WorldWideScience

Sample records for activities include reading

  1. Pre-reading activities in EFL/ESL reading textbooks and Turkish preparatory school teachers' attitudes toward pre-reading activities

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    Jecksembieyva, Nurgaisha

    1993-01-01

    Ankara : Faculty of Humanities and Letters and the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University, 1993. Thesis (Master's) -- -Bilkent University, 1993. Includes bibliographical references leaves 35-40. The main focus of this study was to investigate pre-reading activities in EFL/ESL reading textbooks and to determine teachers' attitudes toward pre-reading activities. Fifteen reading textbooks for EFL/ESL students for different proficiency levels (beginning, interm...

  2. Elementary Science and Reading Activities for Teacher Educators.

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    Rezba, Richard J.

    The author suggests ways reading can be integrated with science and describes the reading activities in an elementary science methods course. The activities include: (1) selecting a science tradebook for children to review and for the teacher to analyze vocabulary; (2) helping children review science tradebooks; and (3) encouraging independent…

  3. The Explicit Instruction of Reading Strategies: Directed Reading Thinking Activity vs. Guided Reading Strategies

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    Mohammad Mehdi Yazdani

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Investigating the efficiencies and deficiencies of reading strategies is one of the noticeable issues in the related theory and research in reading comprehension instruction. This study was to examine the impact of Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA and Guided Reading (GR on reading comprehension. Sixty three Iranian students of grade one in Shahed high school in the city of Bojnourd took part in the study. They were assigned in three groups, one control and two experimental groups. The instruction lasted for ten weeks. This study utilized a pretest posttest control group in quantitative quasi- experimental design. The same reading comprehension test was administered as pre-test and post-test. The results were twofold: First, the instruction of learning strategies could foster reading comprehension skill. Second, while the explicit instruction of both strategies could improve the students' reading comprehension skill, Directed Reading Thinking Activity had a more significant positive effect than Guided Reading.

  4. AUTHENTIC TEXTS FOR CRITICAL READING ACTIVITIES

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    Ila Amalia

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This research takes an action research aimed at promoting critical reading (“thinking” while reading skills using authentic materials among the students. This research also aims to reveal the students perception on using critical reading skills in reading activities. Nineteen English Education Department students who took Reading IV class, participated in this project. There were three cycles with three different critical reading strategies were applied. Meanwhile, the authentic materials were taken from newspaper and internet articles. The result revealed that the use of critical reading strategies along with the use of authentic materials has improved students’ critical reading skills as seen from the improvement of each cycle - the students critical reading skill was 54% (fair in the cycle 1 improved to 68% (average in cycle 2, and 82% (good in cycle 3.. In addition, based on the critical reading skill criteria, the students’ critical reading skill has improved from 40% (nearly meet to 80% (exceed. Meanwhile, from the students’ perception questionnaire, it was shown that 63% students agreed the critical reading activity using authentic text could improve critical thinking and 58% students agreed that doing critical reading activity could improve reading comprehension. The result had the implication that the use of authentic texts could improve students’ critical reading skills if it was taught by performing not lecturing them. Selectively choosing various strategies and materials can trigger students’ activeness in responding to a text, that eventually shape their critical reading skills.

  5. Do You Read Me? Service Supplement: Reading Development Activities Guide.

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    Kendall, Elizabeth L.; Chenoweth, Roberta

    This activity guide is one of four supplements to be used with "Do You Read Me? Prevocational-Vocational Reading Development Activities" (ED 210 454). Each supplement deals with a different occupational category. Games, puzzles, and other activities are offered to aid in developing the word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension…

  6. Using reading to teach a world language strategies and activities

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    Spangler, Donna

    2015-01-01

    To help your students learn a world language, don't forget the power of reading! In this practical book from Donna Spangler and John Alex Mazzante, you'll gain a variety of strategies and activities that you can use to teach students to read in a world language, boosting their comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Perfect for any age or proficiency level, these classroom-ready activities can easily be adapted to suit your needs! Special features: A discussion of the challenges to teaching reading in the world language classroom A variety of adaptable pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading strategies and activities for students across grade levels and languages Essential tips for cultivating vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension Reader's Theater - a special chapter of strategies for implementing this exciting technique A list of helpful websites and apps for world language teachers Useful appendices, including reproducible material for your classroom Busy world language teachers will love this book's...

  7. Active Reading Behaviors in Tablet-Based Learning

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    Palilonis, Jennifer; Bolchini, Davide

    2015-01-01

    Active reading is fundamental to learning. However, there is little understanding about whether traditional active reading frameworks sufficiently characterize how learners study multimedia tablet textbooks. This paper explores the nature of active reading in the tablet environment through a qualitative study that engaged 30 students in an active…

  8. How Reading Volume Affects both Reading Fluency and Reading Achievement

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    Richard L. ALLINGTON

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Long overlooked, reading volume is actually central to the development of reading proficiencies, especially in the development of fluent reading proficiency. Generally no one in schools monitors the actual volume of reading that children engage in. We know that the commonly used commercial core reading programs provide only material that requires about 15 minutes of reading activity daily. The remaining 75 minute of reading lessons is filled with many other activities such as completing workbook pages or responding to low-level literal questions about what has been read. Studies designed to enhance the volume of reading that children do during their reading lessons demonstrate one way to enhance reading development. Repeated readings have been widely used in fostering reading fluency but wide reading options seem to work faster and more broadly in developing reading proficiencies, including oral reading fluency.

  9. Understanding Children's Reading Activities: Reading Motivation, Skill and Child Characteristics as Predictors

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    McGeown, Sarah P.; Osborne, Cara; Warhurst, Amy; Norgate, Roger; Duncan, Lynne G.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the extent to which a range of child characteristics (sex, age, socioeconomic status, reading skill and intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation) predicted engagement (i.e., time spent) in different reading activities (fiction books, factual books, school textbooks, comics, magazines and digital texts). In total, 791 children…

  10. Mothers' Reading-Related Activities at Home and Learning to Read during Kindergarten

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    Silinskas, Gintautas; Parrila, Rauno; Lerkkanen, Marja-Kristiina; Poikkeus, Anna-Maija; Niemi, Pekka; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

    2010-01-01

    This longitudinal study investigates how the reading-related activities of mothers at home relate to the development of reading skills among their kindergarten children. A total of 1,529 children (5-to-6-year-olds) were tested on word reading twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of a kindergarten year. The mothers of the children (n =…

  11. Home Reading Environment and Brain Activation in Preschool Children Listening to Stories.

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    Hutton, John S; Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Mendelsohn, Alan L; DeWitt, Tom; Holland, Scott K

    2015-09-01

    Parent-child reading is widely advocated to promote cognitive development, including in recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics to begin this practice at birth. Although parent-child reading has been shown in behavioral studies to improve oral language and print concepts, quantifiable effects on the brain have not been previously studied. Our study used blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the relationship between home reading environment and brain activity during a story listening task in a sample of preschool-age children. We hypothesized that while listening to stories, children with greater home reading exposure would exhibit higher activation of left-sided brain regions involved with semantic processing (extraction of meaning). Nineteen 3- to 5-year-old children were selected from a longitudinal study of normal brain development. All completed blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging using an age-appropriate story listening task, where narrative alternated with tones. We performed a series of whole-brain regression analyses applying composite, subscale, and individual reading-related items from the validated StimQ-P measure of home cognitive environment as explanatory variables for neural activation. Higher reading exposure (StimQ-P Reading subscale score) was positively correlated (P eco-bio-developmental models of emergent literacy. Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  12. Enhancing Reading Comprehension of Iranian Advanced EFL Learners through Task-based Reading Activities

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    Vahid Fallah Golchin

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Language learning has experienced a shift of focus from a form-focused to a meaning-focused approach, and the necessity of using task-based learning, a relatively recent approach, has emerged. The vital role of task-based materials makes it obligatory not to exclude them from the language learning syllabi.  The current study aims at investigating whether task-based reading can contribute significantly to the development of reading comprehension of Iranian advanced EFL learners of English. An experimental study was carried out in order to scrutinize the applicability of task-based language teaching. To this end, 60 female advanced EFL learners, selected from among a pool of 100 learners, were assigned equally and randomly into two groups of thirty, consisting of an experimental and a control group. The selection of the participants was based on the results of a standard and piloted version of Paper-based TOEFL. The participant’s mean age was about 23, ranging from 20 to 27 years of age. Both groups received a pretest and a post-test of reading. During the treatment period the experimental group received task-based reading activities while the control group received reading instructions through traditional methods. The impact of the treatment upon the reading comprehension ability of the participants was analyzed through an independent-samples t-test, and comparisons between groups were made. The results clearly indicated the development of reading comprehension ability of the participants in the first group (the experimental group through the application of task-based reading activities.

  13. Engaging Struggling Early Readers to Promote Reading Success: A Pilot Study of Reading by Design

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    Mendez, Linda M. Raffaele; Pelzmann, Catherine A.; Frank, Michael J.

    2016-01-01

    In this study, we piloted a Tier 2 intervention designed to improve reading skills among struggling early readers using an intervention that included SRA Reading Mastery, listening-while-reading activities, strategies to increase motivation and engagement in reading, and parent involvement in reading homework. The study included 6 students in…

  14. Iowa City Reads! The Reading Event Worth Shouting About.

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    Donham van Deusen, Jean; Langhorne, Mary Jo

    1997-01-01

    Describes the Community Reading Month (CRM) initiative in Iowa City, Iowa; its goals are to promote the value of reading and to build a sense of community. Topics include the development of CRM, increased reading scores of Iowa City's elementary school students, activities for people of all ages, and planning and evaluation. (AEF)

  15. Patterns of cerebral activation during lexical and phonological reading in Portuguese

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    Senaha M.L.H.

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available According to the concepts of cognitive neuropsychology, there are two principal routes of reading processing: a lexical route, in which global reading of words occurs and a phonological route, responsible for the conversion of the graphemes into their respective phonemes. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI was used to investigate the patterns of cerebral activation in lexical and phonological reading by 13 healthy women with a formal educational level greater than 11 years. Participants were submitted to a silent reading task containing three types of stimuli: real words (irregular and foreign words, nonwords and illegitimate graphic stimuli. An increased number of activated voxels were identified by fMRI in the word reading (lexical processing than in the nonword reading (phonological processing task. In word reading, activation was greater than for nonwords in the following areas: superior, middle and inferior frontal gyri, and bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right cerebellum and the left precentral gyrus, as indicated by fMRI. In the reading of nonwords, the activation was predominant in the right cerebellum and in the left superior temporal gyrus. The results of the present study suggest the existence of differences in the patterns of cerebral activation during lexical and phonological reading, with greater involvement of the right hemisphere in reading words than nonwords.

  16. 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

  17. INTEREST AND READING MOTIVATION

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    Alhamdu Alhamdu

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between interest and reading motivation based on literature review. The concept of the interest portrayed as a psychological state that occurs during interaction between individual and specific topic, object or activity including process of willingness, increased attention, concentration and positive feeling to the topic, object or activity. Meanwhile reading motivation emphasized to mental readiness, willingness and refers to beliefs and perception of individual to engage in reading activity. Some researchers were identified factors that influenced reading motivation such as intrinsic and extrinsic factors, self-concept and value of reading, and interest. In general, the literature review described that have positive relationship between interest and reading motivation.

  18. The BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism Influences Reading Ability and Patterns of Neural Activation in Children.

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    Kaja K Jasińska

    Full Text Available Understanding how genes impact the brain's functional activation for learning and cognition during development remains limited. We asked whether a common genetic variant in the BDNF gene (the Val66Met polymorphism modulates neural activation in the young brain during a critical period for the emergence and maturation of the neural circuitry for reading. In animal models, the bdnf variation has been shown to be associated with the structure and function of the developing brain and in humans it has been associated with multiple aspects of cognition, particularly memory, which are relevant for the development of skilled reading. Yet, little is known about the impact of the Val66Met polymorphism on functional brain activation in development, either in animal models or in humans. Here, we examined whether the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism (dbSNP rs6265 is associated with children's (age 6-10 neural activation patterns during a reading task (n = 81 using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI, genotyping, and standardized behavioral assessments of cognitive and reading development. Children homozygous for the Val allele at the SNP rs6265 of the BDNF gene outperformed Met allele carriers on reading comprehension and phonological memory, tasks that have a strong memory component. Consistent with these behavioral findings, Met allele carriers showed greater activation in reading-related brain regions including the fusiform gyrus, the left inferior frontal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus as well as greater activation in the hippocampus during a word and pseudoword reading task. Increased engagement of memory and spoken language regions for Met allele carriers relative to Val/Val homozygotes during reading suggests that Met carriers have to exert greater effort required to retrieve phonological codes.

  19. The BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism Influences Reading Ability and Patterns of Neural Activation in Children.

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    Jasińska, Kaja K; Molfese, Peter J; Kornilov, Sergey A; Mencl, W Einar; Frost, Stephen J; Lee, Maria; Pugh, Kenneth R; Grigorenko, Elena L; Landi, Nicole

    2016-01-01

    Understanding how genes impact the brain's functional activation for learning and cognition during development remains limited. We asked whether a common genetic variant in the BDNF gene (the Val66Met polymorphism) modulates neural activation in the young brain during a critical period for the emergence and maturation of the neural circuitry for reading. In animal models, the bdnf variation has been shown to be associated with the structure and function of the developing brain and in humans it has been associated with multiple aspects of cognition, particularly memory, which are relevant for the development of skilled reading. Yet, little is known about the impact of the Val66Met polymorphism on functional brain activation in development, either in animal models or in humans. Here, we examined whether the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism (dbSNP rs6265) is associated with children's (age 6-10) neural activation patterns during a reading task (n = 81) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), genotyping, and standardized behavioral assessments of cognitive and reading development. Children homozygous for the Val allele at the SNP rs6265 of the BDNF gene outperformed Met allele carriers on reading comprehension and phonological memory, tasks that have a strong memory component. Consistent with these behavioral findings, Met allele carriers showed greater activation in reading-related brain regions including the fusiform gyrus, the left inferior frontal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus as well as greater activation in the hippocampus during a word and pseudoword reading task. Increased engagement of memory and spoken language regions for Met allele carriers relative to Val/Val homozygotes during reading suggests that Met carriers have to exert greater effort required to retrieve phonological codes.

  20. The Relevant Factors in Promoting Reading Activities in Elementary Schools

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    Huang, Han-Chen; Tsai, Yao-Hsu; Huang, Shih-Hsiang

    2015-01-01

    In order to help students absorb knowledge, schools often conduct reading activities. Thorough planning and strategies, however, are needed to insure the effect of reading promotions, and make them a deeply-rooted part of life. This study adopted the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to discuss the relevant factors in promoting reading activities…

  1. Encouraging Recreational Reading (The Printout).

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    Balajthy, Ernest

    1988-01-01

    Describes computer software, including "The Electronic Bookshelf" and "Return to Reading," which provides motivation for recreational reading in various ways, including: quizzes, games based on books, and whole language activities for children's literature and young adult fiction. (MM)

  2. Can Reading Questions Foster Active Learning? A Study of Six College Courses

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    Koontz, T. M.; Plank, K. M.

    2011-01-01

    Many instructors strive to encourage student reading outside of class and active learning in class. One pedagogical tool, structured reading questions, can help do both. Using examples from question sets across six courses, the authors illustrate how reading questions can help students achieve the six active-learning principles described by…

  3. Improving South African third graders’ reading skills: Lessons learnt from the use of Guided Reading approach

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    Mohlanhledi P. Makumbila

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This professional development project, known as Literacy Leadership Project, enabled four Foundation Phase teachers in South Africa to implement the Guided Reading approach. Developed by American researchers Fountas and Pinnell (1996, Guided Reading helps elementary students strengthen their phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension and fluency in small group activities. Over an 8-month period, lessons learnt came from data collected from this professional development included workshop activities, classroom observations, teachers’ group discussions and students’ artefacts. Results indicated improvement in students’ literacy engagement and motivation because of the use of levelled books, oral reading and group activities Keywords:  Guided Reading programme; foundation phase; childhood literacy; teacher professional development; literacy leadership; South Africa

  4. Investigating the Effects of Repeated Reading and NLP : Language Patterns on Reading Rate

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    Ben, Backwell; Brian, Cullen

    2018-01-01

    This paper investigates EFL student reading speed and describes a quasi-experimental study that attempted to quantify the effects of repeated reading and the use of NLP language patterns in the instructions. An experimental group (n=30) and a control group (n=30) carried out the same timed reading activity three times each lesson for five lessons. The instructions for the experimental group included NLP language patterns designed to promote faster reading. It was shown that the repeated readi...

  5. Activating the Need to Know in Reading Instruction: One Teacher Educator's Practice

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    Nelson, Priscilla S.

    2012-01-01

    This article examines one teacher educator's teaching of reading methods at a university that was recognized for exemplary reading instruction. Data collected over the course of one semester indicated that she modeled the teaching of reading and served as a catalyst in activating preservice teachers' need to know about how to teach reading by…

  6. Why should I read? - A cross-cultural investigation into adolescents' reading socialisation and reading attitude

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    Broeder, Peter; Stokmans, Mia

    2013-06-01

    While reading behaviour of adolescents is a frequent object of research, most studies in this field are restricted to a single country. This study investigates reading as a leisure-time activity across social groups from three regions differing in reading tradition as well as in the facilities available for reading. The authors analyse the reading behaviour of a total of 2,173 adolescents in the Netherlands, in Beijing (China), and in Cape Town (South Africa). Taking Icek Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour as a starting point, the authors adjusted it to model the three most important determinants of reading behaviour, namely (1) reading attitude; (2) subjective norms (implicit and explicit social pressure to read); and (3) perceived behavioural control, which includes reading proficiency and appropriateness of the available books (book supply). While they found the adjusted model to fit the Dutch and Beijing situation quite well, it appeared to be inappropriate for the Cape Town situation. Despite considerable cultural and situational differences between the Netherlands and Beijing, the results show a similar pattern for these two environments. The most important determinants turn out to be: the hedonic reading attitude, the implicit norm of family and friends, the attractiveness of the available choice of books, and the perceived reading proficiency.

  7. Imaging seizure activity: a combined EEG/EMG-fMRI study in reading epilepsy.

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    Salek-Haddadi, Afraim; Mayer, Thomas; Hamandi, Khalid; Symms, Mark; Josephs, Oliver; Fluegel, Dominique; Woermann, Friedrich; Richardson, Mark P; Noppeney, Uta; Wolf, Peter; Koepp, Matthias J

    2009-02-01

    To characterize the spatial relationship between activations related to language-induced seizure activity, language processing, and motor control in patients with reading epilepsy. We recorded and simultaneously monitored several physiological parameters [voice-recording, electromyography (EMG), electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG)] during blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in nine patients with reading epilepsy. Individually tailored language paradigms were used to induce and record habitual seizures inside the MRI scanner. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used for structural brain analysis. Reading-induced seizures occurred in six out of nine patients. One patient experienced abundant orofacial reflex myocloni during silent reading in association with bilateral frontal or generalized epileptiform discharges. In a further five patients, symptoms were only elicited while reading aloud with self-indicated events. Consistent activation patterns in response to reading-induced myoclonic seizures were observed within left motor and premotor areas in five of these six patients, in the left striatum (n = 4), in mesiotemporal/limbic areas (n = 4), in Brodmann area 47 (n = 3), and thalamus (n = 2). These BOLD activations were overlapping or adjacent to areas physiologically activated during language and facial motor tasks. No subtle structural abnormalities common to all patients were identified using VBM, but one patient had a left temporal ischemic lesion. Based on the findings, we hypothesize that reflex seizures occur in reading epilepsy when a critical mass of neurons are activated through a provoking stimulus within corticoreticular and corticocortical circuitry subserving normal functions.

  8. From word reading to multisentence comprehension: Improvements in brain activity in children with autism after reading intervention

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    Donna L. Murdaugh

    2017-01-01

    Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for differential recruitment of brain regions based on task demands in children with ASD, and support the potential of targeted interventions to alter brain activation in response to positive gains in treatment. Children with ASD have a different reading profile from other reading disorders that needs to be specifically targeted in interventions.

  9. The Value of Picture-Book Reading-Based Collaborative Output Activities for Vocabulary Retention

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    Sun, Chia-Ho

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of three instructional modes: picture-book reading-only (PRO), picture-book reading plus vocabulary instruction (PRVI), and picture-book reading plus reading-based collaborative output activity (PRCOA) on young adult EFL (English as a foreign language) learners' vocabulary acquisition and retention. Eighty…

  10. Reading Habit Promotion in ASEAN Libraries.

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    Sangkaeo, Somsong

    This paper describes the activities of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) libraries have undertaken to promote reading by increasing awareness among their people. First, factors limiting reading habits in ASEAN libraries are addressed, including: we are not a reading society, but a chatting society; the management of "3…

  11. Frontal brain activation in young children during picture book reading with their mothers.

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    Ohgi, S; Loo, K K; Mizuike, C

    2010-02-01

    This study was to measure changes in frontal brain activation in young children during picture book reading with their mothers. The cross-sectional sample consisted of 15 young Japanese children (eight girls and seven boys, mean age 23.1 +/- 3.4). Two experimental tasks were presented as follows: Task 1 (picture book reading with their mothers); Task 2 (viewing of book-on-video). Duration of task stimulus was 180-sec and the 60-sec interval was filled. Brain activation was measured using an optical topography system. Significant increases in oxy-Hb were observed in both right and left frontal areas in response to Task 1 compared with Task 2. There were significant correlations between child's brain activity and mothers' and children's verbal-nonverbal behaviours. There was greater frontal lobe activation in children when they were engaged in a picture book reading task with their mothers, as opposed to passive viewing of a videotape in which the story was read to them. Social and verbal engagement of the mother in reading picture books with her young child may mediate frontal brain activity in the child.

  12. Developing reading literacy by reading badge

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    Rejc, Blanka

    2017-01-01

    Reading is a fundamental activity of our society and is present in all areas of a person’s life. Authors who deal with reading define reading with different definitions, some of them I also presented in my master’s degree thesis. The ways of reading, typology of readers and knowledge of different reading models are only some of the important theoretical facts that serve as a basis for the research and defining reading. Reading motivation is an important motivational factor, which encourages a...

  13. Aesthetic-Receptive and Critical-Creative in Appreciative Reading

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    Titin Setiartin

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Reading is a process of aesthetically appreciative receptive to emphasize critical-creative reading activities. Metacognitively students understand, address any and explore the idea of the author in the text. Students responded, criticize, and evaluate the author's ideas in the text. At this stage, students can construct their post read text into other forms (new text. The aim of this strategy equips students to understand the meaning of the story, explore ideas, responding critically, and creatively pouring backstory idea. Reading strategies aesthetically-critical-creative receptive grabbed cognitive, effective, and psychomotor toward literacy critical reading and creative writing. Read appreciative included into the activities of reading comprehension. This activity involves the sensitivity and ability to process aesthetically-receptive reading and critical-creative. Readers imagination roam the author to obtain meaningful understanding and experience of reading. Some models of reading comprehension proposed experts covering the steps before reading, when reading, and after reading. At that stage to enable students after reading thinking abilities. Activities that can be done at this stage, for example, examine the back story, retell, make drawings, diagrams, or maps the concept of reading, as well as making a road map that describes the event. Other activities that can be done is to transform our student's text stories through reinforcement form illustrated stories into comic book form, for example (transliteration.

  14. IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH IINTERACTIVE READ-ALOUD TECHNIQUE

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    Edi Santoso

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: The present study, entitled Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension through Interactive Read-Aloud, attempts to unlock problems found in teaching and reading comprehension through interactive read-aloud in a Senior High School of Sport (SMAN Olah Raga Lampung, in Metro. The findings revealed that students’ reading comprehension improved through interactive read-aloud. The improvement can be seen from the increase of test results, meaning construction, and motivation. The process of reading activities showed that the teacher’s gesture and body language, 20 questions, explain and guess activities were proven to help the students construct meaning from the given texts. In addition, interactive read-aloud is effective to boost students’ motivation to comprehend the texts.   Key words: Reading comprehension, interactive read-aloud.

  15. Teaching students to read the primary literature using POGIL activities.

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    Murray, Tracey Arnold

    2014-01-01

    The ability to read, interpret, and evaluate articles in the primary literature are important skills that science majors will use in graduate school and professional life. Because of this, it is important that students are not only exposed to the primary literature in undergraduate education, but also taught how to read and interpret these articles. To achieve this objective, POGIL activities were designed to use the primary literature in a majors biochemistry sequence. Data show that students were able to learn content from the literature without separate activities or lecture. Students also reported an increase in comfort and confidence in approaching the literature as a result of the activities. Copyright © 2013 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

  16. Shared Reading Quality and Brain Activation during Story Listening in Preschool-Age Children.

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    Hutton, John S; Phelan, Kieran; Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Dudley, Jonathan; Altaye, Mekibib; DeWitt, Tom; Holland, Scott K

    2017-12-01

    To explore the relationship between maternal shared reading quality (verbal interactivity and engagement) and brain function during story listening in at-risk, preschool-age children, in the context of behavioral evidence and American Academy of Pediatrics, recommendations. In this cross-sectional study, 22 healthy, 4-year-old girls from low socioeconomic status households completed functional magnetic resonance imaging using an established story listening task, followed by videotaped observation of uncoached mother-daughter reading of the same, age-appropriate picture book. Shared reading quality was independently scored applying dialogic reading and other evidence-based criteria reflecting interactivity and engagement, and applied as a predictor of neural activation during the functional magnetic resonance imaging task, controlling for income and maternal education. Shared reading quality scores were generally low and negatively correlated with maternal distraction by smartphones (P reading quality is positively correlated with brain activation supporting complex language, executive function, and social-emotional processing in at-risk, preschool-age children. These findings represent novel neural biomarkers of how this modifiable aspect of home reading environment may influence foundational emergent literacy skills, reinforce behavioral evidence and American Academy of Pediatrics, recommendations, and underscore the potential of dialogic reading interventions to promote healthy brain development, especially in at-risk households. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Idea Sharing: The Use of Read-Share-Act to Promote Extensive Reading

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    Charumanee, Nisakorn

    2014-01-01

    Nisakorn Charumanee believes that a reading teacher has an active role in cultivating reading culture or reading habit and in activating students to "want" to read. One way to do this is to integrate extensive reading into the classroom (Day and Bamford, 1998; Bamford and Day, 2004) where extensive reading can be enhanced if the teacher…

  18. A Judicious Lesson: A Whole-Learning Reading Activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spooner, Patrick

    2001-01-01

    Describes a unique language learning activity using the whole language approach in a tertiary level lower advanced reading and speaking course. Following a semester long theme on crime and punishment, students were introduced to an authentic, idiomatic text dealing with a famous murder case in U.S. history. (Author/VWL)

  19. Reading faster

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul Nation

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the visual nature of the reading process as it relates to reading speed. It points out that there is a physical limit on normal reading speed and beyond this limit the reading process will be different from normal reading where almost every word is attended to. The article describes a range of activities for developing reading fluency, and suggests how the development of fluency can become part of a reading programme.

  20. Promoting preschool reading

    OpenAIRE

    Istenič, Vesna

    2013-01-01

    The thesis titled Promoting preschool reading consists of a theoretiral and an empirical part. In the theoretical part I wrote about reading, the importance of reading, types of reading, about reading motivation, promoting reading motivation, internal and external motivation, influence of reading motivation on the child's reading activity, reading and familial literacy, the role of adults in promotion reading literacy, reading to a child and promoting reading in pre-school years, where I ...

  1. Reading Categories Identified in the Reading Activities of a Caregiver and a Middle-Class Child

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isabel, Borja-Alarcón; Astrid, Ramirez Valencia; Alfonso, López-Vega

    2017-01-01

    This paper aims to report the findings of a research project, developed from the need to make contributions about the characteristics that emerge, when a three-year-old child and his caregiver carry reading activities out. By the use of recordings and students' artifacts, in order to collect data; and analyzing the information collected through…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  4. Augmented Reality Game-Based Learning: Enriching Students' Experience during Reading Comprehension Activities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobar-Muñoz, Hendrys; Baldiris, Silvia; Fabregat, Ramon

    2017-01-01

    Program for International Student Assessment results indicate that while reading comprehension needs to be promoted, teachers are struggling to find ways to motivate students to do reading comprehension activities and although technology-enhanced learning approaches are entering the classroom, researchers are still experimenting with them to…

  5. Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son: Reading While Having Fun.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmes, Kerry

    2003-01-01

    This article describes how a first-grade teacher used poetry to provide students of diverse ability levels with reading and language activities that stimulated their interest and improved basic skills. Activities with poetry included reading the poems aloud individually and as a group, discussing and analyzing the poems' words and meanings, and…

  6. The Indonesian EFL Learners' Motivation in Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salikin, Hairus; Bin-Tahir, Saidna Zulfiqar; Kusumaningputri, Reni; Yuliandari, Dian Puji

    2017-01-01

    The motivation will drive the EFL learners to be successful in reading. This study examined the Indonesian EFL learners' motivation in reading activity based on Deci and Ryans' theory of motivation including intrinsic and extrinsic. This study employed mixed-method design. The data obtained by distributing questionnaire and arranging the group…

  7. 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.

  8. [Features of memory and intellectual activity among the elderly with different reading productivity].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yemelianova, T V; Sokolova, L V; Dzhos, Yu S

    The aim of this work was the study of indicators of memory and intellectual activity among the elderly with different reading productivity. The results of the study showed that the elderly were distinguished by a greater number of errors when performing tasks on oral-aural, visual memory and visual-spatial activities. The mistakes made by subjects with low reading productivity may indicate dysfunction of tone and wakefulness, of receiving, processing and storing information, as well as weakening of hemispheric interaction.

  9. Brain bases of reading fluency in typical reading and impaired fluency in dyslexia.

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    Joanna A Christodoulou

    Full Text Available Although the neural systems supporting single word reading are well studied, there are limited direct comparisons between typical and dyslexic readers of the neural correlates of reading fluency. Reading fluency deficits are a persistent behavioral marker of dyslexia into adulthood. The current study identified the neural correlates of fluent reading in typical and dyslexic adult readers, using sentences presented in a word-by-word format in which single words were presented sequentially at fixed rates. Sentences were presented at slow, medium, and fast rates, and participants were asked to decide whether each sentence did or did not make sense semantically. As presentation rates increased, participants became less accurate and slower at making judgments, with comprehension accuracy decreasing disproportionately for dyslexic readers. In-scanner performance on the sentence task correlated significantly with standardized clinical measures of both reading fluency and phonological awareness. Both typical readers and readers with dyslexia exhibited widespread, bilateral increases in activation that corresponded to increases in presentation rate. Typical readers exhibited significantly larger gains in activation as a function of faster presentation rates than readers with dyslexia in several areas, including left prefrontal and left superior temporal regions associated with semantic retrieval and semantic and phonological representations. Group differences were more extensive when behavioral differences between conditions were equated across groups. These findings suggest a brain basis for impaired reading fluency in dyslexia, specifically a failure of brain regions involved in semantic retrieval and semantic and phonological representations to become fully engaged for comprehension at rapid reading rates.

  10. Reading Makes Cents Resource Review

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    Lacie Ashby

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available In today’s economy, it is more crucial than ever to focus our educational efforts on increasing financial literacy. Many young people are unskilled in managing their personal finances, yet this critical life skill will greatly affect their future economic well-being. Reading Makes Cents, developed by Penn State University, is an excellent resource to address this need. A reviewed and recommended curriculum by National 4-H, this complete, easy to use curriculum targets youth in grades 3-5 with a combination of financial literacy and reading. The curriculum explores basic money concepts such as spending, saving, and sharing money. Lessons incorporate hands-on activities and children’s literature to reinforce lesson objectives. With evaluation questions and family activities included, Reading Makes Cents is a perfect guide for educators to easily pick up and teach.

  11. Areas activated during naturalistic reading comprehension overlap topological visual, auditory, and somatotomotor maps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sood, Mariam R; Sereno, Martin I

    2016-08-01

    Cortical mapping techniques using fMRI have been instrumental in identifying the boundaries of topological (neighbor-preserving) maps in early sensory areas. The presence of topological maps beyond early sensory areas raises the possibility that they might play a significant role in other cognitive systems, and that topological mapping might help to delineate areas involved in higher cognitive processes. In this study, we combine surface-based visual, auditory, and somatomotor mapping methods with a naturalistic reading comprehension task in the same group of subjects to provide a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the cortical overlap between sensory-motor maps in all major sensory modalities, and reading processing regions. Our results suggest that cortical activation during naturalistic reading comprehension overlaps more extensively with topological sensory-motor maps than has been heretofore appreciated. Reading activation in regions adjacent to occipital lobe and inferior parietal lobe almost completely overlaps visual maps, whereas a significant portion of frontal activation for reading in dorsolateral and ventral prefrontal cortex overlaps both visual and auditory maps. Even classical language regions in superior temporal cortex are partially overlapped by topological visual and auditory maps. By contrast, the main overlap with somatomotor maps is restricted to a small region on the anterior bank of the central sulcus near the border between the face and hand representations of M-I. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2784-2810, 2016. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Scientific Encounters of the Mysterious Sea. Reading Activities That Explore the Mysterious Creatures of the Deep Blue Sea. Grades 4-7.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Embry, Lynn

    This activity book presents reading activities for grades 4-7 exploring the mysterious creatures of the deep sea. The creatures include: angel sharks; argonauts; barberfish; comb jelly; croakers; electric rays; flying fish; giganturid; lantern fish; narwhals; northern basket starfish; ocean sunfish; Portuguese man-of-war; sea cucumbers; sea…

  13. Note Launchers: Promoting Active Reading of Mathematics Textbooks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helms, Josh W.; Helms, Kimberly Turner

    2010-01-01

    Note launchers, an instructor-designed reading guide, model how to select, decide, and focus upon what textbook material is important to learn. Reading guides are specially-designed study aids that can steer students through difficult parts of assigned readings (Bean, 1996) while encouraging advance preparation. As an example of a reading guide,…

  14. The Habit of Reading: A Neglected Dimension of Adult Reading Instruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fink, Katherine T.; Devine, Thomas G.

    1993-01-01

    Less competent adult readers have not developed the habit of reading. Ways to cultivate adult reading habits include relevant material, environment saturated with reading material, reading aloud to adults, having them read to children, sustained silent reading, modeling, book sharing, author conferences, and recognition. (SK)

  15. The Relationship between Interpersonal Intelligence, Reading Activity and Vocabulary Learning among Iranian EFL Learners

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    Mustapha Hajebi

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper was to describe the relationship between Interpersonal Intelligence and the learners' vocabulary learning through teaching reading activity so as to see whether this type of intelligence contributes to better vocabulary learning and whether there is any significant relationship between the performance of participants with interpersonal intelligence and their vocabulary learning in reading activity or not. This quantitative study consisted of a vocabulary test, a reading passage, an English proficiency test and a Multiple Intelligences questionnaire followed the study. A pre- test and post -test were conducted to get the differences in the students‟ post- test vocabulary score and their pre- test vocabulary score served as their gain score in vocabulary knowledge through reading. The comparison between the students‟ scores showed that there was no significant difference in the final performance of two groups. Therefore, this study doesn‟t support the idea of relationship between interpersonal intelligence and vocabulary learning through reading, but as a positive point, the present study indicated that reading texts can greatly assist the learners in developing the level of their vocabulary knowledge. This study proved to be useful for Iranian EFL learners and also EFL teachers can adopt the technique in their classes to advance their students' language learning. A comparison of the results after the next course cycle will then allow us to assess the effects of enhancing vocabulary knowledge, which would not be possible without reading texts.

  16. Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey Scores for Reading Versus Other Near Visual Activities in School-Age Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Tiana Y; Clark, Robert A

    2015-11-01

    To measure the difference in Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey scores for reading vs favorite near visual activities. Comparative validity analysis of diagnostic tools. At a single clinical private practice, 100 children aged 9-18 with normal binocular vision were recruited to receive either the original survey emphasizing reading or a modified survey replacing "reading" with their favorite near activity. Average survey scores and subscores for questions emphasizing fatigue, discomfort, impaired vision, and cognitive performance were compared using t tests, while responses to individual questions were compared using Mann-Whitney U tests. The average reading survey score was significantly greater than the favorite near activity survey score (14.1 ± 11.5 vs 6.7 ± 5.8, P = .0001). The largest difference resulted from questions emphasizing cognitive performance (subscore 5.8 ± 4.3 vs 2.0 ± 2.1, P = .0000002), although significant differences were also found for fatigue (5.4 ± 3.8 vs 3.0 ± 2.7, P = .0003), discomfort (3.9 ± 4.6 vs 1.8 ± 2.2, P = .004), and impaired vision (3.2 ± 3.9 vs 1.8 ± 2.2, P = .02). Significant differences were found for 7 survey questions, with higher symptom scores for the reading survey in every case. Using survey scores ≥16 to diagnose convergence insufficiency, significantly more children taking the reading survey would have been diagnosed with convergence insufficiency than children taking the favorite near activity survey (19 of 50 [38%] vs 5 of 50 [10%], P = .001). By emphasizing reading, the Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey score significantly overestimates near visual symptoms in children with normal binocular vision compared with symptoms caused by preferred near activities that require similar amplitudes of accommodation and convergence. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Writing-Reading Relationships: Effectiveness of Writing Activities As Pre-Reading Tasks to Enhance L2 Inferential Reading Comprehension

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    Thilina Indrajie Wickramaarachchi

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The study examines the interaction between reading and writing processes in general and more specifically the impact of pre-reading tasks incorporating writing tasks (referred to as “prw tasks” in helping the development of inferential reading comprehension. A sample of 70 first year ESL students of the University of Kelaniya were initially selected with one group (experimental group engaging in “prw tasks” while the other group (control group performing the tasks without a pre-reading component. The intervention was for 6 sessions (one hour in each session. At the end of each session, the performance of the two groups was measured and the test scores were analyzed using the data analysis package SPSS to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. The results indicated that the experimental group had significantly performed better than the control group which indicated the effectiveness of the prw tasks in improving reading comprehension.

  18. Miraculous Readings: Using Fantasy Novels about Reading to Reflect on Reading the Bible

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalton, Russell W.

    2009-01-01

    This article reflects on the vivid images of reading presented in several popular fantasy novels, including "The Spiderwick Chronicles," "The Great Good Thing," and "The Neverending Story." It suggests that these images can be used to help children, youth, and adults reflect on the nature of reading and the potential power of reading sacred texts.…

  19. Reading Instructional Management System (RIMS), Citrus Heights, California.

    Science.gov (United States)

    San Juan Unified School District, Carmichael, CA.

    This program, included in "Effective Reading Programs...," serves an unselected cross section fo 793 students in K-6. The program is designed to provide classroom teachers with information about the needs and progress of each student in order to enable teachers to diagnose reading problems and prescribe activities to correct them. The…

  20. THE USE OF SCHEMATA IN READING COMPREHENSION: A CASE OF LEARNERS’ READING PROBLEMS

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    Cucu Sutarsyah

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The Use of Schemata in Reading Comprehension: A Case of Learners’ Reading Problems. Schemata have an important role in the process of reading. It is almost impossible for a person to read without utilizing schemata. This study aimed to find learners’ reading problem in terms of using sche­mata.  A group of second year students of English Department of State University of Malang were in­volved in this study. As a case study, an interview, observation, and test were used to collect the data. The study reveals that the main reading problems were lack of background knowledge, over-reliance on background knowledge, and lack of background knowledge activation. In the process of reading, learn­ers’ background knowledge should be activated. Without optimal activation, the process of reading does not reach satisfactory results. It is also suggested that learners should not be over confident in get­ting the meaning from the text. Over-reliance on background knowledge might lead to misinterpretation.

  1. Microcomputer Activities Which Encourage the Reading-Writing Connection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balajthy, Ernest

    Many reading teachers, cognizant of the creative opportunities for skill development allowed by new reading-writing software, are choosing to use microcomputers in their classrooms full-time. Adventure story creation programs capitalize on reading-writing integration by allowing children, with appropriate assistance, to create their own…

  2. Reading the Wrong Way with the Right Hemisphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ian J. Kirk

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Reading is a complex process, drawing on a variety of brain functions in order to link symbols to words and concepts. The three major brain areas linked to reading and phonological analysis include the left temporoparietal region, the left occipitotemporal region and the inferior frontal gyrus. Decreased activation of the left posterior language system in dyslexia is well documented but there is relatively limited attention given to the role of the right hemisphere. The current study investigated differences in right and left hemisphere activation between individuals with dyslexia and non-impaired readers in lexical decision tasks (regular words, irregular words, pseudowords during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI. Results revealed the expected hypo-activation in the left posterior areas in those with dyslexia but also areas of overactivation in the right hemisphere. During pseudoword decisions, for example, adults with dyslexia showed more right inferior occipital gyrus activation than controls. In general the increased activation of left-hemisphere language areas found in response to both regular and pseudowords was absent in dyslexics. Laterality indices showed that while controls showed left lateralised activation of the temporal lobe during lexical decision making, dyslexic readers showed right activation. Findings will inform theories of reading and will have implications for the design of reading interventions.

  3. Reading the wrong way with the right hemisphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldie, Karen E; Haigh, Charlotte E; Badzakova-Trajkov, Gjurgjica; Buckley, Jude; Kirk, Ian J

    2013-07-17

    Reading is a complex process, drawing on a variety of brain functions in order to link symbols to words and concepts. The three major brain areas linked to reading and phonological analysis include the left temporoparietal region, the left occipitotemporal region and the inferior frontal gyrus. Decreased activation of the left posterior language system in dyslexia is well documented but there is relatively limited attention given to the role of the right hemisphere. The current study investigated differences in right and left hemisphere activation between individuals with dyslexia and non-impaired readers in lexical decision tasks (regular words, irregular words, pseudowords) during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Results revealed the expected hypo-activation in the left posterior areas in those with dyslexia but also areas of overactivation in the right hemisphere. During pseudoword decisions, for example, adults with dyslexia showed more right inferior occipital gyrus activation than controls. In general the increased activation of left-hemisphere language areas found in response to both regular and pseudowords was absent in dyslexics. Laterality indices showed that while controls showed left lateralised activation of the temporal lobe during lexical decision making, dyslexic readers showed right activation. Findings will inform theories of reading and will have implications for the design of reading interventions.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  5. Information properties of morphologically complex words modulate brain activity during word reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hakala, Tero; Hultén, Annika; Lehtonen, Minna; Lagus, Krista; Salmelin, Riitta

    2018-06-01

    Neuroimaging studies of the reading process point to functionally distinct stages in word recognition. Yet, current understanding of the operations linked to those various stages is mainly descriptive in nature. Approaches developed in the field of computational linguistics may offer a more quantitative approach for understanding brain dynamics. Our aim was to evaluate whether a statistical model of morphology, with well-defined computational principles, can capture the neural dynamics of reading, using the concept of surprisal from information theory as the common measure. The Morfessor model, created for unsupervised discovery of morphemes, is based on the minimum description length principle and attempts to find optimal units of representation for complex words. In a word recognition task, we correlated brain responses to word surprisal values derived from Morfessor and from other psycholinguistic variables that have been linked with various levels of linguistic abstraction. The magnetoencephalography data analysis focused on spatially, temporally and functionally distinct components of cortical activation observed in reading tasks. The early occipital and occipito-temporal responses were correlated with parameters relating to visual complexity and orthographic properties, whereas the later bilateral superior temporal activation was correlated with whole-word based and morphological models. The results show that the word processing costs estimated by the statistical Morfessor model are relevant for brain dynamics of reading during late processing stages. © 2018 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. SENSES FOR READING AND WRITING ACTIVITIES AT SCHOOLS OF FUNDAMENTAL TEACHING

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    Osmar de Souza

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This article have to present the contributions of a Extension Program of FURB - Regional University of Blumenau. The Program, until 2008, was entitled “Senses for reading and writting activities at school” - this article corresponds to a glance on the development of the Program in two years: 2007 and 2008. The contemplated communities are public schools of Blumenau, more precisely, groups of fourth series of the Fundamental Teaching. In the first contact with the groups, questionnaires were hand out to students, aiming to notice the children's knowledge regarding the proposed themes (community and family. In the other visits - one per week -, reading and writting activities were developed. The students were, still, guests to research: in the library, questioning relatives or residents of the street in that they live. One of the results - that will be presented in full detail along the article - is the enlargement of the knowledge on local history - for students, teachers and academics involved. In spite of there are objectives propellers of the Program - as "to create conditions to students of fourth series read and write texts, more precisely about family and community -, one of the conclusions, regarding the development of the Program, is the possibility to contribute in the dimensions institutional, academic and social. Sometimes, those contributions can't be imagined when a Program is idealized.

  7. Reading up on sex: Learning to read. Why sex matters, and whether physical fitness and activity are relevant in reading acquisition

    OpenAIRE

    Tunstad, Hege Jørgensen

    2013-01-01

    When you read this thesis, you rely on a skill you acquired as a child. Most children start at the age of 5-6 years to learn single letters, write their name, and gradually develop the functional skill of decoding strings of letters; in other words, reading. By the age of 10 they are expected to read texts with concentration, endurance, fluency and coherence. The success rate varies, and Norwegian children score slightly above average when reading skills are measured globally, and are better ...

  8. Reading Fluency and Students with Reading Disabilities: How Fast Is Fast Enough to Promote Reading Comprehension?

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Connor, Rollanda E.

    2018-01-01

    The goal of improving reading rate and fluency is to positively impact reading comprehension; however, it is unclear how fast students with learning disabilities (LD) need to read to reap this benefit. The purpose of this research was to identify the point of diminishing return for students who were dysfluent readers. Participants included 337…

  9. Child-centered reading intervention: See, talk, dictate, read, write!

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    Muhammet BAŞTUĞ

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Poor reading achievement of children in elementary schools has been one of the major concerns in education. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a child-centered reading intervention in eliminating the reading problems of a student with poor reading achievement. The research was conducted with a student having difficulty in reading. A reading intervention was designed that targeted multiple areas of reading and aimed to improve reading skills through the use of multiple strategies. This intervention is child-centered and includes visual aids, talking, dictating, reading and writing stages. The study was performed in 35 sessions consisting of stages of a single sentence (5 sessions, two sentences (5 sessions, three sentences (20 sessions and the text stage (5 sessions. The intervention sessions were audio-taped. These recordings and the written responses to the reading comprehension questions provided the data for analysis. The findings on the reading intervention revealed positive outcomes. The student exhibited certain improvements at the levels of reading, reading rate and reading comprehension. These results were discussed in the literature and the findings suggest that child-centered reading strategies such as talking, dictating and writing should be the main focus of instruction for students with low reading literacy achievement to enable these students to meet the demands of the curriculum.

  10. Fostering the Love of Reading: The Affective Domain in Reading Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cramer, Eugene H., Ed.; Castle, Marrietta, Ed.

    Representing current thinking about a wide range of issues related to reading motivation, this book offers a look at how to create classroom cultures that foster in students the love of reading. The book is about teachers and the critical role they play in helping children develop into motivated, active, engaged readers who read both for pleasure…

  11. Using Multimedia Vocabulary Annotations in L2 Reading and Listening Activities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing Xu

    2010-01-01

    This paper reviews the role of multimedia vocabulary annotation (MVA) in facilitating second language (L2) reading and listening activities. It examines the multimedia learning and multimedia language learning theories that underlie the MVA research, synthesizes the findings on MVA in the last decade, and identifies three underresearched areas on…

  12. Auditory short-term memory activation during score reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simoens, Veerle L; Tervaniemi, Mari

    2013-01-01

    Performing music on the basis of reading a score requires reading ahead of what is being played in order to anticipate the necessary actions to produce the notes. Score reading thus not only involves the decoding of a visual score and the comparison to the auditory feedback, but also short-term storage of the musical information due to the delay of the auditory feedback during reading ahead. This study investigates the mechanisms of encoding of musical information in short-term memory during such a complicated procedure. There were three parts in this study. First, professional musicians participated in an electroencephalographic (EEG) experiment to study the slow wave potentials during a time interval of short-term memory storage in a situation that requires cross-modal translation and short-term storage of visual material to be compared with delayed auditory material, as it is the case in music score reading. This delayed visual-to-auditory matching task was compared with delayed visual-visual and auditory-auditory matching tasks in terms of EEG topography and voltage amplitudes. Second, an additional behavioural experiment was performed to determine which type of distractor would be the most interfering with the score reading-like task. Third, the self-reported strategies of the participants were also analyzed. All three parts of this study point towards the same conclusion according to which during music score reading, the musician most likely first translates the visual score into an auditory cue, probably starting around 700 or 1300 ms, ready for storage and delayed comparison with the auditory feedback.

  13. Reading in a Digital Age: Issues and Future of Reading on the Web among Young People

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    Shan-Ju Lin Chang

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available “Reading on the Internet” or digital reading has been a controversial issue in recent years as more and more young adults spent more time on Internet, and engaged in reading activities which may differ from the traditional conception of reading. More importantly, some observe that digital reading seems to have negative impacts on students’ reading capabilities at the individual level and citizens’ literacy at the national level. How can we understand the phenomenon of reading in a digital age? Online activities are facilitating or hindering the development of reading capabilities of young adults? What do we mean when we evaluate the reading capabilities in a digital age? This paper explores the pros and cons of reading on the Internet or digital reading, the technological, social and economic forces that influence those viewpoints, and discusses the findings of some empirical studies. The implications from this study for educational policy makers and educators conclude this paper. [Article content in Chinese; Extended abstract in English

  14. Designing reading tasks to foster critical thinking Designing reading tasks to foster critical thinking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leda Maria Braga Tomitch

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available What else is there besides multiple choice exercises, questions or true-false statements? What kind of readers do we EFL/ESL teachers, want to develop? Fortunately, there are alternative possibilities for designing reading activities which, besides being more interesting and fun for the students than the traditional tasks, can help develop more active and critical readers. A search in EFL/ESL reading textbooks has revealed that the most frequently encountered types of reading activities are comprehension questions, multiple-choice exercises, and true-false statements (Tomitch, in press a. These tasks have been used throughout the history of language teaching, and one must agree that they have their merits. However, there are reasons why they should not be used as the only source of activity in the classroom. What else is there besides multiple choice exercises, questions or true-false statements? What kind of readers do we EFL/ESL teachers, want to develop? Fortunately, there are alternative possibilities for designing reading activities which, besides being more interesting and fun for the students than the traditional tasks, can help develop more active and critical readers. A search in EFL/ESL reading textbooks has revealed that the most frequently encountered types of reading activities are comprehension questions, multiple-choice exercises, and true-false statements (Tomitch, in press a. These tasks have been used throughout the history of language teaching, and one must agree that they have their merits. However, there are reasons why they should not be used as the only source of activity in the classroom.

  15. Reading space characteristics in campus environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tampubolon, A. C.; Kusuma, H. E.

    2018-03-01

    Reading activity is a part of daily learning activities that are usually done by college students and takes place in the facilities that are provided by the campus. However, students tend to have a perception of a particular location that is considered appropriate with the activities undertaken. This study identified students’ perceptions of reading space characteristics in campus environment which are considered able to accommodate reading activity. Exploratory qualitative research methods were used to collect data from selected types of space and the reasons for the students in choosing the specifics space to do their reading. The results showed that students do not only use library facilities as a support unit of academic activities. This study found that students tend to use some places with non-library function, such as students’ union room, hallway, and classroom. Students perceive reading space by its physical and social characteristics. The physical consist of ambiance, quiet place, tranquility, availability of facilities, the level of coolness, lighting, location accessibility, connection with nature, convenience furniture, air quality, aesthetics, the flexibility of activities, the crowd of place, the level of shade, outdoor, ownership, and indoor. While the social characteristics of the reading space are to have privacy, favorable reading position, and the presence of others.

  16. The Relationship between Reading Proficiency and Reading Strategy Use: A Study of Adult ESL Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jiuhan; Nisbet, Deanna

    2014-01-01

    This article explores the relationship between reading strategy use and reading proficiency among 121 adult ESL learners. Reading strategy use was measured by the SORS, and reading proficiency was determined by the CASAS Reading Test and BEST Literacy Test. Findings of the study reveal that (a) adult ESL learners are active strategies users; (b)…

  17. Shared vs. specific brain activation changes in dyslexia after training of phonology, attention, or reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heim, Stefan; Pape-Neumann, Julia; van Ermingen-Marbach, Muna; Brinkhaus, Moti; Grande, Marion

    2015-07-01

    Whereas the neurobiological basis of developmental dyslexia has received substantial attention, only little is known about the processes in the brain during remediation. This holds in particular in light of recent findings on cognitive subtypes of dyslexia which suggest interactions between individual profiles, training methods, and also the task in the scanner. Therefore, we trained three groups of German dyslexic primary school children in the domains of phonology, attention, or visual word recognition. We compared neurofunctional changes after 4 weeks of training in these groups to those in untrained normal readers in a reading task and in a task of visual attention. The overall reading improvement in the dyslexic children was comparable over groups. It was accompanied by substantial increase of the activation level in the visual word form area (VWFA) during a reading task inside the scanner. Moreover, there were activation increases that were unique for each training group in the reading task. In contrast, when children performed the visual attention task, shared training effects were found in the left inferior frontal sulcus and gyrus, which varied in amplitude between the groups. Overall, the data reveal that different remediation programmes matched to individual profiles of dyslexia may improve reading ability and commonly affect the VWFA in dyslexia as a shared part of otherwise distinct networks.

  18. UPF1 silenced cellular model systems for screening of read-through agents active on β039 thalassemia point mutation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvatori, Francesca; Pappadà, Mariangela; Breveglieri, Giulia; D'Aversa, Elisabetta; Finotti, Alessia; Lampronti, Ilaria; Gambari, Roberto; Borgatti, Monica

    2018-05-15

    Nonsense mutations promote premature translational termination, introducing stop codons within the coding region of mRNAs and causing inherited diseases, including thalassemia. For instance, in β 0 39 thalassemia the CAG (glutamine) codon is mutated to the UAG stop codon, leading to premature translation termination and to mRNA destabilization through the well described NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay). In order to develop an approach facilitating translation and, therefore, protection from NMD, ribosomal read-through molecules, such as aminoglycoside antibiotics, have been tested on mRNAs carrying premature stop codons. These findings have introduced new hopes for the development of a pharmacological approach to the β 0 39 thalassemia therapy. While several strategies, designed to enhance translational read-through, have been reported to inhibit NMD efficiency concomitantly, experimental tools for systematic analysis of mammalian NMD inhibition by translational read-through are lacking. We developed a human cellular model of the β 0 39 thalassemia mutation with UPF-1 suppressed and showing a partial NMD suppression. This novel cellular model could be used for the screening of molecules exhibiting preferential read-through activity allowing a great rescue of the mutated transcripts.

  19. A Read-Aloud for Foreign Languages: Becoming a Language Master (Read It Aloud).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Judy S.

    1998-01-01

    Describes the use of some read-alouds from Alexandre Dumas'"The Count of Monte Cristo" which helped to demonstrate some principles of learning foreign languages. Describes briefly the read aloud selection, discusses some specific activities that relate to foreign language learning, and discusses specific language arts activities. (SR)

  20. Functional anatomy of listening and reading comprehension during development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berl, Madison M; Duke, Elizabeth S; Mayo, Jessica; Rosenberger, Lisa R; Moore, Erin N; VanMeter, John; Ratner, Nan Bernstein; Vaidya, Chandan J; Gaillard, William Davis

    2010-08-01

    Listening and reading comprehension of paragraph-length material are considered higher-order language skills fundamental to social and academic functioning. Using ecologically relevant language stimuli that were matched for difficulty according to developmental level, we analyze the effects of task, age, neuropsychological skills, and post-task performance on fMRI activation and hemispheric laterality. Areas of supramodal language processing are identified, with the most robust region being left-lateralized activation along the superior temporal sulcus. Functionally, this conjunction has a role in semantic and syntactic processing, leading us to refer to this conjunction as "comprehension cortex." Different from adults, supramodal areas for children include less extensive inferior frontal gyrus but more extensive right cerebellum and right temporal pole. Broader neuroanatomical pathways are recruited for reading, reflecting the more active processing and larger set of cognitive demands needed for reading compared to listening to stories. ROI analyses reveal that reading is a less lateralized language task than listening in inferior frontal and superior temporal areas, which likely reflects the difficulty of the task as children in this study are still developing their reading skills. For listening to stories, temporal activation is stable by age four with no correlations with age, neuropsychological skills or post-task performance. In contrast, frontal activation during listening to stories occurs more often in older children, and frontal activation is positively correlated with better performance on comprehension questions, suggesting that the activation of frontal networks may reflect greater integration and depth of story processing. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Reading Hamlet. The NCTE Chalkface Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mellor, Bronwyn

    This book, for grades 9-12, contains a wealth of ideas and practical activities for studying Shakespeare's "Hamlet." The first section, "Revenge Tragedy," provides background materials to help prepare students to read "Hamlet," including a discussion of revenge tragedies, comparisons to other plays from the period,…

  2. Oral Reading Fluency as a Predictor of Silent Reading Fluency at Secondary and Postsecondary Levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seok, Soonhwa; DaCosta, Boaventura

    2014-01-01

    This research investigated oral reading fluency as a predictor of silent reading fluency at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Several measures were used, including the Gray Oral Reading Test, the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency, the Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency, and the Reading Observation Scale. A total of 223 students…

  3. Colorado Student Assessment Program: 2001 Released Passages, Items, and Prompts. Grade 4 Reading and Writing, Grade 4 Lectura y Escritura, Grade 5 Mathematics and Reading, Grade 6 Reading, Grade 7 Reading and Writing, Grade 8 Mathematics, Reading and Science, Grade 9 Reading, and Grade 10 Mathematics and Reading and Writing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colorado State Dept. of Education, Denver.

    This document contains released reading comprehension passages, test items, and writing prompts from the Colorado Student Assessment Program for 2001. The sample questions and prompts are included without answers or examples of student responses. Test materials are included for: (1) Grade 4 Reading and Writing; (2) Grade 4 Lectura y Escritura…

  4. Free Reading Is UTOPIA

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  5. Reading Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners While Reading Academic Texts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vida Yousefian

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The major aim of this study was to explore the nature and frequency of the reading strategies used by the EFL learners while reading academic texts. Normally, students tend to read all the information provided in reading materials. This study explores whether learners use reading strategies to assist them in reading comprehension. There was a sample of 45 English language (EFL learners from Islamic Azad University, Falavarjan Branch. The instrument utilized in this study was a survey questionnaire with 30 items including 13 global reading strategies, 8 problem solving strategies and 9 support reading strategies. The survey was going to signify how much EFL learners use each of these strategies while reading academic texts. The findings indicated that the participants used global reading strategies more (44.5% than problem solving strategies (29.0% and support reading strategies (26.5%. The results of the present study will let the instructors improve the reading strategies which are not used by EFL learners frequently. It also helps learners to promote the ability of using reading strategies and utilize the strategies in an appropriate and effective way.

  6. Training on Movement Figure-Ground Discrimination Remediates Low-Level Visual Timing Deficits in the Dorsal Stream, Improving High-Level Cognitive Functioning, Including Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teri Lawton

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to determine whether neurotraining to discriminate a moving test pattern relative to a stationary background, figure-ground discrimination, improves vision and cognitive functioning in dyslexics, as well as typically-developing normal students. We predict that improving the speed and sensitivity of figure-ground movement discrimination (PATH to Reading neurotraining acts to remediate visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream, thereby improving processing speed, reading fluency, and the executive control functions of attention and working memory in both dyslexic and normal students who had PATH neurotraining more than in those students who had no neurotraining. This prediction was evaluated by measuring whether dyslexic and normal students improved on standardized tests of cognitive skills following neurotraining exercises, more than following computer-based guided reading (Raz-Kids (RK. The neurotraining used in this study was visually-based training designed to improve magnocellular function at both low and high levels in the dorsal stream: the input to the executive control networks coding working memory and attention. This approach represents a paradigm shift from the phonologically-based treatment for dyslexia, which concentrates on high-level speech and reading areas. This randomized controlled-validation study was conducted by training the entire second and third grade classrooms (42 students for 30 min twice a week before guided reading. Standardized tests were administered at the beginning and end of 12-weeks of intervention training to evaluate improvements in academic skills. Only movement-discrimination training remediated both low-level visual timing deficits and high-level cognitive functioning, including selective and sustained attention, reading fluency and working memory for both dyslexic and normal students. Remediating visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream revealed the causal role of visual

  7. Training on Movement Figure-Ground Discrimination Remediates Low-Level Visual Timing Deficits in the Dorsal Stream, Improving High-Level Cognitive Functioning, Including Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawton, Teri; Shelley-Tremblay, John

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether neurotraining to discriminate a moving test pattern relative to a stationary background, figure-ground discrimination, improves vision and cognitive functioning in dyslexics, as well as typically-developing normal students. We predict that improving the speed and sensitivity of figure-ground movement discrimination ( PATH to Reading neurotraining) acts to remediate visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream, thereby improving processing speed, reading fluency, and the executive control functions of attention and working memory in both dyslexic and normal students who had PATH neurotraining more than in those students who had no neurotraining. This prediction was evaluated by measuring whether dyslexic and normal students improved on standardized tests of cognitive skills following neurotraining exercises, more than following computer-based guided reading ( Raz-Kids ( RK )). The neurotraining used in this study was visually-based training designed to improve magnocellular function at both low and high levels in the dorsal stream: the input to the executive control networks coding working memory and attention. This approach represents a paradigm shift from the phonologically-based treatment for dyslexia, which concentrates on high-level speech and reading areas. This randomized controlled-validation study was conducted by training the entire second and third grade classrooms (42 students) for 30 min twice a week before guided reading. Standardized tests were administered at the beginning and end of 12-weeks of intervention training to evaluate improvements in academic skills. Only movement-discrimination training remediated both low-level visual timing deficits and high-level cognitive functioning, including selective and sustained attention, reading fluency and working memory for both dyslexic and normal students. Remediating visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream revealed the causal role of visual movement

  8. Training on Movement Figure-Ground Discrimination Remediates Low-Level Visual Timing Deficits in the Dorsal Stream, Improving High-Level Cognitive Functioning, Including Attention, Reading Fluency, and Working Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawton, Teri; Shelley-Tremblay, John

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether neurotraining to discriminate a moving test pattern relative to a stationary background, figure-ground discrimination, improves vision and cognitive functioning in dyslexics, as well as typically-developing normal students. We predict that improving the speed and sensitivity of figure-ground movement discrimination (PATH to Reading neurotraining) acts to remediate visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream, thereby improving processing speed, reading fluency, and the executive control functions of attention and working memory in both dyslexic and normal students who had PATH neurotraining more than in those students who had no neurotraining. This prediction was evaluated by measuring whether dyslexic and normal students improved on standardized tests of cognitive skills following neurotraining exercises, more than following computer-based guided reading (Raz-Kids (RK)). The neurotraining used in this study was visually-based training designed to improve magnocellular function at both low and high levels in the dorsal stream: the input to the executive control networks coding working memory and attention. This approach represents a paradigm shift from the phonologically-based treatment for dyslexia, which concentrates on high-level speech and reading areas. This randomized controlled-validation study was conducted by training the entire second and third grade classrooms (42 students) for 30 min twice a week before guided reading. Standardized tests were administered at the beginning and end of 12-weeks of intervention training to evaluate improvements in academic skills. Only movement-discrimination training remediated both low-level visual timing deficits and high-level cognitive functioning, including selective and sustained attention, reading fluency and working memory for both dyslexic and normal students. Remediating visual timing deficits in the dorsal stream revealed the causal role of visual movement

  9. Born To Read: How To Nurture a Baby's Love of Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiore, Carole, Comp.

    Library and health care professionals team up in the Born to Read partnerships in Florida to empower at-risk expectant and new parents to take an active role in the health and education of their children. Designed for Born to Read workshop participants, this manual contains the following sections: (1) General Information, including workshop…

  10. Silent reading of direct versus indirect speech activates voice-selective areas in the auditory cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Bo; Belin, Pascal; Scheepers, Christoph

    2011-10-01

    In human communication, direct speech (e.g., Mary said: "I'm hungry") is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., Mary said [that] she was hungry). However, for silent reading, the representational consequences of this distinction are still unclear. Although many of us share the intuition of an "inner voice," particularly during silent reading of direct speech statements in text, there has been little direct empirical confirmation of this experience so far. Combining fMRI with eye tracking in human volunteers, we show that silent reading of direct versus indirect speech engenders differential brain activation in voice-selective areas of the auditory cortex. This suggests that readers are indeed more likely to engage in perceptual simulations (or spontaneous imagery) of the reported speaker's voice when reading direct speech as opposed to meaning-equivalent indirect speech statements as part of a more vivid representation of the former. Our results may be interpreted in line with embodied cognition and form a starting point for more sophisticated interdisciplinary research on the nature of auditory mental simulation during reading.

  11. Does Use of Text-to-Speech and Related Read-Aloud Tools Improve Reading Comprehension for Students with Reading Disabilities? A Meta-Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Sarah G.; Moxley, Jerad H.; Tighe, Elizabeth L.; Wagner, Richard K.

    2018-01-01

    Text-to-speech and related read-aloud tools are being widely implemented in an attempt to assist students' reading comprehension skills. Read-aloud software, including text-to-speech, is used to translate written text into spoken text, enabling one to listen to written text while reading along. It is not clear how effective text-to-speech is at…

  12. Effects of Listening While Reading (LWR on Swahili Reading Fluency and Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filipo Lubua

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available A number of studies have examined the contribution of technology in teaching such languages as English, French, and Spanish, among many others. Contrarily, most LCTL’s, have received very little attention. This study investigates if listening while reading (LWR may expedite Swahili reading fluency and comprehension. The study employed the iBook Author tool to create weekly mediated and interactive reading texts, with comprehension exercises, which were eventually used to collect descriptive and qualitative data from four Elementary Swahili students. Participants participated in a seven week reading program, which provided them with some kind of directed self-learning, and met with the instructor for at least 30 minutes every week for observation and more reading activities. The teacher recorded their reading scores, and a number of themes on how LWR influenced reading fluency and comprehension are discussed here. It shows that participants have a positive attitude towards LWR and they suggest it for all the reading classes.

  13. Early Identification of Reading Difficulties

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulsen, Mads; Nielsen, Anne-Mette Veber; Juul, Holger

    2017-01-01

    Early screening for reading difficulties before the onset of instruction is desirable because it allows intervention that is targeted at prevention rather than remediation of reading difficulties. However, early screening may be too inaccurate to effectively allocate resources to those who need...... them. The present study compared the accuracy of early screening before the onset of formal reading instruction with late screening six months into the first year of instruction. The study followed 164 Danish students from the end of Grade 0 to the end of Grade 2. Early screening included measures...... of phonemic awareness, rapid naming, letter knowledge, paired associate learning, and reading. Late screening included only reading. Results indicated that reading measures improved substantially as predictors over the first six months of Grade 1, to the point where late reading measures alone provided...

  14. Write to read: the brain's universal reading and writing network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perfetti, Charles A; Tan, Li-Hai

    2013-02-01

    Do differences in writing systems translate into differences in the brain's reading network? Or is this network universal, relatively impervious to variation in writing systems? A new study adds intriguing evidence to these questions by showing that reading handwritten words activates a pre-motor area across writing systems. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. COLLABORATIVE STRATEGIC READING IMPLEMENTATION TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Desy Olivia Riani

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This collaborative action research is aimed to find out whether or not the implementation of Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR improves students' reading comprehension and also to identify students' attitude towards the implementation of CSR. CSR is reading strategy that employs four strategies namely Preview, Click and Clunk, Get the Gist and Wrap Up during students’ cooperative learning. A class of eleventh grade students of a public senior high school in Majalengka, West Java, Indonesia is participated as the participant of the study. The required data were collected through the use of questionnaire, observation checklist, and reading test. The data from the questionnaire indicated that 82% students had positive attitude toward the implementation of CSR. They feel that CSR improves their motivation in learning English and CSR brings more fun to the process of learning. Moreover, it was found from observation data that the students were actively participated during CSR implementation and they were motivated when comprehending a text by means CSR strategy. Finally, the study proved that CSR improved students’ reading comprehension. Students’ mean score of reading test in the beginning of the study was 67, meanwhile, after applying CSR as reading strategy, their mean scores improved to 88.

  16. Reading for All; Proceedings of the IRA (International Reading Association) World Congress on Reading (4th, Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 3-5, 1972).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karlin, Robert, Ed.

    This book contains papers presented at the Fourth International Reading Association World Congress on Reading in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in August 1972. The contents of the book are divided into three parts: "Literacy and Literature" includes papers on libraries, books, and reading by Jorge Borges, the future of reading by Theodore Harris, the…

  17. En sus marcas--Listos--A leer! Para las familias: Actividades de lenguaje para la primera infancia y ninez entre el nacimiento y los 5 anos. El reto: A leer, America! (Ready--Set--Read! For Families: Early Childhood Language Activities for Children from Birth through Age Five. America Reads Challenge).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Department of Education, Washington, DC.

    This Ready--Set--Read Kit includes an activity guide for families, a 1997-98 early childhood activity calendar, and an early childhood growth wallchart. The activity guide presents activities and ideas that families (adults who have nurturing relationships with a child--a mother, father, grandparent, other relative, or close friend) can use to…

  18. The Keefe Inventory of Silent Reading: A Window into the Reading Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keefe, Donald

    1993-01-01

    Contains part of the Keefe Inventory of Silent Reading, a silent informal reading inventory. Presents a case study of a student to whom it was administered, including analysis of this individual's reading ability and description of the specific strategies used with this individual on the basis of the results of the inventory. (RS)

  19. READING COMPREHENSION. NOTION OF READING AND USE OF MACRORREGLAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana María Montes-Salas

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In the NMS has been relevant to investigate the notion of reading and how reading comprehension skills are developed as they are the basis of learning. According to Frida Diaz Barriga and Hernandez (2002 critical and reflective understanding of the composition of texts written are nodal activities in the construction of meanings. We now know that the skills of reading and typesetting apprentices develop in subjects strategically and self-regulated, thanks to this research. Promote the development of communication skills contributes to the foundation of the curriculum consists of educating for students to acquire skills that allow them to face problems collaboratively and competently.

  20. The COMT Val/Met polymorphism is associated with reading related skills and consistent patterns of functional neural activation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landi, Nicole; Frost, Stephen J.; Mencl, W. Einar; Preston, Jonathan L.; Jacobsen, Leslie K.; Lee, Maria; Yrigollen, Carolyn; Pugh, Kenneth R.; Grigorenko, Elena L.

    2013-01-01

    In both children and adults there is large variability in reading skill, with approximately 5–10% of individuals characterized as having reading disability; these individuals struggle to learn to read despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. Although it is well established that a substantial portion of this variability is attributed to the genetic differences between individuals, specifics of the connections between reading and the genome are not understood. This article presents data that suggest that variation in the COMT gene, which has previously been associated with variation in higher-order cognition, is associated with reading and reading-related skills, both at the level of brain and behavior. In particular, we found that the COMT Val/Met polymorphism at rs4680, which results in the substitution of the ancestral Valine (Val) by Methionine (Met), was associated with better performance on a number of critical reading measures and with patterns of functional neural activation that have been linked to better readers. We argue that this polymorphism, known for its broad effects on cognition, may modulate (likely through frontal lobe function) reading skill. PMID:23278923

  1. SchemaOnRead Manual

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    North, Michael J. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

    2015-09-30

    SchemaOnRead provides tools for implementing schema-on-read including a single function call (e.g., schemaOnRead("filename")) that reads text (TXT), comma separated value (CSV), raster image (BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and JPG), R data (RDS), HDF5, NetCDF, spreadsheet (XLS, XLSX, ODS, and DIF), Weka Attribute-Relation File Format (ARFF), Epi Info (REC), Pajek network (PAJ), R network (NET), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), SPSS (SAV), Systat (SYS), and Stata (DTA) files. It also recursively reads folders (e.g., schemaOnRead("folder")), returning a nested list of the contained elements.

  2. Why Do Boys and Girls Perform Differently on PISA Reading in Finland? The Effects of Reading Fluency, Achievement Behaviour, Leisure Reading and Homework Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torppa, Minna; Eklund, Kenneth; Sulkunen, Sari; Niemi, Pekka; Ahonen, Timo

    2018-01-01

    The present study examined gender gap in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) Reading and mediators of the gender gap in a Finnish sample (n = 1,309). We examined whether the gender gap in PISA Reading performance can be understood via the effects of reading fluency, achievement behaviour (mastery orientation and task-avoidant…

  3. [Ophthalmologic reading charts : Part 2: Current logarithmically scaled reading charts].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radner, W

    2016-12-01

    To analyze currently available reading charts regarding print size, logarithmic print size progression, and the background of test-item standardization. For the present study, the following logarithmically scaled reading charts were investigated using a measuring microscope (iNexis VMA 2520; Nikon, Tokyo): Eschenbach, Zeiss, OCULUS, MNREAD (Minnesota Near Reading Test), Colenbrander, and RADNER. Calculations were made according to EN-ISO 8596 and the International Research Council recommendations. Modern reading charts and cards exhibit a logarithmic progression of print sizes. The RADNER reading charts comprise four different cards with standardized test items (sentence optotypes), a well-defined stop criterion, accurate letter sizes, and a high print quality. Numbers and Landolt rings are also given in the booklet. The OCULUS cards have currently been reissued according to recent standards and also exhibit a high print quality. In addition to letters, numbers, Landolt rings, and examples taken from a timetable and the telephone book, sheet music is also offered. The Colenbrander cards use short sentences of 44 characters, including spaces, and exhibit inaccuracy at smaller letter sizes, as do the MNREAD cards. The MNREAD cards use sentences of 60 characters, including spaces, and have a high print quality. Modern reading charts show that international standards can be achieved with test items similar to optotypes, by using recent technology and developing new concepts of test-item standardization. Accurate print sizes, high print quality, and a logarithmic progression should become the minimum requirements for reading charts and reading cards in ophthalmology.

  4. SchemaOnRead: A Package for Schema-on-Read in R

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    North, Michael J.

    2016-08-01

    Schema-on-read is an agile approach to data storage and retrieval that defers investments in data organization until production queries need to be run by working with data directly in native form. Schema-on-read functions have been implemented in a wide range of analytical systems, most notably Hadoop. SchemaOnRead is a CRAN package that uses R’s flexible data representations to provide transparent and convenient support for the schema-on-read paradigm in R. The schema-on- read tools within the package include a single function call that recursively reads folders with text, comma separated value, raster image, R data, HDF5, NetCDF, spreadsheet, Weka, Epi Info, Pajek network, R network, HTML, SPSS, Systat, and Stata files. The provided tools can be used as-is or easily adapted to implement customized schema-on-read tool chains in R. This paper’s contribution is that it introduces and describes SchemaOnRead, the first R package specifically focused on providing explicit schema-on-read support in R.

  5. A Comparison of Reading Response Methods to Increase Student Learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheryl J. Davis

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available It is common in college courses to test students on the required readings for that course. With a rise in online education it is often the case that students are required to provide evidence of reading the material. However, there is little empirical research stating the best written means to assess that students read the materials. This study experimentally compared the effect of assigned reading summaries or study questions on student test performance. The results revealed that study questions produced higher quiz scores and higher preparation for the quiz, based on student feedback. Limitations of the study included a small sample size and extraneous activities that may have affected general knowledge on a topic. Results suggest that study questions focusing students on critical information in the required readings improve student learning.

  6. Teaching Reading in Vocational Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    South Carolina State Dept. of Education, Columbia. Office of Vocational Education.

    This handbook on teaching reading in vocational education is designed to provide vocational education teachers with a resource to use in helping students to develop sound reading skills. Provided in the handbook are information sheets, self-checks, practice activities, and suggestions for further reading dealing with the following topics:…

  7. Evaluation of Reading, Writing, and Watching TV Using the Dutch ICF Activity Inventory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bruijning, J.E.; van Rens, G.H.M.B.; Knol, D.L.; van Nispen, R.M.A.

    2014-01-01

    PURPOSE: To investigate the longitudinal outcomes of rehabilitation (from baseline to 4 and 12 months) at a multidisciplinary rehabilitation center. The three goals (“Reading,” “Writing,” and “Watching TV”) were measured with the Dutch ICF Activity Inventory (D-AI). In addition, outcomes were

  8. The effects of collaborative reading : A Comparative Study on JSL Learners' Comprehension of Expository Text

    OpenAIRE

    伊東, あゆみ; 田川, 麻央; 石井, 怜子

    2011-01-01

    Collaborative reading is an activity in which learners work in pairs to comprehend text through sharing their own reading processes with each other. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of collaborative reading on learners of Japanese as a second language (JSL). This study included thirty-six intermediate-advanced JSL learners, who were divided in two groups: the collaborative reading group and the non- collaborative one; each was given a sample of expository text to read t...

  9. A teaching-learning sequence about weather map reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandrikas, Achilleas; Stavrou, Dimitrios; Skordoulis, Constantine

    2017-07-01

    In this paper a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) introducing pre-service elementary teachers (PET) to weather map reading, with emphasis on wind assignment, is presented. The TLS includes activities about recognition of wind symbols, assignment of wind direction and wind speed on a weather map and identification of wind characteristics in a weather forecast. Sixty PET capabilities and difficulties in understanding weather maps were investigated, using inquiry-based learning activities. The results show that most PET became more capable of reading weather maps and assigning wind direction and speed on them. Our results also show that PET could be guided to understand meteorology concepts useful in everyday life and in teaching their future students.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  11. Reading While Listening on Mobile Devices: An Innovative Approach to Enhance Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rochdi, Aicha; Eppard, Jenny

    2017-01-01

    This poster session will describe a study that took place at a university in the United Arab Emirates. The study included a reading app that was downloaded onto each student's individual mobile device. Students could read while listening to the stories. The primary goal of the study was to determine how, if at all, listening while reading in a…

  12. MisReading LIS Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiegand, Wayne

    1997-01-01

    Discusses the need to place a greater emphasis on the subject of reading in library and information science (LIS) education and research. Topics include literacy studies, print culture history, reader-response theory, ethnography of reading, genre fiction and cultural studies, information versus reading, and access to information versus content of…

  13. Framing effects reveal discrete lexical-semantic and sublexical procedures in reading: an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danelli, Laura; Marelli, Marco; Berlingeri, Manuela; Tettamanti, Marco; Sberna, Maurizio; Paulesu, Eraldo; Luzzatti, Claudio

    2015-01-01

    According to the dual-route model, a printed string of letters can be processed by either a grapheme-to-phoneme conversion (GPC) route or a lexical-semantic route. Although meta-analyses of the imaging literature support the existence of distinct but interacting reading procedures, individual neuroimaging studies that explored neural correlates of reading yielded inconclusive results. We used a list-manipulation paradigm to provide a fresh empirical look at this issue and to isolate specific areas that underlie the two reading procedures. In a lexical condition, we embedded disyllabic Italian words (target stimuli) in lists of either loanwords or trisyllabic Italian words with unpredictable stress position. In a GPC condition, similar target stimuli were included within lists of pseudowords. The procedure was designed to induce participants to emphasize either the lexical-semantic or the GPC reading procedure, while controlling for possible linguistic confounds and keeping the reading task requirements stable across the two conditions. Thirty-three adults participated in the behavioral study, and 20 further adult participants were included in the fMRI study. At the behavioral level, we found sizeable effects of the framing manipulations that included slower voice onset times for stimuli in the pseudoword frames. At the functional anatomical level, the occipital and temporal regions, and the intraparietal sulcus were specifically activated when subjects were reading target words in a lexical frame. The inferior parietal and anterior fusiform cortex were specifically activated in the GPC condition. These patterns of activation represented a valid classifying model of fMRI images associated with target reading in both frames in the multi-voxel pattern analyses. Further activations were shared by the two procedures in the occipital and inferior parietal areas, in the premotor cortex, in the frontal regions and the left supplementary motor area. These regions are most

  14. The association between school-based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance: a systematic review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rasberry, Catherine N; Lee, Sarah M; Robin, Leah; Laris, B A; Russell, Lisa A; Coyle, Karin K; Nihiser, Allison J

    2011-06-01

    The purpose of this review is to synthesize the scientific literature that has examined the association between school-based physical activity (including physical education) and academic performance (including indicators of cognitive skills and attitudes, academic behaviors, and academic achievement). Relevant research was identified through a search of nine electronic databases using both physical activity and academic-related search terms. Forty-three articles (reporting a total of 50 unique studies) met the inclusion criteria and were read, abstracted, and coded for this synthesis. Findings of the 50 studies were then summarized. Across all the studies, there were a total of 251 associations between physical activity and academic performance, representing measures of academic achievement, academic behavior, and cognitive skills and attitudes. Slightly more than half (50.5%) of all associations examined were positive, 48% were not significant, and 1.5% were negative. Examination of the findings by each physical activity context provides insights regarding specific relationships. Results suggest physical activity is either positively related to academic performance or that there is not a demonstrated relationship between physical activity and academic performance. Results have important implications for both policy and schools. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. A pesquisa em cognição e as atividades escolares de leitura Research on cognition and reading activities in school

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Flávia Lopes Magela Gerhardt

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Este artigo reúne pressupostos teóricos da Linguística Cognitiva e da Psicolinguística, em especial os estudos em metacognição, a fim de discutir problemas relacionados à leitura nas aulas de língua materna e estrangeira, principalmente no que tange à validação das questões de interpretação de textos. Para tanto, analisamos questões presentes em materiais didáticos de língua materna e estrangeira, a fim de sugerir formas de trabalhar a interpretação de textos, a partir da visão de que a cognição humana opera em basicamente dois planos de percepção/conceptualização. Conscientes da necessidade de abordar em várias frentes o problema da má qualidade de leitura do aluno brasileiro, apresentamos nossa proposta como parte de um projeto de pesquisa maior, que inclui o que o aluno pode aprender acerca do funcionamento de sua própria mente, e como pode utilizá-la satisfatoriamente para realizar as atividades de leitura que lhe são solicitadas, na escola e fora dela.This paper assembles theoretical assumptions on Cognitive Linguistics and Psycholinguistics, especially those related to studies on Metacognition, in order to discuss problems on reading in native and foreign languages, mainly reading comprehension activities. We analyze activities of native and foreign language textbooks, in order to suggest interesting and relevant ways to work with reading comprehension, considering that human cognition basically operates in two levels of perception/conceptualization. Due to the need to address the problem of low quality of reading in Brazilian school in several ways, we present our proposal as a part of a greater research project, which includes how students can learn about their mind's work and how they can use it to accomplish reading activities in school and beyond.

  16. Association of School-Based Physical Activity Opportunities, Socioeconomic Status, and Third-Grade Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kern, Ben D.; Graber, Kim C.; Shen, Sa; Hillman, Charles H.; McLoughlin, Gabriella

    2018-01-01

    Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is the most accurate predictor of academic performance in US schools. Third-grade reading is highly predictive of high school graduation. Chronic physical activity (PA) is shown to improve cognition and academic performance. We hypothesized that school-based PA opportunities (recess and physical education)…

  17. Neural substrates of reading and writing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakurai, Yasuhisa

    2008-01-01

    Functional MRI has made a great advance in the neurological field because of its low invasion, easiness to collect data to be analyzed by such a globally standardizable software as SPM (statistical parametric mapping), and appearance of academic journals specified for neuroimaging. This chapter of the review describes the activating regions and functions in reading and writing, the essential ability of language belonging to the cerebral highest function, as evidenced by the fMRI and positron emission tomography (PET) images including those under disease states (alexia and agraphia), in the following order; Correspondence of Japanese kanji/kana-words to English ones for studies on activation, Cognitive psychological model of reading, Studies on the activation of reading words, and Studies on the activation of writing words. In this paper, regions are mainly documented in accordance with the coordinate of Montreal Neurological Institute. The third section above mentions the concerned regions in the fusiform gyrus and posterior inferior temporal cortex; lateral occipital gyrus subcortex; temporal plane, superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus; posterior middle temporal, angular and supramarginal gyri; and inferior frontal gyrus, insular gyri, and supplementary motor area. The fourth section for writing words says the regions in the fusiform gyrus, posterior inferior temporal gyrus and posterior inferior temporal cortex; intraparietal sulcus pericortex, superior parietal lobule and lateral occipital gyrus; and sensorimotor area, posterior middle temporal gyrus and posterior inferior frontal gyrus. (R.T.)

  18. Reading, writing, and reserve: Literacy activities are linked to hippocampal volume and memory in multiple sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumowski, James F; Rocca, Maria A; Leavitt, Victoria M; Riccitelli, Gianna; Meani, Alessandro; Comi, Giancarlo; Filippi, Massimo

    2016-10-01

    Engagement in cognitive leisure activities during early adulthood has been linked to preserved memory and larger hippocampal volume in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). To investigate which specific types of cognitive leisure activities contribute to hippocampal volume and memory. We investigated links between three types of cognitive activities (Reading-Writing, Art-Music, Games-Hobbies) and (a) hippocampal volume within independent samples of Italian (n=187) and American (n=55) MS patients and (b) memory in subsamples of Italian (n=97) and American (n=53) patients. Reading-Writing was the only predictor of hippocampal volume (rp=.204, p=.002), and the best predictor of memory (rp=.288, p=.001). Findings inform the development of targeted evidence-based enrichment programs aiming to bolster reserve against memory decline. © The Author(s), 2016.

  19. Measuring the Effects of Reading Assistance Dogs on Reading Ability and Attitudes in Elementary Schoolchildren

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenihan, Dawn; McCobb, Emily; Diurba, Amanda; Linder, Deborah; Freeman, Lisa

    2016-01-01

    Reading assistance dogs can be incorporated into reading programs to increase a child's desire and ability to read. However, more data is needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of such programs. A 5-week reading assistance dog program was implemented to assess feasibility and effectiveness. Participants included 18 children entering the 2nd grade…

  20. The COMT Val/Met polymorphism is associated with reading-related skills and consistent patterns of functional neural activation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landi, Nicole; Frost, Stephen J; Mencl, W Einar; Preston, Jonathan L; Jacobsen, Leslie K; Lee, Maria; Yrigollen, Carolyn; Pugh, Kenneth R; Grigorenko, Elena L

    2013-01-01

    In both children and adults there is large variability in reading skill, with approximately 5-10% of individuals characterized as having reading disability; these individuals struggle to learn to read despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. Although it is well established that a substantial portion of this variability is attributed to the genetic differences between individuals, specifics of the connections between reading and the genome are not understood. This article presents data that suggest that variation in the COMT gene, which has previously been associated with variation in higher-order cognition, is associated with reading and reading-related skills, at the level of both brain and behavior. In particular, we found that the COMT Val/Met polymorphism at rs4680, which results in the substitution of the ancestral Valine (Val) by Methionine (Met), was associated with better performance on a number of critical reading measures and with patterns of functional neural activation that have been linked to better readers. We argue that this polymorphism, known for its broad effects on cognition, may modulate (likely through frontal lobe function) reading skill. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  1. Reading for tracing evidence: developing scientific knowledge through science text

    Science.gov (United States)

    Probosari, R. M.; Widyastuti, F.; Sajidan, S.; Suranto, S.; Prayitno, B. A.

    2018-05-01

    The purposes of this study were to investigate students’ learning progression on reading activity, science concept comprehension and how they imply it in scientific communication in the classroom. Fifty-nine biology education students participated in this study. This classroom research was developed to portray students’ reading activity, factors affecting reading comprehension, and the development of reading motivation. Qualitative analysis was used to describe the whole activities, involve the instruction, process and the product of reading activity. The result concluded that each student has their own way in interpreting the information from scientific text, but generally, they can filter and apply it in their argument as a part of reasoning and evidence. The findings can be used to direct reading activity to the goal of inquiry in order to support the nature of reading as evidence.

  2. Encouraging Students to Read Mathematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepherd, Mary D.

    2005-01-01

    It is generally agreed that the ability to read mathematics is an important skill--one that few of our students possess. A number of people have published some suggestions for helping students learn to read their mathematics textbooks. What these have in common is suggestions for getting students more active while reading. Using these resources as…

  3. Reading Journal as A Way to Improve Students’ Comprehension toward A Textbook Reading Material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Menik Winiharti

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Reading journal is one way to record students’ independent learning based on text they read. This study was conducted to find out the students’ level of reading comprehension through some notes written in the reading journal, the extent to which the activity of writing reading journals improved students’ reading comprehension, whether the students got benefit from reading journal. There were 104 respondents coming from four different departments in Bina Nusantara University were asked to read a text related to the subject they learned in a certain session. Then they were assigned to write a journal that records the things they had read. When this task was finished, the lecturer ran a quiz containing related questions to check whether they really understood the content of the text. Afterwards, students were to fill in a questionnaire regarding their opinion on the impact of the reading journal toward their reading comprehension. The findings indicate that more than half of the participants appear to understand the material well, and the task plays a certain role in improving students’ understanding. The most crucial thing is that most students think they get benefit by writing the reading journal.

  4. The Influence of Teachers’ Schema in Teaching Reading on Students’ Understanding

    OpenAIRE

    Putri Basmalah

    2013-01-01

    This paper tells about teachers’ schema in teaching reading. Based on some articles that the writer given, there are teachers who success in teaching reading and who are failed. The one of the cause why they are failed is because they did not apply the complete activities  (pre-reading activities, while-reading and post-reading) in teaching reading. The types of reading activities are also explained to give a point of view for readers how to be a successful teacher in teaching reading.

  5. Reading, Writing & Rings: Science Literacy for K-4 Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    McConnell, S.; Spilker, L.; Zimmerman-Brachman, R.

    2007-12-01

    Scientific discovery is the impetus for the K-4 Education program, "Reading, Writing & Rings." This program is unique because its focus is to engage elementary students in reading and writing to strengthen these basic academic skills through scientific content. As science has been increasingly overtaken by the language arts in elementary classrooms, the Cassini Education Program has taken advantage of a new cross-disciplinary approach to use language arts as a vehicle for increasing scientific content in the classroom. By utilizing the planet Saturn and the Cassini-Huygens mission as a model in both primary reading and writing students in these grade levels, young students can explore science material while at the same time learning these basic academic skills. Content includes reading, thinking, and hands-on activities. Developed in partnership with the Cassini-Huygens Education and Public Outreach Program, the Bay Area Writing Project/California Writing Project, Foundations in Reading Through Science & Technology (FIRST), and the Caltech Pre-College Science Initiative (CAPSI), and classroom educators, "Reading, Writing & Rings" blends the excitement of space exploration with reading and writing. All materials are teacher developed, aligned with national science and language education standards, and are available from the Cassini-Huygens website: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/edu-k4.cfm Materials are divided into two grade level units. One unit is designed for students in grades 1 and 2 while the other unit focuses on students in grades 3 and 4. Each includes a series of lessons that take students on a path of exploration of Saturn using reading and writing prompts.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  7. 32 CFR 518.9 - Reading room.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... RELATIONS THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT PROGRAM FOIA Reading Rooms § 518.9 Reading room. (a) Reading room... clearly unwarranted invasions of privacy, or competitive harm to business submitters. In appropriate cases... information concerning munitions, equipment, systems, and intelligence activities. (4) (a)(2)(D) records...

  8. Reading Actively Online: An Exploratory Investigation of Online Annotation Tools for Inquiry Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Jingyan; Deng, Liping

    2012-01-01

    This study seeks to design and facilitate active reading among secondary school students with an online annotation tool--Diigo. Two classes of different academic performance levels were recruited to examine their annotation behavior and perceptions of Diigo. We wanted to determine whether the two classes differed in how they used Diigo; how they…

  9. Teaching of reading to school beginners : a study of reading programmes in primary one in Uganda

    OpenAIRE

    Kemizano, Rosert

    2007-01-01

    Abstract The study examines reading programmes with the reference to the teaching/learning of reading to school beginners. The teaching of reading at the early stages is important because it is the quality of the experiences that children get that affect or lay the foundation for reading development (Chall, 1996).Therefore, the phenomenon, “teaching of reading to school beginners” studied is of great importance. The theoretical background used includes reading and its importance, Languag...

  10. Lectura y Vida: Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura, 2000 (Reading and Life: Latin American Reading Magazine, 2000).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lectura y Vida: Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura, 2001

    2001-01-01

    Articles in this volume, written in Spanish, focus on the following: reading and writing assessment: Some characteristics of new assessment practices; how to support active participation in the reading of expository texts; argumentative writing as a problem in the written composition of students in teacher training; reading in a workshop…

  11. Automatic and creative skills in reading Automatic and creative skills in reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonor Scliar Cabral

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available In this article I will discuss the automatic and creative skills in reading, focusing on the differences between 1 processes involved while learning how to read and processes employed by the proficient reader and 2 knowledge for using language and metalinguistic awareness. The arguments will derive mainly from the definition of reading as a process where the receivers combine the information extracted from the written material with their specialized knowledge activated during this process (i.e. linguistic systems and correspondent rules and enciclopedic knowledge in order to comprehend, interpret and internalize structured new information and/or to experience aesthetic pleasure. Evidence to illustrate the arguments comes from experiments (1 with pre-school children and beginning readers on narrativity and on the dichotic paradigm, and with illiterate and literate adults with diferent levels of proficiency of reading in a task of erasing an initial syllable and an initial consonant. In this article I will discuss the automatic and creative skills in reading, focusing on the differences between 1 processes involved while learning how to read and processes employed by the proficient reader and 2 knowledge for using language and metalinguistic awareness. The arguments will derive mainly from the definition of reading as a process where the receivers combine the information extracted from the written material with their specialized knowledge activated during this process (i.e. linguistic systems and correspondent rules and enciclopedic knowledge in order to comprehend, interpret and internalize structured new information and/or to experience aesthetic pleasure. Evidence to illustrate the arguments comes from experiments (1 with pre-school children and beginning readers on narrativity and on the dichotic paradigm, and with illiterate and literate adults with diferent levels of proficiency of reading in a task of erasing an initial syllable

  12. Does IQ affect the functional brain network involved in pseudoword reading in students with reading disability? A magnetoencephalography study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Panagiotis G Simos

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The study examined whether individual differences in performance and verbal IQ affect the profiles of reading-related regional brain activation in 127 students experiencing reading difficulties and typical readers. Using magnetoencephalography in a pseudoword read-aloud task, we compared brain activation profiles of students experiencing word-level reading difficulties who did (n=29 or did not (n=36 meet the IQ-reading achievement discrepancy criterion. Typical readers assigned to a lower-IQ (n=18 or a higher IQ (n=44 subgroup served as controls. Minimum norm estimates of regional cortical activity revealed that the degree of hypoactivation in the left superior temporal and supramarginal gyri in both RD subgroups was not affected by IQ. Moreover, IQ did not moderate the positive association between degree of activation in the left fusiform gyrus and phonological decoding ability. We did find, however, that the hypoactivation of the left pars opercularis in RD was restricted to lower-IQ participants. In accordance with previous morphometric and fMRI studies, degree of activity in inferior frontal and inferior parietal regions correlated with IQ across reading ability subgroups. Results are consistent with current views questioning the relevance of IQ measures and IQ-discrepancy criteria in the diagnosis of dyslexia.

  13. Motivation for Reading and Upper Primary School Students' Academic Achievement in Reading in Kenya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mucherah, Winnie; Herendeen, Abbey

    2013-01-01

    This study examined primary school students' reading motivation and performance on the standardized exam. Participants included 901 seventh and eighth grade students from Kenya. There were 468 females and 433 males. Contrary to previous studies, results showed reading challenge and aesthetics, but not efficacy, predicted reading achievement,…

  14. An application of CCD read-out technique to neutron distribution measurement using the self-activation method with a CsI scintillator plate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nohtomi, Akihiro; Kurihara, Ryosuke; Kinoshita, Hiroyuki; Honda, Soichiro; Tokunaga, Masaaki; Uno, Heita; Shinsho, Kiyomitsu; Wakabayashi, Genichiro; Koba, Yusuke; Fukunaga, Junichi; Umezu, Yoshiyuki; Nakamura, Yasuhiko; Ohga, Saiji

    2016-01-01

    In our previous paper, the self-activation of an NaI scintillator had been successfully utilized for detecting photo-neutrons around a high-energy X-ray radiotherapy machine; individual optical pulses from the self-activated scintillator are read-out by photo sensors such as a photomultiplier tube (PMT). In the present work, preliminary observations have been performed in order to apply a direct CCD read-out technique to the self-activation method with a CsI scintillator plate using a Pu-Be source and a 10-MV linac. In conclusion, it has been revealed that the CCD read-out technique is applicable to neutron measurement around a high-energy X-ray radiotherapy machine with the self-activation of a CsI plate. Such application may provide a possibility of novel method for simple neutron dose-distribution measurement. - Highlights: • Preliminary observations have been performed by a CCD for the CsI self-activation method. • It has been revealed that the CCD read-out technique is applicable to neutron measurement. • Such application may provide a novel method for simple neutron distribution measurement.

  15. An application of CCD read-out technique to neutron distribution measurement using the self-activation method with a CsI scintillator plate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nohtomi, Akihiro, E-mail: nohtomi@hs.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp [Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan); Kurihara, Ryosuke; Kinoshita, Hiroyuki; Honda, Soichiro; Tokunaga, Masaaki; Uno, Heita [Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan); Shinsho, Kiyomitsu [Graduate School of Human Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 7-2-10 Higashi-oku, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116-8551 (Japan); Wakabayashi, Genichiro [Atomic Energy Research Institute, Kinki University, 3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashiosaka-shi, Osaka 577-8502 (Japan); Koba, Yusuke [National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 263-8555 (Japan); Fukunaga, Junichi; Umezu, Yoshiyuki; Nakamura, Yasuhiko [Department of Radiology, Kyushu University Hospital, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan); Ohga, Saiji [Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan)

    2016-10-01

    In our previous paper, the self-activation of an NaI scintillator had been successfully utilized for detecting photo-neutrons around a high-energy X-ray radiotherapy machine; individual optical pulses from the self-activated scintillator are read-out by photo sensors such as a photomultiplier tube (PMT). In the present work, preliminary observations have been performed in order to apply a direct CCD read-out technique to the self-activation method with a CsI scintillator plate using a Pu-Be source and a 10-MV linac. In conclusion, it has been revealed that the CCD read-out technique is applicable to neutron measurement around a high-energy X-ray radiotherapy machine with the self-activation of a CsI plate. Such application may provide a possibility of novel method for simple neutron dose-distribution measurement. - Highlights: • Preliminary observations have been performed by a CCD for the CsI self-activation method. • It has been revealed that the CCD read-out technique is applicable to neutron measurement. • Such application may provide a novel method for simple neutron distribution measurement.

  16. En sus marcas--Listos--A leer! Para los cuidadores de ninos pequenos: Actividades de lenguaje para la primera infancia y ninez entre el nacimiento y los 5 anos. El reto: A leer, America! (Ready--Set--Read! For Caregivers: Early Childhood Language Activities for Children from Birth through Age Five. America Reads Challenge).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Department of Education, Washington, DC.

    This Ready--Set--Read Kit includes an activity guide for caregivers, a 1997-98 early childhood activity calendar, and an early childhood growth chart. The activity guide presents activities and ideas that caregivers (family child care providers and the teachers, staff, and volunteers in child development programs) can use to help young children…

  17. Promoting toddlers' vegetable consumption through interactive reading and puppetry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Droog, Simone M; van Nee, Roselinde; Govers, Mieke; Buijzen, Moniek

    2017-09-01

    Picture books with characters that promote healthy eating are increasingly being used to make this behavior more attractive. The first aim of this study was to investigate whether the effect of vegetable-promoting picture books on toddlers' vegetable consumption differed according to the reading style and the use of a hand puppet during reading. The second aim was to investigate whether these effects were mediated by toddlers' narrative involvement and character imitation. In a 2 (reading style: interactive vs. passive) x 2 (puppet use: with vs. without puppet) between-subjects design, 163 toddlers (2-3 years) were randomly assigned to one of the four reading conditions. The story was about a rabbit that loves to eat carrots. After the fourth reading day, the eating task was conducted in which children could eat freely from four different snacks, including carrots. The main finding was that interactive reading produced the greatest carrot consumption. The explanation for this effect was that interactive reading stimulated toddlers to imitate poses of the book characters, even more when interactive reading was supported by the use of a hand puppet. The findings underline that young children should be actively involved with health interventions in order for them to be effective. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Science Fiction: Serious Reading, Critical Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zigo, Diane; Moore, Michael T.

    2004-01-01

    Science fiction deserves a greater respect, serious and critical reading and a better place in high school literature classes. Some of the science fiction books by Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, Ray Bradbury and Octavia L. Butler and various activities for incorporating science fiction into the English language arts instruction classroom are…

  19. Promoting active learning of graduate student by deep reading in biochemistry and microbiology pharmacy curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Ren

    2017-07-08

    To promote graduate students' active learning, deep reading of high quality papers was done by graduate students enrolled in biochemistry and microbiology pharmacy curriculum offered by college of life science, Jiangxi Normal University from 2013 to 2015. The number of graduate students, who participated in the course in 2013, 2014, and 2015 were eleven, thirteen and fifteen, respectively. Through deep reading of papers, presentation, and group discussion in the lecture, these graduate students have improved their academic performances effectively, such as literature search, PPT document production, presentation management, specialty document reading, academic inquiry, and analytical and comprehensive ability. The graduate students also have increased their understanding level of frontier research, scientific research methods, and experimental methods. © 2017 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(4):305-312, 2017. © 2017 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

  20. Reading speed, comprehension and eye movements while reading Japanese novels: evidence from untrained readers and cases of speed-reading trainees.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hiromitsu Miyata

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence suggests that meditative training enhances perception and cognition. In Japan, the Park-Sasaki method of speed-reading involves organized visual training while forming both a relaxed and concentrated state of mind, as in meditation. The present study examined relationships between reading speed, sentence comprehension, and eye movements while reading short Japanese novels. In addition to normal untrained readers, three middle-level trainees and one high-level expert on this method were included for the two case studies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In Study 1, three of 17 participants were middle-level trainees on the speed-reading method. Immediately after reading each story once on a computer monitor, participants answered true or false questions regarding the content of the novel. Eye movements while reading were recorded using an eye-tracking system. Results revealed higher reading speed and lower comprehension scores in the trainees than in the untrained participants. Furthermore, eye-tracking data by untrained participants revealed multiple correlations between reading speed, accuracy and eye-movement measures, with faster readers showing shorter fixation durations and larger saccades in X than slower readers. In Study 2, participants included a high-level expert and 14 untrained students. The expert showed higher reading speed and statistically comparable, although numerically lower, comprehension scores compared with the untrained participants. During test sessions this expert moved her eyes along a nearly straight horizontal line as a first pass, without moving her eyes over the whole sentence display as did the untrained students. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In addition to revealing correlations between speed, comprehension and eye movements in reading Japanese contemporary novels by untrained readers, we describe cases of speed-reading trainees regarding relationships between these variables

  1. Language differences in the brain network for reading in naturalistic story reading and lexical decision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaojuan; Yang, Jianfeng; Yang, Jie; Mencl, W Einar; Shu, Hua; Zevin, Jason David

    2015-01-01

    Differences in how writing systems represent language raise important questions about whether there could be a universal functional architecture for reading across languages. In order to study potential language differences in the neural networks that support reading skill, we collected fMRI data from readers of alphabetic (English) and morpho-syllabic (Chinese) writing systems during two reading tasks. In one, participants read short stories under conditions that approximate natural reading, and in the other, participants decided whether individual stimuli were real words or not. Prior work comparing these two writing systems has overwhelmingly used meta-linguistic tasks, generally supporting the conclusion that the reading system is organized differently for skilled readers of Chinese and English. We observed that language differences in the reading network were greatly dependent on task. In lexical decision, a pattern consistent with prior research was observed in which the Middle Frontal Gyrus (MFG) and right Fusiform Gyrus (rFFG) were more active for Chinese than for English, whereas the posterior temporal sulcus was more active for English than for Chinese. We found a very different pattern of language effects in a naturalistic reading paradigm, during which significant differences were only observed in visual regions not typically considered specific to the reading network, and the middle temporal gyrus, which is thought to be important for direct mapping of orthography to semantics. Indeed, in areas that are often discussed as supporting distinct cognitive or linguistic functions between the two languages, we observed interaction. Specifically, language differences were most pronounced in MFG and rFFG during the lexical decision task, whereas no language differences were observed in these areas during silent reading of text for comprehension.

  2. It Takes Two to Read: Interactive Reading with Young Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dirks, Evelien; Wauters, Loes

    2018-04-04

    Interactive storybook reading is an important activity to enhance the emergent literacy skills of young deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. Parents have a crucial role to play in promoting their children's literacy development. However, parents often do not read in an interactive way; therefore guidance is recommended in applying these interactive reading strategies. In the present study we examined how parent reading behavior was affected by implementing an interactive reading training program for parents of young DHH children. Parents of 18 DHH toddlers in the Netherlands participated in a series of group training sessions and their interactive reading behavior was compared to that of 10 parents who did not participate. The results showed that parents' interactive reading behavior tended to increase after they participated in the interactive reading program. After the program, they applied the interactive reading strategies more often than parents who had not participated in the program. The findings suggest that interactive reading programs should be incorporated into early intervention programs for DHH children.

  3. Examining the Delivery Modes of Metacognitive Awareness and Active Reading Lessons in a College Nonmajors Introductory Biology Course

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kendra M. Hill

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Current research supports the role of metacognitive strategies to enhance reading comprehension. This study measured the effectiveness of online versus face-to-face metacognitive and active reading skills lessons introduced by Biology faculty to college students in a non-majors introductory biology course. These lessons were delivered in two lectures either online (Group 1: N = 154 or face-to-face (Group 2: N = 152. Previously validated pre- and post-surveys were used to collect and compare data by paired and independent t-test analysis (α = 0.05. Pre- and post-survey data showed a statistically significant improvement in both groups in metacognitive awareness (p = 0.001, p = 0.003, respectively and reading comprehension (p < 0.001 for both groups. When comparing the delivery mode of these lessons, no difference was detected between the online and face-to-face instruction for metacognitive awareness (pre- p = 0.619, post- p = 0.885. For reading comprehension, no difference in gains was demonstrated between online and face-to-face (p = 0.381, however, differences in pre- and post- test scores was measured (pre- p = 0.005, post- p = 0.038. This study suggests that biology instructors can easily introduce effective metacognitive awareness and active reading lessons into their course, either through online or face-to-face instruction.

  4. From fluency to comprehension powerful instruction through authentic reading

    CERN Document Server

    Rasinski, Timothy

    2013-01-01

    Helping teachers move beyond fluency as measured by speed alone, this book focuses on building the skills that students need to read accurately, meaningfully, and expressively--the essential components of reading comprehension. Each concise chapter presents a tried-and-true instructional or assessment strategy and shows how K-12 teachers can apply it in their own classrooms, using a wide variety of engaging texts. Special features include classroom examples, ""Your Turn"" activities, and 24 reproducible forms, in a large-size format for easy photocopying. Purchasers also get access to a

  5. Effects of Metalinguistic Awareness on Reading Comprehension and the Mediator Role of Reading Fluency from Grades 2 to 4

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Liping; Wu, Xinchun

    2015-01-01

    Purpose This study examined the contribution of metalinguistic awareness including morphological awareness, phonological awareness and orthographical awareness to reading comprehension, and the role of reading fluency as a mediator of the effects of metalinguistic awareness on reading comprehension from grades 2 to 4. Methods Four hundred and fifteen elementary students in China mainland were administered a test battery that included measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, orthographical awareness, reading fluency, reading comprehension and IQ. Hierarchical regression and structural equation models (SEM) were used to analyze the data. Results Morphological awareness uniquely explained 9%, 10% and 13% variance of reading comprehension respectively from grade 2 to grade 4, however, phonological awareness and orthographical awareness did not contribute to reading comprehension; Reading fluency partially mediated the effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension in grades 2-4. Conclusions These findings indicated that reading fluency and morphological awareness should be facilitated in the Chinese instruction. Morphological awareness played an important role in Chinese reading and affected reading comprehension in grades 2 to 4; Reading fluency was a significant link between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in grades 2-4. PMID:25799530

  6. Building Maintenance. Reading and Language Activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kessman, William A.

    The student manual has been designed primarily for beginning students in a high school level vocational program in building maintenance. A workbook for special needs students, the document does not cover all areas of custodial training but has been written for the purpose of refining the basic skills of reading comprehension, vocabulary building,…

  7. Language differences in the brain network for reading in naturalistic story reading and lexical decision.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaojuan Wang

    Full Text Available Differences in how writing systems represent language raise important questions about whether there could be a universal functional architecture for reading across languages. In order to study potential language differences in the neural networks that support reading skill, we collected fMRI data from readers of alphabetic (English and morpho-syllabic (Chinese writing systems during two reading tasks. In one, participants read short stories under conditions that approximate natural reading, and in the other, participants decided whether individual stimuli were real words or not. Prior work comparing these two writing systems has overwhelmingly used meta-linguistic tasks, generally supporting the conclusion that the reading system is organized differently for skilled readers of Chinese and English. We observed that language differences in the reading network were greatly dependent on task. In lexical decision, a pattern consistent with prior research was observed in which the Middle Frontal Gyrus (MFG and right Fusiform Gyrus (rFFG were more active for Chinese than for English, whereas the posterior temporal sulcus was more active for English than for Chinese. We found a very different pattern of language effects in a naturalistic reading paradigm, during which significant differences were only observed in visual regions not typically considered specific to the reading network, and the middle temporal gyrus, which is thought to be important for direct mapping of orthography to semantics. Indeed, in areas that are often discussed as supporting distinct cognitive or linguistic functions between the two languages, we observed interaction. Specifically, language differences were most pronounced in MFG and rFFG during the lexical decision task, whereas no language differences were observed in these areas during silent reading of text for comprehension.

  8. Which Book and Why: Using Book Bands and Book Levels for Guided Reading in Key Stage 1 [Includes CD-ROM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodman, Sue, Ed.; Franklin, Glen, Ed.

    2014-01-01

    We want all children to love reading, and Which Book and Why demonstrates how effective guided reading for children in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 can help teachers make this happen. Balancing theory and practice, this book explores how schools and teachers can implement guided reading more confidently and more effectively. Which Book and Why…

  9. A Read-Aloud for Romantics and Realists (Read It Aloud).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Judy S.; And Others

    1997-01-01

    Presents a read-aloud from Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary." Discusses briefly the novel and the selection, and then describes specific activities for English and for language arts instruction. (SR)

  10. Integrating Reading and Technology: The Development of "Pamanpintermu"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arifani, Yudhi; Rosyid, Harunur

    2016-01-01

    Reading as one of English skills has paramount features in shaping EFL English competence. Referring to the importance for reading, it is inevitable that teaching method, assessments tools, reading material and activities have indispensable tasks to attain EFL learners' reading objectives. This study is intended to develop integrated reading…

  11. Reading and company

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kuzmičová, Anežka; Dias, Patrícia; Vogrinčič Čepič, Ana

    2017-01-01

    in the environment where one engages in individual silent reading. The primary goal of the study was to explore the role and possible associations of a number of variables (text type, purpose, device) in selecting generic (e.g. indoors vs outdoors) as well as specific (e.g. home vs library) reading environments....... Across all six samples included in the study, participants spontaneously attested to varied, and partly surprising, forms of sensitivity to company and social space in their daily efforts to align body with mind for reading. The article reports these emergent trends and discusses their potential...

  12. Exploring the Relationship between Adolescent's Reading Skills, Reading Motivation and Reading Habits

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGeown, Sarah P.; Duncan, Lynne G.; Griffiths, Yvonne M.; Stothard, Sue E.

    2015-01-01

    The present study examines the extent to which adolescents' reading affect (reading motivation) and behaviour (reading habits) predict different components of reading (word reading, comprehension, summarisation and text reading speed) and also adds to the limited research examining group differences (gender, age, ability) in adolescents' reading…

  13. Reading fiction during sick leave, a multidimensional occupation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mårtensson, Lena; Andersson, Christina

    2015-01-01

    In bibliotherapy, the therapeutic gains of reading fiction are ascribed to the literature. Viewing reading fiction as an occupation may give other explanations of its therapeutic function. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of reading fiction among women during a period of sick leave. A qualitative approach was applied. Eight women who had been reading fiction during sick leave were interviewed. An overarching theme: Supporting one's active self, comprised five categories of experiences: a prospect of ordinary life, a place of refuge, a life together with others, a source of power, and as supporting an active life. Based on the categories, reading fiction is seen to comprise intentional, functional, mental, relational, and personal dimensions. A tentative model of supporting one's active self is proposed, which may be helpful in clarifying the mechanisms of the process of change. The health-related dimensions of reading fiction suggest that reading fiction should be regarded as a significant occupation comparable with other, more highlighted ones. Understood in this way, it is argued that the results add to the knowledge base in occupational therapy focusing on how meaningful occupations connect to occupational life trajectories.

  14. Matching is not naming: a direct comparison of lexical manipulations in explicit and implicit reading tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogel, Alecia C; Petersen, Steven E; Schlaggar, Bradley L

    2013-10-01

    The neurobiological basis of reading is of considerable interest, yet analyzing data from subjects reading words aloud during functional MRI data collection can be difficult. Therefore, many investigators use surrogate tasks such as visual matching or rhyme matching to eliminate the need for spoken output. Use of these tasks has been justified by the presumption of "automatic activation" of reading-related neural processing when a word is viewed. We have tested the efficacy of using a nonreading task for studying "reading effects" by directly comparing blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activity in subjects performing a visual matching task and an item naming task on words, pseudowords (meaningless but legal letter combinations), and nonwords (meaningless and illegal letter combinations). When compared directly, there is significantly more activity during the naming task in "reading-related" regions such as the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and supramarginal gyrus. More importantly, there are differing effects of lexicality in the tasks. A whole-brain task (matching vs. naming) by string type (word vs. pseudoword vs. nonword) by BOLD timecourse analysis identifies regions showing this three-way interaction, including the left IFG and left angular gyrus (AG). In the majority of the identified regions (including the left IFG and left AG), there is a string type × timecourse interaction in the naming but not the matching task. These results argue that the processing performed in specific regions is contingent on task, even in reading-related regions and is thus nonautomatic. Such differences should be taken into consideration when designing studies intended to investigate reading. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Reading with Ease: The Impact of an Oral Reading Fluency Intervention with Adolescent Struggling Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Wig, Ann

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to investigate the impact of a repeated reading fluency intervention focused on prosody, counterbalanced with an intervention focused on reading strategies. Both of these interventions were designed to promote feelings of achievement through participation in activities intended to…

  16. Impact Of Using Joint Productive Activity Approach On Second Language Learners’ Performance In Reading Comprehension At The Basic Education Level In Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HANNA ONYI YUSUF

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the impact of using joint productive activity on the performance of second language learners in reading comprehension at the basic education level in Nigeria. A sample of forty (40 Junior Secondary II students from Kaduna North and South were used for the study. The study was quasi experimental. Government Junior Secondary School Doka was used as the experimental group while Government Junior Secondary School Makera was used as the control group. Both groups were assessed after six weeks of teaching using two reading comprehension tests. T-test was used to test the hypothesis raised in the study. The findings revealed significant differences in the performance of students taught reading comprehension using joint productive activity. Based on the findings teachers are encouraged to use joint productive activities in teaching reading comprehension. This is a positive deviation from the traditional practice in Nigeria where a teacher is regarded as the sole custodian of knowledge and students are empty tabula rasa who should be passive during class teaching. Teachers need to exploit this new approach by designing teaching comprehension activities that will require second language learners’ collaboration and active participation in accomplishing tasks jointly in class with the teacher.

  17. Keys to Reading among Middle School Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Nichole; Day, Barbara

    2013-01-01

    A recent decline in reading has become a major issue, as Americans are not reading out of necessity or as a leisure activity. In addition, a connection has been found between children's leisure reading habits and their level of academic achievement, causing even more concern. (Contains 1 table.)

  18. The effect of shared book reading on the acquisition of expressive vocabulary of a 7 year old who uses AAC.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soto, Gloria; Dukhovny, Elena

    2008-05-01

    Children who have poor expressive vocabularies are at risk of further language delays and reading comprehension difficulties, which will significantly impact their educational achievement. The role of shared book reading in supporting vocabulary growth continues to receive empirical attention in the field of communication disorders. This single-subject study analyzes the effect of an intervention program based on shared book reading in a girl with no functional speech who used augmentative and alternative communication. The study included three literacy activities, a prereading activity to stimulate the girl's prior knowledge about the topic, a shared reading activity, and a postreading activity to assess and support language comprehension. Our findings suggest that the activities and elicitation techniques used by the clinician had a positive effect on the participant's expressive vocabulary.

  19. Adaptive changes in early and late blind: a fMRI study of Braille reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burton, H; Snyder, A Z; Conturo, T E; Akbudak, E; Ollinger, J M; Raichle, M E

    2002-01-01

    Braille reading depends on remarkable adaptations that connect the somatosensory system to language. We hypothesized that the pattern of cortical activations in blind individuals reading Braille would reflect these adaptations. Activations in visual (occipital-temporal), frontal-language, and somatosensory cortex in blind individuals reading Braille were examined for evidence of differences relative to previously reported studies of sighted subjects reading print or receiving tactile stimulation. Nine congenitally blind and seven late-onset blind subjects were studied with fMRI as they covertly performed verb generation in response to reading Braille embossed nouns. The control task was reading the nonlexical Braille string "######". This study emphasized image analysis in individual subjects rather than pooled data. Group differences were examined by comparing magnitudes and spatial extent of activated regions first determined to be significant using the general linear model. The major adaptive change was robust activation of visual cortex despite the complete absence of vision in all subjects. This included foci in peri-calcarine, lingual, cuneus and fusiform cortex, and in the lateral and superior occipital gyri encompassing primary (V1), secondary (V2), and higher tier (VP, V4v, LO and possibly V3A) visual areas previously identified in sighted subjects. Subjects who never had vision differed from late blind subjects in showing even greater activity in occipital-temporal cortex, provisionally corresponding to V5/MT and V8. In addition, the early blind had stronger activation of occipital cortex located contralateral to the hand used for reading Braille. Responses in frontal and parietal cortex were nearly identical in both subject groups. There was no evidence of modifications in frontal cortex language areas (inferior frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). Surprisingly, there was also no evidence of an adaptive expansion of the somatosensory or

  20. I read, you read, we read: the history of reading in Slovenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anja Dular

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACTPurpose: The aim of the article is to research reading habits in Slovenia in the period between 16th and 19th century and to find similarities with Austria and other European countries of that time.Methodology/approach: For the purpose of the analysis different resources were used – study books, catechisms, prayer books and manuals. We were focused on introductions in which readers are advised how to read, explaining to whom the work is intended and emphasizing the importance of meditation on the texts.Results: Historically the laud reading was prefered, as to continue the folk tradition. However, the 16th century texts were transmitted by women while the folk tradition was narrated by males. In the 18th century the higher level of literacy and greater book production and availability caused that the books were not a privilege of a few. At that time more texts were intended for silent, individual reading. Interestingly, the authors emphasized the importance of meditation on the texts, too. It was also advised when to read – it wasrecommedend to read in leisure time on Sundays, and on holidays. The role of books was also to breakaway with the reality and to forget everyday problems. Due to the overproduction of books in the 17th centrury it was concerned that books are misleading the crowds. The church considered the reading of books as inappropriate, and criticized fiction, novels and adventure stories mostly read by women.Research limitation: The study is based on Slovenian texts only, although the foreign literature, especially in German, was generally available, too.Originality/practical implications: The study is fullfiling the gap in the history of reading in Slovenia.

  1. Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young-Suk Grace

    2015-01-01

    The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)-how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text reading fluency; (3) unique emergent literacy predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, morphological awareness, letter name knowledge, vocabulary) of text reading fluency vs. word reading fluency; and (4) unique language and cognitive predictors (e.g., vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, theory of mind) of text reading fluency vs. reading comprehension. These questions were addressed using longitudinal data (two timepoints; Mean age = 5;24 & 6;08) from Korean-speaking children ( N = 143). Results showed that listening comprehension was related to text reading fluency at time 2, but not at time 1. At both times text reading fluency was related to reading comprehension, and reading comprehension was related to text reading fluency over and above word reading fluency and listening comprehension. Orthographic awareness was related to text reading fluency over and above other emergent literacy skills and word reading fluency. Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge were independently related to text reading fluency and reading comprehension whereas theory of mind was related to reading comprehension, but not text reading fluency. These results reveal developmental nature of relations and mechanism of text reading fluency in reading development.

  2. Social  reading - the reader on digital margins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivona Despot

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Electronic books enrich the reading experience through a range of possibilities digital technology offers, such as commenting or adding content at the margin space, marking interesting chapters and sharing the content with other readers. The phenomenon of social reading emerges with the influence of technology in the sphere of reading books and creates interactions for readers with the content and other readers. The great potential of enriching the reading experience is visible in the digital platforms for social reading, where the interaction and the creation of new content encourages the development of new way of reading and creativity. These activities may contribute to better understanding of the text. This enhances the communication about the text thus revitalizing the content and moves the reading itself from private to public sphere. This paper will show how are the activities in the digital margins transformed into a good indicator of the reading behavior, as well as the importance and usefulness of such for publishers to create new publishing products and services.

  3. Reading for pleasure and reading circles for adult emergent readers insights in adult learning

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    Duncan, Sam

    2014-01-01

    In the UK, the adult literacy provision has become more functional and more assessment driven over the last decade, largely due to funding requirements. However, one result of this is that the clear benefits of reading for pleasure in adult skills development have become less apparent. This book addresses the need to support teachers in the development of adults' skills through reading for pleasure, by incorporating the activity into the curriculum. It focuses on reading for pleasure for adult emergent readers - those who consider themselves non-readers, either because they feel they cannot or

  4. Returning to Reading: An Online Course in French Offers a Snapshot of L2 Reading Habits and Trends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gascoigne, Carolyn; Parnell, Juliette

    2016-01-01

    With todays' students spending increasing amounts of time involved in online activities, there is a growing need to study their online reading habits. Indeed, it is not only students' out-of-class engagement with electronic media that calls for increased attention to the reading skill, in general, and online reading, in particular, but it is also…

  5. The Role of Comic Reading Materials in Enhancing the Ability to Read in EFL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roozafzai, Zahra Sadat

    2012-01-01

    Reading is an extremely active, complex, mental and personal process that concerns both the reader and the text. It is now generally believed that a range of reader with text factors affect the reading process to a considerable extent. So, teachers of EFL need to be aware of the important role of teaching materials. Thus, this study investigated…

  6. Does Extensive Reading Promote Reading Speed?

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Mu

    2014-01-01

    Research has shown a wide range of learning benefits accruing from extensive reading. Not only is there improvement in reading, but also in a wide range of language uses and areas of language knowledge. However, few research studies have examined reading speed. The existing literature on reading speed focused on students' reading speed without…

  7. An Analysis on Reading Texts in Teaching Turkish to Foreigners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adem İŞCAN

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Being one of the four basic language skills, reading has a great importance in teaching Turkish to foreigners. It is required to develop reading skills to develop vocabulary. There have been some problems in teaching Turkish as second language. These problems are generally related to difference in alphabet, inadequacy of the sources used in teaching Turkish, methods and techniques used and the texts used. The basic sources used in teaching Turkish to foreigners are texts. This study aims at determination of the opinions of students in Gaziosmanpaşa University and Ondokuz Mayıs University Turkish Education and Application Center (TOMER concerning Turkish reading texts. General browsing method was used in the study. The questionnaire comprising of 24 items was applied to 25 students in beginner level and 7 students in advanced level. With this study, it is foreseen to arrange the texts being the key stone according to the wishes of and in compliance with the levels of students; giving importance to pre-reading, reading and post-reading activities and including questions with short-answer about the text as well as questions to develop high level skills.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  9. Familial History of Reading Difficulty Is Associated with Diffused Bilateral Brain Activation during Reading and Greater Association with Visual Attention Abilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi

    2017-01-01

    Reading difficulty (RD; or dyslexia) is a heritable condition characterized by slow, inaccurate reading accompanied by executive dysfunction, specifically with respect to visual attention. The current study was designed to examine the effect of familial history of RD on the relationship between reading and visual attention abilities in children…

  10. Improving reading and writing learning in underprivileged pluri-ethnic settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armand, Françoise; Lefrançois, Pascale; Baron, Agnès; Gomez, Maria-Cécilia; Nuckle, Sylvie

    2004-09-01

    Many studies carried out in first language contexts tend to demonstrate the positive effects of activity programmes aimed at (1) developing metaphonological abilities and (2) developing language skills through active story listening on learning to read and to spell by first-grade students. This study seeks to extend previous findings by (a) including children, the majority of whom have French as a second language, who attend plurilingual schools and have not been included in previous studies, and (b) providing training based on three essential principles shared by the two kinds of programmes: integrating activities into realistic literacy practice contexts; encouraging active student participation through tasks which very often require problem solving; and tackling, one after the other, different kinds of operations or strategies. Three groups of students were created out a pool of 202 children enrolled in nine first-grade classes in three underprivileged pluri-ethnic schools. The control group was composed of 46 students who received typical, first-grade methods for teaching reading and spelling. Experimental group 1 (DMPA), 91 students, received a training programme aimed at metaphonological abilities development. Experimental group 2 (DLS), 65 students, received a training intended to develop language skills through active story listening and production. The students from the three groups were evaluated at the beginning (metaphonological task I, pre-reading task) and at the end (metaphonological task II, word recognition task, text comprehension task, word spelling task) of their first year in elementary school. The programme for the development of metaphonological abilities enabled DMPA group students to obtain significantly higher scores than the control group on metaphonological task II and word recognition task. The DMPA group children also did significantly better than the control and the DLS groups on the word spelling task. However, the DLS group, who

  11. Teaching Students to Read the Primary Literature Using POGIL Activities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Tracey Arnold

    2014-01-01

    The ability to read, interpret, and evaluate articles in the primary literature are important skills that science majors will use in graduate school and professional life. Because of this, it is important that students are not only exposed to the primary literature in undergraduate education, but also taught how to read and interpret these…

  12. VISION AND READING ABILITY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MANGRUM, CHARLES T.

    SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL AND FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS OF VISION AND READING DISABILITY IS SURVEYED. CONCLUSIONS BASED ON THE LITERATURE IN THE FIELD ARE DISCUSSED. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 70 REFERENCES AND A GLOSSARY OF TERMS ARE APPENDED. A TABLE SUMMARIZING REFRACTIVE ERRORS AND EYE DEFECTS CONTRIBUTING TO READING DISABILITY IS INCLUDED.…

  13. Improving reading comprehension in reading and listening settings: the effect of two training programmes focusing on metacognition and working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carretti, Barbara; Caldarola, Nadia; Tencati, Chiara; Cornoldi, Cesare

    2014-06-01

    Metacognition and working memory (WM) have been found associated with success in reading comprehension, but no studies have examined their combined effect on the training of reading comprehension. Another open question concerns the role of listening comprehension: In particular, it is not clear whether training to improve reading comprehension must necessarily be based on processing written material or whether, as suggested in a recent study by Clarke et al. (2010, Psychol. Sci., 21, 1106), a programme based on verbal language could also be effective. The study examined the feasibility of improving text comprehension in school children by comparing the efficacy of two training programmes, both involving metacognition and WM, but one based on listening comprehension, the other on reading comprehension. The study involved a sample of 159 pupils attending eight classes in the fourth and fifth grades (age range 9-11 years). The listening and reading programmes focused on the same abilities/processes strictly related to text comprehension, and particularly metacognitive knowledge and control, WM (per se and in terms of integrating information in a text). The training programmes were implemented by school teachers as part of the class's normal school activities, under the supervision of experts. Their efficacy was compared with the results obtained in an active control group that completed standard text comprehension activities. Our results showed that both the training programmes focusing on specific text comprehension skills were effective in improving the children's achievement, but training in reading comprehension generated greater gains than the listening comprehension programme. Our study suggests that activities focusing specifically on metacognition and WM could foster text comprehension, but the potential benefit is influenced by the training modality, that is, the Reading group obtained greater and longer-lasting improvements than the Active control or

  14. Story time turbocharger? Child engagement during shared reading and cerebellar activation and connectivity in preschool-age children listening to stories.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John S Hutton

    Full Text Available Expanding behavioral and neurobiological evidence affirms benefits of shared (especially parent-child reading on cognitive development during early childhood. However, the majority of this evidence involves factors under caregiver control, the influence of those intrinsic to the child, such as interest or engagement in reading, largely indirect or unclear. The cerebellum is increasingly recognized as playing a "smoothing" role in higher-level cognitive processing and learning, via feedback loops with language, limbic and association cortices. We utilized functional MRI to explore the relationship between child engagement during a mother-child reading observation and neural activation and connectivity during a story listening task, in a sample of 4-year old girls. Children exhibiting greater interest and engagement in the narrative showed increased activation in right-sided cerebellar association areas during the task, and greater functional connectivity between this activation cluster and language and executive function areas. Our findings suggest a potential cerebellar "boost" mechanism responsive to child engagement level that may contribute to emergent literacy development during early childhood, and synergy between caregiver and child factors during story sharing.

  15. Promoting Active Learning of Graduate Student by Deep Reading in Biochemistry and Microbiology Pharmacy Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Ren

    2017-01-01

    To promote graduate students' active learning, deep reading of high quality papers was done by graduate students enrolled in biochemistry and microbiology pharmacy curriculum offered by college of life science, Jiangxi Normal University from 2013 to 2015. The number of graduate students, who participated in the course in 2013, 2014, and 2015 were…

  16. Relations of Perceived Parent and Friend Support for Recreational Reading with Children's Reading Motivations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klauda, Susan Lutz; Wigfield, Allan

    2012-01-01

    This study examined elementary school students' perceived support for recreational reading from their mothers, fathers, and friends. Participants, including 130 fourth graders and 172 fifth graders, completed the researcher-developed Reading Support Survey, which assesses how often children experience and how greatly they enjoy multiple types of…

  17. Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension

    OpenAIRE

    Kim, Young-Suk Grace

    2015-01-01

    The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)—how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text readi...

  18. Eye Movement during Silent and Oral Reading: How Can we Compensate the Loss of Multisensory Process during Silent Reading?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maiko Takahashi

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available While reading texts orally, we process the multisensory language information. Accordingly, in the context of reading aloud, we process the visually presented text and produce the auditory information of the text through articulatory movement. These multisensory processing activities are assumed to facilitate the memory and comprehension of textual information. Conversely, while reading silently, we process only the visual information of the text. Although we cannot use the multisensory language information while reading silently, several researchers have found that there is little difference between the degree of comprehension based on silent and oral reading for adult readers. The purpose of this study is to explain how we compensate the loss of multisensory process during silent reading by comparing the visual processing process during silent and oral reading. By conducting two experiments, we measured and compared the eye movement during silent and oral reading. The results showed that silent reading took shorter time for comprehension than oral reading, and readers had more visual fixation points and read back frequently during reading silently than orally. These reading strategies during silent reading seemed to compensate the loss of multisensory process and support the text comprehension.

  19. PROMOTING AUTONOMOUS LEARNING IN READING CLASS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agus Sholeh

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available To have good acquisition and awareness in reading, the learners need a long and continuous process, and therefore, they are required to have autonomy in learning reading. This study aims to promote learner autonomy in reading class by combining learner-centered reading teaching and extensive reading teaching. Learner-centered reading teaching was carried out through group discussion, presentation, and language awareness activities. Meanwhile, extensive reading teaching was done to review the learners‘ materials in presentation and reinforce their acquisition. Those two different approaches were applied due to differences on learner's characteristics and needs. The result showed some success in the practice of autonomy, indicated by changes on learners' attitude. However, many learners showed that they focused more on obtaining score than on developing their language acquisition. By implementing the approach, the teacher can assist learners to be aware of their ability to learn independently and equip them with the skill needed for long-life learning.

  20. Developmental relations between reading comprehension and reading strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Muijselaar, M.M.L.; Swart, N.M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G.; Droop, W.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Jong, P.F. de

    2017-01-01

    We examined the developmental relations between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension in a longitudinal study of 312 Dutch children from the beginning of fourth grade to the end of fifth grade. Measures for reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading fluency, vocabulary, and working memory were administered. A structural equation model was constructed to estimate the unique relations between reading strategies and reading comprehension, while controlling for reading...

  1. Types and sequences of self-regulated reading of low-achieving adolescents in relation to reading task achievement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Milliano, Ilona; van Gelderen, Amos; Sleegers, P.J.C.

    2016-01-01

    This study examines the relationship between types and sequences of self-regulated reading activities in task-oriented reading with quality of task achievement of 51 low-achieving adolescents (Grade 8). The study used think aloud combined with video observations to analyse the students' approach of

  2. Recipe for Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Jacquelyn W.; Shaul, Nancy Pera

    The program described in this paper was based upon the premise that the activity of cooking in the classroom is an excellent way of integrating all areas of learning and a very useful reading vehicle. Through cooking activities and related field trips, children can add to both their knowledge in basic subject areas and their motor skills as well…

  3. A Nordic comparison of national objectives for reading instruction and teachers' responses about actual reading practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rønberg, Louise; Mejding, Jan

    2014-01-01

    and functional goals in Finland. It appears that the Finnish descriptions are more aligned with current empirical research on reading comprehension. Swedish and Norwegian teachers have the most varied used of both literary and informational text types during a week, whereas Finnish teachers give informational...... texts a higher priority than literary texts – and the opposite is apparent for Danish teachers. The Finnish and Norwegian teachers prioritise activities that enhance students’ oral reading fluency, which is important for reading comprehension development, to a greater extent than teachers in Denmark......This article presents a comparison of the Nordic countries’ official objectives for reading and analyses of 1005 Nordic teachers’ responses regarding their reading instruction. The specificity and transparency vary greatly in the objectives, from broad outlines in Norway to more specific...

  4. The Effect of Task-based Activities on EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naemeh Nahavandi

    2011-01-01

    the major problems is students' unwillingness to take part in reading classes. Reading classes seem boring for students who find no occasion to show their ability and no need to challenge their brain to answer teachers' display questions.

  5. Music-reading deficiencies and the brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lola L. Cuddy

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews the literature on brain damage and music-reading for the past 25 years. Acquired patterns of selective loss and sparing are described, including both the association and dissociation of music and text reading, and association and dissociation among components of music reading. As well, we suggest that developmental music - reading deficiencies may be isolated in a form analogous to developmental dyslexia for text or congenital amusia for auditory music processing. Finally, we propose that the results of brain damage studies can contribute to the development of a model of normal music reading.

  6. Methodological review of the quality of reach out and read: does it "work"?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeager Pelatti, Christina; Pentimonti, Jill M; Justice, Laura M

    2014-04-01

    A considerable percentage of American children and adults fail to learn adequate literacy skills and read below a third grade level. Shared book reading is perhaps the single most important activity to prepare young children for success in reading. The primary objective of this manuscript was to critically review the methodological quality of Read Out and Read (ROR), a clinically based literacy program/intervention that teaches parents strategies to incorporate while sharing books with children as a method of preventing reading difficulties and academic struggles. A PubMed search was conducted. Articles that met three criteria were considered. First, the study must be clinically based and include parent contact with a pediatrician. Second, parental counseling ("anticipatory guidance") about the importance of parent-child book reading must be included. Third, only experimental or quasi-experimental studies were included; no additional criteria were used. Published articles from any year and peer-reviewed journal were considered. Study quality was determined using a modified version of the Downs and Black (1998) checklist assessing four categories: (1) Reporting, (2) External Validity, (3) Internal Validity-Bias, and (4) Internal Validity-Confounding. We were also interested in whether quality differed based on study design, children's age, sample size, and study outcome. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. The overall quality of evidence was variable across all studies; Reporting and External Validity categories were relatively strong while methodological concerns were found in the area of internal validity. Quality scores differed on the four study characteristics. Implications related to clinical practice and future studies are discussed.

  7. Panda-Monium at the Library: 1995 Arizona Reading Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arizona State Dept. of Library, Archives and Public Records, Phoenix.

    Panda bears are the theme of this guide which includes many reading-related activities, crafts, and programs on a broad range of topics, and which can be expanded to other theme approaches such as endangered species, bears in general, and the concept of black and white. The program begins with a general definition and discussion of goals,…

  8. Kaplan SpellRead. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2007

    2007-01-01

    "Kaplan SpellRead" (formerly known as "SpellRead Phonological Auditory Training"[R]) is a literacy program for struggling readers in grades 2 or above, including special education students, English language learners, and students more than two years below grade level in reading. "Kaplan SpellRead" integrates the…

  9. Teaching Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Day, Richard R.

    2013-01-01

    "Teaching Reading" uncovers the interactive processes that happen when people learn to read and translates them into a comprehensive easy-to-follow guide on how to teach reading. Richard Day's revelations on the nature of reading, reading strategies, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and reading objectives make fascinating…

  10. Slow Reading: Reading along "Lectio" Lines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badley, K. Jo-Ann; Badley, Ken

    2011-01-01

    The medieval monastic movement preserved and developed reading practices--lectio--from ancient Greek pedagogy as a slow, mindful approach to reading for formation. This ancient way of reading, now better known as lectio divina, challenges the fast, pragmatic reading so characteristic of our time. We propose that the present moment may be ripe for…

  11. Reading: Great Expectations. Proceedings of the Annual Reading Conference (11th, Terre Haute, Indiana, June 11-12, 1981).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, Vanita M., Comp.; Pabst, Robert L., Comp.

    One of a series of publications on selected aspects of reading curriculum development, this monograph contains eight papers that deal with expectations in the teaching of reading. Topics covered include (1) the relationship between reading and writing, (2) changing expectations in education, (3) skills programs for remedial readers, (4) ways to…

  12. Lectura y Vida. Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura (Reading and Life. Latinamerican Reading Magazine). 1990-1995.

    Science.gov (United States)

    International Reading Association, Newark, DE.

    This series of 24 magazines offers readings in Spanish on literacy, education problems, psycholinguistics, expository writing, and reading behavior. The magazine's editorial committee includes representatives from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, the United States, Uruguay, Mexico, Venezuela, and Spain. Articles concern literacy issues of both…

  13. The Influence of Teachers' Schema in Teaching Reading on Students' Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basmalah, Putri

    2013-01-01

    This paper tells about teachers' schema in teaching reading. Based on some articles that the writer given, there are teachers who success in teaching reading and who are failed. The one of the cause why they are failed is because they did not apply the complete activities (pre-reading activities, while-reading and post-reading) in teaching…

  14. Painless reading comprehension

    CERN Document Server

    Jones, EdD, Darolyn "Lyn"

    2016-01-01

    Reading comprehension gets easier as students learn what kind of reader they are, discover how to keep facts in their head, and much more. Bonus Online Component: includes additional games, including Beat the Clock, a line match game, and a word scramble.

  15. ESL Teachers' Perceptions about English Learners' Reading Motivation

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  17. Classroom Talk for Rigorous Reading Comprehension Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Mikyung Kim; Crosson, Amy C.; Resnick, Lauren B.

    2004-01-01

    This study examined the quality of classroom talk and its relation to academic rigor in reading-comprehension lessons. Additionally, the study aimed to characterize effective questions to support rigorous reading comprehension lessons. The data for this study included 21 reading-comprehension lessons in several elementary and middle schools from…

  18. The magical activation of left amygdala when reading Harry Potter: an fMRI study on how descriptions of supra-natural events entertain and enchant.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun-Ting Hsu

    Full Text Available Literature containing supra-natural, or magical events has enchanted generations of readers. When reading narratives describing such events, readers mentally simulate a text world different from the real one. The corresponding violation of world-knowledge during this simulation likely increases cognitive processing demands for ongoing discourse integration, catches readers' attention, and might thus contribute to the pleasure and deep emotional experience associated with ludic immersive reading. In the present study, we presented participants in an MR scanner with passages selected from the Harry Potter book series, half of which described magical events, while the other half served as control condition. Passages in both conditions were closely matched for relevant psycholinguistic variables including, e.g., emotional valence and arousal, passage-wise mean word imageability and frequency, and syntactic complexity. Post-hoc ratings showed that readers considered supra-natural contents more surprising and more strongly associated with reading pleasure than control passages. In the fMRI data, we found stronger neural activation for the supra-natural than the control condition in bilateral inferior frontal gyri, bilateral inferior parietal lobules, left fusiform gyrus, and left amygdala. The increased activation in the amygdala (part of the salience and emotion processing network appears to be associated with feelings of surprise and the reading pleasure, which supra-natural events, full of novelty and unexpectedness, brought about. The involvement of bilateral inferior frontal gyri likely reflects higher cognitive processing demand due to world knowledge violations, whereas increased attention to supra-natural events is reflected in inferior frontal gyri and inferior parietal lobules that are part of the fronto-parietal attention network.

  19. The magical activation of left amygdala when reading Harry Potter: an fMRI study on how descriptions of supra-natural events entertain and enchant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Chun-Ting; Jacobs, Arthur M; Altmann, Ulrike; Conrad, Markus

    2015-01-01

    Literature containing supra-natural, or magical events has enchanted generations of readers. When reading narratives describing such events, readers mentally simulate a text world different from the real one. The corresponding violation of world-knowledge during this simulation likely increases cognitive processing demands for ongoing discourse integration, catches readers' attention, and might thus contribute to the pleasure and deep emotional experience associated with ludic immersive reading. In the present study, we presented participants in an MR scanner with passages selected from the Harry Potter book series, half of which described magical events, while the other half served as control condition. Passages in both conditions were closely matched for relevant psycholinguistic variables including, e.g., emotional valence and arousal, passage-wise mean word imageability and frequency, and syntactic complexity. Post-hoc ratings showed that readers considered supra-natural contents more surprising and more strongly associated with reading pleasure than control passages. In the fMRI data, we found stronger neural activation for the supra-natural than the control condition in bilateral inferior frontal gyri, bilateral inferior parietal lobules, left fusiform gyrus, and left amygdala. The increased activation in the amygdala (part of the salience and emotion processing network) appears to be associated with feelings of surprise and the reading pleasure, which supra-natural events, full of novelty and unexpectedness, brought about. The involvement of bilateral inferior frontal gyri likely reflects higher cognitive processing demand due to world knowledge violations, whereas increased attention to supra-natural events is reflected in inferior frontal gyri and inferior parietal lobules that are part of the fronto-parietal attention network.

  20. Adapted shared reading at school for minimally verbal students with autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mucchetti, Charlotte A

    2013-05-01

    Almost nothing is known about the capacity of minimally verbal students with autism to develop literacy skills. Shared reading is a regular practice in early education settings and is widely thought to encourage language and literacy development. There is some evidence that children with severe disabilities can be engaged in adapted shared reading activities. The current study examines the impact of teacher-led adapted shared reading activities on engagement and story comprehension in minimally verbal 5-6-year-old children with autism using a multiple baseline/alternating treatment design. Four students and three teachers participated. Teachers conducted adapted shared reading activities with modified books (visual supports, three-dimensional objects, simplified text) and used specific strategies for increasing student engagement. Student performance during adapted activities was compared to performance during standard shared reading sessions. All four students showed increased story comprehension and engagement during adapted shared reading. Average percentage of session engaged was 87%-100% during adapted sessions, compared with 41%-52% during baseline. Average number of correct responses to story comprehension questions was 4.2-4.8 out of 6 during adapted sessions compared with 1.2-2 during baseline. Visual supports, tactile objects, and specific teaching strategies offer ways for minimally verbal students to meaningfully participate in literacy activities. Future research should investigate adapted shared reading activities implemented classroom-wide as well as joint engagement, language, and literacy outcomes after using such activities over time.

  1. Literacy And Reward: Teachers’ Effort To Build Children Reading Habit

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helena Arisandi Komang Widia

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Children at early levels of primary school require appropriate guidance in their initial reading skill. They need to be trained on how reading becomes an enjoyable routine activity. This study aimed at describing teachers’ effort to build children reading habit. This study employed a qualitative descriptive study and conducted at North Bali Bilingual School Bali. The data were collected through observations and interview. The findings of the study showed that there were several activities conducted by the teacher as efforts to build children reading habit. In terms of building students’ reading habit, the teacher used (1 Point-written in Reading Rocket Chart (PRRC, (2 Chip (white, yellow, green for appreciating good behaviour in reading and using English, (3 Certificate, (4 Class Reward, and (5 Free Play Time. With these efforts, it is evident that the students’ literacy improves and they exhibited great enthusiasm in their reading and studying literacy in the classroom.

  2. Reading comprehension and reading related abilities in adolescents with reading disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghelani, Karen; Sidhu, Robindra; Jain, Umesh; Tannock, Rosemary

    2004-11-01

    Reading comprehension is a very complex task that requires different cognitive processes and reading abilities over the life span. There are fewer studies of reading comprehension relative to investigations of word reading abilities. Reading comprehension difficulties, however, have been identified in two common and frequently overlapping childhood disorders: reading disability (RD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The nature of reading comprehension difficulties in these groups remains unclear. The performance of four groups of adolescents (RD, ADHD, comorbid ADHD and RD, and normal controls) was compared on reading comprehension tasks as well as on reading rate and accuracy tasks. Adolescents with RD showed difficulties across most reading tasks, although their comprehension scores were average. Adolescents with ADHD exhibited adequate single word reading abilities. Subtle difficulties were observed, however, on measures of text reading rate and accuracy as well as on silent reading comprehension, but scores remained in the average range. The comorbid group demonstrated similar difficulties to the RD group on word reading accuracy and on reading rate but experienced problems on only silent reading comprehension. Implications for reading interventions are outlined, as well as the clinical relevance for diagnosis.

  3. AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN EXTENSIVE READING CLASS AT STAIN PONOROGO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dhinuk Puspita Kirana

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available It is widely believed that English Foreign Language (EFL learners need to develop their language proficiency by getting so much input. Moreover, students need to be familiarized with the real English us­age where real forms of communication and cultural knowledge are crucially exposed. Teaching through authentic materials will make the learners feel that they are learning a real language which is used by the real native speakers for real communication. incorporating au­thentic materials helps students acquire an effective communicative competence in the language focus. The research intended to describe the implementation of authentic materials in extensive reading class, the problems arise and the students’ responses toward the authen­tic materials in extensive reading class. The design of the research was Descriptive Qualitative method and the research subject was the lecturer of Extensive Reading class and 33 students in B class of the fourth semester of STAIN Ponorogo who took Extensive Read­ing subject. The instruments used were in the form of observation sheet, interview guideline and questionnaire. The implementation of authentic materials in extensive reading class covered some procedures into three main phases namely (1 Pre­ Activity, (2 Main­ Activity and (3 Post­Activity. The activities in main activity are as follows: (a Pre­ Activity; (b Whilst ­Activity; and (3 The language focus stage. There were problems arose during the implementation in terms of complicated planning, more time allocation and some disinterested students. Finally, the students showed significantly positive attitude toward the implementation of authentic materials in extensive reading class.

  4. A Nordic comparison of national objectives for reading instruction and teachers' responses about actual reading practice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rønberg, Louise Flensted-Jensen; Mejding, Jan

    2014-01-01

    and Sweden do. The Nordic teachers in general appear to prioritise advanced comprehension activities to a lesser extent than teachers in the English-speaking countries do. Furthermore, 138 Northern Lights on TIMSS and PIRLS 2011 Danish teachers put the least emphasis on formative assessments compared...... texts a higher priority than literary texts – and the opposite is apparent for Danish teachers. The Finnish and Norwegian teachers prioritise activities that enhance students’ oral reading fluency, which is important for reading comprehension development, to a greater extent than teachers in Denmark...

  5. Developmental Relations Between Reading Comprehension and Reading Strategies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Muijselaar, M.; Swart, N.M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G,.; Droop, M.; Verhoeven, L.; de Jong, P.F.

    2017-01-01

    We examined the developmental relations between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension in a longitudinal study of 312 Dutch children from the beginning of fourth grade to the end of fifth grade. Measures for reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading fluency, vocabulary,

  6. Various Models for Reading Comprehension Process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parastoo Babashamsi

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years reading can be viewed as a process, as a form of thinking, as a true experience, and as a tool subject. As a process, reading includes visual discrimination, independent recognition of word, rhythmic progression along a line of print, precision in the return sweep of the eyes, and adjustment of rate. In the same line, the present paper aims at considering the various models of reading process. Moreover, the paper will take a look at various factors such as schema and vocabulary knowledge which affect reading comprehension process.

  7. Student Reading Practices in Print and Electronic Media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foasberg, Nancy M.

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports a diary-based qualitative study on college students' reading habits with regard to print and electronic media. Students used a form to record information about their reading practices for twelve days, including length of reading event, location, format used, and the purpose of reading. Students tended to use print for academic…

  8. Significant Structuring Resources in the Reading Practices of a Digital Classroom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annika Lantz-Andersson

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Since reading and writing digitally demand partially different competencies, there is a change in some of the premises of related educational practices. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of educational reading practices by scrutinizing how literacy events evolve in a digital classroom where each student has a personal digital device (1:1, iPads in this study. Our study is grounded in sociocultural theories of learning and focuses on the structuring resources utilized by students, namely the notion of multiple ongoing activities and the ways in which specific resources take precedence in shaping these activities. One class of 13–14 year-old students was studied for a week across several subjects through video-recordings and observations. The findings imply that the students moved among vast array of reading practices. However, the main structuring resource is a strong focus on task-solving and the practice of schooling, which mainly builds on principles emanating from traditional text. It is only occasionally that structuring resources that also include the opportunities associated with digital technology are utilized. This indicates the importance of further studies on how educational practices could be organized to scaffold the basis of traditional reading comprehension as well as other approaches required in digital environments.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  10. Understanding the Reading Habits of Children in Singapore

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaheen Majid

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Leisure reading contributes significantly to improving language competencies of children. This study investigates the reading habits and preferences of children, motivations behind reading, and their attitudes towards reading. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for collecting data and 440 upper primary students participated in the study. The findings suggest that a majority of the participating students were motivated to read for academically-related reasons, such as to improve language skills and to obtain better grades in examinations. Reading was the third most preferred leisure activity after hobbies and playing on computer or the Internet. It was also found that girls were generally more avid readers than boys. This paper offers certain suggestions for promoting reading habits among children.

  11. INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING THROUGH READING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holly Warzecha, M.A. TESOL

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the following paper is to take a closer look at the benefits of incidental learning through reading, with a specific focus on vocabulary acquisition. The teaching of vocabulary has traditionally been an explicit process where the target vocabulary is taken out of context and taught separately. However, this kind of explicit teaching and learning may only take into account a form-meaning connection. Therefore, this paper explores research on incidental learning and specifically looks at what it takes to acquire new vocabulary incidentally through reading while considering the coverage rates of texts, how many words must be known already from the text, how many repetitions it takes to learn a word, types of texts that promote learning, and the effects of pairing students‘ reading with learner tasks. After reviewing many studies, it can be concluded that more reading is better. More specifically, extensive reading of chosen novels at an appropriate level and interest to the students showed important gains in vocabulary. In addition, readings that were supplemented with additional activities that focused on both form and meaning showed an even higher increase in word retention.

  12. Public Library Summer Reading Programs Contribute to Reading Progress and Proficiency. A Review of: Roman, S., & Fiore, C. (2010. Do public library summer reading programs close the achievement gap? Children and Libraries, (Winter, 27-31.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gayle Bogel

    2012-03-01

    administered, as well as a structured interview of library staff.Main Results – The students who participated in the public library summer reading program did not experience summer loss in reading as measured by the post test administered in their schools.The researchers note patterns in the demographics of students who chose to participate (participation was self-selected and voluntary: predominantly Caucasian girls above poverty level, who generally scored well on reading tests. Those who participated in the study also used libraries, had more books in their homes, and parents who used libraries and provided literacy activities at home.Teachers found that students who participated in the program started the school year ready to learn, had improved reading achievement and displayed stronger motivation, enjoyment and confidence in reading. Parents of students who participated in the program also strongly agreed that their children where better prepared to begin the school year.Conclusion – The results from this study confirmed findings from an earlier study (Heyns, 1978 and subsequent related research that summer reading programs in public libraries can contribute to maintaining reading progress and proficiency, and that the recreational reading that is available to all students regardless of socioeconomic status through the public library can make a difference in reading scores.In this article the researchers presented results and conclusions based on selected subsets of the results in the full study. The participants were self-reported and no control group was established.The researchers also use the results of the study as a starting point to provide a call to action that highlights the value of public library summer reading programs, and the need for the education community to invest in partnerships with public libraries, particularly in communities that serve children and families in low-economic or depressed areas. They also note the need to include parents and

  13. Lectura y Vida: Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura (Reading and Life: Latin American Reading Magazine). 1996.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lectura y Vida: Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura, 1996

    1996-01-01

    The four 1996 issues of the journal, written entirely in Spanish and intended for reading teachers, include articles on these topics: design of the school and classroom environment for reading; a university experiment in cooperative learning and learning strategies; use of portfolios for evaluation of student work; evaluation of reading…

  14. Improving Eleventh Graders’ Reading Comprehension Through Text Coding and Double Entry Organizer Reading Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rocío Mahecha

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available In this article we report on an innovation project developed with a group of eleventh graders at a public school in Bogotá. Its aim was to encourage students to improve reading comprehension of texts in English. It was conducted taking into account students' needs, interests and level of English. To do it, we implemented two reading strategies: text coding and double entry organizer. We observed the students' attitudes during two lesson plans, compared their level of comprehension before and after using the reading strategies and asked them to self-evaluate their performance. At the end, we could see their improvement, how they enjoyed doing the activities and became more confident.

  15. Effects of working memory and reading acceleration training on improving working memory abilities and reading skills among third graders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nevo, Einat; Breznitz, Zvia

    2014-01-01

    Working memory (WM) plays a crucial role in supporting learning, including reading. This study investigated the influence of reading acceleration and WM training programs on improving reading skills and WM abilities. Ninety-seven children in third grade were divided into three study groups and one control group. The three study groups each received a different combination of two training programs: only reading acceleration, WM followed by reading acceleration, and reading acceleration followed by WM. All training programs significantly improved reading skills and WM abilities. Compared with the control group, the group trained with only the reading acceleration program improved word accuracy, whereas the groups trained with a combination of reading and WM programs improved word and pseudo-word fluency. The reading-acceleration-alone group and the WM-program-followed-by-reading-acceleration group improved phonological complex memory. We conclude that a training program that combines a long reading acceleration program and a short WM program is the most effective for improving the abilities most related to scholastic achievement.

  16. The Effect of Task-Based Activities on EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nahavandi, Naemeh

    2011-01-01

    Nowadays, preparing learners to communicate successfully in language classes is of utmost importance. But teachers face a lot of difficulties in teaching English in EFL contexts. One of the major problems is students' unwillingness to take part in reading classes. Reading classes seem boring for students who find no occasion to show their ability…

  17. Assistive technology as reading interventions for children with reading impairments with a one-year follow-up.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindeblad, Emma; Nilsson, Staffan; Gustafson, Stefan; Svensson, Idor

    2017-10-01

    This pilot study investigated the possible transfer effect on reading ability in children with reading difficulties after a systematic intervention to train and compensate for reading deficiencies by using applications in smartphones and tablets. The effects of using assistive technology (AT) one year after the interventions were completely studied. School related motivation, independent learning and family relations were also considered. 35 pupils aged 10-12 years participated. They were assessed five times with reading tests. The participants, their parents and teachers were surveyed with questionnaires regarding their experience of using AT. The data from the assessments were analyzed with paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. The data from the questionnaires were analyzed using content analysis. The paper shows that using AT can create transfer effects on reading ability one year after the interventions were finished. This means that reading impaired children may develop at the same rate as non-impaired readers. Also, increased school motivation and an increase in independent learning and family effects have been shown. This paper provides implications in how to facilitate reading impaired pupils' learning process and realizes the need to challenge the concept of reading to change to fit modern means of gaining information. Implications for rehabilitation Children with reading impairment could benefit from assistive technology in regards of their reading development process and increase their chances of not falling behind peers. Assistive technology as applications in smartphones and tablets may aid children with reading impairment to have an equal platform for learning in school as their peers without reading difficulties. Assistive technology could facilitate the information gaining process and subsequently increase motivation to learn and increase interest in reading activities. Assistive technology had wider effects on its users: stigmatizing

  18. ONLINE READING COMPREHENSION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

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    Julie Coiro/

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper details a number of challenges and opportunities for today’s learners when reading for information on the Internet. After defining online reading comprehension from a new literacies perspective and how it appears to be different than offline reading comprehension, I highlight details about four of the biggest challenges for today’s learners. These include 1 understanding and becoming proficient with the new literacy skills and practices needed for online research; 2 developing a special kind of digital wisdom that focuses on learning how to learn with the Internet; 3 taking on new roles in a digital culture that expects learners to actively participate and contribute with new knowledge as a member of their community; and 4 developing positive attitudes toward using the Internet for academic work. The second part of the paper shares examples of how skilled online readers can use the steps of online inquiry to think more deeply about topics that interest them; develop a personal voice as they share ideas with others; and work collaboratively to build meaning and new digital products that enable them to make a difference in their world, or matter. You can explore the research and resources from this presentation in more depth at .

  19. Neurally dissociable cognitive components of reading deficits in subacute stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boukrina, Olga; Barrett, A M; Alexander, Edward J; Yao, Bing; Graves, William W

    2015-01-01

    According to cognitive models of reading, words are processed by interacting orthographic (spelling), phonological (sound), and semantic (meaning) information. Despite extensive study of the neural basis of reading in healthy participants, little group data exist on patients with reading deficits from focal brain damage pointing to critical neural systems for reading. Here, we report on one such study. We have performed neuropsychological testing and magnetic resonance imaging on 11 patients with left-hemisphere stroke (picture or word choices to a target based on meaning), phonology (matching word choices to a target based on rhyming), and orthography (a two-alternative forced choice of the most plausible non-word). They also read aloud pseudowords and words with high or low levels of usage frequency, imageability, and spelling-sound consistency. As predicted by the cognitive model, when averaged across patients, the influence of semantics was most salient for low-frequency, low-consistency words, when phonological decoding is especially difficult. Qualitative subtraction analyses revealed lesion sites specific to phonological processing. These areas were consistent with those shown previously to activate for phonology in healthy participants, including supramarginal, posterior superior temporal, middle temporal, inferior frontal gyri, and underlying white matter. Notable divergence between this analysis and previous functional imaging is the association of lesions in the mid-fusiform gyrus and anterior temporal lobe with phonological reading deficits. This study represents progress toward identifying brain lesion-deficit relationships in the cognitive components of reading. Such correspondences are expected to help not only better understand the neural mechanisms of reading, but may also help tailor reading therapy to individual neurocognitive deficit profiles.

  20. Reading Letters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beier, Sofie

    2012-01-01

    In our everyday life we constantly encounter a diversity of reading matters, including display types on traffic signage, printed text in novels, newspaper headlines, or our own writing on a computer screen. All these conditions place different demands on the typefaces applied. The book discusses...

  1. Neurally-dissociable cognitive components of reading deficits in subacute stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga eBoukrina

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available According to cognitive models of reading, words are processed by interacting orthographic (spelling, phonological (sound and semantic (meaning information. Despite extensive study of the neural basis of reading in healthy participants, little group data exist on patients with reading deficits from focal brain damage pointing to critical neural systems for reading. Here we report on one such study. We have performed neuropsychological testing and MRI on 11 patients with left-hemisphere stroke (<= 5 weeks post stroke. Patients completed tasks assessing cognitive components of reading such as semantics (matching picture or word choices to a target based on meaning, phonology (matching word choices to a target based on rhyming, and orthography (a two-alternative forced choice of the most plausible nonword. They also read aloud pseudowords and words with high or low levels of usage frequency, imageability, and spelling-sound consistency. As predicted by the cognitive model, when averaged across patients, the influence of semantics was most salient for low-frequency, low-consistency words, when phonological decoding is especially difficult. Qualitative subtraction analyses revealed lesion sites specific to phonological processing. These areas were consistent with those shown previously to activate for phonology in healthy participants, including supramarginal, posterior superior temporal, middle temporal, inferior frontal gyri, and underlying white matter. Notable divergence between this analysis and previous functional imaging is the association of lesions in the mid-fusiform gyrus and anterior temporal lobe with phonological reading deficits. This study represents progress toward identifying brain lesion-deficit relationships in the cognitive components of reading. Such correspondences are expected to help not only better understand the neural mechanisms of reading, but may also help tailor reading therapy to individual neurocognitive deficit

  2. Beginning Reading: Are We Doing Only Half the Job?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willems, Arnold L.

    1979-01-01

    Current theories about teaching children to read overemphasize use of the left brain hemisphere. Children with a right-hemisphere dominance are likely to experience difficulties unless reading experiences are planned which capitalize on right-brain characteristics: divergent thinking and creative activities, hands-on experiences, and free reading.…

  3. Games as a measure of reading and writing generalization after computerized teaching of reading skills

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    Ana Carolina Sella

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Behavior Analysis is usually accused of not being able to account for the generalization of verbal behavior that is present in linguistically competent individuals. However, several behavior analytic studies investigate this theme, and gamification has been seen as a useful way to study generalization. The purpose of this study was to evaluate reading and writing generalization in games, after these behaviors were taught through the program Learning to Read in Small Steps. Participants were four children between 7 and 12 years old who had reading and writing deficits. The experimental design was a pre-posttest design that encompassed five phases. Performance in probes suggests generalization of reading and writing skills to new activities (games and responses. This study represents a small step in a systematic understanding of how games can be used to assess behavior change.

  4. Reading in the dark: neural correlates and cross-modal plasticity for learning to read entire words without visual experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sigalov, Nadine; Maidenbaum, Shachar; Amedi, Amir

    2016-03-01

    Cognitive neuroscience has long attempted to determine the ways in which cortical selectivity develops, and the impact of nature vs. nurture on it. Congenital blindness (CB) offers a unique opportunity to test this question as the brains of blind individuals develop without visual experience. Here we approach this question through the reading network. Several areas in the visual cortex have been implicated as part of the reading network, and one of the main ones among them is the VWFA, which is selective to the form of letters and words. But what happens in the CB brain? On the one hand, it has been shown that cross-modal plasticity leads to the recruitment of occipital areas, including the VWFA, for linguistic tasks. On the other hand, we have recently demonstrated VWFA activity for letters in contrast to other visual categories when the information is provided via other senses such as touch or audition. Which of these tasks is more dominant? By which mechanism does the CB brain process reading? Using fMRI and visual-to-auditory sensory substitution which transfers the topographical features of the letters we compare reading with semantic and scrambled conditions in a group of CB. We found activation in early auditory and visual cortices during the early processing phase (letter), while the later phase (word) showed VWFA and bilateral dorsal-intraparietal activations for words. This further supports the notion that many visual regions in general, even early visual areas, also maintain a predilection for task processing even when the modality is variable and in spite of putative lifelong linguistic cross-modal plasticity. Furthermore, we find that the VWFA is recruited preferentially for letter and word form, while it was not recruited, and even exhibited deactivation, for an immediately subsequent semantic task suggesting that despite only short sensory substitution experience orthographic task processing can dominate semantic processing in the VWFA. On a wider

  5. Predicting the reading skill of Japanese children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogino, Tatsuya; Hanafusa, Kaoru; Morooka, Teruko; Takeuchi, Akihito; Oka, Makio; Ohtsuka, Yoko

    2017-02-01

    To clarify cognitive processes underlining the development of reading in children speaking Japanese as their first language, we examined relationships between performances of cognitive tasks in the preschool period and later reading abilities. Ninety-one normally developing preschoolers (41 girls and 50 boys; 5years 4months to 6years 4months, mean 5years 10months) participated as subjects. We conducted seven cognitive tasks including phonological awareness tasks, naming tasks, and working memory tasks in the preschool period. In terms of reading tasks, the hiragana naming task was administered in the preschool period; the reading times, which is a composite score of the monomoraic syllable reading task, the word and the non-word reading tasks, and the single sentence reading task, was evaluated in first and second grade; and the kanji reading task (naming task) was tested in second grade. Raven's colored progressive matrices and picture vocabulary test revised were also conducted in first grade. Correlation analyses between task scores and stepwise multiple regression analyses were implemented. Tasks tapping phonological awareness, lexical access, and verbal working memory showed significant correlations with reading tasks. In the multiple regression analyses the performances in the verbal working memory task played a key role in predicting character naming task scores (the hiragana naming task and the kanji reading task) while the digit naming task was an important predictor of reading times. Unexpectedly, the role of phonological (mora) awareness was modest among children speaking Japanese. Cognitive functions including phonological awareness, digit naming, and verbal working memory (especially the latter two) were involved in the development of reading skills of children speaking Japanese. Copyright © 2016 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. How reading differs from object naming at the neuronal level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, C J; McCrory, E; Noppeney, U; Mechelli, A; Moore, C J; Biggio, N; Devlin, J T

    2006-01-15

    This paper uses whole brain functional neuroimaging in neurologically normal participants to explore how reading aloud differs from object naming in terms of neuronal implementation. In the first experiment, we directly compared brain activation during reading aloud and object naming. This revealed greater activation for reading in bilateral premotor, left posterior superior temporal and precuneus regions. In a second experiment, we segregated the object-naming system into object recognition and speech production areas by factorially manipulating the presence or absence of objects (pictures of objects or their meaningless scrambled counterparts) with the presence or absence of speech production (vocal vs. finger press responses). This demonstrated that the areas associated with speech production (object naming and repetitively saying "OK" to meaningless scrambled pictures) corresponded exactly to the areas where responses were higher for reading aloud than object naming in Experiment 1. Collectively the results suggest that, relative to object naming, reading increases the demands on shared speech production processes. At a cognitive level, enhanced activation for reading in speech production areas may reflect the multiple and competing phonological codes that are generated from the sublexical parts of written words. At a neuronal level, it may reflect differences in the speed with which different areas are activated and integrate with one another.

  7. Whole Language-Based English Reading Materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  8. Reading for Pleasure and Creativity among College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Kathryn E.; Kneipp, Lee B.

    2009-01-01

    This study explored the relationship between reading for pleasure and creativity. University students (N = 225) completed measures of reading for pleasure and creativity (SCAB). The results indicated that reading for pleasure was significantly, positively correlated to creativity. Implications for the classroom are explored, including possible…

  9. How To Tutor Students with Reading Comprehension Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Richard; Hasbrouck, Jan E.; Denton, Carolyn

    2002-01-01

    Suggestions for tutoring students with reading comprehension problems include careful selection of books with readable text segments, use of comprehension strategies such as paraphrasing brief sections, and reading to find specific information. Several reading comprehension strategies for students are summarized. (Contains 7 references.) (DB)

  10. Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms. Second Edition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schoenbach, Ruth; Greenleaf, Cynthia; Murphy, Lynn

    2012-01-01

    Published in partnership with WestEd, this significantly updated second edition of the bestselling book contains strategies for helping students in middle school through community college gain the reading independence to master subject area textbooks and other material. Features of this book include: (1) Based on the Reading Apprenticeship…

  11. Effect of phonological and morphological awareness on reading comprehension in Hebrew-speaking adolescents with reading disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiff, Rachel; Schwartz-Nahshon, Sarit; Nagar, Revital

    2011-06-01

    This research explored phonological and morphological awareness among Hebrew-speaking adolescents with reading disabilities (RD) and its effect on reading comprehension beyond phonological and word-reading abilities. Participants included 39 seventh graders with RD and two matched control groups of normal readers: 40 seventh graders matched for chronological age (CA) and 38 third graders matched for reading age (RA). We assessed phonological awareness, word reading, morphological awareness, and reading comprehension. Findings indicated that the RD group performed similarly to the RA group on phonological awareness but lower on phonological decoding. On the decontextualized morphological task, RD functioned on par with RA, whereas in a contextualized task RD performed above RA but lower than CA. In reading comprehension, RD performed as well as RA. Finally, results indicated that for normal readers contextual morphological awareness uniquely contributed to reading comprehension beyond phonological and word-reading abilities, whereas no such unique contribution emerged for the RD group. The absence of an effect of morphological awareness in predicting reading comprehension was suggested to be related to a different recognition process employed by RD readers which hinder the ability of these readers to use morphosemantic structures. The lexical quality hypothesis was proposed as further support to the findings, suggesting that a low quality of lexical representation in RD students leads to ineffective reading skills and comprehension. Lexical representation is thus critical for both lexical as well as comprehension abilities.

  12. Slower saccadic reading in Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jehangir, Naz; Yu, Caroline Yizhu; Song, Jeehey; Shariati, Mohammad Ali; Binder, Steven; Beyer, Jill; Santini, Veronica; Poston, Kathleen; Liao, Yaping Joyce

    2018-01-01

    Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease (PD) is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic and other neurons, leading to motor and non-motor deficits. Abnormal eye movements in PD, including fixations, saccades, and convergence, are well described. However, saccadic reading, which requires serial and alternating saccades and fixations, is not well studied, despite its obvious impact on the quality of life. In this study, we assessed saccadic reading using variations of the King-Devick (KD) test, a rapid single digit number naming test, as a way to assess the ability to make serial left-to-right ocular motor movements necessary for reading. We recruited 42 treated PD patients and 80 age-matched controls and compared their reading times with a variety of measures, including age, duration of disease, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the National Eye Institute 25-Item Visual Functioning Questionnaire 25 (VFQ-25), and Montreal Cognitive assessment (MoCA) test. The subjects performed 4 trials of reading 120 single digit numbers aloud as fast as possible without making errors. In each trial, they read 3 pages (KD1, KD2, and KD3), and each page contained 40 numbers per page in 8 lines with 5 numbers/line. We found that PD patients read about 20% slower than controls on all tests (KD1, 2, and 3 tests) (p < 0.02), and both groups read irregularly spaced numbers slower than regularly spaced numbers. Having lines between numbers to guide reading (KD1 tests) did not impact reading time in both PD and controls, but increased visual crowding as a result of decreased spacing between numbers (KD3 tests) was associated with significantly slower reading times in both PD and control groups. Our study revealed that saccadic reading is slower in PD, but controls and PD patients are both impacted by visuospatial planning challenges posed by increased visual crowding and irregularity of number spacing. Reading time did not correlate with UPDRS or MoCA scores in PD patients but

  13. A Pedagogical Route for the Reading of the Press Opinion Article

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niura Maria Fontana

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available A teaching sequence for the university level, focusing on the press opinion article as a genre, based on genre assumptions (Bakhtin, 1992, Bronckart, 2003 and on teaching sequences (Dolz, Noverraz e Schneuwly, 2004, comprehends the following activities: pre-reading (previous knowledge activation; hypotheses raising; reading (production conditions; constitution of text meaning; reading strategies; post-reading (relationships between text and reality; critical awareness. These were followed by chain genres production (press opinion article and related genres, promoting interaction among text, reader and writer, complemented by metacognitive reflection. Applied to two groups of freshmen, the sequence showed statistically significant results in the development of reading competence.

  14. Reading fiction and reading minds: the role of simulation in the default network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamir, Diana I; Bricker, Andrew B; Dodell-Feder, David; Mitchell, Jason P

    2016-02-01

    Research in psychology has suggested that reading fiction can improve individuals' social-cognitive abilities. Findings from neuroscience show that reading and social cognition both recruit the default network, a network which is known to support our capacity to simulate hypothetical scenes, spaces and mental states. The current research tests the hypothesis that fiction reading enhances social cognition because it serves to exercise the default subnetwork involved in theory of mind. While undergoing functional neuroimaging, participants read literary passages that differed along two dimensions: (i) vivid vs abstract and (ii) social vs non-social. Analyses revealed distinct subnetworks of the default network respond to the two dimensions of interest: the medial temporal lobe subnetwork responded preferentially to vivid passages, with or without social content; the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) subnetwork responded preferentially to passages with social and abstract content. Analyses also demonstrated that participants who read fiction most often also showed the strongest social cognition performance. Finally, mediation analysis showed that activity in the dmPFC subnetwork in response to the social content mediated this relation, suggesting that the simulation of social content in fiction plays a role in fiction's ability to enhance readers' social cognition. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. Elevating Baseline Activation Does Not Facilitate Reading of Unattended Words

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lien, Mei-Ching; Kouchi, Scott; Ruthruff, Eric; Lachter, Joel B.

    2009-01-01

    Previous studies have disagreed the extent to which people extract meaning from words presented outside the focus of spatial attention. The present study, examined a possible explanation for such discrepancies, inspired by attenuation theory: unattended words can be read more automatically when they have a high baseline level of activation (e.g., due to frequent repetition or due to being expected in a given context). We presented a brief prime word in lowercase, followed by a target word in uppercase. Participants indicated whether the target word belonged to a particular category (e.g., "sport"). When we drew attention to the prime word using a visual cue, the prime produced substantial priming effects on target responses (i.e., faster responses when the prime and target words were identical or from the same category than when they belonged to different categories). When prime words were not attended, however, they produced no priming effects. This finding replicated even when there were only 4 words, each repeated 160 times during the experiment. Even with a very high baseline level of activation, it appears that very little word processing is possible without spatial attention.

  16. THE ESSENCE OF QUESTIONING AND EXPLICIT READING INSTRUCTION STRATEGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sa’dulloh Muzammil

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Teacher’s questioning may function to assist students comprehend more reading materials and to enable them to be proficient readers. Yet, the students may be less benefited from which if the teacher neither provides sufficient explicit reading strategy nor involves higher-level questions. Consequently, the teacher should pay more careful attentions as follows: 1 teacher should involve both lower- and high-lever questions; 2 teacher should provide students with explicit reading strategy; 3 teacher should be aware of the activities in reading phases: pre-, during-, and post-reading.

  17. Exploring Engagement in Shared Reading Activities Between Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Caregivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleury, Veronica P; Hugh, Maria L

    2018-06-05

    Reading aloud to children is a valued practice to promote emergent literacy and language skills that form the foundation for future reading success. We conducted a descriptive study of shared book reading practices between caregivers and their children with autism spectrum disorder (n = 17) and caregivers and their typically developing children (n = 20) to identify factors that can promote or inhibit children's engagement in reading. Caregivers and their children read nine books (familiar, non-fiction, fiction). Children with ASD demonstrated lower levels of passive engagement (looking at the book) and higher levels of non-engaged behavior compared to typically developing children. Caregiver reading quality and book type contributed to joint engagement during reading. Implications of these findings for intervention development are discussed.

  18. Parents' reading-related knowledge and children's reading acquisition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladd, Megan; Martin-Chang, Sandra; Levesque, Kyle

    2011-12-01

    Teacher reading-related knowledge (phonological awareness and phonics knowledge) predicts student reading, however little is known about the reading-related knowledge of parents. Participants comprised 70 dyads (children from kindergarten and grade 1 and their parents). Parents were administered a questionnaire tapping into reading-related knowledge, print exposure, storybook reading, and general cultural knowledge. Children were tested on measures of letter-word knowledge, sound awareness, receptive vocabulary, oral expression, and mathematical skill. Parent reading-related knowledge showed significant positive links with child letter-word knowledge and sound awareness, but showed no correlations with child measures of mathematical skill or vocabulary. Furthermore, parent reading-related knowledge was not associated with parents' own print exposure or cultural knowledge, indicating that knowledge about English word structure may be separate from other cognitive skills. Implications are discussed in terms of improving parent reading-related knowledge to promote child literacy.

  19. The nature of mind wandering during reading varies with the cognitive control demands of the reading strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moss, Jarrod; Schunn, Christian D; Schneider, Walter; McNamara, Danielle S

    2013-11-20

    Prior studies of mind wandering find the default network active during mind wandering, but these studies have yielded mixed results concerning the role of cognitive control brain regions during mind wandering. Mind wandering often interferes with reading comprehension, and prior neuroimaging studies of discourse comprehension and strategic reading comprehension have shown that there are at least two networks of brain regions that support strategic discourse comprehension: a domain-general control network and a network of regions supporting coherence-building comprehension processes. The present study was designed to further examine the neural correlates of mind wandering by examining mind wandering during strategic reading comprehension. Participants provided ratings of mind wandering frequency that were used to investigate interactions between the strategy being performed and brain regions whose activation was modulated by wind wandering. The results support prior findings showing that cognitive control regions are at times more active during mind wandering than during a task with low control demands, such as rereading. This result provides an initial examination of the neural correlates of mind wandering during discourse comprehension and shows that the processes being engaged by the primary task need to be considered when studying mind wandering. The results also replicate, in a different learning domain, prior findings of key brain areas associated with different reading strategies. © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.

  20. Motivating students to read the textbook before class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pepper, Rachel E.

    2016-11-01

    Many faculty in STEM courses assign textbook reading in advance of lecture, yet evidence shows few students actually read the textbook. Those students that do read often do so only after the material has been presented in class. Preparing for class by reading the textbook beforehand improves student learning and is particularly critical for classes that employ active engagement strategies. Here I present strategies I have used to successfully motivate my students to read the textbook before class in physics classes ranging from introductory algebra-based physics to advanced courses for physics majors. In the introductory course, I used pre-class reading quizzes, a common strategy that has been shown effective in previous studies, but one that is somewhat time-consuming to implement. In my more advanced courses I used reading reflections, which required considerably less time. While it was typical for less than 25% of students to read the textbook before I implemented reading quizzes or reflections, after implementing these strategies 70-90% of students reported reading the textbook before class most of the time. Students also report finding both the readings themselves and the quizzes and reflections valuable for their learning.

  1. Segmentation in reading and film comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zacks, Jeffrey M; Speer, Nicole K; Reynolds, Jeremy R

    2009-05-01

    When reading a story or watching a film, comprehenders construct a series of representations in order to understand the events depicted. Discourse comprehension theories and a recent theory of perceptual event segmentation both suggest that comprehenders monitor situational features such as characters' goals, to update these representations at natural boundaries in activity. However, the converging predictions of these theories had previously not been tested directly. Two studies provided evidence that changes in situational features such as characters, their locations, their interactions with objects, and their goals are related to the segmentation of events in both narrative texts and films. A 3rd study indicated that clauses with event boundaries are read more slowly than are other clauses and that changes in situational features partially mediate this relation. A final study suggested that the predictability of incoming information influences reading rate and possibly event segmentation. Taken together, these results suggest that processing situational changes during comprehension is an important determinant of how one segments ongoing activity into events and that this segmentation is related to the control of processing during reading. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

  2. How Dentists Read a Technique Article: A Grounded Theory Investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chambers, David W; Lyon, Lucinda J

    2017-12-01

    To conduct an empirical investigation using qualitative techniques of the way dentists engage in the process of reading a technique-oriented journal article and what they pay attention to in the process. Grounded theory was used to identify how dentists read an article describing the fabrication of an interim prosthesis in the esthetic zone. Twenty-one experienced practitioners were videotaped, and their verbatim reflections were coded. The sequence of attending to various features of the paper was noted. Ninety-five percent of readers voiced specific, multiple attempts to identify or refine the main purpose of the article as they processed the material. All readers engaged in various activities to navigate through the article, including skipping and backtracking, and none "read" the article straight through. All readers also made repeated observations about the relevance of the technique to their personal practice situation. Eighty percent used some form of "distancing," whereby the content and value of the article were accepted, but the reader reserved the privilege of not being bound by the results because of technical, sponsorship, or methodological issues that "might be present." The quality of photographs was accepted as a proxy for the quality of technical work performed. Dentists actively customized the reading of a journal article that described a technical procedure. They imposed a non-linear structure for absorbing information and a standard of personal relevance, and, while accepting the results, created reasons for not necessarily having to accept them as applicable. The approach clinicians use in reading a procedural article may be different from the structure writers use in preparing a paper. © 2016 by the American College of Prosthodontists.

  3. Helping students into, through, and beyond: reading strategies for english-as-a-foreign-language students Helping students into, through, and beyond: reading strategies for english-as-a-foreign-language students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Mano

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Reading and writing research indicates that students do both activities more successfully if the process that readers and writers engage in is consciously activated to aid in the production of products. In writing instruction, this has led to a focus on facilitating the composing process through the introduction of pre-writing, composing, revising, and editing activities. Currently the same types of strategies are available to facilitate the reading process. Many of these, developed by individual teachers or projects such as the California Literature Project, aim to help students read challenging materials in their first language. Reading and writing research indicates that students do both activities more successfully if the process that readers and writers engage in is consciously activated to aid in the production of products. In writing instruction, this has led to a focus on facilitating the composing process through the introduction of pre-writing, composing, revising, and editing activities. Currently the same types of strategies are available to facilitate the reading process. Many of these, developed by individual teachers or projects such as the California Literature Project, aim to help students read challenging materials in their first language.

  4. The Neural Substrates for Letter String Readings in The Normal and Reverse Directions: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Sheng; Saito, Takashi; Wu, Jing-Long; Ogasawara, Jun-Ichi; Yamauchi, Shuichi; Matsunaga, Naofumi; Iramina, Keiji

    In order to investigate the difference in cortical activations between reading letter strings in the normal direction and the reverse direction, an fMRI study was conducted. In this study, the cortical activations elicited by Japanese letter string reading and Chinese letter string reading were investigated. The subjects performed the normal direction reading task (read letter strings from left to right), and the reverse direction reading task (read letter strings from right to left). According to the experimental results, the activated brain regions during the normal and the reverse direction reading tasks were compared. It was found that visuospatial transformation was involved in the reverse direction reading task, while this function was not significant during the normal direction reading task. Furthermore, we found that there was no significant difference in cortical activation between Japanese and Chinese letter string readings.

  5. The Effect of Cooperative Teaching on the Development of Reading Skills among Students with Reading Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghanaat Pisheh, Etrat Alzahra; Sadeghpour, Narges; Nejatyjahromy, Yaser; Mir Nasab, Mir Mahmoud

    2017-01-01

    Cooperative teaching is the result of efforts made by two educators for teaching a heterogeneous group of students, especially one including those with specific needs, due to reading disorders for instance. The present study serves as an experimental investigation focusing on the effect of cooperative teaching on the development of reading skills…

  6. MDMA enhances "mind reading" of positive emotions and impairs "mind reading" of negative emotions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hysek, Cédric M; Domes, Gregor; Liechti, Matthias E

    2012-07-01

    3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) increases sociability. The prosocial effects of MDMA may result from the release of the "social hormone" oxytocin and associated alterations in the processing of socioemotional stimuli. We investigated the effects of MDMA (125 mg) on the ability to infer the mental states of others from social cues of the eye region in the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test. The study included 48 healthy volunteers (24 men, 24 women) and used a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subjects design. A choice reaction time test was used to exclude impairments in psychomotor function. We also measured circulating oxytocin and cortisol levels and subjective drug effects. MDMA differentially affected mind reading depending on the emotional valence of the stimuli. MDMA enhanced the accuracy of mental state decoding for positive stimuli (e.g., friendly), impaired mind reading for negative stimuli (e.g., hostile), and had no effect on mind reading for neutral stimuli (e.g., reflective). MDMA did not affect psychomotor performance, increased circulating oxytocin and cortisol levels, and produced subjective prosocial effects, including feelings of being more open, talkative, and closer to others. The shift in the ability to correctly read socioemotional information toward stimuli associated with positive emotional valence, together with the prosocial feelings elicited by MDMA, may enhance social approach behavior and sociability when MDMA is used recreationally and facilitate therapeutic relationships in MDMA-assisted psychotherapeutic settings.

  7. What Counts as Reading? PIRLS, EastEnders and The Man on the Flying Trapeze

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maybin, Janet

    2013-01-01

    After briefly reviewing how reading is conceptualised in the "Progress in International Reading Literacy Study" and the English National Curriculum, this article examines two unofficial reading activities in a class of 10-11-year-olds' to see how far these activities match up with the official definitions of reading, or whether they…

  8. The Impact of Electronic Reading Devices on Reading Speed and Comfort in Patients with Decreased Vision

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henry L. Feng

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background/Aims. To evaluate the impact of back-illuminated and nonilluminated electronic reading devices on reading speed and comfort in patients with decreased vision. Methods. A prospective study involving a convenience sample of 167 patients at a single retina practice from January 2011 to December 2012. Participants were asked to read five different excerpts on five different media in a randomly assigned order. Media included a printed book at 12-point font (12PF, iPad2 at 12PF, iPad2 at 18-point font (18PF, Kindle2 at 12PF, and Kindle2 at 18PF. Reading speed in words per minute (WPM and medium preference were recorded and stratified by visual acuity (VA. Results. Mean reading speeds in WPM: iPad2 at 18PF (217.0, iPad2 at 12PF (209.1, Kindle2 at 18PF (183.3, Kindle2 at 12PF (177.7, and printed book at 12PF (176.8. Reading speed was faster on back-illuminated media compared to nonilluminated media. Text magnification minimized losses in reading performance with worsening patient VA. The majority of participants preferred reading on the iPad2 at 18PF. Conclusions. Back-illuminated devices may increase reading speed and comfort relative to nonilluminated devices and printed text, particularly in patients with decreased VA.

  9. Increased Resting-State Functional Connectivity in the Cingulo-Opercular Cognitive-Control Network after Intervention in Children with Reading Difficulties.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus

    Full Text Available Dyslexia, or reading difficulty, is characterized by slow, inaccurate reading accompanied by executive dysfunction. Reading training using the Reading Acceleration Program improves reading and executive functions in both children with dyslexia and typical readers. This improvement is associated with increased activation in and functional connectivity between the anterior cingulate cortex, part of the cingulo-opercular cognitive-control network, and the fusiform gyrus during a reading task after training. The objective of the current study was to determine whether the training also has an effect on functional connectivity of the cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal cognitive-control networks during rest in children with dyslexia and typical readers. Fifteen children with reading difficulty and 17 typical readers (8-12 years old were included in the study. Reading and executive functions behavioral measures and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after reading training. Imaging data were analyzed using a graphical network-modeling tool. Both reading groups had increased reading and executive-functions scores after training, with greater gains among the dyslexia group. Training may have less effect on cognitive control in typical readers and a more direct effect on the visual area, as previously reported. Statistical analysis revealed that compared to typical readers, children with reading difficulty had significantly greater functional connectivity in the cingulo-opercular network after training, which may demonstrate the importance of cognitive control during reading in this population. These results support previous findings of increased error-monitoring activation after reading training in children with dyslexia and confirm greater gains with training in this group.

  10. Comparison of reading speed with 3 different log-scaled reading charts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buari, Noor Halilah; Chen, Ai-Hong; Musa, Nuraini

    2014-01-01

    A reading chart that resembles real reading conditions is important to evaluate the quality of life in terms of reading performance. The purpose of this study was to compare the reading speed of UiTM Malay related words (UiTM-Mrw) reading chart with MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart. Fifty subjects with normal sight were randomly recruited through randomized sampling in this study (mean age=22.98±1.65 years). Subjects were asked to read three different near charts aloud and as quickly as possible at random sequence. The charts were the UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart, MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart, respectively. The time taken to read each chart was recorded and any errors while reading were noted. Reading performance was quantified in terms of reading speed as words per minute (wpm). The mean reading speed for UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart, MNread Acuity Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart was 200±30wpm, 196±28wpm and 194±31wpm, respectively. Comparison of reading speed between UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart and MNread Acuity Chart showed no significant difference (t=-0.73, p=0.72). The same happened with the reading speed between UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart and Colenbrander Reading Chart (t=-0.97, p=0.55). Bland and Altman plot showed good agreement between reading speed of UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart with MNread Acuity Chart with the Colenbrander Reading Chart. UiTM-Mrw Reading Chart in Malay language is highly comparable with standardized charts and can be used for evaluating reading speed. Copyright © 2013 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  11. Reading Motivation: 10 Elements for Success. Motivational Strategies That Work!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerbig, Kori M.

    2009-01-01

    Motivational processes are the foundation for coordinating cognitive goals and strategies in reading. Becoming an excellent, active reader involves attunement of motivational processes with cognitive and language processes in reading. This article presents K-12 strategies for motivating reading success. It describes 10 instructional elements that…

  12. Une lecture, mille et une reflexions: Cahier de reflexion sur le processus de lecture. (One Reading, 1001 Reflections: Notebook of Reflection on the Reading Process.)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton.

    This activity notebook is intended to help French-speaking students in Alberta, Canada, develop reflective reading practices. Following an introduction and information (with graphics) on the notebook's organization, the notebook is divided into three sections of reading strategies: the first section contains three activities, the second section…

  13. Improving Reading Comprehension Skills through Reading Strategies Used by a Group of Foreign Language Learners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nancy Gómez Torres

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available A research study included the examination and implementation of a variety of strategies in order to improve students’ reading comprehension skills in a foreign language. Reading is the process of identification, interpretation and perception of written or printed material. Comprehension is the understanding of the meaning of written material and involves the conscious strategies that lead to understanding. The reading strategies are conscious techniques or unconscious processes employed by readers in their attempt to make sense of the written text (Barnett as cited by Gascoigne, 2005. Thus, the main goal of this piece of research was to implement some reading strategies in 2 elementary courses in EFL in order to obtain better results in the middle and long term in class and on ECAES, MICHIGAN, MELICET and PET tests.

  14. The Effect of an Enrichment Reading Program on the Cognitive Processes and Neural Structures of Children Having Reading Difficulties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hayriye Gül KURUYER

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of the current study is to explain the effect of an enrichment reading program on the cognitive processes and neural structures of children experiencing reading difficulties. The current study was carried out in line with a single-subject research method and the between-subjects multiple probe design belonging to this method. This research focuses on a group of eight students with reading difficulties. Within the context of the study, memory capacities, attention spans, reading-related activation and white matter pathways of the students were determined before and after the application of the enrichment reading program. This determination process was carried out in two stages. Neuro-imaging was performed in the first stage and in the second stage the students’ cognitive processes and neural structures were investigated in terms of focusing attention and memory capacities by using the following tools: Stroop Test TBAG Form, Auditory Verbal Digit Span Test-Form B, Cancellation Test and Number Order Learning Test. The results obtained show that the enrichment reading program resulted in an improvement in the reading profiles of the students having reading difficulties in terms of their cognitive processes and neural structures.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  16. Extensive Reading in Enhancing Lexical Chunks Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereyra, Nilsa

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this action research was to investigate the effect of extensive reading and related activities on the acquisition of lexical chunks in EFL students. Seven adult EFL learners with an Intermediate level volunteered to take part in the 16 week project following Extensive Reading principles combined with tasks based on the Lexical…

  17. Teaching Initial Reading in Navajo: Report of a Conference of Educators Held at Kayenta, January 30-31, 1970. Navajo Reading Study, Progress Report No. 6.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Penny, Ed.

    This report includes descriptions of ongoing reading programs for Navajo students in Rough Rock, Rock Point, and Navajo Community College, presented by teacher-participants in the conference on reading held in Kayenta, Arizona, January 30-31, 1970. Also included are reports from the Navajo Reading Study staff and a discussion of the problems of…

  18. Overlapping neural circuitry for narrative comprehension and proficient reading in children and adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Vannest, Jennifer J; Holland, Scott K

    2013-11-01

    Narrative comprehension is a perinatal linguistic ability which is more intuitive than reading activity. Whether there are specific shared brain regions for narrative comprehension and reading that are tuned to reading proficiency, even before reading is acquired, is the question of the current study. We acquired fMRI data during a narrative comprehension task at two age points, when children are age 5-7 (K-2nd grade) and later when the same children were age 11 (5th-7th grade). We then examined correlations between this fMRI data and reading and reading comprehension scores from the same children at age 11. We found that greater frontal and supramarginal gyrus (BA 40) activation in narrative comprehension at the age of 5-7 years old was associated with better word reading and reading comprehension scores at the age of 11. A shift towards temporal and occipital activation was found when correlating their narrative comprehension functional data at age 11, with reading scores at the same age point. We suggest that increased reliance on executive functions and auditory-visual networks when listening to stories before reading is acquired, facilitates reading proficiency in older age and may be a biomarker for future reading ability. Children, who rely on use of imagination/visualization as well as auditory processing for narrative comprehension when they reach age 11, also show greater reading abilities. Understanding concordant neural pathways supporting auditory narrative and reading comprehension might be guide for development of effective tools for reading intervention programs. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  19. Reading and reading instruction for children from low-income and non-English-speaking households.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lesaux, Nonie K

    2012-01-01

    Although most young children seem to master reading skills in the early grades of elementary school, many struggle with texts as they move through middle school and high school. Why do children who seem to be proficient readers in third grade have trouble comprehending texts in later grades? To answer this question, Nonie Lesaux describes what is known about reading development and instruction, homing in on research conducted with children from low-income and non-English-speaking homes. Using key insights from this research base, she offers two explanations. The first is that reading is a dynamic and multifaceted process that requires continued development if students are to keep pace with the increasing demands of school texts and tasks. The second lies in the role of reading assessment and instruction in U.S. schools. Lesaux draws a distinction between the "skills-based competencies" that readers need to sound out and recognize words and the "knowledge-based competencies" that include the conceptual and vocabulary knowledge necessary to comprehend a text's meaning. Although U.S. schools have made considerable progress in teaching skills-based reading competencies that are the focus of the early grades, most have made much less progress in teaching the knowledge-based competencies students need to support reading comprehension in middle and high school. These knowledge-based competencies are key sources of lasting individual differences in reading outcomes, particularly among children growing up in low-income and non-English-speaking households. Augmenting literacy rates, Lesaux explains, will require considerable shifts in the way reading is assessed and taught in elementary and secondary schools. First, schools must conduct comprehensive reading assessments that discern learners' (potential) sources of reading difficulties--in both skills-based and knowledge-based competencies. Second, educators must implement instructional approaches that offer promise for

  20. What oral text reading fluency can reveal about reading comprehension

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Veenendaal, N.J.; Groen, M.A.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2015-01-01

    Text reading fluency – the ability to read quickly, accurately and with a natural intonation – has been proposed as a predictor of reading comprehension. In the current study, we examined the role of oral text reading fluency, defined as text reading rate and text reading prosody, as a contributor

  1. The Art of Teaching Reading: A Study of Teachers' Perceptions of Their Teacher Education Reading Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lebsock, Rene Mendel

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative study examined the influence of a teacher education reading course on teachers' actual classroom reading instruction. The research included a pilot study, followed by a full study consisting of a demographic survey and four focus groups. Fifteen teachers, 9 beginning (1 to 3 years of experience), and 6 seasoned (4 to 8 years of…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  3. Reading: The Core of Learning. Proceedings of the Annual Reading Conference (13th, Terre Haute, Indiana, June 16-17, 1983).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, Vanita M., Comp.; And Others

    Reflecting the views of teachers, reading specialists, and professors on both the basics and the new technologies in reading instruction, these conference proceedings begin with Carl Personke's address, "The Word's the Thing," on classroom activities that stress the word as concept. The second paper, William Linville's and David…

  4. Reading aids for adults with low vision.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Virgili, Gianni; Acosta, Ruthy; Bentley, Sharon A; Giacomelli, Giovanni; Allcock, Claire; Evans, Jennifer R

    2018-04-17

    The purpose of low-vision rehabilitation is to allow people to resume or to continue to perform daily living tasks, with reading being one of the most important. This is achieved by providing appropriate optical devices and special training in the use of residual-vision and low-vision aids, which range from simple optical magnifiers to high-magnification video magnifiers. To assess the effects of different visual reading aids for adults with low vision. We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Trials Register) (2017, Issue 12); MEDLINE Ovid; Embase Ovid; BIREME LILACS, OpenGrey, the ISRCTN registry; ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). The date of the search was 17 January 2018. This review includes randomised and quasi-randomised trials that compared any device or aid used for reading to another device or aid in people aged 16 or over with low vision as defined by the study investigators. We did not compare low-vision aids with no low-vision aid since it is obviously not possible to measure reading speed, our primary outcome, in people that cannot read ordinary print. We considered reading aids that maximise the person's visual reading capacity, for example by increasing image magnification (optical and electronic magnifiers), augmenting text contrast (coloured filters) or trying to optimise the viewing angle or gaze position (such as prisms). We have not included studies investigating reading aids that allow reading through hearing, such as talking books or screen readers, or through touch, such as Braille-based devices and we did not consider rehabilitation strategies or complex low-vision interventions. We used standard methods expected by Cochrane. At least two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. The primary outcome of the review was reading speed in words per minute. Secondary

  5. Neuro-cognitive mechanisms underlying the emotional modulation of word reading

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2006-01-01

    A novel neural model for emotional modulation of word reading is proposed. This model has four principal hypotheses: the dominant activation region hypothesis, the emotional modulation hypothesis, the attentional level hypothesis, and the interaction hypothesis. Four lines of research were reviewed to provide evidence for these hypotheses: (1) neuro-cognitive studies on the mechanisms of word reading (i.e., neural networks for reading); (2) studies on the influence of words' emotional valence on word reading; (3) studies of the effect of attention on word reading; and (4) studies on emotional modulation of word reading under different attentional levels.

  6. The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suk, Namhee

    2017-01-01

    Several empirical studies and syntheses of extensive reading have concluded that extensive reading has positive impacts on language learning in second- and foreign-language settings. However, many of the studies contained methodological or curricular limitations, raising questions about the asserted positive effects of extensive reading. The…

  7. Rec and Read Mentor Programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Amy Carpenter; Halas, Joannie

    2011-01-01

    For the past six years in Winnipeg, Canada, young people from diverse Aboriginal backgrounds have been volunteering their time, energy, and talents to develop and deliver after-school physical activity, nutrition, and education programs for children in their school's neighbourhood. Known as "Rec and Read," the after-school activities are…

  8. Living Language through Creative Reading; Proceedings of the Annual Reading Conference (4th, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, June 13-14, 1974).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waterman, David C., Ed.; Gibbs, Vanita M., Ed.

    These proceedings are published primarily for the purpose of helping teachers to improve their reading instruction. The contents include "Official Program"; "I Wish Children Literature" by Lee Bennett Hopkins, which discusses the importance of providing children with good reading materials; "Black English and Reading" by Ronald W. Bruton, which…

  9. 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 ...

  10. "Daddy, Read to Me": Fathers Helping Their Young Children Learn to Read.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortiz, Robert W.; McCarty, Laurie L.

    1997-01-01

    Reports that not much is known about the role of fathers' involvement in their children's early reading development. Provides background information concerning research into fathers' involvement in early literacy development. Offers various suggestions on encouraging fathers to become involved with their children's early literacy activities. (PA)

  11. Reading Aloud Activities as a Way to Determine Students’ Narrative Template

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Álvarez Valencia José Aldemar

    2004-08-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on the description of a methodological innovation implemented in a beginner’s English class at university level in Bogotá, Colombia which had two aims: First, to explore the role of reading aloud activities in the teaching of English, and second, to describe the narrative template students use when retelling a story in writing. Data collection sources for this smallscale project incorporated class observation during the reading aloud activity, students’ written samples as the means for them to retell the story, and interviews that were held at the end of the research process. This experience allowed both the teacher and the learners to approach English and see themselves playing a different role in the classroom. Moreover, it helped students foster their communicative competence as well as their motivation toward English language learning. Thus, this study promotes pedagogical debate about literacy processes in English in adults and the applicability of this kind of innovation in an EFL context. Key words: Literacy, Reading Aloud, Storytelling, Narrative Template, English Innovation, Foreign Language-Innovation El objetivo de este artículo es describir una innovación que se implementó en un curso de inglés básico a nivel universitario en Bogotá, Colombia y el cual tuvo dos objetivos: primero, explorar el rol de de las actividades de lectura en voz alta para el aprendizaje del Inglés y segundo describir el modelo narrativo que usan los estudiantes cuando narran una historia. Los métodos de recolección de datos para este proyecto a menor escala incorporaron observación de clases durante las actividades de lectura en voz alta, producción escrita de los estudiantes como un medio para que ellos narraran las historias y entrevistas al final del proceso de investigación. Esta experiencia permitió al profesor y a los estudiantes acercase al inglés de una manera diferente y verse a sí mismos asumiendo

  12. Visual supports for shared reading with young children: the effect of static overlay design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood Jackson, Carla; Wahlquist, Jordan; Marquis, Cassandra

    2011-06-01

    This study examined the effects of two types of static overlay design (visual scene display and grid display) on 39 children's use of a speech-generating device during shared storybook reading with an adult. This pilot project included two groups: preschool children with typical communication skills (n = 26) and with complex communication needs (n = 13). All participants engaged in shared reading with two books using each visual layout on a speech-generating device (SGD). The children averaged a greater number of activations when presented with a grid display during introductory exploration and free play. There was a large effect of the static overlay design on the number of silent hits, evidencing more silent hits with visual scene displays. On average, the children demonstrated relatively few spontaneous activations of the speech-generating device while the adult was reading, regardless of overlay design. When responding to questions, children with communication needs appeared to perform better when using visual scene displays, but the effect of display condition on the accuracy of responses to wh-questions was not statistically significant. In response to an open ended question, children with communication disorders demonstrated more frequent activations of the SGD using a grid display than a visual scene. Suggestions for future research as well as potential implications for designing AAC systems for shared reading with young children are discussed.

  13. Explicit Instruction Elements in Core Reading Programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Child, Angela R.

    2012-01-01

    Classroom teachers are provided instructional recommendations for teaching reading from their adopted core reading programs (CRPs). Explicit instruction elements or what is also called instructional moves, including direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, independent practice, discussion, feedback, and monitoring, were examined within CRP…

  14. Improving reading comprehension through Reciprocal Teaching Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Endang Komariah

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available This study is aimed at discovering the benefits of the Reciprocal Teaching Method (RTM in the reading classroom, finding out the achievements of students after four comprehension training sessions of using RTM, and exploring the perceptions of students on the use of RTM. This method uses four comprehension strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing, to help learners monitor their development of reading comprehension by themselves. Students work in groups of four or five and the members are divided into five roles which are the leader, predictor, clarifier, questioner, and summarizer. The subjects were 24 students from the twelfth grade at a high school in Banda Aceh. Observations, tests, documents and interviews were collected to get the data. The results showed that the students were more active and productive in the reading classroom after RTM sessions and their reading proficiency improved. They learnt how to apply several of the strategies from RTM while reading. The results also showed that they preferred this method for teaching-learning reading compared to the conventional one. Therefore, teachers are suggested to consider using this method for teaching reading that instils the students on how to apply the four comprehension strategies used in reading.

  15. Comparison of Reading Levels of Pharmacy Students and Reading Level of Primary Literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cathy H Ficzere

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: The project purpose was to evaluate pharmacy students’ reading levels using the Nelson-Denney Reading Test (NDRT and compare these results with the reading level of primary literature to investigate incongruities between student’s comprehension ability and the readability level of assigned reading in the curriculum. Methods: The NDRT was administered to first- through third-year student pharmacists to determine grade equivalents (GE for vocabulary and reading comprehension. Twenty articles previously identified as Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters (POEMs were analyzed to determine the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Gunning-Fog Score. Student demographics, information regarding language spoken, and reading habits, were also assessed. Pearson product moment correlations, t-tests, ANOVA, and descriptive statistics were used to assess relationships between demographic data and NDRT scores. Results: One hundred students participated. The mean NDRT total grade equivalent (±SD was 16.95 ± 2.1 (median = 17.3. NDRT grade equivalents were statistically different for students with different racial or ethnic backgrounds (t(98=3.74, p=0.026, English as a second language (ESL students (t(98=5.19, p=0.021, and students that read works of fiction for pleasure (t(98=4.31, p=0.002. The average Gunning-Fog Score for all primary literature articles was 11.48, with the introduction section being the most complex. The average Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level was 17.04, with the results section scoring the lowest average grade level. Implications: While the overall reading grade level of our pharmacy students suggests that they are capable of comprehending reading assigned in the pharmacy curriculum, minority students and students for whom English is a second language may struggle with comprehending complex text. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have

  16. Reading: Time

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Annemarie Wennekers; Frank Huysmans; Jos de Haan

    2018-01-01

    Original title: Lees:Tijd The amount of time that Dutch people spend reading has been declining steadily since the 1950s. This decline in reading time contrasts starkly with the positive personal and social benefits that can be derived from reading, according to lots of research. The Reading:

  17. The Impact of Enactive /Vicarious pre-reading Tasks on Reading Comprehension and Self-Efficacy of Iranian Pre-Intermediate EFL Learners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arezoo Eshghipour

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the effect of enactive pre-reading tasks on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension and self-efficacy. Moreover, it explored whether Iranian per-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension and self-efficacy are influenced by vicarious pre-reading tasks. The required data was gathered through a reading comprehension passage entailing 20 comprehension questions and a 30-item self-efficacy questionnaire with 5-point Likert-scale response options. A total of 66 participants (including 34 individuals in the enactive group and 32 leaners in the vicarious one took part in this study. The Pearson formula, an independent T-Test, paired T-test, and the Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze the data. Based on the findings of the study, enactive pre-reading tasks played a key role in the Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability. Moreover, it was found that vicarious pre-reading tasks served an important role in the Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ self-efficacy.

  18. Reflex reading epilepsy: effect of linguistic characteristics on spike frequency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safi, Dima; Lassonde, Maryse; Nguyen, Dang Khoa; Denault, Carole; Macoir, Joël; Rouleau, Isabelle; Béland, Renée

    2011-04-01

    Reading epilepsy is a rare reflex epilepsy in which seizures are provoked by reading. Several cases have been described in the literature, but the pathophysiological processes vary widely and remain unclear. We describe a 42-year-old male patient with reading epilepsy evaluated using clinical assessments and continuous video/EEG recordings. We administered verbal, nonverbal, and reading tasks to determine factors precipitating seizures. Linguistic characteristics of the words were manipulated. Results indicated that reading-induced seizures were significantly more numerous than those observed during verbal and nonverbal tasks. In reading tasks, spike frequency significantly increased with involvement of the phonological reading route. Spikes were recorded predominantly in left parasagittal regions. Future cerebral imaging studies will enable us to visualize the spatial localization and temporal course of reading-induced seizures and brain activity involved in reading. A better understanding of reading epilepsy is crucial for reading rehabilitation in these patients. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Functionally distinct contributions of the anterior and posterior putamen during sublexical and lexical reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marion eOberhuber

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies have investigated orthographic-to-phonological mapping during reading by comparing brain activation for (1 reading words to object naming, or (2 reading pseudowords (e.g. phume to words (e.g. plume. Here we combined both approaches to provide new insights into the underlying neural mechanisms. In fMRI data from 25 healthy adult readers, we first identified activation that was greater for reading words and pseudowords relative to picture and color naming. The most significant effect was observed in the left putamen, extending to both anterior and posterior borders. Second, consistent with previous studies, we show that both the anterior and posterior putamen are involved in articulating speech with greater activation during our overt speech production tasks (reading, repetition, object naming and color naming than silent one-back-matching on the same stimuli. Third, we compared putamen activation for words versus pseudowords during overt reading and auditory repetition. This revealed that the anterior putamen was most activated by reading pseudowords, whereas the posterior putamen was most activated by words irrespective of whether the task was reading words or auditory word repetition. The pseudoword effect in the anterior putamen is consistent with prior studies that associated this region with the initiation of novel sequences of movements. In contrast, the heightened word response in the posterior putamen is consistent with other studies that associated this region with memory guided movement. Our results illustrate how the functional dissociation between the anterior and posterior putamen supports sublexical and lexical processing during reading.

  20. Unveiling the dynamics of reading

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Posner, M.; Abdullaev, Y.

    1996-01-01

    What happens in our brain when we read isolated words? Are some particular areas of cortex stimulated when these words make sense? Does the reading practice induce others areas? And what about the new senses research? Some studies carried out for a century show that two regions of the left cerebral hemisphere: the Broca and the Wernicke areas are involved. By visualizing in vivo an elementary thought as what is for instance the function of a hammer, the functional cerebral imagery (positron computed tomography, NMR imaging, electro-encephalography) allows to deepen and to explain the analysis. It reveals an areas network called semantic, in the right hemisphere too. Their activation would take place according to a very fast sequence in order to direct the eye movements during the reading. (O.M.)

  1. Literary, Memory, Reading and Teaching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guaraciaba Micheletti

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The teaching of literature even when focused on reading is often overlooked in the face of other classroom needs. The teaching of reading, without well-defined object, is emphasized by performing as a concern of all areas and not only in mother-tongue classes. However, a closer look reveals that this is exactly the reading of literary texts that provides answers to questions from other spheres (LAJOLO, 1982; 1993; COSSON, 2006. In this article, taking as a basis, the intertextuality, one of the constituent elements of literary texts (MAINGUENEAU, 2004, we propose some reflections on the role of literary literacy by presenting suggestions for activities, based on the concept of teacher as mediator of the dialogues constituted in the literary text and other derivatives of these dialogues in the classroom.

  2. Characterizing preservice Teacherʼs responses to literacy: Read alouds a way to experience the joy for reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judith Castellanos

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available This article reports on a small-scale project which central purpose was to incorporate read-alouds in a pre-intermediate English as a foreign language class of preservice teachers during three weeks. Students responded orally and in a written way on their journals to these readings showing understanding of the texts, relating their personal experiences and / or making connections to them. The project involved students of the undergraduate program in English teaching at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Bogotá. In all, 19 students were involved in the project. Data collection sources for this project include studentsʼ journals, after the fact notes on studentsʼ oral interactions and a group interview. Among the findings observed in this inquiry project include the intertextual connections (Short, 1993 students make across the texts read in class with their personal experiences. Most studentsʼ oral responses were characterized by code-switching; in general most students code switched depending on the difficulty of the answer. Students benefited from the reading-alouds in terms of opportunities to interact among themselves, practice their oral and written skills, and enjoy the pleasures of reading, thus building ground to a positive experience that may be emulated in their future teaching exercise. Finally, I discuss some implications of read-alouds with preservice teachers and teacher education programs in Colombia.

  3. The Effectiveness of the Barton’s Intervention Program on Reading Comprehension and Reading Attitude of Students with Dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mihandoost, Zeinab; Elias, Habibah

    2011-01-01

    Objective: The current research tested the differences in reading attitude and reading comprehension in the dyslexic students between the control group and the experimental group following the Barton intervention program. Methods: Dyslexia screening instrument and reading text were employed in order to identify dyslexic students. The population of the study included 138 dyslexic students studying in schools in Ilam, Iran. From this population, 64 students were randomly selected and assigned to an experimental group as well as a control group. The experimental group was taught for 36 sessions, using the Barton’s method at two levels, and ten lessons were provided to improve the reading skill. The reading comprehension and reading attitude instruments were employed for the measurement of the attitude and comprehension before and after the intervention program. Results: The analysis of covariance showed a significant difference between the control group and the experimental group following the Barton intervention program. Conclusion: This study showed that dyslexic students learned to read, and a more direct instruction related to decoding could influence their progress more than the general exposure to education. PMID:24644446

  4. Dialogic Reading Aloud to Promote Extensive Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, George M.

    2016-01-01

    How can teachers motivate students to read extensively in a second language? One strategy is for teachers to read aloud to students to promote the joys of reading generally, to build students' language skills and to introduce students to specific authors, book series, genres, websites, etc. This article begins by discussing why teachers might want…

  5. Electrophysiological Correlates of Reading the Single- and Interactive-Mind

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yi-Wen; Zheng, Yu-Wei; Lin, Chong-De; Wu, Jie; Shen, De-Li

    2011-01-01

    Understanding minds is the cognitive basis of successful social interaction. In everyday life, human mental activity often happens at the moment of social interaction among two or multiple persons instead of only one-person. Understanding the interactive mind of two- or multi-person is more complex and higher than understanding the single-person mind in the hierarchical structure of theory of mind. Understanding the interactive mind maybe differentiate from understanding the single mind. In order to examine the dissociative electrophysiological correlates of reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind, the 64 channels event-related potentials were recorded while 16 normal adults were observing three kinds of Chinese idioms depicted physical scenes, one-person with mental activity, and two- or multi-person with mental interaction. After the equivalent N400, in the 500- to 700-ms epoch, the mean amplitudes of late positive component (LPC) over frontal for reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind were significantly more positive than for physical representation, while there was no difference between the former two. In the 700- to 800-ms epoch, the mean amplitudes of LPC over frontal–central for reading the interactive mind were more positive than for reading the single mind and physical representation, while there was no difference between the latter two. The present study provides electrophysiological signature of the dissociations between reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind. PMID:21845178

  6. Electrophysiological correlates of reading the single- and interactive-mind

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi-Wen eWang

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Understanding minds is the cognitive basis of successful social interaction. In everyday life, human mental activity often happens at the moment of social interaction among two or multiple persons instead of only one person. Understanding the interactive mind of two- or multi-person is more complex and higher than understanding the single-person mind in the hierarchical structure of theory-of-mind. Understanding the interactive mind maybe differentiate from understanding the single mind. In order to examine the dissociative electrophysiological correlates of reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind, the 64 channels event-related potentials (ERP were recorded while 16 normal adults were observing three kinds of Chinese idioms depicted physical scenes, one-person with mental activity and two- or multi-person with mental interaction. After the equivalent N400, in the 500- to 700-ms epoch, the mean amplitudes of late positive component (LPC over frontal for reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind were significantly more positive than for physical representation, while there was no difference between the former two. In the 700-to 800-ms epoch, the mean amplitudes of LPC over frontal-central for reading the interactive mind were more positive than for reading the single mind and physical representation, while there was no difference between the latter two. The present study provides electrophysiological signature of the dissociations between reading the single mind and reading the interactive mind.

  7. Slower saccadic reading in Parkinson’s disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jehangir, Naz; Yu, Caroline Yizhu; Song, Jeehey; Shariati, Mohammad Ali; Binder, Steven; Beyer, Jill; Santini, Veronica; Poston, Kathleen

    2018-01-01

    Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic and other neurons, leading to motor and non-motor deficits. Abnormal eye movements in PD, including fixations, saccades, and convergence, are well described. However, saccadic reading, which requires serial and alternating saccades and fixations, is not well studied, despite its obvious impact on the quality of life. In this study, we assessed saccadic reading using variations of the King-Devick (KD) test, a rapid single digit number naming test, as a way to assess the ability to make serial left-to-right ocular motor movements necessary for reading. We recruited 42 treated PD patients and 80 age-matched controls and compared their reading times with a variety of measures, including age, duration of disease, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the National Eye Institute 25-Item Visual Functioning Questionnaire 25 (VFQ-25), and Montreal Cognitive assessment (MoCA) test. The subjects performed 4 trials of reading 120 single digit numbers aloud as fast as possible without making errors. In each trial, they read 3 pages (KD1, KD2, and KD3), and each page contained 40 numbers per page in 8 lines with 5 numbers/line. We found that PD patients read about 20% slower than controls on all tests (KD1, 2, and 3 tests) (p read irregularly spaced numbers slower than regularly spaced numbers. Having lines between numbers to guide reading (KD1 tests) did not impact reading time in both PD and controls, but increased visual crowding as a result of decreased spacing between numbers (KD3 tests) was associated with significantly slower reading times in both PD and control groups. Our study revealed that saccadic reading is slower in PD, but controls and PD patients are both impacted by visuospatial planning challenges posed by increased visual crowding and irregularity of number spacing. Reading time did not correlate with UPDRS or MoCA scores in PD patients but significantly

  8. 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; ...

  9. Prevalence of Gendered Views of Reading in Thailand and Canada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sokal, Laura

    2010-01-01

    Recent large-scale testing of reading achievement indicates significant gender differences favoring girls in all countries tested, a situation that some researchers believe is the result of boys viewing reading as a feminine activity. Given that Canada has one of the world's smallest gender gaps in reading whereas Thailand has one of the largest,…

  10. SMART STRATEGY TO BOOST STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Lukman Syafi’i

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Reading as one of language skills plays significant roles in the teaching English as a foreign language. Since the teacher still uses the conventional way to teach reading, students‘ ability in reading comprehension seems still unsatisfactory yet. So, teacher should explore and develop new strategies. One of strategies in reading comprehension that can trigger our students to attain that purpose is SMART (Self Monitoring Approach for Reading and Thinking strategy. This study is developing SMART strategy to boost the reading comprehension achievement of the ninth grade students. The research applies a collaborative classroom action research design in which the researcher and the collaborative teacher work together in preparing a suitable procedure of SMART strategy, designing the lesson plan, determining the criteria of success, implementing the action, observing, and doing reflection. The finding indicated that SMART strategy was successful to enhance students‘ motivation to be actively involved in the instructional process. The improvement on the students‘ participation was 75% in Cycle 1 and 87% in Cycle 2.

  11. Reading to young children : A head-start in life?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kalb, G.; van Ours, J.C.

    This paper investigates the importance of parents reading to their young children. Using Australian data we find that parental reading to children at age 4–5 has positive and significant effects on reading skills and cognitive skills (including numeracy skills) of these children at least up to age

  12. Sequence Read Archive (SRA)

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Sequence Read Archive (SRA) stores raw sequencing data from the next generation of sequencing platforms including Roche 454 GS System®, Illumina Genome...

  13. What Brain Research Suggests for Teaching Reading Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willis, Judy

    2009-01-01

    How the brain learns to read has been the subject of much neuroscience educational research. Evidence is mounting for identifiable networks of connected neurons that are particularly active during reading processes such as response to visual and auditory stimuli, relating new information to prior knowledge, long-term memory storage, comprehension,…

  14. Reading Every Single Day: A Journey to Authentic Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Alida K.; Williams, Joan A.

    2015-01-01

    This article details one teacher's implementation of reading workshop in her second grade classroom. She provided a framework for authentic reading using the five components of reading workshop: time, choice, response, community, and structure. She found that reading workshop is a highly effective practice for not only increasing students'…

  15. The Effect of Individual Differences in the Inner and Outer States of ICT on Engagement in Online Reading Activities and PISA 2009 Reading Literacy: Exploring the Relationship between the Old and New Reading Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Yuan-Hsuan; Wu, Jiun-Yu

    2012-01-01

    With the prevalence of ICT, the concept of reading literacy has evolved to encompass both online reading and printed texts. This study clarifies the relationship between reading printed texts and online electronic texts from the perspective of individual differences in the inner and outer phases of ICT in a partial mediation model. We used the…

  16. Reading Comics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilley, Carol L.

    2008-01-01

    Many adults, even librarians who willingly add comics to their collections, often dismiss the importance of comics. Compared to reading "real" books, reading comics appears to be a simple task and compared to reading no books, reading comics might be preferable. After all, comics do have words, but the plentiful pictures seem to carry most of the…

  17. Reading Processes of University Students with Dyslexia - An Examination of the Relationship between Oral Reading and Reading Comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedersen, Henriette Folkmann; Fusaroli, Riccardo; Lauridsen, Lene Louise; Parrila, Rauno

    2016-11-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of oral reading and how it relates to reading comprehension in students with dyslexia. A group of Danish university students with dyslexia (n = 16) and a comparison group of students with no history of reading problems (n = 16) were assessed on their oral reading performance when reading a complex text. Along with reading speed, we measured not only the number and quality of reading errors but also the extent and semantic nature of the self-corrections during reading. The reading comprehension was measured through aided text retellings. The results showed that, as a group, the dyslexics performed poorer on most measures, but there were notable within-group differences in the reading behaviours and little association between how well university students with dyslexia read aloud and comprehended the text. These findings suggest that many dyslexics in higher education tend to focus their attention on one subcomponent of the reading process, for example, decoding or comprehension, because engaging in both simultaneously may be too demanding for them. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. ReadDepth: a parallel R package for detecting copy number alterations from short sequencing reads.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher A Miller

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Copy number alterations are important contributors to many genetic diseases, including cancer. We present the readDepth package for R, which can detect these aberrations by measuring the depth of coverage obtained by massively parallel sequencing of the genome. In addition to achieving higher accuracy than existing packages, our tool runs much faster by utilizing multi-core architectures to parallelize the processing of these large data sets. In contrast to other published methods, readDepth does not require the sequencing of a reference sample, and uses a robust statistical model that accounts for overdispersed data. It includes a method for effectively increasing the resolution obtained from low-coverage experiments by utilizing breakpoint information from paired end sequencing to do positional refinement. We also demonstrate a method for inferring copy number using reads generated by whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, thus enabling integrative study of epigenomic and copy number alterations. Finally, we apply this tool to two genomes, showing that it performs well on genomes sequenced to both low and high coverage. The readDepth package runs on Linux and MacOSX, is released under the Apache 2.0 license, and is available at http://code.google.com/p/readdepth/.

  19. Changing Perspectives on Research in Reading/Language Processing and Instruction. Thirty-Third Yearbook of the National Reading Conference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niles, Jerome A., Ed.; Harris, Larry A., Ed.

    Reflecting current themes that researchers, by their selective attention, have indicated are important in the field of reading/language processing and instruction, this yearbook presents a collection of 51 selected research articles from the National Reading Conference for 1983. Included are the following articles, listed with their authors: (1)…

  20. Reciprocal Relations between Intrinsic Reading Motivation and Reading Competence: A Comparison between Native and Immigrant Students in Germany

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyamoto, Ai; Pfost, Maximilian; Artelt, Cordula

    2018-01-01

    The present study compares native and immigrant students regarding the direction and the strength of the relation between intrinsic reading motivation and reading competence. Within the framework of the German National Educational Panel Study, 4,619 secondary school students were included in the analyses. The present study confirmed the reciprocal…

  1. Critical Pedagogy Principles in Teaching EFL Reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Slamet Wahyudi Yulianto

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This study attempts to reveal how the use of critical pedagogy principles in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL reading facilitates students to think critically. Additionally, it investigates and elaborates the benefits and challenges of using critical pedagogy principles in teaching EFL reading. The three critical pedagogy principles used in this study were dialogic education, democratic classroom, and reading the world and the word. Critical thinking skills and dispositions expected to be performed by the participants were analysis and evaluation skills, open-mindedness, and making reasoned decision. This is a case study design which was conducted in the form of teaching program. The teaching program which consisted of eight meetings was given to 59 EFL sophomores in the Reading in Professional Context class at a private teacher education in Bandung. Data in the form of classroom talks and activities and students‟ responses as well as their critical thinking skills self-assessment were collected by using video recordings, observation notes, interview guideline, students‟ learning journals, and questionnaires. It is revealed that the teaching program has facilitated students to think critically by providing four categories of activity. They are (1 offering problematic topics and reading materials that are linked to the students‟ lives, (2 encouraging students to read between the lines, (3 distributing classroom power, and (4 creating space for students‟ voices to be heard. Meanwhile, there are two benefits of the teaching program, namely (1 language development and (2 new knowledge as well as experience acquisition. However, there are three major challenges in conducting the teaching program that are (1 the lack of classroom-friendly authentic controversial reading materials, (2 the passive culture, and (3 the unpredictable classroom.

  2. Reading fluency: implications for the assessment of children with reading disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meisinger, Elizabeth B; Bloom, Juliana S; Hynd, George W

    2010-06-01

    The current investigation explored the diagnostic utility of reading fluency measures in the identification of children with reading disabilities. Participants were 50 children referred to a university-based clinic because of suspected reading problems and/or a prior diagnosis of dyslexia, where children completed a battery of standardized intellectual, reading achievement, and processing measures. Within this clinical sample, a group of children were identified that exhibited specific deficits in their reading fluency skills with concurrent deficits in rapid naming speed and reading comprehension. This group of children would not have been identified as having a reading disability according to assessment of single word reading skills alone, suggesting that it is essential to assess reading fluency in addition to word reading because failure to do so may result in the under-identification of children with reading disabilities.

  3. "Read the Text, as if!"The Reading Retention Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Divoll, Kent; Browning, Sandra

    2013-01-01

    Students do not always read what is expected in college courses (Berry, Cook, Hill, & Stevens, 2010; Phillips & Phillips, 2007; Sikorski et al., 2002) or they read to cram for an exam or quiz (Clump, Bauer, & Bradley, 2004). The Reading Retention Strategy (RRS) is designed to motivate students to read and assist students in…

  4. Being Bilingual, Being a Reader: Prekindergarten Dual Language Learners' Reading Identities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagner, Christopher J.

    2018-01-01

    This study explores the interplay between early reading, identity and bilingualism. Reading identities, or understandings about what reading is and whom one is as a reader, have been linked to reading achievement and the development of reading skills. Only a small portion of the overall research on reading identities has included dual language…

  5. libgapmis: extending short-read alignments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alachiotis, Nikolaos; Berger, Simon; Flouri, Tomáš; Pissis, Solon P; Stamatakis, Alexandros

    2013-01-01

    A wide variety of short-read alignment programmes have been published recently to tackle the problem of mapping millions of short reads to a reference genome, focusing on different aspects of the procedure such as time and memory efficiency, sensitivity, and accuracy. These tools allow for a small number of mismatches in the alignment; however, their ability to allow for gaps varies greatly, with many performing poorly or not allowing them at all. The seed-and-extend strategy is applied in most short-read alignment programmes. After aligning a substring of the reference sequence against the high-quality prefix of a short read--the seed--an important problem is to find the best possible alignment between a substring of the reference sequence succeeding and the remaining suffix of low quality of the read--extend. The fact that the reads are rather short and that the gap occurrence frequency observed in various studies is rather low suggest that aligning (parts of) those reads with a single gap is in fact desirable. In this article, we present libgapmis, a library for extending pairwise short-read alignments. Apart from the standard CPU version, it includes ultrafast SSE- and GPU-based implementations. libgapmis is based on an algorithm computing a modified version of the traditional dynamic-programming matrix for sequence alignment. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the functions of the CPU version provided in this library accelerate the computations by a factor of 20 compared to other programmes. The analogous SSE- and GPU-based implementations accelerate the computations by a factor of 6 and 11, respectively, compared to the CPU version. The library also provides the user the flexibility to split the read into fragments, based on the observed gap occurrence frequency and the length of the read, thereby allowing for a variable, but bounded, number of gaps in the alignment. We present libgapmis, a library for extending pairwise short-read alignments. We

  6. Exploring students' learning effectiveness and attitude in Group Scribbles-supported collaborative reading activities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lin, C. P.; Lin, Chih-Cheng; Chen, W.

    2014-01-01

    Improving students' reading comprehension is of significance. In this study, collaborative learning supported by Group Scribbles (GS), a networked technology, was integrated into a primary reading class. Forty-seven 10-year-old students from two 4th grade classes participated in the study...

  7. Do reading additions improve reading in pre-presbyopes with low vision?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alabdulkader, Balsam; Leat, Susan

    2012-09-01

    This study compared three different methods of determining a reading addition and the possible improvement on reading performance in children and young adults with low vision. Twenty-eight participants with low vision, aged 8 to 32 years, took part in the study. Reading additions were determined with (a) a modified Nott dynamic retinoscopy, (b) a subjective method, and (c) an age-based formula. Reading performance was assessed with MNREAD-style reading charts at 12.5 cm, with and without each reading addition in random order. Outcome measures were reading speed, critical print size, MNREAD threshold, and the area under the reading speed curve. For the whole group, there was no significant improvement in reading performance with any of the additions. When participants with normal accommodation at 12.5 cm were excluded, the area under the reading speed curve was significantly greater with all reading additions compared with no addition (p = 0.031, 0.028, and 0.028, respectively). Also, the reading acuity threshold was significantly better with all reading additions compared with no addition (p = 0.014, 0.030, and 0.036, respectively). Distance and near visual acuity, age, and contrast sensitivity did not predict improvement with a reading addition. All, but one, of the participants who showed a significant improvement in reading with an addition had reduced accommodation. A reading addition may improve reading performance for young people with low vision and should be considered as part of a low vision assessment, particularly when accommodation is reduced.

  8. An Examination of the Effect of Reading Interest and Selected Demographic Factors on Reading Performance among Students in the Middle Grades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Childs, Kamshia

    2013-01-01

    Much time is spent instilling in young students the importance of reading, and the impact reading has on their being considered "smart." The activities presented to students in primary (Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten) classrooms through third grade are engaging and cooperative, and they provide a sense of accomplishment for students who…

  9. Students with Learning Disabilities Perspective on Reading Comprehension Instruction: A Qualitative Inquiry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Dale Rennard

    2017-01-01

    The three article dissertation was a presentation of students' with learning disabilities perspectives on reading comprehension instruction. Article 1 set out to provide an historical perspective of reading and reading comprehension instruction. Topics covered in this research review included: reading comprehension, reading and learning…

  10. Maternal Reading Self-Efficacy Associated with Perceived Barriers to Reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joyce Lin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Although early reading practices impact a host of child literacy, language, and school outcomes, many parents do not read to their young children. One possible explanation for this lack of early literacy practices is mothers’ feelings about their ability to successfully read to their children. A series of multiple regressions were used to explore whether new mothers’ reading self-efficacy predicted their perceived barriers to reading to their 18-month-old children. Findings suggest that self-efficacy buffers against mother-centered (e.g., too tired, child-centered (e.g., toddler fussy, and structural (e.g., environmental distractions barriers to reading. Given the importance of early literacy and that not all mothers read to their toddlers, increasing reading self-efficacy may offer a way to reduce perceived barriers to early literacy practices.

  11. Teachers' perceptions of strategy training in reading instruction

    OpenAIRE

    Sallı, Ayşegül

    2002-01-01

    Ankara : The Department of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University, 2002. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2002. Includes bibliographical references leaves 93-97. Reading strategies are processes used by a learner to enhance reading and to overcome comprehension failures. In order to better help students overcome such difficulties, training in reading strategies is necessary. Only with the appropriate ...

  12. Musical Tale as a Reading Comprehension Resource in the Classroom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucía Martínez Vázquez

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Reading comprehension is a complex process, whose teaching involves multiple factors, as highlighted by Psychology, Didactics of languages, and others disciplines. Nevertheless, theoretical frameworks need to be applied by means of innovative practices and resources. The aim of this work is to present an innovation implemented in 2016-2017 in the third year of primary school, in the frame of an action-research, with the objective of reinforcing the learning of reading. In order to cope whit the comprehension difficulties involved in attention and concentration abilities, a didactic intervention was designed with the musical tale as a resource. Different approaches to this sort of text, integrated in diverse activities, facilitated the learning of active listening of tales, expressing reading, and guided the attention of readers to metacognitive strategies. The experience allows better identify some difficulties in the reading process, and prove the usefulness of the musical tale, as a meaningful resource to support the teaching and learning of reading.

  13. BOOKTUBERS MOVEMENT: EMERGING PRACTICES OF READING MEDIATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Souza Teixeira

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper intents to investigate reading mediation practices develop by the booktubers, young people that use the YouTube in order to share information about books and to interact with other readers. We begin presenting some concepts related to reading and mediation activities, and then, talk about some aspects of cyberspace, the formation of virtual communities and the Booktubers phenomena. At last, as a result of a documental analysis of 100 videos posted by booktubers, we show the characteristics of these emerging mediation reading practices and the types of books that are more commented by them. We conclude that the conventional practices of reading mediation are the bases for the booktubers’ actuation, but they are adapted to the new kinds of elaboration, creation and organization enabled by the Internet.

  14. Identification and characterization of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus open reading frame 11 promotor activation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Lei [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2008-01-01

    Open reading frame 11 (ORF11) of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus belongs to a herpesviral homologous protein family shared by some members of the gamma- herpesvirus subfamily. Little is known about this ORF11 homologous protein family. We have characterized an unknown open reading frame, ORF11, located adjacent and in the opposite orientation to a well-characterized viral IL-6 gene. Northern blot analysis reveals that ORF11 is expressed during the KSHV lytic cycle with delayed-early transcription kinetics. We have determined the 5{prime} and 3{prime} untranslated region of the unspliced ORF11 transcript and identified both the transcription start site and the transcription termination site. Core promoter region, representing ORF11 promoter activity, was mapped to a 159nt fragment 5{prime} most proximal to the transcription start site. A functional TATA box was identified in the core promoter region. Interestingly, we found that ORF11 transcriptional activation is not responsive to Rta, the KSHV lytic switch protein. We also discovered that part of the ORF11 promoter region, the 209nt fragment upstream of the transcription start site, was repressed by phorbol esters. Our data help to understand transcription regulation of ORF11 and to elucidate roles of ORF11 in KSHV pathogenesis and life cycle.

  15. Twenty-First Century Instructional Classroom Practices and Reading Motivation: Probing the Effectiveness of Interventional Reading Programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taoufik Boulhrir

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Twenty-first century education has undoubtedly witnessed changes of the definition of literacy to cope with the economic, social, and intellectual trends. Technological advances, which include skills of communication, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration have become key in education, especially when dealing with literacy and reading motivation. As motivation hinges around two major theoretical approaches, intrinsic and extrinsic, numerous studies argue for the first to be more sustainable in enhancing reading motivation. Accordingly, many research-based interventional programs have emerged since the late nineties with increasing popularity to offer answers to the dwindling rates in reading among youth. This article discusses traits of 21st century education in light of trends and challenges as it probes the effectiveness of some interventional programs that are meant, and argued for, to enhance literacy skills and reading motivation.

  16. Shared-Reading Volume in Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dynia, Jaclyn M.; Justice, Laura M.

    2015-01-01

    This study describes book reading practices occurring in early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms in comparison to early childhood education (ECE) classrooms. Reading logs submitted by 19 ECSE teachers and 13 ECE teachers over one academic year included all books read in whole class settings; these logs were analyzed to assess the…

  17. Davies, Florence (1995. Introducing Reading. Davies, Florence (1995. Introducing Reading.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonia Maria Gomes Ferreira

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Arising at a time of unprecedented growth of interest in fostering critical thinking, Introducing Reading offers a clear introduction and thorough account of contemporary developments in the field of reading. While overtly focusing on the special demands of social and human aspects of the reading practice, the issues raised have crucial resonance in the sphere of critical reading. Explicitly addressed to teachers of mother tongue and foreign language contexts, the book claims to elaborate on aspects of reading which have received meager attention to date: individual readers engaged in different real-world reading tasks, the social contexts where such readers engage and interact with texts, and the nature and variety of texts, here regarded as “participants” in the interaction between reader and writer. To this extent, the book successfully reaches the ambitious aim of “socializing and humanizing reading and the teaching of reading” (p. xi. Arising at a time of unprecedented growth of interest in fostering critical thinking, Introducing Reading offers a clear introduction and thorough account of contemporary developments in the field of reading. While overtly focusing on the special demands of social and human aspects of the reading practice, the issues raised have crucial resonance in the sphere of critical reading. Explicitly addressed to teachers of mother tongue and foreign language contexts, the book claims to elaborate on aspects of reading which have received meager attention to date: individual readers engaged in different real-world reading tasks, the social contexts where such readers engage and interact with texts, and the nature and variety of texts, here regarded as “participants” in the interaction between reader and writer. To this extent, the book successfully reaches the ambitious aim of “socializing and humanizing reading and the teaching of reading” (p. xi.

  18. Book Clubs in Developmental Reading: Building Reading Comprehension, Fostering Reading Enjoyment, and Engaging Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maldonado, Michele

    2012-01-01

    The use of book clubs in college developmental reading classes is an effective way to encourage reluctant readers to build and strengthen reading skills, foster reading enjoyment, and engage students. In addition, book clubs build a sense of community within the classroom as the students converse and share their interpretations of the reading…

  19. Universal brain systems for recognizing word shapes and handwriting gestures during reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, Kimihiro; Kuo, Wen-Jui; Pegado, Felipe; Cohen, Laurent; Tzeng, Ovid J L; Dehaene, Stanislas

    2012-12-11

    Do the neural circuits for reading vary across culture? Reading of visually complex writing systems such as Chinese has been proposed to rely on areas outside the classical left-hemisphere network for alphabetic reading. Here, however, we show that, once potential confounds in cross-cultural comparisons are controlled for by presenting handwritten stimuli to both Chinese and French readers, the underlying network for visual word recognition may be more universal than previously suspected. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a semantic task with words written in cursive font, we demonstrate that two universal circuits, a shape recognition system (reading by eye) and a gesture recognition system (reading by hand), are similarly activated and show identical patterns of activation and repetition priming in the two language groups. These activations cover most of the brain regions previously associated with culture-specific tuning. Our results point to an extended reading network that invariably comprises the occipitotemporal visual word-form system, which is sensitive to well-formed static letter strings, and a distinct left premotor region, Exner's area, which is sensitive to the forward or backward direction with which cursive letters are dynamically presented. These findings suggest that cultural effects in reading merely modulate a fixed set of invariant macroscopic brain circuits, depending on surface features of orthographies.

  20. Motivational reading on education, meaningful reading realisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana Qafa

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available In this study I will present some ideas on today’s educational practice for motivation, the realization of the meaningful reading. There is a special place for the methodical ranking of the reading process, starting in school. Main requests of this reading, consist of the deep meaning of the subject, exploration of the idea, and other elements of the subject, implementation of the technique’s rules of the expressive reading, such as breathing, voice, diction, intonation, spelling, stoppages, logical emphasizes, emotional expressions, temper, timber, gesticulations, and mimic. There is also highlighted the fact that the used method comes from the pupils’ results and depends on the capability and level of the teacher, from the programming’s scale, the tools that are put into disposition, the age and the level of the pupils, and from the environment that the teacher creates during courses. At the end there are some practical guidelines for the realization of the expressive reading in the literature subject.

  1. College Online Developmental Reading Instruction: Creating a Path to Independent and Active Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, E. Janet

    2010-01-01

    Online courses require students to be independent readers and efficient learners. College students who need developmental reading lack these qualities; consequently, faculty do not generally view developmental reading courses as appropriate for an online format. However, an effectively designed online course based on best practices can engage less…

  2. Reading performance with low-vision aids and vision-related quality of life after macular translocation surgery in patients with age-related macular degeneration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Nhung X; Besch, Dorothea; Bartz-Schmidt, Karl; Gelisken, Faik; Trauzettel-Klosinski, Susanne

    2007-12-01

    The aim of the present study was to evaluate the power of magnification required, reading performance with low-vision aids and vision-related quality of life with reference to reading ability and ability to carry out day-to-day activities in patients after macular translocation. This study included 15 patients who had undergone macular translocation with 360-degree peripheral retinectomy. The mean length of follow-up was 19.2 +/- 10.8 months (median 11 months). At the final examination, the impact of visual impairment on reading ability and quality of life was assessed according to a modified 9-item questionnaire in conjunction with a comprehensive clinical examination, which included assessment of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), the magnification power required for reading, use of low-vision aids and reading speed. Patients rated the extent to which low vision restricted their ability to read and participate in other activities that affect quality of life. Responses were scored on a scale of 1.0 (optimum self-evaluation) to 5.0 (very poor). In the operated eye, overall mean postoperative BCVA (distance) was not significantly better than mean preoperative BCVA (0.11 +/- 0.06 and 0.15 +/- 0.08, respectively; p = 0.53). However, 53% of patients reported a subjective increase in visual function after treatment. At the final visit, the mean magnification required was x 7.7 +/- 6.7. A total of 60% of patients needed optical magnifiers for reading and in 40% of patients closed-circuit TV systems were necessary. All patients were able to read newspaper print using adapted low-vision aids at a mean reading speed of 71 +/- 40 words per minute. Mean self-reported scores were 3.2 +/- 1.1 for reading, 2.5 +/- 0.7 for day-to-day activities and 2.7 +/- 3.0 for outdoor walking and using steps or stairs. Patients' levels of dependency were significantly correlated with scores for reading (p = 0.01), day-to-day activities (p vision-related quality of life in patients after

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  4. Identifying structural variants using linked-read sequencing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elyanow, Rebecca; Wu, Hsin-Ta; Raphael, Benjamin J

    2017-11-03

    Structural variation, including large deletions, duplications, inversions, translocations, and other rearrangements, is common in human and cancer genomes. A number of methods have been developed to identify structural variants from Illumina short-read sequencing data. However, reliable identification of structural variants remains challenging because many variants have breakpoints in repetitive regions of the genome and thus are difficult to identify with short reads. The recently developed linked-read sequencing technology from 10X Genomics combines a novel barcoding strategy with Illumina sequencing. This technology labels all reads that originate from a small number (~5-10) DNA molecules ~50Kbp in length with the same molecular barcode. These barcoded reads contain long-range sequence information that is advantageous for identification of structural variants. We present Novel Adjacency Identification with Barcoded Reads (NAIBR), an algorithm to identify structural variants in linked-read sequencing data. NAIBR predicts novel adjacencies in a individual genome resulting from structural variants using a probabilistic model that combines multiple signals in barcoded reads. We show that NAIBR outperforms several existing methods for structural variant identification - including two recent methods that also analyze linked-reads - on simulated sequencing data and 10X whole-genome sequencing data from the NA12878 human genome and the HCC1954 breast cancer cell line. Several of the novel somatic structural variants identified in HCC1954 overlap known cancer genes. Software is available at compbio.cs.brown.edu/software. braphael@princeton.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  5. Japanese and English Sentence Reading Comprehension and Writing Systems: An fMRI Study of First and Second Language Effects on Brain Activation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchweitz, Augusto; Mason, Robert A.; Hasegawa, Mihoko; Just, Marcel A.

    2009-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare brain activation from native Japanese (L1) readers reading hiragana (syllabic) and kanji (logographic) sentences, and English as a second language (L2). Kanji showed more activation than hiragana in right-hemisphere occipito-temporal lobe areas associated with visuospatial…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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,…

  7. The relationship between working memory and L2 reading comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammadtaghi Shahnazari-Dorcheh

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Since an important role for working memory has been found in the first language acquisition (e.g., Daneman, 1991 Daneman & Green, 1986 Waters & Caplan, 1996, research on the role of working memory is emerging as an area of concern for second language acquisition (e.g., Atkins & Baddeley, 1998 Miyake & Freidman, 1998 Robinson, 1995, 2002, 2005. The present study focused on the role of working memory capacity in the development of second language reading ability. 55 L1 Persian EFL learners at three proficiency levels from a private language school participated in this study. They completed a battery of reading and working memory measures. Memory measures included phonological short-term memory, and reading span test (RST. Reading measures included two expository reading comprehension tests. Multiple regression analysis was applied to determine whether there are any significant relationships between working memory capacity and reading measures. Results of this study indicated a significant relationship between working memory capacity (as measured by RST and reading ability at lower levels of proficiency.

  8. Macroenvironmental factors including GDP per capita and physical activity in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cameron, Adrian J; Van Stralen, Maartje M; Kunst, Anton E; Te Velde, Saskia J; Van Lenthe, Frank J; Salmon, Jo; Brug, Johannes

    2013-02-01

    Socioeconomic inequalities in physical activity at the individual level are well reported. Whether inequalities in economic development and other macroenvironmental variables between countries are also related to physical activity at the country level is comparatively unstudied. We examined the relationship between country-level data on macroenvironmental factors (gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, public sector expenditure on health, percentage living in urban areas, and cars per 1000 population) with country-level physical activity prevalence obtained from previous pan-European studies. Studies that assessed leisuretime physical activity (n = 3 studies including 27 countries in adults, n = 2 studies including 28 countries in children) and total physical activity (n = 3 studies in adults including 16 countries) were analyzed separately as were studies among adults and children. Strong and consistent positive correlations were observed between country prevalence of leisure-time physical activity and country GDP per capita in adults (average r = 0.70; all studies, P G 0.05). In multivariate analysis, country prevalence of leisure-time physical activity among adults remained associated with country GDP per capita (two of three studies) but not urbanization or educational attainment. Among school-age populations, no association was found between country GDP per capita and country prevalence of leisure-time physical activity. In those studies that assessed total physical activity (which also includes occupational and transport physical activity), no association with country GDP per capita was observed. Clear differences in national leisure-time physical activity levels throughout Europe may be a consequence of economic development. Lack of economic development of some countries in Europe may make increasing leisure-time physical activity more difficult. Further examination of the link between country GDP per capita and national physical activity levels (across

  9. Comparison of observer performance reading from a video CRT vs. reading from film

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keyes, J.W. Jr.; Kline, R.C.; Resinger, W.W.; Rose, E.A.; Koral, K.F.; Rogers, W.L.

    1983-01-01

    The developing trend for all medical images to be in digital form raises an important question: should diagnostic interpretations be made directly from a CRT or from some form of hard copy recording of the CRT. This question was studied by having two observers read a series of digital images of the thyroid including both conventional scintigrams and computer-generated tomograms. The CRT images were photographed in a carefully controlled fashion. Images were read once from film and a second time directly from the CRT. No significant difference in performance could be found for either display modality based on an ROC analysis. Although based on uncomplicated images and analysis, this result suggests that the decision to read from film or from the CRT can be made on other grounds than observer performance. This important result needs confirmation with more complex images such as ultrasound or CT

  10. Developing New Reading Assessments to Promote Beginning Reading in Singapore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koh, Kim H.; Paris, Scott G.

    2011-01-01

    Effective reading instruction and intervention are rooted in effective assessments of children's developing skills in reading. The article aims to describe the development of new reading assessments to help promote beginning reading in Singapore primary schools. We begin with an introduction to the educational landscape and policies before…

  11. Reading Speed as a Constraint of Accuracy of Self-Perception of Reading Skill

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Heekyung; Linderholm, Tracy

    2015-01-01

    We hypothesised that college students take reading speed into consideration when evaluating their own reading skill, even if reading speed does not reliably predict actual reading skill. To test this hypothesis, we measured self-perception of reading skill, self-perception of reading speed, actual reading skill and actual reading speed to…

  12. Opposite cerebral dominance for reading and sign language

    OpenAIRE

    Komakula, Sirisha. T.; Burr, Robert. B.; Lee, James N.; Anderson, Jeffrey

    2010-01-01

    We present a case of right hemispheric dominance for sign language but left hemispheric dominance for reading, in a left-handed deaf patient with epilepsy and left mesial temporal sclerosis. Atypical language laterality for ASL was determined by preoperative fMRI, and congruent with ASL modified WADA testing. We conclude that reading and sign language can have crossed dominance and preoperative fMRI evaluation of deaf patients should include both reading and sign language evaluations.

  13. The parent/child/teacher reading relation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Myrna Machet

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available Becoming a reader involves gaining the meaning of the activities involved which includes the purposes, values and roles that are part of the activity. At home literacy is contextualised and a child becomes aware of the uses and practises of reading in his or her culture. This home based literacy is a more natural form of literacy and must be distinguishedfrom school based literacy which is a more organised, systematic literacy. Teachers need to be aware of the important role that preliteracy experience plays in a child's ability to learn to read successfully. They can then provide experiences that will help those children who come to school without the prerequisite emergent literacy skills to become good readers. Teachers will benefit from being aware of family literacy practices and encouraging parents to become involved in their children's reading, because this will help children to make reading and general literacy activities more meaningful. Children who become successful readers associate books with enjoyment and are therefore willing to make the effort to become readers. This is more likely to happen with the support from the family. Research indicates that a key predictor of student success is family involvement in children's education (Ginsburg, 1999:3. Om 'n leser te word, hou in dat betekenis gevorm moet word van die aktiwiteite wat by lees betrokke is, nl die doel, waardes en rolle wat deel van die aktiwiteite. Geletterdheid word by die huis gekontekstualiseer en 'n kind word bewus van die gebruike van en praktyke vir lees in sy of haar kultuur. Hierdie huisgebaseerde geletterdheid is die natuurlikste vorm van geletterdheid en moet onderskei word van skoolgebaseerde geletterdheid wat 'n meer georganiseerde sistematiese soort geletterdheid is. Onderwysers moet bewus wees van die belangrike rol wat voor-geletterdheidervaring speel in In kind se vermoe om suksesvol te leer lees. Hulle kan dan geleenthede organiseer wat daardie kinders

  14. Exploring Students' Reading Profiles to Guide a Reading Intervention Programme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boakye, Naomi A. N. Y.

    2017-01-01

    There have been a number of studies on reading interventions to improve students' reading proficiency, yet the majority of these interventions are undertaken with the assumption that students' reading challenges are obvious and generic in nature. The interventions do not take into consideration the diversity in students' reading backgrounds and…

  15. Talking books in reading instruction and student behavior

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gissel, Stig Toke

    2014-01-01

    at their frustration level. Basing the intervention on connectionist theory of reading and Share’s self-teaching hypothesis, students were instructed to try to read the words before activating the TTS-function. Only five students out of 17 used the software in ways that could promote selfteaching, but underused...... the support. Five other students very quickly refrained from trying to decode, instead clicking the full page TTS. Another five students did not at any point try to decode words independently. These results suggest that by using TTS and talking books in reading instruction without measures to fine tune......In grade 1, Danish students used a talking book with TTS (text-to-speech) and participated in a learning design with emphasis on decoding and reading for meaning in written text. The students all read the same unfamiliar text, which for many of the students would traditionally be considered being...

  16. Consensus double reading of mammograms in private practice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pacher, B.; Tscherney, R.; Litmann-Rowenta, B.; Liskutin, J.; Mazewski, I.; Leitner, H.; Tscholakoff, D.

    2004-01-01

    Purpose: To evaluate retrospectively the results of consensus double reading of mammograms in a private practice for a period of 1.5 years (November 2001 to March 2003). Materials and Method: Two independent experts with dedicated training read all mammograms on a weekly basis. All mammograms including sonographic examinations were evaluated independently and categorized using the Bl-RADS classification. The achieved consensus included a possible recommendation for recall or therapy. A total of 3936 mammograms and 1912 sonography studies were evaluated. All cases with BI-RADS 4 and 5 categories were compared with the histologic results. For a period of three months, the acceptance of double reading including a delay of the final report by one week was tested with a questionnaire and informed consent sheet. Results: BI-RADS categories 4 and 5 were found in 57 cases, with 41 consensus results by two independent readers and 26 carcinomas verified by histology. No consensus could be reached in 16 patients, of which 10 had a final histologic result, with 5 benign lesions and 5 carcinomas of less than 1 cm in diameter. Clinical symptoms or alterations were absent in all patients. The 5 carcinomas were discovered by the double reading procedure. The result of the questionnaire (695 questionnaires) showed a refusal rate of 0.7%, with only 5 women refusing the opportunity of double reading their mammograms. Conclusion: Double reading of mammograms by independent experts is feasible, shows a measurable increase in quality and is accepted by almost all women. (orig.)

  17. Teachers Engaging Parents as Tutors to Improve Oral Reading Fluency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kupzyk, Sara S.

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation examined the application of evidence-based tutoring for oral reading fluency (ORF) to a natural setting, using teachers as parent trainers. Measures used to determine the impact of parent tutoring included treatment integrity, student reading outcomes, attitudes towards involvement and reading, and social validity. Six teachers…

  18. School Success for Kids with Dyslexia and Other Reading Difficulties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunson, Walter E.

    2012-01-01

    "School Success for Kids With Dyslexia and Other Reading Difficulties" provides parents and teachers with goals that will meet the needs of students who are struggling with reading, leading them to work through their difficulties and enjoy reading. It includes information, assessments, and techniques that parents, teachers, and school…

  19. Connected text reading and differences in text reading fluency in adult readers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Wallot

    Full Text Available The process of connected text reading has received very little attention in contemporary cognitive psychology. This lack of attention is in parts due to a research tradition that emphasizes the role of basic lexical constituents, which can be studied in isolated words or sentences. However, this lack of attention is in parts also due to the lack of statistical analysis techniques, which accommodate interdependent time series. In this study, we investigate text reading performance with traditional and nonlinear analysis techniques and show how outcomes from multiple analyses can used to create a more detailed picture of the process of text reading. Specifically, we investigate reading performance of groups of literate adult readers that differ in reading fluency during a self-paced text reading task. Our results indicate that classical metrics of reading (such as word frequency do not capture text reading very well, and that classical measures of reading fluency (such as average reading time distinguish relatively poorly between participant groups. Nonlinear analyses of distribution tails and reading time fluctuations provide more fine-grained information about the reading process and reading fluency.

  20. Readings in risk

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Glickman, Theodore S; Gough, Michael

    1990-01-01

    ... from Resources for the Future are distributed worldwide by The Johns Hopkins University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Readings in risk I Theodore S. Glickman and Michael Gough, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-915707-55-1 (alk. paper) 1. Technology-Risk assessment. 2. Health risk assessment....

  1. The role of speech prosody and text reading prosody in children's reading comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veenendaal, Nathalie J; Groen, Margriet A; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2014-12-01

    Text reading prosody has been associated with reading comprehension. However, text reading prosody is a reading-dependent measure that relies heavily on decoding skills. Investigation of the contribution of speech prosody - which is independent from reading skills - in addition to text reading prosody, to reading comprehension could provide more insight into the general role of prosody in reading comprehension. The current study investigates how much variance in reading comprehension scores is explained by speech prosody and text reading prosody, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary, and syntactic awareness. A battery of reading and language assessments was performed by 106 Dutch fourth-grade primary school children. Speech prosody was assessed using a storytelling task and text reading prosody by oral text reading performance. Decoding skills, vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension were assessed using standardized tests. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that text reading prosody explained 6% of variance and that speech prosody explained 8% of variance in reading comprehension scores, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary, and syntactic awareness. Phrasing was the significant factor in both speech and text reading. When added in consecutive order, phrasing in speech added 5% variance to phrasing in reading. In contrast, phrasing in reading added only 3% variance to phrasing in speech. The variance that speech prosody explained in reading comprehension scores should not be neglected. Speech prosody seems to facilitate the construction of meaning in written language. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  2. Towards understanding the differences between reading on paper and screen: measuring attention changes in brain activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arūnas Gudinavičius

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Non-intrusive experimentation and measurements can be obtained from the latest neuroscience scanning techniques and technologies. Such technologies are now quite affordable and could possibly be used for the reading process research in information and communication sciences. The research experiment focuses on measuring the changes in attention while reading the text on different media (devices. The pilot experiment showed that cheap and easy to use brainwave measuring devices can be used for testing reading processes by measuring attention (concentration. The results revealed that a reading medium (device affects the level of attention and suggested that less attention is needed to read from paper compared to any size or type of screen. Reading books (in a foreign language can mostly be considered neutral on the attention level scale (slightly shifted towards 53 on a 1-100 scale.

  3. Supporting Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders' Comprehension and Reading Fluency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garwood, Justin D.; Ciullo, Stephen; Brunsting, Nelson

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses two strategies to improve reading outcomes for middle and high school adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The first is providing secondary students a choice of accessible, engaging activities to more actively engage them during reading instruction and foster intrinsic motivation to engage in literacy…

  4. Books for Summer Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phi Delta Kappan, 1992

    1992-01-01

    Advises administrators to use their summers to relax and recharge their intellectual batteries. Reading suggestions include Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth," Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," Amy Tan's "Joy Luck Club," China Achebe's "Things Fall Apart," Paule Marshall's "The Chosen…

  5. Enhancing Reading Comprehension with Student-Centered iPad Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moon, Andria L.; Wold, Cheryl M.; Francom, Gregory M.

    2017-01-01

    Reading comprehension, or understanding the author's message, is a critical component of teaching literacy (Hougen and Smartt 2012). Student-centered activities using the iPad with the goal of improving reading comprehension in a fifth-grade classroom were implemented for this action research study. University teacher candidates guided fifth-grade…

  6. Reading Habits among Secondary School Students in Ondo State ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Findings show that textbook (81.8%) and novel (31%) were mostly read. Most respondents were active (50%) and moderate (31%) readers consulting school library (35.4%) and public library (14.9%) for their information needs. No significant difference between the reading habits of male and female students at t (554) ...

  7. Learning Through Reading Scientific Papers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valderrama, Jose O.

    1986-01-01

    Describes an activity in which undergraduate students read an international publication to help them have a broader vision of the subject being studied, encourage constructive criticism, promote discussion, and stimulate efforts toward better oral and written communication in the students' native language. (JN)

  8. A MOBILE-DEVICE-SUPPORTED PEER-ASSISTED LEARNING SYSTEM FOR COLLABORATIVE EARLY EFL READING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu-Ju Lan

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Collaborative learning methods which emphasize peer interaction have been widely applied to increase the intensity and effectiveness of EFL reading programs. However, simply grouping students heterogeneously and assigning them group goals does not guarantee that effective collaborative learning will ensue. The present research includes two studies. In Study One, the weaknesses of collaborative learning in a traditional EFL setting were observed. Then, in Study Two, a mobile-device-supported peer-assisted learning (MPAL system was developed for the purpose of addressing the identified weaknesses. Two classes of twenty-six third grade students participated in the present research to examine the unique contribution of MPAL to collaborative EFL reading activities. The collaborative behavior of elementary EFL learners was videotaped and analyzed. Detailed analysis of the videotaped behavior indicated that MPAL helped improve collaboration in elementary school level EFL learners and promotes their reading motivation.

  9. The Assessment of Reading Comprehension Difficulties for Reading Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woolley, Gary

    2008-01-01

    There are many environmental and personal factors that contribute to reading success. Reading comprehension is a complex interaction of language, sensory perception, memory, and motivational aspects. However, most existing assessment tools have not adequately reflected the complex nature of reading comprehension. Good assessment requires a…

  10. The Role of Speech Prosody and Text Reading Prosody in Children's Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veenendaal, Nathalie J.; Groen, Margriet A.; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2014-01-01

    Background: Text reading prosody has been associated with reading comprehension. However, text reading prosody is a reading-dependent measure that relies heavily on decoding skills. Investigation of the contribution of speech prosody--which is independent from reading skills--in addition to text reading prosody, to reading comprehension could…

  11. To read or not to read

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mol, Suzanne Elizabeth

    2010-01-01

    There is a widely held belief that reading (story)books makes us smarter and helps promote success in life. Does scientific evidence support this notion? The three meta-analyses in this thesis comprise 146 studies between 1988 and 2010 (N=10,308 participants) that addressed the role of book reading

  12. Technical Adequacy of the easyCBM Grade 2 Reading Measures. Technical Report #1004

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamgochian, Elisa; Park, Bitnara Jasmine; Nese, Joseph F. T.; Lai, Cheng-Fei; Saez, Leilani; Anderson, Daniel; Alonzo, Julie; Tindal, Gerald

    2010-01-01

    In this technical report, we provide reliability and validity evidence for the easyCBM[R] Reading measures for grade 2 (word and passage reading fluency and multiple choice reading comprehension). Evidence for reliability includes internal consistency and item invariance. Evidence for validity includes concurrent, predictive, and construct…

  13. Teachers’ beliefs about reading and use of reading strategies

    OpenAIRE

    VASILIKA RRAKU

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this article is to place the focus on teachers’ beliefs about reading and reading strategies to the purpose of emphasizing the im portance of reading strategies in the reading process. The method of study is analytic analysis of teachers’ beliefs obtained through ques tionnaires delivered to 18 English language teachers of elementary, secondary and high level education in the region of Saranda in lbania. The results of the study pointed to a great concordance between teach ers’ bel...

  14. The Relationship between Computer Games and Reading Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Tammy Dotson

    2010-01-01

    Illiteracy rates are increasing. The negative social and economic effects caused by weak reading skills include political unrest, social and health service inequality, poverty, and employment challenges. This quantitative study explored the proposition that the use of computer software games would increase reading achievement in second grade…

  15. Cortical activation during Braille reading is influenced by early visual experience in subjects with severe visual disability: a correlational fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melzer, P; Morgan, V L; Pickens, D R; Price, R R; Wall, R S; Ebner, F F

    2001-11-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed on blind adults resting and reading Braille. The strongest activation was found in primary somatic sensory/motor cortex on both cortical hemispheres. Additional foci of activation were situated in the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes where visual information is processed in sighted persons. The regions were differentiated most in the correlation of their time courses of activation with resting and reading. Differences in magnitude and expanse of activation were substantially less significant. Among the traditionally visual areas, the strength of correlation was greatest in posterior parietal cortex and moderate in occipitotemporal, lateral occipital, and primary visual cortex. It was low in secondary visual cortex as well as in dorsal and ventral inferior temporal cortex and posterior middle temporal cortex. Visual experience increased the strength of correlation in all regions except dorsal inferior temporal and posterior parietal cortex. The greatest statistically significant increase, i.e., approximately 30%, was in ventral inferior temporal and posterior middle temporal cortex. In these regions, words are analyzed semantically, which may be facilitated by visual experience. In contrast, visual experience resulted in a slight, insignificant diminution of the strength of correlation in dorsal inferior temporal cortex where language is analyzed phonetically. These findings affirm that posterior temporal regions are engaged in the processing of written language. Moreover, they suggest that this function is modified by early visual experience. Furthermore, visual experience significantly strengthened the correlation of activation and Braille reading in occipital regions traditionally involved in the processing of visual features and object recognition suggesting a role for visual imagery. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  16. IMPROVING THE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY THROUGH SQ3R STRATEGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  17. Digital reading practices of university students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen Shirley LÓPEZ GIL

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents results of research on digital reading. The main objective of the research was to analyze the reading on screens practices of university students and how their practices are guided by professors and institutions of higher education. The research design was mixed and the type of study was descriptive of cross-sectional. The data collection techniques were questionnaire, document analysis and discussion group. ibm spss v.22 was used for statistical treatment of data and Atlas.Ti 7.0 was used for content analysis of qualitative information. The study showed that students usually read on screens, although many of their reading practices have recreational purposes. Students have troubles to find reliable information on the Internet when they have academic pursuits and frequently consult secondary sources. When texts are on screens, students generally scan information and surf from one document to another along hyperlinks. The boundaries between academic and leisure activities are not well defined; multitasking appears frequently. Students indicate there is a little guidance received from their professors or university. These findings show that students are constantly faced with digital reading, but practices do not always allow them to achieve their academic purposes, so it is necessary to strengthen the support offered to them, mainly from the classroom language. 

  18. Fact vs fiction--how paratextual information shapes our reading processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altmann, Ulrike; Bohrn, Isabel C; Lubrich, Oliver; Menninghaus, Winfried; Jacobs, Arthur M

    2014-01-01

    Our life is full of stories: some of them depict real-life events and were reported, e.g. in the daily news or in autobiographies, whereas other stories, as often presented to us in movies and novels, are fictional. However, we have only little insights in the neurocognitive processes underlying the reading of factual as compared to fictional contents. We investigated the neurocognitive effects of reading short narratives, labeled to be either factual or fictional. Reading in a factual mode engaged an activation pattern suggesting an action-based reconstruction of the events depicted in a story. This process seems to be past-oriented and leads to shorter reaction times at the behavioral level. In contrast, the brain activation patterns corresponding to reading fiction seem to reflect a constructive simulation of what might have happened. This is in line with studies on imagination of possible past or future events.

  19. Fact vs fiction—how paratextual information shapes our reading processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altmann, Ulrike; Bohrn, Isabel C.; Lubrich, Oliver; Menninghaus, Winfried; Jacobs, Arthur M.

    2014-01-01

    Our life is full of stories: some of them depict real-life events and were reported, e.g. in the daily news or in autobiographies, whereas other stories, as often presented to us in movies and novels, are fictional. However, we have only little insights in the neurocognitive processes underlying the reading of factual as compared to fictional contents. We investigated the neurocognitive effects of reading short narratives, labeled to be either factual or fictional. Reading in a factual mode engaged an activation pattern suggesting an action-based reconstruction of the events depicted in a story. This process seems to be past-oriented and leads to shorter reaction times at the behavioral level. In contrast, the brain activation patterns corresponding to reading fiction seem to reflect a constructive simulation of what might have happened. This is in line with studies on imagination of possible past or future events. PMID:22956671

  20. Multicultural Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veltze, Linda

    2004-01-01

    Multicultural reading advocates believe in the power of literature to transform and to change people's lives. They take seriously the arguments that racism and prejudice can be lessened through multicultural reading, and also that children from undervalued societal groups who read books that depict people like themselves in a positive light will…

  1. Congenital Unilateral Deafness Affects Cerebral Organization of Reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alice Mado Proverbio

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available It is known that early sensory deprivation modifies brain functional structure and connectivity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the neuro-functional organization of reading in a patient with profound congenital unilateral deafness. Using event-related potentials (ERPs, we compared cortical networks supporting the processing of written words in patient RA (completely deaf in the right ear since birth and in a group of control volunteers. We found that congenital unilateral hearing deprivation modifies neural mechanisms of word reading. Indeed, while written word processing was left-lateralized in controls, we found a strong right lateralization of the fusiform and inferior occipital gyri activation in RA. This finding goes in the same direction of recent proposals that the ventral occipito-temporal activity in word reading seem to lateralize to the same hemisphere as the one involved in spoken language processing.

  2. Heater design for reading radiation dosimeters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seidel, J.G.; Felice, P.E.

    1982-01-01

    The nichrome heating element of a conventional dosimeter reading apparatus has been redesigned to include a flat-bottomed depression big enough to hold a thermoluminescent dosimeter. A thin glass plate is positioned in the recess on top of the dosimeter to retain it in the recess during the heating and reading process. This technique of securing the dosimeter in contact with the heating element avoids physical scratching or damage to the dosimeter

  3. Examining Associations between Reading Motivation and Inference Generation beyond Reading Comprehension Skill

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clinton, Virginia

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between reading motivation and inference generation while reading. Undergraduate participants (N = 69) read two science articles while thinking aloud, completed a standardized reading comprehension assessment, and self reported their habitual reading motivation. Findings indicate that…

  4. Talking Books in Reading Instruction and Student Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stig Toke Gissel

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In grade 1, Danish students used a talking book with TTS (text-to-speech and participated in a learning design with emphasis on decoding and reading for meaning in written text. The students all read the same unfamiliar text, which for many of the students would traditionally be considered being at their frustration level. Basing the intervention on connectionist theory of reading and Share’s self-teaching hypothesis, students were instructed to try to read the words before activating the TTS-function. Only five students out of 17 used the software in ways that could promote self-teaching, but underused the support. Five other students very quickly refrained from trying to decode, instead clicking the full page TTS. Another five students did not at any point try to decode words independently. These results suggest that by using TTS and talking books in reading instruction without measures to fine tune the scaffolding, it is very doubtful whether any students benefit from the TTS at all.

  5. Does learning to read shape verbal working memory?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demoulin, Catherine; Kolinsky, Régine

    2016-06-01

    Many experimental studies have investigated the relationship between the acquisition of reading and working memory in a unidirectional way, attempting to determine to what extent individual differences in working memory can predict reading achievement. In contrast, very little attention has been dedicated to the converse possibility that learning to read shapes the development of verbal memory processes. In this paper, we present available evidence that advocates a more prominent role for reading acquisition on verbal working memory and then discuss the potential mechanisms of such literacy effects. First, the early decoding activities might bolster the development of subvocal rehearsal, which, in turn, would enhance serial order performance in immediate memory tasks. In addition, learning to read and write in an alphabetical system allows the emergence of phonemic awareness and finely tuned phonological representations, as well as of orthographic representations. This could improve the quality, strength, and precision of lexical representations, and hence offer better support for the temporary encoding of memory items and/or for their retrieval.

  6. A System for Detecting Miscues in Dyslexic Read Speech

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Morten Højfeldt; Tan, Zheng-Hua; Lindberg, Børge

    2009-01-01

    While miscue detection in general is a well explored research field little attention has so far been paid to miscue detection in dyslexic read speech. This domain differs substantially from the domains that are commonly researched, as for example dyslexic read speech includes frequent regressions...... that the system detects miscues at a false alarm rate of 5.3% and a miscue detection rate of 40.1%. These results are worse than current state of the art reading tutors perhaps indicating that dyslexic read speech is a challenge to handle....

  7. Reading Amount as a Mediator of the Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reading Motivation on Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaffner, Ellen; Schiefele, Ulrich; Ulferts, Hannah

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the role of reading amount as a mediator of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation on higher order reading comprehension (comprised of paragraph-and passage-level comprehension) in a sample of 159 fifth-grade elementary students. A positive association between intrinsic reading motivation and reading amount…

  8. The relationship between different measures of oral reading fluency and reading comprehension in second-grade students who evidence different oral reading fluency difficulties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wise, Justin C; Sevcik, Rose A; Morris, Robin D; Lovett, Maureen W; Wolf, Maryanne; Kuhn, Melanie; Meisinger, Beth; Schwanenflugel, Paula

    2010-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine whether different measures of oral reading fluency relate differentially to reading comprehension performance in two samples of second-grade students: (a) students who evidenced difficulties with nonsense-word oral reading fluency, real-word oral reading fluency, and oral reading fluency of connected text (ORFD), and (b) students who evidenced difficulties only with oral reading fluency of connected text (CTD). Participants (ORFD, n = 146 and CTD, n = 949) were second-grade students who were recruited for participation in different reading intervention studies. Data analyzed were from measures of nonsense-word oral reading fluency, real-word oral reading fluency, oral reading fluency of connected text, and reading comprehension that were collected at the pre-intervention time point. Correlational and path analyses indicated that real-word oral reading fluency was the strongest predictor of reading comprehension performance in both samples and across average and poor reading comprehension abilities. Results of this study indicate that real-word oral reading fluency was the strongest predictor of reading comprehension and suggest that real-word oral reading fluency may be an efficient method for identifying potential reading comprehension difficulties.

  9. Reading comprehension of deaf students in regular education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luccas, Marcia Regina Zemella; Chiari, Brasília Maria; Goulart, Bárbara Niegia Garcia de

    2012-01-01

    To evaluate and compare the reading comprehension of deaf students included in regular classrooms of public schools with and without specialized educational support. Observational analytic study with 35 students with sensorineural hearing loss, with and without educational support. All subjects were assessed with the Word Reading Competence Test (WRCT), the Picture-Print Matching Test by Choice (PPMT-C), and the Sentence Reading Comprehension Test (SRCT). In the tests regarding comprehension of words (WRCT and PPMT-C), the results showed no difference in the performance of deaf students who attend and do not attend educational support. Regarding reading comprehension of sentences, the application of the SRCT also did not show differences between the groups of deaf students. A significant correlation was found between age and grade, indicating that the older the students and the higher their educational level, the better their performance in reading sentences. The results indicate that deaf students, regardless of attending educational support, read words better than sentences. There is no difference in reading comprehension between deaf students who receive and do not receive specialized pedagogical monitoring.

  10. Eye movements when reading sentences with handwritten words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perea, Manuel; Marcet, Ana; Uixera, Beatriz; Vergara-Martínez, Marta

    2016-10-17

    The examination of how we read handwritten words (i.e., the original form of writing) has typically been disregarded in the literature on reading. Previous research using word recognition tasks has shown that lexical effects (e.g., the word-frequency effect) are magnified when reading difficult handwritten words. To examine this issue in a more ecological scenario, we registered the participants' eye movements when reading handwritten sentences that varied in the degree of legibility (i.e., sentences composed of words in easy vs. difficult handwritten style). For comparison purposes, we included a condition with printed sentences. Results showed a larger reading cost for sentences with difficult handwritten words than for sentences with easy handwritten words, which in turn showed a reading cost relative to the sentences with printed words. Critically, the effect of word frequency was greater for difficult handwritten words than for easy handwritten words or printed words in the total times on a target word, but not on first-fixation durations or gaze durations. We examine the implications of these findings for models of eye movement control in reading.

  11. Read and Move: A New Approach to Read-Aloud Time in Primary Grades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreider, Carri S.

    2018-01-01

    Literacy is the foundation of education, and so modern education devotes significant school time to promoting and developing literacy. Yet we also need to ensure that young bodies and minds are ready to absorb their literacy lessons. Integrating physical exercise with reading activities in unique ways can be a great benefit to young learners.

  12. An Interview with Cathy Fowler about Sharing a Love of Reading through Book Raps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strangman, Nicole

    2002-01-01

    Includes an interview with Cathy Fowler, a Year 7 teacher at Kawungan State School in Queensland, Australia. Explains that Cathy is a participant and coordinator of the extremely popular Harry Potter Book Rap, a guided Internet book discussion among students all over the world. Discusses how this activity fueled her students' love for reading. (PM)

  13. Reading motivation, reading amount, and text comprehension in deaf and hearing adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parault, Susan J; Williams, Heather M

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the variables of reading motivation, reading amount, and text comprehension in deaf and hearing adults. Research has shown that less than 50% of deaf students leave high school reading at or above a fourth-grade level (Allen, 1994). Our question is, how does this affect the levels of reading motivation and amount of reading in which deaf adults engage? Assessments of 30 hearing and 24 deaf adults showed that deaf participants reported significantly higher levels of reading motivation despite having been found to read at less than a sixth-grade level. No significant difference in the amount of reading between hearing and deaf adults was found. Amount of reading for personal reasons was found to be the best predictor of text comprehension in the deaf participants, and intrinsic motivation was found to be the best predictor of amount of reading in the deaf participants.

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

    OpenAIRE

    Zhongshe Lu; Meihua Liu

    2015-01-01

    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 stu...

  15. Pre-school reading badge called "Iridescent Little Fish" and its impact on reading habits later in life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Slavka Kristan

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available The project called Footsteps to the Book is being carried out at the youth department of the Library Miran Jarc in Novo mesto; in it, preschool children from the municipalities Novo mesto, Šentjernej and Škocjan participate. The child wins the reading badge - Iridescent Little Fish with a pin - by telling four stories (or poemsin the library that havebeen told or read to him by his parents. Family appreciation can be won by both parents and children. The project has been started with the intention of lessening the impact of media upon children, and of strengthening the spiritual bondage among parents and children through reading. The purpose of the above mentioned activity is to develop and enrich child's language and thinking and help h im form positive self esteem. Through family reading, we tried to attract to the library not only small children but also their parents and to get them accustomed to the regular use of library materials. The opinions of parents,librarians, teachers and educators are very encouraging and the cooperation of children is better each year.

  16. THE SYNERGISTIC SYLLABUS FOR TEACHING READING IN 32 TOURISM VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahlis Qoidah Noor

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The new Syllabus at 2013 Curriculum for vocational high school created many problems to apply in the class. Based on the Need Analysis, the writer develops a Synergistic Syllabus for teaching Reading in vocational high school. It contains the syllabus combined from Task- Based Learning, Situational Syllabus, Program of International Student Assessment ( PISA item test and Character Building. It is a R and D research uses three phases of Observation, Developing and Try Out. It is in a True Experimental Research. The main findings are Reading Skill cannot be taught effectively for some reasons. There is no appropriate syllabus for teaching Reading; most teachers need some models in a syllabus. The results are the Synergistic Syllabus for teaching Reading, a set of Reading Material for Teaching Reading and a set of the lesson plan for one semester at Grade X of Tourism VHS. It is measured through mean, median and t- Test. To Sum up Synergistic Syllabus can develop many aspects, the systematic and meaningful activities in the class, motivation and good attitude. The standardized item of assignment, and a sense of competition in Reading activities and the Synergistic Syllabus assist teachers in teaching Reading using 2013 curriculum in the class effectively.

  17. Parent picture-book reading to infants in the neonatal intensive care unit as an intervention supporting parent-infant interaction and later book reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lariviere, Janice; Rennick, Janet E

    2011-01-01

    To examine the effects of a parent book reading intervention in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on parent-infant interaction and on the incidence of parents reading to their infants 3 months post-NICU discharge. A nonrandomized, participant blinded intervention study using a historical control group (CG) was conducted. The intervention group (IG: n = 59) consisted of parents of infants admitted to the NICU after the introduction of the parent reading program. The CG (n = 57) consisted of parents of infants discharged from the NICU in the 3-month period before the introduction of the reading program. Questionnaires were mailed to participants 3 months after their infant's discharge and completed verbally, over the telephone. Groups were compared on parenting activities and reading. In addition, a thematic analysis of qualitative descriptive data provided insight into the parents' experiences with reading to their infants. Sixty-nine percent of IG parents reported that reading helped them feel closer to their baby, and 86% reported it was enjoyable. Parents reported an increased sense of control and normalcy and increased intimacy with their infant. Twice as many parents in the IG reported reading 3 or more times a week to their infants (55.9% IG; 23.3% CG). Study results support the use of a parent book-reading intervention in the NICU to enhance parent-infant interactions and promote reading.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  19. Pupil's motivation in the 3. grades for required reading and The Reading Badge

    OpenAIRE

    Logar, Renata

    2013-01-01

    Reading is extremely important for pupils and their development. The pupil with reading habits riches his vocabulary and gaining knowledge. On the other hand the pupil through reading entry into the world of imagination and stories. Major role in motivating students to read have parents and teachers. In this graduation thesis I was interested in how third grade teachers motivate their pupils to read. In doing so, I was focused mainly to reading for required reading and The Reading Badge. ...

  20. Self-regulated learning with reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petra Regent

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Self-regulatory skills do not appear on their own, rather they have to be developed, e.g. through modeling of reading and learning strategies in class. Question of development of self-regulatory skills was also important for this research. We examined, whether a planned intervention can promote development of self-regulatory skills and effective learning habits. The intervention for students of experimental group included systematical use and practice in use of two chosen learning strategies in geography class. After intervention was finished, experimental group showed improvement in reading comprehension. As for learning habits, improvement was only inclined. There was also positive correlation between learning habits and reading abilities after intervention was finished. Despite limitations of the study, results are encouraging enough to demonstrate potential use of applying well planned intervention program in class.

  1. Reading Self-Efficacy Predicts Word Reading But Not Comprehension in Both Girls and Boys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Julia M; Fox, Amy C

    2016-01-01

    The relationship between cognitive skills and reading has been well-established. However, the role of motivational factors such as self-efficacy in reading progress is less clear. In particular, it is not clear how self-efficacy relates to word level reading versus comprehension, and whether this differs in boys and girls. This study examines the relationship between self-efficacy, word reading and reading comprehension across the range of reading abilities after controlling for reading-related cognitive factors. One hundred and seventy nine children (86 males and 93 females) between 8 and 11 years old completed a self-report measure of reading self-efficacy together with measures of reading comprehension and word reading, working memory, auditory short-term memory, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Boys and girls showed similar levels of attainment and reading self-efficacy. Reading self-efficacy was associated with word reading, but not with reading comprehension in either boys or girls. It is argued that this may reflect important differences between reading self-efficacy and more general measures of reading motivation and engagement. Reading self-efficacy is an element of reading motivation that is closely associated with a child's perceived attainments in reading and is less susceptible to the gender differences seen in broader measures.

  2. Reading Self-Efficacy Predicts Word Reading But Not Comprehension in Both Girls and Boys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Julia M.; Fox, Amy C.

    2017-01-01

    The relationship between cognitive skills and reading has been well-established. However, the role of motivational factors such as self-efficacy in reading progress is less clear. In particular, it is not clear how self-efficacy relates to word level reading versus comprehension, and whether this differs in boys and girls. This study examines the relationship between self-efficacy, word reading and reading comprehension across the range of reading abilities after controlling for reading-related cognitive factors. One hundred and seventy nine children (86 males and 93 females) between 8 and 11 years old completed a self-report measure of reading self-efficacy together with measures of reading comprehension and word reading, working memory, auditory short-term memory, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Boys and girls showed similar levels of attainment and reading self-efficacy. Reading self-efficacy was associated with word reading, but not with reading comprehension in either boys or girls. It is argued that this may reflect important differences between reading self-efficacy and more general measures of reading motivation and engagement. Reading self-efficacy is an element of reading motivation that is closely associated with a child’s perceived attainments in reading and is less susceptible to the gender differences seen in broader measures. PMID:28144223

  3. The Application of Context Theory in English Teaching of Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  4. Toward an ERP-driven diagnostic approach for reading impairments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korinth, Sebastian Peter; Sommer, Werner; Breznitz, Zvia

    2011-01-01

    This preliminary study attempted to use Event Related Brain Potentials (ERPs) to identify different causes for slow reading performance. At least two unique brain activity patterns were found for below average readers. Based on visual inspection of the N170 ERP component elicited by words in a lexical decision task, participants were either classified as N170-normal or N170-absent. Although both groups showed very dissimilar brain activity patterns, they did not differ in any reading or cognitive measures. Differences in brain activity were discussed as indicators for disturbances at specific stages of word processing, which should lead to individually adjusted intervention approaches.

  5. Metacognitive Reading Strategies, Motivation, and Reading Comprehension Performance of Saudi EFL Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meniado, Joel C.

    2016-01-01

    Metacognitive reading strategies and reading motivation play a significant role in enhancing reading comprehension. In an attempt to prove the foregoing claim in a context where there is no strong culture for reading, this study tries to find out if there is indeed a relationship between and among metacognitive reading strategies, reading…

  6. Increasing Academic Growth through Motivating Students To Read.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  7. Disembodied Voice and Embodied Affect: e-Reading in Early Childhood Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carina Hermansson

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This article is based on observations made in a Swedish digital early childhood classroom during reading time. The question of ‘what is happening’ in the digital classroom when six-year-olds read a fictional electronic book is explored through video observations focusing on children learning to read by engaging in e-books. Informed by affect, as described by Baruch de Spinoza and interpreted by Gilles Deleuze, this article provides a way to attend to the highly dynamic encounters between bodies, ideas and materiality that characterize the children's engagement in e-reading. The analysis suggests that the digital voice is a vital component for activating engagement in and a drive for reading through the moments and movements of embodied reading when children co-read a fictional e-book on their own. Focusing on how e-book reading is enacted in the educational everyday reading practices, this article is an empirically grounded contribution to the understanding of how e-reading is constituted in contemporary digital classroom in all its complexity.

  8. Make Lemonade: How to Sweeten Your School's Climate for Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leonhardt, Mary

    1998-01-01

    Suggests ways school librarians can implement a free-choice reading program to motivate students to read. Discusses developing a trusting relationship with teachers and administrators; suggesting only small changes initially; involving coaches and activity advisers; asking principals to encourage staff members to designate time for pleasure…

  9. Executive Functions Contribute Uniquely to Reading Competence in Minority Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Lisa A.; Koriakin, Taylor; Lipkin, Paul; Boada, Richard; Frijters, Jan; Lovett, Maureen; Hill, Dina; Willcutt, Erik; Gottwald, Stephanie; Wolf, Maryanne; Bosson-Heenan, Joan; Gruen, Jeffrey R.; Mahone, E. Mark

    2018-01-01

    Competent reading requires various skills beyond those for basic word reading (i.e., core language skills, rapid naming, phonological processing). Contributing “higher-level” or domain-general processes include information processing speed and executive functions (working memory, strategic problem solving, attentional switching). Research in this area has relied on largely Caucasian samples, with limited representation of children from racial or ethnic minority groups. This study examined contributions of executive skills to reading competence in 761 children of minority backgrounds. Hierarchical linear regressions examined unique contributions of executive functions (EF) to word reading, fluency, and comprehension. EF contributed uniquely to reading performance, over and above reading-related language skills; working memory contributed uniquely to all components of reading; while attentional switching, but not problem solving, contributed to isolated and contextual word reading and reading fluency. Problem solving uniquely predicted comprehension, suggesting that this skill may be especially important for reading comprehension in minority youth. Attentional switching may play a unique role in development of reading fluency in minority youth, perhaps as a result of the increased demand for switching between spoken versus written dialects. Findings have implications for educational and clinical practice with regard to reading instruction, remedial reading intervention, and assessment of individuals with reading difficulty. PMID:26755569

  10. Use of social media for reading culture development among ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Many activities of academic life require the ability to read and write. Reading helps to develop the mind and personality of a person; it also enriches ones' intellectual abilities. But, with the current popularity of social media, it is slowly and steadily taking over the mind of young people who are expected to cultivate good ...

  11. Improved reading measures in adults with dyslexia following transcranial direct current stimulation treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heth, Inbahl; Lavidor, Michal

    2015-04-01

    To better understand the contribution of the dorsal system to word reading, we explored transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) effects when adults with developmental dyslexia received active stimulation over the visual extrastriate area MT/V5, which is dominated by magnocellular input. Stimulation was administered in 5 sessions spread over two weeks, and reading speed and accuracy as well as reading fluency were assessed before, immediately after, and a week after the end of the treatment. A control group of adults with developmental dyslexia matched for age, gender, reading level, vocabulary and block-design WAIS-III sub-tests and reading level was exposed to the same protocol but with sham stimulation. The results revealed that active, but not sham stimulation, significantly improved reading speed and fluency. This finding suggests that the dorsal stream may play a role in efficient retrieval from the orthographic input lexicon in the lexical route. It also underscores the potential of tDCS as an intervention tool for improving reading speed, at least in adults with developmental dyslexia. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Teaching Children to Read : The Fragile Link Between Science & Federal Education Policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gregory Camilli

    2003-05-01

    Full Text Available Teaching Children to Read (TCR has stirred much controversy among reading experts regarding the efficacy of phonics instruction. This report, which was conducted by the National Reading Panel (NRP, has also played an important role in subsequent federal policy regarding reading instruction. Using meta-analysis, the NRP found that systematic phonics instruction was more effective than alternatives in teaching children to read. In the present study, the findings and procedures leading to TCR were examined. We concluded that the methodology and procedures in TCR were not adequate for synthesizing the research literature on phonics instruction. Moreover, we estimated a smaller though still substantial effect (d = .24 for systematic phonics, but we also found an effect for systematic language activities (d = .29 and tutoring (d = .40. Systematic phonics instruction when combined with language activities and individual tutoring may triple the effect of phonics alone. As federal policies are formulated around early literacy curricula and instruction, these findings indicate that phonics, as one aspect of the complex reading process, should not be over-emphasized.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  14. Predicting Growth in Word Level Reading Skills in Children With Developmental Dyslexia Using an Object Rhyming Functional Neuroimaging Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farris, Emily A; Ring, Jeremiah; Black, Jeffrey; Lyon, G Reid; Odegard, Timothy N

    2016-04-01

    An object rhyming task that does not require text reading and is suitable for younger children was used to predict gains in word level reading skills following an intensive 2-year reading intervention for children with developmental dyslexia. The task evoked activation in bilateral inferior frontal regions. Growth in untimed pseudoword reading was associated with increased pre-intervention activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus, and growth in timed word reading was associated with pre-intervention activation of the left and right inferior frontal gyri. These analyses help identify pre-intervention factors that facilitate reading skill improvements in children with developmental dyslexia.

  15. The challenges of neural mind-reading paradigms

    OpenAIRE

    Vilarroya, Oscar

    2013-01-01

    Neural mind-reading studies, based on multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) methods, are providing exciting new studies. Some of the results obtained with these paradigms have raised high expectations, such as the possibility of creating brain reading devices. However, such hopes are based on the assumptions that: (a) the BOLD signal is a marker of neural activity; (b) the BOLD pattern identified by a MVPA is a neurally sound pattern; (c) the MVPA's feature space is a good mapping of the neura...

  16. Effects of a virtual platform in reading comprehension and vocabulary: An alternative to improve reading abilities in Elementary school

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cecilia Thorne

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Given, on the one hand, the poor results obtained by Peruvian children in the national and international reading assessments. And on the other hand, the increased investment intechnology for schools in the country, this study aimed to develop and test an online tool to improve reading comprehension. In order to do this, the reading comprehension strategies and vocabulary activities from the research-based digital environment ICON were adapted to design the platform LEO. A total of 88 fifth graders from urban middle-to-low-income private schools from Lima participated in this quasi-experimental study, which involved acontrol group and a treatment group that participated in a 12-week teacher-mediated digital intervention. All participants were administered reading and vocabulary assessments pre and post intervention. Results revealed that students who participated in the intervention achieved higher comprehension scores for narrative texts and higher vocabulary scores than those of the control group.

  17. The Effect of Modified Collaborative Strategic Reading on EFL Learners' Reading Anxiety

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shabnam Abbasnezhad

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The present study was an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of reading instructional approach called MCSR- Modified Collaborative Strategic Reading on reducing intermediate EFL learner's reading anxiety. Based on a pretest-posttest design, MCSR was implemented with 64 EFL learners at intermediate level. They received EFL reading instruction according to MCSR over two and a half months. A questionnaire called English as a Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Inventory EFLRAI was group-administered atthepretest and the posttest. Quantitative results indicated that participating students demonstrated significant gains in reducing reading anxiety. This study highlighted our understanding by considering the effectiveness of MCSR program and also it elaborated the effects of using strategies like MCSR in overcoming the big problem of reading anxiety among EFL learners as non-native students. And teachers changed the focus of attention from using traditional methods for teaching the essential skill of reading to modern programs like MCSR in order to remove their students' anxiety and stress in reading.

  18. The Effect of Baby Books on Mothers’ Reading Beliefs and Reading Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Auger, Anamarie; Reich, Stephanie M.; Penner, Emily K.

    2014-01-01

    The impact of a baby book intervention on promoting positive reading beliefs and increasing reading frequency for low-income, new mothers (n = 167) was examined. The Baby Books Project randomly assigned low-income, first-time mothers to one of three study conditions, receiving educational books, non-educational books, or no books, during pregnancy and over the first year of parenthood. Home-based data collection occurred through pregnancy until 18 months post-partum. Mothers who received free baby books had higher beliefs about the importance of reading, the value of having resources to support reading, and the importance of verbal participation during reading. The results showed that providing any type of baby books to mothers positively influenced maternal reading beliefs, but did not increase infant-mother reading practices. Maternal reading beliefs across all three groups were significantly associated with self-reported reading frequency when children were at least 12 months of age. PMID:25264394

  19. Subjective Impressions Do Not Mirror Online Reading Effort: Concurrent EEG-Eyetracking Evidence from the Reading of Books and Digital Media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kretzschmar, Franziska; Pleimling, Dominique; Hosemann, Jana; Füssel, Stephan; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina; Schlesewsky, Matthias

    2013-01-01

    In the rapidly changing circumstances of our increasingly digital world, reading is also becoming an increasingly digital experience: electronic books (e-books) are now outselling print books in the United States and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, many readers still view e-books as less readable than print books. The present study thus used combined EEG and eyetracking measures in order to test whether reading from digital media requires higher cognitive effort than reading conventional books. Young and elderly adults read short texts on three different reading devices: a paper page, an e-reader and a tablet computer and answered comprehension questions about them while their eye movements and EEG were recorded. The results of a debriefing questionnaire replicated previous findings in that participants overwhelmingly chose the paper page over the two electronic devices as their preferred reading medium. Online measures, by contrast, showed shorter mean fixation durations and lower EEG theta band voltage density – known to covary with memory encoding and retrieval – for the older adults when reading from a tablet computer in comparison to the other two devices. Young adults showed comparable fixation durations and theta activity for all three devices. Comprehension accuracy did not differ across the three media for either group. We argue that these results can be explained in terms of the better text discriminability (higher contrast) produced by the backlit display of the tablet computer. Contrast sensitivity decreases with age and degraded contrast conditions lead to longer reading times, thus supporting the conclusion that older readers may benefit particularly from the enhanced contrast of the tablet. Our findings thus indicate that people's subjective evaluation of digital reading media must be dissociated from the cognitive and neural effort expended in online information processing while reading from such devices. PMID:23405265

  20. Subjective impressions do not mirror online reading effort: concurrent EEG-eyetracking evidence from the reading of books and digital media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kretzschmar, Franziska; Pleimling, Dominique; Hosemann, Jana; Füssel, Stephan; Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina; Schlesewsky, Matthias

    2013-01-01

    In the rapidly changing circumstances of our increasingly digital world, reading is also becoming an increasingly digital experience: electronic books (e-books) are now outselling print books in the United States and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, many readers still view e-books as less readable than print books. The present study thus used combined EEG and eyetracking measures in order to test whether reading from digital media requires higher cognitive effort than reading conventional books. Young and elderly adults read short texts on three different reading devices: a paper page, an e-reader and a tablet computer and answered comprehension questions about them while their eye movements and EEG were recorded. The results of a debriefing questionnaire replicated previous findings in that participants overwhelmingly chose the paper page over the two electronic devices as their preferred reading medium. Online measures, by contrast, showed shorter mean fixation durations and lower EEG theta band voltage density--known to covary with memory encoding and retrieval--for the older adults when reading from a tablet computer in comparison to the other two devices. Young adults showed comparable fixation durations and theta activity for all three devices. Comprehension accuracy did not differ across the three media for either group. We argue that these results can be explained in terms of the better text discriminability (higher contrast) produced by the backlit display of the tablet computer. Contrast sensitivity decreases with age and degraded contrast conditions lead to longer reading times, thus supporting the conclusion that older readers may benefit particularly from the enhanced contrast of the tablet. Our findings thus indicate that people's subjective evaluation of digital reading media must be dissociated from the cognitive and neural effort expended in online information processing while reading from such devices.

  1. Subjective impressions do not mirror online reading effort: concurrent EEG-eyetracking evidence from the reading of books and digital media.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franziska Kretzschmar

    Full Text Available In the rapidly changing circumstances of our increasingly digital world, reading is also becoming an increasingly digital experience: electronic books (e-books are now outselling print books in the United States and the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, many readers still view e-books as less readable than print books. The present study thus used combined EEG and eyetracking measures in order to test whether reading from digital media requires higher cognitive effort than reading conventional books. Young and elderly adults read short texts on three different reading devices: a paper page, an e-reader and a tablet computer and answered comprehension questions about them while their eye movements and EEG were recorded. The results of a debriefing questionnaire replicated previous findings in that participants overwhelmingly chose the paper page over the two electronic devices as their preferred reading medium. Online measures, by contrast, showed shorter mean fixation durations and lower EEG theta band voltage density--known to covary with memory encoding and retrieval--for the older adults when reading from a tablet computer in comparison to the other two devices. Young adults showed comparable fixation durations and theta activity for all three devices. Comprehension accuracy did not differ across the three media for either group. We argue that these results can be explained in terms of the better text discriminability (higher contrast produced by the backlit display of the tablet computer. Contrast sensitivity decreases with age and degraded contrast conditions lead to longer reading times, thus supporting the conclusion that older readers may benefit particularly from the enhanced contrast of the tablet. Our findings thus indicate that people's subjective evaluation of digital reading media must be dissociated from the cognitive and neural effort expended in online information processing while reading from such devices.

  2. Evaluation of use of reading comprehension strategies to improve reading comprehension of adult college students with acquired brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Gina G; Sohlberg, McKay Moore; Kirk, Cecilia; Fickas, Stephen; Biancarosa, Gina

    2016-01-01

    Adults with mild to moderate acquired brain injury (ABI) often pursue post-secondary or professional education after their injuries in order to enter or re-enter the job market. An increasing number of these adults report problems with reading-to-learn. The problem is particularly concerning given the growing population of adult survivors of ABI. Despite the rising need, empirical evaluation of reading comprehension interventions for adults with ABI is scarce. This study used a within-subject design to evaluate whether adult college students with ABI with no more than moderate cognitive impairments benefited from using reading comprehension strategies to improve comprehension of expository text. Integrating empirical support from the cognitive rehabilitation and special education literature, the researchers designed a multi-component reading comprehension strategy package. Participants read chapters from an introductory-level college anthropology textbook in two different conditions: strategy and no-strategy. The results indicated that reading comprehension strategy use was associated with recall of more correct information units in immediate and delayed free recall tasks; more efficient recall in the delayed free recall task; and increased accuracy recognising statements from a sentence verification task designed to reflect the local and global coherence of the text. The findings support further research into using reading comprehension strategies as an intervention approach for the adult ABI population. Future research needs include identifying how to match particular reading comprehension strategies to individuals, examining whether reading comprehension performance improves further through the incorporation of systematic training, and evaluating texts from a range of disciplines and genres.

  3. Dosimeter charging and/or reading apparatus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fine, L.T.; Jackson, T.P.

    1980-01-01

    A device is disclosed for charging and/or reading a capacitor associated with an electrometer incorporated in a radiation dosimeter for the purpose of initializing or ''zeroing'', the dosimeter at the commencement of a radiation measurement cycle or reading it at any time thereafter. The dosimeter electrometer has a movable electrode the position of which is indicative of the charge remaining on the dosimeter capacitor and in turn the amount of radiation incident on the dosimeter since it was zeroed. The charging device also includes means for discharging, immediately upon conclusion of the dosimeter capacitor charging operation, stray capacitance inherent in the dosimeter by reason of its mechanical construction. The charge on the stray capacitance, if not discharged at the conclusion of the dosimeter capacitor charging operation, leaks off during the measurement cycle, introducing measurement errors. A light source and suitable switch means are provided for automatically illuminating the movable electrode of the dosimeter electrometer as an incident to charging the dosimeter capacitor to facilitate reading the initial, or ''zero'', position of the movable electrometer electrode after the dosimeter capacitor has been charged and the stray capacitance discharged. Also included is a manually actuatable switch means, which is operable independently of the aforementioned automatic switch means, to energize the lamp and facilitate reading of the dosimeter without charging

  4. Impaired reading comprehension in schizophrenia: evidence for underlying phonological processing deficits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnott, Wendy; Sali, Lauren; Copland, David

    2011-05-15

    The present study examined reading ability in high functioning people with schizophrenia. To this end, 16 people with schizophrenia who were living in the community and 12 matched controls completed tests of passage reading (comprehension, accuracy, and rate), word recognition, and phonological processing (phonological awareness, phonological memory and rapid naming) and ratings of reading self-concept and practices. Performance of the participants with schizophrenia was impaired relative to control participants on reading comprehension and rapid naming and relative to the population norms on phonological awareness, and rapid naming. In addition, self-rating data revealed that participants with schizophrenia had poorer perceptions of their reading ability and engaged in reading activities less frequently than their control counterparts. Consistent with earlier research, significant correlations were found between phonological awareness and reading comprehension. These findings expand on previous research in the area to suggest that community-based individuals with schizophrenia experience problems with reading comprehension that may have a phonological basis. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Reading in a second language: Considering the "simple view of reading" as a foundation to support ESL readers in Lesotho, Southern Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van Staden, Annalene

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Globally, reading proficiency has been a major area of difficulty for English second-language (ESL learners. This research inter alia utilised a quantitative, quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test research design to address the paucity of evidence-based second-language reading research internationally, as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in Lesotho in particular; and to determine if second-language learners (L2 in the experimental group can improve their L2 reading abilities after being exposed to reading intervention strategies, based on the “simple view of reading”. Drawing from both psycholinguistic and cognitive linguistic principles, the authors considered this as a working model to develop reading strategies to support ESL learners in Lesotho who experienced significant delays in L2 reading abilities and comprehension. In the present study, strategies based on the “simple view of reading”, , included, inter alia, effective language exposure, building a rich vocabulary, improving reading fluency and word recognition abilities, and creating socio-linguistic opportunities to develop vocabulary and enhance reading comprehension (for example, creating a “word wall”, interactive story-book reading and the application of the ReQuest reading method. Results from this quantitative study demonstrated that Grade 4 ESL learners in the experimental group (N=36 significantly outperformed those in the control group (N=36 with regard to sight word fluency, word recognition, syntactic awareness, vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. As we move forward in an attempt to understand the nuances of creating a responsive reading environment to support ESL learners’ reading development, assessing the effectiveness of strategies to improve their reading skills is essential.

  6. Development of a Case-based Reading Curriculum and Its Effect on Resident Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Messman, Anne M; Walker, Ian

    2018-01-01

    Textbook reading plays a foundational role in a resident's knowledge base. Many residency programs place residents on identical reading schedules, regardless of the clinical work or rotation the resident is doing. We sought to develop a reading curriculum that takes into account the clinical work a resident is doing so their reading curriculum corresponds with their clinical work. Preliminary data suggests an increased amount of resident reading and an increased interest in reading as a result of this change to their reading curriculum.

  7. Vision Problems and Reduced Reading Outcomes in Queensland Schoolchildren.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopkins, Shelley; Sampson, Geoff P; Hendicott, Peter L; Wood, Joanne M

    2017-03-01

    To assess the relationship between vision and reading outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous schoolchildren to determine whether vision problems are associated with lower reading outcomes in these populations. Vision testing and reading assessments were performed on 508 Indigenous and non-Indigenous schoolchildren in Queensland, Australia divided into two age groups: Grades 1 and 2 (6-7 years of age) and Grades 6 and 7 (12-13 years of age). Vision parameters measured included cycloplegic refraction, near point of convergence, heterophoria, fusional vergence range, rapid automatized naming, and visual motor integration. The following vision conditions were then classified based on the vision findings: uncorrected hyperopia, convergence insufficiency, reduced rapid automatized naming, and delayed visual motor integration. Reading accuracy and reading comprehension were measured with the Neale reading test. The effect of uncorrected hyperopia, convergence insufficiency, reduced rapid automatized naming, and delayed visual motor integration on reading accuracy and reading comprehension were investigated with ANCOVAs. The ANCOVAs explained a significant proportion of variance in both reading accuracy and reading comprehension scores in both age groups, with 40% of the variation in reading accuracy and 33% of the variation in reading comprehension explained in the younger age group, and 27% and 10% of the variation in reading accuracy and reading comprehension, respectively, in the older age group. The vision parameters of visual motor integration and rapid automatized naming were significant predictors in all ANCOVAs (P reading results were explained by reduced visual motor integration and rapid automatized naming results. Both reduced rapid automatized naming and visual motor integration were associated with poorer reading outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. This is an important finding given the recent emphasis placed on Indigenous children

  8. Principles Guiding Vocabulary Learning through Extensive Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nation, Paul

    2015-01-01

    Extensive reading is one of a range of activities that can be used in a language learning course. Ideally, the choice of activities to go into a course should be guided by principles which are well supported by research. Similarly, the way each of those activities is used should be guided by well-justified principles. In this article, we look at…

  9. READING-WRITING AND LITERACY IN CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marilene Bortolotti Boraschi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on the role and learning of reading and wrinting to human development as a social practice, considering the necessary condition to reading and writing as an exercise in citizenship. Aims to reflect on the occurrence of reading-writing processes and literacy in children with intellectual disabilities. The study was conducted by means of literature, and are based on a qualitative research. The reflections made throughout the investigation brought some considerations on intellectual disability, charactering it. Allowed some notes on the processes of reading-writing and literacy. As the survey results, some thoughts were about the possible occurrence of the processes of reading-writing and literacy in intellectually disabled children, discussing how these processes can take place through pedagogical practices in classrooms common regular education, contributing to the appropriation of the world literate and active participation by such child in society.

  10. Reading Roundup: Rope a Good Book. Louisiana Summer Reading Program, 1995 Manual.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Dorothy, J., Ed.

    A manual for the Louisiana Summer Reading Program is presented in 14 sections with a western theme and illustrations. An evaluation form, a 1995 calendar, and a list of audiovisual materials with addresses and prices are also provided. Section 1 discusses promotion, publicity, and programs; and includes sample news releases; program ideas, and…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  12. COMBINING COOPERATIVE LEARNING WITH READING ALOUD BY TEACHERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Jacobs

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available This article begins with a section that describes cooperative learning and explains eight cooperative learning principles. The second section discusses the interface between cooperative learning and language pedagogy. Next is a section about the why and how of reading aloud by teachers. The heart of the article resides in the last and longest section which describes techniques for integrating cooperative learning with reading aloud by teachers. These techniques include ones that can be used before, while and after the teacher has read aloud to the class.

  13. Flexible taxonomic assignment of ambiguous sequencing reads

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jansson Jesper

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To characterize the diversity of bacterial populations in metagenomic studies, sequencing reads need to be accurately assigned to taxonomic units in a given reference taxonomy. Reads that cannot be reliably assigned to a unique leaf in the taxonomy (ambiguous reads are typically assigned to the lowest common ancestor of the set of species that match it. This introduces a potentially severe error in the estimation of bacteria present in the sample due to false positives, since all species in the subtree rooted at the ancestor are implicitly assigned to the read even though many of them may not match it. Results We present a method that maps each read to a node in the taxonomy that minimizes a penalty score while balancing the relevance of precision and recall in the assignment through a parameter q. This mapping can be obtained in time linear in the number of matching sequences, because LCA queries to the reference taxonomy take constant time. When applied to six different metagenomic datasets, our algorithm produces different taxonomic distributions depending on whether coverage or precision is maximized. Including information on the quality of the reads reduces the number of unassigned reads but increases the number of ambiguous reads, stressing the relevance of our method. Finally, two measures of performance are described and results with a set of artificially generated datasets are discussed. Conclusions The assignment strategy of sequencing reads introduced in this paper is a versatile and a quick method to study bacterial communities. The bacterial composition of the analyzed samples can vary significantly depending on how ambiguous reads are assigned depending on the value of the q parameter. Validation of our results in an artificial dataset confirm that a combination of values of q produces the most accurate results.

  14. Development of a Case-based Reading Curriculum and Its Effect on Resident Reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne M. Messman

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Textbook reading plays a foundational role in a resident’s knowledge base. Many residency programs place residents on identical reading schedules, regardless of the clinical work or rotation the resident is doing. We sought to develop a reading curriculum that takes into account the clinical work a resident is doing so their reading curriculum corresponds with their clinical work. Preliminary data suggests an increased amount of resident reading and an increased interest in reading as a result of this change to their reading curriculum.

  15. See before You Jump: Full Recognition of Parafoveal Words Precedes Skips during Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Peter C.; Plummer, Patrick; Choi, Wonil

    2013-01-01

    Serial attention models of eye-movement control during reading were evaluated in an eye-tracking experiment that examined how lexical activation combines with visual information in the parafovea to affect word skipping (where a word is not fixated during first-pass reading). Lexical activation was manipulated by repetition priming created through…

  16. Emergent literacy skills, behavior problems and familial antecedents of reading difficulties: a follow-up study of reading achievement from kindergarten to fifth grade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Hugo Câmara; Perdry, Hervé; Soria, Carmen; Pulgar, Salomé; Cusin, Françoise; Dellatolas, Georges

    2013-03-01

    This study examined the relation between emergent literacy skills, teachers' reports of behavioral problems, and word reading achievement in a community sample of French students. Family background was investigated and included familial antecedents of reading difficulties (Fa/Rd) and parents' educational level. The analyses explored the pattern of concurrent relations between behavioral, familial and emergent literacy measures in a sample of 812 preschoolers, and their predictive power in explaining word reading achievement in a sub-sample of 150 children followed from kindergarten to fifth grade. Word reading at fifth grade was predicted by kindergarten measures of phonological awareness and letter knowledge. Teachers' reports of inattention symptoms at each grade level were associated with early reading skills and with subsequent word reading. Fa/Rd were concurrently and longitudinally associated with emergent literacy skills, teachers' reported inattention and word reading. These results indicate that children with a family history of reading difficulties are at increased risk for the co-occurrence of reading difficulties and attention problems from kindergarten onward. These findings confirm the shared influence of Fa/Rd on the comorbidity between inattention symptoms and reading difficulties in a non-diagnosed community sample of preschool children followed through late elementary school. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Reading Comprehension Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  18. Early reading intervention by means of a multicomponent reading game

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ven, M.A.M. van de; Leeuw, L.C. de; Weerdenburg, M.W.C. van; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G.

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the effects of an intervention with a multicomponent reading game on the development of reading skills in 60 Dutch primary school children with special educational needs. The game contains evidence-based reading exercises and is based on principles of applied gaming. Using a

  19. Influence of reading habits on cerebral plasticity for discourse comprehension in aging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles-Olivier Martin

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2012n63p101   The goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of reading habits on cerebral plasticity in the performance of a discourse comprehension task in aging. The main hypothesis was that participants with higher frequency and quality of reading habits should exhibit reduced brain activity because the task should be easier for them. two groups of native French speakers, 16 young adults and 16 elderly adults, participated in a task using the nirS (near-infrared spectroscopy technique. They read short stories and answered true or false probes after each one. They also completed a questionnaire about their previous reading habits. The results show that the more experienced readers had higher activation in the superior left region of the prefrontal cortex while they were reading the stories but lower activation in the same region when they were retrieving the information to answer the probe. Thus, more effort is required to acquire and maintain the information needed to answer, and this effort makes it easier to give the answer. These results reinforce the hypothesis that brain plasticity is promoted by cognitive activities throughout the lifespan.

  20. Reading-Related Causal Attributions for Success and Failure: Dynamic Links With Reading Skill.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frijters, Jan C; Tsujimoto, Kimberley C; Boada, Richard; Gottwald, Stephanie; Hill, Dina; Jacobson, Lisa A; Lovett, Maureen W; Mahone, E Mark; Willcutt, Erik G; Wolf, Maryanne; Bosson-Heenan, Joan; Gruen, Jeffrey R

    2018-01-01

    The present study investigated the relation among reading skills and attributions, naming speed, and phonological awareness across a wide range of reading skill. Participants were 1,105 school-age children and youths from two understudied populations: African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Individual assessments of children ranging in age from 8 to 15 years were conducted for reading outcomes, cognitive and linguistic predictors of reading, and attributions for success and failure in reading situations. Quantile regressions were formulated to estimate these relations across the full skill span of each outcome. Reading-related attributions predicted contextual word recognition, sight word and decoding fluency, and comprehension skills. Attributions to ability in success situations were positively related to each outcome across the full span. On three reading outcomes, this relation strengthened at higher skill levels. Attributions to effort in success situations were consistently and negatively related to all reading outcomes. The results provide evidence that the strength of the relation between reading and attributions varies according to reading skill levels, with the strongest evidence for ability-based attributions in situations of reading success.

  1. Support System to Improve Reading Activity in Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franklin Parrales Bravo

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs to improve the quality of life of people with chronic and degenerative diseases is a topic receiving much attention nowadays. We can observe that new technologies have driven numerous scientific projects in e-Health, encompassing Smart and Mobile Health, in order to address all the matters related to data processing and health. Our work focuses on helping to improve the quality of life of people with Parkinson’s Disease (PD and Essential Tremor (ET by means of a low-cost platform that enables them to read books in an easy manner. Our system is composed of two robotic arms and a graphical interface developed for Android platforms. After several tests, our proposal has achieved a 96.5% accuracy for A4 80 gr non-glossy paper. Moreover, our system has outperformed the state-of-the-art platforms considering different types of paper and inclined surfaces. The feedback from ET and PD patients was collected at “La Princesa” University Hospital in Madrid and was used to study the user experience. Several features such as ease of use, speed, correct behavior or confidence were measured via patient feedback, and a high level of satisfaction was awarded to most of them. According to the patients, our system is a promising tool for facilitating the activity of reading.

  2. STRENGTHENING STUDENTS’ LITERACY THROUGH REFLECTIVE ESSAY WRITING: AN IMPLEMENTATION OF WRITING TO READ PROGRAM IN HIGHER EDUCATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arina Shofiya

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Literacy is a condition where a person has capability to read for knowledge, write to share knowledge, and think critically. Students’ literacy is a never-end issue in the field of English Language Teaching. Studies have been carried out to investigate literacy practices in various level of education including higher education. Among the problems of students’ literacy in higher education are the amount of their reading and writing practices and their motivation to read and write. The current paper is intended to share an experience in strengthening students’ literacy at the English Department of State Islamic Institute (Institut Agama Islam Negeri/IAIN Tulungagung, East Java. The preliminary investigation of the present study revealed that many students have low motivation to read. In addition, their comprehension was relatively low as represented in their paper works. Under a Classroom Action Research Design, the present study was conducted to propose writing to read program to strengthen the students’ literacy. In such program, the students were required to write a reflective essay based on the selected topics that they had to read prior to classes. The findings showed that writing reflective essay helped students strengthen their literacy as well as improve their motivation to read and to write because the reading and writing activities were done in a more relax and supportive environment that was at home.

  3. A case for the sentence in reading comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Cheryl M

    2009-04-01

    This article addresses sentence comprehension as a requirement of reading comprehension within the framework of the narrow view of reading that was advocated in the prologue to this forum. The focus is on the comprehension requirements of complex sentences, which are characteristic of school texts. Topics included in this discussion are (a) evidence linking sentence comprehension and syntax with reading, (b) syntactic properties of sentences that make them difficult to understand, (c) clinical applications for the assessment of sentence comprehension as it relates to reading, and (d) evidence and methods for addressing sentence complexity in treatment. Sentence complexity can create comprehension problems for struggling readers. The contribution of sentence comprehension to successful reading has been overlooked in models that emphasize domain-general comprehension strategies at the text level. The author calls for the evaluation of sentence comprehension within the context of content domains where complex sentences are found.

  4. Cognitive levels of performance account for hemispheric lateralisation effects in dyslexic and normally reading children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heim, Stefan; Grande, Marion; Meffert, Elisabeth; Eickhoff, Simon B; Schreiber, Helen; Kukolja, Juraj; Shah, Nadim Jon; Huber, Walter; Amunts, Katrin

    2010-12-01

    Recent theories of developmental dyslexia explain reading deficits in terms of deficient phonological awareness, attention, visual and auditory processing, or automaticity. Since dyslexia has a neurobiological basis, the question arises how the reader's proficiency in these cognitive variables affects the brain regions involved in visual word recognition. This question was addressed in two fMRI experiments with 19 normally reading children (Experiment 1) and 19 children with dyslexia (Experiment 2). First, reading-specific brain activation was assessed by contrasting the BOLD signal for reading aloud words vs. overtly naming pictures of real objects. Next, ANCOVAs with brain activation during reading the individuals' scores for all five cognitive variables assessed outside the scanner as covariates were performed. Whereas the normal readers' brain activation during reading showed co-variation effects predominantly in the right hemisphere, the reverse pattern was observed for the dyslexics. In particular, middle frontal gyrus, inferior parietal cortex, and precuneus showed contralateral effects for controls as compared to dyslexics. In line with earlier findings in the literature, these data hint at a global change in hemispheric asymmetry during cognitive processing in dyslexic readers, which, in turn, might affect reading proficiency. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. The Importance of Metacognitive Reading Strategy Awareness in Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmadi, Mohammad Reza; Ismail, Hairul Nizam; Abdullah, Muhammad Kamarul Kabilan

    2013-01-01

    Metacognitive reading strategy awareness plays a significant role in reading comprehension and educational process. In spite of its importance, metacognitive strategy has long been the ignored skill in English language teaching, research, learning, and assessment. This lack of good metacognitive reading strategy skill is exacerbated by the central…

  6. Framing effects in reading: an fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Danelli

    2014-04-01

    Anatomofunctional results (Figure 1 showed that the left occipital, the anterior and posterior temporal regions, and the left intraparietal sulcus were specifically activated when reading targets in a lexical frame. The left posterior inferior temporal and inferior parietal regions were activated in sublexical condition. Finally, reading along the two routes commonly activated the Visual Word Form Area, the premotor cortex, the left frontal areas and the left SMA, suggesting an involvement of these regions in early-input (early orthographic processing and late-output processes (phonological output buffer and articulatory programming. Conclusions: These results represent a new fine-grained description of the neurofunctional correlates of the dual route model partially supporting the recent anatomical investigations in patients with specific forms of acquired dyslexia (Ripamonti, Aggujaro, Molteni, Zonca, Ghirardi, & Luzzatti, 2014.

  7. Strategies to improve the reading skill in the English language learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  9. An Intercultural Education: Teaching Reading in a Mapuche Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernández, María Elena Mellado; Hermosilla, Adriana del Carmen Huaiquimil

    2015-01-01

    In Chile, there are currently intercultural educational policies; national curricula that assume updated research development including investigational advances in reading and opportunities for improvement of teacher training. However, in La Araucania Region predominates for lagging behind in reading and it is necessary to explain this tendency…

  10. How do children read words? A focus on reading processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Boer, M.

    2014-01-01

    Being able to read is very important in our literate society. Many studies, therefore, have examined children’s reading skills to improve our understanding of reading development. In general, there have been two types of studies. On the one hand, there is a line of research that focuses on the

  11. ELL High School Students' Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Use and Reading Proficiency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong-Nam, Kay

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the metacognitive awareness and reading strategies use of high school-­aged English language learners (ELLs) and the relationship between ELL reading strategy use and reading proficiency as measured by a standardized reading test and self-­rated reading proficiency. Results reveal that participants reported moderate use of…

  12. Measurement properties of continuous text reading performance tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brussee, Tamara; van Nispen, Ruth M A; van Rens, Ger H M B

    2014-11-01

    Measurement properties of tests to assess reading acuity or reading performance have not been extensively evaluated. This study aims to provide an overview of the literature on available continuous text reading tests and their measurement properties. A literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase and PsycInfo. Subsequently, information on design and content of reading tests, study design and measurement properties were extracted using consensus-based standards for selection of health measurement instruments. Quality of studies, reading tests and measurement properties were systematically assessed using pre-specified criteria. From 2334 identified articles, 20 relevant articles were found on measurement properties of three reading tests in various languages: IReST, MNread Reading Test and Radner Reading Charts. All three reading tests scored high on content validity. Reproducibility studies (repeated measurements between different testing sessions) of the IReST and MNread of commercially available reading tests in different languages were missing. The IReST scored best on inter-language comparison, the MNread scored well in repeatability studies (repeated measurements under the same conditions) and the Radner showed good reproducibility in studies. Although in daily practice there are other continuous text reading tests available meeting the criteria of this review, measurement properties were described in scientific studies for only three of them. Of the few available studies, the quality and content of study design and methodology used varied. For testing existing reading tests and the development of new ones, for example in other languages, we make several recommendations, including careful description of patient characteristics, use of objective and subjective lighting levels, good control of working distance, documentation of the number of raters and their training, careful documentation of scoring rules and the use of Bland-Altman analyses or similar for

  13. Rearing a reading habit

    OpenAIRE

    Sridhar, M. S.

    2009-01-01

    Discusses the importance and ways of inculcating reading habit in children at the right age, describes the five reading phases in children along with interest and the material to satiate the need, explains how four deterministic factors affect the reading habit of children, enlists motivations that are behind the reading process with tips to improve reading habit of children.

  14. Brain-Behavior Relationships in Reading Acquisition Are Modulated by Socioeconomic Factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noble, Kimberly G.; Wolmetz, Michael E.; Ochs, Lisa G.; Farah, Martha J.; McCandliss, Bruce D.

    2006-01-01

    Functional neuroimaging may provide insights into the achievement gap in reading skill commonly observed across socioeconomic status (SES). Brain activation during reading tasks is known to be associated with individual differences in children's phonological language skills. By selecting children of equivalent phonological skill, yet diverse…

  15. The Speed Reading Is in Disrepute: Advantages of Slow Reading for the Information Equilibrium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsvetkova, Milena I.

    2017-01-01

    The study is dedicated to the impact of the speed and the acceleration on the preservation of the information equilibrium and the ability for critical thinking in the active person. The methods about the fast reading training are subjected to a critical analysis. On the grounds of the theory for the information equilibrium and the philosophy of…

  16. I read. You read? Challenges and possibilities in working with literary literacy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sayonara Abrantes de Oliveira

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This article is the result of a project linked to the Institutional Program of Scientific Initiation Scholarships for Higher Education (PIBIC-EM. The program’s objective was to analyze the contributing factors for the process of reading literacy training in order to verify how young people make their choices of literary texts, as well as know the difficulties and facilities they face in contact with these genres. To do so, we used the quantitative qualitative research through the application of a questionnaire, consisting of open questions, and applied to the students of the Integrated in Information Technology and Integrated Technician in the Environment of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Paraíba (IFPB/campus Sousa courses. We also analyzed the perceptions derived from the observations of the Reader Club of the same campus, in an attempt to verify how the intervention of activities that mediate literary literacy favors the stimulus to the reading formation. Based on the data analysis, we observed that the student's distance element from reading is the lack of incentive, that is, the construction of an atmosphere that surrounds him, both in the classroom and in the other environments that welcome him. To overcome this, it is necessary for the teacher to have a theoretical-methodological apparatus guiding in his classes, since mediation favors literary literacy, having as support the Receptional Method and a conception of reading that articulates the interactional to the discursive, helping in the organization and selection of texts, in order to achieve the objectives of the formation of the reader.

  17. Reading Fluency Instruction for Students at Risk for Reading Failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ring, Jeremiah J.; Barefoot, Lexie C.; Avrit, Karen J.; Brown, Sasha A.; Black, Jeffrey L.

    2013-01-01

    The important role of reading fluency in the comprehension and motivation of readers is well documented. Two reading rate intervention programs were compared in a cluster-randomized clinical trial of students who were considered at-risk for reading failure. One program focused instruction at the word level; the second program focused instruction…

  18. Early Reading Intervention by Means of a Multicomponent Reading Game

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Ven, M.; de Leeuw, L.; van Weerdenburg, M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E. G.

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the effects of an intervention with a multicomponent reading game on the development of reading skills in 60 Dutch primary school children with special educational needs. The game contains evidence-based reading exercises and is based on principles of applied gaming. Using a multiple baseline approach, we tested children's…

  19. Reading Tips for Parents = Consejos practicos de lectura para los padre.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Department of Education, Washington, DC. Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs.

    This booklet for parents, in both English and Spanish, offers suggestions for helping their young children develop and improve their reading skills. The booklet first presents tips for helping infants or preschoolers be ready to read and ready to learn. Suggestions include talking to the infant or toddler, reading aloud starting at 6 months,…

  20. "Show-Me Bedtime Reading'" An Unusual Study of the Benefits of Reading to Deaf Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Deborah

    1989-01-01

    Nine primary-age children at a residential school for the deaf were read bedtime stories using a Total Communication approach. Every child subsequently demonstrated growth on each of several language assessments, including language comprehension and expressive language. (JDD)

  1. STUDENTS’ READING PRACTICES AND ENVIRONMENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aiza Johari

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: The challenges of reading are indeed apparent in most teaching and learning processes in ESL classrooms. As a result, this study is conducted to resolve the issues of students who seem to find reading to be unbearable. Many of them have limited ability to read well and hence, possess insufficient reading habits to become competent readers, particularly out-of-school context. Besides, poor home literacy environments also contribute to their shortcomings in reading. The main objectives of this study are to identify the students’ reasons for reading as well as to find out their home reading environments (reading backgrounds and habits; reading attitudes and motivation; reading exposure and supports. To identify these, questionnaires were distributed to 120 secondary school students (Form 4: 16 years old from one of the urban schools in Sarawak, Malaysia. The findings indicate that the students read to gain information and knowledge though many chose reading as a hobby as their last choice in explaining their motives of reading. Besides, they preferred non-academic reading materials, mainly lighter forms reading materials such as comics, story books and magazines. Though the students acknowledged the importance of reading in their daily lives, their average reading habits, attitude, motivation, exposure and support within the home domain had suggested otherwise. They mainly read for instrumental purposes while reading for pleasure seemed not to be given priority. Besides, the respondents acknowledge that their parents and themselves did not read much at home. As an implication, it is vital for students to improve their reading perceptions, abilities and practices to achieve personal, societal and national progress. On a final note, parents’ early and continuous efforts to be involved in their children’s literacy events in an out-of-school context are believed to be vital to inculcate positive reading environments, habits and culture

  2. Measuring adult literacy students' reading skills using the Gray Oral Reading Test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenberg, Daphne; Pae, Hye Kyeong; Morris, Robin D; Calhoon, Mary Beth; Nanda, Alice O

    2009-12-01

    There are not enough reading tests standardized on adults who have very low literacy skills, and therefore tests standardized on children are frequently administered. This study addressed the complexities and problems of using a test normed on children to measure the reading comprehension skills of 193 adults who read at approximately third through fifth grade reading grade equivalency levels. Findings are reported from an analysis of the administration of Form A of the Gray Oral Reading Tests-Fourth Edition (Wiederholt & Bryant, 2001a, b). Results indicated that educators and researchers should be very cautious when interpreting test results of adults who have difficulty reading when children's norm-referenced tests are administered.

  3. Learning to Read Spectra: Teaching Decomposition with Excel in a Scientific Writing Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muelleman, Andrew W.; Glaser, Rainer E.

    2018-01-01

    Literacy requires reading comprehension, and fostering reading skills is an essential prerequisite to and a synergistic enabler of the development of writing skills. Reading comprehension in the chemical sciences not only consists of the understanding of text but also includes the reading and processing of data tables, schemes, and graphs. Thus,…

  4. Reading: United States.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Rose-Marie

    1983-01-01

    An exploration of the increasingly important role of linguistics in literacy research and instruction reviews literature on reading comprehension, written language, orthography, metalinguistics, classroom language use, reading disabilities, native tongues, nonstandard dialects, bilingual education, adult literacy, and second-language reading. (86…

  5. Identifying Children in Middle Childhood Who Are at Risk for Reading Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Speece, Deborah L; Ritchey, Kristen D; Silverman, Rebecca; Schatschneider, Christopher; Walker, Caroline Y; Andrusik, Katryna N

    2010-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate a universal screening battery for reading that is appropriate for older elementary students in a response to intervention model. Multiple measures of reading and reading correlates were administered to 230 fourth-grade children. Teachers rated children's reading skills, academic competence, and attention. Children were classified as not-at-risk or at-risk readers based on a three-factor model reflecting reading comprehension, word recognition/decoding, and word fluency. Predictors of reading status included group-administered tests of reading comprehension, silent word reading fluency, and teacher ratings of reading problems. Inclusion of individually administered tests and growth estimates did not add substantial variance. The receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis yielded an area under the curve index of 0.90, suggesting this model may both accurately and efficiently screen older elementary students with reading problems.

  6. The Effect of Reading Involvement through Open-Ended Strategy vs. Fill-in- the- Blanks Strategy on Young EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension Ability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rita Salehi Sepehr

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available The present study investigated the extent to which an instructional framework of integrating strategy instruction (open-ended strategy and fill-in-the blanks strategy with motivation- support affected on reading result for young EFL learners. The central area of exploration included a comparison among three approaches to reading instruction: First, fill-in-the blanks strategy intervention; second, open-ended strategy intervention; and last, a control group which received the conventional reading strategies. The participants were sampled from amongst a group of seventy-seven pre-intermediate EFL learners in a language school in Tehran- Iran based on convenient sampling technique. For the sake of measurement, the researchers administered PET and CELT along with reading strategy based-test to quantify the participants’ current level of knowledge as well as the degree of achievement after treatment. For measurement’s sake, different types of tests such as PET, reading comprehension test (CELT, and reading strategy based- test were employed to quantify the participants’ current level of knowledge as well as the degree of achievement before and after instruction. The result of the present study indicated that the experimental groups had a significant improvement over the control group. Also, the level of learners’ reading engagement during classroom work mediated the instructional effects on reading outcomes. The results of this study can be to the benefit of both EFL and ESL teachers to teach reading comprehension using the student's critical mind as well as critical involvement in the reading tasks.

  7. Reading Disabilities and PASS Reading Enhancement Programme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahapatra, Shamita

    2016-01-01

    Children experience difficulties in reading either because they fail to decode the words and thus are unable to comprehend the text or simply fail to comprehend the text even if they are able to decode the words and read them out. Failure in word decoding results from a failure in phonological coding of written information, whereas reading…

  8. Reading in the Digital Age: Using Electronic Books as a Teaching Tool for Beginning Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciampa, Katia

    2012-01-01

    Beginning readers' motivation to read and the texts they choose to read impact on their literacy achievement and willingness to engage with reading activities in the primary years of schooling. This study investigated the eBook reading experiences of eight grade 1 students. Eight students were given ten 25-minute sessions with the software…

  9. Genome-Wide Search for Translated Upstream Open Reading Frames in Arabidopsis Thaliana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Qiwen; Merchante, Catharina; Stepanova, Anna N; Alonso, Jose M; Heber, Steffen

    2016-03-01

    Upstream open reading frames (uORFs) are open reading frames that occur within the 5' UTR of an mRNA. uORFs have been found in many organisms. They play an important role in gene regulation, cell development, and in various metabolic processes. It is believed that translated uORFs reduce the translational efficiency of the main coding region. However, only few uORFs are experimentally characterized. In this paper, we use ribosome footprinting together with a semi-supervised approach based on stacking classification models to identify translated uORFs in Arabidopsis thaliana. Our approach identified 5360 potentially translated uORFs in 2051 genes. GO terms enriched in genes with translated uORFs include catalytic activity, binding, transferase activity, phosphotransferase activity, kinase activity, and transcription regulator activity. The reported uORFs occur with a higher frequency in multi-isoform genes, and some uORFs are affected by alternative transcript start sites or alternative splicing events. Association rule mining revealed sequence features associated with the translation status of the uORFs. We hypothesize that uORF translation is a complex process that might be regulated by multiple factors. The identified uORFs are available online at:https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zdutupedxafhly8/AABFsdNR5zDfiozB7B4igFcja?dl=0. This paper is the extended version of our research presented at ISBRA 2015.

  10. The Effect of Collaborative Strategic Reading on Grade Six Students’ Reading Achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siti Tamah

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the language skills to master by Indonesian EFL learners is reading. In order to assist learners comprehend reading texts, teachers are challenged to apply various teaching strategies. As this paper focuses on teaching reading, two teaching strategies dealing with reading instruction are compared. To be specific, in this paper the writers conduct a study to find the difference between Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR and teacher-centered teaching strategy (by applying skimming and scanning. This study was a quasi experimental, which was conducted upon the sixth graders of an elementary school. The finding showed that reading achievements of the students who are taught using CSR and teacher-centered teaching strategy are not significantly different. Nevertheless, this study using Cohen’s d formula finds that CSR gave a small effect on students’ reading achievement.

  11. How to Read Scientific Research Articles: A Hands-On Classroom Exercise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogucka, Roxanne; Wood, Emily

    2009-01-01

    Undergraduate students are generally unfamiliar with scientific literature. Further, students experience frustration when they read research articles the way they read textbooks, from beginning to end. Using a team-based active learning exercise, an instruction librarian and colleagues at University of Texas at Austin introduce nutritional…

  12. Recognizing Psychiatric Comorbidity With Reading Disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert L. Hendren

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Reading disorder (RD, a specific learning disorder (SLD of reading that includes impairment in word reading, reading fluency, and/or reading comprehension, is common in the general population but often is not comprehensively understood or assessed in mental health settings. In education settings, comorbid mental and associated disorders may be inadequately integrated into intervention plans. Assessment and intervention for RD may be delayed or absent in children with frequently co-occurring mental disorders not fully responding to treatment in both school and mental health settings. To address this oversight, this review summarizes current knowledge regarding RDs and common comorbid or co-occurring disorders that are important for mental health and school settings. We chose to highlight RD because it is the most common SLD, and connections to other often comorbid disorders have been more thoroughly described in the literature. Much of the literature we describe is on decoding-based RD (or developmental dyslexia as it is the most common form of RD. In addition to risk for academic struggle and social, emotional, and behavioral problems, those with RD often show early evidence of combined or intertwined Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition childhood disorders. These include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders, autism spectrum disorders, and other SLDs. The present review highlights issues and areas of controversy within these comorbidities, as well as directions for future research. An interdisciplinary, integrated approach between mental health professionals and educators can lead to comprehensive and targeted treatments encompassing both academic and mental health interventions. Such targeted treatments may contribute to improved educational and health-related outcomes in vulnerable youth. While there is a growing research literature

  13. 7 CFR 981.441 - Credit for market promotion activities, including paid advertising.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... promotion activities, including paid advertising. (a) In order for a handler to receive credit for his/her... 7 Agriculture 8 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Credit for market promotion activities, including paid advertising. 981.441 Section 981.441 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  15. The Development of Students’ Cognitive Self-Study While Teaching Reading in FL Training

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalia S. Andrianova

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In the informational society while teaching foreign languages the development of students’ skills aimed at searching, analyzing, critical thinking, processing and using the obtained information in the productive speech activity is in demand. In this context, the problem of students’ cognitive self-study development, aimed at “revealing” knowledge while reading, is becoming increasingly important as reading while teaching foreign languages not only contributes to self-development and self-reflection, but also to the formation of a cross-cultural and linguistic personality, which is a priority of linguistic education. The solution of the above-mentioned problems has defined the aim of our research: it is the development and implementation of technologies for optimizing students’ self-study in teaching reading. In the course of our experimental work the implementation of the principle of multi-level approach in the form of five interrelated elements in teaching reading – from the level of mastering reading techniques to the level of critical reading and stylistic comprehension reading – contributed to the ultimate development and improvement of students’ constructive-creative self-study. During the experimental work while testing the effectiveness of our methods of cognitive-practical activities, we concluded that in the process of teaching foreign languages, these methods are an effective way of teaching reading, activating students’ self-study, forming linguistic creativity, which manifests itself in the ability to produce oral and written discourses based on the creative potential development of a linguistic personality. The results obtained in the experiment can be used in educational process while creating and implementing the algorithm of organizing students’ self-study while teaching foreign languages.

  16. Parents in Reading; Parents' Booklet (Folleto Para Los Padres).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Truby, Roy

    Developed for Idaho's original Parents in Reading program, this booklet is designed for use by parents of preschool and elementary school students. Topics are discussed in both English and Spanish and include: reading, listening, and talking to children; controlling television viewing; using numbers with children; children's muscles and movements;…

  17. E-Activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brewster, Joy

    2001-01-01

    Presents five technology-based activities to teach elementary students about the human body, including: creating a heartbeat graph; charting the benefits of exercise; playing a "sense"ational card game; reading online stories from three children living with various conditions or illnesses; and examining diagrams of the human body that have been…

  18. NEW CONTRIBUTIONS TO READING DIFFICULTIES INTERVENTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    VÍCTOR SANTIUSTE BERMEJO

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available This article presents a synthesis of the intervention programs and strategies to treat reading difficulties. The synthesisincludes a review of the last published articles on the issue, both in Spanish and English. It also presents the visits todifferent Language Rehabilitation Centers in the Community of Madrid including the approaches applied in thesecenters. Besides the description of the general intervention strategies applied to reading problems, some of theprograms to treat specific difficulties of words decoding and recognizing are explained, and the programs to treatreading comprehension and fluidity.

  19. WWC Review of the Report "The Impact of Collaborative Strategic Reading on the Reading Comprehension of Grade 5 Students in Linguistically Diverse Schools." What Works Clearinghouse Single Study Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The study reviewed in this paper examined the impact of "Collaborative Strategic Reading" ("CSR"), a set of instructional strategies used to build reading proficiency, on the reading comprehension of fifth-grade students. The analysis included 1,355 students from 74 social studies classrooms within 26 linguistically diverse…

  20. The Effect of Background Music While Silent Reading on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    sakineh sahebdel

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This study attempted to determine the effect of background music while silent reading on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. The participants were 57 Iranian EFL learners between the ages of 14 and 16 in two 3rd grade high schoolclasses at pre-intermediate proficiency level. Before treatment,both experimental and control groups took a reading comprehension pretest. In the experimental group, the researchers played Mozart sonatas as background music and asked them to read the passage silently and then answer the reading comprehension questions. In the control group, the procedure was the same, but no music was played while silent reading by the students. After ten sessions, the students of both groups were asked to answer another independent but parallel form of reading section of PET as their post-test. The independent samples t-testresultsindicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in reading comprehension posttest, and listening to background music while silent reading had a significantly positive effect on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. The results of the present study have implications for EFL students, teachers, and teacher educators as well as syllabus designers and materials developers.

  1. Expanded Transparency and Enhanced Reading in the First-Year Literature Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, Natalie Mera

    2016-01-01

    Required first-year English courses present instructors with a challenge common in the humanities: How do we motivate students to engage in active reading rather than passively scroll down online guides? Introductory literature courses aim to develop students' critical thinking through close reading, analysis, and argumentation--skills demanding…

  2. 501 reading comprehension questions

    CERN Document Server

    2014-01-01

    This updated edition offers the most extensive and varied practice for all types of questions students might face on standardized and in-class tests. With this guide, students will learn to develop expert reading strategies, understand how to read faster and with greater comprehension, overcome reading anxiety, and increase appreciation of reading for pleasure. This book's step-by-step approach provides graduated coverage that moves from the basics to more advanced reading.

  3. Psychometric Research in Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Frederick B.

    This review of psychometric research in reading analyzes the factors which seem related to reading comprehension skills. Experimental analysis of reading comprehension by L. E. Thorndike revealed two major components: knowledge of word meanings and verbal reasoning abilities. Subsequent analysis of experimental studies of reading comprehension…

  4. EFL LEARNERS’ READING LEARNING IN WEB BASED INSTRUCTION SETTING

    OpenAIRE

    Yusup Supriyono

    2018-01-01

    This research is aimed at exploring reading learning performed by English foreign language learners when Web based instruction is integrated into reading classroom. Teaching learning activity follows the steps:  orientation, discussion, material exploration, action, test, and reflection.  Two data collecting methods—journal and interview are administered to three students of the fourth semester of English Department in University of Siliwangi Tasikmalaya Indonesia after the selected individua...

  5. Critical reading and critical thinking Critical reading and critical thinking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Loni Kreis Taglieber

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to provide, for L1 and L2 reading and writing teachers, a brief overview of the literature about critical reading and higher level thinking skills. The teaching of these skills is still neglected in some language classes in Brazil, be it in L1 or in L2 classes. Thus, this paper may also serve as a resource guide for L1 and/or L2 reading and writing teachers who want to incorporate critical reading and thinking into their classes. In modern society, even in everyday life people frequently need to deal with complicated public and political issues, make decisions, and solve problems. In order to do this efficiently and effectively, citizens must be able to evaluate critically what they see, hear, and read. Also, with the huge amount of printed material available in all areas in this age of “information explosion” it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But often the information piled up on people’s desks and in their minds is of no use due to the enormous amount of it. The purpose of this paper is to provide, for L1 and L2 reading and writing teachers, a brief overview of the literature about critical reading and higher level thinking skills. The teaching of these skills is still neglected in some language classes in Brazil, be it in L1 or in L2 classes. Thus, this paper may also serve as a resource guide for L1 and/or L2 reading and writing teachers who want to incorporate critical reading and thinking into their classes. In modern society, even in everyday life people frequently need to deal with complicated public and political issues, make decisions, and solve problems. In order to do this efficiently and effectively, citizens must be able to evaluate critically what they see, hear, and read. Also, with the huge amount of printed material available in all areas in this age of “information explosion” it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But often the information piled up on people’s desks and in their minds is of

  6. Read--and Walk--to Antarctica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harr, Natalie; Doneyko, Kathleen; Lee, Richard E., Jr.

    2012-01-01

    The students at Crestwood Primary School proved that they have what it takes to exercise their bodies and their minds. In an effort to support their teacher's scientific expedition to Antarctica, students from kindergarten to second grade pledged to read books and do physical activity that equated to the 12,900 km (8,000-mile) journey to the…

  7. fMRI brain response during sentence reading comprehension in children with benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malfait, D; Tucholka, A; Mendizabal, S; Tremblay, J; Poulin, C; Oskoui, M; Srour, M; Carmant, L; Major, P; Lippé, S

    2015-11-01

    Children with benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BECTS) often have language problems. Abnormal epileptic activity is found in central and temporal brain regions, which are involved in reading and semantic and syntactic comprehension. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined reading networks in BECTS children with a new sentence reading comprehension task involving semantic and syntactic processing. Fifteen children with BECTS (age=11y 1m ± 16 m; 12 boys) and 18 healthy controls (age=11 y 8m ± 20 m; 11 boys) performed an fMRI reading comprehension task in which they read a pair of syntactically complex sentences and decided whether the target sentence (the second sentence in the pair) was true or false with respect to the first sentence. All children also underwent an exhaustive neuropsychological assessment. We demonstrated weaknesses in several cognitive domains in BECTS children. During the sentence reading fMRI task, left inferior frontal regions and bilateral temporal areas were activated in BECTS children and healthy controls. However, additional brain regions such as the left hippocampus and precuneus were activated in BECTS children. Moreover, specific activation was found in the left caudate and putamen in BECTS children but not in healthy controls. Cognitive results and accuracy during the fMRI task were associated with specific brain activation patterns. BECTS children recruited a wider network to perform the fMRI sentence reading comprehension task, with specific activation in the left dorsal striatum. BECTS cognitive performance differently predicted functional activation in frontal and temporal regions compared to controls, suggesting differences in brain network organisation that contribute to reading comprehension. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. 100 articles every ecologist should read.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Courchamp, Franck; Bradshaw, Corey J A

    2018-02-01

    Reading scientific articles is a valuable and major part of the activity of scientists. Yet, with the upsurge of currently available articles and the increasing specialization of scientists, it becomes difficult to identify, let alone read, important papers covering topics not directly related to one's own specific field of research, or that are older than a few years. Our objective was to propose a list of seminal papers deemed to be of major importance in ecology, thus providing a general 'must-read' list for any new ecologist, regardless of particular topic or expertise. We generated a list of 544 papers proposed by 147 ecology experts (journal editorial members) and subsequently ranked via random-sample voting by 368 of 665 contacted ecology experts, covering 6 article types, 6 approaches and 17 fields. Most of the recommended papers were not published in the highest-ranking journals, nor did they have the highest number of mean annual citations. The articles proposed through the collective recommendation of several hundred experienced researchers probably do not represent an 'ultimate', invariant list, but they certainly contain many high-quality articles that are undoubtedly worth reading-regardless of the specific field of interest in ecology-to foster the understanding, knowledge and inspiration of early-career scientists.

  9. Reading and Empathy

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCreary, John J.; Marchant, Gregory J.

    2017-01-01

    The relationship between reading and empathy was explored. Controlling for GPA and gender, reading variables were hypothesized as related to empathy; the relationship was expected to differ for males and females. For the complete sample, affective components were related to GPA but not reading. Perspective taking was related to reading…

  10. The Effects of Learning-Style Based Activities on Students' Reading Comprehension Skills and Self-Efficacy Perceptions in English Foreign Language Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balci, Özgül

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of learning-style based activities on students' reading comprehension skills and self-efficacy perceptions in English foreign language classes. A quasi-experimental, matching-only pretest-posttest control group design was utilized. The study was conducted with freshmen university students majoring in Elementary…

  11. READING HABITS AND PREFERENCES OF EFL POST GRADUATES: A CASE STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noorizah Mohd. Noor

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, more emphasis has been given on the role of the learner in the language learning process considering that language learning is primarily a learner’s oriented activity. Thus, learners’ needs and interests should be taken into consideration for effective language learning and teaching to take place. One significant area where learners’ preferences influence their learning can be seen in reading. In any academic or higher learning context, reading is perceived as the most prominent academic language skill for all second and foreign language learners. It is through reading that these learners learn new information and become able to synthesize, evaluate and interpret in order to learn more about their subject matter. Pursuing a postgraduate study requires extensive reading practices which will enable the learners to extend their literacy development.  The present study examines the reading habits and preferences of a group of EFL graduate students. Data was collected through a questionnaire and analysed quantitatively. The findings will report on: i the types of reading materials preferred ii reasons for reading and iii the preferred language for reading. To conclude, the paper will further discuss the implications of the findings in terms of instructional materials development within an EFL context. Key words: EFL learners, reading habits, reading preferences, reading behaviour

  12. Reading Big Words: Instructional Practices to Promote Multisyllabic Word Reading Fluency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toste, Jessica R.; Williams, Kelly J.; Capin, Philip

    2017-01-01

    Poorly developed word recognition skills are the most pervasive and debilitating source of reading challenges for students with learning disabilities (LD). With a notable decrease in word reading instruction in the upper elementary grades, struggling readers receive fewer instructional opportunities to develop proficient word reading skills, yet…

  13. Learning to read words in a new language shapes the neural organization of the prior languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2014-12-01

    Learning a new language entails interactions with one׳s prior language(s). Much research has shown how native language affects the cognitive and neural mechanisms of a new language, but little is known about whether and how learning a new language shapes the neural mechanisms of prior language(s). In two experiments in the current study, we used an artificial language training paradigm in combination with an fMRI to examine (1) the effects of different linguistic components (phonology and semantics) of a new language on the neural process of prior languages (i.e., native and second languages), and (2) whether such effects were modulated by the proficiency level in the new language. Results of Experiment 1 showed that when the training in a new language involved semantics (as opposed to only visual forms and phonology), neural activity during word reading in the native language (Chinese) was reduced in several reading-related regions, including the left pars opercularis, pars triangularis, bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and inferior occipital gyrus. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 and further found that semantic training also affected neural activity during word reading in the subjects׳ second language (English). Furthermore, we found that the effects of the new language were modulated by the subjects׳ proficiency level in the new language. These results provide critical imaging evidence for the influence of learning to read words in a new language on word reading in native and second languages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Reduction of CMOS Image Sensor Read Noise to Enable Photon Counting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guidash, Michael; Ma, Jiaju; Vogelsang, Thomas; Endsley, Jay

    2016-04-09

    Recent activity in photon counting CMOS image sensors (CIS) has been directed to reduction of read noise. Many approaches and methods have been reported. This work is focused on providing sub 1 e(-) read noise by design and operation of the binary and small signal readout of photon counting CIS. Compensation of transfer gate feed-through was used to provide substantially reduced CDS time and source follower (SF) bandwidth. SF read noise was reduced by a factor of 3 with this method. This method can be applied broadly to CIS devices to reduce the read noise for small signals to enable use as a photon counting sensor.

  15. Theme: Parents and Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jund, Suzanne, Ed.

    1977-01-01

    This journal issue concentrates on the theme "Parents and Reading." It presents articles on sharing books with young children, using public relations in a reading program, guiding preschool learning, assessing language readiness, working with reading problems, and teaching reading readiness in Wisconsin kindergartens. Resources and a review of…

  16. Effects of reading goals on reading comprehension, reading rate, and allocation of working memory in children and adolescents with spina bifida meningomyelocele

    Science.gov (United States)

    ENGLISH, LIANNE; BARNES, MARCIA A.; FLETCHER, JACK M.; DENNIS, MAUREEN; RAGHUBAR, KIMBERLY P.

    2011-01-01

    Spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with intact word decoding and deficient text and discourse comprehension. This study investigated the ability to adjust reading in accordance with specified reading goals in 79 children and adolescents with SBM (9–19 years of age) and 39 controls (8–17 years of age). Both groups demonstrated slower reading times and enhanced comprehension when reading to study or to come up with a title than when reading for specific information or for entertainment. For both groups, verbal working memory contributed to comprehension performance in those reading conditions hypothesized to require more cognitive effort. Despite their sensitivity to the goals of reading, the group with SBM answered fewer comprehension questions correctly across all reading goal conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesized cognitive underpinnings of comprehension deficits in SBM and to current models of text comprehension. PMID:20338082

  17. Effects of reading goals on reading comprehension, reading rate, and allocation of working memory in children and adolescents with spina bifida meningomyelocele.

    Science.gov (United States)

    English, Lianne; Barnes, Marcia A; Fletcher, Jack M; Dennis, Maureen; Raghubar, Kimberly P

    2010-05-01

    Spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with intact word decoding and deficient text and discourse comprehension. This study investigated the ability to adjust reading in accordance with specified reading goals in 79 children and adolescents with SBM (9-19 years of age) and 39 controls (8-17 years of age). Both groups demonstrated slower reading times and enhanced comprehension when reading to study or to come up with a title than when reading for specific information or for entertainment. For both groups, verbal working memory contributed to comprehension performance in those reading conditions hypothesized to require more cognitive effort. Despite their sensitivity to the goals of reading, the group with SBM answered fewer comprehension questions correctly across all reading goal conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesized cognitive underpinnings of comprehension deficits in SBM and to current models of text comprehension.

  18. Reading disorders and dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulme, Charles; Snowling, Margaret J

    2016-12-01

    We review current knowledge about the nature of reading development and disorders, distinguishing between the processes involved in learning to decode print, and the processes involved in reading comprehension. Children with decoding difficulties/dyslexia experience deficits in phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge and rapid automatized naming in the preschool years and beyond. These phonological/language difficulties appear to be proximal causes of the problems in learning to decode print in dyslexia. We review data from a prospective study of children at high risk of dyslexia to show that being at family risk of dyslexia is a primary risk factor for poor reading and children with persistent language difficulties at school entry are more likely to develop reading problems. Early oral language difficulties are strong predictors of later difficulties in reading comprehension. There are two distinct forms of reading disorder in children: dyslexia (a difficulty in learning to translate print into speech) and reading comprehension impairment. Both forms of reading problem appear to be predominantly caused by deficits in underlying oral language skills. Implications for screening and for the delivery of robust interventions for language and reading are discussed.

  19. Reading strategies of primary school pupils in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veronika Najvarová

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on reading with comprehension – an activity of the readerwhich is seen as an interaction between the author and the recipient. In order tounderstand a text better, a reader may employ various techniques and strategies. Thearticle consists of three parts. In the first part, categories reading strategy and readingskill and the relationship between them are defined. In the second part, classificationsof reading strategies are presented and sorted according to various criteria. The thirdpart summarises the findings of a research project that concentrated on the readingstrategies of primary school pupils in Czech primary schools in the 2005/06 schoolyear. The findings indicate primary school teachers’ preferred procedures of using textsin teaching and pupils’ preferred reading strategies by the end of primary education.

  20. Reading literacy as a measure of the quality of education: Estimates based on PISA 2009 data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavlović-Babić Dragica

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The definition of reading literacy in the PISA study, similar to other international studies of reading, emphasizes the importance of reading for active participation in society, thereby promoting the ability of students to critically analyze information and use it for different purposes. The study examined the level of reading literacy in fifteen-year-old students in different countries, whether there was progress compared to previous cycles of testing, the development of the individual literacy components, and the distribution of students by levels of reading literacy. The sample included fifteen-year-old students, regardless of the grade they had attended at the time of testing. The study was conducted in 190 schools, with the total of 5,523 students tested. The data show that the average achievement of students in Serbia in the domain of reading literacy is still below average compared to the achievement of students from OECD countries, but the results were significantly higher when compared to 2006. The most conspicuous change between two cycles of testing occurred at lower achieving levels of reading literacy, which indicates that the dominant way of teaching in schools is through traditional lectures and oriented towards the adoption of academic knowledge. The progress achieved in the average score for reading literacy scale can be seen as a result of greater involvement and greater motivation of students and teachers, the more apparent support of officials in the PISA 2009 study than in 2006 study, as well as a result of substantial changes in general social context in which students were educated. .

  1. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reading Motivation as Predictors of Reading Literacy: A Longitudinal Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becker, Michael; McElvany, Nele; Kortenbruck, Marthe

    2010-01-01

    The purpose in this study was to examine the longitudinal relationships of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation with reading literacy development. In particular, the authors (a) investigated reading amount as mediator between motivation and reading literacy and (b) probed for bidirectional relationships between reading motivation and reading…

  2. Visual processing in reading disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and its contribution to basic reading ability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kibby, Michelle Y; Dyer, Sarah M; Vadnais, Sarah A; Jagger, Audreyana C; Casher, Gabriel A; Stacy, Maria

    2015-01-01

    Whether visual processing deficits are common in reading disorders (RD), and related to reading ability in general, has been debated for decades. The type of visual processing affected also is debated, although visual discrimination and short-term memory (STM) may be more commonly related to reading ability. Reading disorders are frequently comorbid with ADHD, and children with ADHD often have subclinical reading problems. Hence, children with ADHD were used as a comparison group in this study. ADHD and RD may be dissociated in terms of visual processing. Whereas RD may be associated with deficits in visual discrimination and STM for order, ADHD is associated with deficits in visual-spatial processing. Thus, we hypothesized that children with RD would perform worse than controls and children with ADHD only on a measure of visual discrimination and a measure of visual STM that requires memory for order. We expected all groups would perform comparably on the measure of visual STM that does not require sequential processing. We found children with RD or ADHD were commensurate to controls on measures of visual discrimination and visual STM that do not require sequential processing. In contrast, both RD groups (RD, RD/ADHD) performed worse than controls on the measure of visual STM that requires memory for order, and children with comorbid RD/ADHD performed worse than those with ADHD. In addition, of the three visual measures, only sequential visual STM predicted reading ability. Hence, our findings suggest there is a deficit in visual sequential STM that is specific to RD and is related to basic reading ability. The source of this deficit is worthy of further research, but it may include both reduced memory for order and poorer verbal mediation.

  3. Visual processing in reading disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and its contribution to basic reading ability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle Y. Kibby

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Whether visual processing deficits are common in reading disorders (RD, and related to reading ability in general, has been debated for decades. The type of visual processing affected also is debated, although visual discrimination and short-term memory (STM may be more commonly related to reading ability. Reading disorders are frequently comorbid with ADHD, and children with ADHD often have subclinical reading problems. Hence, children with ADHD were used as a comparison group in this study. ADHD and RD may be dissociated in terms of visual processing. Whereas RD may be associated with deficits in visual discrimination and short-term memory for order, ADHD is associated with deficits in visual-spatial processing. Thus, we hypothesized that children with RD would perform worse than controls and children with ADHD only on a measure of visual discrimination and a measure of visual STM that requires memory for order. We expected all groups would perform comparably on the measure of visual STM that does not require sequential processing. We found children with RD or ADHD were commensurate to controls on measures of visual discrimination and visual STM that do not require sequential processing. In contrast, both RD groups (RD, RD/ADHD performed worse than controls on the measure of visual STM that requires memory for order, and children with comorbid RD/ADHD performed worse than those with ADHD. In addition, of the three visual measures, only sequential visual STM predicted reading ability. Hence, our findings suggest there is a deficit in visual sequential STM that is specific to RD and is related to basic reading ability. The source of this deficit is worthy of further research, but it may include both reduced memory for order and poorer verbal mediation.

  4. Predictors of Foreign Language Reading Comprehension in a Hypermedia Reading Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbulut, Yavuz

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated factors affecting second/foreign language (L2) reading comprehension in a hypermedia environment within the theoretical framework of dual coding and cognitive load theories, and interactive models of L2 reading. The independent variables were reading ability, topic interest, prior topical knowledge, and the number of times…

  5. Tracking the reading eye: towards a model of real-world reading

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jarodzka, Halszka; Brand-Gruwel, Saskia

    2018-01-01

    Eye tracking has helped to understand the process of reading a word or a sentence, and this research has been very fruitful over the past decades. However, everyday real-world reading dramatically differs from this scenario: we read a newspaper on the bus, surf the Internet for movie reviews or

  6. Neural signatures of lexical tone reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwok, Veronica P Y; Wang, Tianfu; Chen, Siping; Yakpo, Kofi; Zhu, Linlin; Fox, Peter T; Tan, Li Hai

    2015-01-01

    Research on how lexical tone is neuroanatomically represented in the human brain is central to our understanding of cortical regions subserving language. Past studies have exclusively focused on tone perception of the spoken language, and little is known as to the lexical tone processing in reading visual words and its associated brain mechanisms. In this study, we performed two experiments to identify neural substrates in Chinese tone reading. First, we used a tone judgment paradigm to investigate tone processing of visually presented Chinese characters. We found that, relative to baseline, tone perception of printed Chinese characters were mediated by strong brain activation in bilateral frontal regions, left inferior parietal lobule, left posterior middle/medial temporal gyrus, left inferior temporal region, bilateral visual systems, and cerebellum. Surprisingly, no activation was found in superior temporal regions, brain sites well known for speech tone processing. In activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to combine results of relevant published studies, we attempted to elucidate whether the left temporal cortex activities identified in Experiment one is consistent with those found in previous studies of auditory lexical tone perception. ALE results showed that only the left superior temporal gyrus and putamen were critical in auditory lexical tone processing. These findings suggest that activation in the superior temporal cortex associated with lexical tone perception is modality-dependent. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  7. Parents Using Explicit Reading Instruction with Their Children At-Risk for Reading Difficulties

    Science.gov (United States)

    McConnell, Bethany M.; Kubina, Rick

    2016-01-01

    Kindergarten students at-risk for reading difficulties were selected for participation in a parent implemented reading program. Each parent provided instruction to his or her child using the reading program "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" ("TYCTR"; Engelmann, Haddox, & Bruner, 1983). Parents were expected to…

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

    OpenAIRE

    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...

  9. Shared orthographic neuronal representations for spelling and reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purcell, Jeremy J; Jiang, Xiong; Eden, Guinevere F

    2017-02-15

    A central question in the study of the neural basis of written language is whether reading and spelling utilize shared orthographic representations. While recent studies employing fMRI to test this question report that the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOTC) are active during both spelling and reading in the same subjects (Purcell et al., 2011a; Rapp and Lipka, 2011), the spatial resolution of fMRI limits the interpretation of these findings. Specifically, it is unknown if the neurons which encode orthography for reading are also involved in spelling of the same words. Here we address this question by employing an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging-adaptation (fMRI-A) paradigm designed to examine shared orthographic representations across spelling and reading. First, we identified areas that independently showed adaptation to reading, and adaptation to spelling. Then we identified spatial convergence for these two separate maps via a conjunction analysis. Consistent with previous studies (Purcell et al., 2011a; Rapp and Lipka, 2011), this analysis revealed the left dorsal IFG, vOTC and supplementary motor area. To further validate these observations, we then interrogated these regions using an across-task adaptation technique, and found adaptation across reading and spelling in the left dorsal IFG (BA 44/9). Our final analysis focused specifically on the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) in the vOTC, whose variability in location among subjects requires the use of subject-specific identification mechanisms (Glezer and Riesenhuber, 2013). Using a functional localizer for reading, we defined the VWFA in each subject, and found adaptation effects for both within the spelling and reading conditions, respectively, as well as across spelling and reading. Because none of these effects were observed during a phonological/semantic control condition, we conclude that the left dorsal IFG and VWFA are involved in accessing

  10. Voxel-based lesion analysis of brain regions underlying reading and writing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baldo, Juliana V; Kacinik, Natalie; Ludy, Carl; Paulraj, Selvi; Moncrief, Amber; Piai, Vitória; Curran, Brian; Turken, And; Herron, Tim; Dronkers, Nina F

    2018-03-20

    The neural basis of reading and writing has been a source of inquiry as well as controversy in the neuroscience literature. Reading has been associated with both left posterior ventral temporal zones (termed the "visual word form area") as well as more dorsal zones, primarily in left parietal cortex. Writing has also been associated with left parietal cortex, as well as left sensorimotor cortex and prefrontal regions. Typically, the neural basis of reading and writing are examined in separate studies and/or rely on single case studies exhibiting specific deficits. Functional neuroimaging studies of reading and writing typically identify a large number of activated regions but do not necessarily identify the core, critical hubs. Last, due to constraints on the functional imaging environment, many previous studies have been limited to measuring the brain activity associated with single-word reading and writing, rather than sentence-level processing. In the current study, the brain correlates of reading and writing at both the single- and sentence-level were studied in a large sample of 111 individuals with a history of chronic stroke using voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM). VLSM provides a whole-brain, voxel-by-voxel statistical analysis of the role of distinct regions in a particular behavior by comparing performance of individuals with and without a lesion at every voxel. Rather than comparing individual cases or small groups with particular behavioral dissociations in reading and writing, VLSM allowed us to analyze data from a large, well-characterized sample of stroke patients exhibiting a wide range of reading and writing impairments. The VLSM analyses revealed that reading was associated with a critical left inferior temporo-occipital focus, while writing was primarily associated with the left supramarginal gyrus. Separate VLSM analyses of single-word versus sentence-level reading showed that sentence-level reading was uniquely associated with anterior

  11. Addressing scientific literacy through content area reading and processes of scientific inquiry: What teachers report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Susan J.

    The purpose of this study was to interpret the experiences of secondary science teachers in Florida as they address the scientific literacy of their students through teaching content reading strategies and student inquiry skills. Knowledge of the successful integration of content reading and inquiry skills by experienced classroom teachers would be useful to many educators as they plan instruction to achieve challenging state and national standards for reading as well as science. The problem was investigated using grounded theory methodology. Open-ended questions were asked in three focus groups and six individual interviews that included teachers from various Florida school districts. The constant comparative approach was used to analyze the data. Initial codes were collapsed into categories to determine the conceptual relationships among the data. From this, the five core categories were determined to be Influencers, Issues, Perceptions, Class Routines, and Future Needs. These relate to the central phenomenon, Instructional Modifications, because teachers often described pragmatic and philosophical changes in their teaching as they deliberated to meet state standards in both reading and science. Although Florida's secondary science teachers have been asked to incorporate content reading strategies into their science instruction for the past several years, there was limited evidence of using these strategies to further student understanding of scientific processes. Most teachers saw little connection between reading and inquiry, other than the fact that students must know how to read to follow directions in the lab. Scientific literacy, when it was addressed by teachers, was approached mainly through class discussions, not reading. Teachers realized that students cannot learn secondary science content unless they read science text with comprehension; therefore the focus of reading instruction was on learning science content, not scientific literacy or student

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  13. Lectura y Vida: Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura. (Reading and Life: Latin American Reading Magazine). 1998.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lectura y Vida: Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura, 1998

    1998-01-01

    The four 1998 issues of the journal on literacy education, entirely in Spanish, include these articles: "The Inevitable Radical Weakness of Language: Some Reflections about Forming Readers and Citizens" (Daniel Goldin); "Relationships among Reading and Writing, Thematic Units, Learning Through Research...In Search of Effective…

  14. Differences in Brain Function and Changes with Intervention in Children with Poor Spelling and Reading Abilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gebauer, Daniela; Fink, Andreas; Kargl, Reinhard; Reishofer, Gernot; Koschutnig, Karl; Purgstaller, Christian; Fazekas, Franz; Enzinger, Christian

    2012-01-01

    Previous fMRI studies in English-speaking samples suggested that specific interventions may alter brain function in language-relevant networks in children with reading and spelling difficulties, but this research strongly focused on reading impaired individuals. Only few studies so far investigated characteristics of brain activation associated with poor spelling ability and whether a specific spelling intervention may also be associated with distinct changes in brain activity patterns. We here investigated such effects of a morpheme-based spelling intervention on brain function in 20 children with comparatively poor spelling and reading abilities using repeated fMRI. Relative to 10 matched controls, children with comparatively poor spelling and reading abilities showed increased activation in frontal medial and right hemispheric regions and decreased activation in left occipito-temporal regions prior to the intervention, during processing of a lexical decision task. After five weeks of intervention, spelling and reading comprehension significantly improved in the training group, along with increased activation in the left temporal, parahippocampal and hippocampal regions. Conversely, the waiting group showed increases in right posterior regions. Our findings could indicate an increased left temporal activation associated with the recollection of the new learnt morpheme-based strategy related to successful training. PMID:22693600

  15. Differences in brain function and changes with intervention in children with poor spelling and reading abilities.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Gebauer

    Full Text Available Previous fMRI studies in English-speaking samples suggested that specific interventions may alter brain function in language-relevant networks in children with reading and spelling difficulties, but this research strongly focused on reading impaired individuals. Only few studies so far investigated characteristics of brain activation associated with poor spelling ability and whether a specific spelling intervention may also be associated with distinct changes in brain activity patterns. We here investigated such effects of a morpheme-based spelling intervention on brain function in 20 children with comparatively poor spelling and reading abilities using repeated fMRI. Relative to 10 matched controls, children with comparatively poor spelling and reading abilities showed increased activation in frontal medial and right hemispheric regions and decreased activation in left occipito-temporal regions prior to the intervention, during processing of a lexical decision task. After five weeks of intervention, spelling and reading comprehension significantly improved in the training group, along with increased activation in the left temporal, parahippocampal and hippocampal regions. Conversely, the waiting group showed increases in right posterior regions. Our findings could indicate an increased left temporal activation associated with the recollection of the new learnt morpheme-based strategy related to successful training.

  16. Using Reading Quizzes in STEM Classes--The What, Why, and How

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodges, Linda C.; Anderson, Eric C.; Carpenter, Tara S.; Cui, Lili; Gierasch, Tiffany Malinky; Leupen, Sarah; Nanes, Kalman M.; Wagner, Cynthia R.

    2015-01-01

    Many active learning pedagogies depend on students' preparing for class in advance. One common method for holding students accountable for this preparation is the use of reading quizzes. When used thoughtfully, reading quizzes can also actually promote student learning through the testing effect. In this article we describe why and how we use…

  17. Gender differences in (metacognitive and motivational-emotional factors of reading comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svjetlana Kolić-Vehovec

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of our study was to establish, from the aspect of gender, the degree to which reading comprehension is connected with students' academic achievement, potential gender differences between (metacognitive and motivational-emotional factors of reading comprehension, and to identify the most important predictors of reading comprehension for exploratory and narrative texts. The results of study, which included 380 Slovenian and Croatian students with the average age of 10;6 years, showed that: (i reading comprehension significantly determines academic achievement regardless of students' gender; (ii there are significant gender differences in most of the factors of reading comprehension (girls summarize texts better, have more metacognitive knowledge of reading, show greater reading interest, feel more competent for reading and in general feel better while reading; (iii the predictive value of cognitive, motivational, and emotional predictors differ for exploratory and narrative texts (for exploratory texts metacognitive factors have the greatest predictive value; for narrative texts motivatonal-emotional factors have the greatest predictive value for boys, and metacognitive factors for girls.

  18. Using Reading Guides and On-Line Quizzes to Improve Reading Compliance and Quiz Scores

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    Maurer, Trent W.; Longfield, Judith

    2015-01-01

    This study compared students' daily in-class reading quiz scores in an introductory Child Development course across five conditions: control, reading guide only, reading guide and on-line practice quiz, reading guide and on-line graded quiz, and reading guide and both types of on-line quizzes. At the beginning of class, students completed a 5-item…

  19. Evaluation of attention training and metacognitive facilitation to improve reading comprehension in aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jaime B; Moore Sohlberg, McKay

    2013-05-01

    This pilot study investigated the impact of direct attention training combined with metacognitive facilitation on reading comprehension in individuals with aphasia. A single-subject, multiple baseline design was employed across 4 participants to evaluate potential changes in reading comprehension resulting from an 8-week intervention using Attention Process Training-3 (APT-3). The primary outcome measure was a maze reading task. Pre- and posttesting included attention and reading comprehension measures. Visual inspection of graphed performance data across conditions was used as the primary method of analysis. Treatment effect sizes were calculated for changes in reading comprehension probes from baseline to maintenance phases. Two of the study's 4 participants demonstrated improvements in maze reading, with corresponding effect sizes that were small in magnitude according to benchmarks for aphasia treatment research. All 4 participants made improvements on select standardized measures of attention. Interventions that include a metacognitive component with direct attention training may elicit improvements in participants' attention and allocation of resources. Maze passage reading is a repeated measure that appears sensitive to treatment-related changes in reading comprehension. Issues for future research related to measurement, candidacy, and clinical delivery are discussed.

  20. Lip-reading enhancement for law enforcement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theobald, Barry J.; Harvey, Richard; Cox, Stephen J.; Lewis, Colin; Owen, Gari P.

    2006-09-01

    Accurate lip-reading techniques would be of enormous benefit for agencies involved in counter-terrorism and other law-enforcement areas. Unfortunately, there are very few skilled lip-readers, and it is apparently a difficult skill to transmit, so the area is under-resourced. In this paper we investigate the possibility of making the lip-reading task more amenable to a wider range of operators by enhancing lip movements in video sequences using active appearance models. These are generative, parametric models commonly used to track faces in images and video sequences. The parametric nature of the model allows a face in an image to be encoded in terms of a few tens of parameters, while the generative nature allows faces to be re-synthesised using the parameters. The aim of this study is to determine if exaggerating lip-motions in video sequences by amplifying the parameters of the model improves lip-reading ability. We also present results of lip-reading tests undertaken by experienced (but non-expert) adult subjects who claim to use lip-reading in their speech recognition process. The results, which are comparisons of word error-rates on unprocessed and processed video, are mixed. We find that there appears to be the potential to improve the word error rate but, for the method to improve the intelligibility there is need for more sophisticated tracking and visual modelling. Our technique can also act as an expression or visual gesture amplifier and so has applications to animation and the presentation of information via avatars or synthetic humans.