Parental involvement in reading remediation with young children

In an era of increasing educational need and decreasing resources, school psychologists must be aware of alternatives to school-based learning. This article reviews research on the effectiveness of parental involvement in improving elementary school-aged children's reading skills. Studies have shown that parents can contribute to the remediation and maintenance of children's reading ability, but that parents want and need training in specific methods of reading with their children. Direct Instruction and Paired Reading are presented as viable methods to teach parents of poor readers. The authors issue a call for further research comparing various home reading methods. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Dyslexia and oral reading errors

Thomson was the first of very few researchers to have studied oral reading errors as a means of addressing the question: Are dyslexic readers different to other readers? Using the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability and Goodman's taxonomy of oral reading errors, Thomson concluded that dyslexic readers are different, but he found that they do not resemble beginning readers. Thomson's study and his use of miscue analysis is re‐evaluated, both in relation to the educational and political climate of the time – which was hostile to the concept of dyslexia – and in the light of research and social developments since then. The study of oral reading still has value today, both for the teacher and the researcher, provided its limitations as a technique are fully appreciated.     

Gender ratios for reading disability: Are there really more boys than girls who are low-progress readers?

Extensive research over the past decade has indicated that there are more boys than girls who are struggling readers, but the degree to which there are more boys remains a point of contention. The focus of this article is to review the various definitions of reading disability, to examine how these different definitions translate into different methods of identifying reading disability and to determine the effects on observed gender ratios for reading disability. The most frequently used methods of identifying reading disability are discrepancy formulae, Response-To-Intervention (RTI) and low achievement methods. Gender ratios clearly fluctuate among, and even within, these methods. Inconsistencies in reported gender ratios of reading disability are a result of inconsistencies in the definition and measurement of reading disability, sampling issues and the overall distributions of reading scores for boys and girls. Future research might consider reporting gender ratios for reading disability based on consistent measures of reading performance in population samples, using consistent cut off points, over a significant period of time.     

阅读文本研究述评

文章综述了20世纪以来西方研究者关于阅读文本研究的发展脉络。行为主义者将阅读研究限制在可观察和可测量的行为方面,认知科学将阅读文本研究的关注点转向附设问题、叙述文和说明文的文本结构等关于文本的本质的研究以及与文本结构有关的文本图式的研究,社会建构主义关注的是社会情境以及个体深入社会情境对于文本理解所起的作用,近年来研究者在关于阅读兴趣的研究中,关注文本的组织特征对于促进学生投入阅读的影响,展开了对文本组织特征的研究。     

Do Differences in Phonological Processing Performance Predict Gains Made by Older Low-progress Readers Following Intensive Literacy Intervention?

The research study examined the gains in single word recognition and oral reading fluency made by a group of low-progress readers following an intensive, systematic skills based reading programme (MULTILIT). Performance on the Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB) was used to identify 'dyslexic' students (with poor phonological awareness) from 'garden-variety' low-progress readers. It was hypothesised that the identified group of 'dyslexic' students ( N = 16) would make smaller gains in reading outcomes compared to the group of 'garden-variety' low-progress readers ( N = 6). The results did not support the hypothesis since both groups of low-progress readers made substantial gains on both reading measures. Moreover, PhAB sub test scores did not predict size of gains. The results provide evidence for the usefulness of intensive literacy remediation to increase the reading gains of disabled readers despite their status (dyslexic or garden-variety) as a low-progress reader and lend support to those researchers who advocate a non-categorical approach to addressing reading disability. There is tentative evidence to suggest that the inclusion of a short phonological awareness training component for nine students may have impacted favourably on the reading outcomes of the 'dyslexic' group of low-progress readers.     

Examining Reading Development and Reading Disability in English Language Learners: Potential Contributions from Functional Neuroimaging

Neuroimaging studies have suggested that across different written languages, skilled reading behavior is supported by similar, largely left hemisphere (LH), networks. In addition, recent studies of reading disability (RD) in monolingual readers, conducted in several languages, suggest a common neurobiological signature for this syndrome (disruption of LH posterior regions that support fluent reading). Thus, at the neurobiological level of analysis, reading and its disorders appear to be more similar than dissimilar across languages. In this article, we consider the neurobiology of reading development and RD in English language learners (ELL). There is some evidence suggesting that fluent bilingual readers tend to engage primarily overlapping circuits for both L1 and L2. There is, however, a paucity of neurobiological research on both reading development and RD in this population. Using the existing research on RD as a starting point, we consider in this article how developmental neuroimaging techniques might be applied to (1) help identify RD readers in the ELL populations, and (2) provide neurobiological outcome measures to help evaluate the efficacy of different approaches to the teaching of reading in English.     

The effects of dyad reading and text difficulty on third-graders’ reading achievement

This study replicated, with modifications, previous research of dyad reading using texts at various levels of difficulty (Morgan, 1997). The current project measured the effects of using above–grade-level texts on reading achievement and sought to determine the influences of dyad reading on both lead and assisted readers. Results indicate that weaker readers, using texts at two, three, and four grade levels above their instructional levels with the assistance of lead readers, outscored both proficient and less proficient students in the control group across multiple measures of reading achievement. However, the gains made by assisted readers were not significantly different relative to the various text levels. When all assessments were considered, assisted readers reading texts two grade levels above their instructional levels showed the most robust gains in oral reading fluency and comprehension. Lead readers also benefited from dyad reading and continued their respective reading developmental trajectories across measures.     

Reading Within Families: Taking a Historical Perspective

This article draws on a study which was designed to extend understanding of habitual and committed adolescent readers. The study brought together four theoretical perspectives – the social, cultural, spatial and historical – as a way of re-imagining the field of reading. The historical perspective is the one foregrounded here, offering views of reading as a long-term, intergenerational process, in this instance constructed through setting adults’ comments about reading alongside those of their children or grandchildren. Analysis of data from two of the research methods employed in the study – semi-structured small-group interviews and interviews conducted by the students themselves with a parent or grandparent – suggests that there is a strong argument to be made for attending more closely to adolescent readers from a historical perspective, as well as from social, cultural and spatial perspectives, in order to understand better some of their subtle characteristics as they shift over time rather than as they appear when viewed merely in the here-and-now.     

The importance of phonological processing skills for older low‐progress readers

The important role of phonological awareness in learning to read has become widely accepted. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of phonological processing skills when attempting to assist older low‐progress readers to develop literacy skills. While researchers generally agree that the key variables in reading acquisition (letter sound knowledge and phonological awareness) influence a student’s ability to understand and implement the alphabetic principle, it is still unresolved, however, whether or not the absence of these variables is sufficient to categorise a student as dyslexic. Furthermore it is unclear as to whether or not the research on beginning reading practices should inform the development of instructional programs for older low‐progress readers. Despite a move away from traditional discrepancy criteria towards a more phonologically based definition of reading disability, the current researchers conclude that the adoption of a non‐categorical approach to reading disability is the most helpful for remediation practices for older low‐progress readers. This contrasts with the current pursuit of some researchers to diagnose a set of underlying causes through the development of phonological testing batteries. It is concluded that reading disability is best understood by a continuum model, where the difficulties in reading are influenced by two major causal factors; phonological ability and quality of literacy learning environment.     

基于心理差异的高校图书馆读者服务

对高校图书馆不同年龄段的读者的阅读心理进行了分析、探讨,提出了针对不同读者的心理如何做好图书馆服务工作.     

Raising Boys’ Attainment in Reading: some principles for intervention

This article uses research data to suggest a new basis for understanding gender differences in girls’ and boys’ achievements in reading. It argues that how well children can read is always a prime issue in school settings. But boys and girls react differently to the judgements made about their proficiency as readers, judgements which are often rendered highly visible in the classroom. This in turn has far more impact on their respective progress in reading than the inclusion of their preferred reading materials on the school reading curriculum; or the presence or absence of gender‐specific role models provided by adult readers. The article argues that raising levels of attainment across the board depends on building an active reading culture in the classroom which can encompass the broadest range of resources and opportunities for their use. The structure of the literacy hour and the emphasis on work encompassing word, sentence and text levels for all pupils provides new opportunities to put this into place.     

Reconstructing Readability: Recent Developments and Recommendations in the Analysis of Text Difficulty

Largely due to technological advances, methods for analyzing readability have increased significantly in recent years. While past researchers designed hundreds of formulas to estimate the difficulty of texts for readers, controversy has surrounded their use for decades, with criticism stemming largely from their application in creating new texts as well as their utilization of surface-level indicators as proxies for complex cognitive processes that take place when reading a text. This review focuses on examining developments in the field of readability during the past two decades with the goal of informing both current and future research and providing recommendations for present use. The fields of education, linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, discourse processing, and computer science have all made recent strides in developing new methods for predicting the difficulty of texts for various populations. However, there is a need for further development of these methods if they are to become widely available.     

中国英语学习者叙述性语篇理解中的预期推理研究

本文以不同英语水平的中国英语学习者为研究对象, 采用命名实验和关键句阅读实验的在线研究方法, 着重考察了语篇因果制约度和读者的二语水平对语篇理解中预期推理的激活和编码的影响。 研究结果表明：1)在二语语篇阅读过程中, 语篇的因果制约度影响预期推理的即时激活, 当语篇因果制约度高时, 读者易做出预期推理;2) 在二语语篇阅读过程中, 预期推理概念的激活受读者语言水平的影响, 高级英语水平 读者能够在较低水平上即时激活预期推理概念, 而中级语言水平读者预期推理概念不能即时激活;3) 对于高 级英语水平读者 ,预期推理能够在激活后保存于读者工作记忆并编码于语篇短时记忆表征, 但这种编码只是 一种部分编码 。     

The appropriateness of the NC state-mandated reading competency test for deaf students as a criterion for high school graduation

Deaf students consistently score lower on standardized measures of reading comprehension than their hearing peers. Most of the studies that have been conducted to explain this phenomenon have focused on variables within the reader, and important differences have been found between deaf and hearing readers. More recently, in the face of increasingly high-stakes consequences, researchers are looking "outside" the reader, at the tests themselves, to determine whether there are fairness issues for special populations, such as deaf students. The study reported here, the first of its kind with deaf students, examines the North Carolina (NC) reading comprehension test. The study employs the same method used originally by NC to determine its appropriateness of the test for the general population of NC students. The experts in this article, like those in the original construction of the NC test, are familiar with the content of the reading curriculum in NC; however, the raters in this article bring a special perspective related to teaching and testing reading of students who are deaf. Findings from this study raise questions about the appropriateness of the NC reading test for deaf students. Implications for future research and instructional practice are discussed.     

解读作品:读者之维度——接受美学对古代文学作品阅读的启示

接受美学自20世纪60年代在德国兴起,一经问世就激起了巨大的理论反响。它的读者中心论不仅对创作产生了影响,对阅读古代文学作品也不无启示作用。本文认为从读者这一维度出发,能避免古代文学争论中使众多说法趋于一致的企图,并从伊瑟尔的意义空白论和姚斯的期待视野理论两方面出发,探析了同一问题不同理解的可能性与必然性,同时为读者提供几种合理的阅读方式。     

From oral to written language: a developmental and interventional perspective

The article discusses relations between early oral language abilities and reading and writing development as reflected in longitudinal research. The observation that poor reading is less accurately predicted than superior reading is documented, and developmental characteristics of poor readers and superior readers, respectively, are described. The importance of early intervention is emphasized both by reference to experimental research and by a documented high consistency between reading at grades 2–3 and reading in adolescence.     

Higher-Order Comprehension Processes in Struggling Readers: A Perspective for Research and Intervention

Many children struggle to learn to read, and these difficulties can persist well into adulthood. To address this problem, researchers have investigated the processes that underlie reading. An informative body of work has thus identified basic skills (e.g., decoding, vocabulary knowledge) as necessary for successful reading. Researchers also have begun to examine comprehension skills and their contributions to the reading process. In this article we describe research from the cognitive sciences on the processes that underlie higher-order, coherence-oriented comprehension to provide an empirically and theoretically driven perspective for investigating struggling readers' difficulties. We show that this perspective is particularly beneficial in the development and assessment of instructional approaches by relating it to existing, effective interventions. Finally, we demonstrate how our own research activities have derived from this perspective and how preliminary findings extend our understanding of readers' difficulties. This work seeks to address existing challenges in the field of reading comprehension while also suggesting new ways of investigating the plight of struggling readers.     

Eye-movement patterns and reader characteristics of students with good and poor performance when reading scientific text with diagrams

This study investigated the cognitive processes and reader characteristics of sixth graders who had good and poor performance when reading scientific text with diagrams. We first measured the reading ability and reading self-efficacy of sixth-grade participants, and then recorded their eye movements while they were reading an illustrated scientific text and scored their answers to content-related questions. Finally, the participants evaluated the difficulty of the article, the attractiveness of the content and diagram, and their learning performance. The participants were then classified into groups based on how many correct responses they gave to questions related to reading. The results showed that readers with good performance had better character recognition ability and reading self-efficacy, were more attracted to the diagrams, and had higher self-evaluated learning levels than the readers with poor performance did. Eye-movement data indicated that readers with good performance spent significantly more reading time on the whole article, the text section, and the diagram section than the readers with poor performance did. Interestingly, readers with good performance had significantly longer mean fixation duration on the diagrams than readers with poor performance did; further, readers with good performance made more saccades between the text and the diagrams. Additionally, sequential analysis of eye movements showed that readers with good performance preferred to observe the diagram rather than the text after reading the title, but this tendency was not present in readers with poor performance. In sum, using eye-tracking technology and several reading tests and questionnaires, we found that various cognitive aspects (reading strategy, diagram utilization) and affective aspects (reading self-efficacy, article likeness, diagram attraction, and self-evaluation of learning) affected sixth graders’ reading performance in this study.