Reading/Literacy – For the Lower Orders?

The first part of this account of struggles over literacy begins with the later middle ages and follows issues in the construction of a literacy addressed to the lower orders through to the seventeenth century. After the suppression of the Lollard Bible had left the English peasantry without that spur to literacy, the sixteenth-century formation of Renaissance grammar schools, with their classical education based on rhetoric, created a new cultural and linguistic gap from the lower orders. Only the most original English writers, steeped in this classical tradition, managed occasionally to bridge the gap. But after 1650, Hobbes led the way in avoiding figurative language, at least for philosophical and scientific discussion, and Lucy Hutchinson, from a dissenting family, showed in her autobiography how a fondness for the servants’ stories could open the way to a colloquial idiom.     

Reading the Multimodal Ologies: New Literacy Challenges or Old Wine in New Bottles?

In this article, the Ologies series of books are interrogated with a focus on whether they present new challenges for the reader or merely require previously acquired skills. The multimodal texts are unusual in that they combine non-fiction with fantasy while including tactile elements such as flaps, pull-outs and items to stroke. Ways of approaching multimodal texts are discussed with reference to the work of Kress, van Leeuwen and Moss. Finally, reference is made to Mackey’s research on multimodal platforms, applying her terms ‘playing the text’, the notion of ‘performance’ and ‘engaging in the rules of the game’. The conclusion leaves the question posed in the title open and suggests further research into actual readers will reveal more.     

Reading? ... pah! (I got it!). Innovative Reading Technique For Successful Deaf Readers

A reading program utilizing five components--a shortcut to phonemic awareness, Adapted Dolch words, Bridge lists and the Bridging process, reading comprehension, and American Sign Language development/language experience stories--was administered to 48 elementary school students at a residential school for the deaf. Data analyses reveal dramatic gains in students' reading levels and academic behavior, teachers' growth in reflective sign skills, and students' and teachers' overall growth in ASL skills, resulting in a more organized, consistent approach to linguistic input and usage.     

Does the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Next Assessment Take a “Simple View” of Reading?

This study involved examination of the validity evidence of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills–Next Edition (DIBELS Next) for a sample of 85 third- and fifth-grade students, in reference to the “simple view” of reading. Tests administered included DIBELS Next, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–IV (PPVT–IV), Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE), and the New York State English Language Arts (NYSELA) test. DIBELS Next Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) and Daze scores were significantly correlated with GRADE and NYSELA scores. Daze scores also explained significant variance in GRADE scores beyond ORF only at third grade and not NYSELA scores at either grade. PPVT–IV scores explained significant variance in GRADE scores beyond ORF at both grades but only NYSELA at third grade. GRADE Vocabulary explained variance in both measures of comprehension and at both grade levels. Research and educational implications of these findings are discussed.     

What is Reading? A Literacy Interview with a Five and a Half Year Old

This article presents an analysis of a transcribed video recording of a child being interviewed concerning the nature of reading and her proposed strategies for improvement. Some interesting and amusing answers are given.     

Notes For The Teacher On Developing Fluency In Reading

In this article I‘m pointing out some notes on developing fluency in reading you wili need to remember, no matter what kind of class you nave. The notes should be considered and conducted for the purpose of improving students reading comprehension. The following notes are offered to the teacher in the hopes that they will stimulate discussion and thinking about this field of language learning that is of getting importance to the advancing student.     

Reading achievement and reading self-concept – Testing the reciprocal effects model

Although there is a vast amount of research on reading motivation, evidence for bidirectional associations between reading self-concept and reading achievement is still missing, whereas there is compelling empirical evidence that suggests reciprocal effects between academic self-concept and achievement in other domains. This paper aimed to rigorously test reciprocal effects between reading self-concept and reading achievement within a longitudinal design comprising four waves of data collection. Drawing on a sample of N = 1508 secondary school students, results of structural equation modeling yielded support for reciprocal effects between reading self-concept and reading achievement. Strong support was found for the skill-development hypothesis, i.e. achievement predicting self-concept. Moreover, the self-enhancement hypothesis (self-concept predicting achievement) was corroborated in early years of secondary school. Thus, to best support poor readers, reading skills should perhaps be fostered by boosting the reading skill itself and reading self-concept, the latter particularly at the beginning of secondary school.     

Reading in the field

Maria.a 14-year-old school。girl、likes reading outside in thefield。Last Sunday,the sun shonebrightly,the sky was clean andclear and the wind was blowing     

How Simple is the Simple View of Reading?

According to the Simple View of Reading, reading ability can be divided into decoding and language comprehension. In the present study, decoding and comprehension's contribution to reading ability was studied both in children with reading difficulties and in children with typical reading ability. Decoding and comprehension was further divided into sub-components, and the contribution from non-verbal ability and general processing speed was also studied. The results demonstrated that decoding made the largest contribution to reading ability for children with reading difficulties, while language comprehension contributed the most for children with typical reading ability. The contribution of non-verbal ability was not significant, and general processing speed only made a significant contribution to decoding for typical children. The two factors in the Simple View of Reading, decoding and comprehension, together explained less of the variance in reading ability for children with reading difficulties than for children with typical reading ability.     

Is the Simple View of Reading too Simple?

According to the Simple View of Reading (SVR), reading comprehension is the product of word decoding ability and linguistic comprehension (R = D × C). However, there is also evidence showing that an additive model (R = D + C) explains just as much or even more of the variance in reading comprehension than the product model. To further evaluate these models, 467 Norwegian students in grade 6 were administered measures of reading comprehension, decoding ability, listening comprehension, phonemic awareness, and rapid digit naming. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the explanatory power of each model, in addition to the influence of phonemic awareness and rapid naming. The preliminary hierarchical regression analyses were replicated among Swedish students. According to the present study, the additive model explained more of the variance in reading comprehension than the product model, and only rapid naming contributed significantly to explain variance in reading comprehension, above and beyond that explained by the SVR.     

Investigating the use of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test results

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a nationwide testing program for literacy and numeracy in Australia. Several studies explored and used NAPLAN numeracy test results as a source of valuable data and a potential means to improve education. This paper presents a systematic literature review to investigate the use of NAPLAN numeracy test results in those peer-reviewed articles in relation to the purposes of NAPLAN results mentioned by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). Findings showed a variety of uses of the NAPLAN numeracy test results in these studies. Most of the studies used the test results to map student progress and identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching. A significant number of studies used the NAPLAN numeracy test results that differ from the purposes mentioned by ACARA. The review concluded that there is currently insufficient use which reflects the purpose of NAPLAN test results.     

Some Remarks on Reading and the Teaching of Reading

Reading is one of the four important skills in English as a secoind or foreign language. However, many teachers often focus attention on grammatical or lexical issues like tenses, sentence structures or verbal idioms, To students reading is the main reason why they learn English. Through reading, our range of kowledge can be broadly widened. However, for a long time, the importance of the teaching of extensive reading has been neglected. This paper aims to give an analysis and my own empirical experience of the teaching of extensive reading. The first part is about the complex nature of reading, the second part dealing with some methods which I have applied in the teaching of reading.     

Curricula For Foreigners?

The students in the Federal Republic from the developing countries receive an education useful to them after their return home, or does it do them more harm? The Director of the Academic Foreign Office of the Technical University of Berlin replies to Uwe Bork's critical observations.     

Does Performance in Digital Reading Relate to Computer Game Playing? A Study of Factor Structure and Gender Patterns in 15-Year-Olds' Reading Literacy Performance

Data from a Swedish PISA-sample were used (1) to identify a digital reading factor, (2) to investigate gender differences in this factor (if found), and (3) to explore how computer game playing might relate to digital reading performance and gender. The analyses were conducted with structural equation modeling techniques. In addition to an overall reading factor, the hypothesized digital reading factor was identified. When the overall reading performance was taken into account, a relative difference in favor of the boys for digital reading was indicated. This effect was mediated by a game-playing factor comprising the amount of time spent on playing computer games. Thus, the boys' better performance in digital reading was explained by the computer game-playing factor.     

Preschoolers’ Emergent Literacy Skills: The Mediating Role of Maternal Reading Beliefs

Research Findings: The purpose of this paper is to explore the association between maternal reading beliefs and children's emergent literacy outcomes in light of maternal education. Furthermore, I consider whether maternal reading beliefs may mediate the association between maternal education level and children's print knowledge and phonological awareness while classroom quality, maternal literacy practices, gender, and ethnicity are controlled. Data were collected from a socioeconomically diverse population of 92 mothers and their preschool children from 2 demographically different counties in a Mid-Atlantic state. Correlations among all measures were moderate and positive, with higher levels of maternal education associated with higher scores on a maternal beliefs measure and higher child scores on a print knowledge and phonological awareness measure. Maternal reading beliefs mediated the effects of maternal education level on children's print knowledge and phonological awareness. This pathway remained in the presence of the 4 covariates for print knowledge only. Practice or Policy: These findings have important implications for practitioners as they work to involve parents in students’ literacy development by creating parent training programs that not only integrate but also highlight and even shape maternal reading beliefs.     

Reading Comprehension:What Will the Snakehead Bring to the Potomac River?

The toothy A sian fish—snakeheads arefar from the river’s only invaders. O ver tim ethe Potom ac has been altered by hum an.There are A sian clam s and thickets of grassoriginally from Southeast A sia. Largem outhbass(黑鲈) and channel catfish(鲶 鱼), trans鄄planted from other parts of the U nited States,share the Potom ac w ith carp(鲤 鱼) native toA sia.Feral goldfish have been spotted—biggerand brow ner than usual after being liberatedfrom their fishbowls. A nd scientists estim ateth…     

Anticipation or Trepidation? Teachers’ Views on the Literacy Hour

This paper considers the criticisms made in the press of the National Literacy Strategy prior to its implementation and compares these to comments made by teachers in a questionnaire distributed in the summer term of 1998. These showed that teachers had both positive and negative views about the NLS, that these views were, on the whole, more positive than we had expected and did not necessarily reflect views as put forward in the press.     

Facing the ”Literacy” Issue:

No abstract available for this article.