exposure, college entrance test scores were used as measures of academic achievement, and students provided self-reports of reading habits. Deaf students recognized fewer magazine titles and fewer book titles appropriate for reading levels from kindergarten through Grade 12 while reporting more weekly hours of reading. As in previous studies with hearing college students, the title recognition test proved a better predictor of deaf and hearing students' English achievement than how many hours they reported reading. The finding that the recognition tests were relatively more potent predictors of achievement for deaf students than hearing students may reflect the fact that deaf students often obtain less information through incidental learning and classroom presentations.

The cognitive and academic profiles of reading and mathematics learning disabilities.

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Compton, Donald L; Fuchs, Lynn S; Fuchs, Douglas; Lambert, Warren; Hamlett, Carol

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive and academic profiles associated with learning disability (LD) in reading comprehension, word reading, applied problems, and calculations. The goal was to assess the specificity hypothesis, in which unexpected underachievement associated with LD is represented in terms of distinctive patterns of cognitive and academic strengths and weaknesses. At the start of 3rd grade, the authors assessed 684 students on five cognitive dimensions (nonverbal problem solving, processing speed, concept formation, language, and working memory), and across Grades 3 through 5, the authors assessed performance in each academic area three to four times. Based on final intercept, the authors classified students as LD or not LD in each of the four academic areas. For each of these four LD variables, they conducted multivariate cognitive profile analysis and academic profile analysis. Results, which generally supported the specificity hypothesis, are discussed in terms of the potential connections between reading and mathematics LD.

Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance in English

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Meera, K. P.; Jumana, M. K.

2015-01-01

This study reviews the relevant self-efficacy related literature, a central point of social cognitive theory, in the area of language learning. Role of self-efficacy in academic performance of learners is also considered. In the global world, English language has become the fundamental means of international affairs and communication. As a…

Focusing on EFL reading theory and practice

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Al-Mahrooqi, Rahma

2014-01-01

Reading, a complex and multi-faceted skill, is essential for life and academic success. While its mysteries still baffle first-language research, the nature of reading in a foreign language presents an even greater puzzle. However, given reading's importance for EFL students who study their specializations in English, and whose future employment may depend on their competence in it, researchers must continue to investigate foreign language reading and devise ways of improving students' capaci...

Language of Instruction as a Moderator for Transfer of Reading Comprehension Skills among Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

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Carlo, María S.; Barr, Christopher D.; August, Diane; Calderón, Margarita; Artzi, Lauren

2014-01-01

This three-year longitudinal study investigated the role of language of instruction in moderating the relationships between initial levels of English oral language proficiency and Spanish reading comprehension and growth in English reading comprehension. The study followed Spanish-speaking English language learners in English-only literacy…

The Pathway to English Word Reading in Chinese ESL Children: The Role of Spelling

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Lin, Dan; Liu, Yingyi; Sun, Huilin; Wong, Richard Kwok; Yeung, Susanna Siu-sze

2017-01-01

The present longitudinal study investigated the role of spelling as a bridge between various reading-related predictors and English word reading in Chinese children learning English as a Second Language (ESL). One hundred and forty-one 5-year-old kindergarten children from Hong Kong, whose first language (L1) was Cantonese and second language (L2)…

Reading and Writing as Academic Literacy in EAP Program of Indonesian Leaners

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Imroatus Solikhah

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This study investigates academic literacy imposed in reading and writing for academic purposes in the EAP program. This study uses descriptive design elaborating data from curriculum documents and interviews.  Involving 45 participants from IAIN Surakarta and Veteran University, data were analyzed using constant-comparison and inductive analysis tecniques. The study diseovers that academic literacy is prominent to serve and recently it has been the growing learning outcomes universities should provide besides discipline and experise. Academic literacy in EAP program is embedded into academic vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing for academic purposes.  Consequently, academic literacy should be incurred in the curriculum, syllabus, aims and objectives, and teaching materials.

Embedded academic writing support for nursing students with English as a second language.

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Salamonson, Yenna; Koch, Jane; Weaver, Roslyn; Everett, Bronwyn; Jackson, Debra

2010-02-01

This paper reports a study which evaluated a brief, embedded academic support workshop as a strategy for improving academic writing skills in first-year nursing students with low-to-medium English language proficiency. Nursing students who speak English as a second language have lower academic success compared with their native English-speaking counterparts. The development of academic writing skills is known to be most effective when embedded into discipline-specific curricula. Using a randomized controlled design, in 2008 106 students pre-enrolled in an introductory bioscience subject were randomized to receive either the intervention, a 4-day embedded academic learning support workshop facilitated by two bioscience (content) nursing academics and a writing and editing professional, or to act as the control group. The primary focus of the workshop was to support students to work through a mock assignment by providing progressive feedback and written suggestions on how to improve their answers. Of the 59 students randomized to the intervention, only 28 attended the workshop. Bioscience assignment results were analysed for those who attended (attendees), those randomized to the intervention but who did not attend (non-attendees), and the control group. Using anova, the results indicated that attendees achieved statistically significantly higher mean scores (70.8, sd: 6.1) compared to both control group (58.4, sd: 3.4, P = 0.002) and non-attendees (48.5, sd: 5.5, P = 0.001). A brief, intensive, embedded academic support workshop was effective in improving the academic writing ability of nursing students with low-to-medium English language proficiency, although reaching all students who are likely to benefit from this intervention remains a challenge.

Learning English Idioms through Reading in an LMS: Etymological Notes versus Pictorial Support

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Demiröz, Hakan; Çekiç, Ahmet; Bakla, Arif

2016-01-01

This study aims to compare the effectiveness of definition + etymological notes versus definition + pictorial support on the learning of English idioms through reading online texts with hyperlinks to definitions. 121 Turkish learners of English as a foreign language assigned to two different courses were given a vocabulary knowledge scale, revealing that the idioms were unfamiliar to the learners. Participants in both groups read 17 passages with definitions as hyperlink annotations for 18 id...

The Matters in Teaching Reading Comprehension to EFL Students

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Yuliana Natsir; Anisati Anisati

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to find out the efforts that were being made by certified English teachers in teaching reading since reading is considered as one of the determiners of academic success. Descriptive qualitative research was used in this study; the subjects were two English teachers in Banda Aceh and the instrument was an interview guide. The interview questions were adapted from Fletcher, et al. (2012) that focused on curriculum, teacher preparation, teaching methodology, teachin...

The Effectiveness of Grammar Learning in Impro ving Reading Comprehension of English Majors

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田晓

2015-01-01

The importance of grammar knowledge has al-ways been neglected in reading comprehension. To help English teachers and learners see the value of grammar analysis, this pa-per, therefore, explores the correlation between grammar and reading comprehension. Forty-four freshmen of English majors were involved in the experiment, completing two tests of grammar and reading comprehension respectively, and it was followed by a personal interview for some exceptional cases after a week. The result of data analysis shows that grammar analysis accompanying with vocabulary, emotion, as well as other factors produce an ef-fect on learners’reading comprehension to a certain degree. It is suggested that language teachers as well as learners therefore should attach importance to learning grammatical knowledge.

Strategies to improve the reading skill in the English language learning

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Leticia Mercedes Cedeño Macías

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Reading is one of communicative skills, so it is one of the topics all English learners have to study, it is a receptive skill and it is not using to be very popular among language students because they think it is passive, monotonous and even boring, and all these characteristics are against the extrovert and dynamic nature of youth who live in this century. But, is reading really a passive activity? The objective of this essay is to demonstrate that reading is a participative activity where students can interact in pairs or groups improving the communication through certain active and participative strategies like mind map, debates, drills and panels throughout an effective teacher’s planning. The methodology used for this study will be the bibliographic over the analysis of English teaching experts’ books and their experience.

Reading Strategies in a L2: A Study on Machine Translation

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Karnal, Adriana Riess; Pereira, Vera Vanmacher

2015-01-01

This article aims at understanding cognitive strategies which are involved in reading academic texts in English as a L2/FL. Specifically, we focus on reading comprehension when a text is read either using Google translator or not. From this perspective we must consider the reading process in its complexity not only as a decoding process. We follow…

Early Reading Strategies in Irish and English: Evidence from Error Types

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Parsons, Christine E.; Lyddy, Fiona

2009-01-01

For the majority of people in Ireland, Irish is a second language acquired primarily through the schooling system. This study examined the reading strategies children used in response to English and Irish words (presented in isolation), through an analysis of their oral reading errors. Children in their 4th year of schooling attending…

Reading L2 Russian: The Challenges of the Russian-English Dictionary

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Comer, William J.

2014-01-01

This descriptive study examines when and how students use Russian-English dictionaries while reading informational texts in Russian and what success they have with word lookup. The study uses introspective verbal protocols (i.e., think-alouds) to follow how readers construct meaning from two texts while reading them for a limited time first…

CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT READING COMPREHENSION IN THE SUBJECT ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES / CONSIDERACIONES SOBRE LA COMPRENSIÓN LECTORA EN LA ASIGNATURA INGLÉS CON FINES GENERALES

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Graciela Feliciana Mayo Castro; Yanelis Karina Ávila Pavón

2013-01-01

Reading comprehension is one of the general abilities of English language in the teaching-learning process. This skill constitutes a cultural and a work device, and it is the basis that helps to acquire of a great amount of knowledge. This methodological suggestion facilitates the development of reading comprehension due to that it is a system of exercises which are organized in a hierarchical way that leads the students to better decode the message expressed in a text. Reading comprehension ...

Diagnosing University Students' Academic Writing in English: Is Cognitive Diagnostic Modelling the Way Forward?

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Xie, Qin

2017-01-01

The study utilised a fine-grained diagnostic checklist to assess first-year undergraduates in Hong Kong and evaluated its validity and usefulness for diagnosing academic writing in English. Ten English language instructors marked 472 academic essays with the checklist. They also agreed on a Q-matrix, which specified the relationships among the…

The Role of Perceived Teacher's Support and Motivational Orientation in Prediction of Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies in Learning English

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Zohreh Kazemi

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This study aims to determine the role of perceived teacher support and motivational orientation in predicting metacognitive awareness of reading strategies in learning the English language. The sample included 425 male and female students, studying in the elementary schools in the city of Birjand, eastern Iran, in the 2014-2015 academic year. Three different types of questionnaires were distributed among these students. The questionnaires were, respectively, about the students’ perception of teacher support (Zaki, 2007, motivational orientation for English learning (Sheikholeslami, 2005, and metacognitive awareness of the study methods (Mokhtari & Richard, 2002. Multiple regression analysis was applied to analyze the obtained data. It was found that there was a direct and significant correlation between teacher support variable, and intrinsic motivation, overall reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, reading support strategies, and metacognitive awareness. Additionally, there was an inverse and significant correlation with the non-motivation variable. Furthermore, no significant correlation was observed between the teacher support variable and the extrinsic motivation variable. A direct and significant relationship was, however, spotted between intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation, overall reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, reading support strategies,and metacognitive awareness; and an inverse and significant relationship was noticed between the intrinsic motivation and non-motivation variables. Moreover, there existed a direct and significant relationship between extrinsic motivation, and overall reading strategies, problem-solving strategies, reading support strategies, metacognitive awareness and it had an inverse and significant relationship with non-motivation variable. The findings demonstrated that the components of perceived teacher support and motivational orientation (extrinsic motivation, intrinsic

METHODOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF TEACHING FUTURE ECONOMISTS TO READ ENGLISH TEXTS RELATED TO PROFESSIONAL AREA

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Ліліана Білогорка

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The role of reading competence in the structure of English professionally oriented communicative competence has been analysed; types of economics texts which should be used in teaching future economists – scientific economics texts, texts of professional economics activity, educational economics texts, texts of non-professional economics activity have been defined; the necessity of using not only authentic, but also semi-authentic and adapted texts in teaching future economists to read English texts related to professional area has been grounded; bachelor’s level requirements for students’ knowledge and skills in skimming, scanning reading and reading for detail have been defined; direct (cognitive and compensatory and indirect (metacognitive, affective and social learning strategies to enhance the quality of text reading have been specified in the article.

The impact of an academic reading programme in the Bachelor of Education (intermediate and senior phase degree

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Candice Livingston

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Research regarding the academic reading load experienced by first year students at universities in South Africa indicated that students are woefully under-prepared to deal with this load as they have limited reading experiences and strategies. This led to the implementation of an academic reading programme at a university of technology. In order to measure the impact of this academic reading programme, a sequential explanatory mixed-method model was designed to determine if the reading programme had led to any significant gains in reading speed and reading comprehension. The results of the empirical study indicated that the academic reading programme improved reading speed whilst maintaining comprehension.

MODELLING OF THE PROCESS OF TEACHING READING ENGLISH LANGUAGE PERIODICALS

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Тетяна Глушко

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The article reveals a scientifically substantiated process of teaching reading English language periodicals in all its components, which are consistently developed, and form of interconnection of the structural elements in the process of teaching reading. This process is presented as a few interconnected and interdetermined models: 1 the models of the process of acquiring standard and expressive lexical knowledge; 2 the models of the process of formation of skills to use such vocabulary; 3 the models of the development of skills to read texts of the different linguistic levels.

Literacy in Social Studies: The Influence of Cognitive and Motivational Practices on the Reading Comprehension of English Learners and Non-English Learners

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Taboada Barber, Ana; Buehl, Michelle M.; Beck, Jori S.; Ramirez, Erin M.; Gallagher, Melissa; Richey Nuland, Leila N.; Archer, Casey J.

2018-01-01

We examined the impact of cognitive and motivation practices within a social studies literacy intervention (United States History for Engaged Reading [USHER]) on Grade 6 English learners' (ELs) and non-ELs' history reading comprehension, cognitive strategy use, reading self-efficacy, and reading engagement. We used a switching replications…

Incorporating Vocabulary Instruction in Individual Reading Fluency Interventions with English Language Learners

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Johnston, Lauren E.; Mercer, Sterett H.; Geres-Smith, Rhonda

2018-01-01

The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine whether incorporating vocabulary instruction in individual reading fluency interventions for English Language Learners (ELLs) would improve reading comprehension. Two vocabulary instructional procedures were contrasted with a fluency-building only condition in an alternating-treatments design…

Reading books with young deaf children: strategies for mediating between American Sign Language and English.

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Berke, Michele

2013-01-01

Research on shared reading has shown positive results on children's literacy development in general and for deaf children specifically; however, reading techniques might differ between these two populations. Families with deaf children, especially those with deaf parents, often capitalize on their children's visual attributes rather than primarily auditory cues. These techniques are believed to provide a foundation for their deaf children's literacy skills. This study examined 10 deaf mother/deaf child dyads with children between 3 and 5 years of age. Dyads were videotaped in their homes on at least two occasions reading books that were provided by the researcher. Descriptive analysis showed specifically how deaf mothers mediate between the two languages, American Sign Language (ASL) and English, while reading. These techniques can be replicated and taught to all parents of deaf children so that they can engage in more effective shared reading activities. Research has shown that shared reading, or the interaction of a parent and child with a book, is an effective way to promote language and literacy, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, and metalinguistic awareness (Snow, 1983), making it critical for educators to promote shared reading activities at home between parent and child. Not all parents read to their children in the same way. For example, parents of deaf children may present the information in the book differently due to the fact that signed languages are visual rather than spoken. In this vein, we can learn more about what specific connections deaf parents make to the English print. Exploring strategies deaf mothers may use to link the English print through the use of ASL will provide educators with additional tools when working with all parents of deaf children. This article will include a review of the literature on the benefits of shared reading activities for all children, the relationship between ASL and English skill development, and the techniques

THE RELEVANCE OF LEARNING APPLIED ENGLISH FOR ACADEMICS TO FOSTER PROFESSIONALISM

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Lubna Algadrie

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Academics who are not competent in communication skills, particularly language skills, will develop less compared to those who are. Communication skills in general and language skills in particular will foster professionalism since professionals will spend less time doing and more time managing as experience grows. Professionalism grows from qualities that can be learned and developed as well as information learned and acquired. Negotiating skills will enable them to win deals more readily. Moreover, internet based realms of communications are mostly English speaking creations, which vary in terms of level of formality and choice of words. In this paper the writer shares her experience in materials preparations and a classroom-centered research done on a group of academics of non-English majors who came to ITS Language Centre to improve their English language competence for career development and further studies.

On using verbs appropriately in academic English writing

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Khrabrova Valentina Evgenievna

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article is concerned with English action verbs as key elements of academic English writing. Due to cognitive and semantic characteristics, verbs in the predicate function, by contrast with deverbative suffixal nouns and adjectives as parts of nominal predicates, convey the meaning of written message more concisely. The article is provided with verb classifications aimed at systematizing the information about verbs and developing a conscious approach to choosing verbs in the writing process. Syntactic transformation, limitation of passive voice forms, substitution of action verbs for stative verbs, adjectives and nouns entail perfecting the second language student writing skills.

Using Young Adult Literature To Promote Recreational Reading in a Senior Basic English Class.

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Burden, Mitzi K.

Students in a senior (grade 12) basic English class were not motivated to read books unless required to do so by their teacher; they did little or no reading for pleasure. To increase recreational reading and instill a love of reading in the 17 subjects, a practicum, in the form of a reading program lasting about 2 months, developed strategies…

Deaf persons' english reading levels and associations with epidemiological, educational, and cultural factors.

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Zazove, Philip; Meador, Helen E; Reed, Barbara D; Gorenflo, Daniel W

2013-01-01

One hundred six Michigan d/Deaf persons, part of a study evaluating how to improve d/Deaf persons' understanding of cancer prevention recommendations, had reading levels determined using the Test of Reading Comprehension, Syntactic Sentences. Respondents averaged 52 years old, 59% female, 84% Caucasian, 58% married, and 75% Deaf community members. The mean Test of Reading Comprehension, Syntactic Sentences score was 6.1 (women: 6.2, men: 6.0). Higher scores were associated with greater income (p = .02), employment (p = .01), education (high school p = .002, some college p home, teacher in school, at home now: all p speaking with and satisfaction with physicians and nurses (p Language with physicians and nurses (.019) and Deaf community membership (p = .02). In multivariate analysis, higher scores were associated with higher income, college degree, and teacher using English. Reading levels of a predominantly Deaf population were low. Higher income, college degree, and teacher using English were associated with higher reading levels.

Global Trends and Research Aims for English Academic Oral Presentations: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities for Learning Technology

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Barrett, Neil E.; Liu, Gi-Zen

2016-01-01

English has become the de facto language for communication in academia in many parts of the world, but English language learners often lack the language resources to make effective oral academic presentations. However, English for academic purposes (EAP) research is beginning to provide valuable insights into this emerging field. This literature…

Investigating Vocabulary and Reading Strategies with Middle Grades English Language Learners: A Research Synthesis

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Cisco, Brooke Kandel; Padron, Yolanda

2012-01-01

Recent data indicate that many adolescent English language learners (ELLs) comprehend English texts at only a limited literal level. The purpose of this research synthesis was to systematically identify and describe the research related to the English reading comprehension of middle grades ELLs while also making practical connections to…

Challenges teachers encounter in teaching English reading to the ...

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This study is a descriptive survey designed to investigate challenges teachers encounter in teaching English reading in the uThungulu District schools in the province of KwaZulu Natal. This study comprised ... Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24, resulting in descriptive data.

Effects of a Computer-Assisted Concept Mapping Learning Strategy on EFL College Students' English Reading Comprehension

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Liu, Pei-Lin; Chen, Chiu-Jung; Chang, Yu-Ju

2010-01-01

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of a computer-assisted concept mapping learning strategy on EFL college learners' English reading comprehension. The research questions were: (1) what was the influence of the computer-assisted concept mapping learning strategy on different learners' English reading comprehension? (2) did…

Examining the Simple View of Reading among Subgroups of Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

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Grimm, Ryan Ponce

2015-01-01

The Simple View of Reading (SVR; Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover & Gough, 1990) has a longstanding history as a model of reading comprehension, but it has mostly been applied to native English speakers. The SVR posits reading comprehension is a function of the interaction between word-level reading skills and oral language skills. It has been…

The Relationship of Korean Students' Age and Years of English-as-a-Foreign-Language Exposure with English-Reading Ability: A Cross-Age Study

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Fitzgerald, Jill; Stenner, A. Jackson; Sanford-Moore, Eleanor E.; Koons, Heather; Bowen, Kimberly; Kim, Kee Hyung

2015-01-01

The purpose of the present cross-age study with South Korean students was to investigate the relationship of age and years of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) exposure with English-reading ability. The main research question was, "Do individuals' age and number of years of English exposure interact in relation to English-reading…

Deflating the "Confucian Heritage Culture" Thesis in Intercultural and Academic English Education

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O'Dwyer, Shaun

2017-01-01

This paper develops an interdisciplinary critical perspective on the concept of "Confucian Heritage Cultures" (CHC), used in intercultural and English language teaching theory to explain the supposed culturally distinct learning habits, expectations and schemas many Asian students bring to academic classrooms in English-speaking…

Exploring Metacognitive Online Reading Strategies of Non-Native English-Speaking Translation Students

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Zarrabi, Shayesteh

2016-01-01

International students, a growing population in US universities, need to possess excellent reading skills in order to succeed. American universities also benefit from admitting students who do not require remedial English classes. Reading online has become an integrated part of college education, which requires students to have additional skills.…

Reading Right: Korean Translation Manual. English for Special Purposes Series: Nursing Aide.

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Park, Yong-Ok

This Korean translation manual for nursing aides is designed to improve reading skills of U.S. immigrants. After short readings in Korean and English translations of vocabulary/phrases, comprehension, grammar, and language usage exercises are presented. Topical areas include: food, the hospital staff, body language, cleanliness in the hospital,…

Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English

African Journals Online (AJOL)

R.B. Ruthven

gogy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cowie, A.P. 1998. Phraseology: Theory, Analysis, Applications. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. Cowie, A.P. 1999. English Dictionaries for Foreign Learners. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. Read, J. and M. Ambrose, M. 1998. Towards a Multilingual Dictionary of Academic Words.

On the Relationship between the IELTS Listening and Listening in Academic English Programs

OpenAIRE

Masood Khalili Sabet; Hamid Reza Babaei

2017-01-01

The challenge for many teachers teaching in academic English programs is, on the one hand, to actualize the objectives of their course and on the other hand, prepare their students for the important international tests such as IELTS and TOEFLE. The current study seeks to reconcile this challenge by drawing on the relationship between the IELTS listening and listening in academic English programs. The requirements of the two domains were compared through a semi – structured interview with five...

An analysis of Pitch Patterns of English Adjective + Noun Pharases in Model Reading and Some Educational Implications

OpenAIRE

Iwai, Mie; Yamada, Jun

2009-01-01

A basic English accent rule for a noun phrase consisting of an adjective and a noun is that the head,o r noun,is accented unless the adjective is contrastively focused in the context. A question of interest for Japanese learners of English is to what extent this basic principle is observed in model reading to which the learners may be exposed in their English classrooms. This study measured F0 values of adjectives and nouns in noun phrases which appeared in model English reading on commercial...

EFL Academic writing. What should Dutch business communication students learn?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meurs, Frank van; Hendriks, B.C.; Planken, B.C.; Barasa, S.N.; Groot, E.B. de; Nederstigt, U.; Arnhem, M. van; Smakman, D.

2016-01-01

Many Dutch university students are expected to read and write academic research papers in English. In this article, we discuss a number of areas of EFL academic writing that are relevant for first-year Dutch business communication students. These students need to become familiar with quantitative

Inhibition or compensation? A multidimensional comparison of reading processes in Dutch and English

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Stevenson, M; Schoonen, R; de Glopper, Cornelis

2003-01-01

This article examines 2 hypotheses about processing of global text content in second language reading: the inhibition hypothesis and the compensation hypothesis. A 3-dimensional classification scheme is used to compare 22 Dutch high school students' reading strategies in Dutch and English. Results

Pedagogical Model for Explicit Teaching of Reading Comprehension to English Language Learners

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Al Tiyb Al Khaiyali

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Reading comprehension instruction is considered one of the major challenges that most English language teachers and students encounter. Therefore, providing a systematic, explicit, and flexible model to teaching reading comprehension strategies could help resolve some of these challenges and increase the possibility of teaching reading comprehension, particularly in language learners’ classrooms. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to provide a model to teach reading comprehension strategies in language learning classrooms. The proposed instructional model is divided into three systematic phases through which strategies are taught before reading, during reading, and after reading. Each phase is explained and elaborated using recommended models for teachers. Finally, suggested considerations to consolidate this model are provided.

Gender effects on phonological processing and reading development in Northern Sotho children learning to read in English: A case study of Grade 3 learners

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Carien Wilsenach

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Gender differences in reading development are a global phenomenon, with girls typically performing better than boys. Some studies have reported gender differences favouring girls in reading comprehension in South Africa, but little systematic evidence exists about gender differences in the cognitive-linguistic abilities that underlie reading development. This study investigated the effect of gender on phonological processing and reading development in Northern Sotho–English bilingual children. Grade 3 learners who received their literacy instruction in English were tested on various phonological processing and reading measures. Phonological awareness was assessed using phoneme isolation and elision tasks. Phonological working memory was assessed using memory for digits and non-word repetition tests while rapid automatised naming was tested using rapid letter, rapid digit, rapid object and rapid colour naming tasks. Reading achievement was assessed with various word reading tasks and with a fluent reading task. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that gender had a significant effect on the phonological processing and reading abilities of Northern Sotho– English bilingual children. Girls performed significantly better than boys on all the reading measures, as well as on some aspects of phonological processing. The findings provide behavioural evidence in support of biological theories of gender differences, in that girls seemed to have developed some of the cognitive-linguistic skills associated with reading before boys. The girls also coped better with tasks that required increased cognitive processing. This study suggests that sex differences in reading development cannot be ignored in South Africa and need to be addressed in future curriculum development.

Can Ambiguity Tolerance, Success in Reading, and Gender Predict the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety?

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Genç, Gülten

2016-01-01

The present study focuses on the relationship between reading anxiety and ambiguity tolerance of 295 Turkish EFL learners of English (180 females, 115 males). Data were collected using the Turkish version of FLRAS and SLTAS in 2015-2016 academic year. The overall design of the study was based on the quantitative research method. Data were…

Effective Reading in a Foreign Language: An Experimental Reading Course in English for Overseas Students.

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Hill, J. K.

1981-01-01

Describes experimental program at the Language Center of the University of Kent at Canterbury in which Belgian university students participated in a course designed to increase their English reading speed. Purpose of course was to decrease tendency to concentrate on every word. Results suggest the participating students made significant progress.…

Gender as predictor of academic achievement in English among ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examined the influence of gender on academic achievement in English Language among senior secondary school students in Calabar metropolis, Cross River State. The researchers adopted survey designfor the study. The study sample comprise 660 Senior Secondary School two (SSS II) students drawn from ...

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SKIMMING TECHNIQUE TOWARDS STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

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Syaifudin Latif Darmawan

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The study is to find out whether skimming technique enhance students’ reading comprehension at English Department of Muhammadiyah University of Metro, Academic Year 2015/2016. This research is conducted at English Study Program of Muhammadiyah University of Metro. The population of the research is the students of English department, while the sample of the research is the students at fourth semester of English department Muhammadiyah University of Metro. To determine the sample, the researcher employs purposive technique sampling. Then, To collect the data, the researcher used documentation, Observation, Interview and questionnaire. Furthermore, to analyze the data, the researcher apply some steps: (1 data reduction, (2 data display and (3 data conclusion. The result of research indicates that the skimming technique has significant contribution to students’ reading comprehension at fourth semester of English Study Program, Muhammadiyah University of Metro.

Teaching English-Spanish Cognates Using the Texas 2x2 Picture Book Reading Lists

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Montelongo, José A.; Hernández, Anita C.; Herter, Roberta J.

2015-01-01

English-Spanish cognates are words that possess identical or nearly identical spellings and meanings in both English and Spanish as a result of being derived mainly from Latin and Greek. Of major importance is the fact that many of the more than 20,000 cognates in English are academic vocabulary words, terms essential for comprehending school…

The Development and Validation of the "Academic Spoken English Strategies Survey (ASESS)" for Non-Native English Speaking Graduate Students

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Schroeder, Rui M.

2016-01-01

This study reports on the three-year development and validation of a new assessment tool--the Academic Spoken English Strategies Survey (ASESS). The questionnaire is the first of its kind to assess the listening and speaking strategy use of non-native English speaking (NNES) graduate students. A combination of sources was used to develop the…

A cognitive perspective on Singaporean primary school pupils' use of reading strategies in learning to read in English.

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Zhang, Lawrence Jun; Gu, Peter Yongqi; Hu, Guangwei

2008-06-01

This study is conducted in Singapore, where learning to read in English is regarded as essential because it is offered as a First Language (L1) subject in the curriculum and is stipulated as the medium of instruction in the education system, and the mother tongues are offered as Second Language (L2) subjects, although the majority still learn English as an L2. The paper reports on the reading strategies used by Singaporean primary school pupils from a cognitive perspective, which is part of a larger study that aims to investigate these pupils' language learning strategies. The participants were 18 pupils from three neighbourhood primary schools, in grades Primary 4, 5 and 6. The data were collected from high- and low-proficiency pupils at each of the three grades in each school, who read two texts at each level. Grounded in an information-processing theory and based on successful experiences of scholars using think-aloud for data collection, we asked the pupils to read and report what they were thinking about while reading. The think-aloud protocols were recorded, transcribed verbatim, coded and analysed. The results suggest that participants' flexible and appropriate use of reading strategies varies according to language proficiency and grade level, with the high-proficiency group outperforming its lower-proficiency counterpart and the high-graders outnumbering the lower-graders in terms of the number of strategies that they used. These differences were also exemplified with qualitative findings from case studies. The use of reading strategies differs according to proficiency levels, and the quality of pupils' strategy-use patterns has more significant implications for understanding efficient reading among primary school pupils.

Academic language and the challenge of reading for learning about science.

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Snow, Catherine E

2010-04-23

A major challenge to students learning science is the academic language in which science is written. Academic language is designed to be concise, precise, and authoritative. To achieve these goals, it uses sophisticated words and complex grammatical constructions that can disrupt reading comprehension and block learning. Students need help in learning academic vocabulary and how to process academic language if they are to become independent learners of science.

Teaching Adolescent ELs to Write Academic-Style Persuasive Essays

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Ramos, Kathleen

2014-01-01

The wide adoption of the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the U.S. has increased expectations for all teachers to prepare all learners to read and write in academic ways. More knowledge is needed about instructional approaches that may lead adolescent English learners (ELs) to meet this goal. Developing academic literacy practices…

Voices of Chinese Post-­80s Students in English Academic Writing

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Que, Hua; Li, Xuemei

2015-01-01

This study looks into the changing voice of Chinese Post-80s' students in English academic writing. Data were collected qualitatively through interviews with four Chinese Post-80s overseas graduate students and through an examination of their English essays with a focus on discursive features. Findings indicate that Chinese Post-80s' voice is…

Barriers to acquiring English reading and writing skills by Zulu ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article reflects on an investigation into the barriers that hinder Zulu-speaking. English second language (L2) learners in the Foundation Phase from acquiring reading and writing skills. These barriers are categorised as contextual, language, school and intrinsic learner factors. A questionnaire based on these categories ...

Reading Right: A Text for Reading, Volume 1. English for Special Purposes Series: Nursing Aide.

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Hubbard, Katherine E.

This is the first of four volumes devoted to reading instruction, in a series of materials for teaching English as a second language to adult nursing aide students. The two units included deal principally with survival skills. The first unit is an introduction to Mahimahi Island, the imaginary quasi-Hawaiian locale used throughout the series. The…

Cats, Comics, and Knausgård: Promoting Student Reading at a U.K. Academic Library with a Leisure Reading Collection

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Hurst, Susan; Marsh, Dominic; Brown, Dean; Forbes, Shona

2017-01-01

This case study describes the creation of a leisure reading collection in the Clifford Whitworth library at the University of Salford. It briefly surveys existing literature on leisure reading collections and looks at the growing interest among U.K. academic libraries in recreational reading. It considers the reasons for promoting reading as a…

Inhibition or compensation? A multi-dimensional comparison of reading processes in Dutch and English

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stevenson, M.; Schoonen, R.; de Glopper, K.

2003-01-01

This article examines 2 hypotheses about processing of global text content in second language reading: the inhibition hypothesis and the compensation hypothesis. A 3-dimensional classification scheme is used to compare 22 Dutch high school students’ reading strategies in Dutch and English. Results

The Importance of SES, Home and School Language and Literacy Practices, and Oral Vocabulary in Bilingual Children's English Reading Development

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Howard, Elizabeth R.; Páez, Mariela M.; August, Diane L.; Barr, Christopher D.; Kenyon, Dorry; Malabonga, Valerie

2014-01-01

This study explores the role that socioeconomic status (SES), home and school language and literacy practices, and oral vocabulary play in the development of English reading skills in Latino English language learners (ELLs) and how these factors contribute differentially to English reading outcomes for children of different ages and in different…

Writing System Modulates the Association between Sensitivity to Acoustic Cues in Music and Reading Ability: Evidence from Chinese–English Bilingual Children

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Juan Zhang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Music and language share many attributes and a large body of evidence shows that sensitivity to acoustic cues in music is positively related to language development and even subsequent reading acquisition. However, such association was mainly found in alphabetic languages. What remains unclear is whether sensitivity to acoustic cues in music is associated with reading in Chinese, a morphosyllabic language. The present study aimed to answer this question by measuring music (i.e., musical metric perception and pitch discrimination, language (i.e., phonological awareness, lexical tone sensitivity, and reading abilities (i.e., word recognition among 54 third-grade Chinese–English bilingual children. After controlling for age and non-verbal intelligence, we found that both musical metric perception and pitch discrimination accounted for unique variance of Chinese phonological awareness while pitch discrimination rather than musical metric perception predicted Chinese lexical tone sensitivity. More importantly, neither musical metric perception nor pitch discrimination was associated with Chinese reading. As for English, musical metric perception and pitch discrimination were correlated with both English phonological awareness and English reading. Furthermore, sensitivity to acoustic cues in music was associated with English reading through the mediation of English phonological awareness. The current findings indicate that the association between sensitivity to acoustic cues in music and reading may be modulated by writing systems. In Chinese, the mapping between orthography and phonology is not as transparent as in alphabetic languages such as English. Thus, this opaque mapping may alter the auditory perceptual sensitivity in music to Chinese reading.

English as Second Language: Students' Awareness of Learning Strategies Used in Reading Comprehension

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Hussain, Irshad; Javed, Muhammad; Munshi, Parveen

2015-01-01

This study investigated the reading strategies used by adult learners' to read materials in English language for their studies. The population of the study consisted of students of Universiti Sains Malaysia. A sample of 80 (40 Postgraduates and 40 Undergraduates) TESOL students enrolled in the University were selected randomly. The data were…

Impacts of the Problem-Based Learning Pedagogy on English Learners' Reading Comprehension, Strategy Use, and Active Learning Attitudes

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Lin, Lu-Fang

2017-01-01

This study investigated whether an English reading course integrated with the problem-based learning approach could foster foreign language learners' reading comprehension ability, strategy use, and their active learning attitudes. The pedagogy was featured with the small group scaffolding. Two intact English classes in a Taiwanese university were…

The English proficiency and academic language skills of Australian bilingual children during the primary school years.

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Dennaoui, Kamelia; Nicholls, Ruth Jane; O'Connor, Meredith; Tarasuik, Joanne; Kvalsvig, Amanda; Goldfeld, Sharon

2016-04-01

Evidence suggests that early proficiency in the language of school instruction is an important predictor of academic success for bilingual children. This study investigated whether English-proficiency at 4-5 years of age predicts academic language and literacy skills among Australian bilingual children at 10-11 years of age, as part of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children ( LSAC, 2012 ). The LSAC comprises a nationally representative clustered cross-sequential sample of Australian children. Data were analysed from a sub-sample of 129 bilingual children from the LSAC Kindergarten cohort (n = 4983), for whom teachers completed the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) checklist (a population measure of early childhood development) and the Academic Rating Scale (ARS) language and literacy subscale. Linear regression analyses revealed that bilingual children who commenced school with stronger English proficiency had higher academic language and literacy scores at the end of primary school (β = 0.45). English proficiency remained a significant predictor, even when accounting for gender and socio-economic disadvantage (β = 0.38). The findings indicate that bilingual children who begin school without English proficiency are at risk of difficulties with academic language and literacy, even after 6 years of schooling. Risk factors need to be identified so early support can be targeted towards the most vulnerable children.

[Acquiring Science English: A Plan and System Are Needed].

Science.gov (United States)

Foong, Foo Wah

2018-01-01

　Literary English is different from science English (SE) and pharmaceutical science English (PSE). Therefore, a totally new approach was adopted for students to learn PSE at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University (KPU). In 2012, a 4-year program for teaching PSE was proposed, and a stepwise-stepup tertiary science English education (SSTSEE) system was introduced at KPU. The system provides a novel form of PSE teaching that stretches from year 1 to 4, where the PSE level progresses to higher levels of learning with each passing academic year. With the launch of the SSTSEE system, relevant science-educated staff were provided with training and were also requested to study the syllabi of the respective academic years to write textbooks with the appropriate PSE content for their respective levels. From 2012 to 2015, textbooks and curricula for 4 year academic levels were developed and published to meet the needs for PSE learning at each academic level. Based on results of the SSTSEE system, year 1 students acquired the SE basics, and year 2 students applied the SE basics acquired. In years 3 and 4, students further pursued and developed their PSE ability. Additionally, students participated actively in developing skills in the reading, listening, writing, and speaking of SE/PSE. Active-plus-deep learning prompted students in developing those skills using illustrations, posters, and power-point slideshow presentations. By year 4, average achievers had established an independent level of competency in reading, listening, speaking, and writing PSE. Moreover, the SSTSEE system accommodated students timely in developing communication skills for practical fieldwork (clerkships) at pharmacies/hospitals in year 5 and for their future endeavors.

The Relation between Elementary Students' Recreational and Academic Reading Motivation, Reading Frequency, Engagement, and Comprehension: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

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De Naeghel, Jessie; Van Keer, Hilde; Vansteenkiste, Maarten; Rosseel, Yves

2012-01-01

Research indicates the need to further examine the dimensions of reading motivation. A clear theoretical basis is necessary for conceptualizing reading motivation and considering contextual differences therein. The present study develops and validates the SRQ-Reading Motivation, a questionnaire measuring recreational and academic reading…

A Corpus-based Study of English Vocabulary in Art Research Articles

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Ping Wang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The learning of English as a foreign language is an additional burden for art majors. This study aimed to examine high frequency words in art research articles to improve the efficiency of art majors’ English learning, especially their academic reading and writing. For this aim, the study built a corpus, analyzed data from art research articles and compared data with three base word lists. We found that the General Service List (GSL and the Academic Word List (AWL had a high coverage in our corpus, and there was a different high frequency word order in the Art Research Article Corpus (ARAC. These findings provide some implications for teaching English for art majors.

Reading Ability as a Predictor of Academic Procrastination among African American Graduate Students

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Collins, Kathleen M. T.; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J.; Jiao, Qun G.

2008-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between reading ability (i.e., reading comprehension and reading vocabulary) and academic procrastination among 120 African American graduate students. A canonical correlation analysis revealed statistically significant and practically significant multivariate relationships between these two reading…

Reading strategies used by Grade 9 English Second Language learners in a selected school

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Madoda Cekiso

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Knowledge of the reading strategies used by English Second Language learners can help teachers to plan appropriate lessons and apply relevant methods of teaching reading in order to enhance learners’ reading comprehension. The main objective of this study was to investigate the reading strategies used by Grade 9 English Second Language (ESL learners and also to establish if there was any significant difference between perceived strategy use and gender. The respondents (192 were all ESL learners in Grade 9 in 2011 in a selected school. The study employed a quantitative research method. The study used convenience sampling on a group of 192 Grade 9 learners. The data collected through questionnaires was analysed by means of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS software. The findings revealed that the learners did not employ a wide range of reading strategies. The results further indicated that there was no significant difference between boys and girls in terms of strategy use. Based on the above findings several suggestions were made to help teachers improve their teaching and help learners improve their reading comprehension and also about possible areas for future research.

Writing and Reading Knowledge of Spanish/English Second-Generation Bilinguals

Science.gov (United States)

Ardila, Alfredo; Garcia, Krystal; Garcia, Melissa; Mejia, Joselyn; Vado, Grace

2017-01-01

Written bilingualism represents a particular type of bilingualism that is not frequently approached. The aim of this study was to investigate the writing and reading abilities of second-generation immigrants, Spanish-English bilinguals in South Florida. 58 participants (36 females, 22 males; 18-39 years of age) were selected. Both parents were…

Applicability of the Compensatory Encoding Model in Foreign Language Reading: An Investigation with Chinese College English Language Learners.

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Han, Feifei

2017-01-01

While some first language (L1) reading models suggest that inefficient word recognition and small working memory tend to inhibit higher-level comprehension processes; the Compensatory Encoding Model maintains that slow word recognition and small working memory do not normally hinder reading comprehension, as readers are able to operate metacognitive strategies to compensate for inefficient word recognition and working memory limitation as long as readers process a reading task without time constraint. Although empirical evidence is accumulated for support of the Compensatory Encoding Model in L1 reading, there is lack of research for testing of the Compensatory Encoding Model in foreign language (FL) reading. This research empirically tested the Compensatory Encoding Model in English reading among Chinese college English language learners (ELLs). Two studies were conducted. Study one focused on testing whether reading condition varying time affects the relationship between word recognition, working memory, and reading comprehension. Students were tested on a computerized English word recognition test, a computerized Operation Span task, and reading comprehension in time constraint and non-time constraint reading. The correlation and regression analyses showed that the strength of association was much stronger between word recognition, working memory, and reading comprehension in time constraint than that in non-time constraint reading condition. Study two examined whether FL readers were able to operate metacognitive reading strategies as a compensatory way of reading comprehension for inefficient word recognition and working memory limitation in non-time constraint reading. The participants were tested on the same computerized English word recognition test and Operation Span test. They were required to think aloud while reading and to complete the comprehension questions. The think-aloud protocols were coded for concurrent use of reading strategies, classified

Promoting reading skills or wasting time? Students’ perceived benefits of reading in an intermediary programme at the Vaal University of Technology

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Linda Scott

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Notwithstanding the substantial transformation of education in South Africa in the last 20 years, specifically to redress the past inequalities, the challenges are ongoing. These challenges include tertiary institutions having to accommodate a culturally and linguistically diverse group of students, often second-language (L2 English speakers, in an English lingua franca classroom. This study investigated the reading attitudes and habits of students in an intermediary programme of a tertiary institution and any perceived changes to these attitudes or habits, as well as their perceptions of the promotion of reading by the programme. On successful completion of the intermediary programme, students register for the compulsory first-year English distance learning course and are required to complete a placement test. Results for students who attended the intermediary programme were compared with those of students who did not attend the intermediary programme but registered directly for mainstream. The teaching of reading appeared invaluable at the tertiary level with the indication that students’ attitudes and behaviour changed and that they inter alia realised the academic value thereof, made decisions to take up reading as a hobby and discovered new genres. Keywords: Reading; Linguistically diverse

ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES OF ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION MEDIATED BY TECHNOLOGIES TO IMPROVE COLLEGE STUDENT’S ACHIEVEMENT.

OpenAIRE

Ochoa-Vásquez, Miguel A.; Ramírez-Montoya, María S.

2016-01-01

Improving reading comprehension skills is fundamental to those students willing to enroll in undergraduate studies. This sequential-explanatory mixed methods research design attempted to measure the impact that English reading comprehension assessment had on 96 college students’ school performance, after receiving a 15-hour instruction on reading evaluating techniques in technological-enriched environments. The data was collected through reading comprehension pre/post-tests and a semi-structu...

Impact of a Web-Based Reading Program on Sixth-Grade English Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Rosena

2010-01-01

This applied dissertation was developed to determine (a) the impact that Achieve3000, a web-based reading program, had on the reading-comprehension skills of English language learners (ELLs) and (b) the perceptions of students and their teacher on the technology program used at the study school as it relates to the remediation of the reading…

Elementary Students' Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary Through Engineering Design

Science.gov (United States)

Kugelmass, Rachel

This study examines how STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) inquiry-based learning through a hands-on engineering design can be beneficial in helping students acquire academic vocabulary. This research took place in a second grade dual- language classroom in a public, suburban elementary school. English language learners, students who speak Spanish at home, and native English speakers were evaluated in this study. Each day, students were presented with a general academic vocabulary focus word during an engineering design challenge. Vocabulary pre-tests and post-tests as well as observation field notes were used to evaluate the student's growth in reading and defining the focus academic vocabulary words. A quiz and KSB (knowledge and skill builder) packet were used to evaluate students' knowledge of science and math content and engineering design. The results of this study indicate that engineering design is an effective means for teaching academic vocabulary to students with varying levels of English proficiency.

Auditory Processing, Linguistic Prosody Awareness, and Word Reading in Mandarin-Speaking Children Learning English

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Chung, Wei-Lun; Jarmulowicz, Linda; Bidelman, Gavin M.

2017-01-01

This study examined language-specific links among auditory processing, linguistic prosody awareness, and Mandarin (L1) and English (L2) word reading in 61 Mandarin-speaking, English-learning children. Three auditory discrimination abilities were measured: pitch contour, pitch interval, and rise time (rate of intensity change at tone onset).…

Just reading: increasing pace and volume of reading whole narratives on the comprehension of poorer adolescent readers in English classrooms

OpenAIRE

Westbrook, Jo; Sutherland, Julia; Oakhill, Jane; Sullivan, Susan

2018-01-01

Poorer adolescent readers are often regarded by teachers as unable to read whole narratives and given short, simplified texts, yet are expected to analyse every part in a slow laborious read through. This article reports on a mixed methods study in which 20 English teachers in the South of England changed their current practice to read two whole challenging novels at a faster pace than usual in 12 weeks with their average and poorer readers ages 12-13. Ten teachers received additional trainin...

The Effectiveness of Dialogic Reading in Increasing English Language Learning Preschool Children's Expressive Language

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Brannon, Diana; Dauksas, Linda

2014-01-01

The effectiveness of dialogic reading in increasing the literacy interactions between English language learning parents (ELL) and their preschool aged children and children's expressive language development were studied. Twenty-one ELL parents of preschool aged children received dialogic reading training every other week for a ten-week period.…

Components and context: exploring sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native English speakers in urban schools.

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Kieffer, Michael J; Vukovic, Rose K

2012-01-01

Drawing on the cognitive and ecological domains within the componential model of reading, this longitudinal study explores heterogeneity in the sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Students (N = 150) were followed from first through third grade and assessed annually on standardized English language and reading measures. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relative contributions of code-related and linguistic comprehension skills in first and second grade to third grade reading comprehension. Linguistic comprehension and the interaction between linguistic comprehension and code-related skills each explained substantial variation in reading comprehension. Among students with low reading comprehension, more than 80% demonstrated weaknesses in linguistic comprehension alone, whereas approximately 15% demonstrated weaknesses in both linguistic comprehension and code-related skills. Results were remarkably similar for the language minority learners and native English speakers, suggesting the importance of their shared socioeconomic backgrounds and schooling contexts.

A Learning Log Analysis of an English-Reading e-Book System Combined with a Guidance Mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Ting-Ting

2016-01-01

Learning English by reading articles on multimedia e-book devices can assist students in improving their vocabulary and in understanding the associations among vocabulary, textual meaning, and paragraph composition. Adaptive integration of reading technologies and strategies not only strengthens their language ability and reading comprehension,…

The Predictor Factor of Reading Comprehension Performance in English as a Foreign Language: Breadth or Depth

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Shima Kameli

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The present study explored the association among vocabulary breadth/size, depth/quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. The main intention of this research was to  explore the association of vocabulary knowledge depth/quality and reading comprehension performance. This study was also intended to find out which aspects of vocabulary knowledge, breadth/size or depth/quality, has more significant association with determining EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance. The Vocabulary Level Test (VLT, Word Associates Test (WAT, and Reading Comprehension test (IELTS have been administered among all the respondents. The participants were 220 adult male and female EFL learners who were learning English in advanced level in BAHAR institute, Shiraz, Iran. The findings revealed that 1 test  scores on vocabulary size/ breadth, depth/ quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension were  positively correlated, 2 vocabulary size/ breadth was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than depth/ Quality of vocabulary knowledge.

FOSTERING AWARENESS OF COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES IN TWO FOREIGN LANGUAGES (ENGLISH AND ARABIC

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Seyed Hassan Talebi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This study attempted to find out the impact of Cognitive and Metacognitive Reading Strategy Instruction (CMRSI in L2 (English in increasing the awareness and use of these reading strategies not only in L2 in which the CMRSI was given but also in L3 (Arabic in which no CMRSI was given as a result of transfer of reading strategies from L2 to L3. It also aimed to find out which strategy items were most and least improved both in L2 and L3 as a result of CMRSI in L2. Fifty five fourth-grade high school male students majoring in math-physics took part in this study. As the reading process is believed to be the same across languages (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2004, the participants were put into two groups of low and high awareness of reading strategies in L1 (Persian. Then, they were given reading comprehension tests in L2 and L3 as triggers for the main instrument (i.e., cognitive and metacognitive reading strategy questionnaire in English and Arabic. After this pretest stage, the two groups underwent the CMRSI. The same pretest instruments were also given to the students as posttest. It was found that there was a significant difference in the awareness and use of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies from pretest to posttest in English and Arabic for students of low and high strategic reading competence level. However, this improvement was not necessarily the same for different strategy items. It is important to teach reading strategies in L2 as it will have effect on increasing awareness of strategies both in L2 and in L3 as a result of transfer of reading strategies from one language to another. However, as not all strategy items show the same improvement from pretest to posttest, more attention should be paid to the item by item analysis of strategies after CMRSI to maximize students’ awareness of all strategy items equally.

Quality Assurance in the National Tests of English: Investigating What Makes Reading Difficult

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Angela Hasselgreen

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This article presents a piece of research, conducted in order to validate the claims made in test results, concerning what it means – in terms of reading ability – to be placed at a particular mastery level. It will consider the question of what makes reading tasks difficult, and whether data from the National Tests of English (NTE supports the progression of subskills/reading operations as presented in the mastery level descriptors, which are the basis of test results

Efficient reading in standardized tests for EFL learners : a case study of reading strategies used by Chinese English major students in TEM-4

OpenAIRE

Xia, Yan

2011-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the reading strategies used by Chinese English major students in the reading component in standardized national tests of TEM-4 with regard to reading efficiency. The research questions include: 1) what strategies are used by the students in TEM-4 test context; 2) whether there is a significant correlation between strategy use and efficient reading in the test; 3) what kinds of reading problems are revealed in the students’ use of processing strategies; ...

Gender effects on phonological processing and reading development in Northern Sotho children learning to read in English: A case study of Grade 3 learners

OpenAIRE

Carien Wilsenach; Patricia Makaure

2018-01-01

Gender differences in reading development are a global phenomenon, with girls typically performing better than boys. Some studies have reported gender differences favouring girls in reading comprehension in South Africa, but little systematic evidence exists about gender differences in the cognitive-linguistic abilities that underlie reading development. This study investigated the effect of gender on phonological processing and reading development in Northern Sotho–English bilingual children...

Reading Comprehension and Translation Performance of English Linguistics Students of Hung Vuong University: A Correlational Study

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Cuc Thi Kim Pham

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The study aimed to correlate the reading comprehension and translation performance of English linguistic students, then inform some pedagogical implications for the teaching of reading comprehension in translation classes in order to enhance the translation quality performed by the students. To this end, 45 junior students of English linguistics specialization of Hung Vuong University, including 5 males and 40 females, aged from 20 to 22, were subject to a TOEFL reading comprehension test and a translation performance test (ATA guidelines, 2011. Data were analyzed using the Pearson Correlation, SPSS version 20.0. The coefficient correlation of students’ reading comprehension and their translation performance was noted 0.721 at the significant level of 0.01. It was found that the Reading comprehension was closely related to translation performance. Along the reading comprehension question types, translation performance was affected by the ability to determine gist and main ideas of the text, identify the vocabulary, infer the implied meanings and identify the writer’s style and attitudes. The results were discussed, and implications for teaching reading comprehension to enhance translation performance were presented.

An investigation of using the computer for reading and writing in the English classroom in secondary schools in the UK

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Bin Zou

2006-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an investigation of using the computer in English teaching at the secondary school in the UK, particularly in respect of reading and writing skills. Many studies suggest that the computer brings significant possibilities for promoting the teaching of reading and writing in the English classroom. The computer can enhance the development of reading and writing. This study adopted interviews as research technique and some student teachers in a university and some English teachers in a secondary school in the UK involved this investigation. The findings of this study show that the computer can enhance students’ reading and writing. However, teachers have to learn how to control the process of teaching of reading and writing with the use of the computer.

Auditing Subject English: A Review of Text Selection Practices Inspired by the National Year of Reading

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Davies, Larissa McLean

2012-01-01

The year 2012 is significant for English teachers in Australia, not only is it the National Year of Reading, but it is also the year when an increasing number of English teachers across the country are implementing the "Australian Curriculum: English," the first national curriculum in the history of the nation. This paper addresses the…

Promoting Intercultural Understanding among School Students through an English Language Based Reading Programme

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Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Malaysian intercultural society is typified by three major ethnic groups mainly Malays, Chinese and Indians.  Although education system is the best tool for these three major ethnic groups to work together, contemporary research reveals that there is still lack of intercultural embedding education context and national schools are seen as breeding grounds of racial polarisation.  In Malaysian context, there is a gap in research that focuses on the design of a proper intercultural reading framework for national integration and such initiatives are viable through schools.  The main objective of this conceptual paper is to introduce the English Language Intercultural Reading Programme (ELIRP in secondary schools to promote intercultural understanding among secondary school students.  The proposed framework will facilitate the acquisition of intercultural inputs without being constrained by ideological, political, or psychological demands.  This article will focus on elucidating how ELIRP could affect cognitive (knowledge and behavioural transformations to intercultural perceptions harboured by selected Form 4 students of 20 national schools in Malaysia. Keywords: behavior, knowledge, intercultural reading framework, intercultural understanding, English Language Intercultural Reading Programme, secondary school students

Using Primary Language Support via Computer to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills of First-Grade English Language Learners

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Rodriguez, Cathi Draper; Filler, John; Higgins, Kyle

2012-01-01

Through this exploratory study the authors investigated the effects of primary language support delivered via computer on the English reading comprehension skills of English language learners. Participants were 28 First-grade students identified as Limited English Proficient. The primary language of all participants was Spanish. Students were…

Morphing into Adolescents: Active Word Learning for English-Language Learners and Their Classmates in Middle School

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Kieffer, Michael J.; Lesaux, Nonie K.

2010-01-01

Many students arrive at middle school without the academic language skills they need to read sophisticated texts with comprehension. In particular, English language learners and students from low-income backgrounds attending underresourced, urban middle schools lack opportunities to learn the thousands of academic words they need to succeed. To…

Linguistic, reading, and transcription influences on kindergarten writing in children with English as a second language

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Gina L. Harrison, Keira C. Ogle & Megan Keilty

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The contribution of linguistic, reading, and transcription processes to writing in kindergarten English as a second language (ESL children and their native-English speaking peers (EL1 were examined. ESL and EL1 performed similarly on one of the two measures of phonological awareness (PA and on measures of early reading, spelling, and writing. EL1 outperformed ESL on a pseudoword repetition task and on the English vocabulary and syntactic knowledge tasks. ESL outperformed EL1 on a writing fluency measure. Correlation and hierarchical regression results varied as a function of the writing tasks (procedural or generative and language status. Across language groups, writing tasks that captured children's developing graphophonemic knowledge were associated with a breadth of cognitive, linguistic, and early literacy skills. PA, reading, and transcription skills, but not oral vocabulary and syntactic knowledge contributed the most variance to writing irrespective of language status. The results suggest that parallel component skills and processes underlie ESL and EL1 children's early writing when formal literacy instruction begins in kindergarten even though ESL children are developing English oral and literacy proficiency simultaneously.

Empirical study of the effects of discourse markers on the reading comprehension of Spanish students of English as a foreign language

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Ana Cristina Lahuerta Martínez

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to analyse how Spanish readers react to English discourse markers in a text. We carry out an empirical study in which we ask three research question: (a if there is any relationship between presence of discourse markers or absence of discourse markers and reading comprehension in English as a foreign language, (b if there is any relationship between the readers’ proficiency in English and the effect of the presence or absence of discourse markers on reading comprehension and, (c if there is any relationship between the readers’ age, sex, competence as learners and as learners of English, and the effect of the presence or absence of discourse markers on reading comprehension. The results obtained show that discourse markers enhance reading comprehension in foreign language reading, and that the more successful students tend to use discourse markers as aids to help their reading comprehension. This latter result is nevertheless limited by the possible effect of the readers’ familiarity with the topic of the text and points to a need for further investigation.

Impact of English Proficiency on Academic Performance of International Students

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Martirosyan, Nara M.; Hwang, Eunjin; Wanjohi, Reubenson

2015-01-01

Using an ex-post facto, non-experimental approach, this research examined the impact of English language proficiency and multilingualism on the academic performance of international students enrolled in a four-year university located in north central Louisiana in the United States. Data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire from 59…

English Language, Linguistics and Literature. : Selected Readings of Classical Writings for Linguistic Theory, Literature History, and Applications of the English Language.

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Haase, Fee

2009-01-01

This collection contains selected readings of Ccassical writings for linguistic theory, literature history, and applications of the English language in documents from the early beginnings to the 20th century.

Reading Strategies to Support Home-to-School Connections Used by Teachers of English Language Learners

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Mendoza, Socorro

2016-01-01

This particularistic qualitative case study design examined reading strategies, approaches, and resources teachers of ELL (English Language Learner) students in kindergarten through third grade use to support reading development and promote the home to school connection regarding literacy proficiency. The purpose of this study was to examine…

Reading and Writing as Academic Literacy in EAP Program of Indonesian Leaners

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Solikhah, Imroatus

2015-01-01

This study investigates academic literacy imposed in reading and writing for academic purposes in the EAP program. This study uses descriptive design elaborating data from curriculum documents and interviews. Involving 45 participants from IAIN Surakarta and Veteran University, data were analyzed using constant-comparison and inductive analysis…

English Language Learners' Strategies for Reading Computer-Based Texts at Home and in School

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Park, Ho-Ryong; Kim, Deoksoon

2016-01-01

This study investigated four elementary-level English language learners' (ELLs') use of strategies for reading computer-based texts at home and in school. The ELLs in this study were in the fourth and fifth grades in a public elementary school. We identify the ELLs' strategies for reading computer-based texts in home and school environments. We…

Promoting Listening Reading Comprehension for Nonverbal English Language Learners Who Have a Severe Intellectual Delay

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Kemper, Talya

2012-01-01

This study used an alternating treatment design to examine the use of a listening reading comprehension intervention package. This package was implemented in English as well as bilingually (on alternating days). This package was applied to four participants who were English Language Learners, were diagnosed with a severe intellectual delay, and…

A Bourdieuian Analysis: Teachers' Beliefs about English Language Learners' Academic Challenges

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Shim, Jenna Min

2014-01-01

Using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of "habitus," this work analyzes five teachers' beliefs about English language learners' academic challenges. In reference to reproductive and inventive qualities of "habitus," this article argues that teachers' beliefs that are linked to their socio-cultural backgrounds can delimit or enhance…

Effective Teaching Strategies for Predicting Reading Growth in English Language Learners

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Melgarejo, Melina

2017-01-01

The goal of the present study was to examine how effective use of teaching strategies predict reading growth among a sample of English Language Learners. The study specifically examined whether the types of teaching strategies that predict growth in decoding skills also predict growth in comprehension skills. The sample consisted of students in…

English language proficiency and academic performance: A study of a medical preparatory year program in Saudi Arabia.

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Kaliyadan, Feroze; Thalamkandathil, Nazer; Parupalli, Srinivas Rao; Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Balaha, Magdy Hassan; Al Bu Ali, Waleed Hamad

2015-01-01

All medical schools in Saudi Arabia have English as the primary official medium of instruction. Most of the high school education, however, is delivered in Arabic and hence the transition to an English based learning environment tends to be difficult for some students. Our study aims to correlate English language proficiency with academic performance among medical students in their preparatory year. A cross-sectional study design was used. Test scores of 103 preparatory year students (54 female and 49 male) were analyzed after the students completed an English language course and medical introductory course in their preparatory year. The total score obtained in the English course assessment was compared to each component of the medical content assessment. A significantly positive correlation (Spearman's Rho, at 0.01 levels) was seen between the scores of the English exam and the written exam (P English exam score was not obtained for the other components of the medical assessment, namely; student assignments, presentations and portfolios. English language proficiency is an important factor in determining academic proficiency of medical students in our college at the preparatory year level.

The Relationship between English Language Proficiency, Academic Achievement and Self-Esteem of Non-Native-English-Speaking Students

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Dev, Smitha; Qiqieh, Sura

2016-01-01

The present study aims to find out the relationship between English Language proficiency, self-esteem, and academic achievement of the students in Abu Dhabi University (ADU). The variables were analyzed using "t" test, chi-squire and Pearson's product moment correlation. In addition, Self-rating scale, Self-esteem inventory and Language…

It is presented initially: linear dislocation & inter-language strategies in Brazilian Academic abstracts in english and portuguese It is presented initially: linear dislocation & inter-language strategies in Brazilian Academic abstracts in english and portuguese

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Tim Johns

2008-04-01

Full Text Available In Brazil, as in the rest of the world, the academic community is under pressure to publish in English so that research findings can enter the mainstream of international debate as rapidly and effectively as possible. For the same reason, it is the editorial policy of most Brazilian academic journals that all papers, whether published in Portuguese or English, should be accompanied by abstracts in both languages. If the inclusion of English abstracts is not to become a meaningless ritual, it is a matter of some importance to evaluate how well the writers of such abstracts succeed in communicating the substance of their work to their peers outside Brazil, and also to examine the linguistic features that may facilitate or interfere with that communication. Although preliminary work has been undertaken by the author on both these questions, the present paper addresses the second only, with special reference to a problem at the intersection of syntax and discourse. In Brazil, as in the rest of the world, the academic community is under pressure to publish in English so that research findings can enter the mainstream of international debate as rapidly and effectively as possible. For the same reason, it is the editorial policy of most Brazilian academic journals that all papers, whether published in Portuguese or English, should be accompanied by abstracts in both languages. If the inclusion of English abstracts is not to become a meaningless ritual, it is a matter of some importance to evaluate how well the writers of such abstracts succeed in communicating the substance of their work to their peers outside Brazil, and also to examine the linguistic features that may facilitate or interfere with that communication. Although preliminary work has been undertaken by the author on both these questions, the present paper addresses the second only, with special reference to a problem at the intersection of syntax and discourse.

English Learners: Reaching the Highest Level of English Literacy.

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Garcia, Gilbert C., Ed.

This collection of papers examines the critical literacy development of English learners, focusing on English reading instruction in an immersion setting, English language development, and cultural issues pertaining to English learners in and out of the classroom. The 16 papers include the following: (1) "Reading and the Bilingual Student: Fact…

How to Be Engaging: Recreational Reading and Readers' Advisory in the Academic Library

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Nicholson, Heather

2012-01-01

While recreational reading material was once an integral part of the academic library collection and librarians were seen as guides in reading development for students, this has not been the case in the last 50 years. Fiscal constraints have forced library professionals to make choices so that leisure reading material has not been viewed as a high…

Predicting First Grade Reading Achievement for Spanish-Speaking Kindergartners: Is Early Literacy Screening in English Valid?

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Ford, Karen L.; Invernizzi, Marcia A.; Huang, Francis

2014-01-01

This study explored the viability of using kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and orthographic knowledge, administered in English, to predict first grade reading achievement of Spanish-speaking English language learners. The primary research question was: Do kindergarten measures of early literacy skills in…

Challenges in Academic Reading and Overcoming Strategies in Taught Master Programmes: A Case Study of International Graduate Students in Malaysia

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Singh, Manjet Kaur Mehar

2014-01-01

This article focuses on research into academic reading practices of international graduate students in taught Master programmes in a Malaysian university. The purpose of the study was to examine the challenges faced in the academic reading practices as well as the strategies employed to overcome the challenges in the academic reading practices.…

Reading in the Australian Curriculum English: Describing the Effects of Structure and Organisation on Multimodal Texts

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Exley, Beryl; Cottrell, Amber

2012-01-01

The recently introduced "Australian Curriculum: English" (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2012) requires students to "read" multimodal text and describe the effects of structure and organisation. We begin this article by tracing the variable understandings of what reading multimodal text might…

Action video games improve reading abilities and visual-to-auditory attentional shifting in English-speaking children with dyslexia.

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Franceschini, Sandro; Trevisan, Piergiorgio; Ronconi, Luca; Bertoni, Sara; Colmar, Susan; Double, Kit; Facoetti, Andrea; Gori, Simone

2017-07-19

Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties in learning to read and there is some evidence that action video games (AVG), without any direct phonological or orthographic stimulation, improve reading efficiency in Italian children with dyslexia. However, the cognitive mechanism underlying this improvement and the extent to which the benefits of AVG training would generalize to deep English orthography, remain two critical questions. During reading acquisition, children have to integrate written letters with speech sounds, rapidly shifting their attention from visual to auditory modality. In our study, we tested reading skills and phonological working memory, visuo-spatial attention, auditory, visual and audio-visual stimuli localization, and cross-sensory attentional shifting in two matched groups of English-speaking children with dyslexia before and after they played AVG or non-action video games. The speed of words recognition and phonological decoding increased after playing AVG, but not non-action video games. Furthermore, focused visuo-spatial attention and visual-to-auditory attentional shifting also improved only after AVG training. This unconventional reading remediation program also increased phonological short-term memory and phoneme blending skills. Our report shows that an enhancement of visuo-spatial attention and phonological working memory, and an acceleration of visual-to-auditory attentional shifting can directly translate into better reading in English-speaking children with dyslexia.

IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY THROUGH SQ3R STRATEGY

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Sabarun Sabarun

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The study is aimed at improving the students’ reading comprehension ability in reading English class using SQ3R strategy, which refers to a reading technique covering a five step system developed by Francis P Robinson. Each of the steps stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. The study employed Classroom Action Research design. The subjects of the study were four of third semester students of the English Department of Palangka Raya State Islamic College of 2009/ 2010 academic year. The study was carried out in two cycles by following the four steps of action research: planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting. Each cycle consisted of one meeting focusing pre-reading, whilst reading and post reading. The data of the study are taken from the results of observation checklists, field notes, and the students’ reading score. The result of the study showed that SQ3R strategy could improve the students’ reading comprehension ability. It could be seen from the improvement of the students’ reading scores. The students were actively involved in reading class and they were highly motivated to attend the SQ3R reading class. Keywords: improving, SQ3R strategy, reading comprehension ability

The Career Perceptions of Academic Staff and Human Resource Discourses in English Higher Education

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Strike, Tony; Taylor, John

2009-01-01

This paper sets out findings from research that considered the interplay between English national policy developments in human resources management in higher education and the personal stories of academic staff as career participants. Academic careers are pursued in an institutional and national policy context but it was not clear that the formal…

The Effect of Interest in Reading on Mastery of English Vocabulary with Fifth Grade Elementary Students

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Herlina Herlina

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research is to find out whether there was a positive relationship between students’ interest in reading and their mastery of English vocabulary for fifth grade elementary school students at the lab school in Jakarta. This research used a quantitative method applying a co-relational approach. The population for this research was fifth grade elementary school students from three lab schools. A simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 60 students as respondents from these schools: Lab school Rawamangun in East Jakarta, Lab school Setia Budi in South Jakarta and Lab school Kebayoran also in South Jakarta. Data was collected using a questionnaire with 30 questions requiring answers on a Likert scale and 32 test items were given to each respondent. The conclusion from this research is that there was a positive and significant relationship between interest in reading and mastery of English vocabulary amongst the sample fifth grade elementary school students from these lab schools in Jakarta. Hence, students who had high interest in reading, their mastery of English vocabulary also increased.

Effects of Adapted Dialogic Reading on Oral Language and Vocabulary Knowledge of Latino Preschoolers at Risk for English Language Delays

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Correa, Vivian I.; Lo, Ya-Yu; Godfrey-Hurrell, Kristi; Swart, Katie; Baker, Doris Luft

2015-01-01

In this single-case design study, we examined the effects of an adapted dialogic reading intervention on the oral language and vocabulary skills of four Latino preschool children who were at risk for English language delays. We used adapted dialogic reading strategies in English and two literacy games that included a rapid naming activity and…

The Effect of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP on Reading Comprehension in English for Specific Purposes Courses

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Fahimeh Farahani

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP has potential to help language learners; however, it has received scant attention. The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of NLP techniques on reading comprehension of English as a Foreign Language (EFL learners at an English for Specific Purposes (ESP course. To achieve this goal, two intact classes of students were selected to form an experimental group (n=30 and a control group (n=30. A reading pretest (based on the course content was given to all participants. The sensory learning styles of the participants were diagnosed using Reid's (1987 leaning style questionnaire, and the participants in the experimental group were familiarized with NLP techniques to be able to implement these techniques in their reading. In the control group, the conventional approach to teach ESP reading was used. Considering the analysis of posttest results through ANCOVA, it was found that implementation of NLP techniques can have significant effect on reading comprehension of Iranian undergraduate EFL learners. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Why "How" Matters: Exploring How Preservice English Teachers Experience Reading "For Pleasure" and "With an Eye toward Teaching" and How They Conceptualize Teaching Literature

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Pet, Susan Ringler

2012-01-01

This qualitative study investigated preservice English teachers' experiences reading young adult literature and explored how they conceptualized the teaching of literature. The investigation took place in a graduate-level secondary English education methods course, wherein preservice English teachers read and studied methods of teaching young…

The Effect of Critical Thinking Skills on Reading English Novels

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Ashraf Haji Maibodi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This experimental study examined the effect of critical thinking skills on reading English novels and its influence on EFL learners reading proficiency. For the purpose of this study participants in addition to their text book read and received instructions on the unabridged short novels for one semester. Sixty Iranian EFL junior undergraduates participated in this study and were randomly divided to two groups of thirty each. To test the hypothesis, two independent t-tests were conducted to see the difference between the two groups. The results of the study showed that students in group A were more critically oriented than their counterparts in group B. The pedagogical implication of this study suggests that direct instruction in critical thinking has an impact on EFL learners’ reading proficiency. This article is intended to help teachers who are interested in developing and encouraging critical thinking in their language classrooms. EFL learners need to learn how to establish realistic goals, monitor their own learning and reflect and challenge their own attitudes so that they may get closer to the idea of being good language learners. The findings of this study revealed that there was a significant improvement in students’ attitudes, confidence, and interest especially, in their novel-reading ability.

The Effect of a Simplified English Language Dictionary on a Reading Test. LEP Projects Report 1.

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Albus, Deb; Bielinski, John; Thurlow, Martha; Liu, Kristin

This study was conducted to examine whether using a monolingual, simplified English dictionary as an accommodation on a reading test with limited-English-proficient (LEP) Hmong students improved test performance. Hmong students were chosen because they are often not literate in their first language. For these students, bilingual dictionaries are…

Direct and Indirect Roles of Morphological Awareness in the English Reading Comprehension of Native English, Spanish, Filipino, and Vietnamese Speakers

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Kieffer, Michael J.; Lesaux, Nonie K.

2012-01-01

This study tested three hypotheses about the direct and indirect contributions of derivational morphological awareness to English reading comprehension in sixth-grade students from differing language backgrounds (n= 952). Students included Spanish-speaking, Filipino-speaking, and Vietnamese-speaking language minority learners as well as native…

Reading and writing academic practices in the phonoaudiology program at the University of Cauca

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Pilar Mirely Chois-Lenis

2010-09-01

Full Text Available This article presents some results of an investigation aimed to characterize the academic literacy practices that are developed in the Phonoaudiology program at the University of Cauca. In this descriptive study, a sample of 24 students was taken from those in the last semester of the first academic period of 2009, who answered a survey of 26 multiple choice questions. The results indicate that the academic moment for which the students write and read the most is for the courses, who develop these practices primarily to be assessed and predominantly read and write their own lecture notes and the materials prepared by their faculty, to the detriment of scientific articles or papers for publication. It is expected, from these results, to generate reflexion processes and actions that qualify the practices of academic literacy within the program for the benefit of academic and professional performance of their students and graduates.

The Effect of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) on Reading Comprehension in English for Specific Purposes Courses

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Farahani, Fahimeh

2018-01-01

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has potential to help language learners; however, it has received scant attention. The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of NLP techniques on reading comprehension of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. To achieve this goal, two…

Parents' Perspectives on Hmong Students' Academic Challenges in Reading and Math

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Lee, Kenneth Kong

2014-01-01

The purpose of this survey study was to investigate the relationship between Hmong students' academic achievements and Hmong parental involvement, home environment, and acculturation adjustment as measured by the Math and English Language Arts sections of the California Standard Test in the United States from parents' perspective regarding student…

The Relation between English Learning Students' Levels of Self-Regulation and Metacognitive Skills and Their English Academic Achievements

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Adigüzel, Abdullah; Orhan, Ali

2017-01-01

It is remarkable that there are only a few studies that measures to what extent metacognitive and self-regulation skills affect students' academic achievements in the English lesson. This study is important for identifying the personal variables that have an impact on metacognitive and self-regulation skill and determining the relationship between…

Trait Emotional Intelligence and Learning Styles: The Case of Iranian English for Academic Purposes Learners

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Aliakbari, Mohammad; Abol-Nejadian, Rezvan

2015-01-01

Although a large body of research has been dedicated to examining emotional intelligence (EI) and learning styles in relation to different factors in academic setting, the relationship between these two variables still necessitates more exploration and deeper study, especially in the Iranian context. To this end, 60 English for Academic Purposes…

Effects of a phonological awareness program on English reading and spelling among Hong Kong Chinese ESL children.

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Yeung, Susanna S S; Siegel, Linda S; Chan, Carol K K

2013-05-01

This study investigated the effects of a 12-week language-enriched phonological awareness instruction on 76 Hong Kong young children who were learning English as a second language. The children were assigned randomly to receive the instruction on phonological awareness skills embedded in vocabulary learning activities or comparison instruction which consisted of vocabulary learning and writing tasks but no direct instruction in phonological awareness skills. They were tested on receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness at the syllable, rhyme and phoneme levels, reading, and spelling in English before and after the program implementation. The results indicated that children who received the phonological awareness instruction performed significantly better than the comparison group on English word reading, spelling, phonological awareness at all levels and expressive vocabulary on the posttest when age, general intelligence and the pretest scores were controlled statistically. The findings suggest that phonological awareness instruction embedded in vocabulary learning activities might be beneficial to kindergarteners learning English as a second language.

Considering the needs of English language learner populations: an examination of the population validity of reading intervention research.

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Moore, Brooke A; Klingner, Janette K

2014-01-01

This article synthesizes reading intervention research studies intended for use with struggling or at-risk students to determine which studies adequately address population validity, particularly in regard to the diverse reading needs of English language learners. An extensive search of the professional literature between 2001 and 2010 yielded a total of 67 reading intervention studies targeting at-risk elementary students. Findings revealed that many current research studies fail to adequately describe the sample, including the accessible and target populations, and to disaggregate their findings based on demographic characteristics. When population validity issues are not addressed, researchers cannot generalize findings to other populations of students, and it becomes unclear what intervention strategies work, especially with English language learner student populations. However, 25 studies did specifically recognize and address the needs of English language learners, indicating more researchers are taking into consideration the diverse needs of other struggling student populations. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2012.

Phonological skills as predictor of reading success: An investigation of emergent bilingual Northern Sotho/English learners

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Wilsenach, Carien

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The relationship between phonological skills and reading has not been studied extensively in the African languages spoken in South Africa. This study focuses on phonological skills and reading in emergent bilingual Northern Sotho/English learners. Fifty Grade 3 learners (all native speakers of Northern Sotho were tested on non-word repetition skills, syllable awareness, phonological working memory and reading. The learners fell into two groups: group 1 attended a school where English was the medium of instruction from the first grade, while group 2 attended a school where literacy instruction took place in Northern Sotho for the first three years of schooling. The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between phonological skills and reading in Northern Sotho. Furthermore, group 2 performed significantly better on all of the phonological measures (with the exception of phonological working memory and reading measures. The findings suggest that a complete lack of mother tongue instruction can influence phonological and literacy development negatively. The study also suggests that the absence of mother tongue literacy instruction causes stagnation in the development of phonological processing skills in the mother tongue.

The Relationship between Receptive and Expressive Subskills of Academic L2 Proficiency in Nonnative Speakers of English: A Multigroup Approach

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Pae, Hye K.; Greenberg, Daphne

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between receptive and expressive language skills characterized by the performance of nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English in the academic context. Test scores of 585 adult NNSs were selected from Form 2 of the Pearson Test of English Academic's field-test database. A correlated…

Replication Research in Comparative Genre Analysis in English for Academic Purposes

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Basturkmen, Helen

2014-01-01

In recent years a number of comparative studies based on an established approach to genre analysis have been published in the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) literature. Studies in this emerging strand of research typically aim to identify how the rhetorical structure of a particular genre (a text type) or part of a genre may vary across…

Knowledge foundations for beginning reading teachers in EFL.

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Goldfus, Carol

2012-10-01

This study examined the knowledge that teachers need in order to become successful early reading teachers in English as a foreign language. The findings showed that in-service teachers had better content knowledge than pre-service teachers, although the results indicated overall low performance and insufficiently developed concepts about the structure of language, spelling rules, and academic terminology in both groups.

Acquiring reading and vocabulary in Dutch and English: the effect of concurrent instruction

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van der Leij, A.; Bekebrede, J.; Kotterink, M.

2010-01-01

To investigate the effect of concurrent instruction in Dutch and English on reading acquisition in both languages, 23 pupils were selected from a school with bilingual education, and 23 from a school with education in Dutch only. The pupils had a Dutch majority language background and were

Examining oral reading fluency among Grade 5 rural English Second Language (ESL learners in South Africa? An analysis of NEEDU 2013

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Kim Draper

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The ability to read for meaning and pleasure is arguably the most important skill children learn in primary school. One integral component of learning to read is Oral Reading Fluency (ORF, defined as the ability to read text quickly, accurately, and with meaningful expression. Although widely acknowledged in the literature as important, to date there have been no large-scale studies on ORF in English in South Africa, despite this being the language of learning and teaching for 80% of ESL students from Grade 4 onwards. We analyze data provided by the National Education and Evaluation Development Unit (NEEDU of South Africa, which tested 4667 Grade 5 English Second Language (ESL students from 214 schools across rural areas in South Africa in 2013. This included ORF and comprehension measures for a subset of 1772 students. We find that 41% of the sample were non-readers in English (<40 Words Correct Per Minute, WCPM and only 6% achieved comprehension scores above 60%. By calibrating comprehension levels and WCPM rates we develop tentative benchmarks and argue that a range of 90-100 WCPM in English is acceptable for Grade 5 ESL students in South Africa. In addition we outline policy priorities for remedying the reading crisis in the country.

READING BASED-CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES: AN EFFORT TOWARD THE INTEGRATION OF LANGUAGE SKILLS IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN INDONESIA

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Hadi Hadi

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: This paper proposes the implementation of reading-based classroom activities for teaching English as a foreign language in Indonesia. Compared to other language skills, reading is viewed to provide a relatively stable foundation for Indonesian students to develop their communicative competence in English. It is argued that reading-focused activities stimulate confidence for Indonesian learners to get involved in listening, speaking, and writing related-activities in ways that are similar to normal daily life communication. The reasons for the proposed implementation of reading-based classroom activities in TEFLIN and the role of reading and its relation with other language skills are presented.

Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement: A Case Study, English Department Students

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Wiwik Andreani.

2013-01-01

This study examines the comparison between English Department students’ emotional intelligence (EQ), their self-esteem and their academic achievement. Twenty-two students participated in the research by answering EQ test and two Self-Esteem questionnaires. The result shows that there is no relation between students’ GPA and their self-esteem and EQ. This means that academic ability does not correspond to social skills. Though most students have average EQ and self-esteem, one student has High...

CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT READING COMPREHENSION IN THE SUBJECT ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES / CONSIDERACIONES SOBRE LA COMPRENSIÓN LECTORA EN LA ASIGNATURA INGLÉS CON FINES GENERALES

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Graciela Feliciana Mayo Castro

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Reading comprehension is one of the general abilities of English language in the teaching-learning process. This skill constitutes a cultural and a work device, and it is the basis that helps to acquire of a great amount of knowledge. This methodological suggestion facilitates the development of reading comprehension due to that it is a system of exercises which are organized in a hierarchical way that leads the students to better decode the message expressed in a text. Reading comprehension ability makes easier to decode a message not only in English language but in Spanish language as well. LA COMPRENSIÓN LECTORA EN LA ASIGNATURA INGLÉS CON FINES GENERALES AUTORAS: DIRECCIÓN PARA CORRESPONDENCIA: Departamento de Idiomas. Universidad de Las Tunas, Cuba. E-mail graciela@ult.edu.cu Fecha de recepción: 21\t-\t08\t-\t2013 Fecha de aceptación:\t30\t-\t11\t-\t2013 RESUMEN La comprensión lectora es una de las habilidades generales en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del idioma inglés, esta constituye un instrumento de trabajo y de cultura y es la base que facilita el aprendizaje de un gran cúmulo de conocimientos. La presente alternativa metodológica facilita el desarrollo de la habilidad de comprensión lectora pues parte de un sistema de ejercicios jerárquicamente organizados, lo que conllevan al estudiante a una decodificación más acertada del mensaje expresado en los textos. El desarrollo de esta habilidad les permite la decodificación de información tanto en la lengua inglesa como en la lengua materna.

The Prediction of Reading Levels between Second and Third Grade Limited English Proficient Students in a Bilingual Program

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Moses, Britani Creel

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to predict the third grade English reading TAKS scores while considering the same students' native language, Spanish, reading level as assessed by a state-approved reading assessment, the Evaluacion del desarrollo de la lectura (EDL), from the end of the second grade year. In addition, this study was been designed to…

The Relationship between English Language Arts Teachers' Use of Instructional Strategies and Young Adolescents' Reading Motivation, Engagement, and Preference

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Varuzza, Michelle; Sinatra, Richard; Eschenauer, Robert; Blake, Brett Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Conducted at 10 schools in four communities, this study investigated relationships of young adolescents' reading motivation, reading preference, and reading engagement as influenced by their English Language Arts teachers' use of instructional strategies. Students in eight sixth grade (N = 196) and nine seventh grade (N = 218) classes completed a…

HOW TO HELP SERBIAN ACADEMIC RESEARCHERS BECOME QUALIFIED ACADEMIC WRITERS FOR INTERNATIONAL READERSHIP

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Savka Blagojevic

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Academic writing for international readership is almost always done in English, which in turn, may bring about certain difficulties to non- English academics who are not accustomed to English academic writing norms. Therefore, some linguistic researches, conducted in order to find out the differences between the English academic style and those of non-English ones, are aimed at making non-English academics aware of cross-cultural differences in writing styles and help them modify their own writing style to the requirements of the English academic norms. Thus, in order to help Serbian academics publish internationally, we have initiated a small-scale research by comparing academic re search articles written by English and Serbian academics: thirty from humanities (sociology, psychology and philosophy and thirty from hard sciences (chemistry, geology and environmental pollution. The research presented in the paper focuses the two most important discourse areas in academic articles written by English and Serbian writers: 1. Discourse organization, and 2.Th e choice of rhetoric strategies. The obtained results have pr oven that the two groups of writers display different preferences in their writing styles (which will be presented numerically and on the basis of this fact certain suggestions have been offered, concerning the form that Serbian academic articles should have in order to be published for the international discourse community.

Headteachers' Readings of and Responses to Disadvantaged Contexts: Evidence from English Primary Schools

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Lupton, Ruth; Thrupp, Martin

2013-01-01

Existing research demonstrates the impact of context on school organisation and management, curriculum and pedagogy and on student peer relations. New developments in English education policy will devolve more responsibility for dealing with these issues to headteachers. Headteachers' readings of their contexts and the responses that they make are…

The contribution of phonological awareness and receptive and expressive english to the reading ability of deaf students with varying degrees of exposure to accurate english.

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Luetke-Stahlman, Barbara; Nielsen, Diane Corcoran

2003-01-01

This study was planned with the knowledge that the tasks of reading require the same acquisition of skills, whether a child is hearing or deaf, monolingual, or bilingual. Reading and language research literature was reviewed. Subjects were 31 deaf students (7.9-17.9 years of age) who attended one of three U.S. programs. Performance on 15 language and literacy measures was analyzed. Results were that students who scored highest on a passage-comprehension measure also were more able (a) to provide synonyms, antonyms, and analogies of read words and phrases, (b) to read more listed words, and (c) to substitute one phoneme more correctly for another to create new words than were readers with lower scores. Two groups of students also were compared: a Longer Exposure to English Group (n = 22) who used Signing Exact English (SEE) for 5 years or more and a Shorter Exposure Group (n = 8) exposed to SEE for less than 2 years. A correlational analysis revealed that there were no significant relationships among 14 background variables with the exception of "age of identification of hearing loss," a variable then covaried in subsequent analysis of covariance. Students in the Longer Exposure Group scored higher on all measures. Significant differences were found between groups for short-term memory, receptive and expressive English, and five phonological subtests. Mini-case studies and the performance of eight students in the Longer Exposure Group who scored lowest on the comprehension measure also are discussed.

The Importance of Phonological Awareness for the Development of Early English Reading Skills among Bilingual Singaporean Kindergartners

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Dixon, L. Quentin

2010-01-01

To examine the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) and English word-level reading among a multilingual sample, a random sample of 297 Singaporean kindergartners, stratified by ethnicity (169 Chinese, 65 Malay, and 63 Indian), were tested on their PA, receptive vocabulary, and word-level reading skills. Singaporean kindergartners are…

Persian Native Speakers Reading Persian and English Texts: Their Strategic Behavior to Overcome Syntactic and Semantic Problems

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Alimorad, Zahra

2015-01-01

This study aimed to discover semantic and syntactic problems Persian native speakers might have while reading English and Persian texts and different strategies they use to overcome those problems. To this end, a convenient sample of 40 intermediate students studying English Literature at Shiraz University was selected. Twenty of them were asked…

An Exploratory Study of Value-Added and Academic Optimism of Urban Reading Teachers

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Huff-Franklin, Clairie L.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore the correlation between state-recorded value- added (VA) scores and academic optimism (AO) scores, which measure teacher self-efficacy, trust, and academic emphasis. The sample for this study is 87 third through eighth grade Reading teachers, from fifty-five schools, in an urban school district in Ohio who…

Perceptions of scientific research literature and strategies for reading papers depend on academic career stage.

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Hubbard, Katharine E; Dunbar, Sonja D

2017-01-01

Reading primary research literature is an essential skill for all scientists and students on science degree programmes, however little is known about how researchers at different career stages interact with and interpret scientific papers. To explore this, we conducted a survey of 260 undergraduate students and researchers in Biological Sciences at a research intensive UK university. Responses to Likert scale questions demonstrated increases in confidence and skill with reading the literature between individuals at each career stage, including between postdoctoral researchers and faculty academics. The survey indicated that individuals at different career stages valued different sections of scientific papers, and skill in reading the results section develops slowly over the course of an academic career. Inexperienced readers found the methods and results sections of research papers the most difficult to read, and undervalued the importance of the results section and critical interpretation of data. These data highlight a need for structured support with reading scientific literature at multiple career stages, and for senior academics to be aware that junior colleagues may prioritise their reading differently. We propose a model for the development of literature processing skills, and consider the need for training strategies to help inexperienced readers engage with primary literature, and therefore develop important skills that underpin scientific careers. We also encourage researchers to be mindful of language used when writing papers, and to be more inclusive of diverse audiences when disseminating their work.

An investigation of Chinese university EFL learner’s foreign language reading anxiety, reading strategy use and reading comprehension performance

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Zhongshe Lu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The present study explored the interrelations between foreign language (FL reading anxiety, FL reading strategy use and their interactive effect on FL reading comprehension performance at the tertiary level in China. Analyses of the survey data collected from 1702 university students yielded the following results: (a Both Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS and Foreign Language Reading Strategy Use Scale (FLRSUS had important subcomponents, (b more than half of the students generally did not feel anxious when reading English, and were confident in and satisfied with their English reading proficiency. Meanwhile, (c more than half of them moderately used different types of reading strategies such as planning, checking and confirming, predicting and assessing, when reading English, (d compared with their female peers, male students felt significantly more anxious when facing reading activities, less satisfied with their English reading proficiency, and used specific analyzing and planning strategies significantly less often during a reading activity, (e FLRAS was significantly inversely related to FLRSUS, and both were significantly correlated with the students’ FL reading comprehension performance, and (f FLRAS (overall FL reading anxiety, FLRAS1 (general anxiety about FL reading, and FLRSUS2 (predicting strategies were good predictors of FL reading comprehension performance. Based on the findings, some implications are discussed.

The Matters in Teaching Reading Comprehension to EFL Students

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Yuliana Natsir

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to find out the efforts that were being made by certified English teachers in teaching reading since reading is considered as one of the determiners of academic success. Descriptive qualitative research was used in this study; the subjects were two English teachers in Banda Aceh and the instrument was an interview guide. The interview questions were adapted from Fletcher, et al. (2012 that focused on curriculum, teacher preparation, teaching methodology, teaching instructions, authentic teaching materials, teachers’ perceptions toward reading attitudes of learners, barriers in teaching reading, and teaching strategies for helping ineffective readers. The interviews revealed that the efforts made by the teachers played a pivotal role at assisting students to achieve reading competency. The attitude of students toward reading was also important in the teaching-learning process. The strategies of the teachers towards the students who were not reading effectively were not in line with the strategies as suggested by some experts:  that the teacher should teach the students the strategies of how to read with interest, how to predict meanings, how to develop knowledge about the topic and so forth .These strategies were not implemented due to the situation and condition of the teaching environment. In brief, proper efforts by teachers to improve the learning environment could assist students to achieve better reading competency.

African American English-speaking students: an examination of the relationship between dialect shifting and reading outcomes.

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Craig, Holly K; Zhang, Lingling; Hensel, Stephanie L; Quinn, Erin J

2009-08-01

In this study, the authors evaluated the contribution made by dialect shifting to reading achievement test scores of African American English (AAE)-speaking students when controlling for the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), general oral language abilities, and writing skills. Participants were 165 typically developing African American 1st through 5th graders. Half were male and half were female, one third were from low-SES homes, and two-thirds were from middle-SES homes. Dialect shifting away from AAE toward Standard American English (SAE) was determined by comparing AAE production rates during oral and written narratives. Structural equation modeling evaluated the relative contributions of AAE rates, SES, and general oral language and writing skills on standardized reading achievement scores. AAE production rates were inversely related to reading achievement scores and decreased significantly between the oral and written narratives. Lower rates in writing predicted a substantial amount of the variance in reading scores, showing a significant direct effect and a significant indirect effect mediated by measures of oral language comprehension. The findings support a dialect shifting-reading achievement hypothesis, which proposes that AAE-speaking students who learn to use SAE in literacy tasks will outperform their peers who do not make this linguistic adaptation.

Orthographic influences on division of labor in learning to read Chinese and English: Insights from computational modeling

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Yang, Jianfeng; Shu, Hua; McCandliss, Bruce D.; Zevin, Jason D.

2013-01-01

Learning to read any language requires learning to map among print, sound and meaning. Writing systems differ in a number of factors that influence both the ease and rate with which reading skill can be acquired, as well as the eventual division of labor between phonological and semantic processes. Further, developmental reading disability manifests differently across writing systems, and may be related to different deficits in constitutive processes. Here we simulate some aspects of reading acquisition in Chinese and English using the same model architecture for both writing systems. The contribution of semantic and phonological processing to literacy acquisition in the two languages is simulated, including specific effects of phonological and semantic deficits. Further, we demonstrate that similar patterns of performance are observed when the same model is trained on both Chinese and English as an "early bilingual." The results are consistent with the view that reading skill is acquired by the application of statistical learning rules to mappings among print, sound and meaning, and that differences in the typical and disordered acquisition of reading skill between writing systems are driven by differences in the statistical patterns of the writing systems themselves, rather than differences in cognitive architecture of the learner. PMID:24587693

Studies of Braille Reading Rates and Implications for the Unified English Braille Code

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Wetzel, Robin; Knowlton, Marie

2006-01-01

Reading rate data was collected from both print and braille readers in the areas of mathematics and literary braille. Literary braille data was collected for contracted and uncontracted braille text with dropped whole-word contractions and part-word contractions as they would appear in the Unified English Braille Code. No significant differences…

Using Hierarchical Linear Modelling to Examine Factors Predicting English Language Students' Reading Achievement

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Fung, Karen; ElAtia, Samira

2015-01-01

Using Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM), this study aimed to identify factors such as ESL/ELL/EAL status that would predict students' reading performance in an English language arts exam taken across Canada. Using data from the 2007 administration of the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) along with the accompanying surveys for students and…

Strengthening Academic Vocabulary with Word Generation® Helps Sixth-Grade Students Improve Reading Comprehension

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Mokhtari, Kouider; Velten, Justin

2015-01-01

In this quasi-experimental study, we assessed the promise of Word Generation, a research-based academic vocabulary program, on improving the reading achievement outcomes of struggling sixth-grade readers in an after-school small group instructional setting. After 34 hours of academic vocabulary instruction, we compared the performance of a…

Linguistic Interdependence between Spanish Language and English Language and Reading: A Longitudinal Exploration from Second through Fifth Grade

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Proctor, C. Patrick; Harring, Jeffrey R.; Silverman, Rebecca D.

2017-01-01

This study explored effects of Spanish oral language skills (vocabulary and syntax) on the development of English oral language skills (vocabulary, morphology, semantics, syntax) and reading comprehension among 156 bilingual Latino children in second through fifth grade whose first language was Spanish and whose second language was English. Using…

Density and length in the neighborhood: Explaining cross-linguistic differences in learning to read in English and Dutch

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Marinus, E.; Nation, K.; de Jong, P.F.

2015-01-01

Two experiments examined underlying cognitive processes that may explain why it is harder to learn to read in English than in more transparent orthographies such as German and Dutch. Participants were English and Dutch readers from Grades 3 and 4. Experiment 1 probed the transition from serial to

The Relationship between Strategic Reading Instruction, Student Learning of L2-Based Reading Strategies and L2 Reading Achievement

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Akkakoson, Songyut

2013-01-01

This study investigates the relationship between strategic reading instruction, the process of learning second language-based reading strategies and English reading achievement for Thai university students of science and technology. In a course in reading general English texts for 16?weeks, 82 students were taught using a strategies-based approach…

Early Oral Language and Later Reading Development in Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners: Evidence from a Nine-Year Longitudinal Study

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Kieffer, Michael J.

2012-01-01

Using nationally-representative, longitudinal data on a cohort of Spanish-speaking English language learners in the U.S., this study investigated the extent to which early oral language proficiency in Spanish and English predicts later levels and rates of growth in English reading. Latent growth models indicated that both Spanish and English…

Video-games do not negatively impact adolescent academic performance in science, mathematics or reading.

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Drummond, Aaron; Sauer, James D

2014-01-01

Video-gaming is a common pastime among adolescents, particularly adolescent males in industrialized nations. Despite widespread suggestions that video-gaming negatively affects academic achievement, the evidence is inconclusive. We reanalyzed data from over 192,000 students in 22 countries involved in the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to estimate the true effect size of frequency of videogame use on adolescent academic achievement in science, mathematics and reading. Contrary to claims that increased video-gaming can impair academic performance, differences in academic performance were negligible across the relative frequencies of videogame use. Videogame use had little impact on adolescent academic achievement.

An Annotated Bibliography of Research on Reading and Adults Learning English as a Second Language.

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Burt, Miriam, Comp.; Florez, MaryAnn, Comp.; Terrill, Lynda, Comp.; Van Duzer, Carol, Comp.

This annotated bibliography contains 27 references regarding research on reading and adults learning English as a Second Language (ESL). None of the resources are more than 10 years old. (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education) (KFT)

Extensive Reading in the Korean EAP University Context: A Reconsideration of Its Goals

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Grace H. Wang

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Extensive reading for English language learners is commonly promoted as reading for pleasure rather than reading for information. However, Park (2005 observes that the changing trend in the reading habits of the South Korean people over the past decade has been one from reading-for-pleasure to that of reading-for-survival. Globally, people are being met with increasingly difficult economic times and South Korea is no exception. Reading habits are fuelled by need, whether that need may be for pleasure or information. When it comes to the needs of the adult English language learner concerning extensive reading (ER, however, we may sometimes overlook their real needs for practical information in areas of language proficiency and skills development. Rather, in an effort to foster strong reading habits, we may tend to emphasize reading for pleasure through materials that have been written more to entertain than to inform. Korean university students, in particular, are driven by the need to read for information. In this paper, I argue, by reference to Day and Bamford’s (1998 Expectancy-value Model of Motivation for Second Language Reading, that driving university students’ motivation to read extensively in English may be better accomplished by raising both the expectancy and value factors with texts that students are able to read reasonably well, which they also consider very worthwhile reading. These materials, for example, could deal with topics that help learners prepare for academic studies abroad and further their career development. The paper concludes that, for university students, at least, the goals of extensive reading may need to be modified so as not to focus exclusively on ease of reading and entertainment.

Investigating the Relationships among Metacognitive Strategy Training, Willingness to Read English Medical Texts, and Reading Comprehension Ability Using Structural Equation Modeling

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Hassanpour, Masoumeh; Ghonsooly, Behzad; Nooghabi, Mehdi Jabbari; Shafiee, Mohammad Naser

2017-01-01

This quasi-experimental study examined the relationship between students' metacognitive awareness and willingness to read English medical texts. So, a model was proposed and tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) with R software. Participants included 98 medical students of two classes. One class was assigned as the control group and the…

El enriquecimiento lexical en inglés desde la lectura libre y voluntaria de textos auténticos en las carreras técnicas universitarias / The enrichment of the English lexicon based on the free voluntary reading of authentic texts in university technical majorings

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Pedro Fabricio Molina García

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the enrichment of the English lexicon by students of university technical majoring. The starting point is the establishment of intertextual relationships from the free voluntary reading of authentic texts related to this area of knowledge to favor the development of vocabulary in English so as to enable the students to carry out academic, scientific and pre-professional tasks in the foreign language. From this perspective, a didactic strategy is offered to synthesize the phases and techniques to achieve this goal.

Effects of an Intelligent Web-Based English Instruction System on Students' Academic Performance

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Jia, J.; Chen, Y.; Ding, Z.; Bai, Y.; Yang, B.; Li, M.; Qi, J.

2013-01-01

This research conducted quasi-experiments in four middle schools to evaluate the long-term effects of an intelligent web-based English instruction system, Computer Simulation in Educational Communication (CSIEC), on students' academic attainment. The analysis of regular examination scores and vocabulary test validates the positive impact of CSIEC,…

Language Needs Analysis of Iranian Undergraduate Students of Computer Engineering: A Study of Reading Skill

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Alireza Fard-Kashani

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The current study aimed at diagnosing the language needs of Iranian undergraduate students of computer engineering in order to find out whether there is any significant difference in perceptions between the students and their ESAP (English for Specific Academic Purpose teachers, concerning their Reading skill needs. To conduct the intended research study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were taken. The quantitative approach included the use of self-assessment, and two questionnaires, and the qualitative approach included participant observation. The questionnaires were adapted from Atai and Shoja (2009, and were distributed among 500 undergraduate students of computer engineering and 30 ESAP teachers who were chosen randomly through cluster sampling method from thirteen universities. Mann-Whitney U-test results showed that there was a significant difference between perceptions of the students and their teachers about their Reading skill needs and ‘Reading’ was mentioned as one of the most difficult skills for the students. Moreover, it was found that the majority of students suffered from low level of General English Language Proficiency, and also ‘low motivation’ and the ‘character’ of teachers were found to be important factors affecting students’ learning. Keywords: Needs analysis, English for specific purposes, English for academic purposes, Present situation analysis, Target situation analysis

Effects of goal-setting skills on students’academic performance in english language in Enugu Nigeria

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Abe Iyabo Idowu

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The study investigated the effectiveness of goal-setting skills among Senior Secondary II students’ academic performance in English language in Enugu Metropolis, Enugu state, Nigeria. Quasi-experimental pre-test, post- test control group design was adopted for the study. The initial sample was 147 participants (male and female Senior Secondary School II students drawn from two public schools in Enugu zone of Enugu Metropolis. The final sample for the intervention consisted of 80 participants. This sample satisfied the condition for selection from the baseline data. Two research hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data generated were analyzed using the mean, standard deviation and t-test statistical method. The findings showed that performance in English language was enhanced among participants exposed to goal-setting intervention compared to those in the control group. The study also showed that there is a significant gender difference in students’ performance with female participants recording a higher mean score than males. Parental level of education was also found to be related to performance in English Language. Based on the findings, goal-setting intervention was recommended as a strategy to enhancing students’ academic performance particularly in English Language. 

A Blended Learning Model for Teaching Reading in English as a Foreign Language

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Karkour, Islam

2014-01-01

The aim of this paper is to describe a blended learning model to be used in Egyptian schools when teaching reading classes in English as a foreign language. This paper is divided into three parts. The first part outlines the Egyptian context and describes the target learners. The second part describes the suggested blended learning model, which is…

Acquiring Reading and Vocabulary in Dutch and English: The Effect of Concurrent Instruction

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van der Leij, Aryan; Bekebrede, Judith; Kotterink, Mieke

2010-01-01

To investigate the effect of concurrent instruction in Dutch and English on reading acquisition in both languages, 23 pupils were selected from a school with bilingual education, and 23 from a school with education in Dutch only. The pupils had a Dutch majority language background and were comparable with regard to social-economic status (SES).…

Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement: A Case Study, English Department Students

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Wiwik Andreani

2012-04-01

Full Text Available This study examines the comparison between English Department students’ emotional intelligence (EQ, their self-esteem and their academic achievement. Twenty-two students participated in the research by answering EQ test and two Self-Esteem questionnaires. The result shows that there is no relation between students’ GPA and their self-esteem and EQ. This means that academic ability does not correspond to social skills. Though most students have average EQ and self-esteem, one student has High EQ, High Self-esteem and a 2.95 GPA (out of 4. 

Beyond Phonological and Morphological Processing: Pure Copying as a Marker of Dyslexia in Chinese but Not Poor Reading of English

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Kalindi, Sylvia Chanda; McBride, Catherine; Tong, Xiuhong; Wong, Natalie Lok Lee; Chung, Kien Hoa Kevin; Lee, Chia-Ying

2015-01-01

To examine cognitive correlates of dyslexia in Chinese and reading difficulties in English as a foreign language, a total of 14 Chinese dyslexic children (DG), 16 poor readers of English (PE), and 17 poor readers of both Chinese and English (PB) were compared to a control sample (C) of 17 children, drawn from a statistically representative sample…

Action video games improve reading abilities and visual-to-auditory attentional shifting in English-speaking children with dyslexia

OpenAIRE

Franceschini, Sandro; Trevisan, Piergiorgio; Ronconi, Luca; Bertoni, Sara; Colmar, Susan; Double, Kit; Facoetti, Andrea; Gori, Simone

2017-01-01

Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties in learning to read and there is some evidence that action video games (AVG), without any direct phonological or orthographic stimulation, improve reading efficiency in Italian children with dyslexia. However, the cognitive mechanism underlying this improvement and the extent to which the benefits of AVG training would generalize to deep English orthography, remain two critical questions. During reading acquisition, children have to integrate written ...

Metacognitive reading strategies in learning disability: Relations between usage level, academic self-efficacy and self-concept

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Alev Girli

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the usage levels of metacognitive reading strategies by students diagnosed with specific learning disability (SLD, academic self-efficacy and the concept of self, in comparison to their typically developing (TD peers. The data to be used in the study were collected using the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory, the Academic Self-efficacy Scale, the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-concept Scale and the Demographics Information Form. The study was conducted among a total of 119 students in the fifth,sixth, seventh and eighth grades in İzmir Province, including 59 students diagnosed with SLD and 60 TD students. Considering the results of the study, in comparison to TD students, students diagnosed with SLD were significantly inadequate in terms of the usage levels of metacognitive reading strategies, levels of academic self-efficacy, and the intelligence/school subdimensions of the concept of self.

Genetic and Environmental Overlap between Chinese and English Reading-Related Skills in Chinese Children

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Wong, Simpson W. L.; Chow, Bonnie Wing-Yin; Ho, Connie Suk-Han; Waye, Mary M. Y.; Bishop, Dorothy V. M.

2014-01-01

This twin study examined the relative contributions of genes and environment on 2nd language reading acquisition of Chinese-speaking children learning English. We examined whether specific skills-visual word recognition, receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and speech discrimination-in the 1st and 2nd languages have…

The Relationship between the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Scores and Academic Success of International Master's Students

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Arcuino, Cathy Lee T.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine if the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) are related to academic success defined by final cumulative grade point average (GPA). The data sample, from three Midwestern universities, was comprised of international graduate students who…

The Role of Metacognitive Reading Strategies, Metacognitive Study and Learning Strategies, and Behavioral Study and Learning Strategies in Predicting Academic Success in Students With and Without a History of Reading Difficulties.

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Chevalier, Thérèse M; Parrila, Rauno; Ritchie, Krista C; Deacon, S Hélène

2017-01-01

We examined the self-reported use of reading, study, and learning strategies in university students with a history of reading difficulties (HRD; n = 77) and with no history of reading difficulties (NRD; n = 295). We examined both between-groups differences in strategy use and strategy use as a predictive measure of academic success. Participants completed online questionnaires regarding reading history and strategy use. GPA and frequency of use of academic support services were also obtained for all students. University students with HRD reported a different profile of strategy use than their NRD peers, and self-reported strategy use was differentially predictive of GPA for students with HRD and NRD. For students with HRD, the use of metacognitive reading strategies and the use of study aids predicted academic success. Implications for university student services providers are discussed. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2015.

Reading in Japanese as a Second Language : A Review of Empirical Research

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堀場, 裕紀江; ホリバ, ユキエ; YUKIE, HORIBA

2003-01-01

During the past few decades the Japanese language has grown to be a popular second or foreign language (L2), and research on reading and learning of Japanese as L2 has started to appear in major academic journals and books in the fields of applied linguistics, second language acquisition, second/foreign language education, along with the more commonly researched languages such as English, Spanish and French. In this article. I will first describe theoretical assumptions used in L2 reading res...

Video-games do not negatively impact adolescent academic performance in science, mathematics or reading.

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Aaron Drummond

Full Text Available Video-gaming is a common pastime among adolescents, particularly adolescent males in industrialized nations. Despite widespread suggestions that video-gaming negatively affects academic achievement, the evidence is inconclusive. We reanalyzed data from over 192,000 students in 22 countries involved in the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA to estimate the true effect size of frequency of videogame use on adolescent academic achievement in science, mathematics and reading. Contrary to claims that increased video-gaming can impair academic performance, differences in academic performance were negligible across the relative frequencies of videogame use. Videogame use had little impact on adolescent academic achievement.

Video-Games Do Not Negatively Impact Adolescent Academic Performance in Science, Mathematics or Reading

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Drummond, Aaron; Sauer, James D.

2014-01-01

Video-gaming is a common pastime among adolescents, particularly adolescent males in industrialized nations. Despite widespread suggestions that video-gaming negatively affects academic achievement, the evidence is inconclusive. We reanalyzed data from over 192,000 students in 22 countries involved in the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to estimate the true effect size of frequency of videogame use on adolescent academic achievement in science, mathematics and reading. Contrary to claims that increased video-gaming can impair academic performance, differences in academic performance were negligible across the relative frequencies of videogame use. Videogame use had little impact on adolescent academic achievement. PMID:24699536

ENGLISH IN INDONESIAN ISLAMIC HIGHER EDUCATION: Examining The Relationship between Performance in The Yes/No Test and Reading Skills

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Sahiruddin Sahiruddin

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This study examines the relationship between performance in the Yes/No test of English recognition vocabulary and reading skills in Indonesian Islamic learners of English as a foreign language (EFL. Participants in the study were 83 Indonesian undergraduate students, comprising an Advanced group (n=41 and Intermediate group (n=42 of EFL learners enrolled in the English department at the State Islamic University (UIN of Malang, Indonesia. All participants completed both tests. The results reveal that the hits accuracy performance between the Advanced EFL group and the Intermediate EFL group was statistically significant, indicating that Yes/No test performance, in context of hits accuracy, did discriminate between levels of English proficiency. However, the differences disappeared with corrected scores since both groups indicated a high false alarm rate. In addition, this study also reveals that there was no evidence of a relationship between Yes/No performance and reading scores. Several pedagogical implications for EFL language teachers are discussed.

Self-Regulated Strategic Writing for Academic Studies in an English-Medium-Instruction Context

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Hu, Jingjing; Gao, Xuesong

2018-01-01

This study explored the processes of utilization of resources in secondary students' self-regulated strategic writing for academic studies in an English as medium of instruction context in Hong Kong. Drawing on multiple data sources collected through the observation of lessons, stimulated recall and semi-structured interviews, the study examined…

The impact of simulation-based learning on students' English for Nursing Purposes (ENP) reading proficiency: a quasi-experimental study.

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Chang, Hsiao-Yun Annie; Chan, Luke; Siren, Betty

2013-06-01

This is a report of a study which evaluated simulation-based learning as a teaching strategy for improving participants' ENP reading proficiency in the senior college program of students whose first language is Chinese, not English. Simulation-based learning is known to be one of most effective teaching strategies in the healthcare professional curricula, which brings a clinical setting into the classroom. However, developing English reading skills for English written nursing journals through simulation-based learning in the nursing curricula, is largely unknown. We used a quasi-experimental approach with nonequivalent control group design to collect the causal connections between intervention and outcomes. 101 students were enrolled in this study (response rate 92.6%) of these 48 students volunteered for the intervention group, and 53 students for the control group. The findings indicated that the intervention group had significantly higher mean scores in ENP reading proficiency with unknown words in the article (p=.004), vocabulary (pdesigned research and a universal method of outcome measurement. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Effectiveness of Immersive Multimedia Learning with Peer Support on English Speaking and Reading Aloud

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Asnawi Muslem

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the impacts of the immersive multimedia learning strategy with peer support on production skills in reading and speaking. Moreover, the effects of it on performance were investigated by student achievement. The quasiexperimental design with post-test was employed for the study. 80 first-year university students enrolled in English as a foreign language course were selected for this study. Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA. The findings showed that the immersive multimedia learning with peer support group reported significantly better performance in all measures of oral production for reading and speaking. Analyses obtained by achievement showed that the high achievement students in the immersive multimedia learning with peer support group reported significantly better performance in all measures of oral production only for speaking while the low achievement students in the immersive multimedia learning with peer supported group reported significantly better performance in all measures of oral production for reading and speaking. These findings showed that the immersive multimedia technique with peer support reduced the use of codeswitching strategies among the students and enabled them to develop oral production skills in English approaching the patterns of native speakers especially among low achievement students.

Reading comprehension as part of the teaching learning process of English for specific purposes

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Yaima Rosa Reyes Piñero

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This article presents and characterizes a system of interdisciplinary tasks which contributes to reading comprehension as a basic objective of the teaching learning process of English in the first year students of Marxism-Leninism and History career of the University of Pedagogical Sciences in Pinar del Río.

Reading Approach Use Effectiveness And EFL Reading Comprehension In University Muhammadiyah Of Parepare

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Baharuddin

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study investigated Indonesian EFL learners approach of two reading approaches cognitive and metacognitive their perceived contact on effectiveness and the association between reading approach and effectiveness on their English reading comprehension. Fifty-Three English-major freshmen from University Muhammadiyah of Parepare participated in these lessons. Two principal questions were addressed 1 what is the most frequent use of reading approach reported by individual students 2 Is there any significant association between reading approach and effectiveness on their English reading comprehension To examine the effects of approach instruction on students reading performance a qualitative interview technique and quantitative research methods including a paired-sample t-test and Person Product Moment Correlation were used to estimate the relationship between reading approach use and effectiveness on students reading accomplishment. Significance showed that the most frequent use of reading approach was found to be metacognitive approach followed by the cognitive approach. In addition there was a significant positive connection between reading approach and effectiveness on their English reading comprehension. Reading approach on the other hand was unrelated to reading achievement. Results of interview findings were analyzed to explore in-depth in sequence about the condition of approach used. The implications of these findings for implementing effective reading strategy instruction are discussed.

English Learning Styles of Students from East Asian Countries: A Focus on Reading Strategies

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Lee, Jia-Ying

2011-01-01

Little research has been done to investigate the influence of cultural differences on students' second/foreign language learning styles, with a focus on comparing between East and West classroom cultures. This study investigates the differences that East Asian students may encounter when studying in the English-medium academic environment. By…

Reading Comprehension Strategies

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Unal Ulker

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The academic success of the university students greatly depends on the mastery of an academic reading skill. However, students as well as teachers, take the learning of this skill for granted, as they tend to presuppose that reading skill is acquired as a part of their secondary education. As a result, most first-year students employ non university strategies to read academic texts, which leads to a surface approach to reading and prevents students from a better understanding of the material. This paper will discuss the strategies that involve students in taking a deep approach to reading academic texts.

ICT and the Teaching of Reading Comprehension in English as a Second Language in Secondary Schools: Problems and Prospects

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Maduabuchi, Chinyere Henrietta; Emechebe, Vivian I.

2016-01-01

This study is aimed at identifying both prospects and problems of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching reading comprehension in English as Second Language. To achieve this aim, a total of 25 secondary school English teachers were interviewed through the use of questionnaire. The teachers were purposively and…

English Reading Placement Recommendations at College of the Canyons: An Analysis of Disproportionate Impact.

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Gerda, Joseph

A study was undertaken at California's College of the Canyons (CC) to determine whether evidence existed of disproportionate impact in English reading course placement based on student ethnicity, gender, or age. Data were compiled for all 4,312 students tested between spring 1993 and fall 1995, while the standard for disproportionate impact was…

The Effect of Cultural Background Knowledge on Learning English Language

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Dr. Ibrahim

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to investigate the effect of cultural background knowledge on learning English Language. It also aims to investigate if there are significant differences between subjects' performance in reading comprehension according to sex and general ability in English (GAE. The study aims at answering the following questions: 1 . To what extent is the effect of cultural background knowledge on subjects' performance in reading comprehension? 2 . What is the difference in performance in reading comprehension between male and female subjects who have cultural background knowledge and those who do not have any knowledge? 3. What is the differenc e between subjects' performance in reading comprehension texts which are loaded with American culture and their general ability in English. ? The population of th is study consisted of all first - year students majoring in English at Hebron University in th e first semester of the academic year 2011/2012. They were 600. The sample of the study consisted of 60 subjects, males and females divided into four groups, two experimental and two controlled. The researcher followed the experimental method. Means, stand ard deviations and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were calculated by using SPSS program. The study revealed the following results: 1. There are statistically significant differences in performance in reading comprehension between subjects who have cu ltural background knowledge and those who do not have any knowledge . 2 . There are no statistically significant differences in performance in reading comprehension between male and female subjects who have cultural background knowledge and those who do not have any knowledge. 3. Subjects' GAE revealed that there are significant differences in performance in reading comprehension between subjects who have cultural background knowledge and those who do not have any knowledge. In the light of the results of th e study, the researcher recommends the

Multiple Intelligence Scores of Science Stream Students and Their Relation with Reading Competency in Malaysian University English Test (MUET)

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Razak, Norizan Abdul; Zaini, Nuramirah

2014-01-01

Many researches have shown that different approach needed in analysing linear and non-linear reading comprehension texts and different cognitive skills are required. This research attempts to discover the relationship between Science Stream students' reading competency on linear and non-linear texts in Malaysian University English Test (MUET) with…

Components and Context: Exploring Sources of Reading Difficulties for Language Minority Learners and Native English Speakers in Urban Schools

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Kieffer, Michael J.; Vukovic, Rose K.

2012-01-01

Drawing on the cognitive and ecological domains within the componential model of reading, this longitudinal study explores heterogeneity in the sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Students (N = 150) were followed from first through third grade and assessed annually on…

Academic Reading Difficulties Encountered by International Graduate Students in a Malaysian University

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Alghail, Ali Abdullah Ali; Mahfoodh, Omer Hassan Ali

2016-01-01

This study examines how international graduate students in a Malaysian public university perceive and overcome academic reading difficulties. The target population included all graduate students from Yemen, an Arab country, studying at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Data were collected using questionnaires, focus group interviews, and journal writing.…

Comparing Self-Regulatory and Early Academic Skills as Predictors of Later Math, Reading, and Science Elementary School Achievement

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Murrah, William M., III

The achievement score gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children at school entry is a major problem in education today. Identifying the skills critical for school readiness is an important step in developing interventions aimed at addressing these score gaps. The purpose of this study is to compare a number of school readiness skills with an eye toward finding out which are the best predictors of later academic achievement in math, reading, and science. The predictors were early reading, math, general knowledge, socioemotional skills, and motor skills. Data were obtained from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of 1998 (NCES, 1998) database. While controlling for an extensive set of family characteristics, predictions were made across five years - from the end of kindergarten to the end of fifth grade. Consistent with current findings, reading and math skills predicted later achievement. Interestingly, general knowledge, attention, and fine motor skills also proved to be important predictors of later academic achievement, but socioemotional skills were not. The findings were interpreted from a neurobiological perspective involving the development of self-regulation. These school entry skills are used to predict later achievement in reading, math, and science. I argued that in addition to acquiring early academic knowledge, children need to regulate the use of this knowledge to meet academic goals.

On the Relationship between the IELTS Listening and Listening in Academic English Programs

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Sabet, Masood Khalili; Babaei, Hamid Reza

2017-01-01

The challenge for many teachers teaching in academic English programs is, on the one hand, to actualize the objectives of their course and on the other hand, prepare their students for the important international tests such as IELTS and TOEFL. The current study seeks to reconcile this challenge by drawing on the relationship between the IELTS…

Computer Literacy in Learning Academic English: Iranian EAP Students' and Instructors' Attitudes and Perspectives

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Alavi, Seyed Mohammad; Borzabadi, Davood; Dashtestani, Reza

2016-01-01

This study aimed to analyze perceptions of Iranian English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students on their computer literacy levels. A total of 641 undergraduate students of civil engineering and 34 EAP instructors participated in the study. Data collection instruments included questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Findings confirmed that…

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMK NEGERI 8 SURAKARTA IN 2015/2016 ACADEMIC YEAR

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Syilvia Mustanuri Jannah

2016-01-01

The study is aimed at analyzing the implementation of teaching English at State Vocational High School 8 Surakarta in 2015/2016 academic year. The objectives of the study are to describe and explain the implementation of teaching English at this school. In this research, there are seven components of the implementation of teaching English which are investigated, namely: learning objective, syllabus, instructional material, classroom procedure, techniques in teaching English, media, and assess...

Language Needs Analysis of Iranian Undergraduate Students of Computer Engineering: A Study of Reading Skill

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Fard-Kashani, Alireza; Jahromi, Abdol Hossein Zahedi; Javadi, Ali; Fallahi, Ali Mohammad

2015-01-01

The current study aimed at diagnosing the language needs of Iranian undergraduate students of computer engineering in order to find out whether there is any significant difference in perceptions between the students and their ESAP (English for Specific Academic Purpose) teachers, concerning their Reading skill needs. To conduct the intended…

Predictors and Outcomes of Early vs. Later English Language Proficiency Among English Language Learners

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Halle, Tamara; Hair, Elizabeth; Wandner, Laura; McNamara, Michelle; Chien, Nina

2011-01-01

The development of English language learners (ELLs) was explored from kindergarten through eighth grade within a nationally representative sample of first-time kindergartners (N = 19,890). Growth curve analyses indicated that, compared to native English speakers, ELLs were rated by teachers more favorably on approaches to learning, self control, and externalizing behaviors in kindergarten and generally continued to grow in a positive direction on these social/behavioral outcomes at a steeper rate compared to their native English-speaking peers, holding other factors constant. Differences in reading and math achievement between ELLs and native English speakers varied based on the grade at which English proficiency is attained. Specifically, ELLs who were proficient in English by kindergarten entry kept pace with native English speakers in both reading and math initially and over time; ELLs who were proficient by first grade had modest gaps in reading and math achievement compared to native English speakers that closed narrowly or persisted over time; and ELLs who were not proficient by first grade had the largest initial gaps in reading and math achievement compared to native speakers but the gap narrowed over time in reading and grew over time in math. Among those whose home language is not English, acquiring English proficiency by kindergarten entry was associated with better cognitive and behavioral outcomes through eighth grade compared to taking longer to achieve proficiency. Multinomial regression analyses indicated that child, family, and school characteristics predict achieving English proficiency by kindergarten entry compared to achieving proficiency later. Results are discussed in terms of policies and practices that can support ELL children’s growth and development. PMID:22389551

How do typographical factors affect reading text and comprehension performance in Arabic?

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Ganayim, Deia; Ibrahim, Raphiq

2013-04-01

The objective of this study was to establish basic reading performance that could lead to useful design recommendations for print display text formats and layouts for the improvement of reading and comprehension performance of print text, such as academic writings, books, and newspapers, of Arabic language. Readability of English print text has been shown to be influenced by a number of typographical variables, including interline spacing, column setting and line length, and so on.Therefore, it is very important to improve the reading efficiency and satisfaction of print text reading and comprehension by following simple design guidelines. Most existing research on readability of print text is oriented to build guidelines for designing English texts rather than Arabic. However, guidelines built for English script cannot be simply applied for Arabic script because of orthographic differences. In the current study, manipulating interline spacing and column setting and line length generated nine text layouts. The reading and comprehension performance of 210 native Arab students assigned randomly to the different text layouts was compared. Results showed that the use of multicolumn setting (with medium or short line length) affected comprehension achievement but not reading and comprehension speed. Participants' comprehension scores were better for the single-column (with long line length) than for the multicolumn setting. However, no effect was found for interline spacing. The recommendations for appropriate print text format and layout in Arabic language based on the results of objective measures facilitating reading and comprehension performance is a single-column (with long line length) layout with no relevance of the interline spacing.

Investigating the Strategic Reading Processes of First and Second Language Readers in Two Different Cultural Contexts

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Mokhtari, Kouider; Reichard, Carla

2004-01-01

This study investigated whether significant differences exist between first and second language readers in their metacognitive awareness and perceived use of specific strategies when reading for academic purposes in English. Three hundred and fifty college students (141 US and 209 Moroccan) completed an instrument designed to measure their…

Pilot study: EatFit impacts sixth graders' academic performance on achievement of mathematics and english education standards.

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Shilts, Mical Kay; Lamp, Cathi; Horowitz, Marcel; Townsend, Marilyn S

2009-01-01

Investigate the impact of a nutrition education program on student academic performance as measured by achievement of education standards. Quasi-experimental crossover-controlled study. California Central Valley suburban elementary school (58% qualified for free or reduced-priced lunch). All sixth-grade students (n = 84) in the elementary school clustered in 3 classrooms. 9-lesson intervention with an emphasis on guided goal setting and driven by the Social Cognitive Theory. Multiple-choice survey assessing 5 education standards for sixth-grade mathematics and English at 3 time points: baseline (T1), 5 weeks (T2), and 10 weeks (T3). Repeated measures, paired t test, and analysis of covariance. Changes in total scores were statistically different (P academic performance measured by achievement of specific mathematics and English education standards. Nutrition educators can show school administrators and wellness committee members that this program can positively impact academic performance, concomitant to its primary objective of promoting healthful eating and physical activity.

Academic Emphasis of Urban Elementary Schools and Student Achievement in Reading and Mathematics: A Multilevel Analysis.

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Goddard, Roger D.; Sweetland, Scott R.; Hoy, Wayne K.

2000-01-01

Examines importance of a school climate characterized by high levels of academic emphasis. Drawing on effective-schools research and social-cognitive theory, uses hierarchical linear modeling to show that academic emphasis accounts for differences among urban elementary schools in student math and reading achievement. (Contains 48 references.)…

Academic Writing for Graduate-Level English as a Second Language Students: Experiences in Education

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Sidman-Taveau, Rebekah; Karathanos-Aguilar, Katya

2015-01-01

Graduate-level ESL students in Education are future multicultural educators and promising role models for our diverse K-12 students. However, many of these students struggle with academic English and, in particular, writing. Yet little research or program development addresses the specific writing-support needs of this group. This article shares…

From Test Scores to Language Use: Emergent Bilinguals Using English to Accomplish Academic Tasks

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Rodriguez-Mojica, Claudia

2018-01-01

Prominent discourses about emergent bilinguals' academic abilities tend to focus on performance as measured by test scores and perpetuate the message that emergent bilinguals trail far behind their peers. When we remove the constraints of formal testing situations, what can emergent bilinguals do in English as they engage in naturally occurring…

Solutions to academic failure: The cognitive and cultural realities ofEnglish as the medium of instruction among black learners

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R. Gamaroff

2013-02-01

Full Text Available In South Africa, black learners who are speakers of Bantu languages have to use a second language, namely English, as the medium of instruction from Std 3 onwards. The differences between English language-culture and Bantu languages-culture(s have generated a host of problems (and pseudo-problems?, where the main problem is academic failure. Three solutions to academic failure are discussed in the light of cultural and cognitive factors in multicultural education: 1. The use of the mother tongue as the exclusive medium of instruction 2. Critical Language Study (CLS and People's English 3. The separation of high ability learners from limited ability learners in the teaching situation. It is emphasised that culture is closely connected to a symbolic system, and thus an understanding of cognitive processes in academic learning requires an understanding of culture, and vice versa. Ultimately, of primary importance in academic study are the cognitive underpinnings of Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP developed in the first language. In Suid-Afrika word swart leerders wie se moedertaal een van die Afrika tale is, tans vanaf st. 3 in 'n tweede taal, naamlik Engels, onderrig. As gevolg van die verskille tussen die Engelse taalkultuur en die taalkulture van die A.frika tale het daar 'n groot aantal probleme (en pseudoprobleme? ontstaan, waarvan akademiese mislukking die belangrikste is. Drie oplossings vir hierdie akademiese mislukking word bespreek aan die hand van kulturele en kognitiewe faktore in multikulturele onderwys: 1. Die gebruik van die moedertaal as eksklusiewe medium van onderrig 2. "Critical Language Study" (CLS en "People's English" 3. Die afsonderlike hantering van hoogsbegaafde en minder begaafde leerlinge. Dit moet beklemtoon word dat kultuur nouverwant is aan 'n simbolesisteem. Gevolglik is 'n be grip van die kognitiewe prosesse betrokke by akademiese leer 'n voorvereiste vir 'n be grip van kultuur, en omgekeerd. Vera

How Do Chinese ESL Learners Recognize English Words during a Reading Test? A Comparison with Romance-Language-Speaking ESL Learners

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Li, Hongli; Suen, Hoi K.

2015-01-01

This study examines how Chinese ESL learners recognize English words while responding to a multiple-choice reading test as compared to Romance-language-speaking ESL learners. Four adult Chinese ESL learners and three adult Romance-language-speaking ESL learners participated in a think-aloud study with the Michigan English Language Assessment…

Effects of Semantic Ambiguity Detection Training on Reading Comprehension Achievement of English Learners with Learning Difficulties

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Jozwik, Sara L.; Douglas, Karen H.

2016-01-01

This study examined how explicit instruction in semantic ambiguity detection affected the reading comprehension and metalinguistic awareness of five English learners (ELs) with learning difficulties (e.g., attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, specific learning disability). A multiple probe across participants design (Gast & Ledford, 2010)…

An investigation of mathematics and science instruction in English and Spanish for English language learners

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Rodriguez-Esquivel, Marina

The contextual demands of language in content area are difficult for ELLS. Content in the native language furthers students' academic development and native language skills, while they are learning English. Content in English integrates pedagogical strategies for English acquisition with subject area instruction. The following models of curriculum content are provided in most Miami Dade County Public Schools: (a) mathematics instruction in the native language with science instruction in English or (b) science instruction in the native language with mathematics instruction in English. The purpose of this study was to investigate which model of instruction is more contextually supportive for mathematics and science achievement. A pretest and posttest, nonequivalent group design was used with 94 fifth grade ELLs who received instruction in curriculum model (a) or (b). This allowed for statistical analysis that detected a difference in the means of .5 standard deviations with a power of .80 at the .05 level of significance. Pretreatment and post-treatment assessments of mathematics, reading, and science achievement were obtained through the administration of Aprenda-Segunda Edicion and the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test. The results indicated that students receiving mathematics in English and Science in Spanish scored higher on achievement tests in both Mathematics and Science than the students who received Mathematics in Spanish and Science in English. In addition, the mean score of students on the FCAT mathematics examination was higher than their mean score on the FCAT science examination regardless of the language of instruction.

An In-Depth Investigation into the Relationship between Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Listening Comprehension

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Teng, Feng

2016-01-01

The present study was conducted in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with the purpose of assessing the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in academic listening comprehension. The Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation & Beglar, 2007) and the Word Associates Test (WAT, Read, 2004) were administered to…

Oral English Language Proficiency and Reading Mastery: The Role of Home Language and School Supports

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Palacios, Natalia; Kibler, Amanda

2016-01-01

The analysis of 21,409 participants of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort focused on home and school factors sought to understand the level of reading mastery that children experienced throughout elementary school and Grade 8 by relating home language use, timing of oral English language proficiency, and the provision of…

Comprehension of scientific texts in English as a foreign language: the role of cohesion

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Neemias Silva de Souza Filho

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The reading of scientific texts is a challenge for students of all academic fields and levels. Whether it is a textbook in elementary education or a scientific paper in higher education, students are faced with a type of text which requires the reader's ability to generate inferences and the ability to fill informational gaps (BEST et al., 2005. This notion is in line with empirical evidence obtained by previous studies (e.g. OZURU et al., 2009. All of these works, however, were performed with native English speakers. In this sense, adopting the model of reading comprehension proposed by Kintsch (1998, we aimed to investigate if the results obtained by the previous studies, carried out with native speakers of English are also valid in a context of English as a foreign language. In addition, we pursue a methodological question, investigating whether the evaluation of reading comprehension through objective and subjective questions leads to convergent or divergent results. To investigate these questions, we analyze subjects’ answers to an objective questionnaire and in the production of a written summary. The results show that high-cohesion texts generate better results and point to possible research avenues.

The Effects of Arousal Presented by a Pedagogical Agent on English Language Learners' Situational Interest, Cognitive Load and Reading Comprehension in Online Reading Tasks

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Drobisz, Jack

2017-01-01

This research examined how four different animated pedagogical agent implementations, which focus on perceptual and inquiry arousal conditions of attention as defined in Keller's ARCS model of motivational design (Keller, 2009), impact English language learners' situational interest, cognitive load, and reading comprehension in online readings…

Students’ Perception on Pre-reading Activities in Basic Reading II Class of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University

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Vindy Cahya Ekaningrum

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The students’ perception on the teacher instruction shows whether the teaching techniques meet the students’ need or not. Because of this reason, the researcher wants to find out the varieties of pre-reading activities used by the teacher and the students’ perception on the implementation of the pre-reading activities. There were two problem formulations in this study: 1 What kinds of pre-reading activities that are used by Basic Reading II teacher in the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University? 2 How is the students’ perception on pre-reading activities used by the teacher? This research was a survey research. In gathering the data, there were two instruments used in this research. They were interview and questionnaire. The interview was done by interviewing the teacher of Basic Reading II Class. The interview was used to answer the first research question about the varieties of pre-reading activities in Basic Reading II class. Then, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to 56 students of Basic Reading II class. The questionnaire was used to answer the second research question about the students’ perception on pre-reading activities used by the teacher. The result of this research showed that brainstorming, pre-teaching vocabulary, pre-questioning, visual aids, and KWL strategy were the varieties of pre-reading activities used by the teacher. There were two different implementation of pre-teaching vocabulary. There were also two activities combined together, they were the use of visual aids and KWL strategy. The students had positive perception on the implementation of pre-reading activities in Basic Reading II Class.   DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2015.180206

The Influence of Spanish Vocabulary and Phonemic Awareness on Beginning English Reading Development: A Three-Year (K-2nd) Longitudinal Study

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Kelley, Michael F.; Roe, Mary; Blanchard, Jay; Atwill, Kim

2015-01-01

This investigation examined the influence of varying levels of Spanish receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness ability on beginning English vocabulary, phonemic awareness, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension development across kindergarten through second grade. The 80 respondents were Spanish speaking children with no English…

Readability in reading materials selection and coursebook design for college English in China

OpenAIRE

Lu, Zhongshe

2002-01-01

This thesis studies the application of readability in reading materials selection and coursebook design for college English in an EFL context in China. Its aim is to develop rationales which coursebook writers can utilise in selecting materials as texts and as a basis for designing tasks. This study, through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, argues that readability is applicable in the EFL Chinese context, and readability plays a important role in determining...

Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem, and Academic Achievement: a Case Study of English Department Students, Binus University

OpenAIRE

Andreani, Wiwik

2013-01-01

This study examines the comparison between English Department students’ emotional intelligence (EQ), their self-esteem and their academic achievement. Twenty-two students participated in the research by answering EQ test and two Self-Esteem questionnaires. The result shows that there is no relation between students’ GPA and their self-esteem and EQ. This means that academic ability does not correspond to social skills. Though most students have average EQ and self-esteem, one student has High...

Examining the Role of the Library in Promoting the Academic Achievement of English Learners

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de Souza, Marcela

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to share findings from a qualitative study showing the positive influences the local public library and the school library had on the personal and academic lives of 18 low-income English language learners of Mexican descent while they were adjusting to the numerous demands of school in the US. For these students, the…

Displaying Critical Thinking in EFL Academic Writing: A Discussion of Japanese to English Contrastive Rhetoric

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McKinley, Jim

2013-01-01

This article provides an examination of the literature on issues surrounding the problems Japanese university students face in learning critical argument in their English academic writing courses. Japanese students' critical thinking skills are criticized as not fostered in their university education, perhaps due to Confucian education ideals,…

Teaching Writing within the Disciplines: A Viable Approach for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Instructors

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Leopold, Lisa

2011-01-01

This case study of an adjunct-model English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course linked to a policy-analysis course describes an effective approach for putting "specificity" into practice in EAP curriculum design. The rationale for interdisciplinary collaboration, the positive learning outcomes from the EAP writing course, the…

Enhancing Academic Instruction for Adolescent English Language Learners with or at Risk for Learning Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Haager, Diane; Osipova, Anna V.

2017-01-01

An increasing number of children worldwide attend schools where the language of instruction does not match their native language, presenting significant challenges with learning the content and vocabulary of academic content areas (e.g., social studies, science). In the U.S., these students are designated as English language learners…

Fast, visual specialization for reading in English revealed by the topography of the N170 ERP response

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McCandliss Bruce D

2005-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background N170 effects associated with visual words may be related to perceptual expertise effects that have been demonstrated for faces and other extensively studied classes of visual stimuli. Although face and other object expertise effects are typically bilateral or right-lateralized, the spatial topography of reading-related N170 effects are often left-lateralized, providing potential insights into the unique aspects of reading-related perceptual expertise. Methods Extending previous research in German 1, we use a high-density channel array to characterize the N170 topography for reading-related perceptual expertise in English, a language with inconsistent spelling-to-sound mapping. N170 effects related to overall reading-related expertise are defined by contrasting responses to visual words versus novel symbol strings. By contrasting each of these conditions to pseudowords, we examined how this reading-related N170 effect generalizes to well-ordered novel letter strings. Results A sample-by-sample permutation test computed on word versus symbol ERP topographies revealed differences during two time windows corresponding to the N170 and P300 components. Topographic centroid analysis of the word and symbol N170 demonstrated significant differences in both left-right as well as inferior-superior dimensions. Words elicited larger N170 negativities than symbols at inferior occipito-temporal channels, with the maximal effect over left inferior regions often unsampled in conventional electrode montages. Further contrasts produced inferior-superior topographic effects for the pseudoword-symbol comparison and left-lateralized topographic effects for the word-pseudoword comparison. Conclusion Fast specialized perception related to reading experience produces an N170 modulation detectable across different EEG systems and different languages. Characterization of such effects may be improved by sampling with greater spatial frequency recordings

The development of English grammar and reading comprehension by majority and minority language children in a bilingual primary school

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Anja K. Steinlen

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Both for the first language (L1 and for all additional languages (L2 or L3, grammatical knowledge plays a vital role in understanding texts (e.g., Grabe, 2005. However, little is known about the development and interaction of grammar and reading comprehension in beginning foreign language learning, especially with respect to children with a minority language background. This longitudinal study, therefore, examined minority and majority language children’s English grammar and reading comprehension skills. The children attended a German-English partial immersion primary school and were tested at the end of Grades 3 and 4. As expected, we found grammar to affect reading comprehension but also reverse effects. Most importantly, the results did not reveal any differences between the two language groups, irrespective of the test. Therefore, immersion primary school programs seem to be suitable for minority language children, and these children do not automatically represent an at-risk group for foreign language learning.

Reading in Multilingual Learners of Urdu (L1), English (L2) and Arabic (L3)

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Mirza, Amna; Gottardo, Alexandra; Chen, Xi

2017-01-01

The present study examined the language and literacy skills and their relations to each other in multilingual children, who have a broad range of oral and written language proficiency in each language that they "know". Reading and vocabulary skills were tested in 50 Canadian children (ages 6-10 years) who were Urdu-English speakers,…

Punctuation and Implicit Prosody in Silent Reading: An ERP Study Investigating English Garden-Path Sentences.

Science.gov (United States)

Drury, John E; Baum, Shari R; Valeriote, Hope; Steinhauer, Karsten

2016-01-01

This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit) prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 × 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party vs. John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party ). The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011). In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading.

Reflections on the development of an EFL reading programme for middle school students of varied levels of English

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Barfield Randall

2003-08-01

Full Text Available This personal-experience article attempts to share with the reader an EFL reading and grammar programme that was designed in 2002 for a group of 12 to 14-year olds (6th and 7th graders whose English levels varied from almost nil to semiconversational. Multi-levels of English in any given group present a considerable challenge to either the EFL or ESL teacher, needless to say. More than one of these students exhibited evidence of a learning disability, not only in L2 but in L1 as well. For instance, transposition of letters (b instead of d and vice versa in both languages, poor spelling in L1 and L2, and in L2, writing on the level of a second or third- grade native speaker. A considerable number of these students had been forced to leave other, larger schools for academic and/or disciplinary reasons. So, this teacher swallowed then rolled up his sleeves to go to work (in fear of what the year would bring?. In other words, the teacher accepted the challenge. Key words: English-Teaching High School-Programs, Reading-Teaching-Programs, Books and Reading for Children-Teaching High School-Programs Este artículo de experiencia personal tiene como objetivo dar a conocer al lector un programa de EFL sobre lectura y gramática que fue diseñado en 2002 para un grupo de niños entre los 12 y 14 años de edad (grados 6 y 7, los cuales tenían niveles de inglés que variaban entre cero conocimiento del idioma y semi-conversacional. Los multi-niveles en inglés en cualquier grupo presentan un desafío considerable para el profesor de EFL o ESL. Adicionalmente, más de un estudiante demostró tener problemas de aprendizaje no sólo en L2 sino en L1. Por ejemplo, la transposición de letras (b en vez de d o viceversa en ambos idiomas, pobre ortografía en L1 y L2 y en L2 la escritura en un nivel igual al de un estudiante nativo que cursa segundo o tercero de primaria. Un número considerable de estudiantes han sido obligados a abandonar otros colegios

Students’ attitudes to lecturers' English in English-medium higher education in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Christian; Denver, Louise; Mees, Inger M.

2013-01-01

This study examines the evaluative reactions of university students to their non-native lecturers’ English skills in English-medium instruction, i.e. when English is used as a lingua franca in an academic context. In particular, we examine the relationship between perceptions of English language ....... This effect should be addressed when universities use student ratings to evaluate teaching in English-medium content courses.......This study examines the evaluative reactions of university students to their non-native lecturers’ English skills in English-medium instruction, i.e. when English is used as a lingua franca in an academic context. In particular, we examine the relationship between perceptions of English language...... proficiency and perceptions of general lecturing competence (defined here as knowledge of subject and teaching skills). Statistical analyses of 1,700 student responses to 31 non-native English-speaking lecturers at a major business school in Denmark revealed that the students’ perceptions of the lecturers...

A Study of the Motivational Patterns of Learners of English for Academic and Professional Purposes

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Abrar-ul-Hassan, Shahid

2014-01-01

Learner motivation is considered a vital factor in second language instruction. An analysis of motivation types and degrees can reveal learners' expectations and learning objectives. The present study analyzes the motivational patterns of a group of English for academic and professional purposes (EAPP) learners while focusing on types and degrees…

Dialogic Strategies in Read-Alouds of English-Language Information Books in a Second-Grade Bilingual Classroom

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Pappas, Christine C.; Varelas, Maria; Patton, Sofia Kokkino; Ye, Li; Ortiz, Ibett

2012-01-01

This article shows how various dialogic discourse strategies were used in read-alouds of English science information books in a 2nd-grade bilingual classroom. Using a variety of discursive strategies, Ibett encouraged her Spanish-speaking students to provide explanations and reasoning related to science ideas. Similarly, she used intertextual…

Reading Ease of Bilingual Annual Reports.

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Courtis, John K.; Hassan, Salleh

2002-01-01

Examines reading ease between the English and Chinese versions of 65 corporate annual reports in Hong Kong and the English and Malay versions of 53 annual reports in Malaysia. Notes that the English passages in Malaysian annual reports are easier to read than the English passages in Hong Kong annual reports. Suggests that different language…

USING QUESTION GENERATING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION FOR THE THIRD SEMESTER STUDENTS AT ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM OF MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF BENGKULU

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Washlurachim Safitri Safitri

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research was to find out Using Question Generating Technique Toward Students Reading Comprehension At The Third Semester Students At English Study Program Of Muhammadiyah University Of Bengkulu. The design of this research was Quasi experimental research. The subject of this research is students at the third semester of English study program. They were A class  that consist of 20 students and D class that consist of 20 students. In collecting data, the researcher used some steps; firstly the students were given a pre-test before the researcher applied Question Generating Technique. Then, the researcher did the treatment for three meetings to the experimental class, after that the researcher did post test to both classes. The last, the researcher analyzed the result of reading test by using criteria for the assessment. The final step was the researcher discussed and concluded the data. The result of this research showed that the tobt was  4,880. Whereas, the degree of freedom of post-test is 68, means that the ttable was 2.021. Based on the scores gained, it shows that tobt is higher than ttable (9,911>4,880. There is a significant difference between the post-test mean of the experimental and control class. The result also showed that the students’ comprehension in reading was significantly. In conclusion, the Question Generating Technique had been successfully gave positive effect to the students’ reading comprehension particularly in reading subject in English study program of University Muhammadiyah of Bengkulu.  Key Words : Question Generating Technique, Reading comprehension,

Unpacking socio-economic risks for reading and academic self-concept in primary school: Differential effects and the role of the preschool home learning environment.

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Crampton, Alexandria; Hall, James

2017-09-01

Uncertainty remains concerning how children's reading and academic self-concept are related and how these are differentially affected by social disadvantage and home learning environments. To contrast the impacts of early socio-economic risks and preschool home learning environments upon British children's reading abilities and academic self-concept between 7 and 10 years. n = 3,172 British children aged 3-10 years and their families. A secondary analysis of the nationally representative UK EPPE database. Multilevel structural equation modelling calculated the direct, indirect, and total impacts of early socio-economic risks (0-3 years) and preschool home learning environments (3-5 years) upon children's reading ability and academic self-concept between 7 and 10 years. Early socio-economic risk had different effects upon children's reading ability and academic self-concept. Early socio-economic risks affected children's reading at ages 7 and 10 both directly and indirectly via effects upon preschool home learning environments. By contrast, early socio-economic risks had only indirect effects upon children's academic self-concept via less stimulating home learning environments in the preschool period and by limiting reading abilities early on in primary school. Although the impacts of early socio-economic risks are larger and more easily observed upon reading than upon academic self-concept, they can impact both by making it less likely that children will experience enriching home learning environments during the preschool period. This has implications for social policymakers, early educators, and interventionists. Intervening early and improving preschool home learning environments can do more than raise children's reading abilities; secondary benefits may also be achievable upon children's self-concept. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Who Says They Don’t Read? Slovene Elementary School Students’ Reading Motivation in EFL

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Anja Pirih

2015-05-01

Full Text Available A typical (Slovene teenager today no longer finds reading materials on the book shelves in the local library, but forms a reading list of electronic sources, very often in English. However, in contrast with an abundance of studies focusing on first language (L1 reading strategies and motivation, not a lot of literature can be found on reading motivation in a foreign language, even though it is perceived as one of the most important factors influencing second language (L2 development. The aim of this research is to determine the influences on reading motivation in English as a foreign language in the group of young teenagers (11-14-year-olds and a possible transfer of L1 reading attitudes to L2 reading. The theoretical framework relies on Wigfield and Guthrie’s (1997 self-efficacy theory and Day and Bamford’s (1998 expectancy value model. The data obtained from 197 questionnaires give an insight into not only the frequency of reading in English and the type of reading materials, but also the factors influencing teenagers’ reading motivation in EFL.

Science as a second language: Analysis of Emergent Bilinguals performance and the impact of English language proficiency and first language characteristics on the Colorado measures of academic success for science

Science.gov (United States)

Bruno, Joanna K.

In an age when communication is highly important and states across the nation, including Colorado, have adopted Common Core State Standards, the need for academic language is even more important than ever. The language of science has been compared to a second language in that it uses specific discourse patterns, semantic rules, and a very specific vocabulary. There is a need for educators to better understand how language impacts academic achievement, specifically concerning Emergent Bilinguals (EBs). Research has identified the need to study the role language plays in content assessments and the impact they have on EBs performance (Abedi, 2008b; Abedi, Hofestter & Lord, 2004; Abedi & Lord, 2001). Since language is the means through which content knowledge is assessed, it is important to analyze this aspect of learning. A review of literature identified the need to create more reliable and valid content assessments for EBs (Abedi, 2008b) and to further study the impact of English proficiency on EBs performance on standardized assessments (Solorzano, 2008; Wolf, & Leon, 2009). This study contributes to the literature by analyzing EBs performance on a state-level science content assessment, taking into consideration English language proficiency, receptive versus productive elements of language, and students' home language. This study further contributes by discussing the relationship between language proficiency, and the different strands of science (physical, life, and earth) on the state science assessment. Finally, this study demonstrates that home language, English language proficiency, and receptive and productive elements of language are predictive of EBs' achievement on the CMAS for science, overall and by strand. It is the blending of the social (listening and speaking) with the academic (reading and writing) that is also important and possibly more important.

Possible Effects of Strategy Instruction on L1 and L2 Reading.

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Salataci, Reyhan; Akyel, Ayse

2002-01-01

Investigates the reading strategies of Turkish English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students in Turkish and English and the possible effects of reading instruction on reading in Turkish and English. Addresses whether strategy instruction in EFL reading effects EFL reading strategies and reading comprehension in English , and whether strategy…

Foreign Language Reading Anxiety among Yemeni Secondary School Students

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Yehia Ahmed Y. Al-Sohbani

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to examine Foreign Language (FL reading anxiety level of Arabicspeaking Yemeni students learning English as a foreign language (n = 106. It utilized (a a background information questionnaire, (b the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS, and (c students' English school marks. Results of the study showed that learners of English experienced an above moderate level of FL reading anxiety. There was no significant difference between students' FL reading anxiety and their gender. However, a statistically reliable difference between the means of public and private schools regarding their FL reading anxiety in favor of the private school. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between students' FL reading anxiety and their type of school. Difficulties of uncertainty, pronunciation of English words, unfamiliar topic, unknown vocabulary, reading aloud, using word by word translation, unfamiliar English culture and history, unfamiliar grammar, English letters and symbols were identified as the major sources of FL reading anxiety.

A Corpus of Writing, Pronunciation, Reading, and Listening by Learners of English as a Foreign Language

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Kotani, Katsunori; Yoshimi, Takehiko; Nanjo, Hiroaki; Isahara, Hitoshi

2016-01-01

In order to develop effective teaching methods and computer-assisted language teaching systems for learners of English as a foreign language who need to study the basic linguistic competences for writing, pronunciation, reading, and listening, it is necessary to first investigate which vocabulary and grammar they have or have not yet learned.…

Radiological English

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ribes, R. [Hospital Reina Sofia, Cordoba (Spain). Servicio de Radiologia; Ros, P.R. [Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States). Div. of Radiology

2007-07-01

The book is an introductory book to radiological English on the basis that there are a lot of radiologists, radiology residents, radiology nurses, radiology students, and radiographers worldwide whose English level is indeterminate because their reading skills are much higher than their fluency. It is intended to help those health care professionals who need English for their work but do not speak English on a day-to-day basis. (orig.)

Radiological English

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ribes, R.; Ros, P.R.

2007-01-01

The book is an introductory book to radiological English on the basis that there are a lot of radiologists, radiology residents, radiology nurses, radiology students, and radiographers worldwide whose English level is indeterminate because their reading skills are much higher than their fluency. It is intended to help those health care professionals who need English for their work but do not speak English on a day-to-day basis. (orig.)

Impact of multimodality in reading comprehension of narrative texts in English as a foreign language (EFL in undergraduate students

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Fernando Vera Millalén

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This research seeks to compare the effect that monomodal and multimodal tests have on the reading comprehension level of English-written narrative texts that EFL learners achieve at a private Chilean university. For this purpose, a quasi-experiment was performed, using a monomodal reading comprehension test and another multimodal one, with intact groups. The experimental group took the multimodal format test, while the control group took the monomodal format test. The interest of this research focused on the need to integrate multimodal texts in L2 reading comprehension. The results endorse the hypothesis that students reach higher comprehension levels in multimodal reading comprehension tests.

Punctuation and Implicit Prosody in Silent Reading: An ERP Study Investigating English Garden-Path Sentences

Science.gov (United States)

Drury, John E.; Baum, Shari R.; Valeriote, Hope; Steinhauer, Karsten

2016-01-01

This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit) prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 × 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party vs. John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party). The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011). In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading. PMID:27695428

Punctuation and implicit prosody in silent reading: An ERP study investigating English garden-path sentences

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John E. Drury

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 x 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party versus John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party. The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011. In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading.

Celebrating diversity: the significance of cultural differences on reading comprehension processes of the young adult EFL learner in a matriculation preparation programme in Israel

OpenAIRE

Hellerstein-Yehezkel, Devora

2013-01-01

Reading comprehension in English as a foreign language (EFL) is a key to success in academic studies in Israel. As Israel is a cultural melting pot, adult students come from widely diverse educational backgrounds, often determined by their cultural environment. They arrive at the university or college classroom with vastly different approaches to learning and reading, in general, and to reading in EFL, in particular. The challenge for the EFL teacher is to help students draw from their cultur...

English language status and English communication in culturally diverse academic departments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Selmer, Jan; Lauring, Jakob

2011-01-01

universities, results showed that English fluency had a positive association with inter-individual communication and management communication, both in English, while linguistic distance only had a positive relationship with inter-individual communication in English. Implications of these findings are discussed...

English Language Teaching Through Literature : An Application of English Poetry in the High School English Textbook to the Classroom

OpenAIRE

濵口, 脩

2004-01-01

The aim of this present paper is to review the present state of English poetry in the high school English textbooks in Japan and to propose some practical application of English poems to the English language classroom. Several cases in which English poems are found in actual English high school textbooks are discussed, and then, since there seems to be no explanation of teaching English poems, with some notes of them and of reading English poems in general, some practical suggetions for impro...

The Effect of English Verbal Songs on Connected Speech Aspects of Adult English Learners’ Speech Production

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Farshid Tayari Ashtiani

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The present study was an attempt to investigate the impact of English verbal songs on connected speech aspects of adult English learners’ speech production. 40 participants were selected based on the results of their performance in a piloted and validated version of NELSON test given to 60 intermediate English learners in a language institute in Tehran. Then they were equally distributed in two control and experimental groups and received a validated pretest of reading aloud and speaking in English. Afterward, the treatment was performed in 18 sessions by singing preselected songs culled based on some criteria such as popularity, familiarity, amount, and speed of speech delivery, etc. In the end, the posttests of reading aloud and speaking in English were administered. The results revealed that the treatment had statistically positive effects on the connected speech aspects of English learners’ speech production at statistical .05 level of significance. Meanwhile, the results represented that there was not any significant difference between the experimental group’s mean scores on the posttests of reading aloud and speaking. It was thus concluded that providing the EFL learners with English verbal songs could positively affect connected speech aspects of both modes of speech production, reading aloud and speaking. The Findings of this study have pedagogical implications for language teachers to be more aware and knowledgeable of the benefits of verbal songs to promote speech production of language learners in terms of naturalness and fluency. Keywords: English Verbal Songs, Connected Speech, Speech Production, Reading Aloud, Speaking

Reading in Two Orthographies: A Cross-Linguistic Study of Dutch Average and Poor Readers Who Learn English as a Second Language

Science.gov (United States)

Morfidi, Eleni; van der Leij, Aryan; de Jong, Peter F.; Scheltinga, Femke; Bekebrede, Judith

2007-01-01

The present study investigated the reading of secondary school students in their first and second language (L1, L2). Twenty-six average and twenty-six poor readers matched on age, gender, listening and reading comprehension participated. They were native Dutch speakers who started learning English at secondary school (grade 7). We examined whether…

Design and Implementation of English for Academic Purpose Online Learning System Based on Browser/Server Framework

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Yan Gong

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Today, with the rapid development of the information age, the education reform tends to be internationalized. The tertiary-level EFL education in colleges and universities has also changed its original model with focuses on cultivating gen-eral-purpose linguistic skills to one on students' English for Academic Purpose (EAP. EAP English instruction has been vigorously popularized in research-based universities. To achieve the informationized and standardized management for EAP English instruction work in the universities, in this paper, we design and develop a EAP English online learning system with B / S as the system develop-ment framework by which the system's overall functions are designed. MySQL is chosen as a database development tool used to implement the main object mod-ule, while JSP technology is used to support the cross-platform mechanism in order to access to diversified data sources. It is proved by the test on system op-eration that this system features operability, easy to use and maintain, and enables to meet the needs of university students for EAP English learning and teaching management, improves the students’ EAP English learning model and efficiency.

Predictive Validity of Curriculum-Based Measures for English Learners at Varying English Proficiency Levels

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Kim, Jennifer Sun; Vanderwood, Michael L.; Lee, Catherine Y.

2016-01-01

This study examined the predictive validity of curriculum-based measures in reading for Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) at various levels of English proficiency. Third-grade Spanish-speaking EL students were screened during the fall using DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF) and Daze. Predictive validity was examined in relation to spring…

Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem, and Academic Achievement: A Case Study of English Department Students, Binus University

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Wiwik Andreani

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This study examines the comparison between English Department students’ emotional intelligence (EQ, their self-esteem and their academic achievement. Twenty-two students participated in the research by answering EQ test and two Self-Esteem questionnaires. The result shows that there is no relation between students’ GPA and their self-esteem and EQ. This means that academic ability does not correspond to social skills. Though most students have average EQ and self-esteem, one student has High EQ, High Self-esteem and a 2.95 GPA (out of 4.  

A Case Study of Peer Review Practices of Four Adolescent English Language Learners in Face-to-Face and Online Contexts

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Vorobel, Oksana

2013-01-01

Peer review is a complex collaborative activity, which may engage English language learners in reading, writing, listening, and speaking and carry many potential benefits for their language learning (Hu, 2005). While many research studies focused on peer review practices of adult language learners in academic settings in the USA or abroad in…

Japanese College Students' Attitudes towards Japan English and American English

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Sasayama, Shoko

2013-01-01

This study investigated contemporary Japanese college students' attitudes towards Japan English (JE) and American English (AE) through a verbal guise test (VGT) as well as a questionnaire. Forty-four Japanese college students listened to four Japanese and four North Americans reading a text in English, rated them in terms of solidarity-related…

Development and Usability Test of an e-Learning Tool for Engineering Graduates to Develop Academic Writing in English: A Case Study

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Lin, Chih-Chung; Liu, Gi-Zen; Wang, Tzong-I

2017-01-01

Many non-native English speaking (NNES) graduates are required to write academic papers in English; consequently, recent research in the past decade has been devoted to investigating the usefulness of genre-based Writing Instructions (GBWI) on learners' writing cultivation. There is little specific guidance, however, on how GBWI can be employed in…

Using a Multidimensional Measure of Resilience to Explain Life Satisfaction and Academic Achievement of Adults with Reading Difficulties

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Stack-Cutler, Holly L.; Parrila, Rauno K.; Torppa, Minna

2015-01-01

We assessed the impact of intrapersonal and interpersonal resilience, persistence, and number of difficulties in addition to reading problems on life satisfaction (general, social, and self) and academic achievement. A total of 120 adults with reading difficulties who either were completing a university degree or were recent graduates responded to…

Use of Chunking and Questioning Aloud to Improve the Reading Comprehension of English Language Learners with Disabilities. ELLs with Disabilities Report 17

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Barrera, Manuel; Liu, Kristi; Thurlow, Martha; Chamberlain, Steve

2006-01-01

English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities struggle with reading and the reasons for their struggles are not well understood owing to little knowledge about the impact of disability on language development in either the first or second language (Klingner et al., 2006). Nevertheless, this difficulty in reading achievement historically has…

Effective instruction for English learners.

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Calderón, Margarita; Slavin, Robert; Sánchez, Marta

2011-01-01

The fastest-growing student population in U.S. schools today is children of immigrants, half of whom do not speak English fluently and are thus labeled English learners. Although the federal government requires school districts to provide services to English learners, it offers states no policies to follow in identifying, assessing, placing, or instructing them. Margarita Calderón, Robert Slavin, and Marta Sánchez identify the elements of effective instruction and review a variety of successful program models. During 2007-08, more than 5.3 million English learners made up 10.6 percent of the nation's K-12 public school enrollment. Wide and persistent achievement disparities between these English learners and English-proficient students show clearly, say the authors, that schools must address the language, literacy, and academic needs of English learners more effectively. Researchers have fiercely debated the merits of bilingual and English-only reading instruction. In elementary schools, English learners commonly receive thirty minutes of English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction but attend general education classes for the rest of the day, usually with teachers who are unprepared to teach them. Though English learners have strikingly diverse levels of skills, in high school they are typically lumped together, with one teacher to address their widely varying needs. These in-school factors contribute to the achievement disparities. Based on the studies presented here, Calderón, Slavin, and Sánchez assert that the quality of instruction is what matters most in educating English learners. They highlight comprehensive reform models, as well as individual components of these models: school structures and leadership; language and literacy instruction; integration of language, literacy, and content instruction in secondary schools; cooperative learning; professional development; parent and family support teams; tutoring; and monitoring implementation and outcomes

How do faculty conceptions on reading, writing and their role in the teaching of academic literacies influence their inclusive attitude

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Laura Colombo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study explored faculty conceptions about reading and writing, the student body, reasons for student low-performance as well as their declared teaching practices aimed at helping students to better understand readings and write academic texts. The objective was to understand what type of professors´ conceptions contributed with a more inclusive attitude towards first-year students. Content analysis from data gathered from in-depth interviews indicates that professors who acknowledged the complexity of the reading and writing processes tend to be more inclusive and to use reading and writing to teach and not just to evaluate. Those who taught writing courses tended to consider writing as a general skill, transferable to other contexts and spheres of knowledge. Less-inclusive teachers, explaining why they did not offer guidance or proposed remedial solutions, claimed that students should already have mastered academic reading and writing when entering the university and that teaching these skills implied being overprotective and not allowing them to mature.

To elaborate and implement a brochure of reading strategies with a focus on andragogy “Reading is learning” in order to enhance Reading skills in ESL students of the B1+ level of the Language Centre at Universidad Técnica de Ambato, academic period 2015

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Hidalgo Camacho, Cynthia Soledad

2016-01-01

This research work: to elaborate and to implement a brochure with Reading strategies “Reading is learning”, aims to enhance Reading comprehension in students from the B1+ level of English, at the languages center in Universidad Técnica De Ambato. The students’ population groups found here are adults from 18 to 40 years of age. Although reading can definitely be affected by some personal factors such as formal educational background, frequency of reading, types of texts used, attitude of th...

From Native-like Selections to English Academic Performance: Exploring the Knowledge Base of English Bilinguals

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Hamid Gomari

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Pawley and Syder (1983 pointed out that idiomatic expressions can be discussed in terms of nativelike selection (NLS, which refers to the ability of the native speaker to express his/her intended meaning using an expression that is not only grammatical but also nativelike. In the current study, Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used to investigate the possible correlations between the variables of language contact (LC, language attitude (LA, and language motivation (LM integrative (Int.M and instrumental (Inst.M, age of L2 onset (AoO, and length of exposure to target language (LoE and English bilinguals’ (EBs knowledge of NLS in an international school—a semi-naturalistic setting. A possible correlation between EB’s NLS scores and their English academic performance (EAP was examined as well. Moreover, multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the factors predicting EB’s NLS knowledge. The participants were 281 high school students of mixed gender and ethnicity from an international school in the Philippines. Different questionnaires were used to collect data related to LC, LoE, AoA, LA, and LM. Data concerning NLS knowledge and EAP were gathered using a receptive NLS test together with a standardized English test. The results of the correlation analyses indicated that the variables of LC, LoE, Int.M, and AoO were significantly related to EBs’ knowledge of NLS. Moreover, a significant positive correlation was found between EB’s knowledge of NLS and their EAP. The results of regression analysis yet revealed that the variables of LC, LA, and Int.M predicted EB’s NLS knowledge. The findings provided pedagogical implications for those involved in EFL/ESL teaching, particularly in international schools.

AN ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH THESIS WRITING: A Case Study of English Department of UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung

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