Factors influencing anaphoric processing in ESL reading comprehension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of some factors that influence English as Second Language (ESL) readers’ ability to resolve anaphoric expressions. Fifty full-time ESL students randomly drawn from three different proficiency levels served as unpaid volunteers for the project. Data were elicited by means of multiple-choice and cloze tests. The experimental design contains one between-subjects factor (proficiency level) and three within-subjects factors, all orthogonally manipulated (number of antecedents, case of pronominal anaphor, and propositional distance from antecedent). A four-way mixed ANOVA for the multiple-choice tests indicated significant effects for proficiency level, case of anaphor, and the interaction of case and number of antecedents. A similar four-way ANOVA for the cloze tests indicated significant effects for proficiency level, number of antecedents, case of anaphor, distance from antecedent, and for the interactions of case and antecedents, antecedents and distance, and case and distance. Similarities in the findings from this study and other first and second language studies are noted. Latent trait measurement procedures were employed to produce a rank order of difficulty for the different item types examined in this study.     

Self-questioning and prose comprehension : A sample case of ESL reading

An experiment was conducted to find out if self-questioning as a reading strategy would help improve comprehension of prose texts in English, a second language for Filipinos. Following a pretest-posttest design, students enrolled in Developmental Reading were randomly assigned to the control group, which read the assigned text, and the experimental group, which used self-questioning as a reading strategy. The control and experimental groups took the same test in the pretest and posttest and their performances were compared. Overall, the experiment showed that self-questioning did not have a significant effect on comprehension of a prose text in English. Although results showed that verbal ability was a factor in the ability to generate questions, the type and number of questions asked were not significant factors in test performance. The cultural background of the participants, time constraints, the method of comprehension evaluation used by the study, and the nature and duration of question-formulation training could all help to explain the results achieved. This study was made possible with funds from URCO (DLSU-Manila).     

The effect of modifying the cognitive tempo of reading disabled children on reading comprehension

The present investigation was concerned with teaching poor readers to use a reflective cognitive style. It was hypothesized that such a strategy would facilitate the reading ability of poor readers. To test this hypothesis, approximately half the poor readers and half the average readers were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group of children was taught to delay their responses and to use more efficient search and scanning techniques. All groups were tested before and after training on the Matching Familiar Figures test and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. Poor readers' vocabulary and comprehension scores and level of reflectivity improved following training. It was concluded that imposing slow reading strategies on impulsive children is an important factor in developing educational programs for children with reading disabilities and that teaching poor readers a reflective cognitive strategy may have important consequences on the child's reading performance.     

阅读信念在阅读理解过程中的作用

阅读理解过程中，阅读信念的作用不容忽视的。本文介绍了三种相关的阅读信念：阅读的自我效能感；作者信息的可靠性；阅读理解过程的信念-理解文意，追索作者原义，强化自己的见解。这三种信念以及尚未被人认知的信念交织成一个信念系统，共同参与读者的阅读理解过程，影响着其阅读理解的效果。     

The effect of phonics instruction on the reading comprehension of beginning readers

This study investigated whether two groups of6-year-old beginning readers taught to read by aphonics and by a ``book experience' non-phonicsapproach would differ in reading comprehension as wellas the processes of word recognition. The two groupswere matched for word recognition but despite this, thephonics taught children had higher readingcomprehension. Phonics taught children produced morecontextually appropriate errors, and in both singleword and text reading made more spoken attempts atreading unknown words. The non-phonics taught childrenhad much faster reading reaction times to familiarwords but they scored less in phoneme segmentation andnonword reading tasks. Compared with the nonphonicsgroup, the phonics group spent more time in attemptsat identifying unknown words and this included usingcontextual information, which apparently resulted inmore rehearsal of the meaning of the story text andhence better reading comprehension performance.     

The effect of a strategy training on reading comprehension in fourth-grade students

Previous studies have shown that instruction of reading strategies is an effective method for enhancing reading comprehension. However, many of the interventions in these studies focused on small groups of (poor) comprehenders and were provided by research assistants, making it time-consuming and relatively expensive. The authors implemented a strategy intervention to intact classrooms, consisting of reciprocal teaching and delivered by teachers. Participants were 510 typically developing fourth-grade students. A clustered randomized controlled trial was conducted with pretest, posttest, and follow-up measures to assess knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension. The results revealed that the intervention had an effect on knowledge of reading strategies at posttest and follow-up. However, the intervention did not affect reading comprehension performance. Together with the results of earlier studies, the present study raises the question whether strategy interventions are the most efficient to improve fourth-grade students' reading comprehension.     

Phonological processing, language comprehension, and reading ability

Previous research has indicated a relationship between reading ability and the integrity of certain phonological processing skills--skills that operate on the sound structure of language. This study shows how the deficient phonological processing skills of poor beginning readers can impair their comprehension of spoken phrases and sentences that are disambiguated by prosodic cues (i.e., pitch, stress, and pause). Following a brief summary of the available research literature, two new experiments are reported to illustrate that poor readers do not interpret certain sentences as accurately as good readers do, because they are less able to hold phonological material temporarily in working memory. Further insight into the basis of these differences between good and poor readers is provided by two additional pieces of evidence: The differences between good and poor readers are analogous to those between older and younger children readers, and the performance of poor readers tends to resemble that of younger children reading at their same level (i.e., reading-ability-matched controls). Apparently, good and poor readers tend to differ in the rate at which they develop phonological processing skills.     

英语逻辑连接词在阅读理解中的作用

逻辑连接词是衔接的一种主要方式,能实现语篇的连贯。本文分析了逻辑连接词作为一种语篇衔接手段在阅读理解中的作用。文章首先解释了逻辑连接词的定义及分类,接着论述其在阅读理解两个方面的作用即对阅读策略的影响和阅读速度、效果的影响。文章最后进一步强调逻辑连接词在阅读理解及其主要问题中的极强解释力。     

Measuring ESL readers’ ability to apply reasoning in reading: a validity study of the TOEFL reading comprehension subtest

This paper reports the results of an attempt to measure English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ability to apply reasoning in reading. The elicitation instrument was an experimental test which was developed from a model of reading comprehension based upon cognitive activities which Piaget referred to as concrete operations. The experimental test delineated Piaget's concrete operations in prose text and set them against difficulty criteria. The experimental test which measured the ability to apply reasoning in reading and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) were administered to a pool of adult ESL subjects. The results indicated that the TOEFL reading comprehension subtest does not measure the ability to apply reasoning in reading; thus, its validity as a measure of reading is in doubt. Significant effects were also shown for the paragraph types and the item types in the experimental test. The items based on the classification paragraphs were significantly more difficult than the items based on the serial paragraphs. In like manner, the items based on the multiplication paragraphs were significantly more difficult than the items based on the addition paragraphs. And finally, the intension questions which concerned the properties of a class were significantly more difficult than the extension questions which dealt with the members of classes. The results of this study indicate a need for further, increased attention to the measurement of reading to solve problems in ESL reading assessment and to the effects of the different structural organizations of ideas (e.g., addition, classification, multiplication, and series) and the interrelations of ideas on the comprehension process. The motivation for this line of research derives from the pragmatic interest of those researchers concerned with the communicative aspects of a text and the manner in which authors organize their ideas. Current research is beginning to explain the complex interaction between text structure and the reader's processing of such structure which further explicates the comprehension process.     

阅读策略培训对学生阅读理解能力影响的元分析

国内外有关阅读策略培训对学生阅读理解能力影响的研究众多,但研究结果不尽相同。本研究以Comprehensive Meta-analysis V2软件为工具对国内外27项此类研究进行了元分析。研究结果如下:1)阅读策略培训对学生阅读理解能力影响的总效应值为0.816,达到大效应值;2)可能存在多种因素共同作用影响阅读策略培训对学生阅读理解能力影响的效果;3)语言环境和培训的策略类别对研究结果无显著影响,而实验周期和阅读理解能力测试方式对研究结果具有显著影响。     

The relationship between reading comprehension strategies and reading attitudes

The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between levels of reading comprehension strategy use, reading attitudes, and the amount of reading per year among elementary school students. The study was conducted with 1316 students (649 girls and 667 boys) attending the fourth and fifth grades of 15 elementary schools in Denizli, Turkey. Stratified Sampling Method was employed to obtain data using Reading Attitude Scale (RAS) and Reading Comprehension Strategies Scale (RCSS). The analyses indicate that reading attitude is a significant predictor of the level of reading comprehension strategies used by students (R² = 0.44). The findings show that there is a negative and low-level relationship (r = ?0.054) between daily time spent reading and the level of strategy used, and a positive and low-level relationship (r = 0.01) between the level of strategy used and the number of books that a child reads per year.     

Inspecting a picture before reading affects attentional processing but not comprehension

Abstract

This study investigated whether presenting a picture before reading can encourage situation-model construction. We compared two conditions (n?= 30) which differed in whether a picture of the initial situation described in a narrative text was presented before reading (i.e. pictorial-support condition) or not (i.e. no-picture condition). Situation-model construction was measured using both process- and product-oriented measures. Eye-tracking data indicated online resource allocation to the different levels of text representation: surface, textbase, and situation model. Literal text questions and inference questions were used as an offline indication of textbase and situation-model processing, respectively. The results showed that a picture presented before reading led to a redistribution of processing resources during reading, evidenced by a shift from textbase to situation-model processing. This attentional shift did not translate into higher comprehension scores. The results were interpreted in line with multimedia learning theories suggesting pictures can serve as a mental scaffold for situation-model construction.     

The contribution of phonological processing skills to reading comprehension in grades one and three.

Abstract

During the last decade, the importance of the relationship between phonological processing skills to reading performance has been highlighted. The aim of this study was to examine differences between above average and below average readers (determined by a reading comprehension test) on phonological processing skills at grade one and at grade three. There were 35 grade one, and 34 grade three students from two primary schools. Data from phonemic awareness and phonological awareness tests were subjected to t‐tests. The below average readers in both grade one and three had fewer phonological processing skills than the above average readers. The importance of students’ cognitive functioning to reading comprehension appeared more important at the grade one level than at the grade three level. The study indicated that below average readers, particularly at grade one, would benefit from explicit teaching in both phonemic and phonological awareness skills.     

A meta-analytic review of the effect of adjunct pictures on reading comprehension

Overall findings of this meta-analysis reveal small effects of adjunct pictures on reading comprehension. No advantage was found when traditional vs. nontraditional text settings were compared. Generally small effects were found for nontraditional text settings at both public school and university levels. On the other hand, a large effect was noted for university-level subjects in traditional text settings. Additionally, line drawings seem to facilitate comprehension more than do shaded drawings or photographs, and color pictures seem to have a greater effect than black and white pictures. Finally, only a slight difference between immediate vs. posttests was found.     

Beyond breadth: the contributions of vocabulary depth to reading comprehension among skilled readers

This study investigated the relationships among vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, reading comprehension, and reading rate among college‐aged students. While the relationships of some of these variables have been explored in previous research, the current study's focus on the role of vocabulary depth on the literacy measures within a sample of skilled readers is new and produced several interesting findings. First, consistent with the hypotheses, both vocabulary breadth and depth were significantly correlated with reading comprehension and reading rate. Second, while both types of vocabulary knowledge explained unique variance in reading comprehension, only vocabulary breadth explained unique variance in reading rate. Finally, although vocabulary breadth was significantly correlated with both of the vocabulary depth measures, the two depth measures were not significantly correlated with each other. This work implies that a strong depth of vocabulary affects reading comprehension, in addition to the well‐established relationship between vocabulary breadth and comprehension.     

The role of reading comprehension in word meaning acquisition during reading

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of reading comprehension on the acquisition of word meanings from context and to compare it to the effects of local context characteristics, such as proximity and directness of context clues. The study also examined the effects of prior topic and enabling concept knowledge. Sixth-grade students were pretested on their knowledge of target vocabulary from two expository passages appropriate for their grade and reading level. The students were then familiarized with selected main concepts from one passage and, subsequently, read both experimental passages. Half of the target words appeared in an informative context, while the rest appeared in an less-informative context. A comprehension test and a vocabulary posttest followed the reading of each passage. Hierarchical Regression analyses indicated that reading comprehension level and prior main concept knowledge facilitated vocabulary learning from context. In comparison, the effect of presence or absence of informative context clues was not significant. These findings, underline the need for a reconceptualization of context to take into account the mental representation that readers construct in addition to the printed text that surrounds an unfamiliar word.     

The role of question type and reading ability in reading comprehension

Performance on a standardized reading comprehension test reflects the number of correct answers readers select from a list of alternate choices, but fails to provide information about how readers cope with the various cognitive demands of the task. The aim of this study was to determine whether three groups of readers: normally achieving (NA), poor comprehenders (CD), with no decoding disability, and reading disabled (RD), poor comprehenders with poor decoding skills, differed in their ability to cope with reading comprehension task demands. Three task variables reflected in the question-answer relations that appear on standardized reading comprehension tests were identified.Passage Independent (PI) question can be answered with reasonable accuracy based on the reader's prior knowledge of the passage content.Inference (INFER) questions required the reader to generate an inference at the local or global test level.Locating (LOCAT) questions require the reader to match the correct answer choice to a detail explicitly stated in the text either verbatim or in paraphrase form. The relations among reader characteristics, cognitive task factors and reading comprehension test scores were analyzed using a structural relations equation with LISREL. It was found that the three reading groups differed with respect to the underlying relationship between their performance on specific question-answer types and their standardized reading comprehension score. For the NA group, a high score on PI was likely to be accompanied by a low score on INFER, whereas in the CD and RD groups, PI and INFER are positively related. The finding of a negative relationship between background knowledge and inference task factors for normally achieving readers suggests that even normal readers may have comprehension difficulties that go undetected on the basis of a standardized scores. This study indicates that current comprehension assessments may not be adequate for assessing specific reading difficulties and that more precise diagnostic tools are needed.     

Lexical-semantic processing and reading: relations between semantic priming,visual word recognition and reading comprehension

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 comprehension task. Lexical-semantic processing was evaluated with a semantic priming experiment. Correlations were conducted in order to examine the relations between semantic priming effects (SPEs) and performance in reading tasks. Regression analyses were performed to test the hypothesis that word reading mediates the relation between semantic priming and reading comprehension. The results showed that SPEs correlated with both word reading and reading comprehension measures. Additionally, partial mediation by word reading was found for the prediction of reading comprehension by SPEs. The results are discussed in the context of reading models and other studies relating semantic priming and reading measures.