WorldWideScience

Sample records for high school reading

  1. 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…

  2. Reading is FUNdamental: The effect of a reading programme on vocabulary development in a high poverty township school

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    Scheepers, Ruth

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the development of the vocabulary of grade 7 learners in a reading project currently underway at a school in Atteridgeville, a township on the outskirts of Pretoria. A library has been established at the school and teachers throughout the school attend workshops designed to heighten their awareness of the value of reading and the importance of vocabulary, and to provide them with strategies to facilitate the development of reading. This paper focuses on the vocabulary development of grade 7 learners – they are in the senior phase of primary school and will soon be entering high school where they will be faced with more academic vocabulary in context-reduced textbooks. Learners’ vocabulary was tested early in the year and then again towards the end to assess whether increased access to books and reading had had an effect on vocabulary growth. Results revealed that learners at the project school showed a lack of vocabulary, even at the end of the study period, not only in terms of academic words but also high frequency words. Extensive reading alone is clearly not enough – learners need explicit vocabulary instruction: in order to read successfully at high school level, learners need a working knowledge of academic vocabulary, and this knowledge is developed by reading – but learners cannot read successfully without an adequate basic high-frequency vocabulary.

  3. Reading Fluency as a Predictor of Reading Proficiency in Low-Performing, High-Poverty Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Scott K.; Smolkowski, Keith; Katz, Rachell; Fien, Hank; Seeley, John R.; Kame'enui, Edward J.; Beck, Carrie Thomas

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine oral reading fluency (ORF) in the context of a large-scale federal reading initiative conducted in low performing, high poverty schools. The objectives were to (a) investigate the relation between ORF and comprehensive reading tests, (b) examine whether slope of performance over time on ORF predicted…

  4. A Pilot Study of a Kindergarten Summer School Reading Program in High-Poverty Urban Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denton, Carolyn A.; Solari, Emily J.; Ciancio, Dennis J.; Hecht, Steven A.; Swank, Paul R.

    2010-01-01

    This pilot study examined an implementation of a kindergarten summer school reading program in 4 high-poverty urban schools. The program targeted both basic reading skills and oral language development. Students were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n = 25) or a typical practice comparison group (n = 28) within each school; however,…

  5. Reading Motivation and Engagement at a Rural Georgia High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winfree, Linda

    2013-01-01

    As college and workplace success becomes increasingly dependent on reading, parents and educators have become more interested in how to engage students in reading. Teachers at a rural Georgia high school have reported that students are reluctant to engage in academic reading. Guided by previous research on the factors that promote or discourage…

  6. Processes Utilized by High School Students Reading Scientific Text

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clinger, Alicia Farr

    2014-01-01

    In response to an increased emphasis on disciplinary literacy in the secondary science classroom, an investigation of the literacy processes utilized by high school students while reading scientific text was undertaken. A think-aloud protocol was implemented to collect data on the processes students used when not prompted while reading a magazine…

  7. [Reading ability of junior high school students in relation to self-evaluation and depression].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamashita, Toshiya; Hayashi, Takashi

    2012-01-01

    Guidelines for the diagnosis of reading disorders in elementary school students were published recently in Japan. On the basis of these guidelines, we administrated reading test batteries to 43 Japanese junior high-school students from grade two. The reading test consisted of single sounds, single words, and single sentences. We evaluated the reading speed and the number of reading errors made by the test takers; their performance was compared with the normal value for elementary school students in grade six, as stated in the guidelines. The reading ability of the junior high-school students was not higher than that of the elementary school students. Seven students (16.3%) were found to have reading difficulties (RD group) and they met the criterion for diagnosis of reading disorder as per the guidelines. Three students had difficulties in reading single sounds and single words, but they faced no problems when reading single sentences. It was supposed that the strategies used by the students for reading sentences may have differed from those used for reading single sounds or single words. No significant differences were found between the RD and non-RD group students on scores of scholastic self-evaluation, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Therefore, reading difficulty did not directly influence the level of self-evaluation or depression.

  8. Reading Aloud in High Schools: Students and Teachers across the Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warner, Lionel; Crolla, Caroline; Goodwyn, Andy; Hyder, Eileen; Richards, Brian

    2016-01-01

    Reading aloud is apparently an indispensible part of teaching. Nevertheless, little is known about reading aloud across the curriculum by students and teachers in high schools. Nor do we understand teachers' attitudes towards issues such as error correction, rehearsal time, and selecting students to read. A survey of 360 teachers in England shows…

  9. Lexical Density Of English Reading Texts For Senior High School

    OpenAIRE

    Nesia, Bersyebah Herljimsi; Ginting, Siti Aisah

    2014-01-01

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

  10. Teaching and Learning in High School Reading Classes: Perspectives of Teachers and Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harmon, Janis; Wood, Karen; Smith, Kassandra; Zakaria, Nauff; Ramadan, Kimberly; Sykes, Melissa

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative study investigated high school reading programs and participants focusing on the insider perspectives of teachers and their students. The study occurred in two sites, one in a Southern state and the other in an Eastern state. The participants, five high school reading teachers and two to three students in each of their reading…

  11. Reading Interest of North Ridgeville High School Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittemore, Shirley

    A study surveyed 449 seniors and sophomores at North Ridgeville (Ohio) High School to determine their reading interests. The survey of 18 questions revealed the following findings: (1) favorite type of novel was horror; (2) favorite author was Stephen King; (3) favorite magazines were "Seventeen" and "Sports Illustrated"; (4)…

  12. Rural Adolescents' Reading Motivation, Achievement and Behavior across Transition to High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantrell, Susan Chambers; Rintamaa, Margaret; Anderman, Eric M.; Anderman, Lynley H.

    2018-01-01

    The authors examined 1,781 rural students' reading motivation and behavior across the transition from middle to high school. Using expectancy-value theory, they investigated how motivational variables predicted changes in reading behavior and achievement across the transition in terms of their expectancies, values, and out-of-school reading…

  13. Readings in Wildlife and Fish Conservation, High School Conservation Curriculum Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ensminger, Jack

    This publication is a tentative edition of readings on Wildlife and Fish Conservation in Louisiana, and as such it forms part of one of the four units of study designed for an experimental high school course, the "High School Conservation Curriculum Project." The other three units are concerned with Forest Conervation, Soil and Water…

  14. Supplementary Reading Instruction in Alternative High Schools: A Statewide Survey of Educator Reported Practices and Barriers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkerson, Kimber L.; Yan, Min-Chi; Perzigian, Aaron B.; Cakiroglu, Orhan

    2016-01-01

    Recent data suggest that a majority of secondary students read below the level considered proficient on state standardized tests of reading. Alternative high schools, in particular, serve a high proportion of struggling readers. This survey study investigated reading instruction provided to struggling readers in alternative schools in one state by…

  15. STAD AS A STRATEGY OF TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

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    Fitri Ferina

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available This research investigated whether there was a significant difference on students’ achievement in reading comprehension taught using STAD and lecture method. The sample was the eighth-graders of SMPN 3 Banjarmasin. A quasi-experimental design was employed in this research. The experimental group was taught using STAD while control group was taught using lecture method. A reading comprehension test as the instrument of collecting data was administered for both groups. Based on the research result using t-test, it was found that the t value was higher than t-table (2.39315 > 2.00 which means that there is a significant difference of achievement between the experimental group and control group. From these findings it can be interpreted that the use of STAD is more effective than lecture method in teaching reading comprehension for junior high school students. It is suggested for English teachers in Junior High School to use STAD in teaching reading since it is useful in improving students’ reading comprehension achievement.

  16. Predictors of Music Sight-Reading Ability in High School Wind Players

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gromko, Joyce Eastlund

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this study, grounded in near-transfer theory, was to investigate relationships among music sight-reading and tonal and rhythmic audiation, visual field articulation, spatial orientation and visualization, and achievement in math concepts and reading comprehension. A regression analysis with data from four high schools (N = 98) in…

  17. "Cyber" Reading in L2: Online Reading Strategies of Students in a Philippine Public High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Leon, John Angelo Vinuya; Tarrayo, Veronico Nogales

    2014-01-01

    This paper seeks to identify the online reading strategies employed by students in a Philippine Public High School. In particular, the study attempts to answer the following questions: (1) What are the online reading strategies used by the respondents (i.e., global, problem-solving, and support)?; (2) What is the frequency of use of the online…

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

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    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.

  19. Ocoee Junior High School's Total School Reading Program on a Shoestring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinson, Bess; Williams, Robert W.

    The total school reading program described in this booklet includes a program for remedial, developmental, and special education students. Faculty members and students not participating in this program spend one half hour a day in a silent reading program. The booklet outlines each facet of the program, lists the equipment and materials used,…

  20. Designing Customizable Reading Modules for a High School Literature Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russell, L. Roxanne; Cuevas, Joshua

    2014-01-01

    This design case follows an ongoing collaboration between an instructional technologist and a high school literature teacher promoting reading comprehension through modules that provide visually interesting display of text on a computer screen along with cognitive tools. The modules were found to boost comprehension of specific content in even one…

  1. Statistical Literacy: High School Students in Reading, Interpreting and Presenting Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hafiyusholeh, M.; Budayasa, K.; Siswono, T. Y. E.

    2018-01-01

    One of the foundations for high school students in statistics is to be able to read data; presents data in the form of tables and diagrams and its interpretation. The purpose of this study is to describe high school students’ competencies in reading, interpreting and presenting data. Subjects were consisted of male and female students who had high levels of mathematical ability. Collecting data was done in form of task formulation which is analyzed by reducing, presenting and verifying data. Results showed that the students read the data based on explicit explanations on the diagram, such as explaining the points in the diagram as the relation between the x and y axis and determining the simple trend of a graph, including the maximum and minimum point. In interpreting and summarizing the data, both subjects pay attention to general data trends and use them to predict increases or decreases in data. The male estimates the value of the (n+1) of weight data by using the modus of the data, while the females estimate the weigth by using the average. The male tend to do not consider the characteristics of the data, while the female more carefully consider the characteristics of data.

  2. High School Students With Reading Comprehension Difficulties: Results of a Randomized Control Trial of a Two-Year Reading Intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Greg; Wexler, Jade; Vaughn, Michael G; Fall, Anna-Mária; Schnakenberg, Jennifer B

    2015-01-01

    A 2-year, randomized control trial with 9th to 10th grade students with significant reading problems was provided for 50 minutes a day in small groups. Comparison students were provided an elective class and treatment students the reading intervention. Students were identified as demonstrating reading difficulties through failure on their state accountability test and were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions and a business as usual (BAU) condition: reading without dropout prevention, reading with dropout prevention, dropout prevention without reading, or a BAU condition. Findings from the 2-year reading intervention (reading with and without dropout prevention combined and BAU) are reported in this article. Students in reading treatment compared to students in BAU demonstrated significant gains on reading comprehension (effect size = .43), and improved reading was associated with better grades in social studies. Findings from this study provide a rationale for further implementation and investigation of intensive intervention for high school students with reading difficulties. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

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

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    Mukhlisatun Muayanah

    2014-06-01

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

  4. Early Reading Programs in High-Poverty Schools: Emerald Elementary Beats the Odds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Charles; Adler, Martha A.

    This report describes the early reading program in Emerald Elementary School, located in a Midwest urban fringe district. From 1996 through 1998, Emerald's students performed well above the district average or near the state average on reading achievement. During this period, the school had at least half of its students eligible for free or…

  5. The Study of Potentials and Problems in Reading Faced By the Eighth Grade Students of Junior High School

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    Ida Ayu Made Istri Utami

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Knowing students’ problems, especially in reading, is very important to design an appropriate and meaningful learning. From the problem identification, teacher can find the potency of designing and developing material to meet students’ need. Therefore, this study was aimed to identify the potentials and problems toward reading lesson faced by the eighth grade students of Junior High School. This study was based on the result of classroom observation, document study, and also checklists. The identification of potency and problems through classroom observation was done to obtain data on how existing reading material was used in teaching reading on the classroom. There was also document study to evaluate existing reading material and syllabus used for teaching reading. Then, the data from the teacher and students had been gathered by administering checklists. From the result of the study, it can be identified that the problems faced by the eighth grade students of Junior High School in reading dealt with topic selection, pictures or illustration, and reading activities, while the potency was to develop new reading material by using those problems as consideration.

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

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

    2015-01-01

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

  7. Integrating Reading and Writing Instruction in Middle and High School: The Role of Professional Development in Shaping Teacher Perceptions and Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doubet, Kristina J.; Southall, Gena

    2018-01-01

    This study examined the extent to which middle and high school English teachers integrate reading and writing instruction as complementary processes. Using qualitative research methods, researchers investigated the following: (a) Do middle and high school English teachers conceive of and enact the teaching of reading and writing as integrated…

  8. Learning from High School Students' Lived Experiences of Reading E-Books and Printed Books

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    Evans, Ellen

    2017-01-01

    E-book sales are down nationwide, and younger readers are proving to be surprisingly persistent in their preference for printed books. Although 66% of schools nationwide offer e-books, adoption is growing at a slower than expected rate. This study takes a closer look at high school students' experiences as they read John Steinbeck's fictional…

  9. Incidence of Sociodemographic Factors in the Attitudes to the Reading of High School Students

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    Teresa Cervera Mata

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of the high school students determine their possibilities to change their attitude towards the reading and, in this way, encourage their reading habit. A program of workshops to inspire Reading carried out in an educational compensation center shows how a relationship between sociodemographic factors and the change happened with their reading habit is established. This methodology is introduced in the classroom as a tool that intends to produce a transformation in their literary education through playful elements, which are required in the necessary contexts of social transformation. An attitude towards reading are the first aspects that must be positively modified to strengthen the relationship between books and students and thus, encourage the reading as an habit. Therefore, the knowloedge of the social and family influential environment will contribute to the application of this methodology in the classroom, enhancing or mitigating the effects of this relationship.

  10. The Effects of Self-Monitoring of Story Elements on the Reading Comprehension of High School Seniors with Learning Disabilities

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    Crabtree, Tim; Alber-Morgan, Sheila R.; Konrad, Moira

    2010-01-01

    This study used a multiple baseline across participants design to examine the effects of self-monitoring and active responding on the reading comprehension of three high school seniors with learning disabilities and significant attention problems. The self-monitoring intervention required the participants to read a story and stop reading at three…

  11. The inadequacy of Individual Educational Program (IEP) goals for high school students with word-level reading difficulties.

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    Catone, William V; Brady, Susan A

    2005-06-01

    This investigation analyzed goals from the Individual Educational Programs (IEPs) of 54 high school students with diagnosed reading disabilities in basic skills (decoding and/or word identification). Results showed that for 73% of the students, the IEPs written when they were in high school failed to specify any objectives regarding their acute difficulties with basic skills. IEPs from earlier points in the students' educations were also reviewed, as available. For 23 of the students, IEPs were present in the students' files for three time points: elementary school (ES), middle school (MS), and high school (HS). Another 20 students from the sample of 54 had IEPs available for two time points (HS and either MS or ES). Comparisons with the IEPs from younger years showed a pattern of decline from ES to MS to HS in the percentage of IEPs that commented on or set goals pertaining to weaknesses in decoding. These findings suggest that basic skills deficits that persist into the upper grade levels are not being sufficiently targeted for remediation, and help explain why older students frequently fail to resolve their reading problems.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2008-06-01

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

  13. The Library at School: Effects on reading attitude and reading frequency

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huysmans, F.; Kleijnen, E.; Broekhof, K.; van Dalen, T.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose ‐ This paper aims to describe the effects of the Dutch policy program the Library at School on primary school pupils' leisure book reading and attitude towards reading books, in the first year of the nationwide implementation of the program. Design/methodology/approach ‐ In monitoring the

  14. Imitated prosodic fluency predicts reading comprehension ability in good and poor high school readers

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    Mara Breen

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Researchers have established a relationship between beginning readers’ silent comprehension ability and their prosodic fluency, such that readers who read aloud with appropriate prosody tend to have higher scores on silent reading comprehension assessments. The current study was designed to investigate this relationship in two groups of high school readers: Specifically Poor Comprehenders (SPCs, who have adequate word level and phonological skills but poor reading comprehension ability, and a group of age- and decoding skill-matched controls. We compared the prosodic fluency of the two groups by determining how effectively they produced prosodic cues to syntactic and semantic structure in imitations of a model speaker’s production of syntactically and semantically varied sentences. Analyses of pitch and duration patterns revealed that speakers in both groups produced the expected prosodic patterns; however, controls provided stronger durational cues to syntactic structure. These results demonstrate that the relationship between prosodic fluency and reading comprehension continues past the stage of early reading instruction. Moreover, they suggest that prosodically fluent speakers may also generate more fluent implicit prosodic representations during silent reading, leading to more effective comprehension.

  15. Reading Skills--What School Librarians Need to Know

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rojtas-Milliner, Mary Cay

    2010-01-01

    Since teachers lack a certified reading specialist to guide their high school literacy efforts, they have never had a well-reasoned, research-based plan for addressing the growing needs of adolescent readers. According to a June 2009 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report, most U. S. secondary schools do have personnel who are…

  16. Reading motivation in elementary school students

    OpenAIRE

    Sonja Pečjak; Nataša Bucik

    2005-01-01

    Reading motivation is one of the crucial factors of reading and consequently also learning efficiency of students. The purpose of the contribution is to establish the connection between dimensions of reading motivation and reading achievement in elementary school students. Participating in the study were 1073 third-grade and 1282 seventh-grade students. We used the questionnaire of reading motivation which consists of two factors: the reading competence factor and the interest and perceived r...

  17. High School Book Fairs

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    Fitzgerald, Marianne

    2006-01-01

    Many secondary students have given up the joy of reading. When asked why they don't read for pleasure, students came up with many different reasons, the first being lack of time. High school students are busy with after school jobs, sports, homework, etc. With the growing number of students enrolled in AP classes, not only is there not much time…

  18. Foreign Language Reading Anxiety among Yemeni Secondary School Students

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    Yehia Ahmed Y. Al-Sohbani

    2018-03-01

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

  19. Building school-based reading practices

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Erna Kinsey

    context of the academic subjects which they study at school, rather than in areas traditionally associated with learners' out-of-school interests ... the majority of the learners had not seen their parents reading a book ..... Harvard University Press.

  20. Understanding reading problems in secondary schools: Some ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... factors are discussed based on the evidence obtained by observations and research findings. The importance of teaching reading 'as a subject in the secondary school is hinted. Recommendations are made to ensure that reading as a tool to learning is given a prominent place in schools and libraries throughout Nigeria ...

  1. 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...

  2. School Reading Performance and the Extended School Day Policy in Florida. REL 2016-141

    Science.gov (United States)

    Folsom, Jessica Sidler; Petscher, Yaacov; Osborne-Lampkin, La'Tara; Cooley, Stephan; Herrera, Sarah; Partridge, Mark; Smith, Kevin

    2016-01-01

    Florida law requires the 100 lowest performing elementary schools in reading to extend the school day by one hour to provide supplemental reading instruction. This study found that those schools were smaller than other elementary schools and served a higher proportion of racial/ethnic minority students and students eligible for the school lunch…

  3. Employing Microsoft Live@edu Cloud Platform to Assist in Teaching Chinese Reading for Junior High School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shih, Ru-Chu; Cho, Chia-Liang; Tsai, Chih-Cheng; Lou, Shi-Jer

    2013-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate junior high school students' learning attitudes and learning effectiveness through administering Microsoft Live@edu to assist in teaching Chinese reading. Quasi-experimental approach was used and a total of 63 eighth grade students were divided into the experimental group (N = 32) and control group (N = 31).…

  4. The Role of a School Library in a School's Reading Program

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    Marcoux, Elizabeth; Loertscher, David V.

    2009-01-01

    As a foundational element of schooling, learning to read and reading to learn is every bit as important in the 21st century as it has ever been. Whether interacting online, doing assignments, taking tests, or social networking, the ability to read and read well affects every part of one's existence and often predicts success throughout life. In…

  5. 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)…

  6. Effects of Intradistrict School Mobility and High Student Turnover Rates on Early Reading Achievement

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    LeBoeuf, Whitney A.; Fantuzzo, John W.

    2018-01-01

    The primary aim of this study was to assess the relations between concurrent, cumulative, and contextual intradistrict school mobility and early reading achievement. Longitudinal administrative school records were used for an entire cohort of students in a large urban district from first through third grade. Findings indicated that students with a…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zabala Palacio Freddy Oswaldo

    2004-08-01

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

  8. Reading comprehension and textual consciousness on primary school

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vera Wannmacher Pereira

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The difficulties on reading comprehension in the primary school are evidenced by several official exams applied. Given these statistics and the evidences obtained through academic research and observations on children’s performance during the school life, there is acknowledgment of the situation as a problem that requires further development and finding solutions. The Psycholinguistics is giving its contribution, especially regarding the role of linguistic consciousness on reading learning. Many studies have been conducted specifically focusing on phonological consciousness. Studies on syntactic consciousness are also found, although less than phonological ones. Regarding the role of textual consciousness, few initiatives considers the students of the primary school. This makes the author proposes as the heartland of this communication the textual consciousness with support predominantly on Gombert (1992, aiming to examine the relationship between this level of consciousness and learning to read. Based on recent studies (PEREIRA; SCLIAR-CABRAL, 2012, the author presents in this paper: a the analysis of the context of learning and teaching of reading; b a theoretical exposition about reading learning and textual consciousness; c the pedagogical referrals for education based on the interaction between these two topics; and d the development of reflections on the possibility of the proposed path contribute to the solution of the worrying problem on read learning by the primary schools students.

  9. Reading, Writing, and Presenting Original Scientific Research: A Nine-Week Course in Scientific Communication for High School Students†

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danka, Elizabeth S.; Malpede, Brian M.

    2015-01-01

    High school students are not often given opportunities to communicate scientific findings to their peers, the general public, and/or people in the scientific community, and therefore they do not develop scientific communication skills. We present a nine-week course that can be used to teach high school students, who may have no previous experience, how to read and write primary scientific articles and how to discuss scientific findings with a broad audience. Various forms of this course have been taught for the past 10 years as part of an intensive summer research program for rising high school seniors that is coordinated by the Young Scientist Program at Washington University in St. Louis. The format presented here includes assessments for efficacy through both rubric-based methods and student self-assessment surveys. PMID:26753027

  10. Reading motivation in elementary school students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonja Pečjak

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available Reading motivation is one of the crucial factors of reading and consequently also learning efficiency of students. The purpose of the contribution is to establish the connection between dimensions of reading motivation and reading achievement in elementary school students. Participating in the study were 1073 third-grade and 1282 seventh-grade students. We used the questionnaire of reading motivation which consists of two factors: the reading competence factor and the interest and perceived reading importance factor. The findings of the study are the following: third-graders are more competent and more interested in reading compared to seventh-graders. The same is true for girls in both educational levels. Reading competence , interest and perceived reading importance reflect also in the actual reading behaviour of students – students who are more competent and more interested in reading read more frequently, for longer periods and more often autonomously decide to read compared to their less motivated peers. Higher reading motivation has implications also for higher reading efficiency. Namely, good readers are more competent, show higher interest and perceive reading as more important compared to average and bad readers.

  11. Conditions of lighting in reading-rooms located in public and school libraries in Silesian Voivodeship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena Sitek

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Reading-room is a place where special lighting conditions are required to make the reader feel comfortable and satisfied.. Lighting requirements are enclosed in the Polish Standard PN-EN 12464-1:2004. Accordingly, illuminance in the reading-rooms should be 500 lx. The aim of the study was to measure illuminance in reading-rooms in various libraries and make relative comparisons to standard values. Material and methods: Measurements of illuminance were performed in 22 reading-rooms in Silesia Voivodeship. Half of them were made in public libraries and half in reading-rooms at junior lower high schools. Illuminance was measured in 5 measurement points in reading-rooms by digital lux meter Lx-105 manufactured by Lutron. Furthermore , 100 readers of school libraries and 89 readers of public libraries completed a questionnaire on lighting conditions in these places. Results: Only 5 out of 22 reading-rooms meet the requirements of the Polish Standard concerning illuminance. Only in one reading room at junior lower high school illuminance exceeded 500 lx. In two other reading places the requirements were met due to additional desk lamps. Despite the results, 76.4% of approached readers of public libraries and 60% of pupils think that lighting in readingrooms is satisfactory and almost 63% of the readers and 53% of the pupils don’t demand additional lighting. Conclusions: Most of the scrutinized reading rooms do not meet lighting requirements according to the Polish Standard. Lighting conditions in school libraries are worse than in public libraries. According to the respondents lighting in public libraries is adequate.

  12. Compulsory Book Reading at School and within Leisure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlovic, Slavica

    2015-01-01

    This paper deals with attitudes of secondary school pupils towards compulsory book reading at school, being the integral part of the subject Croat language and literature teaching subject, and its possible impact on their book (not-)reading in their leisure time. It is based on the research carried out through five-point Likert-type scale in…

  13. Reading literacy and reading self-concept of year 6 primary school students

    OpenAIRE

    Cegnar, Katja

    2017-01-01

    In the present Master thesis, we research the relation between the reading literacy and its components and the reading self-concept in grade 6 elementary school students. Sixth grade students were chosen because they are partially taught by class teachers and because we assume that they are already familiar with the reading comprehension technique and have a more-or-less stable reading self-concept. In the theoretical part, we present the importance of functional literacy and of other types o...

  14. A Survey of Secondary School Students' Reading Strategy Use ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A Survey of Secondary School Students' Reading Strategy Use, Teachers' ... Jimma Zone as well as their English teachers' perceived use of reading strategies ... 16 items that deal with the reading strategies they use when they teach reading ...

  15. Lessons learnt: Observation of Grade 4 reading comprehension teaching in South African schools across the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2006 achievement spectrum

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    Lisa Zimmerman

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The evidence of the huge challenges of literacy development faced by South African learners is primarily gleaned from the results of learners’ external assessments. There is little research which explores, in-depth, the strategies used by teachers to teach reading literacy and reading comprehension specifically. Questions remain about what is going wrong and, most importantly,what can be changed to rectify the poor outcomes of learners. To gain insight into the poor achievement of Grade 4 learners, in South Africa in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2006, six case studies were undertaken. Each school case had a different class average achievement profile ranging from low to high on the PIRLS achievement scale.This article presents findings from the observation of Grade 4 reading comprehension lessons in six schools. The comparison of observations of teaching practices aligned to higher achieving schools, against those of lower performing schools, indicates the discrepancies in the quality of teaching reading comprehension across the schools, and reveals potential foci for teacher development. The value of comparative lesson observation for these purposes is highlighted.

  16. 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,…

  17. The Relations among Oral and Silent Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Middle School: Implications for Identification and Instruction of Students with Reading Difficulties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denton, Carolyn A.; Barth, Amy E.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Wexler, Jade; Vaughn, Sharon; Cirino, Paul T.; Romain, Melissa; Francis, David J.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations among oral and silent reading fluency and reading comprehension for students in Grades 6 to 8 (n = 1,421) and the use of fluency scores to identify middle school students who are at risk for failure on a high-stakes reading test. Results indicated moderate positive relations between…

  18. The teaching and learning of reading in Swedish speaking schools in Finland : A study of teachers’ relation to reading in first and second grade in three Swedish speaking schools in Finland.

    OpenAIRE

    Frost, Lena

    2014-01-01

    Finnish student have for several years proved to be successful in reading in international studies. This interview based study aims to describe how teachers in Finnish schools for Swedish speaking children are relating to reading and reading education during the first two years of schooling. The result shows that reading, reading training and reading comprehension are natural elements in all teaching during the first two years in school and that teaching is based on students’ ability and inte...

  19. The Manhattan Project: Combined Resources for a Diversified Secondary School Reading Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ince, Elizabeth; Colwell, Clyde G.

    A secondary school reading program initiated at Manhattan (Kansas) High School and involving the efforts of teachers, students, administrators, members of the board of education, and faculty members of Kansas State University is described in this paper. The first section of the paper provides background information about the program, which…

  20. Reading enjoyment amongst non-leisure readers can affect achievement in secondary school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mol, Suzanne E; Jolles, Jelle

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed to evaluate determinants of differences in leisure reading behavior and school achievement. We specifically examined reading enjoyment, mental imagery, and sex as predictors in a large, age-homogeneous sample of Dutch secondary school students (N = 1,071). Results showed that the prevalence of leisure reading was low in both the lower, pre-vocational track (19.5%) and the higher, pre-academic track (32.5%). Boys read even less than girls. Almost all leisure readers enjoyed reading and engaged in mental imagery, i.e., the propensity "to see images" of a written story in the mind's eye. Overall, boys who did not like to read for leisure had the poorest school performance. Non-leisure readers who reported that they enjoyed reading got higher school grades in the higher educational track. In the lower track, this was the case for girls. Our study findings imply that reading promotion programs should take into account individual differences in sex, achievement level, and reading enjoyment when aiming to decrease the academic achievement gap.

  1. Reading enjoyment amongst non-leisure readers can affect achievement in secondary school

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suzanne E. Mol

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to evaluate determinants of differences in leisure reading behavior and school achievement. We specifically examined reading enjoyment, mental imagery, and sex as predictors in a large, age-homogeneous sample of Dutch secondary school students (N = 1,071. Results showed that the prevalence of leisure reading was low in both the lower, pre-vocational track (19.5% and the higher, pre-academic track (32.5%. Boys read even less than girls. Almost all leisure readers enjoyed reading and engaged in mental imagery, i.e., the propensity ‘to see images’ of a written story in the mind’s eye. Overall, boys who did not like to read for leisure had the poorest school performance. Non-leisure readers who reported that they enjoyed reading got higher school grades in the higher educational track. In the lower track, this was the case for girls. Our study findings imply that reading promotion programs should take into account individual differences in sex, achievement level, and reading enjoyment when aiming to decrease the academic achievement gap.

  2. Reading strategies of primary school pupils in the Czech Republic

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    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.

  3. A Daily Diary Study of Reading Motivation inside and outside of School: A Dynamic Approach to Motivation to Read

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neugebauer, Sabina Rak

    2013-01-01

    Qualitative literacy motivation research increasingly documents students' divergent motivations to read in and outside of the school setting. However, commonly used assessments of literacy motivation do not measure the contribution of in-school and outside-school settings to students' motivation to read. Consequently, quantitative research has not…

  4. The State of Reading in Selected Secondary Schools in Oyo State ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    school are left to the discretion of students. Among the teachers who give attention to reading, we found a majority of them who failed to give students the necessary motivation to strengthen their interest in reading. It was also found out that most school heads contributed to the poor reading culture of the students by their ...

  5. Levelling the Reading Gap: A Socio-spatial Study of School Libraries and Reading in Singapore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loh, Chin Ee

    2016-01-01

    This article takes a comparative socio-spatial approach at the intersection of social class and reading politics to provide a fresh way of examining school reading policies and practices, unearthing previously hidden spaces of inequity for reading intervention. The juxtaposition of two nested case studies in Singapore, one of an elite all-boys'…

  6. The Language Demands of Science Reading in Middle School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Zhihui

    2006-04-01

    The language used to construct knowledge, beliefs, and worldviews in school science is distinct from the social language that students use in their everyday ordinary life. This difference is a major source of reading difficulty for many students, especially struggling readers and English-language learners. This article identifies some of the linguistic challenges involved in reading middle-school science texts and suggests several teaching strategies to help students cope with these challenges. It is argued that explicit attention to the unique language of school science should be an integral part of science literacy pedagogy.

  7. 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…

  8. Confrontation Naming and Reading Abilities at Primary School: A Longitudinal Study

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    Chiara Luoni

    2015-01-01

    naming (i.e., the Boston Naming Test (BNT in a nonclinical sample of Italian primary school children was conducted (n=126, testing them at the end of each school year, to assess nonverbal intelligence, confrontation naming, and reading abilities. Results. Performance on the BNT emerged as a function of IQ and SES. Significant correlations between confrontation naming and reading abilities, especially comprehension, were found; BNT scores correlated better with reading fluency than with reading accuracy. Conclusions. The longitudinal data obtained in this study are discussed with regard to reading abilities, intelligence, age, gender, and socioeconomic status.

  9. An Evaluation of Supplemental Reading Instruction for At-Risk Middle School Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkeley, Sheri; Lindstrom, Jennifer H.; Regan, Kelley; Nealy, Allison; Southall, Candice; Stagliano, Christina

    2012-01-01

    One middle school's implementation of corrective reading was evaluated for student reading outcomes and treatment fidelity. Findings indicated that sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students made progress in decoding and oral reading fluency over the school year; however, students did not demonstrate greater gains during the semester enrolled in…

  10. Bidirectional relations between text reading prosody and reading comprehension in the upper primary school grades: A longitudinal perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the directionality of the relationship between text reading prosody and reading comprehension in the upper grades of primary school. We compared 3 theoretical possibilities: Two unidirectional relations from text reading prosody to reading comprehension and

  11. Is Earlier Better? Mastery of Reading Fluency in Early Schooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Yonghan; Chaparro, Erin A.; Preciado, Jorge; Cummings, Kelli D.

    2015-01-01

    Research Findings: The goal of the present study was to provide empirical evidence for the importance of mastering reading fluency in early schooling. Study participants were 1,322 students in 3rd grade in 42 schools in a northwestern state. These students were assessed using a battery of reading skill tests as well as comprehensive tests of more…

  12. Teacher Perceptions of One-to-One Mobile Devices in Middle School Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Still, Maridale

    2017-01-01

    Middle school reading teachers in a south Texas school district were surveyed to obtain a clearer understanding of one-to-one mobile device usage in the middle school reading classroom specifically regarding collaborative and active learning environments. The theoretical framework reviewed emerging learning theories that have steered effective…

  13. Catch Them Young: Developing and Improving of School Libraries and Reading Habit of Secondary School Students in Nigeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oriogu, Chuks Daniel

    2015-01-01

    Reading habit is a fundamental skill necessary in the life of every student. It is essential in developing a more civilized and knowledgeable society. Therefore, the study investigated reading habit of secondary school students and ways of developing and improving of school libraries in Nigeria. The study reviewed the basis of reading skills,…

  14. [Developmental changes in reading ability of Japanese elementary school children--analysis of 4 kana reading tasks].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Tomoka; Inagaki, Masumi; Gunji, Atsuko; Yatabe, Kiyomi; Kaga, Makiko; Goto, Takaaki; Koike, Toshihide; Wakamiya, Eiji; Koeda, Tatsuya

    2010-01-01

    Five hundred and twenty-eight Japanese elementary school children aged from 6 (Grade 1) to 12 (Grade 6) were tested for their abilities to read Hiragana characters, words, and short sentences. They were typically developing children whom the classroom teachers judged to have no problems with reading and writing in Japanese. Each child was asked to read four tasks which were written in Hiragana script: single mora reading task, four syllable non-word reading task, four syllable word reading task, and short sentence reading task. The total articulation time for reading and performance in terms of accuracy were measured for each task. Developmental changes in these variables were evaluated. The articulation time was significantly longer for the first graders, and it gradually shortened as they moved through to the upper grades in all tasks. The articulation time reached a plateau in the 4th grade for the four syllable word and short sentence reading tasks, while it did so for the single mora and four syllable non-word reading tasks in the 5th grade. The articulation times for the four syllable word and short sentence reading tasks correlated strongly. There were very few clear errors for all tasks, and the number of such errors significantly changed between the school grades only for the single mora and four syllable word reading tasks. It was noted that more than half of the children read the beginning portion of the word or phrase twice or more, in order to read it accurately, and developmental changes were also seen in this pattern of reading. This study revealed that the combination of these reading tasks may function as a screening test for reading disorders such as developmental dyslexia in children below the age of ten or eleven years old.

  15. About the school readings and the new educational demands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aitana Martos García

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This article reviews from a critical point of view the State of the art on the school readings, from their theoretical assumptions to their didactic instrumentation and the views of teachers... In this regard, are reviewed the approaches of different paradigms and authors, whose references and contributions are contrasted with the current cultural crossroads and the perceptions of students and teachers. Classical reading and writing are overwhelmed by concepts such as multialfabetizacion, transmedia, fan fiction, etc, and the school is which should facilitate models integrators and eclectic readings. Also make converge the media and encourage the participation (Jenkins, and all of this without losing the critical literacy as a backdrop.

  16. Reading enjoyment amongst non-leisure readers can affect achievement in secondary school

    OpenAIRE

    Mol, Suzanne E.; Jolles, Jelle

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed to evaluate determinants of differences in leisure reading behavior and school achievement. We specifically examined reading enjoyment, mental imagery, and sex as predictors in a large, age-homogeneous sample of Dutch secondary school students (N = 1,071). Results showed that the prevalence of leisure reading was low in both the lower, pre-vocational track (19.5%) and the higher, pre-academic track (32.5%). Boys read even less than girls. Almost all leisure readers enjoyed re...

  17. Comparison of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Text Previewing and Preteaching Keywords as Small-Group Reading Comprehension Strategies with Middle-School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, Matthew K.; Hodgson, Jennifer; Parker, David C.; Fremont, Kathryn

    2011-01-01

    Reading instruction for middle- and high-school students is focused on vocabulary and comprehension, yet research suggests that comprehension skills among these students are alarmingly low. Small-group reading interventions are becoming more prevalent in schools, but there are few studies regarding small-group reading comprehension interventions.…

  18. Motivating Adolescent Readers: A Middle School Reading Fluency and Prosody Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittington, Marta

    2012-01-01

    Adolescent learners face a complexity of reading content they have never before encountered as they enter middle school and become independent in structuring their own academic frameworks. Some students become disconnected and unmotivated readers as school competes with their multiple reading lives. This study examined the use of choice along with…

  19. Within-Year Changes in Chinese Secondary School Students' Perceived Reading Instruction and Intrinsic Reading Motivation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Kit-ling

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to expand on existing research about motivational change by investigating within-year changes of adolescents' intrinsic reading motivation and perceived reading instruction among students from different grades and achievement levels. Six hundred and ninety five students from 10 secondary schools in Hong Kong voluntarily completed…

  20. 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…

  1. The effects of parental reading socialization and early school involvement on children's academicperformance : a panelstudy of primary school pupils in the Netherlands.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Notten, N.; Tolsma, J.; Kraaykamp, G.; Kloosterman, R.

    2010-01-01

    This study examines the extent to which parental reading socialization and early school involvement account for performance differences between low-status and high-status children in successive primary school grades. It investigates not only the direct effects of these parental practices on

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2000-01-01

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

  3. Causes and consequences of poor reading habit on primary school ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Causes and consequences of poor reading habit on primary school pupils in Enugu urban. ... Moreover, they noticed that poor reading habit negatively affect pupils' educational achievement. The researchers ... AJOL African Journals Online.

  4. The Attitudes of Secondary School Students Toward School And Reading: A Comparison In Terms of Mother Tongue, Gender And Class Level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mustafa Yıldız

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available It is important to determine whether the school attitude of secondary school students has an influence on the reading attitude. For this purpose, such a study was conducted at secondary school level. In addition, the extent to which such variables as mother tongue are determinative in this context has been examined.The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the attitudes of 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade secondary school students toward the school and reading. In addition, the study also examines whether the attitude towards reading and school differs according to gender, class, and mother tongue variables. A total of 513 students (235 females, 278 males attending secondary school in the province of Van in Turkeyparticipated in the research. In the study, Attitude Scale toward Reading developed by Alıcı (2013 is used in order to measure the attitudes of the students towards the school. Additionally, Reading Attitude Scale for Elementary Second Grade Students developed by Özbay and Uyar (2009 isused to measure the students’ attitudes towards reading. According to the results, there is a moderate significant relation between students’ attitudes toward the school and attitudes toward reading. According to the findings obtained from the study,it is seen that the attitudes of female students toward the school are more positive than those of male students. It is concluded that the attitudes of 5th grade students toward the school are more positive than those of the other students. Furthermore, students whose mother tongue is Turkish have more positive reading attitudes than the students whose mother tongue is Kurdish or one of other languages (Arabic, Persian, and so on.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  6. Reading enjoyment amongst non-leisure readers can affect achievement in secondary school

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mol, S.E.; Jolles, J.

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed to evaluate determinants of differences in leisure reading behavior and school achievement. We specifically examined reading enjoyment, mental imagery, and sex as predictors in a large, age-homogeneous sample of Dutch secondary school students (N = 1,071). Results showed that the

  7. Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallagher, Kelly

    2012-01-01

    "Read-i-cide" n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools. Reading is dying in our schools. Educators are familiar with many of the factors that have contributed to the decline--poverty, second-language issues, and the ever-expanding choices of electronic entertainment.…

  8. 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

  9. On the Effects of Motivation on Reading Performance Growth in Secondary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Retelsdorf, Jan; Koller, Olaf; Moller, Jens

    2011-01-01

    This research aimed at identifying unique effects of reading motivation on reading performance when controlling for cognitive skills, familial, and demographic background. We drew upon a longitudinal sample of N = 1508 secondary school students from 5th to 8th grade. Two types of intrinsic reading motivation (reading enjoyment, reading for…

  10. 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) ...

  11. Re-Conceptualizing Extra Help for High School Students in a High Standards Era.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balfanz, Robert; McPartland, James; Shaw, Alta

    The push for higher academic standards has resulted in an increase in the numbers of high school students needing extra help. The need for extra help is most pervasive in high-poverty areas and most high school students need extra help not in traditional basic elementary skills but in reading, mathematics, and advanced reasoning skills. Most…

  12. Systematic Tracking of Malaysian Primary School Students’ ESL Reading Comprehension Performance to Facilitate Instructional Processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Siew Eng

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study was conducted to systematically track and benchmark upper primary school students‟ ESL reading comprehension ability and subsequently generate data at the micro and macro levels according to individual achievement, school location, gender and ethnicity at the school, district, state and national levels. The main intention of this initiative was to provide information to assist ESL teachers about their students‟ reading ability and to determine students' reading comprehension performance standards. The auto generated data is expected to facilitate classroom instructional process without necessitating teachers to prepare test materials or manage data of their students‟ reading comprehension track records. The respondents were 1,514 Year 5 students from urban and rural schools from a district in northern Malaysia. The idea was conceptualised through a series of tests and development of the Reading Evaluation and Decoding System (READS for Primary Schools. The findings indicated that majority of the respondents were „below standard‟ and „at academic warning‟. We believe the generated data can assist the Ministry of Education to develop better quality instructional processes that are evidence based with a more focused reading instruction and reading material to tailor to the needs of students.

  13. Improving 4th Grade Primary School Students' Reading Comprehension Skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bulut, Aydin

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to carry out action research to investigate reading comprehension skills when using the SQ3R reading comprehension strategy. To that end, this strategy was used for improving the reading comprehension skills of 7 primary school 4th grade students who had problems with these skills. An action plan was prepared for 3hours a…

  14. [Effects of reading difficulties on scholastic self-evaluation and mental health in elementary school children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamashita, Toshiya; Hayashi, Takashi

    2014-05-01

    We aimed to examine the effects of reading difficulties on scholastic self-evaluation and mental health in elementary school students. Following guidelines for diagnosing reading disorders in elementary school students, we administered reading test batteries consisting of single sounds, single words, and single sentences to 41 fifth-grade elementary school students in Japan. The students' levels of scholastic self-evaluation, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms were assessed using self-rating questionnaires. By evaluating students' reading speed and the number of reading errors they made, we found that six students (14.6%) had reading difficulties (RD group) as per the guidelines for diagnosing reading disorders. The scholastic self-evaluation scores of this RD group were significantly lower than that of the non-RD group. No significant differences were found between the groups on self-esteem or depressive symptoms scores, which we considered to be indicators of mental health, Speed in reading single sounds and single words, and the number of reading errors in reading single sounds had significant negative correlations with scholastic self-evaluation scores. We found that reading difficulties might result in decreased scholastic self-evaluation in elementary school students; however, reading difficulties did not directly influence self-esteem or depression.

  15. Reorganizing the Instructional Reading Components: Could There Be a Better Way to Design Remedial Reading Programs to Maximize Middle School Students with Reading Disabilities' Response to Treatment?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calhoon, Mary Beth; Sandow, Alexia; Hunter, Charles V.

    2010-01-01

    The primary purpose of this study was to explore if there could be a more beneficial method in organizing the individual instructional reading components (phonological decoding, spelling, fluency, and reading comprehension) within a remedial reading program to increase sensitivity to instruction for middle school students with reading disabilities…

  16. The effects of parental reading socialization and early school involvement on children's academic performance: A panel study of primary school pupils in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kloosterman, J.G.; Notten, N.J.W.R.; Tolsma, J.; Kraaykamp, G.L.M.

    2011-01-01

    This study examines the extent to which parental reading socialization and early school involvement account for performance differences between low-status and high-status children in successive primary school grades. It investigates not only the direct effects of these parental practices on

  17. The effects of parental reading socialization and early school involvement on children's academic performance: a panel study of primary school pupils in the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kloostermann, R.; Notten, N.; Tolsma, J.; Kraaykamp, G.

    2011-01-01

    This study examines the extent to which parental reading socialization and early school involvement account for performance differences between low-status and high-status children in successive primary school grades. It investigates not only the direct effects of these parental practices on

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

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

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

  19. The Contributions of a Hispanic Immigrant Home Reading Practices to A Child’s Bilingual Reading Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ángela María López-Velásquez

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The characteristics of the Spanish home reading practices of a US immigrant Hispanic household are studied highlighting the many connections existing between the reading practices at home and at school. This longitudinal study explores how the home and school L1 reading instruction contributed to a first-grader’s initial steps towards reading in English or biliteracy. Details of Natalia ́s reading in Spanish at home and at school are presented and the relationships between the reading practices in both contexts are documented.The findings in this study remind us of the importance of strong native language literacy foundations and of the role that both home and school play in fostering high literacy levels among children.

  20. School Effects, Gender and Socioeconomic Differences in Reading Performance: A Multilevel Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shera, Perparim

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics of Albanian secondary schools, which are associated with reading achievement and the effects of gender and socio-economic status on reading performance of 15-year-old students. This study used data on the background and achievement of 4,596 students in 181 Albanian schools from the 2009…

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

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    Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh

    2016-10-01

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

  2. A Study of School Size among Alabama’s Public High Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald A. Lindahl

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the size of Alabama’s public high schools, selected school quality and financial indicators, and their students’ performance on standardized exams. When the socioeconomic level of the student bodies is held constant, the size of high schools in Alabama has relatively little relationship with 11th grade student (both regular and special education performance on the reading and math portions of the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE. High schools’ average daily attendance rates and pupil-to-computer (and computer with Internet connections ratios do not vary in accordance with school size. Higher percentages of highly qualified teachers are found in Alabama’s largest high schools. There was very little difference in the percentage of teachers with a master’s degree or above across school size categories. Very little difference exists across size categories in regard to mean expenditures per pupil (range = $7,322 to $7,829. However, districts of the large high schools exert over twice the effort of those with small high schools (3.2 mills to 1.5 mills and approximately 50 percent greater local effort than the districts of the medium-size high schools.

  3. 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…

  4. Early language mediates the relations between preschool inattention and school-age reading achievement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, Sarah; Thornton, Veronica; Marks, David J; Rajendran, Khushmand; Halperin, Jeffrey M

    2016-05-01

    Early inattention is associated with later reading problems in children, but the mechanism by which this occurs is unclear. We investigated whether the negative relation between preschoolers' ADHD symptoms and 8-year-old reading achievement is directly related to the severity of inattention or is mediated by early language skills. Children (n = 150; 76% boys) were evaluated at 3 time points: preschool (T1), mean (SD) age = 4.24 (.49) years; 1 year later (T2), mean (SD) age = 5.28 (.50) years; and during school age (T3), mean (SD) age = 8.61 (.31) years. At T1, parents' Kiddie-SADS responses were dimensionalized to reflect ADHD severity. Children completed the Language domain of the NEPSY (i.e., A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment) at T1 and again at T2. At T3, children completed the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Second Edition Word Reading, Pseudoword Decoding, Reading Comprehension, and Spelling subtests, and their teachers completed ratings of Reading and Written Expression performance in school. The mediating effect of T2 Language on the relation between preschool Inattention and age 8 Reading was examined using the nonparametric bootstrapping procedure, while controlling for T1 Language. Language ability at T2 mediated the path from preschool inattention (but not hyperactivity/impulsivity) to 8-year-old reading achievement (both test scores and ratings) after controlling for preschoolers' language ability. Early attentional deficits may negatively impact school-age reading outcomes by compromising the development of language skills, which in turn imperils later reading achievement. Screening children with attentional problems for language impairment, as well as implementing early intervention for both attentional and language problems may be critical to promote reading achievement during school years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Middle School Students' Perceptions of Their Interests in Reading as Defined by Engagement and Social Interaction When Using Sustained Silent Reading, SSR, and Peer Interests Reading Strategies, PIRS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ware, Regina J.

    2012-01-01

    Alarming statistics report that middle school students are not reading as much as they should be reading. This study is an examination of two interventions that were incorporated into the regular curriculum to determine if these two reading interventions would encourage this researcher's students to read more. The "Nation's Report Card"…

  6. Resources and instructional strategies effective middle school science teachers use to improve content area reading skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaver, Melanie S.

    This study examined the resources and instructional strategies effective middle school science teachers use to improve content area reading skills. Reading instruction in the middle school years should follow the natural cognitive progression that occurs in the adolescent brain from learning to read to reading to learn. Scientific reading is a different type of reading than most middle school students are accustomed to. It is important to understand that students will continue to be expected to read non-fiction critically for success in the 21st century. Effective teachers know this, and they perceive themselves as teachers of reading regardless of the content area in which their expertise lies. This qualitative research study was conducted at a rural middle school with three science teachers who employ before, during, and after literacy strategies when reading the textbook content with their students. The methodologies used in this study were interviews, observations, and document collection. The results of this study revealed the students' reading difficulties perceived by the teacher participants, the literacy strategies used by the teacher participants, the instructional resources the teacher participants used to improve comprehension, and the need for professional development in content area literacy.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Ho-Ryong; Kim, Deoksoon

    2016-01-01

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

  8. Power Plan: High School Fine-Tunes Instruction to Build Reading Strength and Stamina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy

    2016-01-01

    The following comment was inspired by an English teacher at Health Sciences High & Middle College in San Diego, California: "There's still a question on the table. How can we get our students to read more and better? They read what they have to, and they're doing OK, but how do we ensure that they are ready for what comes after high…

  9. Elementary School Math Instruction: Can Reading Specialists Assist?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heinrichs, Audrey S.

    1987-01-01

    Discusses the contradictions found in recommendations for direction instruction or informal math language development, and some suggestions for practical resolution of disagreements, to enable school reading specialists to provide both background and practical help to classroom instructors teaching math. (HTH)

  10. The Elementary School Students’ Mathematical Problem Solving Based on Reading Abilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wulandari, R. D.; Lukito, A.; Khabibah, S.

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this research is to describe the third grade of elementary school students’ mathematical problem in solving skills based on their reading abilities. This research is a descriptive research with qualitative approach. This research was conducted at elementary school Kebraon II Surabaya in second semester of 2016-2017 academic years. The participants of this research consist of third grade students with different reading abilities that are independent level, instructional level and frustration level. The participants of this research were selected with purposive sampling technique. The data of this study were collected using reading the narration texts, the Ekwall and Shanker Informal Reading Inventory, problem solving task and interview guidelines. The collected data were evaluated using a descriptive analysis method. Once the study had been completed, it was concluded that problem solving skills varied according to reading abilities, student with independent level and instructional level can solve the problem and students with frustration level can’t solve the problem because they can’t interpret the problem well.

  11. To What Extent Does Hong Kong Primary School Students' Chinese Reading Comprehension Benefit from After-School Private Tuition?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tse, Shek Kam

    2014-01-01

    The reading attainment of the 3,875 primary 4 Hong Kong primary school students participating in the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study ranked first among 49 countries and regions surveyed worldwide. Analysis of the association between (a) participating students' reading attainment and (b) responses to questionnaires completed…

  12. [Deficits in reading acquisition in primary school: cognitive, social and behavioral factors studied in a sample of 1062 children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Billard, C; Fluss, J; Ducot, B; Bricout, L; Richard, G; Ecalle, J; Magnan, A; Warszawski, J; Ziegler, J

    2009-06-01

    Reading impairment is the major learning disability in children. While research on illiteracy has mainly been conducted from a sociological perspective, research on dyslexia has typically been studied from a cognitive-linguistic perspective. Studies that jointly investigate sociological, behavioral and cognitive factors in predicting reading outcome are rare and limited to English-speaking populations. The goal of the present study was to screen second grade children with reading impairment in French urban elementary schools and to pin down the factors that explain the various facets of reading failure and success. A total of 1062 children from 20 different schools in the city of Paris participated in the study. Different aspects of reading were assessed individually for children with a suspected impairment in reading acquisition. Subsequently, 131 poor readers and 50 typically developing readers were matched for sex, age, and school. For these children, medical, cognitive, behavioral and individual socioeconomic data were obtained. Group differences were examined and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine how much variance in reading was explained by the various variables. The prevalence of poor reading skills in grade 2 was highly influenced by neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) (ranging from 3.3% in high SES to 20.5% in low SES areas). Among the SES variables, employment of the father was a significant predictor of poor reading. Among the cognitive variables, phonological awareness and rapid naming were the most significant factors, much more than verbal or nonverbal intelligence. Among the behavioral variables, attention was an important factor but not externalized symptoms. Multiple regression analyses showed that reading outcome was best predicted by phonological awareness skills and attention deficits. The majority of children with reading disability come from low SES areas. As in the English literature, the most robust predictor for

  13. Portuguese School Libraries Evaluation Model: An Analysis of Primary Schools' Results for the "Reading and Literacy" Domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martins, Jorge Tiago; Martins, Rosa Maria

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports the implementation results of the Portuguese School Libraries Evaluation Model, more specifically the results of primary schools self-evaluation of their libraries' reading promotion and information literacy development activities. School libraries that rated their performance as either "Excellent" or "Poor"…

  14. Reading comprehension in South African schools: Are teachers getting it, and getting it right?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pretorius, Elizabeth J.

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Much research exists about South African learners’ low literacy and numeracy levels and about poorly performing schools. In contrast, there are far fewer detailed descriptions of instructional practices and what teachers are actually doing in their classrooms, and far less evidence exists of in-depth research attempts to understand in what way and why teachers may experience problems with the teaching of reading literacy, particularly reading comprehension. This article aims to contribute to narrowing that gap by reviewing recent South African research on classroom comprehension instruction and obtaining information from teachers about how they perceive themselves as readers, what their teaching context is, what they claim to be doing about reading in their classrooms, and to match these responses with ANA results at their schools. Data were obtained through a quantitative questionnaire from 159 teachers at 30 schools across three provinces. The results show that many teachers are not themselves immersed in rich reading practices, many teachers claim to be doing more than is reflected in their schools’ literacy results, and in general teachers don’t seem to have a clear understanding of reading concepts, reading development and reading methodology.

  15. The Influence of Personalization of Online Texts on Elementary School Students' Reading Comprehension and Attitudes toward Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ertem, Ihsan Seyit

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this research was to examine the role of personalized and non-personalized online texts on elementary school fifth grade students' comprehension and their attitudes toward reading. Participants were 47 fifth-grade students from a rural elementary school in north Florida. The subjects were randomly assigned into two (personalized…

  16. The association between arithmetic and reading performance in school: A meta-analytic study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singer, Vivian; Strasser, Kathernie

    2017-12-01

    Many studies of school achievement find a significant association between reading and arithmetic achievement. The magnitude of the association varies widely across the studies, but the sources of this variation have not been identified. The purpose of this paper is to examine the magnitude and determinants of the relation between arithmetic and reading performance during elementary and middle school years. We meta-analyzed 210 correlations between math and reading measures, coming from 68 independent samples (the overall sample size was 58923 participants). The meta-analysis yielded an average correlation of 0.55 between math and reading measures. Among the moderators tested, only transparency of orthography and use of timed or untimed tests were significant in explaining the size of the correlation, with the largest correlations observed between timed measures of arithmetic and reading and between math and reading in opaque orthographies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  17. Reading and Love: Encouraging Love of Reading at Home and School: Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Reading (6th, Mangilao, Guam, January 18, 1986).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cotton, Eileen G., Ed.

    Representing the expertise of university education professors and public school teachers, the articles in these proceedings focus on encouraging reading and fostering lifelong reading habits. Titles of the papers and their authors are as follows: (1) "Television and Books: Friends or Foes" (Jeannetta H. Caplan); (2) "Encouraging the…

  18. The Reading Problem in Urban Schools: Who Has It and What Has Been Done About It?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Strat, Georgena

    Identification of ingredients of successful urban reading programs in order to effect an increase in reading achievement in urban schools is the purpose of this paper. An historical-sociological framework is established. Pertinent literature which seeks to explain the causes of reading failure in urban schools is reviewed. Among the topics…

  19. EFL reading goals of grade 11 students across public and non-public schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tekle Ferede

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the EFL reading goals of Grade 11 students across public and non-public schools in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. To this end, quantitative data were collected from 556 (375 public and 181 non-public students via pre-tested structured questionnaire and analyzed into means, medians, standard deviations, ranges and Mann-Whitney U test scores. The results show that non-public school students were found better than public school students in possessing components of both extrinsic and intrinsic goals for reading. The notable exception in this regard is that public school students had higher social motivation for reading than their non-public school counterparts. Based on this finding, it has been concluded that non-public school students have a better chance of evolving as persistent self-initiated EFL readers since they have various goals which urge them to engage in reading a range of texts. It is thus recommended that English language teachers in public schools should constantly take actions to enable their students to develop appropriate EFL reading goals.

  20. 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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  2. Promoting Elementary School Students' Autonomous Reading Motivation: Effects of a Teacher Professional Development Workshop

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Naeghel, Jessie; Van Keer, Hilde; Vansteenkiste, Maarten; Haerens, Leen; Aelterman, Nathalie

    2016-01-01

    Responding to the declining trend in reading motivation in and beyond the elementary school years, the authors aimed to enhance late-elementary school students' autonomous reading motivation. Toward this end, the authors evaluated the influence of a teacher professional development grounded in self-determination theory on fifth-grade students' (n…

  3. Reading Skills of Students With Speech Sound Disorders at Three Stages of Literacy Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skebo, Crysten M.; Lewis, Barbara A.; Freebairn, Lisa A.; Tag, Jessica; Ciesla, Allison Avrich; Stein, Catherine M.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose The relationship between phonological awareness, overall language, vocabulary, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills to decoding and reading comprehension was examined for students at 3 stages of literacy development (i.e., early elementary school, middle school, and high school). Students with histories of speech sound disorders (SSD) with and without language impairment (LI) were compared to students without histories of SSD or LI (typical language; TL). Method In a cross-sectional design, students ages 7;0 (years; months) to 17;9 completed tests that measured reading, language, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills. Results For the TL group, phonological awareness predicted decoding at early elementary school, and overall language predicted reading comprehension at early elementary school and both decoding and reading comprehension at middle school and high school. For the SSD-only group, vocabulary predicted both decoding and reading comprehension at early elementary school, and overall language predicted both decoding and reading comprehension at middle school and decoding at high school. For the SSD and LI group, overall language predicted decoding at all 3 literacy stages and reading comprehension at early elementary school and middle school, and vocabulary predicted reading comprehension at high school. Conclusion Although similar skills contribute to reading across the age span, the relative importance of these skills changes with children’s literacy stages. PMID:23833280

  4. Effect of the SQ4R Technique on the Reading Comprehension of Elementary School 4th Grade Elementary School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basar, Murat; Gürbüz, Mehmet

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study is to examine the effect of SQ4R (Survey, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, Review) technique of the reading comprehension ability of elementary school 4th grade students. The sampling was constituted by 57 students from two different branches of the Ataturk Elementary School in the center of Usak region during the 2nd…

  5. Elementary girls' science reading at home and school

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, Danielle J.; Brickhouse, Nancy W.; Lottero-Perdue, Pamela; Kittleson, Julie

    2006-03-01

    Although reading is a critical part of science and science learning, it is no longer a part of many children's elementary science instruction. This is of concern because girls often develop strong identities as readers, but do not develop scientific identities with ease. In this study, we investigate girls' science reading to know (1) if science books were available to girls in homes and classrooms, (2) if girls were choosing to read them, and (3) what influences their choices. Forty-five third-grade girls, 29 of their families, and three of their teachers were interviewed to ascertain girls' preferences among various book genres, as well as to learn the ways in which families and teachers influence the choices girls make. We found that girls had access to science books at school, and teachers had strategies to encourage reading them. At home, parents encouraged reading, but were generally less directive than teachers as to what the girls read, and underestimated their daughters' science-related interests. The families studied rely largely on major bookstores as their primary source of books. Our findings suggest we need to understand better the way gender influences girls' engagement with science in a variety of contexts, particularly those in which girls exercise choice.

  6. Reviewing published information on reading in Botswana secondary schools

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    Lone E. Ketsitlile

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this review on published information on reading in Botswana schools is to seek ways of providing instruction and assessment that result in children becoming proficient readers. Botswana has made impressive progress in literacy growth since independence. However, a lot still needs to be done if literacy is to become all that it needs to be in the lives of the youth. One conclusion from this review is that there is an urgent need in Botswana to teach reading in ways that meet the needs of all students, especially those from Khoesan-speaking backgrounds. There is also a clear mismatch between policy and practice in the teaching of reading and this greatly disadvantages the students. Two important recommendations emanating from this review are, firstly, the teaching of reading should be linked more explicitly to that of writing; secondly, the Ministry of Education and concerned stakeholders need to encourage a marriage of policy and practice in the teaching of reading in Botswana.

  7. Possible relationships between literacy-based instructional coaching and effects on high school teachers' self-efficacy and attitudes toward teaching reading in the content areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Jessica Lynn

    Grounded in the Theory of Self-Efficacy and the Theory of Reasoned Action, this quantitative, correlational study examined if participation in literacy-based instructional coaching (one-on-one, small group) predicted both high school teachers' self-efficacy as measured by the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale and teachers' attitudes toward teaching reading in the content areas measured by the Scale to Measure Attitudes Toward Teaching Reading in Content Classrooms. This study utilized a convenience sample of content teachers from three high schools in Northeastern Pennsylvania participating in a literacy coaching initiative. The volunteer sample of teachers completed the Likert-type questionnaires. The study used hierarchical regression analysis to determine values for each block of the regression models. The study correlated instances of literacy-based instructional coaching (one-on-one, small group) with the scores on the SMATTRCC and the TSES to examine predictive validity. Gender, years of experience, and content area were control variables in this study. The results of the first model indicated that there was a significant relationship between the number of coaching instances and attitudes toward teaching reading in the content area with participation in instructional coaching accounting for 9.6% of the variance in scores on the SMATTRCC. The results of the second model indicated that there was a significant relationship between the number of coaching instances and teachers' self-efficacy with participation in instructional coaching accounting for 6.1% of the variance in scores on the TSES.

  8. Reading and Teaching the Novel, Volume 3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Roslyn M., Ed.

    This volume on reading and teaching the novel contains six articles: "Close Reading: The Novel in the Senior School" by S. E. Lee discusses the advantages of rereading and analytical reading in high school; "Teaching 'The Great Gatsby'" by David Mallick discusses the difficulties of teaching this novel and provides a lesson plan; "The Operation of…

  9. Evaluating the Portuguese National Reading Plan: Teachers' Perceptions on the Impact in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Costa, António Firmino; Pegado, Elsa; Ávila, Patrícia; Coelho, Ana Rita

    2015-01-01

    This article focuses on teachers' perceptions of the implementation and impact in Portuguese schools of a wide-ranging and long-term reading promotion programme. The Portuguese National Reading Plan (PNRP) was a public policy initiative whose purpose was to increase literacy levels and reading habits among the population. The Plan identified…

  10. A Case Study: Reading Strategies Training Scheme in a Hong Kong Primary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ho Cheung

    2017-01-01

    This article describes a case study on a reading programme, named Reading Strategies Training Scheme (RSTS), for second language learning in a Hong Kong primary (elementary) school. The scheme, serving learners of English as a second language from Primary One to Six (ages 6--12), was developed by the school's English teaching team. As it was being…

  11. Using the Delphi questionnaire technique to create a reading comprehension resource guide for middle school science teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wegner, Molly F.

    As students begin middle school, they are expected to possess and apply a wide array of nonfiction reading strategies if they are to comprehend new concepts from nonfiction texts. Although strategies and resource guides for fiction reading are available, an effective nonfiction reading comprehension resource guide tailored to middle school science teachers is lacking. The conceptual framework guiding this study is based on schema theory that supports the use of prior knowledge as a foundation for learning. The purpose of this project study was to address this local problem by providing middle school science teachers with a user-friendly resource for nonfiction reading comprehension strategies in a science context. The research question examined nonfiction reading comprehension strategies that could supplement middle school science teachers' instructional practices to increase student comprehension in science, as reflected on the results of state standardized tests. This project study consulted science and language arts teachers using a Delphi questionnaire technique to achieve a consensus through multiple iterations of questionnaires. Science teachers identified 7 areas of concern as students read nonfiction texts, and language arts teachers suggested effective reading comprehension strategies to address these areas. Based on the consensus of reading comprehension strategies and review of literature, a resource guide for middle school science teachers was created. By improving reading comprehension in content areas, teachers may not only increase student learning, but also underscore the importance of literacy relating to life-long learning through future occupations, academic endeavors, and society as well.

  12. Indiana Third Grade Reading ISTEP+ Scores Comparisons in a Public Elementary School to a Public Elementary Charter School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, Cassandra D.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference with student achievement at third grade in reading with a traditional public school as compared to a public charter school; both schools were a part of the Southwest Region School Corporation. This quasi-experimental study compared third grade ISTEP+ scale scores in…

  13. Teaching Reading with Puppets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Ruth

    The use of traditional stories in American Indian language programs connects students' reading to their lives and familiarizes learners with the rhythms of the oral language. Puppet performances are one way of connecting reading programs to the Native oral tradition. A high school reading lesson in a first-year Hupa language class uses many…

  14. Literature Discussion: Encouraging Reading Interest and Comprehension in Struggling Middle School Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pittman, Pamela; Honchell, Barbara

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how literature discussion affects middle school struggling readers. The focus was on 16 middle school struggling readers in a rural Title I school in the southeastern United States. Findings indicated that (a) literature discussion increased student enjoyment of reading, and (b) students…

  15. Reading Performance Profile of Children with Dyslexia in Primary and Secondary School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balci, Emine; Çayir, Aybala

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of the present research was to provide information to the community about the reading subskill profiles of children with dyslexia in primary and secondary school students. 175 children (aged 7-15 yrs) were examined on a varied set of phonological coding, spelling and fluent reading tasks. For this purpose, students' fluent reading were…

  16. Reading Strategies among ESL Malaysian Secondary School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semtin, Semry Anak; Maniam, Mahendran

    2015-01-01

    This study aimed to investigate the types of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies employed by secondary school students in Malaysia to improve their comprehension. The study employed a mixed-method approach which involves the instruments of a questionnaire and an interview. This study was conducted at SMK Kapit, involving ninety Form 4…

  17. Primary School Pre-Service Teachers' Self-Assessed Competency Level of Teaching How to Read in Turkey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çayir, Aybala

    2017-01-01

    Learning to read is an important step for a child's academic and social success. Meaningful and fluent reading skills are linked to children's progress in their thinking and criticizing abilities. The knowledge and skills required for effective reading are initially taught in primary schools. The main responsibility of primary school teachers' is…

  18. Pathway to Graduation: A Pilot Reading Project for Middle School Students during the Summer Months

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hilsmier, Amanda Strong; Wood, Patricia F.; Wirt, Susan; McTamney, Diane; Malone, Mary Beth; Milstead, Becky

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to outline the implementation of a summer reading project targeted at middle school students with identified reading deficits and behavioral concerns called Pathway to Graduation (PTG). The project was a collaborative process between a school district, local university, and department of mental health. The students…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  20. 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

  1. The Impact of Social Influences on High School Students' Recreational Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merga, Margaret Kristin; Moon, Brian

    2016-01-01

    Aliteracy, the state in which the skill to read has been acquired, but not the will, is a growing concern in research on adolescence internationally. The West Australian Study in Adolescent Book Reading (WASABR) aimed to discover current attitudes toward and levels of engagement in recreational book reading among 520 adolescent students from 20…

  2. How One Elementary School Uses Data to Help Raise Students' Reading Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokhtari, Kouider; Thoma, Jennifer; Edwards, Patricia

    2009-01-01

    In this column, we share the collective reflections of a group of teachers and a school administrator in one Midwestern elementary school, which highlight the value of using data collaboratively to bring about instructional change and to improve student reading achievement.

  3. Multiple aspects of high school students' strategic processing on reading outcomes: The role of quantity, quality, and conjunctive strategy use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parkinson, Meghan M; Dinsmore, Daniel L

    2018-03-01

    While the literature on strategy use is relatively mature, measures of strategy use overwhelmingly measure only one aspect of that use, frequency, when relating that strategy use to performance outcomes. While this might be one important attribute of strategy use, there is increasing evidence that quality and conditional use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies may also be important. This study examines how multiple aspects of strategy use, namely frequency, quality, and conjunctive use of strategies, influence task performance on both well- and ill-structured task outcomes in addition to other concomitant variables that may interact with strategic processing during reading. The sample consisted of 21 high school students enrolled in an upper-level biology class in a suburban school in the north-eastern United States. These participants completed measures of prior knowledge and interest, then read either an expository or persuasive text while thinking aloud. They then completed a passage recall and open-ended response following passage completion. In general, quantity was not positively related to the study outcomes and was negatively related to one of them. Quality of strategy use, on the other hand, was consistently related to positive reading outcomes. The influence of knowledge and interest in terms of strategies is also discussed as well as six cases which illustrate the relation of aspects of strategy use and the other concomitant variables. Evaluating strategy use by solely examining the frequency of strategy use did not explain differences in task performance as well as evaluating the quality and conjunctive use of strategies. Further, important relations between prior knowledge, interest, and the task outcomes appeared to be mediated and moderated by the aspects of strategy use investigated. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

  4. What Makes Elementary School Students Read in Their Leisure Time? Development of a Comprehensive Questionnaire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schüller, Elisabeth M.; Birnbaum, Lisa; Kröner, Stephan

    2017-01-01

    Why should children read in their leisure time? Reading may contribute to the acquisition of reading literacy and may foster integral human development. However, there has been a scarcity of research on determinants of leisure time reading among elementary school students, especially regarding environmental aspects. In this article, the authors…

  5. Effects of Reading Skills on Students’ Performance in Science and Mathematics in Public and Private Secondary Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ombra A. Imam

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available In the Philippine education system, reading, mathematics, and science formed part of the core areas of basic education curriculum. For the last decade, the quality of Philippine education was put into a big question due to poor performance of students in mathematics and science tests both local and abroad. The initial result of current efforts of the government by adopting K-12 curriculum didn’t do much to change the status quo. The purpose of this study is to determine the reading predictors of students’ performance in Mathematics and Science and identify its effects to such performance. A total of 660 freshmen students from public and private high schools in Cotabato City, Philippines were taken as sample. A validated and reliable 150-item test in reading comprehension skills, mathematics and science was used to get primary data to perform correlation and regression analysis. Findings showed that only making inference and getting main idea were predictors of mathematics performance of students in public school and private schools, respectively.  Data analysis also revealed that two reading skills such as noting details and making inference had an influence on science performance of students in public school while skills in getting main idea and drawing conclusion influenced science performance of students in private schools.  However, there was only one skill such as vocabulary in context which was predictor of overall science performance of all students. Moreover, separate effects of making inference, identifying main idea explained only 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent of students’ math performance while their combined effects provided only .1 percent or nearly zero percent. Furthermore, the study found out that separate effects of noting details contributed 3.3 percent and its combined effects with making inference explained 4.2 percent of science performance of students in public schools. In terms of effects of reading to science

  6. Every Day We're Shufflin': Empowering Students during In-School Independent Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Katrina W.; Hedrick, Wanda B.; Williams, Lunetta M.

    2014-01-01

    Research in the field of literacy has identified choice as a key component affecting students' reading habits and their resulting literacy growth. This article discusses an in-school independent reading project in which students are provided the freedom to choose books, use ambient music, and engage in book talks. The children showed increased…

  7. A Study of Reading Motivation Techniques with Primary Elementary School Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burlew, Whitney; Gordon, Tracy; Holst, Charla; Smith, Cathy; Ward, Judi; Wheeler, Karen

    This report describes strategies for increasing levels of interest in reading for enjoyment. The targeted population consisted of first, second, and third grade students in three elementary school districts. The schools were located in middle class and affluent suburban communities of a large city in the Midwest. The problem of lack of interest in…

  8. The Use of EFL Reading Strategies among High School Students in Taiwan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Kate Tzu-Ching; Chen, Sabina Chia-Li

    2015-01-01

    In the traditional English l language classroom, reading is the skill that receives the most emphasis (Susser & Rob, 1990). Learners should use reading strategies to plan how to read and to enhance their reading comprehension (Poole, 2010). The purpose of this study was to explore the use of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading…

  9. Influence of Prior Knowledge Questions on Pupils’ Performance in Reading Comprehension in Primary Schools in Kaduna, Nigeria

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    Hanna Onyi Yusuf

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study was carried out to determine the influence of prior knowledge questions on pupils’ performance in reading comprehension in primary schools in Kaduna, Nigeria. Two schools were used for the study. Ungwar Dosa primary school was used as the experimental school while Ungwar Rimi primary school was used as the control school. Thirty (30 primary five pupils from each of the two schools were used for the study. A total of sixty pupils were used for the study. A pre-test was administered on both groups of pupils before the commencement of teaching. A post-test was administered after six weeks of teaching. Data was analysed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The findings revealed significant difference in the performance of pupils taught reading comprehension using prior knowledge questions. Based on the findings, teachers are encouraged among others, to use prior knowledge questions to motivate and stimulate pupils to use their relevant background knowledge to interpret and understand new information in their reading comprehension texts. Curriculum planners and textbook writers are encouraged to include prior knowledge questions as part of the activities pupils should be exposed to during reading comprehension lessons.

  10. Modeling the Influences of Upper-Elementary School Students' Digital Reading Literacy, Socioeconomic Factors, and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shin-Feng

    2017-01-01

    Background: Reading is an interactive and constructive process of making meaning by engaging a variety of materials and sources and by participating in reading communities at school or in daily life. Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the factors affecting digital reading literacy among upper-elementary school students. Method: A…

  11. Reading Strategy Guides to Assist Middle School Educators of Students with Dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nichols-Yehling, M.; Strohl, C.

    2014-07-01

    According to the 2010 International Dyslexia Association publication, “Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading,” effective instruction is the key to addressing students' reading difficulties associated with dyslexia, a language-based disorder of learning to read and write. “Informed and effective classroom instruction. . . can prevent or at least effectively address and limit the severity of reading and writing problems.” The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission Education and Public Outreach program recently funded the development of six strategy guides for teachers of middle school students with reading difficulties, especially dyslexia. These guides utilize space science-themed reading materials developed by the Great Exploration in Math and Science (GEMS), including the IBEX-funded GEMS Space Science Sequence (Grades 6-8). The aforementioned reading strategy guides are now available on the IBEX mission website.

  12. Fostering Literacy Learning with Three Middle School Special-Education Students Using Therapy Dogs as Reading Partners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamkin, Donna

    2017-01-01

    This case study explored dog-assisted reading with three middle-school special education students in a self-contained alternative school. Data collection conducted over a 15-month period included observations, interviews, and artifacts. In this study, reading with therapy dogs and their handlers, helped three adolescent readers with their reading…

  13. The Impact of Gender, Socioeconomic Status and Home Language on Primary School Children's Reading Comprehension in KwaZulu-Natal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Völkel, Gabriela; Seabi, Joseph; Cockcroft, Kate; Goldschagg, Paul

    2016-03-15

    The current study constituted part of a larger, longitudinal, South African-based study, namely, The Road and Aircraft Noise Exposure on Children's Cognition and Health (RANCH-South Africa). In the context of a multicultural South Africa and varying demographic variables thereof, this study sought to investigate and describe the effects of gender, socioeconomic status and home language on primary school children's reading comprehension in KwaZulu-Natal. In total, 834 learners across 5 public schools in the KwaZulu-Natal province participated in the study. A biographical questionnaire was used to obtain biographical data relevant to this study, and the Suffolk Reading Scale 2 (SRS2) was used to obtain reading comprehension scores. The findings revealed that there was no statistical difference between males and females on reading comprehension scores. In terms of socioeconomic status (SES), learners from a low socioeconomic background performed significantly better than those from a high socioeconomic background. English as a First Language (EL1) speakers had a higher mean reading comprehension score than speakers who spoke English as an Additional Language (EAL). Reading comprehension is indeed affected by a variety of variables, most notably that of language proficiency. The tool to measure reading comprehension needs to be standardized and administered in more than one language, which will ensure increased reliability and validity of reading comprehension scores.

  14. Genome-Wide Polygenic Scores Predict Reading Performance Throughout the School Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selzam, Saskia; Dale, Philip S; Wagner, Richard K; DeFries, John C; Cederlöf, Martin; O'Reilly, Paul F; Krapohl, Eva; Plomin, Robert

    2017-07-04

    It is now possible to create individual-specific genetic scores, called genome-wide polygenic scores (GPS). We used a GPS for years of education ( EduYears ) to predict reading performance assessed at UK National Curriculum Key Stages 1 (age 7), 2 (age 12) and 3 (age 14) and on reading tests administered at ages 7 and 12 in a UK sample of 5,825 unrelated individuals. EduYears GPS accounts for up to 5% of the variance in reading performance at age 14. GPS predictions remained significant after accounting for general cognitive ability and family socioeconomic status. Reading performance of children in the lowest and highest 12.5% of the EduYears GPS distribution differed by a mean growth in reading ability of approximately two school years. It seems certain that polygenic scores will be used to predict strengths and weaknesses in education.

  15. The Impact of Multimodal Texts on Reading Achievement: A Study of Iranian Secondary School Learners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bahareh Baharani

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This study was designed to investigate the impact of multimodal text on reading comprehension test performance of Iranian intermediate learners. A total of 80 students participated in this study. All of them were Iranian female EFL learners with the age ranging from 16 to 18. They were selected from a boarding high school in Nasr Abad, Torbat Jam in Khorasan e Razavi, Iran. The students were randomly settled in four groups, who received different instructional approaches through using linear texts, multimodal printed texts, non-printed multimodal texts, and both multimodal printed and non-printed texts.  A pre-test and post-test were used to find out the differences before and after the experimental treatment.  The results reflected that the printed and non-printed multimodal texts had significant impact on reading comprehension test performance. In contrast, applying linear texts or traditional texts did not exert significant influence on reading comprehension ability of the participants. The findings provide useful hints for language instructors to improve effectiveness of instructional reading curriculums and reading ability of language learners. The participants who learned reading comprehension through using multimodal printed and non-printed texts enjoy reading programs and develop their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for improving reading ability.

  16. 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…

  17. The Development of Adolescent Online Reading Literacy Assessments

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    Kuei-Lin Chang

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available By adopting the constructs of reading literacy and with the use of information and communication technology, the purpose of this study is to develop two adolescent online reading literacy assessments (ORLA and examine the preliminary validity of ORLA. In addition, samples of online reading literacy performance are described. The design of ORLA is based on PISA electronic reading assessment framework and Leu et al. (2004’s online reading comprehension definition. A total of 601 eighth graders from junior high schools and 618 tenth graders from senior high schools in Taiwan City participated in this study. This study uses Rasch IRT model to calibrate the item parameter and scale scores. The results indicated: the online reading literacy assessments had adequate difficulty level, reasonable validity evidences, and students’ online reading literacy performance contains ICT element which is different from offline reading; the gender effect exists in the online reading environment by grades.

  18. Vocabulary Growth and Reading Development across the Elementary School Years [Introduction to Special Issue

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van; Vermeer, A.R.

    2011-01-01

    The associations between vocabulary growth and reading development were examined longitudinally for a representative sample of Dutch children throughout the elementary school period. Data on basic and advanced vocabulary, word decoding, and reading comprehension were collected across the different

  19. Profiles of school motivation and emotional well-being among adolescents : Associations with math and reading performance

    OpenAIRE

    Parhiala, Pauliina; Torppa, Minna; Vasalampi, Kati; Eklund, Kenneth; Poikkeus, Anna-Maija; Aro, Tuija

    2018-01-01

    This study examines profiles of school motivation and emotional well-being and their links to academic skills (reading and math) among adolescents (N = 1629) at the end of comprehensive school (age 15–16). Using a person-centered approach (latent profile analysis), five distinct profile groups were identified. Three of the identified groups had a flat profile in motivation and well-being but at different levels. The first group manifested high motivation and well-being (n = 178, 11%); the sec...

  20. Reading Relationships: Parents, Adolescents, and Popular Fiction by Stephen King.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandler, Kelly

    1999-01-01

    Describes a collective case study of 12 high school juniors who identified themselves as avid readers of popular fiction. Finds strong reading relationships between parents and high school students. Describes the different roles that parents played in their adolescent children's reading lives. Looks at implications for secondary English classrooms…

  1. Elementary School Principals' Knowledge of Literacy Development and Instruction and Students' Reading Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sherrill, Carol A.

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this dissertation was to determine if the knowledge of literacy development and reading instruction practices an elementary school principal possesses impacts the level of reading achievement of his/her students. Principals' scores on an assessment of knowledge of literacy development and instruction were compared to students'…

  2. Public School Librarians and Academic Librarians Join Together to Promote Diversity and Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson-Brown, Grace M.

    2017-01-01

    This article shares the story of the author's involvement in a national literacy initiative known as the African American Read-In (AARI) in Springfield, Missouri. The article highlights successes that public school librarians and university librarians are experiencing as they work together to promote diversity and reading through a community-wide…

  3. Middle Grades to High School: Mending a Weak Link. Research Brief.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooney, Sondra; Bottoms, Gene

    This research brief describes a study of the readiness for high school of eighth-graders who participated in the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) Middle Grades Assessment in spring 2000. The assessment included testing in reading, math, and science, and surveys of students and teachers. Following the 2000-01 school year, SREB gathered…

  4. The Nation's Report Card Reading 2009 Trial Urban District Snapshot Report. Austin Independent School District. Grade 8, Public Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Center for Education Statistics, 2010

    2010-01-01

    Each district that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment in reading receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. This report presents the results for Austin Independent School District's student achievement in reading. In 2009,…

  5. The Nation's Report Card Reading 2009 Trial Urban District Snapshot Report. Austin Independent School District. Grade 4, Public Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Center for Education Statistics, 2010

    2010-01-01

    Each district that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment in reading receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. This report presents the results for Austin Independent School District's student achievement in reading. In 2009,…

  6. Linking School Libraries and Literacy: Young People's Reading Habits and Attitudes to Their School Library, and an Exploration of the Relationship between School Library Use and School Attainment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Christina

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents additional information from the authors' 2009 survey of young people's reading and writing--for more information see their forthcoming report Clark and Douglas (2010) "Young People's Reading and Writing: An in-depth study focusing on enjoyment, behaviour, attitudes and attainment." To support the School Library…

  7. Miscue Analysis of Oral Reading among Less Proficient Readers in Primary Schools in Brunei Darussalam

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamid, Juliana Bte Haji Abdul; Abosi, Okechukwu

    2011-01-01

    Reading disability is the most common disability. At least one in five children has significant challenges learning to read. This study focused on the oral reading performance of 30 Year-Three students. The students were identified as less proficient readers from two randomly selected primary schools in Brunei Darussalam. The oral reading…

  8. Productive extension of semantic memory in school-aged children: Relations with reading comprehension and deployment of cognitive resources.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, Patricia J; Blue, Shala N; Xu, Aoxiang; Esposito, Alena G

    2016-07-01

    We investigated 7- to 10-year-old children's productive extension of semantic memory through self-generation of new factual knowledge derived through integration of separate yet related facts learned through instruction or through reading. In Experiment 1, an experimenter read the to-be-integrated facts. Children successfully learned and integrated the information and used it to further extend their semantic knowledge, as evidenced by high levels of correct responses in open-ended and forced-choice testing. In Experiment 2, on half of the trials, the to-be-integrated facts were read by an experimenter (as in Experiment 1) and on half of the trials, children read the facts themselves. Self-generation performance was high in both conditions (experimenter- and self-read); in both conditions, self-generation of new semantic knowledge was related to an independent measure of children's reading comprehension. In Experiment 3, the way children deployed cognitive resources during reading was predictive of their subsequent recall of newly learned information derived through integration. These findings indicate self-generation of new semantic knowledge through integration in school-age children as well as relations between this productive means of extension of semantic memory and cognitive processes engaged during reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  9. Effects of Spectral Overlays on Reading Performance of Brazilian Elementary School Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Ana Carla Oliveira; Momensohn-Santos, Teresa Maria; Vilhena, Douglas de Araújo

    2018-03-20

    To investigate the effects of spectral overlays on reading performance of Brazilian elementary school children. Sixty-eight children (aged 9-12 years) enrolled in the 5th and 6th grade were included in the study. The Rate of Reading Test (RRT - Brazilian Portuguese version) was used to evaluate reading speed and the Irlen Reading Perceptual Scale was used to allocate the sample according to reading difficulty/discomfort symptoms and to define the optimal spectral overlays. A total of 13% of the children presented an improvement of at least 15% in reading speed with the use of spectral overlays. Pupils with severe reading difficulties tended to have more improvement in RRT with spectral overlays. Children with severe reading discomfort obtained the highest gains in RRT, with an average of 9.6% improvement with intervention, compared to a decrease of -8.2% in the control group. Participants with severe discomfort had an odds ratio of 3.36 to improve reading speed with intervention compared to the control group. The use of spectral overlays can improve reading performance, particularly in those children with severe visual discomfort. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  10. TRAINING FUTURE TEACHERS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL FOR TEACHING RATIONAL READING TO PRIMARY SCHOOLCHILDREN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nataliia Rudichieva

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The main task of a modern pedagogical institution is a teacher’s professional training, who is able to provide comprehensive development of an individual as a personality and a supreme value of a society. Forming skills and abilities, and in the broad sense – competences – is becoming the principal aim of the higher education. The analysis of books on psychology and pedagogy allows to reveal various approaches to defining the concept of ‘reading’, mechanism of reading. In accordance with the level of reading skill formation, four types of reading have been defined: reading of letters, syllables, words, and concepts. The components of the reading skill, namely semantic and technical have been detailed. The criterion for assessing the semantic component of reading skills is the coefficient of material assimilation. The technical component of the reading skills (reading technique is presented by the way of reading, correctness, expressiveness, and speed. In the article we use as a basis the term introduced by O. Andrieiev and L. Khromov – ‘rational reading’, which is interpreted as continuous reading of a text, that ensures complete and qualitative mastering of the read text and is performed by non-traditional methods. The criterion for assessing the level of the formation of the reading skills is the performance of reading – an integrated indicator that takes into account both the quantitative and qualitative assessment and the amount of material absorbed per unit of time. The degree of primary school teachers’ rational reading skills has been studied and presented. The analysis of the obtained results proves low performance indicators in the students’ group. Along with the high speed of reading, the level of content assimilation is very low (45%. Even low reading speed does not ensure full comprehension. It is advisable to inform future teachers of the skills of rational reading which contributes to forming the skills of

  11. 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.

  12. Peer Influence on Children's Reading Skills: A Social Network Analysis of Elementary School Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooc, North; Kim, James S.

    2017-01-01

    Research has found that peers influence the academic achievement of children. However, the mechanisms through which peers matter remain underexplored. The present study examined the relationship between peers' reading skills and children's own reading skills among 4,215 total second- and third-graders in 294 classrooms across 41 schools. One…

  13. THE SOCIAL PRACTICE OF READING AND WRITING INSTRUCTIONIN SCHOOLS FOR INTELLECTUALLY DISABLED PUPILS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monica REICHENBERG

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available In Sweden, schooling for children who are regarded as intellectually disabled is organised in a special school, Särskolan. The overall aim of this article was to investigate the teachers’ attitudes towards the social practice of reading and writing instruction in Särskolan.Therefore, 40 teachers from Northern Swedenwere sampled for the em­pi­rical study. The teachers were asked to fill out a questionnaire. One of the findings was that the teachers reported different attitudes towards the social practice of reading and writing instruction. Another finding was that the teachers reported they did not practice the documentation of reading and writing difficulties. Furthermore, the practice of documentation was associated with professio­nal competence in reading and writing literacy. The study suggests that literacy educa­tion did have an effect on teachers’ attitu­des towards their practice of docu­men­ting.However, the openness towards organizational learning was polarized, and consequently, it produced a threshold for change. Accordingly, more studies are necessary for further descrip­tion and explanation of the complexities of the present findings.

  14. Examining the Impact and School-Level Predictors of Impact Variability of an 8th Grade Reading Intervention on At-Risk Students' Reading Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fien, Hank; Anderson, Daniel; Nelson, Nancy J.; Kennedy, Patrick; Baker, Scott K.; Stoolmiller, Michael

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of the present article is to report on a large-scale investigation of six school districts' implementation of an initiative aimed at reducing dropout rates by improving reading achievement in the middle grades. Data for the Middle School Intervention Project (MSIP) were collected in 25 middle schools across the state of Oregon. We…

  15. [Usefulness and limitations of rapid automatized naming to predict reading difficulties after school entry in preschool children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaneko, Masato; Uno, Akira; Haruhara, Noriko; Awaya, Noriko

    2012-01-01

    We investigated the usability and limitations of Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) results in 6-year-old Japanese preschool children to estimate whether reading difficulties will be encountered after school entry. We administered a RAN task to 1,001 preschool children. Then after they had entered school, we performed follow-up surveys yearly to assess their reading performance when these children were in the first, second, third and fourth grades. Also, we examined Hiragana non-words and Kanji words at each time point to detect the children who were having difficulty with reading Hiragana and Kanji. Results by Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis showed that the RAN result in 6-year-old preschool children was predictive of Kanji reading difficulty in the lower grades of elementary school, especially in the second grade with a probability of 0.86, and the area under the curve showed a probability of 0.84 in the third grade. These results suggested that the RAN task was useful as a screening tool.

  16. Examining the Simple View of Reading Model for United States High School Spanish Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparks, Richard; Patton, Jon

    2016-01-01

    The Simple View of Reading (SVR) model, which posits that reading comprehension is the product of word decoding and language comprehension that make independent contributions to reading skill, has been found to explain the acquisition of first language (L1) reading and second language (L2) reading in young English language learners (ELLs).…

  17. 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.

  18. High School Leaders' Perceptions of Practices That Increase Graduation Rates of African American Males

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Linda D.

    2015-01-01

    Research indicates there are significant differences in the academic performance of minorities and whites, particularly at the high school level. On average, Latino and African American high school students read and perform math on the same level as 13-year-old white students and trail their white peers by an average of 20 test points on math and…

  19. Motivation to Read among Rural Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belken, Gloria

    2013-01-01

    This study used quantitative methods to investigate motivation to read among high school students in a tenth-grade English course at a rural high school in the Midwestern USA. Data were collected and analyzed to replicate previous studies. In this study, when compared to large-scale surveys, respondents showed more positive attitudes toward…

  20. The Attitudes of Secondary School Students toward School and Reading: A Comparison in Terms of Mother Tongue, Gender and Class Level

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yildiz, Mustafa; Kiziltas, Yusuf

    2018-01-01

    It is important to determine whether the school attitude of secondary school students has an influence on the reading attitude. For this purpose, such a study was conducted at secondary school level. In addition, the extent to which such variables as mother tongue are determinative in this context has been examined.The objective of this study is…

  1. High School Students with Reading Comprehension Difficulties: Results of a Randomized Control Trial of a Two-Year Reading Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Greg; Wexler, Jade; Vaughn, Michael G.; Fall, Anna-Mária; Schnakenberg, Jennifer B.

    2015-01-01

    A 2-year, randomized control trial with 9th to 10th grade students with significant reading problems was provided for 50 minutes a day in small groups. Comparison students were provided an elective class and treatment students the reading intervention. Students were identified as demonstrating reading difficulties through failure on their state…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chaka Chaka

    2015-05-01

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

  3. Reading Development in Typically Developing Children and Children With Prenatal or Perinatal Brain Lesions: Differential School Year and Summer Growth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demir-Lira, Özlem Ece; Levine, Susan C

    2016-01-01

    Summer slide, uneven growth of academic skills over the calendar year, captures the fact that the learning gains children make over the school year do not continue at the same pace over the summer, when children are typically not in school. We compared growth of reading skills during the school year and over the summer months in children with pre-or perinatal brain lesion (PL) and typically-developing (TD) children from varying socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds as a new way to probe the role of structured environmental support in functional plasticity for reading skills in children with PL. Results showed that children with PL performed lower than TD children on both reading decoding and reading comprehension. Group differences were primarily driven by children with larger lesions and children with right hemisphere lesions (RH). For reading comprehension, children with RH showed greater growth during the school year but more slide during the summer months than both TD children and children with left hemisphere lesions, implicating a particularly strong role of structured input in supporting reading comprehension in this group. TD children from lower SES backgrounds fell behind their TD peers from higher SES backgrounds on decoding and reading comprehension, but did not show differential patterns of school year and summer growth. Overall, results highlight the importance of considering the role of a host of factors interacting at multiple levels of analyses, including biological and environmental, in influencing developmental trajectories of typically and atypically-developing children.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendoza, Socorro

    2016-01-01

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

  5. Comparison of Reading Literacy in Hearing Impaired and Normal Hearing Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. Ali Asghar Kakojoibari

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: listening, speaking, reading and writing are considered the lingual skills. These skills are in direct relation with each other. Listening is the first skill learnt by the individual through development. If damaged by hearing impairment, listening can cause serious defect to lingual skills. The goal of our research was to study the effect of hearing loss on reading literacy in hearing impairment students in comparison with normal hearing students.Methods: Study was performed using the examination booklets of Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2001. 119 hearing impairment students of 4th grade primary school, last year guidance school, and last year high school levels in schools providing exceptional student education were included. These individuals were compared to 46 normal hearing students of 4th grade primary school of ordinary schools. Comparative statistical analysis was performed using t-test.Results: Reading literacy and literal contents understanding was shown to have a significant difference between normal hearing and whole hearing impaired student (p<0.05, except the ones in high school level with moderate hearing loss. There was also seen a significant difference between normal hearing and hearing impairment students in understanding of information contents (p=0.03.Conclusion: Hearing loss has a negative effect on reading literacy. Consequently, curriculum change and evolution of educational programs in exceptional centers is needed, in order to promote reading literacy and to enhance rest hearing

  6. Improving Public Education through Comprehensive School Reform: An Issue Brief from the International Reading Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    International Reading Association, Newark, DE.

    The Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program is a new initiative that could affect International Reading Association members in the United States--but will benefit only those who take advantage of it. The purpose of the CSR initiative is to provide financial incentives for schools to develop comprehensive school reforms. Funding is available to…

  7. The effect of phonics-enhanced Big Book reading on the language and literacy skills of 6-year-old pupils of different reading ability attending lower SES schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tse, Laura; Nicholson, Tom

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to improve the literacy achievement of lower socioeconomic status (SES) children by combining explicit phonics with Big Book reading. Big Book reading is a component of the text-centered (or book reading) approach used in New Zealand schools. It involves the teacher in reading an enlarged book to children and demonstrating how to use semantic, syntactic, and grapho-phonic cues to learn to read. There has been little research, however, to find out whether the effectiveness of Big Book reading is enhanced by adding explicit phonics. In this study, a group of 96 second graders from three lower SES primary schools in New Zealand were taught in 24 small groups of four, tracked into three different reading ability levels. All pupils were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: a control group who received math instruction, Big Book reading enhanced with phonics (BB/EP), Big Book reading on its own, and Phonics on its own. The results showed that the BB/EP group made significantly better progress than the Big Book and Phonics groups in word reading, reading comprehension, spelling, and phonemic awareness. In reading accuracy, the BB/EP and Big Book groups scored similarly. In basic decoding skills the BB/EP and Phonics groups scored similarly. The combined instruction, compared with Big Book reading and phonics, appeared to have no comparative disadvantages and considerable advantages. The present findings could be a model for New Zealand and other countries in their efforts to increase the literacy achievement of disadvantaged pupils. PMID:25431560

  8. Differences in the effects of school meals on children's cognitive performance according to gender, household education and baseline reading skills

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, L. B.; Damsgaard, C. T.; Petersen, R. A.

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: We previously found that the OPUS School Meal Study improved reading and increased errors related to inattention and impulsivity. This study explored whether the cognitive effects differed according to gender, household education and reading proficiency at baseline...... outcomes was stronger in boys, in children from households with academic education and in children with normal/good baseline reading proficiency. Overall, this resulted in increased socioeconomic inequality in reading performance and reduced inequality in impulsivity. Contrary to this, the gender...... difference decreased in reading and increased in impulsivity. Finally, the gap between poor and normal/good readers was increased in reading and decreased for d2-error%.CONCLUSIONS: The effects of healthy school meals on reading, impulsivity and inattention were modified by gender, household education...

  9. Especially for High School Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emory Howell, J.

    1999-11-01

    More Feature Articles This Month This issue contains a larger-than-usual number of Secondary School Chemistry feature articles (see side-bar). Mary Harris, who teaches in St. Louis, Missouri, and her student, Lauren Picard, contributed an account of student research on the cuprammonium rayon process (p 1512). In addition to being informative and interesting, the article provides a model for student-teacher interaction in carrying out an independent research project. Two North Carolina teachers, Charles Roser and Catherine McCluskey, describe how to use a Calculator Based Laboratory (interface) to measure the kinetics of the reaction that occurs when a lightstick is activated (p 1514). The method and the easy-to-construct device they made could be used with other systems, as well. Don't Throw Away the Carrier Sheet All areas of JCE Online are now accessible to all JCE subscribers. To find out how you can benefit, read the article appearing on p 1599, Now That I Have It, What Can I Do with It? Jon Holmes, Editor of JCE Online, explains in the article how you can use this resource most effectively. Access to several areas, such as full text access to articles, requires that you log in. The mailing label on the carrier sheet that accompanies your Journal each month contains a password that you need to log in. That is why you need to keep the carrier sheet, at least until you have logged in for the first time and either memorized the number or written it in a safe place. Detailed instructions for logging on are found by clicking on the "How to Log On" link, which appears near the upper left corner of the JCE Online Home Page, jchemed.chem.wisc.edu. If you read a school library copy you need to ask your librarian what password you need to log in. Congratulations Among the recipients of the most prestigious American Society Awards (p 1481) are two individuals who have given generously of their time and energy to the cause of chemical education. Both are familiar names to

  10. Shelving: shelf reading and upkeep of library stock in high school ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Research findings and experience in Library Service has greatly shown shelve management as a tool for measuring performance, satisfaction and realization of set goal. This paper examines the state of shelving activities in five high school libraries at different local government areas of Lagos State. This includes statistics ...

  11. The Teaching of Reading and Its New Emphasis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ediger, Marlow

    2015-01-01

    Teachers and supervisors of reading instruction need to stay abreast of trends and concerns when assisting pupils to achieve more optimally. Reading which meets high expectations is needed in school and in society. Thus, professionals involved in teaching reading in different academic and curriculum areas need to utilize the best methods of…

  12. A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON OBJECTIVES AND COMPONENTS OF READING SKILL IN NATIONAL CURRICULUM OF IRAN AND AMERICA (NEW JERSEY AT HIGH SCHOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elham Ghaderi Doust

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to provide a preliminary of the codification of the objectives and components of teaching reading within the National Language curriculum in upper secondary in correlation with elementary and lower secondary curriculums. The data includes the Persian Language curriculum in Iranian upper secondary schools (version 2007 and American core curriculum for Language Arts (in New Jersey, 2004 collected through library study and note taking from Iran and foreign documents. The data have been analyzed qualitatively (through grounded theory method at the secondary level. In the present research, objectives and components of teaching reading within the curriculums of mentioned countries are analyzed and surveyed based on Autonomous and Ideological approaches to literacy; suggesting that objectives and components of American curriculum for teaching reading are formularized and influenced by Ideological approach, whereas Iranian reading curriculum owns the features of Autonomous Approach (consciously or unconsciously and features related to Ideological approach are negligible in Iran. After discussing characteristics of curriculums in America (New Jersey, influenced by the Ideological approach to literacy, the merits and demerits of objectives and components of Iranian curriculum for teaching reading and some proposals to refine have been cited.

  13. 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 ...

  14. Reading Skills and Strategies: Assessing Primary School Students’ Awareness in L1 and EFL Strategy Use

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evdokimos Aivazoglou

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The present study was designed and conducted with the purpose to assess primary school students’ awareness in GL1 (Greek as first language and EFL (English as a foreign language strategy use and investigate the relations between the reported reading strategies use in first (L1 and foreign language (FL.  The sample (455 students attending the fifth and sixth grades of primary schools in Northern Greece was first categorized into skilled and less skilled L1 and EFL readers through screening reading comprehension tests, one in L1 and one in FL, before filling in the reading strategy questionnaires. The findings revealed participants’ preference for “problem solving” strategies, while “global strategies” coming next. Girls were proved to be more aware of their reading strategies use with the boys reporting a more frequent use in both languages. Also, skilled readers were found to use reading strategies more effectively, and appeared to be more flexible in transferring strategies from L1 to FL compared to less-skilled readers.

  15. Early-Adolescents' Reading Comprehension and the Stability of the Middle School Classroom-Language Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gámez, Perla B.; Lesaux, Nonie K.

    2015-01-01

    This study examined teachers' language use across the school year in 6th grade urban middle-school classrooms (n = 24) and investigated the influence of this classroom-based linguistic input on the reading comprehension skills of the students (n = 851; 599 language minority learners and 252 English-only) in the participating classrooms. Analysis…

  16. Best Practices for Achieving High, Rapid Reading Gains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carbo, Marie

    2008-01-01

    The percentage of students who read at the proficient level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has not improved, and is appallingly low. In order for students to achieve high reading gains and become life-long readers, reading comprehension and reading enjoyment must be the top two goals. This article presents several…

  17. Neurophysiology in preschool improves behavioral prediction of reading ability throughout primary school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maurer, Urs; Bucher, Kerstin; Brem, Silvia; Benz, Rosmarie; Kranz, Felicitas; Schulz, Enrico; van der Mark, Sanne; Steinhausen, Hans-Christoph; Brandeis, Daniel

    2009-08-15

    More struggling readers could profit from additional help at the beginning of reading acquisition if dyslexia prediction were more successful. Currently, prediction is based only on behavioral assessment of early phonological processing deficits associated with dyslexia, but it might be improved by adding brain-based measures. In a 5-year longitudinal study of children with (n = 21) and without (n = 23) familial risk for dyslexia, we tested whether neurophysiological measures of automatic phoneme and tone deviance processing obtained in kindergarten would improve prediction of reading over behavioral measures alone. Together, neurophysiological and behavioral measures obtained in kindergarten significantly predicted reading in school. Particularly the late mismatch negativity measure that indicated hemispheric lateralization of automatic phoneme processing improved prediction of reading ability over behavioral measures. It was also the only significant predictor for long-term reading success in fifth grade. Importantly, this result also held for the subgroup of children at familial risk. The results demonstrate that brain-based measures of processing deficits associated with dyslexia improve prediction of reading and thus may be further evaluated to complement clinical practice of dyslexia prediction, especially in targeted populations, such as children with a familial risk.

  18. The Influences of Sex, Race, and Prior Reading Ability on Newspaper Reading Skill Improvement in the Elementary School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berryman, Charles

    This study uses the revised modules of a previous study of the effects of newspapers in elementary schools to determine the effects of the modules and newspaper use in general, as well as to determine whether the variables of sex, race, prior reading ability, and same or opposite race of teacher and student influenced results. The study was…

  19. A reading enrichment program for gifted adolescent

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia Morales Silva

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available This descriptive research examines the performance on reading comprehension of four gifted adolescents participating in a reading enrichment program. This performance is related to the variables associated to the gifted performance following the model developed by Mönks: motivation, creativity, high ability, school, peers and family. Results showed that school does not satisfy the cognitive needs of these students and it does not offer the required social support either. The family provides the main social support. The motivation, creativity, the high level of language and concentration of the participants facilitate learning. The reading program is described by the participants as motivating due to the subject-matters and methodology; furthermore, due to the opportunity to deal with peers who have a similar cognitive level.

  20. Identifying high-functioning dyslexics: is self-report of early reading problems enough?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deacon, S Hélène; Cook, Kathryn; Parrila, Rauno

    2012-07-01

    We used a questionnaire to identify university students with self-reported difficulties in reading acquisition during elementary school (self-report; n=31). The performance of the self-report group on standardized measures of word and non-word reading and fluency, passage comprehension and reading rate, and phonological awareness was compared to that of two other groups of university students: one with a recent diagnosis (diagnosed; n=20) and one with no self-reported reading acquisition problems (comparison group; n=33). The comparison group outperformed both groups with a history of reading difficulties (self-report and diagnosed) on almost all measures. The self-report and diagnosed groups performed similarly on most tasks, with the exception of untimed reading comprehension (better performance for diagnosed) and reading rate (better performance for self-report). The two recruitment methods likely sample from the same underlying population but identify individuals with different adaptive strategies.

  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. Reading use in preschool

    OpenAIRE

    Laísa Cristina dos Santos Guilherme; Rodrigo Ferreira Daverni

    2016-01-01

    Abstract: Reading in preschool is a time of awakening the taste and pleasure in reading, it is also a source of reflection, discovery and learn to listen. It is then necessary that the contact with the reading start from pre-school, with a variety of texts and the teacher also has the habit of reading in their daily lives. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the benefits of daily reading in the classroom pre-school life of a student, which the characteristics of a player and teacher re...

  3. 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…

  4. The 1996 High Schools That Work Assessment: Good News, Bad News and Hope. Research Brief.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bottoms, Gene

    Implementation of the High Schools That Work (HSTW) key practices improved achievement for career-bound students in these four ways: (1) HSTW sites showed significant improvement in average reading and math scores; (2) the percentage of career- bound students meeting HSTW performance goals in 1994 and 1996 increased from 33% to 43% in reading and…

  5. Continuing Education Needs and the Professional Reading of School Library Media Specialists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latrobe, Kathy

    1992-01-01

    Reports results of a survey of school library media specialists in Oklahoma regarding continuing education activities and topics. Data are presented on the relative importance of several continuing education activities, percentage of respondents regularly reading specific journals, and continuing education topics ranked by respondents' prioritized…

  6. A Program Evaluation Comparison of a Head Start and Public School Kindergarten Reading Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jennings, Tanesha

    2014-01-01

    In order for students to be successful in school, strong foundations are needed at the earliest grades. In a district in central Mississippi, many students entering public school from Head Start were not able to identify alphabet letters or produce letter sounds, based on results of the 2011 Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR).…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erna Iftanti

    2012-07-01

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

  8. Survey on the knowledge of Laotian high school students on nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yusa, Noritaka

    2017-01-01

    This study conducted a survey to gather information on the knowledge of Laotian high school students on nuclear energy. This study prepared an original 11-pages textbook that briefly introduced nuclear energy and related matters in Lao. One hundred high school students belonging to a public high school with a good reputation in Savannakhet Province were requested to read the textbook approximately in a half day to tell subjective impression on the amount of prior knowledge on the contents of each section. The survey revealed the knowledge of the high school students on the nuclear energy and related matters was quite limited although the official textbooks used in the secondary education in Laos contain quite a few explanations on structure of atom, chemical and nuclear reaction, structure of nuclear power plants, the chain and fusion reactions, and so on. (author)

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murrah, William M., III

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

  10. The Impact of Inclusive STEM High Schools on Student Achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer Gnagey

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This study is one of the first to estimate the impact of “inclusive“ science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM high schools using student-level data. We use multiple statistical strategies to estimate the effect on student achievement from 2 years of attendance at six such high schools in Ohio. The results indicate that two schools had positive effects on science achievement that appear to come at the expense of achievement in social studies. The other schools had negligible or, often, negative effects across both STEM and, particularly, non-STEM subjects. These results are consistent with studies indicating that inclusive STEM schools typically focus on problem-based, personalized learning rather than science and mathematics content. The analysis also reveals the importance of accounting for students’ prior test scores in science, in addition to math and reading, when estimating models that use only 1 year of prior test score data—something that existing studies fail to do.

  11. Reading Comprehension Course Through a Genre-Oriented Approach at a School in Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Rodríguez Sánchez

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports on an action-research study aimed at identifying the problems and needs of a specific group of tenth graders at a school in Colombia in relation to their reading comprehension in English in order to design, partially implement, and evaluate a genre-oriented syllabus. Findings show that the explicit instruction of metacognitive strategies helped students become more efficient readers, as well as the fact that the exposure and analysis of genres developed a better comprehension of different kinds of texts, making these students aware of the structure and patterns of the texts they were reading as they approached them with reading strategies that were appropriate for each genre and stage.

  12. Exploring the effect of age of entry to school on boys’ attitude towards reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judy Lever–Chain

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: British children enter school younger than their European counterparts. Research suggests that this disadvantages boys who may be unready for formal literacy instruction.This longitudinal study explores the effect of age of entry to school on boys’ reading development, focussing on attitudes and beliefs. Data from 60 summer-born boys, divided into two cohorts, was collected on three occasions: before entry to Year One, end of Year One and end of Year Two. Comparisons were drawn between 31 boys with part-time nursery education before Year One, and 29 with full-time Reception class experience. This paper presents data collected at Time One. Employing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies the study explores how beliefs about and attitudes towards reading emerge in the context of these contrasting early years settings. Implications of the findings are considered in the context of policies and trends in age of entry to school.

  13. An Analysis of the Impact of Single-Sex Schools on Seventh Grade Math and Reading Tasks Scores

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groves-Redwood, Tarawa F.

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a statistically significant mean difference in math and reading student performance by types of schools. The types of schools were identified as all-male and all-female public middle schools. Specifically, this study examined the impact of public single-sex schools on the mathematics and…

  14. DEVELOPING COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TESTS FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. M. Harsono

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The Communicative Approach of teaching English in senior high school in Indonesia has been adopted since the implementation of The 1984 Curriculum, but the tests–the communicative language tests–(CL Tests have not been developed and used properly. The objective of the study is to develop CL Tests for senior high school. The procedure of conducting the study consists of three major steps, that is, identifying the objectives, developing the test specification, and developing the CL Tests. The development of the CL Tests in detail consists of fifteen sub-steps from determining what language skills tested, selecting the suitable source materials, up to rewriting the CL Tests to be used as CL Tests alternative for senior high school. The results of the test development reveal that there are fifteen CL Tests consisting of three tests of listening, three reading, three speaking, and three writing tests. The whole tests have construct and content validity, no complete evidence of concurrent validity with report marks and semester test scores, high to very high inter-rater reliability, and no complete practicality.

  15. High School Principals and the High School Journalism Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Jane W.

    A study asked selected high school principals to respond to statements about the value of high school journalism to the high school student and about the rights and responsibilities of the high school journalist. These responses were then checked against such information as whether or not the high school principal had worked on a high school…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kieffer, Michael J; Vukovic, Rose K

    2012-01-01

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

  17. Catching Up: Effect of the Talent Development Ninth-Grade Instructional Interventions in Reading and Mathematics in High-Poverty High Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balfanz, Robert; Legters, Nettie; Jordan, Will

    2004-01-01

    Little is known about the feasibility and rapidity with which the academic learning of students who enter high school multiple years behind grade level can be accelerated. This study uses multiple regression analyses of standardized test and survey data from high-poverty high schools in two large urban districts to evaluate initial effects of the…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palacios, Natalia; Kibler, Amanda

    2016-01-01

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

  19. Language, reading, and math learning profiles in an epidemiological sample of school age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Archibald, Lisa M D; Oram Cardy, Janis; Joanisse, Marc F; Ansari, Daniel

    2013-01-01

    Dyscalculia, dyslexia, and specific language impairment (SLI) are relatively specific developmental learning disabilities in math, reading, and oral language, respectively, that occur in the context of average intellectual capacity and adequate environmental opportunities. Past research has been dominated by studies focused on single impairments despite the widespread recognition that overlapping and comorbid deficits are common. The present study took an epidemiological approach to study the learning profiles of a large school age sample in language, reading, and math. Both general learning profiles reflecting good or poor performance across measures and specific learning profiles involving either weak language, weak reading, weak math, or weak math and reading were observed. These latter four profiles characterized 70% of children with some evidence of a learning disability. Low scores in phonological short-term memory characterized clusters with a language-based weakness whereas low or variable phonological awareness was associated with the reading (but not language-based) weaknesses. The low math only group did not show these phonological deficits. These findings may suggest different etiologies for language-based deficits in language, reading, and math, reading-related impairments in reading and math, and isolated math disabilities.

  20. Language, reading, and math learning profiles in an epidemiological sample of school age children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisa M D Archibald

    Full Text Available Dyscalculia, dyslexia, and specific language impairment (SLI are relatively specific developmental learning disabilities in math, reading, and oral language, respectively, that occur in the context of average intellectual capacity and adequate environmental opportunities. Past research has been dominated by studies focused on single impairments despite the widespread recognition that overlapping and comorbid deficits are common. The present study took an epidemiological approach to study the learning profiles of a large school age sample in language, reading, and math. Both general learning profiles reflecting good or poor performance across measures and specific learning profiles involving either weak language, weak reading, weak math, or weak math and reading were observed. These latter four profiles characterized 70% of children with some evidence of a learning disability. Low scores in phonological short-term memory characterized clusters with a language-based weakness whereas low or variable phonological awareness was associated with the reading (but not language-based weaknesses. The low math only group did not show these phonological deficits. These findings may suggest different etiologies for language-based deficits in language, reading, and math, reading-related impairments in reading and math, and isolated math disabilities.

  1. Developing a universal reading comprehension intervention for mainstream primary schools within areas of social deprivation for children with and without language-learning impairment: a feasibility study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCartney, Elspeth; Boyle, James; Ellis, Sue

    2015-01-01

    Some children in areas of social deprivation in Scotland have lower reading attainment than neighbouring children in less deprived areas, and some of these also have lower spoken language comprehension skills than expected by assessment norms. There is a need to develop effective reading comprehension interventions that fit easily into the school curriculum and can benefit all pupils. A feasibility study of reading comprehension strategies with existing evidence of efficacy was undertaken in three mainstream primary schools within an area of social deprivation in west central Scotland, to decide whether further investigation of this intervention was warranted. Aims were to measure comprehension of spoken language and reading via standardised assessments towards the beginning of the school year (T1) in mainstream primary school classrooms within an area of social deprivation; to have teachers introduce previously-validated text comprehension strategies, and to measure change in reading comprehension outcome measures towards the end of the year (T2). A pre- and post-intervention cohort design was used. Reading comprehension strategies were introduced to staff in participating schools and used throughout the school year as part of on-going reading instruction. Spoken language comprehension was measured by TROG-2 at T1, and reading progress by score changes from T1 to T2 on the WIAT-II(UK) -T reading comprehension scale. Forty-seven pupils in five classes in three primary schools took part: 38% had TROG-2 scores below the 10(th) centile. As a group, children made good reading comprehension progress, with a medium effect size of 0.46. Children with TROG-2 scores below the 10(th) centile had lower mean reading scores than others at T1 and T2, although with considerable overlap. However, TROG-2 did not make a unique contribution to reading progress: children below the 10(th) centile made as much progress as other children. The intervention was welcomed by schools, and the

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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)

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

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    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.

  4. Factors of progress in reading literacy test

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    Jovanović Vitomir

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of this study was to identify the factors which are most associated with the progress in reading literacy assessed in the PISA survey. In the preliminary sample, students from ten schools (N=235 were retested two years after the 2009 PISA original study. There were measured intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, school self-efficacy, epistemological beliefs, metacognitive strategies, socio-economic status, enjoyment and preference for reading and motivation and self-regulation. The examined factors explain 27% of the variance in reading literacy progress. Factors that contribute most to this progress are school self-efficacy, proper use of metacognitive strategies and low extrinsic motivation. Socio-economic status explained a negligible amount of variance, while some effect of type of school on progress in reading literacy (η2=7% was observed. Achievement in reading literacy is correlated with school marks. Students who attend secondary schools are more likely to make progress in reading literacy than those who attend vocational schools. An attempt was made to formulate the implications for education policy based on this research.

  5. Investigation on the Relationship between Information Communication Technology and Reading Literacy for Northeast Asian Students

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    Lai Yi-Horng

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of internet communication technologies (ICT usage and reading literacy of Northeast Asian Students in PISA 2009. ICT was crucial for all governments in the world towards promoting equity. ICT had been considered a low cost opportunity towards equalizing educational systems. A multilevel modelling (MLM was applied to identify at which school-level the largest variations in the three indicators exist in this study. With MLM, it could be examine simultaneously the effects of different hierarchical school-level variables; to take account of possible correlations of students’ reading literacy in this study within higher levels (Urbanization, Total number of students Computers for education which may otherwise lead to incorrect standard errors and inefficient estimates; to treat higher levels as related; and to examine inter-area variations at each level. The empirical results include the different between group components was significant. Self-confidence in ICT high level tasks was positive with students’ reading literacy, and self-confidence in ICT high level tasks was negative with students’ reading literacy. The urbanization of schools’ area and total number of students of schools were positive with students’ reading literacy. The urbanization of schools’ area was negative with the relationship of ICT for school related tasks and students’ reading literacy. Total number of students was negative with the relationship of ICT for school related tasks and students’ reading literacy, and ICT availability in school and students’ reading literacy.

  6. Lectura y representación mental de textos expositivos en estudiantes de educación media Reading and Mental Representation of Expository Texts of High School Students

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    Geral Eduardo Mateus Ferro

    Full Text Available Resumen Este artículo da cuenta de los resultados de una prueba de lectura realizada con el fin de caracterizar la representación mental de estudiantes de educación media, con base en la teoría de los niveles de representación planteados por Kintsch y Van Dijk (1983. La prueba hace parte del proyecto de investigación Formulación de una estrategia didáctica para la cualificación de la representación mental de textos expositivos en estudiantes de educación media, FHU-294-11.Abstract This paper reports a finding from a reading test done in order to outline the mental representation of High School students, based on the theory of levels of representation proposed by Kintsch and Van Dijk (1983. The test is part of a research project, Developing a teaching strategy for the improvement of the mental representation of expository texts in High School students, FHU-294-11.

  7. 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

  8. The Impact of Intensive Reading Intervention on Level of Attention in Middle School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Greg; Rane, Shruti; Fall, Anna-Mária; Denton, Carolyn A.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Vaughn, Sharon

    2014-01-01

    Objective The purpose of the study was to estimate the impact of reading intervention on ratings of student attention over time. Method We used extant data from a longitudinal randomized study of a response-based reading intervention to fit a multiple-indicator, multilevel growth model. The sample at randomization was 54% male, 18% limited English proficient, 85% eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 58% African American, and 32% Hispanic. Reading ability was measured by using the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Attention was measured by using the Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Scale. Results Findings indicate that intensive, response-based reading intervention over 3 years improved reading achievement and behavioral attention in middle school struggling readers, with treatment directly affecting reading, which in turn influenced attention. In the business-as-usual condition, there was no relation between improved reading and attention. Conclusions The results are consistent with a correlated liabilities model of comorbidity. The results do not align with the inattention-as-cause hypothesis, which predicts that reading intervention should not affect attention. The findings do not support, but do not necessarily preclude, the phenocopy hypothesis. The results are especially pertinent for older students who may be inattentive partly because of years of struggling with reading. PMID:24885289

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

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    Bin Zou

    2006-10-01

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

  10. LOOKING AT THE LINK BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND READING COMPREHENSION AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

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    M. Ahlan Firdaus

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of the present study was to empirically investigate the possible correlation between students’ emotional inteligence and thier reading comprehension and students’ emotional intelligence influences their reading comprehension. The participants in the study were 53 the eleventh grade students of SMA Sandika Banyuasin which were selected from two classes consisting of science and social. Reading comprehension test was done to measure students’ reading comprehension by using TOEFL Junior reading comprehension section. Then, USMEQ-i by Yusoff (2010 was administered to the participants to measure their emotional intelligence. SPSS program was run using Pearson Product Moment formula and Regression Analysis to find out the correlation and the influence. The result showed that there was a postive significant correlation between students’ emotional intelligence and reading comprehension with r = .661.Then, there influenced of students’ emotional intelligence on thier reading comprehension with 43.7%.

  11. A Lesson Plan Incorporating Collaborative Strategic Reading

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    陈江萍

    2017-01-01

    This essay is going to have an in-depth analysis of the Collaborative Strategic Reading, a four-step reading comprehen-sion strategy popular in the Western classrooms. It will start with some brief introduction about this instructional approach in company with its theoretical rationale and research evidence for its effectiveness of improving learners 'reading competence. Fo-cused on the previewing skill, the first step of the reading instruction, a modified lesson plan is designed in the Chinese high school setting, followed by justification of the major elements of the plan, and some practical implications.

  12. A Lesson Plan Incorporating Collaborative Strategic Reading

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    陈江萍

    2017-01-01

    This essay is going to have an in-depth analysis of the Collaborative Strategic Reading, a four-step reading comprehen?sion strategy popular in the Western classrooms. It will start with some brief introduction about this instructional approach in company with its theoretical rationale and research evidence for its effectiveness of improving learners 'reading competence. Fo?cused on the previewing skill, the first step of the reading instruction, a modified lesson plan is designed in the Chinese high school setting, followed by justification of the major elements of the plan, and some practical implications.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Protacio, Maria Selena

    2017-01-01

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

  14. Determining the Variables That Affect the Reading Motivation of Educational Faculty Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savaskan, Vafa; Özdemir, Atilla

    2017-01-01

    Reading motivation has a significant contribution to acquire the necessary reading skills, and it has an indisputable effect on continuing to read. When the importance of the role model effect of school teachers in acquiring reading skills is considered, it is expected that reading motivation of the students will be high whose teachers also have a…

  15. Factors Related to Competency Test Performance for High School Learning Disabled Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Julia; And Others

    1985-01-01

    This study explored some factors associated with learning disabled high school students who passed the North Carolina Minimum Competency Test on the second administration. Factors examined include reading score on the first competency test, intelligence quotient, locus of control, mother's education, teacher support, student/teacher ratio, and…

  16. English reading and writing performance of Xitsonga-speaking Grade 7 learners in township schools: A case study

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    Manyike, Tintswalo V.

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available A clear preference for English as language of teaching and learning (LoLT is evident in most South African schools. However, discrepancies exist between language policy aims and educational outcomes with regard to the successful acquisition of English among English second language (ESL learners. Effective participation in all learning activities is closely linked to learners’ proficiency in the LoLT; poor English proficiency leads to underachievement across the curriculum. In the light of this, a case study as conducted to investigate the English reading and writing performance of Grade 7 Xitsonga-speaking learners in three selected township schools in the Tshwane metropolitan area, Gauteng Province. Firstly, a literature review was undertaken to explore the importance of reading and writing skills in the classroom with particular reference to the demands made on ESL learners. Following this, standardised tests were used to assess the learners’ English reading and writing performance. Findings indicated that learners performed poorly in both reading and writing; however, no significant relationship could be demonstrated between reading and writing, possibly due to the nature of the components of the test. The overall lack of reading and writing competence in English holds implications for learners’ academic achievement in all learning areas in situations in which English is used as the LoLT.

  17. The Influence of the Internet Surfing on the Reading Culture of Secondary School Teachers: A Case Study of Newspaper Readership in Kigumo Sub County, Kenya

    OpenAIRE

    Margaret Njoki Ngugi; Hellen k. Mberia

    2014-01-01

    Reading in the 21st century networked society is no longer confined to the print reading. The scope of the reading has extended to the Internet sources that changed the traditional reading culture of the readers. The present study was conducted to identify the impact of the Internet surfing on the reading culture of secondary school teachers in Kigumo Sub County. The objectives of the study were to find out the influence of the internet on the reading culture of secondary school teachers in K...

  18. Teachers’ perceptions of reading instruction in selected primary schools in the Eastern Cape

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    Madoda Cekiso

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Background: There is a general outcry that too many South African Foundation Phase (Grades 1–3 teachers do not know how to teach reading and are currently teaching reading in an ad hoc, unsystematic way. Objectives: In response to this, this study explored the Foundation Phase teachers’ perceptions of their role in teaching reading. The focus was on the relevance of the initial training, awareness of reading strategies and how these strategies were reflected in their classroom practice. Method: The study was qualitative in nature and a case study design was followed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers who were purposively selected from three public schools. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: Regarding the initial training programme, teachers received at tertiary institutions, the findings of the study showed that the majority of teachers were not adequately prepared to teach reading and to deal with learners who experience problems in reading. Some teachers indicated that they were not even trained to teach in the Foundation Phase. The findings also showed that the majority of respondents doubted if their classroom practice would yield positive results as far as reading instruction is concerned. The findings further indicated that the majority of respondents only paid attention to oral reading (observing punctuation marks and pronunciation, without attending to reading comprehension. There was a general consensus that the new ways of teaching reading were necessary in order to improve the reading ability of learners. Conclusion: Recommendations based on the findings are that institutions of higher learning that train Foundation Phase teachers should do so in ways that adequately equip them to produce student teachers who are knowledgeable about research and theory regarding how individuals learn to read. Workshops on appropriate instruction of reading strategies are recommended for in

  19. Positive Reading Attitudes of Low-Income Bilingual Latinos

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bussert-webb, Kathy M.; Zhang, Zhidong

    2018-01-01

    Many assume low-income, emergent bilingual Latinos have poor reading attitudes. To investigate this issue, we surveyed 1,503 Texas public high school students through stratified cluster sampling to determine their reading attitudes. Most represented Latinos and mixed-race Latinos/Whites who heard Spanish at home and whose mother tongue was…

  20. 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…

  1. Putting the "Shop" in Reading Workshop: Building Reading Stamina in a Ninth-Grade Literacy Class in a Bronx Vocational High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulla, Amanda N.

    2012-01-01

    For many teachers of middle school and high school, the greatest challenge they face in trying to help struggling readers improve their skills can be students' self-perception. When young people do not see themselves as members of the "literacy club," it is not just a simple matter of persuading them that becoming a fluent reader is…

  2. Development of decoding, reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling during the elementary school years

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aarnoutse, C.A.J.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van; Voeten, M.J.M.; Oud, J.H.L.

    2001-01-01

    The goal of this study was (1) to investigate the development of decoding (efficiency), reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling during the elementary school years and (2) to determine the differences between poor, average and good performers with regard to the development of these skills.

  3. The Design of a Theme-Based and Genre-Oriented Strategic Reading Course to Improve Students’ Reading Comprehension Skills at a Public School in Colombia

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    Fabián Padilla De La Cerda

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper reports the process of designing and partially implementing and evaluating a content-based and genre-oriented syllabus with a group of ninth graders at a public school in Barranquilla, Colombia. The syllabus sought to promote reading strategies in order to improve learners’ comprehension of natural science texts. The results of this intervention show that the use of academic texts with low achievers, who in turn can develop a good comprehension of different kind of texts, is possible if these students are aware of the structure of the texts they are reading and if they are provided with reading strategies that are appropriate for each genre.

  4. Screening for Dyslexia Using Eye Tracking during Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nilsson Benfatto, Mattias; Öqvist Seimyr, Gustaf; Ygge, Jan; Pansell, Tony; Rydberg, Agneta; Jacobson, Christer

    2016-01-01

    Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental reading disability estimated to affect 5-10% of the population. While there is yet no full understanding of the cause of dyslexia, or agreement on its precise definition, it is certain that many individuals suffer persistent problems in learning to read for no apparent reason. Although it is generally agreed that early intervention is the best form of support for children with dyslexia, there is still a lack of efficient and objective means to help identify those at risk during the early years of school. Here we show that it is possible to identify 9-10 year old individuals at risk of persistent reading difficulties by using eye tracking during reading to probe the processes that underlie reading ability. In contrast to current screening methods, which rely on oral or written tests, eye tracking does not depend on the subject to produce some overt verbal response and thus provides a natural means to objectively assess the reading process as it unfolds in real-time. Our study is based on a sample of 97 high-risk subjects with early identified word decoding difficulties and a control group of 88 low-risk subjects. These subjects were selected from a larger population of 2165 school children attending second grade. Using predictive modeling and statistical resampling techniques, we develop classification models from eye tracking records less than one minute in duration and show that the models are able to differentiate high-risk subjects from low-risk subjects with high accuracy. Although dyslexia is fundamentally a language-based learning disability, our results suggest that eye movements in reading can be highly predictive of individual reading ability and that eye tracking can be an efficient means to identify children at risk of long-term reading difficulties.

  5. Screening for Dyslexia Using Eye Tracking during Reading.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mattias Nilsson Benfatto

    Full Text Available Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental reading disability estimated to affect 5-10% of the population. While there is yet no full understanding of the cause of dyslexia, or agreement on its precise definition, it is certain that many individuals suffer persistent problems in learning to read for no apparent reason. Although it is generally agreed that early intervention is the best form of support for children with dyslexia, there is still a lack of efficient and objective means to help identify those at risk during the early years of school. Here we show that it is possible to identify 9-10 year old individuals at risk of persistent reading difficulties by using eye tracking during reading to probe the processes that underlie reading ability. In contrast to current screening methods, which rely on oral or written tests, eye tracking does not depend on the subject to produce some overt verbal response and thus provides a natural means to objectively assess the reading process as it unfolds in real-time. Our study is based on a sample of 97 high-risk subjects with early identified word decoding difficulties and a control group of 88 low-risk subjects. These subjects were selected from a larger population of 2165 school children attending second grade. Using predictive modeling and statistical resampling techniques, we develop classification models from eye tracking records less than one minute in duration and show that the models are able to differentiate high-risk subjects from low-risk subjects with high accuracy. Although dyslexia is fundamentally a language-based learning disability, our results suggest that eye movements in reading can be highly predictive of individual reading ability and that eye tracking can be an efficient means to identify children at risk of long-term reading difficulties.

  6. 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.

  7. The Teaching Reading With Virtual Technology in Education Context

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    Vera Wannmacher Pereira

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available This research had the specific objectives: produce virtual reading materials to the 7th grade of elementary high school students; develop workshops from these materials for these students; check the benefits of these workshops to the student`s reading comprehension development and also their the linguistic learning knowledge; produce an e-book to the teachers; provide this e-book to the publisher`s website at PUCRS. The methodology involved: conducting cooperative work around educational actions (application of virtual materials produced in workshops, research (development and implementation of research instruments and extension (production and availability of e-book. The results were: a productive network between University and schools; a set of reading comprehension material to the 7th grade of elementary school students; students’ reading comprehension development and learning language skills in the test applied before and after the workshops; the e-book which was developed and it is available on the EDIPUCRS site.

  8. 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…

  9. Influence of spatial perception abilities on reading in school-age children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arnaud Saj

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Spatial perception abilities enable individuals to explore a visual field, to detect spatial position and to infer relationships between visual stimuli. Written words and text are conceptualized spatially along a horizontal mental line, but little is known about the way children develop these representations. The exact relationship between visuo-spatial perception and academic achievement has never been directly assessed. Therefore, our aim was to study the developmental trajectory of space perception abilities by assessing perceptual, attentional and memory components, the relationship between these abilities and reading achievement in school-age children. Forty-nine children aged between 6.5 and 11 years old were divided into four age groups and were assessed with visual bisection, visual search and visual memory location tasks. The results showed that the groups of older children, from the age of nine, improved significantly on the bisection and visual search tasks with respect to all visual fields, while the groups of younger children showed more errors in the left visual field (LVF. Performances on these tasks were correlated with reading level and age. Older children with a low reading score showed a LVF bias, similar to the youngest children. These results demonstrate how abnormal space perception might distort space representation and in turn affect reading and learning processes.

  10. "PCI Reading Program": The Final Report of a Three Year Experimental Study in Brevard Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Research Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toby, Megan; Jaciw, Andrew; Ma, Boya; Lipton, Akiko

    2011-01-01

    PCI Education conducted a three-year longitudinal study to determine the comparative effectiveness of the "PCI Reading Program" ("PCI") for students with severe disabilities as implemented in Florida's Brevard Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The primary question addressed by the study is whether students…

  11. Effect of external classroom noise on schoolchildren's reading and mathematics performance: correlation of noise levels and gender.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papanikolaou, M; Skenteris, N; Piperakis, S M

    2015-02-01

    The present study investigated the effect of low, medium, and high traffic road noise as well as irrelevant background speech noise on primary school children's reading and mathematical performance. A total of 676 participants (324 boys, 47.9% and 352 girls, 52.1%) of the 4th and 5th elementary classes participated in the project. The participants were enrolled in public primary schools from urban areas and had ages ranging from 9 to 10 years and from. Schools were selected on the basis of increasing levels of exposure to road traffic noise and then classified into three categories (Low noise: 55-66 dB, Medium noise: 67-77 dB, and High noise: 72-80 dB). We measured reading comprehension and mathematical skills in accordance with the national guidelines for elementary education, using a test designed specifically for the purpose of this study. On the one hand, children in low-level noise schools showed statistically significant differences from children in medium- and high-level noise schools in reading performance (plevel noise schools differed significantly from children in high-level noise schools but only in mathematics performance (p=0.001). Girls in general did better in reading score than boys, especially in schools with medium- and high-level noise. Finally the levels of noise and gender were found to be two independent factors.

  12. Improving low-performing high schools: searching for evidence of promise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleischman, Steve; Heppen, Jessica

    2009-01-01

    Noting that many of the nation's high schools are beset with major problems, such as low student reading and math achievement, high dropout rates, and an inadequate supply of effective teachers, Steve Fleischman and Jessica Heppen survey a range of strategies that educators have used to improve low-performing high schools. The authors begin by showing how the standards-based school reform movement, together with the No Child Left Behind Act requirement that underperforming schools adopt reforms supported by scientifically based research, spurred policy makers, educators, and researchers to create and implement a variety of approaches to attain improvement. Fleischman and Heppen then review a number of widely adopted reform models that aim to change "business as usual" in low-performing high schools. The models include comprehensive school reform programs, dual enrollment and early college high schools, smaller learning communities, specialty (for example, career) academies, charter high schools, and education management organizations. In practice, say the authors, many of these improvement efforts overlap, defying neat distinctions. Often, reforms are combined to reinforce one another. The authors explain the theories that drive the reforms, review evidence of their reforms' effectiveness to date, and suggest what it will take to make them work well. Although the reforms are promising, the authors say, few as yet have solid evidence of systematic or sustained success. In concluding, Fleischman and Heppen emphasize that the reasons for a high school's poor performance are so complex that no one reform model or approach, no matter how powerful, can turn around low-performing schools. They also stress the need for educators to implement each reform program with fidelity to its requirements and to support it for the time required for success. Looking to the future, the authors suggest steps that decision makers, researchers, and sponsors of research can take to promote

  13. Grade Level and Gender Differences in a School-Based Reading Tutoring Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Sau Hou

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of the present study is to investigate the grade level and gender differences in a school-based reading tutoring program. The treatment group included 10 first-grade and 12 second-grade struggling readers, and the control group included 41 first-grade and 63 second-grade nonstruggling readers. The tutors were teacher candidates in an…

  14. The Impact of a Teacher Development Program for Strategic Reading on EFL Teachers’ Instructional Practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatemeh Khonamri

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Research on teacher development has been the focus of attention in recent decades. The overall aim of this study was to explore the impact of reading strategy training on high school teachers' reading instructional practices. The study was conducted in the EFL context of Iran. To meet this aim, four EFL high school teachers voluntarily took part in the study. Teachers' reading classes were observed and audio-recorded both before and after the teachers took part in a three-hour workshop on reading strategies. Drawing on data from observations, the results showed some degree of change in teachers' reading practices after their having taken part in the workshops. That is, they took a more strategic approach to the teaching of reading in their classes.

  15. A High School Turnaround School Initiative: Effects on Students' Math and Reading Proficiency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Segler Zender, Rene'

    2013-01-01

    Since the middle of the last century, student education in the U.S. public school systems has been deemed inadequate. Critics developed measures in the form of standardized testing to measure student progress in an attempt to help facilitate reforms. In the last thirty years, the federal government has played an increasing role in school reform…

  16. The 2008-2009 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Handbook for Assessment Coordinators: Writing, Reading and Mathematics, Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2010

    2010-01-01

    This handbook describes the responsibilities of district and school assessment coordinators in the administration of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). This updated guidebook contains the following sections: (1) General Assessment Guidelines for All Assessments; (2) Writing Specific Guidelines; (3) Reading and Mathematics…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lupton, Ruth; Thrupp, Martin

    2013-01-01

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

  18. Addressing the Difficulties of Learners in the Reading Class ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study evaluates reading comprehension instruction at senior high schools in Accra. Classroom observation was used to identify the techniques used by teachers in the reading class and questionnaire was used to collect information from learners about the difficulties they have in understanding text. It reports that the ...

  19. Butterfly effects in reading? The relationship between decoding and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Using the metaphor of butterfly effects, this paper considers how literacy inequalities in comprehension performance amongst Grade 6 learners in high poverty schools can be linked to skills that should have been developed in earlier stages of reading development. The reading comprehension skills of Grade 6 learners in ...

  20. Academic Achievement and Risk Factors for Adolescents with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Middle School and Early High School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zendarski, Nardia; Sciberras, Emma; Mensah, Fiona; Hiscock, Harriet

    Examine academic achievement of students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during the early high school period and identify potentially modifiable risk factors for low achievement. Data were collected through surveys (adolescent, parent, and teacher) and direct assessment of Australian adolescents (12-15 yr; n = 130) with ADHD in early high school (i.e., US middle and high school grades). Academic achievement outcomes were measured by linking to individual performance on the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, direct assessment of reading and math, and teacher report of academic competence. Linear regression models examined associations between adolescent, parent/family, and school factors and NAPLAN domain scores. Students with ADHD had lower NAPLAN scores on all domains and fewer met minimum academic standards in comparison with state benchmarks. The poorest results were for persuasive writing. Poor achievement was associated with lower intelligence quotient across all academic domains. Adolescent inattention, bullying, poor family management, male sex, and attending a low socioeconomic status school were associated with lower achievement on specific domains. Students with ADHD are at increased academic risk during the middle school and early high school period. In addition to academic support, interventions targeting modifiable factors including inattention, bullying, and poor family management may improve academic achievement across this critical period.

  1. How Many U.S. High School Students Have a Foreign Language Reading "Disability"? Reading without Meaning and the Simple View

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparks, Richard L.; Luebbers, Julie

    2018-01-01

    Conventional wisdom suggests that students classified as learning disabled will exhibit difficulties with foreign language (FL) learning, but evidence has not supported a relationship between FL learning problems and learning disabilities. The simple view of reading model posits that reading comprehension is the product of word decoding and…

  2. Rhythm production at school entry as a predictor of poor reading and spelling at the end of first grade.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lundetræ, Kjersti; Thomson, Jenny M

    2018-01-01

    Rhythm plays an organisational role in the prosody and phonology of language, and children with literacy difficulties have been found to demonstrate poor rhythmic perception. This study explored whether students' performance on a simple rhythm task at school entry could serve as a predictor of whether they would face difficulties in word reading and spelling at the end of grade 1. The participants were 479 Norwegian 6-year-old first graders randomized as controls in the longitudinal RCT on track (n = 1171). Rhythmic timing and pre-reading skills were tested individually at school entry on a digital tablet. On the rhythm task, the students were told to tap a drum appearing on the screen to two different rhythms (2 Hz paced and 1.5 Hz paced). Children's responses were recorded as they tapped on the screen with their index finger. Significant group differences were found in rhythm tapping ability measured at school entry, when groups were defined upon whether children went on to score above or below the 20th percentile reading and spelling thresholds in national assessment tests at the end of grade one. Inclusion of the school-entry rhythmic tapping measure into a model of classification accuracy for above or below threshold reading and spelling improved accuracy of classification by 6.2 and 9.2% respectively.

  3. An Investigation into the Use of Cohesive Devises in Iranian High School EFL Textbooks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mansour Shabani

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The present study aimed at probing into the use of grammatical and lexical cohesive subdevices in Iranian high school EFL textbooks. To this end, the reading sections of three high school EFL textbooks and one pre-university EFL textbook were analyzed in terms of the distribution of grammatical and lexical cohesive subdevices. The results of One-way ANOVA illustrated that: athere are no significant differences among the frequencies of grammatical cohesive subdevices across grade 1 high school EFL textbook and the pre-university EFL textbook, bthere are significant differences among the frequencies of grammatical cohesive subdevices across grades 2 and 3 high school EFL textbooks. Moreover, the results of Chi-Square test showed that the significant values of all of the lexical cohesive subdevices were higher than .05 across each of the Iranian EFL high school textbooks. These findings can be beneficial for textbook writers, materials developers and EFL teachers.

  4. Fifth-Grade Turkish Elementary School Students' Listening and Reading Comprehension Levels with Regard to Text Types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yildirim, Kasim; Yildiz, Mustafa; Ates, Seyit; Rasinski, Timothy

    2010-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine fifth grade elementary school students' listening and reading comprehension levels with regard to text types. This study was conducted on 180 fifth grade elementary school students in Sincan-Ankara in the spring semester of the academic year 2008-2009. The comprehension test was administered to students. The…

  5. Reading and Teaching in an Urban Middle School: Preservice Teachers' Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Field-Based Experiences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers-Haverback, Heather; Mee, Molly

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate middle level preservice teacher self-efficacy beliefs in general, as well as in the domain of reading. The participants were 8 middle school preservice teachers enrolled in a state-mandated reading methods course and student teaching over the course of a year. As part of the yearlong internship, the…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Madoda Cekiso

    2014-09-01

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

  7. The Development of a String Sight-Reading Pitch Skill Hierarchy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, Michael L.; Henry, Michele L.

    2012-01-01

    This study was designed to determine a pitch skill hierarchy for string sight-reading, to determine the effects of key on string sight-reading achievement, and to determine the validity of a tonal pattern system as a measurement of melodic sight-reading skill for string players. High school string students (n = 94) obtained a mean score of 27.28…

  8. Competent Adolescent Readers' Use of Internet Reading Strategies: A Think-Aloud Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Byeong-Young

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the type, pattern, and complexity of Internet reading strategies used by seven accomplished high school readers. Individual participants performed an academic Internet reading task with the goal of developing critical questions about their chosen controversial topic. Strategies for Internet reading were…

  9. Literary socialization and reading preferences: Effects of parents, the library, and the school

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kraaykamp, G.L.M.

    2003-01-01

    In this article, I study the long-term effects of reading socialization in the parental home, the use that is made of the extensive supply of books in the library, and the cultural encouragement that takes place in secondary school. Employing representative data for the Netherlands in 1998 (N=1762),

  10. Literary socialization and reading preferences : Effects of parents, the library, and the school

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kraaykamp, Gerbert

    2003-01-01

    In this article, I study the long-term effects of reading socialization in the parental home, the use that is made of the extensive supply of books in the library, and the cultural encouragement that takes place in secondary school. Employing representative data for the Netherlands in 1998 (N=1762),

  11. Effect of Reading Ability and Internet Experience on Keyword-Based Image Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, Pei-Lan; Lin, Sunny S. J.; Sun, Chuen-Tsai

    2013-01-01

    Image searches are now crucial for obtaining information, constructing knowledge, and building successful educational outcomes. We investigated how reading ability and Internet experience influence keyword-based image search behaviors and performance. We categorized 58 junior-high-school students into four groups of high/low reading ability and…

  12. Emergent Literacy and Reading Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study from Kindergarten to Primary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinto, Giuliana; Bigozzi, Lucia; Vezzani, Claudio; Tarchi, Christian

    2017-01-01

    This study explores the predictivity of an emergent literacy model on the acquisition of reading in primary school in a language with a transparent writing system. As writing systems have different levels of transparency, results cannot be easily transferred between languages. In this study, we explored the predictivity of phonological awareness,…

  13. Analyses of Common Grammar Mistakes in High-school English

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yang Liou

    2017-01-01

    English has an important position in the basic education stage as a language subject. English teaching requires students to have the abilities of listening, speaking, reading and writing in high school. If students want to learn these skills well, they should not only memorize vocabularies, but also master grammar knowledge. This paper illustrates the importance of English grammar for learning English and lists the common grammar mistakes. It also introduces some skills of learning English grammar.

  14. Reading for Pleasure in Paradise: Paired Reading in Antigua and Barbuda

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warrington, Molly J.; George, Patricia

    2014-01-01

    Reading for pleasure is essential in the development of literacy. This paper reports on findings from a paired reading strategy introduced into primary schools in Antigua and Barbuda in order to foster children's pleasure in reading. This programme of cross-age peer tutoring intervention began with the training of teachers in a small group of…

  15. Pedagogical Practices in Teaching Reading Comprehension: A Case Study of Three EFL Teachers in a Secondary School in Ethiopia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nurie, Yenus

    2017-01-01

    Various studies investigating psychological variables associated with reading comprehension are currently available. However, there has been little linguistic research conducted to examine the pedagogical practices of teachers in teaching reading comprehension of EFL Secondary Schools, Ethiopia. The present study was conducted to fill the research…

  16. Some indicators of (unsuccessful reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vuksanović Jasmina

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In the paper we set the aim to determine whether phonological awareness and short-term verbal memory are indicators of a subsequent reading acquisition. The sample consisted of 194 first graders from two primary schools in Belgrade. The results of our research showed that the most significant indicator of the subsequent (unsuccessful reading was phonological awareness. The short-term verbal memory is, to a lesser extent, an indicator of the subsequent reading acquisition defined by the time needed for reading the text and by the text comprehension. Our findings offer basis for proposing that the phonological awareness assessment should be implemented into the regular procedure of assessing child's readiness for school. In this way children in need for preventive stimulation within the inclusive programme in primary schools could be identified.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  18. Examining the core: relations among reading curricula, poverty, and first through third grade reading achievement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowe, Elizabeth Coyne; Connor, Carol McDonald; Petscher, Yaacov

    2009-06-01

    Policy changes at the federal and state level are endeavoring to improve student achievement at schools serving children from lower-SES homes. One important strategy is the focus on using evidence-based core reading curricula to provide a consistent framework for instruction across schools. However, rarely have these curricula undergone rigorous comparative testing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effects of six core reading curricula on oral reading fluency growth, while appraising whether these effects differ by grade level and for children living in lower socioeconomic (SES) households. Over 30,000 students in first through third grade Florida Reading First classrooms comprise this academically and economically diverse cross-sectional. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to model latent growth curves for students' reading fluency scores over the school year. Growth curves revealed differences across curricula as well as between students of lower and higher SES, suggesting that reading fluency growth trajectories for curricula varied depending on student SES and grade level. Findings indicate that while there are similarities among curricula, they sometimes differ in their ability to promote reading skill growth. Differences by grade level and SES were also detected. However, many of these differences were small. Implications for the use of curriculum as a conduit for improving reading instruction are discussed.

  19. High school music classes enhance the neural processing of speech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tierney, Adam; Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Johnston, Kathleen; Kraus, Nina

    2013-01-01

    Should music be a priority in public education? One argument for teaching music in school is that private music instruction relates to enhanced language abilities and neural function. However, the directionality of this relationship is unclear and it is unknown whether school-based music training can produce these enhancements. Here we show that 2 years of group music classes in high school enhance the neural encoding of speech. To tease apart the relationships between music and neural function, we tested high school students participating in either music or fitness-based training. These groups were matched at the onset of training on neural timing, reading ability, and IQ. Auditory brainstem responses were collected to a synthesized speech sound presented in background noise. After 2 years of training, the neural responses of the music training group were earlier than at pre-training, while the neural timing of students in the fitness training group was unchanged. These results represent the strongest evidence to date that in-school music education can cause enhanced speech encoding. The neural benefits of musical training are, therefore, not limited to expensive private instruction early in childhood but can be elicited by cost-effective group instruction during adolescence.

  20. Cognitive Attributes of Adequate and Inadequate Responders to Reading Intervention in Middle School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miciak, Jeremy; Stuebing, Karla K.; Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Greg; Barth, Amy E.; Fletcher, Jack M.

    2014-01-01

    No studies have investigated the cognitive attributes of middle school students who are adequate and inadequate responders to Tier 2 reading intervention. We compared students in Grades 6 and 7 representing groups of adequate responders (n = 77) and inadequate responders who fell below criteria in (a) comprehension (n = 54); (b) fluency (n = 45);…

  1. Reading Comprehension Course through a Genre-Oriented Approach at a School in Colombia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez Sánchez, Andrés

    2017-01-01

    This paper reports on an action-research study aimed at identifying the problems and needs of a specific group of tenth graders at a school in Colombia in relation to their reading comprehension in English in order to design, partially implement, and evaluate a genre-oriented syllabus. Findings show that the explicit instruction of metacognitive…

  2. Neighborhoods, Schools, and Academic Achievement: A Formal Mediation Analysis of Contextual Effects on Reading and Mathematics Abilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wodtke, Geoffrey T; Parbst, Matthew

    2017-10-01

    Although evidence indicates that neighborhoods affect educational outcomes, relatively little research has explored the mechanisms thought to mediate these effects. This study investigates whether school poverty mediates the effect of neighborhood context on academic achievement. Specifically, it uses longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, counterfactual methods, and a value-added modeling strategy to estimate the total, natural direct, and natural indirect effects of exposure to an advantaged rather than disadvantaged neighborhood on reading and mathematics abilities during childhood and adolescence. Contrary to expectations, results indicate that school poverty is not a significant mediator of neighborhood effects during either developmental period. Although moving from a disadvantaged neighborhood to an advantaged neighborhood is estimated to substantially reduce subsequent exposure to school poverty and improve academic achievement, school poverty does not play an important mediating role because even the large differences in school composition linked to differences in neighborhood context appear to have no appreciable effect on achievement. An extensive battery of sensitivity analyses indicates that these results are highly robust to unobserved confounding, alternative model specifications, alternative measures of school context, and measurement error, which suggests that neighborhood effects on academic achievement are largely due to mediating factors unrelated to school poverty.

  3. Especially for High School Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howell, J. Emory

    1999-09-01

    students into a class research project that employs simple materials but leads to an elegant solution. It is highly likely that her students' conceptual understanding of solution properties, density, heat capacity, phase change, diffusion, and scientific inquiry was greatly enhanced by the experience. Other accounts of research by high school students in class, small-group, and individual settings will be published in future issues. I hope that the various approaches described will stimulate new ideas for student-conducted research to facilitate learning. One frustration that high school teachers and students may experience is difficult access to instrumentation needed to carry out investigations. Calculator Based Laboratory (CBL) and other new technologies provide some relatively low-cost solutions to the problem, but the cost of specialized sensors can still be a barrier. In this issue a method for constructing an electrode for determining carbon dioxide concentration is described (p 1253). The article is not identified with Secondary School Chemistry mark (t) because it might not be of interest to a large number of high school teachers, but if the idea is appealing I encourage you to read the article. JCE has received several submissions from high school teachers describing devices constructed by their students, so I know there is some interest in low-cost build-it-yourself instrumentation. If you are among those who find this type of article interesting, please let me know. It will guide me in assigning the SSC icon to articles. Beginning Anew, Again For many readers, this issue will arrive only a few weeks or days before the beginning of the new school year. Others will already have begun the new school year. One of the joys of teaching lies in the cyclic nature of the school year. Ideas from summer workshops and conferences can be developed and implemented. Fresh faces in our classrooms provide another opportunity to try new approaches and to perfect proven teaching

  4. The Impact of a Therapy Dog Program on Children's Reading Skills and Attitudes toward Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirnan, Jean; Siminerio, Steven; Wong, Zachary

    2016-01-01

    An existing school program in which therapy dogs are integrated into the reading curriculum was analyzed to determine the effect on student reading. Previous literature suggests an improvement in both reading skills and attitudes towards reading when students read in the presence of a therapy dog. Using a mixed method model, the researchers…

  5. Read-only high accuracy volume holographic optical correlator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Tian; Li, Jingming; Cao, Liangcai; He, Qingsheng; Jin, Guofan

    2011-10-01

    A read-only volume holographic correlator (VHC) is proposed. After the recording of all of the correlation database pages by angular multiplexing, a stand-alone read-only high accuracy VHC will be separated from the VHC recording facilities which include the high-power laser and the angular multiplexing system. The stand-alone VHC has its own low power readout laser and very compact and simple structure. Since there are two lasers that are employed for recording and readout, respectively, the optical alignment tolerance of the laser illumination on the SLM is very sensitive. The twodimensional angular tolerance is analyzed based on the theoretical model of the volume holographic correlator. The experimental demonstration of the proposed read-only VHC is introduced and discussed.

  6. Optimization of a PCRAM Chip for high-speed read and highly reliable reset operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiaoyun; Chen, Houpeng; Li, Xi; Wang, Qian; Fan, Xi; Hu, Jiajun; Lei, Yu; Zhang, Qi; Tian, Zhen; Song, Zhitang

    2016-10-01

    The widely used traditional Flash memory suffers from its performance limits such as its serious crosstalk problems, and increasing complexity of floating gate scaling. Phase change random access memory (PCRAM) becomes one of the most potential nonvolatile memories among the new memory techniques. In this paper, a 1M-bit PCRAM chip is designed based on the SMIC 40nm CMOS technology. Focusing on the read and write performance, two new circuits with high-speed read operation and highly reliable reset operation are proposed. The high-speed read circuit effectively reduces the reading time from 74ns to 40ns. The double-mode reset circuit improves the chip yield. This 1M-bit PCRAM chip has been simulated on cadence. After layout design is completed, the chip will be taped out for post-test.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kieffer, Michael J.; Vukovic, Rose K.

    2012-01-01

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

  8. Problems catching up – age disadvantage in letter recognition, phoneme awareness and speed naming in Danish five-year-olds at school entry does not disappear after the first school year

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wilms, Inge Linda

    2017-01-01

    (a) Research findings: Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the development in mastery of preparatory reading skills at the first school year. Method: 96 children from a high income, high resource area of Denmark were tested on alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, word mobiliza......(a) Research findings: Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the development in mastery of preparatory reading skills at the first school year. Method: 96 children from a high income, high resource area of Denmark were tested on alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, word...... mobilization and word reading at the entry and exit to school (0-grade). Results: There are significant differences in preparatory reading skills in five and six year old children. The differences in performance scores are not evened out during the first school year but remain the same. Conclusion: Even...... with intensive day care and similar demographical and socio-economical factors, children will start school with different levels of preparatory reading skills depending on entry to school age. The Danish curriculum which favors standardized reading practice will not be sufficient to even out skills differences...

  9. Football to Improve Math and Reading Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Klaveren, Chris; De Witte, Kristof

    2015-01-01

    Schools frequently increase the instructional time to improve primary school children's math and reading skills. There is, however, little evidence that math and reading skills are effectively improved by these instruction-time increases. This study evaluates "Playing for Success" (PfS), an extended school day program for underachieving…

  10. Perceived Challenges to Integrating Reading Strategies in Content Areas: A Single Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pezzolla, Karen

    2017-01-01

    An alarming percentage of middle and high school students find themselves unable to read their textbooks at grade level proficiency; lacking the necessary skills to access and process information, and read critically. The Common Core State Standards require students to apply reading strategies across the curriculum, therefore requiring teachers to…

  11. Ecological, psychological, and cognitive components of reading difficulties: testing the component model of reading in fourth graders across 38 countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiu, Ming Ming; McBride-Chang, Catherine; Lin, Dan

    2012-01-01

    The authors tested the component model of reading (CMR) among 186,725 fourth grade students from 38 countries (45 regions) on five continents by analyzing the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study data using measures of ecological (country, family, school, teacher), psychological, and cognitive components. More than 91% of the differences in student difficulty occurred at the country (61%) and classroom (30%) levels (ecological), with less than 9% at the student level (cognitive and psychological). All three components were negatively associated with reading difficulties: cognitive (student's early literacy skills), ecological (family characteristics [socioeconomic status, number of books at home, and attitudes about reading], school characteristics [school climate and resources]), and psychological (students' attitudes about reading, reading self-concept, and being a girl). These results extend the CMR by demonstrating the importance of multiple levels of factors for reading deficits across diverse cultures.

  12. 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.

  13. Reading and Vocabulary Recommendations for Spanish for Native Speakers Materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, Laura Gutierrez

    1995-01-01

    Focuses on the need for appropriate materials to address the needs of native speakers of Spanish who study Spanish in American universities and high schools. The most important factors influencing the selection of readings should include the practical nature of themes for reading and vocabulary development, level of difficulty, and variety in…

  14. Crossroads: Quality of Life in a Nuclear World. A High School English Curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    French, Dan; And Others

    One of a set of high school curricula on nuclear issues, this 10-day unit for English classes informs students of the issues surrounding the nuclear arms race and military spending. Each lesson includes readings, worksheets, and a daily homework assignment and focuses on one of the following activities: discussion, brainstorming, role playing, or…

  15. When I Was Hungry. A Hunger Course for High School Students. [Student Packet].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bread for the World Educational Fund, Washington, DC.

    This student packet contains readings and exercises for examining the problem of world hunger. Materials, which are suitable for use by high school students, are presented from a Christian perspective. Twelve chapters cover justice and the right to food; causes of hunger (poverty, land use, the international economy, the arms race, resource abuse,…

  16. Assessing the Promise of a Supplemental Reading Intervention for At-Risk First Grade Students in a Public School Setting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokhtari, Kouider; Neel, Joanna L.; Kaiser, Forrest; Le, Hong-Hai

    2015-01-01

    In this exploratory quasi-experimental case study, we assessed the promise of a yearlong supplemental reading intervention with a small pilot group of at-risk first grade readers in an elementary school setting. Using standardized measures of reading proficiency, we found that after 47 hours of one-on-one tutoring instruction, students read…

  17. Vocal Sight-Reading Assessment: Technological Advances, Student Perceptions, and Instructional Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, Michele

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated choral singers' comfort level using computer technology for vocal sight-reading assessment. High school choral singers (N = 138) attending a summer music camp completed a computer-based sight-reading assessment and accompanying pre- and posttest surveys on their musical backgrounds and perceptions about technology. A large…

  18. Supporting Literacy Across the Sunshine State: A Study of Florida Middle School Reading Coaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Julie A.; McCombs, Jennifer Sloan; Lockwood, J. R.; Martorell, Francisco; Gershwin, Daniel; Naftel, Scott; Le, Vi-Nhuan; Shea, Molly; Barney, Heather; Crego, Al

    2008-01-01

    Although literacy skills needed to engage in the economy and public life have grown, the literacy skills of many adolescents remain low. One popular approach to improving student literacy is using school-based reading coaches; however, there is little empirical evidence regarding the nature of coaching and its effectiveness in changing teacher…

  19. An Investigation of the Role of Guided Reading in Proficient First Grade Reader's In-School Writing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Jolene B.

    2011-01-01

    This participant observation research study explored relationships between the role of guided reading and in-school writing of three proficient first-grade literacy learners during the first eight months of the 2007-08 school-year. Portraits of each student as a literacy learner were developed through case studies. Those individual case studies…

  20. Science teacher's discourse about reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabel Martins

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available In this research we start from the assumption that teachers act as mediators of reading practices in school and problematise their practices, meanings and representations of reading. We have investigated meanings constructed by a group of teachers of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, working at a federal technical school. Having French discourse analysis as our theoretical-methodological framework, we considered that meanings, concepts and conceptions of reading are built historically through discourses, which produce meanings that determine ideological practices. Our results show that, for that group of teachers, there were no opportunities during either initial training or on-going education for reflecting upon the role of reading in science teaching and learning. Moreover, there seems to be an association between the type of discourse and modes of reading, so that unique meanings are attributed to scientific texts and their reading are linked to search and assimilation of information.

  1. Depicting reading ability as an information literacy model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aurora Cuevas Cerveró

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Readers’ world has been lately challenged by significant changes, such as the increase on reading supply, the diversification of documentary media and the new types of reading, writing and communicating through the Internet. Such situation specially affects 21st century schools, which are evolving too slowly and so being relegated from their corresponding pre-eminent place as reading teachers and knowledge transmitters. The main goal of this article is to contribute mitigating such adverse effects on schools by proposing an information literacy skills model aimed for improving reading competency from the school library, which is considered a key element capable of turning reading again into an indispensable instrument in knowledge construction.

  2. Visual and binocular status in elementary school children with a reading problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christian, Lisa W; Nandakumar, Krithika; Hrynchak, Patricia K; Irving, Elizabeth L

    2017-11-21

    This descriptive study provides a summary of the binocular anomalies seen in elementary school children identified with reading problems. A retrospective chart review of all children identified with reading problems and seen by the University of Waterloo, Optometry Clinic, from September 2012 to June 2013. Files of 121 children (mean age 8.6 years, range 6-14 years) were reviewed. No significant refractive error was found in 81% of children. Five and 8 children were identified as strabismic at distance and near respectively. Phoria test revealed 90% and 65% of patients had normal distance and near phoria. Near point of convergencia (NPC) was <5cm in 68% of children, and 77% had stereoacuity of ≤40seconds of arc. More than 50% of the children had normal fusional vergence ranges except for near positive fusional vergencce (base out) break (46%). Tests for accommodation showed 91% of children were normal for binocular facility, and approximately 70% of children had an expected accuracy of accommodation. Findings indicate that some children with an identified reading problem also present with abnormal binocular test results compared to published normal values. Further investigation should be performed to investigate the relationship between binocular vision function and reading performance. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  3. High school music classes enhance the neural processing of speech

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam eTierney

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Should music be a priority in public education? One argument for teaching music in school is that private music instruction relates to enhanced language abilities and neural function. However, the directionality of this relationship is unclear and it is unknown whether school-based music training can produce these enhancements. Here we show that two years of group music classes in high school enhance the subcortical encoding of speech. To tease apart the relationships between music and neural function, we tested high school students participating in either music or fitness-based training. These groups were matched at the onset of training on neural timing, reading ability, and IQ. Auditory brainstem responses were collected to a synthesized speech sound presented in background noise. After 2 years of training, the subcortical responses of the music training group were earlier than at pretraining, while the neural timing of students in the fitness training group was unchanged. These results represent the strongest evidence to date that in-school music education can cause enhanced speech encoding. The neural benefits of musical training are, therefore, not limited to expensive private instruction early in childhood but can be elicited by cost-effective group instruction during adolescence.

  4. Science Literacy: How do High School Students Solve PISA Test Items?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wati, F.; Sinaga, P.; Priyandoko, D.

    2017-09-01

    The Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) does assess students’ science literacy in a real-life contexts and wide variety of situation. Therefore, the results do not provide adequate information for the teacher to excavate students’ science literacy because the range of materials taught at schools depends on the curriculum used. This study aims to investigate the way how junior high school students in Indonesia solve PISA test items. Data was collected by using PISA test items in greenhouse unit employed to 36 students of 9th grade. Students’ answer was analyzed qualitatively for each item based on competence tested in the problem. The way how students answer the problem exhibits their ability in particular competence which is influenced by a number of factors. Those are students’ unfamiliarity with test construction, low performance on reading, low in connecting available information and question, and limitation on expressing their ideas effectively and easy-read. As the effort, selected PISA test items can be used in accordance teaching topic taught to familiarize students with science literacy.

  5. Reading comprehension of ambiguous sentences by school-age children with autism spectrum disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidson, Meghan M; Ellis Weismer, Susan

    2017-12-01

    Weak central coherence (processing details over gist), poor oral language abilities, poor suppression, semantic interference, and poor comprehension monitoring have all been implicated to affect reading comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study viewed the contributions of different supporting skills as a collective set of skills necessary for context integration-a multi-component view-to examine individual differences in reading comprehension in school-age children (8-14 years) with ASD (n = 23) and typically developing control peers (n = 23). Participants completed a written ambiguous sentence comprehension task in which participants had to integrate context to determine the correct homonym meaning via picture selection. Both comprehension products (i.e., offline representations after reading) and processes (i.e., online processing during reading) were evaluated. Results indicated that children with ASD, similar to their TD peers, integrated the context to access the correct homonym meanings while reading. However, after reading the sentences, when participants were asked to select the meanings, both groups experienced semantic interference between the two meanings. This semantic interference hindered the children with ASD's sentence representation to a greater degree than their peers. Individual differences in age/development, word recognition, vocabulary breadth (i.e., number of words in the lexicon), and vocabulary depth (i.e., knowledge of the homonym meanings) contributed to sentence comprehension in both children with ASD and their peers. Together, this evidence supports a multi-component view, and that helping children with ASD develop vocabulary depth may have cascading effects on their reading comprehension. Autism Res 2017, 10: 2002-2022. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Like their peers, children with ASD were able to integrate context, or link words while reading

  6. Lexical-Semantic Processing and Reading: Relations between Semantic Priming, Visual Word Recognition and Reading Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nobre, Alexandre de Pontes; de Salles, Jerusa Fumagalli

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate relations between lexical-semantic processing and two components of reading: visual word recognition and reading comprehension. Sixty-eight children from private schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from 7 to 12 years, were evaluated. Reading was assessed with a word/nonword reading task and a reading…

  7. Underlying skills of oral and silent reading

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Den Boer, Madelon; van Bergen, Elsje; de Jong, Peter F.

    2014-01-01

    Many studies have examined reading and reading development. The majority of these studies, however, focused on oral reading rather than on the more dominant silent reading mode. Similarly, it is common practice to assess oral reading abilities rather than silent reading abilities in schools and in

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

    OpenAIRE

    Grönblad, Johanna

    2013-01-01

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

  9. 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.

  10. The Problem of Reading and Reading Culture Improvement of Students-Bachelors of Elementary Education in Modern High Institution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamalova, Lera A.; Koletvinova, Natal'ya D.

    2016-01-01

    This article is aimed to study the problems of reading and improve reading culture of students-bachelors of elementary education in modern high institutions and development of the most effective methods and techniques for improving of reading culture of students in the study of Humanities disciplines. The leading method to the study of this…

  11. Evaluating the Efficacy of Using a Digital Reading Environment to Improve Reading Comprehension within a Reading Clinic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortlieb, Evan; Sargent, Stephan; Moreland, Meagan

    2014-01-01

    This study examined the effectiveness of using the online digital reading environment to increase elementary students' comprehension within a reading clinic. Preservice teachers at a four-year university in the Midwest worked one-on-one with 58 fourth-grade students from three schools who were assigned to one of three conditions: print-based text…

  12. Screening for word reading and spelling problems in elementary school: An item response theory perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keuning, J.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to explore whether the Item Response Theory (IRT) provides a suitable framework to screen for word reading and spelling problems during the elementary school period. The following issues were addressed from an IRT perspective: (a) the dimensionality of word

  13. Reading interest and information needs of persons with visual impairment in Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ’Niran Adetoro

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Information materials can only become usable to persons with visual impairment when they are transcribed into alternative formats. Over time, the transcription and provision of alternative formats in Nigeria by libraries has not been based on users’ reading interest and information needs. This study delves into the reading interests and information needs of persons with visual impairment in Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted and the study purposively focused on southwestern Nigeria. Using stratified proportionate random sampling techniques, data was gathered by questionnaires namely the Visually Impaired Adult Questionnaire VIAQ (= 0.75 and Visually Impaired Student Questionnaire VISQ (= 0.78 from fourteen selected libraries stratified into non-governmental, public, tertiary institutions and secondary schools. Of the 563 copies of the questionnaire that were administered, 401 (71.3% were successfully completed and used for the study. The study found that adults with visual impairment had high reading interests in religious, business, and entertainment materials, among others. Secondary school respondents had high reading interest in art subjects, reference materials, manuals and animal story materials. Both respondents showed high information needs in expected and relevant areas. Braille materials (58.3% are the most preferred source of information generally. Adult respondents preferred Braille (72.4%, while the secondary school respondents preferred Talking books/audio recordings (55%. Transcription and provision of information materials for the visually impaired through libraries should be based on knowledge of their reading interest and information needs.

  14. Does the KABC-II Display Ethnic Bias in the Prediction of Reading, Math, and Writing in Elementary School Through High School?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheiber, Caroline

    2017-09-01

    This study explored whether the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (KABC-II) predicted academic achievement outcomes of the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Second Edition (KTEA-II) equally well across a representative sample of African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian school-aged children ( N = 2,001) in three grade groups (1-4, 5-8, 9-12). It was of interest to study possible prediction bias in the slope and intercept of the five underlying Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) cognitive factors of the KABC-II-Sequential/Gsm (Short-Term Memory), Learning/Glr (Long-Term Storage and Retrieval), Simultaneous/Gv (Visual Processing), Planning/Gf (Fluid Reasoning), and Knowledge/Gc (Crystallized Ability)-in estimating reading, writing, and math. Structural equation modeling techniques demonstrated a lack of bias in the slopes; however, four of the five CHC indexes showed a persistent overprediction of the minority groups' achievement in the intercept. The overprediction is likely attributable to institutional or societal contributions, which limit the students' ability to achieve to their fullest potential.

  15. Screen-based reading practices – results of the Study on children and adolescents’ reading habits and attitudes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zofia Zasacka

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This article focuses on how digital technologies are used in the reading practices of adolescents. The results presented here are drawn from a study of young people’s reading habits. One of its aims was to determine students’ online reading habits. Selected results are presented from the qualitative and quantitative stages of the study. The quantitative stage was conducted in November 2013 with 1721 students completing primary school and 1816 students from lower secondary school. The paper reviews its key findings about how students read books: offline or online, printed or on-screen, whether they look for information about books on the internet and whether they use the internet as a source of reading material.

  16. The Design of a Theme-Based and Genre-Oriented Strategic Reading Course to Improve Students' Reading Comprehension Skills at a Public School in Colombia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padilla De La Cerda, Fabián

    2016-01-01

    This paper reports the process of designing and partially implementing and evaluating a content-based and genre-oriented syllabus with a group of ninth graders at a public school in Barranquilla, Colombia. The syllabus sought to promote reading strategies in order to improve learners' comprehension of natural science texts. The results of this…

  17. iPad Use for Accelerating Reading Gains in Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Retter, Shannan; Anderson, Christine; Kieran, Laura

    2013-01-01

    This action research project explored the use of the iPad 2 in a special education classroom with high school students who were considered struggling readers to determine if an academic gain in reading comprehension, reading fluency, and vocabulary implementing the intervention of an iPad and four specific applications (apps). The high school…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2014-01-01

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

  19. 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

  20. Creating a Love of Reading = Susciter le Gout de la Lecture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Leary, John Daniel

    To develop good reading habits, children must be surrounded with books, stories and reading not only in the classroom but in the home and the community. Children who read and are read to outside of school do better than those who do not read and are not read to outside of school. Parents and other family members should make books and reading aloud…

  1. Nuclear Physics in High School: what are the previous knowledge?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pombo, F. de O.

    2017-11-01

    Nuclear physics is a branch of physics that about a century occupies an important space in the theoretical, experimental and scientific fields. Currently, its relevance in application is concentrated in several areas such as energy production, diagnostic processes and medical treatment and nuclear bombs, high destructive power. Whereas, according to legal regulations, the teaching of physics must make the student competent in the understanding of the world and assuming the perspective of Paulo Freire (2011) that education is not done on the subject, but together with him, in dialogue with his point of departure, his prior knowledge, we established the general objective of raising students prior knowledge of the third year of high School at Nair Ferreira Neves school, in São Sebastião-SP, about nuclear physics. We concluded that the school has not fulfilled its role in relation to nuclear physics, because students have information from other means of information and these knowledge are stereotyped and mistaken, damaging the world's reading and exercising full citizenship.

  2. 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.)

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

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

    2003-01-01

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

  4. Reading, writing, and phonological processing skills of adolescents with 10 or more years of cochlear implant experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geers, Ann E; Hayes, Heather

    2011-02-01

    This study had three goals: (1) to document the literacy skills of deaf adolescents who received cochlear implants (CIs) as preschoolers; (2) to examine reading growth from elementary grades to high school; (3) to assess the contribution of early literacy levels and phonological processing skills, among other factors, to literacy levels in high school. A battery of reading, spelling, expository writing, and phonological processing assessments were administered to 112 high school (CI-HS) students, ages 15.5 to 18.5 yrs, who had participated in a reading assessment battery in early elementary grades (CI-E), ages 8.0 to 9.9 yrs. The CI-HS students' performance was compared with either a control group of hearing peers (N = 46) or hearing norms provided by the assessment developer. Many of the CI-HS students (47 to 66%) performed within or above the average range for hearing peers on reading tests. When compared with their CI-E performance, good early readers were also good readers in high school. Importantly, the majority of CI-HS students maintained their reading levels over time compared with hearing peers, indicating that the gap in performance was, at the very least, not widening for most students. Written expression and phonological processing tasks posed a great deal of difficulty for the CI-HS students. They were poorer spellers, poorer expository writers, and displayed poorer phonological knowledge than hearing age-mates. Phonological processing skills were a critical predictor of high school literacy skills (reading, spelling, and expository writing), accounting for 39% of variance remaining after controlling for child, family, and implant characteristics. Many children who receive CIs as preschoolers achieve age-appropriate literacy levels as adolescents. However, significant delays in spelling and written expression are evident compared with hearing peers. For children with CIs, the development of phonological processing skills is not just important for

  5. The role of phonological awareness in reading comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Silvia Cárnio

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Purpose: to characterize the performance of 4th grade-Elementary School students with and without signs of reading and writing disorders as for phonological awareness and reading comprehension, and also verify possible correlations between them. Methods: 60 children enrolled in the 4th grade of Elementary School from two public schools, whose parents signed the Informed Consent Form, participated in the present study. They were selected and organized in groups, with and without signs of reading and writing disorders. All students were individually assessed regarding their phonological awareness and reading comprehension of sentences and texts through standardized tests. The data underwent statistical analysis. Results: those with signs of reading and writing disorders showed the lowest performance in the reading comprehension of sentences and texts. A correlation was found between phonological awareness and reading comprehension of sentences and texts in both groups. Conclusion: students with no signs of reading and writing disorders had a higher performance in the skills assessed. The correlation found between phonological awareness and reading comprehension of sentences and texts shows not only the importance of metaphonological skills for a proficient reading, but also for a comprehensive one.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  7. Promoting reading and good reading culture through the use of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper is the findings from existing literature on the mechanics of using book talks and story books to inculcate reading and the steps to develop good reading culture in children. This work is an ongoing action research work in selected private and public schools in Lagos Mainland. It has so far been established that the ...

  8. Reflections on Teaching and Learning the Arts: A Middle-Grade Classroom and a High School for the Arts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barilla, Rosemary; Brown, Tina Boyer

    2015-01-01

    Rosemary Barilla, a middle-grade language arts teacher, inspired by her own dedication to the arts, describes the ways she integrates the fine arts into her classroom program that is designed to teach reading and writing. Tina Boyer Brown, a founding teacher at The Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts®), describes the school as a place where…

  9. Reading comprehension in english with audio media input among year 6 primary school students with or without dyslexia

    OpenAIRE

    Deželan, Tadeja

    2017-01-01

    The findings of scientific research in recent years have begun to emphasize the importance of early detection of general and specific learning difficulties of pupils in schools. Among the specific learning difficulties dyslexia is the most recognizable as well as mostly studied. The latter causes pupils great difficulties in acquiring basic literacy and language skills. Since pupils with dyslexia, among other difficulties, experience problems with reading and consequently reading comprehensio...

  10. The Growing Trend of Reading Movements in Japan: Animacion a la Lectura, Ten-Minutes Reading in the Morning, and Reading Aloud by Parents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adachi, Sachiko

    This study examines the growing trend of reading movements in Japan and their origins. There are three main movements: Animacion a la Lectura; Ten-Minutes Reading in the Morning; and Reading Aloud by Parents in schools. This paper reports on the three movements from a review of the literature, personal observations, and practice. The paper…

  11. 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.

  12. 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…

  13. "You Don't Read a Science Book, You Study It": An Exploration of Cultural Concepts of Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Jim; Gunderson, Lee

    2001-01-01

    Discusses how the differing views held by teachers and immigrant parents and their children affect early reading instruction, secondary content reading, and reading involving technology. Demonstrates that immigrant students and their parents hold different beliefs about reading and schooling than those held by many teachers. Concludes it is…

  14. Raising the Reading Skills of Secondary-Age Students with Severe and Persistent Reading Difficulties: Evaluation of the Efficacy and Implementation of a Phonics-Based Intervention Programme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffes, Ben

    2016-01-01

    The importance of reading skills to academic achievement, job acquisition and future success is well documented. Most of the research on reading interventions focuses on children in primary schools but many children start secondary school with very poor reading skills and schools require evidence-based interventions to support these children. The…

  15. Football to improve math and reading performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Klaveren, Chris; De Witte, Kristof

    2015-01-01

    Schools frequently increase the instructional time to improve primary school children's math and reading skills. There is, however, little evidence that math and reading skills are effectively improved by these instruction-time increases. This study evaluates ‘Playing for Success’ (PfS), an extended

  16. Reading Stephen King: Issues of Censorship, Student Choice, and Popular Literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Power, Brenda Miller, Ed.; Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., Ed.; Chandler, Kelly, Ed.

    This collection of essays grew out of the "Reading Stephen King Conference" held at the University of Maine in 1996. Stephen King's books have become a lightning rod for the tensions around issues of including "mass market" popular literature in middle and high school English classes and of who chooses what students read.…

  17. Reading Improvement through Art Replicator Manual of Instruction, 3rd Edition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corwin, Sylvia K., Ed.

    2013-01-01

    Reading Improvement Through Art (RITA) program is an interdisciplinary approach to literacy that blends visual art with reading comprehension, evaluated in nine New York City urban high schools. 240 problem readers participating in the pilot program were pre- and post-tested in the Fall 1975 and Spring 1976 semesters. The testing showed the 9th…

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

    OpenAIRE

    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...

  19. Making sense of it: a brief programme to improve reading comprehension in adolescents with language impairments in main stream school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Aileen; Mitchell, Siobhán; O'Donoghue, Anne; Cowhey, Suzanne; Kearney, Mairead

    2015-01-01

    Children with language impairment show academic outcomes that are consistently poorer than those of their typically developing peers. A contributor to this is difficulty with reading comprehension. Although these difficulties are reported to continue well into adolescence, this population is generally underserved with regard to therapy. The efficacy of interventions for reading comprehension is well established in the research literature, but whether the same effects are achievable within a reasonable time reflecting available resources in real-life circumstances is less clear. Efficacy trials may significantly overestimate how strong an effect will be when the treatment is used under more natural conditions and within local constraints. The aim was to discover whether a short classroom intervention would be effective in improving reading comprehension in adolescents with the heterogeneous profiles of general or specific learning disabilities, additional diagnoses and behavioural and socio-emotional problems found in mainstream schools today. Twenty-eight adolescents with heterogeneous language and reading profiles were recruited from a mainstream school. The intervention programme comprised eight sessions of instruction in multiple reading comprehension strategies, held over 4 weeks. Experiment 1 had 10 participants. Experiment 2 had 18 participants who underwent the same programme, plus the addition of a session dedicated to decoding skills. Efficacy was evaluated within a pre- and post-study design, with baseline and post-therapy measures taken using the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC). Both experiments showed a significant group difference pre/post-intervention, with similar large effect sizes. Experiment 2 also showed a significant group difference in decoding ability pre and post the single intervention session. This short intervention programme proved effective in a population with heterogeneous profiles, and fitted well with delivery in

  20. Trajectories of Reading Development: A Follow-up from Birth to School Age of Children with and without Risk for Dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyytinen, Heikki; Erskine, Jane; Tolvanen, Asko; Torppa, Minna; Poikkeus, Anna-Maija; Lyytinen, Paula

    2006-01-01

    In order to understand why some children are vulnerable to difficulties in their language development and their acquisition of reading skill, the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia followed 200 Finnish children from birth to school age. Half of these children had a family history of reading problems and were considered at risk for dyslexia;…

  1. The teaching of reading in Botswana Government Primary Shcools ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study investigated how reading is taught in Botswana Government schools. The findings indicate that inadequate reading instruction by teachers, their inability to model and provide students with research-based proven strategies, lack of reading specialists/coaches in the primary schools, the use of only basal series as ...

  2. Merits of Undergraduate and High School Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenney, John

    2016-06-01

    When it comes to sports, everyone gets it; you have to play to really understand, experience, and learn what the game is all about. It would be ludicrous to teach basketball by practicing basketball fundamentals in the gym (layups, free throws, jump shots, dribbling, defense), reading about and attending professional basketball games, but never playing in a game. As important as classes and teaching laboratories may be in science education, there is simply no substitute for active engagement in scientific research to show students what science is all about and, perhaps even more importantly, to inspire and motivate them to become scientists or at least appreciate science. It is a widely held misconception that a student cannot really do meaningful, publishable scientific research until he/she is in graduate school. In actual fact, college undergraduates and even high school students can make original and significant scientific research contributions. Astronomical research, in particular, is very well suited to engage the beginning high school or college undergraduate researcher. The night sky’s inherent accessibility and also its inherent grandeur are natural draws for the curious student’s mind. And much can be learned and discovered using small telescopes. In sports, joining a team is a key aspect of the sports experience. Similarly in science, joining a research team and thereby entering a “community of scientific practice” is fundamental and transformational. As important as working with equipment and acquiring data happen to be in scientific research, this is only the beginning of the research process. Student researchers of all ages—particularly high school students and college undergraduates—have much to gain by giving presentations on their research, writing up their results for publication, and going through the peer review process. But this only works if the student researchers are imbedded within the community of practice.

  3. Incorporating IStation into Early Childhood Classrooms to Improve Reading Comprehension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tian Luo

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: IStation is an adaptive computer-based reading program that adapts to the learner’s academic needs. This study investigates if the Istation computer-based reading program promotes reading improvement scores as shown on the STAR Reading test and the IStation test scaled scores for elementary school third-grade learners on different reading levels. Background: Prior literature provided a limited evidence base for incorporating computer-adaptive learning technologies to improve reading comprehension in the con-text of early childhood education. Methodology: Using a mixed-method case study research approach, this study purports to investigate the effects of IStation and examine the perspectives of teachers and students. Supported by survey and interview data, this case study employed a sample of 98 public school third-grade students in an urban elementary school in the southeastern United States as well as the three classroom teachers. Contribution: This study has provided a additional data to show evidence for the effectiveness of a computer-based reading program, IStation, by using the students’ and teachers’ viewpoints as well as reading comprehension test scores data; and b recommendations for practitioners and researchers regarding professional development for IStation implementation. Findings: The results of this study show a strong correlation between the usage of IStation and the rise of STAR reading scores during the time IStation was integrated. There were differing opinions regarding the effectiveness of IStation between students and teachers, as well as between low and high achieving students. Teachers recognized that intervening variables of teachers’ whole and small group lessons individualized for each class, as well as students’ practice sessions both at home and at school, could have also resulted in improved STAR reading scores. Recommendations for Practitioners: There is no one-size-fits-all solution when

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  5. [Developmental changes of rapid automatized naming and Hiragana reading of Japanese in elementary-school children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Tomoka; Inagaki, Masumi; Gunji, Atsuko; Yatabe, Kiyomi; Kita, Yosuke; Kaga, Makiko; Gotoh, Takaaki; Koike, Toshihide

    2011-11-01

    Two hundred and seven Japanese elementary school children aged from 6 (Grade 1) to 12 (Grade 6) years old were tested for their abilities to name numbers and pictured objects along with reading Hiragana characters and words. These children all showed typical development and their classroom teachers judged that they were not having any problems with reading or writing. The children were randomly divided into two groups, the first group was assigned to two naming tasks;the rapid automatized naming (RAN) of "numbers" and "pictured objects," the second group was assigned to two rapid alternative stimulus (RAS) naming tasks using numbers and pictured objects. All children were asked to perform two reading tasks that were written in Hiragana script: single mora reading task and four syllable word reading task. The total articulation time for naming and reading and performance in terms of accuracy were measured for each task. Developmental changes in these variables were evaluated. The articulation time was significantly longer for the first graders, and it gradually shortened as they moved through to the upper grades in all tasks. The articulation time reached a plateau in the 5th grade for the number naming, while gradual change continued after drastic change in the lower grades for the pictured object naming. The articulation times for the single mora reading and RAN of numbers correlated strongly. The articulation time for the RAS naming was significantly longer compared to that for the RAN, though there were very few errors. The RAS naming showed the highest correlation with the four syllable word reading. This study demonstrated that the performance in rapid automatized naming of numbers and pictures were closely related with performance on reading tasks. Thus Japanese children with reading disorders such as developmental dyslexia should also be evaluated for rapid automatized naming.

  6. Headache at high school: clinical characteristics and impact.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tonini, M C; Frediani, F

    2012-05-01

    Although migraine (MH) and tension type headache (TTH) are the most common and important causes of recurrent headache in adolescents, they are poorly understood and not recognized by parents and teachers, delaying the first physician evaluation for correct diagnosis and management. The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge about headache impact among the students of a Communication Private High School in Rimini city, and to evaluate the main different types of headaches interfering with school and social day activities. A self-administered questionnaire interview was given to students of the last 2 years of high school; ten items assessed the headache experience during the prior 12 months, especially during school time: the features and diagnosis of headaches types (based on the 2004 IHS criteria), precipitating factors, disability measured using the migraine disability assessment (MIDAS); therapeutic intervention. Out of the 60 students, 84 % experienced recurrent headache during the last 12 months. 79 % were females, aged 17-20 years; a family history was present in 74 % of headache students, in the maternal line; 45 % of subjects were identified as having MH and 27 % TTH; 25 % had morning headache and 20 % in the afternoon; fatigue, emotional stress and lack of sleep were the main trigger factors for headache, respectively in 86, 50 and 50 % of students; 92 % of headache students could not follow the lessons, could not participate in exercises and physical activity because of the headache; none had consulted a medical doctor and the 90 % of all students had never read, listened or watched television about headache. This study remarks on the need to promote headache educational programs, starting from high school, to increase communication between teachers-family-physician and patient-adolescents, with the goal to have an early appropriate therapeutic intervention, improvement of the quality of life and to prevent long-term headache disease in the

  7. Schoolwide Collaboration to Prevent and Address Reading Difficulties: Opportunities for School Psychologists and Speech-Language Pathologists

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nellis, Leah M.; Sickman, Linda Sue; Newman, Daniel S.; Harman, Deborah R.

    2014-01-01

    With the increase in schoolwide practices to improve reading instruction for all students and provide supplemental interventions for struggling readers, the need for collaboration among education professionals has become increasingly important. This article focuses on the expanding opportunities for collaboration between school psychologists and…

  8. Incorporating Primary Scientific Literature in Middle and High School Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah C. Fankhauser

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Primary literature is the most reliable and direct source of scientific information, but most middle school and high school science is taught using secondary and tertiary sources. One reason for this is that primary science articles can be difficult to access and interpret for young students and for their teachers, who may lack exposure to this type of writing. The Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI was created to fill this gap and provide primary research articles that can be accessed and read by students and their teachers. JEI is a non-profit, online, open-access, peer-reviewed science journal dedicated to mentoring and publishing the scientific research of middle and high school students. JEI articles provide reliable scientific information that is written by students and therefore at a level that their peers can understand. For student-authors who publish in JEI, the review process and the interaction with scientists provide invaluable insight into the scientific process. Moreover, the resulting repository of free, student-written articles allows teachers to incorporate age-appropriate primary literature into the middle and high school science classroom. JEI articles can be used for teaching specific scientific content or for teaching the process of the scientific method itself. The critical thinking skills that students learn by engaging with the primary literature will be invaluable for the development of a scientifically-literate public.

  9. Incorporating Primary Scientific Literature in Middle and High School Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fankhauser, Sarah C; Lijek, Rebeccah S

    2016-03-01

    Primary literature is the most reliable and direct source of scientific information, but most middle school and high school science is taught using secondary and tertiary sources. One reason for this is that primary science articles can be difficult to access and interpret for young students and for their teachers, who may lack exposure to this type of writing. The Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI) was created to fill this gap and provide primary research articles that can be accessed and read by students and their teachers. JEI is a non-profit, online, open-access, peer-reviewed science journal dedicated to mentoring and publishing the scientific research of middle and high school students. JEI articles provide reliable scientific information that is written by students and therefore at a level that their peers can understand. For student-authors who publish in JEI, the review process and the interaction with scientists provide invaluable insight into the scientific process. Moreover, the resulting repository of free, student-written articles allows teachers to incorporate age-appropriate primary literature into the middle and high school science classroom. JEI articles can be used for teaching specific scientific content or for teaching the process of the scientific method itself. The critical thinking skills that students learn by engaging with the primary literature will be invaluable for the development of a scientifically-literate public.

  10. Science Language Accommodation in Elementary School Read-Alouds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glass, Rory; Oliveira, Alandeom W.

    2014-03-01

    This study examines the pedagogical functions of accommodation (i.e. provision of simplified science speech) in science read-aloud sessions facilitated by five elementary teachers. We conceive of read-alouds as communicative events wherein teachers, faced with the task of orally delivering a science text of relatively high linguistic complexity, open up an alternate channel of communication, namely oral discussion. By doing so, teachers grant students access to a simplified linguistic input, a strategy designed to promote student comprehension of the textual contents of children's science books. It was found that nearly half (46%) of the read-aloud time was allotted to discussions with an increased percentage of less sophisticated words and reduced use of more sophisticated vocabulary than found in the books through communicative strategies such as simplified rewording, simplified definition, and simplified questioning. Further, aloud reading of more linguistically complex books required longer periods of discussion and an increased degree of teacher oral input and accommodation. We also found evidence of reversed simplification (i.e. sophistication), leading to student uptake of scientific language. The main significance of this study is that it reveals that teacher talk serves two often competing pedagogical functions (accessible communication of scientific information to students and promotion of student acquisition of the specialized language of science). It also underscores the importance of giving analytical consideration to the simplification-sophistication dimension of science classroom discourse as well as the potential of computer-based analysis of classroom discourse to inform science teaching.

  11. Reading Intervention Using Interactive Metronome in Children with Language and Reading Impairment: A Preliminary Investigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritter, Michaela; Colson, Karen A.; Park, Jungjun

    2013-01-01

    This exploratory study examined the effects of Interactive Metronome (IM) when integrated with a traditional language and reading intervention on reading achievement. Forty-nine school-age children with language and reading impairments were assigned randomly to either an experimental group who received the IM treatment or to a control group who…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anja K. Steinlen

    2017-09-01

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

  13. Teacher quality moderates the genetic effects on early reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, J; Roehrig, A D; Soden Hensler, B; Connor, C M; Schatschneider, C

    2010-04-23

    Children's reading achievement is influenced by genetics as well as by family and school environments. The importance of teacher quality as a specific school environmental influence on reading achievement is unknown. We studied first- and second-grade students in Florida from schools representing diverse environments. Comparison of monozygotic and dizygotic twins, differentiating genetic similarities of 100% and 50%, provided an estimate of genetic variance in reading achievement. Teacher quality was measured by how much reading gain the non-twin classmates achieved. The magnitude of genetic variance associated with twins' oral reading fluency increased as the quality of their teacher increased. In circumstances where the teachers are all excellent, the variability in student reading achievement may appear to be largely due to genetics. However, poor teaching impedes the ability of children to reach their potential.

  14. A Phonologically Based Intervention for School-Age Children with Language Impairment: Implications for Reading Achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritter, Michaela J.; Park, Jungjun; Saxon, Terrill F.; Colson, Karen A.

    2013-01-01

    This study was conducted utilizing a quasi-experimental pre- and postgroup design to examine the effects of a phonologically based intervention aimed to improve phonological awareness (PA) and reading abilities in school-age children with language impairment (LI) in Grades 1 through 3. The intervention included instruction in PA and sound-symbol…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Herlina Herlina

    2016-09-01

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

  16. Relationship between oculomotor scanning determined by the DEM test and a contextual reading test in schoolchildren with reading difficulties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palomo-Alvarez, Catalina; Puell, María C

    2009-09-01

    The relationship between oculomotor scanning and reading in poor readers of primary school age is not well known. This study was designed to assess this relationship by determining mean Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test times and reading speeds in a Spanish non-clinical population of children with poor reading skills but without dyslexia. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 81 poor readers (8-11 years of age) in the third to fifth grades recruited from 11 elementary schools in Madrid, Spain. In each subject with best spectacle correction, oculomotor scanning was measured using the DEM test, and reading speed (words per minute) was assessed by a standardized Spanish contextual reading test. Mean horizontal DEM times were higher than normative values for children in the third, fourth and fifth grades, by 20 seconds, 12 seconds, and 3 seconds respectively. Mean reading speeds were 18 words per minute lower than the norm for the third and fourth grades respectively, and 30 words per minute lower than the norm for the fifth grade. Reading speeds were significantly related to horizontal DEM times (r = -0.53, p school children at an early stage.

  17. Authoritative school climate and high school dropout rates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Yuane; Konold, Timothy R; Cornell, Dewey

    2016-06-01

    This study tested the association between school-wide measures of an authoritative school climate and high school dropout rates in a statewide sample of 315 high schools. Regression models at the school level of analysis used teacher and student measures of disciplinary structure, student support, and academic expectations to predict overall high school dropout rates. Analyses controlled for school demographics of school enrollment size, percentage of low-income students, percentage of minority students, and urbanicity. Consistent with authoritative school climate theory, moderation analyses found that when students perceive their teachers as supportive, high academic expectations are associated with lower dropout rates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Teaching Reading and Writing: Reading a Balanced Diet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manning, Maryann; Manning, Gary

    1994-01-01

    Presents elementary school teachers with 13 ideas on how to achieve a balanced "diet" in their primary and intermediate reading and writing programs using 5 different genres--artistic, personal, narrative, expository, and procedural. (BB)

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

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

    2003-01-01

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

  20. Intelligence test at preschool-age predicts reading difficulty among school-aged very low birth weight infants in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeuchi, Akihito; Ogino, Tatsuya; Koeda, Tatsuya; Oka, Makio; Yorifuji, Takashi; Takayanagi, Toshimitsu; Sato, Kazuo; Sugino, Noriko; Bonno, Motoki; Nakamura, Makoto; Kageyama, Misao

    2018-05-21

    To elucidate whether the results of an intelligence test at preschool age are predictive of reading difficulty (RD) at school age among very low birth weight infants (VLBWI). Subjects were 48 Japanese children whose birth weight was Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) during the last grade of kindergarten, and four reading tasks during the second to fourth grade of elementary school. All participants had a full-scale intelligence quotient score of 85 or higher. Subjects with a standard deviation reading time score greater than 2.0 in two or more tasks were considered to have RD. We evaluated the associations between each WISC-III score and RD using logistic regression analyses. Furthermore, we performed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine a cutoff WISC-III score predictive of RD. In the mutually-adjusted model, the adjusted odds ratio per 1 score increase of freedom from distractibility (FD) was 0.832 (95% confidence interval: 0.720-0.962). In the ROC analysis, an FD score of memory and attention, is a risk factor for RD at school age among Japanese VLBWI. Further investigation is desired to clarify the cognitive deficits underlying RD in Japanese-speaking preterm children, and to establish appropriate interventions for these children. Copyright © 2018 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Reading Skills of Students with Speech Sound Disorders at Three Stages of Literacy Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skebo, Crysten M.; Lewis, Barbara A.; Freebairn, Lisa A.; Tag, Jessica; Ciesla, Allison Avrich; Stein, Catherine M.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: The relationship between phonological awareness, overall language, vocabulary, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills to decoding and reading comprehension was examined for students at 3 stages of literacy development (i.e., early elementary school, middle school, and high school). Students with histories of speech sound disorders (SSD) with…

  2. Guided Reading in First-Fourth Grade: Theory to Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaffner, Jacqueline; Johnson, Kary; Torres-Elias, Annette; Dryden, Lisa

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of collaborative efforts between a large metropolitan school district and the school of education at an area urban university. A reading clinic, in which university students conducted small guided reading group lessons with elementary students reading below grade level, was established through…

  3. A survey of visual function in an Austrian population of school-age children with reading and writing difficulties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    McClelland Julie F

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To describe and compare visual function measures of two groups of school age children (6-14 years of age attending a specialist eyecare practice in Austria; one group referred to the practice from educational assessment centres diagnosed with reading and writing difficulties and the other, a clinical age-matched control group. Methods Retrospective clinical data from one group of subjects with reading difficulties (n = 825 and a clinical control group of subjects (n = 328 were examined. Statistical analysis was performed to determine whether any differences existed between visual function measures from each group (refractive error, visual acuity, binocular status, accommodative function and reading speed and accuracy. Results Statistical analysis using one way ANOVA demonstrated no differences between the two groups in terms of refractive error and the size or direction of heterophoria at distance (p > 0.05. Using predominately one way ANOVA and chi-square analyses, those subjects in the referred group were statistically more likely to have poorer distance visual acuity, an exophoric deviation at near, a lower amplitude of accommodation, reduced accommodative facility, reduced vergence facility, a reduced near point of convergence, a lower AC/A ratio and a slower reading speed than those in the clinical control group (p Conclusions This study highlights the high proportions of visual function anomalies in a group of children with reading difficulties in an Austrian population. It confirms the importance of a full assessment of binocular visual status in order to detect and remedy these deficits in order to prevent the visual problems continuing to impact upon educational development.

  4. 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,…

  5. Cognitive Attributes of Adequate and Inadequate Responders to Reading Intervention in Middle School

    OpenAIRE

    Miciak, Jeremy; Stuebing, Karla K.; Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Greg; Barth, Amy Elizabeth; Fletcher, Jack M.

    2014-01-01

    No studies have investigated the cognitive attributes of middle school students who are adequate and inadequate responders to Tier 2 reading intervention. We compared students in Grades 6 and 7 representing groups of adequate responders (n = 77) and inadequate responders who fell below criteria in (a) comprehension (n = 54); (b) fluency (n = 45); and (c) decoding, fluency, and comprehension (DFC; n = 45). These students received measures of phonological awareness, listening comprehension, rap...

  6. Waging a Battle to Promote Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dix, Suzanne Liacos

    2010-01-01

    As advocates for reading, librarians cannot help but love a reading program. In this article, the author talks about the Battle of the Books, a reading enrichment program that had been in place since 1996. Battle of the Books promotes reading among middle school students by offering interesting books and a trivia-type competition. The author…

  7. Shared Reading to Build Vocabulary and Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kesler, Ted

    2010-01-01

    The author presents four approaches to shared reading that he used with first through third graders in a high-needs, urban elementary school with a large population of students from immigrant homes. Using sociocultural and cognitive constructivist principles, the author shows how these approaches built students' academic vocabulary and…

  8. Comprehensive School Reform and Standardized Test Scores in Illinois Elementary and Middle Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    McEnroe, James D.

    2010-01-01

    The study examined the effects of the federally funded Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program on student performance on mandated standardized tests. The study focused on the mathematics and reading scores of Illinois public elementary and middle and junior high school students. The federal CSR program provided Illinois schools with an annual…

  9. High-throughput literature mining to support read-across ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Building scientific confidence in the development and evaluation of read-across remains an ongoing challenge. Approaches include establishing systematic frameworks to identify sources of uncertainty and ways to address them. One source of uncertainty is related to characterizing biological similarity. Many research efforts are underway such as structuring mechanistic data in adverse outcome pathways and investigating the utility of high throughput (HT)/high content (HC) screening data. A largely untapped resource for read-across to date is the biomedical literature. This information has the potential to support read-across by facilitating the identification of valid source analogues with similar biological and toxicological profiles as well as providing the mechanistic understanding for any prediction made. A key challenge in using biomedical literature is to convert and translate its unstructured form into a computable format that can be linked to chemical structure. We developed a novel text-mining strategy to represent literature information for read across. Keywords were used to organize literature into toxicity signatures at the chemical level. These signatures were integrated with HT in vitro data and curated chemical structures. A rule-based algorithm assessed the strength of the literature relationship, providing a mechanism to rank and visualize the signature as literature ToxPIs (LitToxPIs). LitToxPIs were developed for over 6,000 chemicals for a varie

  10. Grade differences in reading motivation among Hong Kong primary and secondary students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Kit-Ling

    2009-12-01

    most highly on intrinsic motivation, followed by self-efficacy, extrinsic motivation, and social motivation. Significant grade differences were found in all reading motivation constructs whereas only a few grade by gender and grade by school-average interactions were found. Consistent with previous studies in Western countries, the findings suggest that motivational decline is also a common phenomenon among Chinese students in Hong Kong. In addition, the pattern of motivational differences is generally consistent among students with different genders and from schools with different achievement levels. The implications of these findings for understanding Chinese students' reading motivation and for planning effective reading instruction to enhance their motivation are discussed.

  11. The long-term significance of teacher-rated hyperactivity and reading ability in childhood: findings from two longitudinal studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGee, Rob; Prior, Margot; Willams, Sheila; Smart, Diana; Sanson, Anne

    2002-11-01

    The aims of this study were twofold: first, to examine behavioural and academic outcomes of children with hyperactivity, using data from two longitudinal studies; and second, to examine comparable psychosocial outcomes for children with early reading difficulties. Measures of teacher-rated persistent hyperactivity, and reading ability obtained during early primary school were available for children from the Australian Temperament Project and the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. Both samples were followed up to assess behavioural and academic outcomes during the adolescent and early adult years. Family background, antisocial behaviour and literacy were controlled in the first set of analyses to examine the influence of early hyperactivity. There were strong linear relationships between early hyperactivity and later adverse outcomes. Adjustment for other childhood variables suggested that early hyperactivity was associated with continuing school difficulties, problems with attention and poor reading in adolescence. Early reading difficulties, after controlling for early hyperactivity, predicted continuing reading problems in high school and leaving school with no qualifications. The findings suggest that there are dual pathways from early inattentive behaviours to later inattention and reading problems, and from early reading difficulties to substantial impairments in later academic outcomes.

  12. Middle School Concept Helps High-Poverty Schools Become High-Performing Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Picucci, Ali Callicoatte; Brownson, Amanda; Kahlert, Rahel; Sobel, Andrew

    2004-01-01

    The results of a study conducted by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin for the U.S. Department of Education during the 2001-02 school year showed that elements of the middle school concept can lead to improved student performance, even in high-poverty schools. This article describes common elements of the middle school…

  13. Teacher-Librarian Collaboration in Developing Favourable Reading ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The research was guided by three (3) questions which assisted in eliciting information that can be used to encourage the useof school media centres to develop a reading culture in Nigerian schools. Before a reading culture can be inculcated in children, books have to be made available. Suggestions were made on how ...

  14. Kids & Family Reading Report™. 5th Edition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scholastic Inc., 2015

    2015-01-01

    This report presents the 5th Edition of Scholastic's biannual study of children's and parents' attitudes and behaviors about reading. The latest research touches on reading aloud to children of all ages, the impact of reading independently for fun at school and at home, the importance of frequent reading, and the books children want most to read.…

  15. Accelerated Reader[R]: What Are the Lasting Effects on the Reading Habits of Middle School Students Exposed to Accelerated Reader[R] in Elementary Grades?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavonetti, Linda M.; Brimmer, Kathryn M.; Cipielewski, James F.

    Promoted by effective advertising and disseminated by word of mouth, many schools have adopted Accelerated Reader[R] as a supplementary reading program or as their primary reading program. Accelerated Reader[R]'s philosophy is that by using the system, students are motivated to read more and better books. A study investigated whether seventh grade…

  16. A Path Analysis of the Effects of Principal Professional Orientation towards Leadership, Professional Teacher Behavior, and School Academic Optimism on School Reading Achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roxanne M. Mitchell

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This study tested the effects of the principal’s professional orientation towards leadership/enabling school structure (ESS on two mediating variables, school academic optimism (SAO and professional teacher behavior (PTB, on the outcome variable school reading achievement (RA. Data were drawn from a sample of 54 schools (including 45 elementary schools and nine middle schools; the school was the unit of analysis. Data analysis supported a path to RA in which a structural variable, ESS was the immediate antecedent of SAO and PTB. Two control variables, school level and SES, were included in the model. SES had a significant effect on SAO but not on PTB. School level had a negative effect on both PTB and SAO suggesting that both variables were higher in elementary school and declined in middle school. SES paired with SAO in predicting RA. As expected, SAO had a greater effect on RA than SES. The significance of the findings lies in the confirmation of SAO as an important influence on RA and in demonstrating the importance of ESS in establishing a context in which AO and PTB can flourish.

  17. The development of PISA reading competence in secondary education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jovanović Vitomir

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to provide a contribution to answering the question about the most important predictors of progress in reading competence achieved by students after two years of secondary education, as well as whether the set of predictors of progress is different from the set of predictors of achievement in reading literacy test and school achievement measured via school grades. The students from the sample for the PISA 2009 study conducted in Serbia were tested again after two years by the PISA reading literacy test, quasi longitudinally, measuring achievement correlates at another time point. The realised sample included 20 secondary schools and 446 students. We selected fourteen predictors that, according to the studies so far, proved to have highest correlations with school achievement. The results have shown that the predictors explain only 13% of variance of the progress in reading literacy test (R=.36; R2=.13; F =12.97; p<.05 although they explain 49% of variance of achievement at it (R=.70; R2 197,18 =.49; F257,18 =12.97; p<.001. This opens up the issue of the importance of early learning for progress in reading competence. In both the first and the second analysis, the strongest predictor was the autonomous form of extrinsic motivation which, according to the self-determination theory, speaks about the importance of learning for future life and career. A somewhat different set of used predictors predicted school achievement measured via school grades. Using metacognitive strategies is not an important predictor of school achievement while it is the predictor of achievement in the reading literacy test. Together with the findings pointing towards the lower than expected correlation between achievement in reading literacy and school achievement (r=.39; p<0.001 and generally low progress of Serbia at this test compared to the estimated progress of the OECD countries, these results give grounds for the conclusion that our

  18. 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

    Full Text Available Objectives – To explore summer reading partnerships between public libraries and school libraries, and the impact on student achievement in reading.Design – The design is mixed methods: tests, interviews and surveys.Setting – Eleven US sites involving school and public library partners.Subjects – A total of 357 elementary school students entering fourth grade that met specific criteria. Parents, teachers, school librarians and public librarians were also included.Methods – This study occurred over a three year period from 2006-2009. It was developed as a partnership between Dominican University, the Colorado State Library Agency and the Texas Library and Archives Commission. Additionally, the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University was contracted to conduct the research. It was designed to explore the research question central to a 1978 study by Barbara Heyns.An advisory committee, with representatives from each partner agency, developed evaluation questions and established the objective selection criteria for participants in the study. The criteria included: at least 50% of students qualifying for free and reduced price meals; at least 85 percent of school population would take the reading proficiency test in English; public library summer reading programs with a minimum of six weeks of programming; a history of collaboration between the paired school and public library applicants; both school and public library would sign a partnership agreement and participate in conference calls.In spring of 2008, students at participating sites were given a pre-test using the Scholastic Reading Inventory, and also provided with special summer reading logs developed for the study, to be used during their subsequent participation in the public library summer reading programs.In fall of 2008, the same children were tested on the Scholastic Reading Inventory. In addition, surveys of students, parents, teachers and library staff were

  19. Critical Race Theory, Hip Hop, and "Huck Finn": Narrative Inquiry in a High School English Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Jennifer L.

    2014-01-01

    This study explores the impact of reading "Huckleberry Finn" through the lens of critical race theory for both teacher and students in a racially diverse urban high school environment. The teacher/researcher used narrative inquiry and creative non-fiction to examine student language usage, white privilege (including her own), and student…

  20. Revealing the Relationship between Reading Interest and Critical Thinking Skills through Remap GI and Remap Jigsaw

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zubaidah, Siti; Corebima, Aloysius Duran; Mahanal, Susriyati; Mistianah

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this research was to reveal the relationship between student's reading interest and critical thinking skills through Reading Concept Map Group Investigation (Remap GI) and Reading Concept Map Jigsaw (Remap Jigsaw) learning models. To do so, two science classes from first grade of two Senior High Schools in Malang, Indonesia were…

  1. Fourteen Autumns: A Reading Teacher Teaches Writing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Jo-Anne R.

    1984-01-01

    An elementary school reading teacher describes how she restructured her teaching methods by encouraging children to read and write as part of an integrated process, rather than teaching reading alone as a set of fragmented steps. (GC)

  2. Student Reading Growth Illuminates the Common Core Text-Complexity Standard: Raising Both Bars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williamson, Gary L.; Fitzgerald, Jill; Stenner, Jackson A.

    2014-01-01

    The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) establish a challenging text-complexity standard for all high school graduates to read at college and workplace text-complexity levels. We argue that implementation of the CCSS standard requires concurrent examination of historical student reading-growth trends. An example of a historical student average…

  3. Resting state functional connectivity of the anterior striatum and prefrontal cortex predicts reading performance in school-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcauter, Sarael; García-Mondragón, Liliana; Gracia-Tabuenca, Zeus; Moreno, Martha B; Ortiz, Juan J; Barrios, Fernando A

    2017-11-01

    The current study investigated the neural basis of reading performance in 60 school-age Spanish-speaking children, aged 6 to 9years. By using a data-driven approach and an automated matching procedure, we identified a left-lateralized resting state network that included typical language regions (Wernicke's and Broca's regions), prefrontal cortex, pre- and post-central gyri, superior and middle temporal gyri, cerebellum, and subcortical regions, and explored its relevance for reading performance (accuracy, comprehension and speed). Functional connectivity of the left frontal and temporal cortices and subcortical regions predicted reading speed. These results extend previous findings on the relationship between functional connectivity and reading competence in children, providing new evidence about such relationships in previously unexplored regions in the resting brain, including the left caudate, putamen and thalamus. This work highlights the relevance of a broad network, functionally synchronized in the resting state, for the acquisition and perfecting of reading abilities in young children. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

    OpenAIRE

    Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh; Fatin Najwa Amelia binti Marsani; Paramaswari Jaganathan; Ahmad Sofwan Nathan Abdullah; Premalatha Karupiah

    2016-01-01

    Malaysian intercultural society is typified by three major ethnic groups mainly Malays, Chinese and Indians.  Although education system is the best tool for these three major ethnic groups to work together, contemporary research reveals that there is still lack of intercultural embedding education context and national schools are seen as breeding grounds of racial polarisation.  In Malaysian context, there is a gap in research that focuses on the design of a proper intercultural reading frame...

  5. Writing to Read: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Writing and Writing Instruction on Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graham, Steve; Hebert, Michael

    2011-01-01

    Reading is critical to students' success in and out of school. One potential means for improving students' reading is writing. In this meta-analysis of true and quasi-experiments, Graham and Herbert present evidence that writing about material read improves students' comprehension of it; that teaching students how to write improves their reading…

  6. [Focal Point “Reading Animal”. Hermann Cohn and the Emergence of the Fin de Siècle Hygiene of Reading].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grütter, Fabian

    2015-12-01

    From the 1860s onward, ‘eye experts’ increasingly fretted the alleged surge of myopia attributed to an increase of reading matter circulating in schools. In order to avert the inauspicious prospects, revised school desks designed to prevent children from becoming myopic were introduced. During the 1880s, said experts turned to printed matter, maintaining that books must become more reader friendly. Along with the turn to books, a peculiar shift within the hygiene discourse occurred: While the ill addressed by school desk-revisions was myopia, the goal of revising book design was to make reading less tiring. This paper explores both the shift from the hygiene of the eye to the hygiene of reading as well as the materialization of the stipulations and claims made by reading hygienists. In doing so, the paper demonstrates that optimizing the reading process was closely linked to a fear of overburdening and fatigue which expressed itself in the psychopathological discourse of the time.

  7. A New Dyslexia Reading Method and Visual Correction Position Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manilla, George T; de Braga, Joe

    2017-01-01

    Pediatricians and educators may interact daily with several dyslexic patients or students. One dyslexic author accidently developed a personal, effective, corrective reading method. Its effectiveness was evaluated in 3 schools. One school utilized 8 demonstration special education students. Over 3 months, one student grew one third year, 3 grew 1 year, and 4 grew 2 years. In another school, 6 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade classroom teachers followed 45 treated dyslexic students. They all excelled and progressed beyond their classroom peers in 4 months. Using cyclovergence upper gaze, dyslexic reading problems disappeared at one of the Positional Reading Arc positions of 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, or 150° for 10 dyslexics. Positional Reading Arc on 112 students of the second through eighth grades showed words read per minute, reading errors, and comprehension improved. Dyslexia was visually corrected by use of a new reading method and Positional Reading Arc positions.

  8. Morpho-phonemic analysis boosts word reading for adult struggling readers

    OpenAIRE

    Gray, Susan H.; Ehri, Linnea C.; Locke, John L.

    2017-01-01

    A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language background and reading levels, then randomly assigned to either morpho-phonemic analysis teaching word origins, morpheme and syllable structures, or traditi...

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

    OpenAIRE

    濵口, 脩

    2004-01-01

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

  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. Reading Strategy Use and Comprehension Performance of More Successful and Less Successful Readers: A Think-Aloud Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yen-Hui

    2016-01-01

    This study explores the differences between more successful and less successful EFL readers in their comprehension performance and abilities to use reading strategies in interaction with English texts through thinking aloud while reading in pairs. Ten freshman high school students participated in pairs in four think-aloud reading tasks to think…

  12. The Politics of the Teaching of Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soler, Janet

    2016-01-01

    Historically, political debates have broken out over how to teach reading in primary schools and infant classrooms. These debates and "reading wars" have often resulted from public concerns and media reportage of a fall in reading standards. They also reflect the importance placed on learning to read by parents, teachers, employers, and…

  13. Approaches to Reading with Multiple Lenses of Interpretation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Troise, Melissa

    2007-01-01

    High school teacher Melissa Troise challenges students to recognize the relationships that exist between literary theories, such as Marxism, feminism, and postcolonialism, and urges students to expand their contexts for reading texts by accessing and combining theories. Troise believes theory provides students with the potential to better…

  14. Leer por placer en los colegios: ¿Misión Imposible? / Read for pleasure in schools: mission impossible?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gallardo Álvarez, Isabel

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Resumen: El presente artículo es fruto del trabajo en el aula universistaria, donde junto con los grupos de estudiantes, se buscaron formas alternativas de atraer a los estudiantes de secudaria a la lectura. En él se reflexiona sobre las causas por las cuales el grupo de jóvenes que asiste a los colegios de secundaria se resistea leer. Para ello se indaga tanto en las razones sociales y tecnológicas, como las educativas y se buscan explicaciones a la negativa de enfrentarse a un texto literario. Además, se revisan los contenidos sobre la lectura de textos literarios que propone el Ministerio de Educación Pública Costarricense, así como las novelas de lectura obligatoria. Finalmente, se presentan dos actividades basadas en la imagen, que buscan despertar el gusto por la lectura y acercar al joven a desarrollar esta habilidad.Abstract: This article is the result of work in the high education classroom, which along with student groups, were sought alternative ways to attract students secudaria to reading. It reflects on the reasons why the group of young people who attend secondary schools are reluctant to read. This explores both the technological and social reasons, such as educational and sought explanations for the failure to address a literary text. In addition, we review the content on the reading of literary texts proposed by the Costarrican Ministry of Public Education, as well as the novels of required reading. Finally, there are two activities based on the image, seeking to awaken the taste for reading and bring the youth to develop this skill.

  15. Results with Open Court Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGraw-Hill Companies, New York, NY. Educational and Professional Publishing Group.

    This publication tells the stories of eight schools from around the nation that have used the Open Court Reading program, describing the history of the schools, the challenges they faced, and their attempts to meet those challenges. The schools are located in California, Florida, Texas, and New York. Each of the school stories includes a focus on…

  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. Promoting Reading Culture in Nigerian Children | Saka | Nigerian ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The study was to determine the promotion of reading culture among Nigerian children with special emphasis on primary schools in all the five (5) Federal parastatals in Minna metropolis. The study was to determine why, where, problems and strategies for promoting reading culture of primary school children. Survey ...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2013-01-01

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

  19. An Analysis of Modular Instruction of Newspaper Reading Skills to Poor Readers in Junior High School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berryman, Charles

    Fifty instructional modules designed to improve newspaper reading skills were field tested in this study. During a 50-day period, modules were used by Wilkes County, Georgia teachers as they saw fit in seventh, eighth, and ninth grade classes primarily for 338 students with poor reading skills. In summary, the effectiveness of the instructional…

  20. Finding the plot in South African reading education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Rule

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This article argues that we have lost the plot in South African reading education. To find it, we need to move beyond the predominant mode of reading as oral performance, where the emphasis is on accuracy and pronunciation, to reading as comprehension of meaning in text. While reading research in South Africa has been conducted mainly in school contexts, this case study is of a school and Adult Basic Education and Training Centre in a rural KwaZulu-Natal community near Pietermaritzburg. It found that an oratorical approach to reading dominated in both settings. It suggests that developing the way in which teachers understand the teaching of reading and transforming the teaching practices of those who teach as they were taught in the education system of the apartheid era are key to improving the teaching of reading.

  1. Authoritative School Climate and High School Dropout Rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Yuane; Konold, Timothy R.; Cornell, Dewey

    2016-01-01

    This study tested the association between school-wide measures of an authoritative school climate and high school dropout rates in a statewide sample of 315 high schools. Regression models at the school level of analysis used teacher and student measures of disciplinary structure, student support, and academic expectations to predict overall high…

  2. ISRNA: an integrative online toolkit for short reads from high-throughput sequencing data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Guan-Zheng; Yang, Wei; Ma, Ying-Ke; Wang, Xiu-Jie

    2014-02-01

    Integrative Short Reads NAvigator (ISRNA) is an online toolkit for analyzing high-throughput small RNA sequencing data. Besides the high-speed genome mapping function, ISRNA provides statistics for genomic location, length distribution and nucleotide composition bias analysis of sequence reads. Number of reads mapped to known microRNAs and other classes of short non-coding RNAs, coverage of short reads on genes, expression abundance of sequence reads as well as some other analysis functions are also supported. The versatile search functions enable users to select sequence reads according to their sub-sequences, expression abundance, genomic location, relationship to genes, etc. A specialized genome browser is integrated to visualize the genomic distribution of short reads. ISRNA also supports management and comparison among multiple datasets. ISRNA is implemented in Java/C++/Perl/MySQL and can be freely accessed at http://omicslab.genetics.ac.cn/ISRNA/.

  3. Predicting High School Graduation for Latino Males Using Expectancy Value Theory of Motivation and Tenth Grade Reading Achievement Scores

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knape, Erin Oakley

    2010-01-01

    National education data indicate that young men of color and students living in poverty are not experiencing the same academic success as their female, White, or higher socioeconomic status peers, as evidenced by low reading achievement levels and high dropout rates. Of particular concern is the underachievement of Latino males, who currently have…

  4. Teaching Literature and Reading Performances

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ingerslev, Gitte Holten

    2011-01-01

    the reading of literature is respectively supported and hindered in literature lessons in upper secondary school. The aim is to investigate the relation between the teacher's conception of learning and knowledge within the subject combined with the student's conception of learning and of reading...

  5. 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…

  6. The Effect of a Read Aloud Accommodation on Test Scores of Students with and without a Learning Disability in Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meloy, Linda L.; Deville, Craig; Frisbie, David A.

    2002-01-01

    A study examined the effect of a read aloud testing accommodation on 260 middle school students with and without learning disabilities in reading. Students with learning disabilities in reading, as well as those without, exhibited statistically significant gains with the read aloud test administration. Interaction effects were not significant.…

  7. Unsettling Theology: Sunday school children reading the text of the Bible in the age of recolonisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nico Botha

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available During Women’s month in South Africa (August, a group of Sunday school children from the rural congregation of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA, Middelburg- Nasaret, got together to read the narratives of the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus and the healing of the woman suffering from a blood disease. The exercise which appears to be quite innocent is in a sense subversive in its hidden script. In the Reformed tradition, the pulpit as a centre of reading and preaching the Word has become the ‘holy of holiest’ which nobody, leave alone children, except the ordained minister could occupy. This is of course contrary to the intention of the Reformation to return the Bible to the people and have the people return to the Bible. The reading exercise of this article goes beyond all exegetical and theological presuppositions, unsettling conventional interpretations of Scripture. The children allow their real life experiences in the township of having witnessed, among others, child and women abuse to inform their reading of Mark 5:21–43. In the process they avoid a linear reading of the Bible which is based on the explication-application scheme of matters. Put differently, instead of doing a deductive reading of the portion, i.e. trying to explain or exegete the text clinically and then applying it to their context, they read it inductively, resulting in a hope sharing and hope giving understanding of the rising from the dead of the 12-year-old girl and the healing of the woman with a blood disease. A major spin-off of such reading of the Bible by children is the unlocking of refreshingly new avenues of reading the Bible and interpreting the text.

  8. 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…

  9. Fine motor skills predict maths ability better than they predict reading ability in the early primary school years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicola J. Pitchford

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Fine motor skills have long been recognised as an important foundation for development in other domains. However, more precise insights into the role of fine motor skills, and their relationships to other skills in mediating early educational achievements, are needed to support the development of optimal educational interventions. We explored concurrent relationships between two components of fine motor skills, Fine Motor Precision and Fine Motor Integration, and early reading and maths development in two studies with primary school children of low-to-mid socio-economic status in the U.K. Two key findings were revealed. First, despite being in the first two years of primary school education, significantly better performance was found in reading compared to maths across both studies. This may reflect the protective effects of recent national-level interventions to promote early literacy skills in young children in the U.K. that have not been similarly promoted for maths. Second, fine motor skills were a better predictor of early maths ability than they were of early reading ability. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that fine motor skills did not significantly predict reading ability when verbal short-term memory was taken into account. In contrast, Fine Motor Integration remained a significant predictor of maths ability, even after the influence of non-verbal IQ had been accounted for. These results suggest that fine motor skills should have a pivotal role in educational interventions designed to support the development of early mathematical skills.

  10. Fine Motor Skills Predict Maths Ability Better than They Predict Reading Ability in the Early Primary School Years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pitchford, Nicola J.; Papini, Chiara; Outhwaite, Laura A.; Gulliford, Anthea

    2016-01-01

    Fine motor skills have long been recognized as an important foundation for development in other domains. However, more precise insights into the role of fine motor skills, and their relationships to other skills in mediating early educational achievements, are needed to support the development of optimal educational interventions. We explored concurrent relationships between two components of fine motor skills, Fine Motor Precision and Fine Motor Integration, and early reading and maths development in two studies with primary school children of low-to-mid socio-economic status in the UK. Two key findings were revealed. First, despite being in the first 2 years of primary school education, significantly better performance was found in reading compared to maths across both studies. This may reflect the protective effects of recent national-level interventions to promote early literacy skills in young children in the UK that have not been similarly promoted for maths. Second, fine motor skills were a better predictor of early maths ability than they were of early reading ability. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that fine motor skills did not significantly predict reading ability when verbal short-term memory was taken into account. In contrast, Fine Motor Integration remained a significant predictor of maths ability, even after the influence of non-verbal IQ had been accounted for. These results suggest that fine motor skills should have a pivotal role in educational interventions designed to support the development of early mathematical skills. PMID:27303342

  11. Fine Motor Skills Predict Maths Ability Better than They Predict Reading Ability in the Early Primary School Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pitchford, Nicola J; Papini, Chiara; Outhwaite, Laura A; Gulliford, Anthea

    2016-01-01

    Fine motor skills have long been recognized as an important foundation for development in other domains. However, more precise insights into the role of fine motor skills, and their relationships to other skills in mediating early educational achievements, are needed to support the development of optimal educational interventions. We explored concurrent relationships between two components of fine motor skills, Fine Motor Precision and Fine Motor Integration, and early reading and maths development in two studies with primary school children of low-to-mid socio-economic status in the UK. Two key findings were revealed. First, despite being in the first 2 years of primary school education, significantly better performance was found in reading compared to maths across both studies. This may reflect the protective effects of recent national-level interventions to promote early literacy skills in young children in the UK that have not been similarly promoted for maths. Second, fine motor skills were a better predictor of early maths ability than they were of early reading ability. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that fine motor skills did not significantly predict reading ability when verbal short-term memory was taken into account. In contrast, Fine Motor Integration remained a significant predictor of maths ability, even after the influence of non-verbal IQ had been accounted for. These results suggest that fine motor skills should have a pivotal role in educational interventions designed to support the development of early mathematical skills.

  12. What Makes the Difference? An Analysis of a Reading Intervention Programme Implemented in Rural Schools in Cambodia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Courtney, Jane; Gravelle, Maggie

    2014-01-01

    This article compares the existing single-strategy approach towards the teaching of early literacy in schools in rural Cambodia with a multiple-strategy approach introduced as part of a reading intervention programme. Classroom observations, questionnaires and in-depth interviews with teachers were used to explore teachers' practices and…

  13. Do Students Using Electronic Books Display Different Reading Comprehension and Motivation Levels than Students Using Traditional Print Books?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wells, Casey L.

    2012-01-01

    The effect of electronic books on the reading comprehension of middle and high school students was examined using an experimental posttest-only control-group design. A convenience sample of 140 randomly assigned middle and high school English students at an independent school in eastern North Carolina participated. Half of the students used…

  14. The Contribution of Morphological Knowledge to 7th Grade Students' Reading Comprehension Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokhtari, Kouider; Neel, Joanna; Matatall, Abbey; Richards, Andrea

    2015-01-01

    In this study, we examined the role of morphology, an important yet largely understudied source of difficulty, in reading ability among 7th grade students in one junior high school in the southwestern United States. We sought to find out how much variance in reading ability is accounted for by these students' morphological knowledge, and whether…

  15. Pre-Service Teachers: An Analysis of Reading Instruction in High Needs Districts Dual Language Classrooms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Whitacre

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Pre-service teachers need opportunities to apply theory and connect to best practices as they teach in classroom settings be it, whole or small group. For many pre-service teachers often times their experience is limited to simply watching instruction or working with small groups of students (Pryor & Kuhn, 2004. The student teaching experience is a critical component of the teacher preparation program. Through the use of the English Language Learner Classroom Observation Instrument (ELLCOI, and researcher observation the hope is that these will aid in bringing to light the instructional activities used by pre-service teachers during reading instruction with ELLs. This study explores how pre-service bilingual teachers connect theory into practice by examining their instruction in the following categories: Instructional Practices, Interactive Teaching, English-Language Development, and Content Specific to Reading as listed in The English Language Learner Classroom Observation Instrument (ELLCOI developed by Haager, Gersten, Baker, and Graves (2003. To capture these instructional events video tape recordings of eight South Texas pre-service teachers were taken during a reading language arts lesson in order to observe instruction in high need districts’ dual language/bilingual classrooms. Data were compiled to capture the nature and quality of instruction on key essential elements, as well as reading instructional practices specific to the teaching/learning process in the dual language classroom. The findings portray the results of the ELLCOI with bilingual/ESL pre- service teachers and how they make sense of their instructional practices as a means to instruction in one-way dual language public school classrooms.

  16. Executive Functioning and Reading Achievement in School: A study of Brazilian Children Assessed by Their Teachers as Poor Readers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pascale M. J. Engel de Abreu

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were carefully matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (Private or Public, domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP, and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptually tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition, and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, Interference Suppression, Selective Attention, and Response Inhibition. Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that the struggling readers presented limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers which might have important implications for interventions for children at risk of school failure.

  17. 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.

  18. Reading is for girls!? The negative impact of preschool teachers' traditional gender role attitudes on boys' reading related motivation and skills

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolter, Ilka; Braun, Edith; Hannover, Bettina

    2015-01-01

    According to gender stereotypes, reading is for girls. In this study, we investigated the role of preschool teachers in transmitting such gendered expectations. We suggest that boys are less motivated to read in preschool, and less competent in reading 1 year later in primary school, if their preschool teacher holds a traditional gender role attitude than if the teacher has egalitarian beliefs. In 135 independent dyads of a female preschool teacher (N = 135) and one boy (n = 65) or one girl (n = 70) we measured teacher's gender role attitude, child's reading related motivation as well as precursors of reading skills in preschool, and child's reading skills at the end of first grade in primary school. As expected, the more traditional preschool teachers' gender role attitude was, the weaker was boys' motivation to (learn to) read while girls' motivation was unrelated to teachers' gender role attitude. In either gender, motivation in preschool predicted reading skills at the end of first grade. PMID:26379592

  19. Reading is for girls!? The negative impact of preschool teachers' traditional gender role attitudes on boys' reading related motivation and skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolter, Ilka; Braun, Edith; Hannover, Bettina

    2015-01-01

    According to gender stereotypes, reading is for girls. In this study, we investigated the role of preschool teachers in transmitting such gendered expectations. We suggest that boys are less motivated to read in preschool, and less competent in reading 1 year later in primary school, if their preschool teacher holds a traditional gender role attitude than if the teacher has egalitarian beliefs. In 135 independent dyads of a female preschool teacher (N = 135) and one boy (n = 65) or one girl (n = 70) we measured teacher's gender role attitude, child's reading related motivation as well as precursors of reading skills in preschool, and child's reading skills at the end of first grade in primary school. As expected, the more traditional preschool teachers' gender role attitude was, the weaker was boys' motivation to (learn to) read while girls' motivation was unrelated to teachers' gender role attitude. In either gender, motivation in preschool predicted reading skills at the end of first grade.

  20. Reading is for girls!? The negative impact of preschool teachers' traditional gender role attitudes on boys' reading related motivation and skills.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilka eWolter

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available According to gender stereotypes, reading is for girls. In this study, we investigated the role of preschool teachers in transmitting such gendered expectations. We suggest that boys are less motivated to read in preschool, and less competent in reading one year later in primary school, if their preschool teacher holds a traditional gender role attitude than if the teacher has egalitarian beliefs. In 135 independent dyads of a female preschool teacher (N=135 and one boy (n=65 or one girl (n=70 we measured teacher's gender role attitude, child's reading related motivation as well as precursors of reading skills in preschool, and child's reading skills at the end of first grade in primary school. As expected, the more traditional preschool teachers' gender role attitude was, the weaker was boys' motivation to (learn to read while girls' motivation was unrelated to teachers' gender role attitude. In either gender, motivation in preschool predicted reading skills at the end of first grade.

  1. The Relationship between Home Literary Environments and Attitudes toward Reading in Ninth-Grade Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubis, Mary Ellen

    A study determined what variables in the home literary environments of ninth-grade students influenced their attitudes toward reading. Subjects, 316 students from 2 ninth-grade classes at 2 metropolitan high schools, were given the Estes Reading Attitude Scale and a researcher-developed, 30-question inventory of their home literary environment.…

  2. 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.

  3. School-Within-A-School (Hawaii Nui High) Hilo High School Report 1969-70.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawaii Univ., Honolulu. Social Welfare Development and Research Center.

    The second year of operation of Hilo High School's "School-Within-A-School" [SWS] program is evaluated in this paper. Planning, training, and program implementation are described in the document. The following are the results of the program: There was an improvement in attendance among project students when compared to their record in…

  4. Reading and writing development of low-achieving adolescents: The roles of linguistic knowledge, fluency, and metacognitive knowledge

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trapman, M.J.W.

    2016-01-01

    Whereas school and society pose high demands on youngsters’ reading and writing skills, many adolescents experience difficulties in understanding what they read and in expressing their thoughts in comprehensible texts. Especially low-achieving students in the lowest educational tracks in the

  5. The Impact of Race and Socioeconomic Status on the Reading Comprehension Growth Trajectories of Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickens, Tyra W.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of the current study was to examine features of adolescent reading comprehension trajectories and make within-person and between-person analyses of growth that occurs during the high school grades. Racial and socioeconomic group differences of the adolescent reading trajectories were also investigated and compared. This examination…

  6. Learning to Read and the Preschool Years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Lorraine

    2012-01-01

    You have young preschool children. You think ahead to when they will begin school, and wonder what you might do to make it easy for your children to learn to read. This article offers some hints for parents and caregivers about learning to read: (1) Reading can begin at birth; (2) When reading aloud to an infant, make the experience a warm, loving…

  7. Journalism Beyond High School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Sally

    2001-01-01

    Discusses the shift from high school journalism to college journalism for students. Describes the role of the high school journalism advisor in that process. Offers checklists for getting to know a college publication. Outlines ways high school journalism teachers can take advantage of journalism resources available at local colleges and…

  8. Attitudes, Motivations and Beliefs about L2 Reading in the Filipino Secondary School Classroom: A Mixed-methods Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrzej Cirocki

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available This study is a two-part investigation. The first part focuses on ESL learners' attitudes and motivations for reading in the target language. The second part deals with ESL teachers' beliefs about motivating L2 learners to read. The study involved 100 ESL learners (N=100 and 30 teachers (N=30 from rural schools in Mindanao, the Philippines. All the participants were recruited through convenience sampling. In other words, participants were selected based on their convenient accessibility and proximity. The current study is a mixed-methods project. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to collect different types of data. The instruments used were: a L2 reading attitude survey, a questionnaire dealing with motivations for L2 reading, a survey on beliefs about motivating L2 learners to read in English, a semi-structured interview and a L2-reading-lesson observation. The quantitative data were statistically analysed. Whenever appropriate, the data were presented in tables and on graphs. The qualitative data were analysed through thematic coding and used to support the quantitative data. The findings show that students have both positive and negative attitudes towards various aspects of L2 reading. They also have different levels of motivation for reading in English, with female participants having higher scores than male participants. The teachers, on the other hand, hold diverse beliefs about motivating learners to read in English. No significant correlation was found between teacher beliefs and students' motivations for reading in English. After the findings have been described, implications for teacher education and instructional practice are offered.

  9. Improving Middle School Students’ Critical Thinking Skills Through Reading Infusion-Loaded Discovery Learning Model in the Science Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nuryakin; Riandi

    2017-02-01

    A study has been conducted to obtain a depiction of middle school students’ critical thinking skills improvement through the implementation of reading infusion-loaded discovery learning model in science instruction. A quasi-experimental study with the pretest-posttest control group design was used to engage 55 eighth-year middle school students in Tasikmalaya, which was divided into the experimental and control group respectively were 28 and 27 students. Critical thinking skills were measured using a critical thinking skills test in multiple-choice with reason format questions that administered before and after a given instruction. The test was 28 items encompassing three essential concepts, vibration, waves and auditory senses. The critical thinking skills improvement was determined by using the normalized gain score and statistically analyzed by using Mann-Whitney U test.. The findings showed that the average of students’ critical thinking skills normalized gain score of both groups were 59 and 43, respectively for experimental and control group in the medium category. There were significant differences between both group’s improvement. Thus, the implementation of reading infusion-loaded discovery learning model could further improve middle school students’ critical thinking skills than conventional learning.

  10. READ – developing literacy together

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Mette Vedsgaard

    2015-01-01

    -home literacy-intervention throughout a school year. The children in the intervention group (1500 children in year 2 and 3) received reading materials and their parents were informed about how to talk about texts, language and knowledge with their children through specially developed tools such as “reading...

  11. Comparison of Reading Comprehension Skill of Students with Severe to Profound Hearing Impairment from Second up to Fifth Grade of Exceptional Schools with Normal Hearing Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maryam Jalalipour

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Reading is known as one of the most important learning tools. Research results consistently have shown that even a mild hearing impairment could affect the reading skills. Due to the reported differences in reading comprehension skills between hearing impaired students and their normal hearing peers, this research was conducted to compare the differences between the two groups. The other aim was to find any changes in the reading ability of hearing impaired group during elementary school. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional (descriptive–analytic one in which reading comprehension ability of 91 students with severe and profound hearing impairment (33 girls and 58 boys from 2nd up to 5th grade of exceptional schools were compared with 50 2nd grade normal hearing students in Ahvaz, Iran. The first section of Diagnostic Reading Test (Shirazi – Nilipour, 2004 was used in this study. Then the mean reading scores of hearing impaired students in each grade was compared with control group using SPSS 13 with Mann Whitney test. Results: There was a significant difference between average scores of hearing impaired students (boys and girls in 2nd to 5th grade with normal hearing students of 2nd grade (P<0.001. Reading comprehension scores of students with hearing impairment in higher grades had improved slightly, but it was still lower than that of the normal hearing students in the 2nd grade. Conclusion: It appears that reading comprehension skill of students with significant hearing impairment near the end of elementary school years becomes weaker than normal hearing students in the second grade. Therefore, it is essential to find and resolve the underlying reasons of this condition by all professionals who work in the field of education and rehabilitation of these students.

  12. 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…

  13. 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

  14. Inculcating reading habits among Nigerian secondary schools ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper looks at reading habit as process of imbibing a culture of educating, informing and enlightening people. Inculcating reading habit is very essential for the academic achievement of children and this is made possible with the help of trained and qualified teachers who help in guiding children in developing the right ...

  15. How Comics Made Me Love Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silberkleit, Nancy

    2014-01-01

    The co-CEO of Archie Comics, a former elementary school art teacher, knows from personal experience that comics should be a tool in a teacher's toolbox. Comics can hook students on the love of reading. The author shares her experience of not enjoying to read, and even struggling with reading, to becoming the co-CEO of Archie Comics, which has…

  16. Characteristics of astigmatism in Black South African high school ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Abstract. Background: Astigmatism impairs vision at various distances and causes symptoms of asthenopia which negatively impacts reading efficiency. Objective: The aim of conducting this study was to determine the prevalence and distribution of astigmatism and its relation- ship to gender, age, school grade levels and ...

  17. The effects of modeling instruction on high school physics academic achievement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Tiffanie L.

    that high school science teachers should use Modeling Instructional methods of teaching daily in their classrooms. A recommendation for further research is to expand the Modeling Instructional methods of teaching into different content areas, (i.e., reading and language arts) to explore academic achievement gains.

  18. Evaluating High School IT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Brett A.

    2004-01-01

    Since its inception in 1997, Cisco's curriculum has entered thousands of high schools across the U.S. and around the world for two reasons: (1) Cisco has a large portion of the computer networking market, and thus has the resources for and interest in developing high school academies; and (2) high school curriculum development teams recognize the…

  19. Pedagogical Stances of High School ESL Teachers: "Huelgas" in High School ESL Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    del Carmen Salazar, Maria

    2010-01-01

    This article presents a qualitative case study of the pedagogical stances of high school English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, and the subsequent responses of resistance or conformity by their English Language Learners (ELLs). The participants include three high school ESL teachers and 60 high school ESL students of Mexican origin. Findings…

  20. Reading-Boxing Class

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kravitz, Richard; Shapiro, Marvin

    1969-01-01

    The physical education department of the Pennsylvania Advancement School of Philadelphia has established a reading and communication skill project that uses the appeal of sports to help students improve their basic skills. (Author)

  1. The Boy Problem: Many Boys Think School Is Stupid and Reading Stinks--Is There a Remedy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sax, Leonard

    2007-01-01

    The gender issue is relevant to classroom learning in more ways than one. Increasingly in the United States, young boys are saying that school is stupid and they do not like to read. This phenomenon cuts across all demographic groups: it affects affluent white boys in the suburbs no less than it affects black boys in low-income neighborhoods. In…

  2. Reading Teacher, Meet the Librarian

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glick, Andrea

    2005-01-01

    Do school librarians play a role in teaching students to read? Yes, they do, and librarians should embrace that role if they want school administrators and politicians to recognize them as central to fostering literate kids, according to several people who took part in the literacy challenge group. The question of how and what school librarians…

  3. Effect of Repeated Reading and Self-Directed Behavior on Reading Skills and Generalization of the Reading Skills of Third-Grade Hill Tribe Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Compan, Boonlert; Iamsupasit, Sompoch; Samuels, Jay

    A study tested a method for developing reading fluency with third-grade Hill Tribe children in a welfare school in Chiang Mai, a city located in northern Thailand. Most of the students were bilingual, speaking their native tongues and Thai, their second language. Only 18.7% of the Hill Tribe population can read Thai, and many students fail to…

  4. Especially for High School Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howell, J. Emory

    1999-07-01

    exhibit booth. NSTA in Boston For the representatives of the Journal, the highlight of the National Science Teachers Association Convention was visiting with the many readers who stopped by the JCE booth. Among them were several who have authored an article or reviewed manuscripts. We hope that number increases from year to year. JCE exists for its readers and because many readers are willing to devote the time and effort necessary to write a manuscript and revise it based on peer review. The convention offered such a variety of opportunities to acquire useful information that it is impossible to name a single highlight, or even to list the top ten. Representative of the many outstanding chemistry-oriented sessions presented by high school teachers were "Ultraviolet, Visible and Infrared Spectroscopy in the Chemistry and Physics Laboratory", "Kool Conversions in a Block Schedule", and "Hot Packs, Cold Packs, and a Six-Pack of Chemistry Projects". Reports from Other Journals On pages 882-885, Steve Long and Kathy Thorsen have summarized interesting articles that have appeared recently in The Science Teacher and Chem 13 News, respectively. Even if you are a regular reader of one or both of these journals, you will enjoy reading these summaries. Steve and Kathy have done a great job of highlighting interesting and useful information. I thank both of them for these fine contributions to the Journal. High School Day in New Orleans Mark August 22, 1999, on your calendar now and plan to attend High School Chemistry Day at the National ACS Meeting in New Orleans. The High School Program Committee, with support from local ACS sections, has planned an extravaganza of workshops and presentations, including environmental programs and workshops conducted by Sargent-Welch; an afternoon of instrumentation by Buck Laboratories with the Alabama Science in Motion vans and drivers to show how to transport chemistry on wheels; 12 demonstrations by nationally recognized chemical demonstration

  5. 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…

  6. Case Studies of Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools. Relevance Strategic Designs: 8. High Tech High School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shields, Regis Anne; Ireland, Nicole; City, Elizabeth; Derderian, Julie; Miles, Karen Hawley

    2008-01-01

    This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

  7. A Study of the Reading Habits of Students in Selected Secondary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper focused on the reading habits of students in four selected secondary schools in Oyo town. The study was designed to find out the difference in the reading habits of the students in selected secondary schools in Oyo town. It is also aimed at finding solutions to poor reading habits, among the students. A survey ...

  8. Early College High Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dessoff, Alan

    2011-01-01

    For at-risk students who stand little chance of going to college, or even finishing high school, a growing number of districts have found a solution: Give them an early start in college while they still are in high school. The early college high school (ECHS) movement that began with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 10 years ago…

  9. Collaborative Strategic Reading: Fostering Success for All

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annamma, Subini; Eppolito, Amy; Klingner, Janette; Boele, Amy; Boardman, Alison; Stillman-Spisak, Stephanie J.

    2011-01-01

    The authors interviewed 17 middle school reading and language arts teachers as part of a larger study on an evidence-based intervention called Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR). CSR is a multi-component reading instructional model combined with cooperative grouping and peer discussion. We show from the teacher interviews that CSR has benefits…

  10. Western Australian High School Students' Attitudes towards Biotechnology Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, Vaille; Schibeci, Renato

    2003-01-01

    This study reports on the attitudes towards biotechnology of 905, 15-16 year-old students from 11 Western Australian schools. Students were asked to read 15 statements about biotechnology processes and to draw a line to separate what they considered "acceptable" statements from those they considered "unacceptable". Overall, the…

  11. Video Games to Reading: Reaching out to Reluctant Readers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jolley, Kristie

    2008-01-01

    Junior high school teacher Kristie Jolley believes students become more willing and motivated to practice reading strategies when they are "comfortable within their realm of literacy." Background knowledge of video games helps students succeed in understanding and enjoying game-based texts, which she incorporates into her classroom library as…

  12. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of stroke among high school students in Nepal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thapa, Lekhjung; Sharma, Nooma; Poudel, Ramesh Sharma; Bhandari, Tirtha Raj; Bhagat, Riwaz; Shrestha, Ashis; Shrestha, Shakti; Khatiwada, Dipendra; Caplan, Louis R

    2016-01-01

    Baseline stroke knowledge in a targeted population is indispensable to promote the effective stroke education. We report the baseline knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of high school students with respect to stroke from Nepal. A self-structured questionnaire survey regarding KAP about stroke was conducted in high school students of 33 schools of Bharatpur, Nepal. Descriptive statistics including Chi-square test was used, and the significant variables were subjected to binary logistic regression. Among 1360 participants, 71.1% had heard or read about stroke; 30.2% knew someone with stroke. 39.3% identified brain as the organ affected. Sudden onset limb/s weakness/numbness (72%) and hypertension (74%) were common warning symptom and risk factor identified. 88.9% would take stroke patients to a hospital. Almost half participants (55.5%) felt ayurvedic treatment be effective. 44.8% felt stroke as a hindrance to a happy life and 86.3% believed that family care was helpful for early recovery. Students who identified at least one risk factor were 3.924 times ( P school Nepalese students regarding stroke was satisfactory, and the students having knowledge about the risk factors and warning symptoms were more likely to take stroke patients to a hospital. However, a few misconceptions persisted.

  13. Promoting Reading Through The use of Book Talk, Story books and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Promoting Reading Through The use of Book Talk, Story books and book mobile Among Children in Selected Schools in ... Keywords: Reading culture, book talk, story book, book mobile, School Children ... AJOL African Journals Online.

  14. Shorter lines facilitate reading in those who struggle.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew H Schneps

    Full Text Available People with dyslexia, who ordinarily struggle to read, sometimes remark that reading is easier when e-readers are used. Here, we used eye tracking to observe high school students with dyslexia as they read using these devices. Among the factors investigated, we found that reading using a small device resulted in substantial benefits, improving reading speeds by 27%, reducing the number of fixations by 11%, and importantly, reducing the number of regressive saccades by more than a factor of 2, with no cost to comprehension. Given that an expected trade-off between horizontal and vertical regression was not observed when line lengths were altered, we speculate that these effects occur because sluggish attention spreads perception to the left as the gaze shifts during reading. Short lines eliminate crowded text to the left, reducing regression. The effects of attention modulation by the hand, and of increased letter spacing to reduce crowding, were also found to modulate the oculomotor dynamics in reading, but whether these factors resulted in benefits or costs depended on characteristics, such as visual attention span, that varied within our sample.

  15. Participation in Summer School and High School Graduation in the Sun Valley High School District

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trujillo, Gabriel

    2012-01-01

    This study examines the effectiveness of a summer school credit recovery program in the Sun Valley High School District. Using logistic regression I assess the relationship between race, gender, course failure, school of origin and summer school participation for a sample of students that failed one or more classes in their first year of high…

  16. 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.

  17. Reading with Maggie: The Effect of the Presence/Absence of a Classroom Pet Dog in a Reading Intervention Package

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bassette, Laura A.

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine if the presence/absence of a classroom pet dog impacted reading skills in four 5th grade middle school students with emotional/ behavioral disabilities. An alternating treatment design was used to assess the fluency and comprehension measures in students during reading a reading intervention package…

  18. A read-out buffer prototype for ATLAS high level triggers

    CERN Document Server

    Calvet, D; Huet, M; Le Dû, P; Mandjavidze, I D; Mur, M

    2000-01-01

    Read-Out Buffers are critical components in the dataflow chain of the ATLAS Trigger/DAQ system. At up to 75 kHz, after each Level-1 trigger accept signal, these devices receive and store digitized data from groups of front-end electronic channels. Several Read-Out Buffers are grouped to form a Read-Out Buffer Complex that acts as a data server for the High Level Triggers selection algorithms and for the final data collection system. This paper describes a functional prototype of a Read-Out Buffer based on a custom made PCI mezzanine card that is designed to accept input data at up to 160 MB/s, to store up to 8 MB of data and to distribute data chunks at the desired request rate. We describe the hardware of the card that is based on an Intel I960 processor and CPLDs. We present the integration of several of these cards in a Read-Out Buffer Complex. We measure various performance figures and we discuss to which extent these can fulfill ATLAS needs. 5 Refs.

  19. Teaching reading strategies in classrooms does it work?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Okkinga, Mariska

    2018-01-01

    Reading comprehension is a necessary skill in today’s knowledge-based economy. However, many children and adolescents have trouble understanding the meaning of texts, which may hinder their school careers and future professions. Since the 1980’s, reading programs have focused on teaching reading

  20. The Efficacy of PCI's Reading Program--Level One: A Report of a Randomized Experiment in Brevard Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Research Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Empirical Education Inc., 2008

    2008-01-01

    PCI Education sought scientifically based evidence on the effectiveness of the "PCI Reading Program--Level One" for students with severe disabilities. During the 2007-2008 academic year. Empirical Education conducted a randomized control trial (RCT) in two Florida districts, Brevard and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. For this…

  1. The Efficacy of PCI's "Reading Program--Level One": A Report of a Randomized Experiment in Brevard Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Research Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toby, Megan; Ma, Boya; Jaciw, Andrew; Cabalo, Jessica

    2008-01-01

    PCI Education sought scientifically based evidence on the effectiveness of the "PCI Reading Program--Level One" for students with severe disabilities. During the 2007-2008 academic year. Empirical Education conducted a randomized control trial (RCT) in two Florida districts, Brevard and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. For this…

  2. A Study of Boys' Reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Telford, Lesley

    1999-01-01

    Examined how reading attitudes of Year 6 boys in British primary schools were influenced by gender issues, peers, and peer group culture. Found that confidence and experience shown in private reading was at odds with boys' public attitudes in discussion with peers. Suggests that siblings and adults might provide more positive role models for…

  3. 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…

  4. Concussion Knowledge and Reporting Behavior Differences Between High School Athletes at Urban and Suburban High Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, Jessica; Covassin, Tracey; Nogle, Sally; Gould, Daniel; Kovan, Jeffrey

    2017-09-01

    We determined differences in knowledge of concussion and reporting behaviors of high school athletes attending urban and suburban high schools, and whether a relationship exists between underreporting and access to an athletic trainer in urban schools. High school athletes (N = 715) from 14 high schools completed a validated knowledge of concussion survey consisting of 83 questions. The independent variable was school type (urban/suburban). We examined the proportion of athletes who correctly identified signs and symptoms of concussion, knowledge of concussion and reasons why high school athletes would not disclose a potential concussive injury across school classification. Data were analyzed using descriptive, non-parametric, and inferential statistics. Athletes attending urban schools have less concussion knowledge than athletes attending suburban schools (p urban schools without an athletic trainer have less knowledge than urban athletes at schools with an athletic trainer (p urban schools and 10 reasons for not reporting. Concussion education efforts cannot be homogeneous in all communities. Education interventions must reflect the needs of each community. © 2017, American School Health Association.

  5. Middle School A/B Block and Traditional Scheduling: An Analysis of Math and Reading Performance by Race

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gill, Willie Wallicia Allen

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether a difference existed in the percentage performance of students earning a pass/advanced score on the Standards of Learning (SOL) Test in math and reading in Virginia's Region IV for schools using an A/B block schedule and those using a traditional schedule. The research also examined if…

  6. Prevalence of Online Reading among High School Students in Qatar: Evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheema, Jehanzeb R.

    2014-01-01

    Recent research has suggested presence of a significant relationship between prevalence of online reading and reading literacy. In this study we examined the prevalence of online reading among 15-year old students in Qatar using a nationally representative sample of 8,089 students. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted at the item and…

  7. Best Adult Books for High School Students 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldsmith, Francisca

    2009-01-01

    During the past year, more than three dozen librarians working with teens in public, school, and college libraries have evaluated books published for the adult market with an eye toward identifying those that are worthy of teen reading as well. By examining more than 600 titles, this journal was able to select about 250 for review across the year.…

  8. Motivation to Read: How Does It Change for Struggling Readers with and without Disabilities?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melekoglu, Macid A.; Wilkerson, Kimber L.

    2013-01-01

    Lack of reading motivation impedes upper elementary and secondary school students' willingness to improve critical reading skills and strategies to be successful in school. Struggling readers often show a negative attitude towards reading tasks and manifest low motivation to read. Although the importance of motivation is clear, there is limited…

  9. A Case for Improved Reading Instruction for Academic English Reading Proficiency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Glenn Ole Hellekjær

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available This article presents a study of the academic reading proficiency in English of 217 senior level Norwegian upper secondary school students who upon graduation are considered qualified for higher education. Testing with an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Reading Module revealed that two thirds of the 178 respondents with ordinary EFL courses did not achieve the equivalent of the IELTS Band 6 score minimum that is usually required for admission to British and Australian universities. In comparison, two thirds of a sample of 39 respondents with a single, sheltered Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL subject achieved a Band 6 score or better. Closer analysis indicates that the poor test scores can be attributed to weaknesses in current English as a Foreign Language (EFL instruction where reading is neglected, where students do not learn to adjust how they read to reading purpose, and where they do not learn how to handle unfamiliar words to avoid disrupting the reading process. The article ends with suggestions on how to improve EFL instruction, in Norway and elsewhere.

  10. Teacher Modeling: Its Impact on an Extensive Reading Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loh, Jason Kok Khiang

    2009-01-01

    This case study investigates whether teachers model reading in 1 Singapore primary school during an exercise called "uninterrupted sustained silent reading" (USSR) carried out in the classroom. Even though reading is an important determinant of a student's growth in language skills and ability, and modeling the act of reading is…

  11. The Impact of Teaching Phonemic Awareness by Means of Direct Instruction on Reading Achievement of Students with Reading Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad Sharifi

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Phonemic awareness is one of the most important predictors of reading skills that has been taught by different procedures. One of the procedures is implementation of direct instruction in instruction of phonemic awareness. Current study is one of the unique studies in Iran that investigate impact of direct instruction in phonemic awareness on reading achievement of students with reading disorder.Case: Three male second grade elementary students with reading disorder in a regular school in district six of the office of education in Tehran were selected. Multiple-baseline across subjects was selected as a research design. The following tests were used as diagnostic criteria: reading and dyslexia test and Wechsler intelligence scale for children-revised. Moreover, a reading inventory consisting of 100 words was developed by researchers to assess the reading ability of the subjects. Data were collected in three phases: baseline, intervention, and follow-up. During the intervention phase, the intervention strategies were used while during baseline and follow-up, data were collected without any intervention. Comparing three phases of the study, we may conclude that intervention package consisting of direct instruction of phonological awareness was an effective strategy in reading achievement of all three students. In addition, follow-up data indicated that the effects of the intervention procedures were stable across time.Conclusion: Direct instruction of phonological awareness was effective in reading achievement of students with reading disorder in elementary school and increasing their abilities in reading.

  12. Working memory, short-term memory and reading proficiency in school-age children with cochlear implants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bharadwaj, Sneha V; Maricle, Denise; Green, Laura; Allman, Tamby

    2015-10-01

    The objective of the study was to examine short-term memory and working memory through both visual and auditory tasks in school-age children with cochlear implants. The relationship between the performance on these cognitive skills and reading as well as language outcomes were examined in these children. Ten children between the ages of 7 and 11 years with early-onset bilateral severe-profound hearing loss participated in the study. Auditory and visual short-term memory, auditory and visual working memory subtests and verbal knowledge measures were assessed using the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV Integrated and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children II. Reading outcomes were assessed using the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test III. Performance on visual short-term memory and visual working memory measures in children with cochlear implants was within the average range when compared to the normative mean. However, auditory short-term memory and auditory working memory measures were below average when compared to the normative mean. Performance was also below average on all verbal knowledge measures. Regarding reading outcomes, children with cochlear implants scored below average for listening and passage comprehension tasks and these measures were positively correlated to visual short-term memory, visual working memory and auditory short-term memory. Performance on auditory working memory subtests was not related to reading or language outcomes. The children with cochlear implants in this study demonstrated better performance in visual (spatial) working memory and short-term memory skills than in auditory working memory and auditory short-term memory skills. Significant positive relationships were found between visual working memory and reading outcomes. The results of the study provide support for the idea that WM capacity is modality specific in children with hearing loss. Based on these

  13. Building up Autonomy Through Reading Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Izquierdo Castillo

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available This article reports on an action research project conducted with six ninth grade students in a rural public school in Colombia. The purpose of the study was to determine how the implementation of three reading strategies (skimming, scanning, and making predictions, when reading topics selected by learners, helps them to improve their reading comprehension and promotes their autonomy in the learning process. The results show that these learners developed some autonomous features such as making decisions for learning and doing assigned homework, increasing reading awareness and motivation. Additionally, the training on reading strategies allowed them to succeed in their reading comprehension. We conclude that these reading strategies are tools that take learners along the path of autonomy.

  14. Fixing High Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perkins-Gough, Deborah

    2005-01-01

    Reports from national education organizations in the US indicate the sorry state of high schools in the country that are accused of failing to adequately prepare their graduates for college or for the workforce, highlighting what is a serious problem in light of the troubled state of the US economy. The need to improve high schools is urgent and…

  15. Reading Comprehension and Working Memory's Executive Processes: An Intervention Study in Primary School Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Madruga, Juan A.; Elosua, Maria Rosa; Gil, Laura; Gomez-Veiga, Isabel; Vila, Jose Oscar; Orjales, Isabel; Contreras, Antonio; Rodriguez, Raquel; Melero, Maria Angeles; Duque, Gonzalo

    2013-01-01

    Reading comprehension is a highly demanding task that involves the simultaneous process of extracting and constructing meaning in which working memory's executive processes play a crucial role. In this article, a training program on working memory's executive processes to improve reading comprehension is presented and empirically tested in two…

  16. Comprehension: The Key to Reading Success.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chevalier, Kim; Del Santo, Jolene; Scheiner, Deb; Skok, Elly; Tucci, Leah Rae

    This report describes a program for using explicit instruction of reading strategies through the implementation of guided reading groups to improve student comprehension. The targeted population consisted of elementary school students in growing, middle class communities, located in northern Illinois. Evidence for the existence of a deficiency of…

  17. Golden Mountain Reading Series. Level 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, Robert

    This reading series was developed as a means to educate Chinese-American elementary school children in Chinese reading, writing, and culture. The text covers the following topics: Chinese literature, Chinese and American history, famous people, general knowledge, Chinese letter writing, the four seasons, and the major Chinese and American…

  18. Relation Between Reading and Quality of Life of Adolescents: Results of Cohort Cross-Sectional Sequential Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena G. Vikhareva

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Determination and monitoring of the quality of life of adolescents are needed to examine the social conditions of their life.Objective: Our aim was to study the relation between reading books and the number of read books with the quality of life of adolescents. Patients and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional cohort study where examined the quality of life of children aged 13–18 years attending secondary educational institutions of Izhevsk city and Udmurtia rural districts. Using PedsQL questionnaire, we analyzed the physical, emotional and social component of the quality of life of adolescents, school functioning and overall assessment score of the quality of life. The attitude to reading was determined by the results of the answers to questions about the love of reading (yes/no and the number of read books.Results: The study included 2,947 high school students, in which 2,473 (83.9% adolescents indicated their attitude toward reading. It has been shown that students who enjoy reading (42.2% have a lower assessment score of the quality of life on the scale of «emotional functioning» (66 ± 17 and higher — on the scale of «school functioning» (69 ± 15 than their peers not liking to read (68 ± 16 and 66 ± 15, respectively; p < 0.001. The number of read books was associated with the quality of life assessment on the scale of «physical functioning» and «school functioning» as well as with the assessment of the social component of quality of life for girls.Conclusion: The studied factors («reading books» and «the number of read books» are related to the quality of life of adolescents that may be taken into account in the preparation of educational programs.

  19. Perceptions of a computer-based instruction system in special education: high school teachers and students views.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, Hsin-Yu Ariel; Jacobs, Karen

    2010-01-01

    Researchers investigated how one type of computer-based instruction (CBI)--Kurzweil 3000 (K-3000), was perceived to affect the reading, functional task performance, and academic self-perception of high school students with special needs. 16 students with special needs used K-3000 (assistive software that provides students with reading support) for six months to read assignments for their English language arts class and six teachers who had previous experience with integrating K-3000 into their classes were recruited. Data from focus group interviews of students and teachers were used. The advantages and disadvantages of K-3000, the factors that affected teachers' use of CBI and users' progress were explored. After the regular use of K-3000, students and teachers reported improvement in the amount and speed of reading and increased academic self-perception, specifically related to reading comprehension and pronunciation. Teachers reported that lack of accessibility to technology, time constraints, and difficulties with class management were the major reasons that hindered CBI use in their classrooms. Student participants noted that CBI was helpful when they were engaged in functional activities related to reading and writing. The progress of students in self-perception, and the advantages and drawbacks of the K-3000, along with the mechanism of users' progression were described and discussed.

  20. Comparison of physical activities of female football players in junior high school and high school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inoue, Yuri; Otani, Yoshitaka; Takemasa, Seiichi

    2017-08-01

    [Purpose] This study aimed to compare physical activities between junior high school and high school female football players in order to explain the factors that predispose to a higher incidence of sports injuries in high school female football players. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty-nine female football players participated. Finger floor distance, the center of pressure during single limb stance with eyes open and closed, the 40-m linear sprint time, hip abduction and extension muscle strength and isokinetic knee flexion and extension peak torque were measured. The modified Star Excursion Balance Test, the three-steps bounding test and three-steps hopping tests, agility test 1 (Step 50), agility test 2 (Forward run), curl-up test for 30 seconds and the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test were performed. [Results] The high school group was only significantly faster than the junior high school group in the 40-m linear sprint time and in the agility tests. The distance of the bounding test in the high school group was longer than that in the junior high school group. [Conclusion] Agility and speed increase with growth; however, muscle strength and balance do not develop alongside. This unbalanced development may cause a higher incidence of sports injuries in high school football players.

  1. The Effect of Mnemonic Vocabulary Instruction on Reading Comprehension of Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parima Fasih

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The present article was an investigation of mnemonic vocabulary teaching to improve reading comprehension in the EFL classrooms. A major problem with the most of the past researches was that they paid no or little attention to the effects of using mnemonic strategies to improve reading comprehension. The purpose of this paper was to investigate how key word mnemonic vocabulary teaching can improve reading comprehension of the students. To this end, 360 third grade senior high school students from 6 senior high schools of Zanjan were selected through multistage cluster random sampling method and based on Cambridge placement test (2010, 345 students proved to be upper intermediate. A quasi-experimental design was used to determine the effects of a mnemonic vocabulary intervention on reading comprehension. In this article there were one control group (A, n=115, and two experimental groups (B, n=115; C, n=115 all of which were male and there were selected randomly by the researchers. During one month in four weeks, every week in two thirty-minute session, group B received direct vocabulary instruction and group C received key word mnemonic instruction. The quantitative component of this article was comprised of the Unit Cloze test. In order to test the effects of Mnemonic Vocabulary Teaching on reading comprehension, the covariance analysis was employed and the results demonstrated that by eliminating the covariance factor of the pre-test, mnemonic vocabulary instruction improved the reading comprehension of the students. The use of keyword mnemonics as a means to differentiate instruction is an educational implication that can assist teachers seeking better student achievement outcomes.

  2. The Effects of the Use of Renzulli Learning on Student Achievement in Reading Comprehension, Reading Fluency, Social Studies, and Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gara B Field

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Renzulli Learning is an on-line educational profile and educational learning system designed to match student interests, learning styles, and expression styles with a vast array of educational activities and resources designed to enrich and engage students’ learning process. In this experimental study, quantitative procedures were used to investigate the use of Renzulli Learning on oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, science achievement, social studies achievement of 383 elementary and middle schools students. The research took place in two schools, an urban middle school in Georgia where half of all students are considered to be at risk due to poverty or other factors, and a suburban elementary school in southern California. Students in grades 3 5 (n = 185 and grades 6 8 (n = 198 were randomly assigned to use Renzulli Learning for 2-3 hours each week for a 16-week period. Students in the treatment groups were compared to students who did not have the opportunity to use Renzulli Learning in control classes in the same schools. A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA was used to explore differences between treatment and control students. After 16 weeks, students who participated in Renzulli Learning demonstrated significantly higher growth in reading comprehension (p < .001, significantly higher growth in oral reading fluency (p = .016, and significantly higher growth in social studies achievement (p = .013 than those students who did not participate in Renzulli Learning.

  3. 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.

  4. Improving reading in the primary grades.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duke, Nell K; Block, Meghan K

    2012-01-01

    Almost fifteen years have passed since the publication of the National Research Council's seminal report Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, which provided research-based recommendations on what could be done to better position students in prekindergarten through third grade for success in grade four and above. This article by Nell Duke and Meghan Block first examines whether specific key recommendations from the report have been implemented in U.S. classrooms. They find that recommendations regarding increased access to kindergarten and greater attention to and improvement of students' word-reading skills have been widely adopted. Others have not. Vocabulary and comprehension, long neglected in the primary grades, still appear to be neglected. Contrary to the report's recommendations, attention to building conceptual and content knowledge in science and social studies has actually decreased in the past fifteen years. In other words, the easier-to-master skills are being attended to, but the broader domains of accomplishment that constitute preparation for comprehension and learning in the later grades--vocabulary knowledge, comprehension strategy use, and conceptual and content knowledge--are being neglected. Near stagnation in fourth-grade students' comprehension achievement is thus unsurprising. The authors then turn to research and reviews of research on improving primary-grade reading published since 1998, when Preventing Reading Difficulties was issued. They discuss several instructional approaches identified as effective in improving word-reading skill, vocabulary and conceptual knowledge, comprehension strategies, and reading outside of school; they discuss advances in interventions for struggling readers, and in whole-school literacy reform. Duke and Block then identify three key obstacles that have prevented widespread adoption of these best practices in teaching reading. The first obstacle is a short-term orientation toward instruction and

  5. Ethnic identity, school connectedness, and achievement in standardized tests among Mexican-origin youth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Carlos E; Collins, Mary Ann

    2016-07-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the association between school connectedness and performance in standardized test scores and whether this association was moderated by ethnic private regard. The study combines self-report data with school district reported data on standardized test scores in reading and math and free and reduced lunch status. Participants included 436 Mexican-origin youth attending a middle school in a southwestern U.S. state. Participants were on average 12.34 years of age (SD = .95) and 51.8% female and 48.2% male. After controlling for age, gender, free and reduced lunch status, and generational status, school connectedness and ethnic private regard were both positive predictors of standardized test scores in reading and math. Results also revealed a significant interaction between school connectedness and ethnic private regard in predicting standardized test scores in reading, such that participants who were low on ethnic private regard and low on school connectedness reported lower levels of achievement compared to participants who were low on ethnic private regard but high on school connectedness. At high levels of ethnic private regard, high or low levels of school connectedness were not associated with higher or lower standardized test scores in reading. The findings in this study provide support for the protective role that ethnic private regard plays in the educational experiences of Mexican-origin youth and highlights how the local school context may play a role in shaping this finding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barfield Randall

    2003-08-01

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

  7. What Images Reveal: a Comparative Study of Science Images between Australian and Taiwanese Junior High School Textbooks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Yun-Ping; Unsworth, Len; Wang, Kuo-Hua; Chang, Huey-Por

    2017-07-01

    From a social semiotic perspective, image designs in science textbooks are inevitably influenced by the sociocultural context in which the books are produced. The learning environments of Australia and Taiwan vary greatly. Drawing on social semiotics and cognitive science, this study compares classificational images in Australian and Taiwanese junior high school science textbooks. Classificational images are important kinds of images, which can represent taxonomic relations among objects as reported by Kress and van Leeuwen (Reading images: the grammar of visual design, 2006). An analysis of the images from sample chapters in Australian and Taiwanese high school science textbooks showed that the majority of the Taiwanese images are covert taxonomies, which represent hierarchical relations implicitly. In contrast, Australian classificational images included diversified designs, but particularly types with a tree structure which depicted overt taxonomies, explicitly representing hierarchical super-ordinate and subordinate relations. Many of the Taiwanese images are reminiscent of the specimen images in eighteenth century science texts representing "what truly is", while more Australian images emphasize structural objectivity. Moreover, Australian images support cognitive functions which facilitate reading comprehension. The relationships between image designs and learning environments are discussed and implications for textbook research and design are addressed.

  8. Are Self-Perception Measures Used in School Library Research Transferable to the Context of Public Library Summer Reading Programs?

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    Arnone, Marilyn P.; Small, Ruth V.; Weng, Shicheng

    2016-01-01

    Several instruments previously validated for use in school library research were tested for their appropriateness in the context of public libraries' summer reading programs for youth. The researchers were also interested in whether the connection between perceived competence in one's own information skills and perceived competence in one's own…

  9. Tips for Reading Tutors = Consejos para los Tutores en Lectura.

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    Department of Education, Washington, DC.

    Reading is the basis for learning and school success. While reading is learned primarily in the classroom, many students need extra time and help. Research shows that tutoring is a great way for individuals and groups outside school to support learning, but effective tutoring requires appropriate training and careful planning. This brochure,…

  10. The Effects of Blended Instruction on Oral Reading Performance and their Relationships to a Five-Factor Model of Personality

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    Isao Miyaji

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available In recent times, 'Blended Instruction' - an effective method of instructions utilizing e-Learning materials in English education - consists of an individual learning part, a collaborative learning part and a teacher instruction part. In the individual learning, students act out model dialogues in the WBT courseware which incorporated a high quantity of video and sound clips. In the collaborative learning, students perform the dialogues in pairs and assessed each other's performance. Our recent research in a high school showed that the skill of the students' oral reading was improved in most criteria of assessment through blended instruction. However, it is still not clear what kind of relationship exists between the development of the students' oral reading skills and their personalities. With this in mind, the authors have studied the effects of the blended instruction on the junior high school students' oral reading performance and their relationships to the five-factor model of personality. The result of the research shows that the skill of the students' oral reading was improved in most criteria of assessment and the blended instruction was effective for the personality group, 'Introverted unintelligent person' in the most categories of oral reading criteria as well as the personality group, 'Sociable hard-worker'. The important factor for that group in oral reading performance turned out to be 'Sense Reading'.

  11. Developing Reading Comprehension Modules to Facilitate Reading Comprehension among Malaysian Secondary School ESL Students

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    Javed, Muhammad; Eng, Lin Siew; Mohamed, Abdul Rashid

    2015-01-01

    The study aims to develop a set of 6 Reading Comprehension Modules (RCMs) for Malaysian ESL teachers to facilitate different reading abilities of ESL students effectively. Different skill categories were selected for developing the RCMs. This article describes how and why diverse texts of varying length were adopted and adapted from various…

  12. The Impact of SIM on FCAT Reading Scores of Special Education and At-Risk Students

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    Matyo-Cepero, Jude

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine if special education and at-risk students educated exclusively in a school-within-a-school setting showed improved high-stakes standardized reading test scores after learning the strategic instruction model (SIM) inference strategy. This study was focused on four groups of eighth-grade students attending…

  13. Perceptions of Control Facilitate Reading Engagement

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    Vieira, Edward T., Jr.; Grantham, Susan

    2011-01-01

    This study examined how global locus of control influences children's reading engagement or reading involvement and interest in stories. It is based on locus of control, interest, and dual information processing theories. One hundred and seventy students from schools in the northeastern United States, ages 9 to 12, participated. They completed a…

  14. The effectiveness of a 2-year supplementary tutor-assisted computerized intervention on the reading development of beginning readers at risk for reading difficulties: a randomized controlled trial

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    Regtvoort, A.; Zijlstra, H.; van der Leij, A.

    2013-01-01

    Children with low (pre-)literacy skills may benefit from individual tutoring during the early phases of learning to read. Dutch at-risk students from 13 schools received in first and second grade a computerized reading intervention, delivered by non-professional tutors at school. Digital logs

  15. Morpho-Phonemic Analysis Boosts Word Reading for Adult Struggling Readers

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    Gray, Susan H.; Ehri, Linnea C.; Locke, John L.

    2018-01-01

    A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language…

  16. Examining Students' Use of Online Annotation Tools in Support of Argumentative Reading

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    Lu, Jingyan; Deng, Liping

    2013-01-01

    This study examined how students in a Hong Kong high school used Diigo, an online annotation tool, to support their argumentative reading activities. Two year 10 classes, a high-performance class (HPC) and an ordinary-performance class (OPC), highlighted passages of text and wrote and attached sticky notes to them to clarify argumentation…

  17. A Comparative Study of Iranian EFL Teachers’ versus Learners’ Perceptions of High School English Textbooks

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    Zahra Aghazadeh

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Textbooks play a very crucial role in the process of language teaching and learning. They affect the whole language learning/teaching process. The purpose of this study was to carry out an evaluation of English textbooks currently in use at high schools in Iran from teachers’ and learners’ points of view in a comparative way. To this end, the study employed a mixed methods design. The data were collected through questionnaires with 43 close-ended items consisting of nine different sections. The results showed that both the teachers and the learners believed that the high school English textbooks are highly ineffective in terms of actual activities, language functions section, pronunciation practice, physical make-up, reading texts, speaking and writing sections and are effective only in terms of vocabulary section, and grammatical points. It can be concluded that the English textbooks used in Iranian high schools cannot meet the Iranian learners’ and teachers’ needs and wants since they are grammar-based. The findings of this study can be used by the textbook designers in order to take account of the teachers’ and learners’ preferences and perceptions while designing new editions of the textbooks.

  18. The Role of Word Recognition, Oral Reading Fluency and Listening Comprehension in the Simple View of Reading: A Study in an Intermediate Depth Orthography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadime, Irene; Rodrigues, Bruna; Santos, Sandra; Viana, Fernanda Leopoldina; Chaves-Sousa, Séli; do Céu Cosme, Maria; Ribeiro, Iolanda

    2017-01-01

    Empirical research has provided evidence for the simple view of reading across a variety of orthographies, but the role of oral reading fluency in the model is unclear. Moreover, the relative weight of listening comprehension, oral reading fluency and word recognition in reading comprehension seems to vary across orthographies and schooling years.…

  19. The Relationship between High School Math Courses, High School GPA, and Retention of Honors Scholarships

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    Megert, Diann Ackerman

    2005-01-01

    This research examined the high school transcripts of honors scholarship recipients to identify a better criterion for awarding scholarships than high school grade point average (GPA) alone. Specifically, this study compared the honors scholarship retention rate when the scholarship was awarded based on completed advanced high school math classes…

  20. Multimodal genres in textbooks: are students being schooled for visual literacy?

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    Cláudia Graziano Paes de Barros

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we discuss some issues involved in teaching and learning reading, especially schooling in visual literacy. We seek to observe the work developed with genres that combine verbal and visual languages, found in the reading activities of two high school textbook series for Portuguese language teaching. Our goal was to understand to what extent these activities contribute towards the development of reading skills needed to deal with the specificities of these genres. Therefore, we used the enunciative and discursive assumptions of the socio-historical approach of Bakhtin Circle, as well as the Social Semiotics perspective to understand multimodality. Data analysis revealed that the incidence of multimodal genres studied in the two textbook series is hardly representative. The didactic treatment these genres receive in reading activities does not favor the mobilization of specific reading skills and contributes little to students‟ visual literacy schooling.