The reading rate and comprehension of adults with impaired reading skills or visual discomfort

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of impaired reading skills and visual discomfort on the reading rate and comprehension of university students when reading texts presented at a high school (Grade 9) or university (Grade 12) level of difficulty. Groups included impaired readers (n=18) and normal readers with (n=13) or without visual discomfort (n=19). Regardless of text difficulty the impaired reader group had a significantly slower reading rate and poorer comprehension than the normal reader control group. However, when reading rate and comprehension were compared at the assessed reading level of each group, no group differences were found. The normal reading visual discomfort group had poorer reading comprehension than other normal readers with presentation of university‐level text only. It was concluded that poor word decoding skills may exacerbate comprehension difficulties in impaired readers. In contrast, the comprehension difficulties found for normal readers with visual discomfort occurred because of the somatic and perceptual difficulties induced with exposure to the repetitive striped patterns found on text pages. The types of strategy needed to increase the reading efficiency and produce greater academic success in university students with impaired reader skills or visual discomfort are discussed.     

A Comparison of Reader Strategies on Two Versions of A Newspaper Editorial

Reading is seen as a communication process, a meaningful interaction between the reader and his reading text. A number of factors are known to affect this interaction. One prominent factor is the type of text being read. That is, reader strategies may vary in relation to text characteristics. This study used miscue analysis to find out patterns of reader strategies on two types of texts: a syntactically complex and high vocabulary loaded text and a syntactically simple and low vocabulary loaded text. To this end, cloze tests of passages derived from two versions of a newspaper editorial completed by twenty undergraduate education students from the University of Jos were analysed. The results indicated that the readers of the difficult text had less access to semantic and syntactic cues than the readers of the simplified text. Readers for whom the difficult text was on frustration level made less use of context than did readers for whom the same text was on instructional level. There was very little difference in quality of miscues by readers of the simplified text reading on independent level as compared with those reading the same text on instructional level. Readers who performed on instructional level on the difficult passage used similar reading strategies to those who performed on instructional level on the simplified passage. The implications of the findings for reading instruction were discussed.     

Reading Errors among Skilled and Unskilled Adult Readers

Abstract

Understanding adult reading behavior would contribute much to the development of materials and instructional methods. This research used the cloze procedure to compare the types of errors made by skilled and unskilled adult readers with materials at varying levels of difficulty. Both groups of readers made more grammatically unacceptable responses as materials became more difficult, and the effect was stronger for unskilled readers. These findings suggest that the structure of language may have an impact on reading difficulty, and it is suggested that beginning reading materials be drawn from the learner's own language in order to simplify the process of learning to read.     

Behaviour problems and their relationship to reading difficulty

An investigation into the relationship between reading difficulty and maladjustment indicated that a significantly greater number of backward readers than normal readers were antisocial. The higher incidence of maladjustment was found in those backward readers with perceptual motor problems. The backward readers were also significantly more restless and uncontrolled in their behaviour. The relationship of restless hyperactive behaviour with perceptual motor difficulties is associated with an inability by the backward reader to ignore distracting stimuli and focus upon relevant perceptual information. As the restless hyperactive behaviour was present from an early age but the antisocial behaviour did not develop until he or she was experiencing difficulty with reading, it is probable that the backward reader's poor concentration and impulsive behaviour contribute both to the reading difficulty and to the development of antisocial tendencies.     

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.     

Reading and listening at three school stages: cloze tests and their response analysis

This paper reports the results of cloze tests in the reading and listening modes together with a computer analysis of responses to the tests. The subjects were groups of Scottish school children at the ages of 8-9, 11-12 and 13–14 years sampled over the whole country as part of a national survey of English language; the cloze tests were only a small part of the whole testing programme which also contained three other major reading tests. Approximately 400 subjects took cloze tests in each mode at each age. The test material was the same throughout for all stages tested. Two tests, each containing one narrative and one expository text were used. The mode of presentation did not significantly affect the types of cloze responses offered nor the total scores of the tests at any stage. However, results indicated better performance for older subjects when they read, and for the youngest group when they listened to, expository though not narrative passages. The comparisons of the results for the three different school stages showed continuing interdependence of reading and listening ability through the ages tested. The different cloze response patterns for the two types of text (in either mode) as well as the only moderate correlation between the texts, indicated that success in comprehending narratives may not necessarily transfer to comprehending information.     

The achievement ideology of Reading Wonders: a critical content analysis of success and failure in a core reading programme

In the early 1960s, researchers began to conduct content analyses of core reading programmes/basal readers. Although these researchers often adopted a critical perspective, and examined the ideological underpinnings of the texts, they failed to make an explicit connection between ideologies and reader access to the text. The study described here is a critical content analysis of texts contained within the core reading programme Reading Wonders. It addresses these research questions: What vision of success and failure is exemplified by selections in the fourth-grade Reading Wonders textbook?—and—To what extent are selections in this programme accessible to readers? Mobilizing MacLeod’s notion of achievement ideology, the study explores the contrast between the programme’s emphasis on individual success and the inaccessibility of the selections included in it. The analysis demonstrates that the achievement ideology is the foundation for most of the selections. It also shows that the complexity and unengaging quality of the basal reader interferes with the reader’s ability to access the included texts. I argue the Reading Wonders textbook serves to convince readers that personal and professional success is the norm in contemporary society, while failing to allow them to construct more than a surface-level meaning of the included selections.     

Does Text Complexity Matter in the Elementary Grades? A Research Synthesis of Text Difficulty and Elementary Students’ Reading Fluency and Comprehension

Prompted by the advent of new standards for increased text complexity in elementary classrooms in the USA, the current integrative review investigates the relationships between the level of text difficulty and elementary students’ reading fluency and reading comprehension. After application of content and methodological criteria, a total of 26 research studies were reviewed. Characteristics of the reviewed studies are reported including the different conceptualizations of text, reader, and task interactions. Regarding the relationships between text difficulty and reading fluency and comprehension, for students’ reading fluency, on average, increased text difficulty level was related to decreased reading fluency, with a small number of exceptions. For comprehension, on average, text difficulty level was negatively related to reading comprehension, although a few studies found no relationship. Text difficulty was widely conceptualized across studies and included characteristics particular to texts as well as relationships between readers and texts. Implications for theory, policy, curriculum, and instruction are discussed.     

Comparison of Peer Tutored Remedial Reading Using the Pause,Prompt and Praise Procedure with an Individualised Tape‐assisted Reading Programme

In this study ten 9‐ to 11‐year‐old, low progress readers were randomly assigned to receive assistance through one of two remedial reading programmes, i.e. peer tutoring using Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures or an individualised tape‐assisted reading programme (TARP). An educational psychologist trained primary teachers to implement and monitor both programmes. Results of the eight‐week programme indicated substantial gains for readers on both programmes with gains being maintained and even increased at follow‐up. While reading gains for tutees on the peer tutoring programme were similar to those for readers on TARP, the greatest gains were made by peer tutors.     

Reading program—Remedial,integrated, and innovative

An innovative integrated remedial reading program has been developed based on recent research findings. My longitudinal studies have revealed that poor reading compounds itself over the years. The majority of children with reading disabilities currently remain in regular classrooms with varying techniques being used depending upon individual school directives and current educational theory. Despite current remedial techniques, the poorer reader tends to remain so throughout the school years. Innovative techniques must be developed in the hope of altering this pattern. This paper presents one alternative strategy which can be used to upgrade reading skills and break the cycle of reading failure. The Reading Assistance Tutorial Pack (R.A.T. Pack) is a carefully sequenced series of activities that enables the learner to experience the motivating and reinforcing properties of success through all stages of phonetic and reading skills development. It is a systematic, multidisciplinary remedial reading program based on sound behavior, psycholinguistic and cognitive theories of learning—incorporating listening, speaking, seeing, writing, thinking, and comprehension skills. The R.A.T. Pack demands a high percentage of on-task behavior and trains phonological processing strategies. Functional language use is promoted through enjoyable activities involving sentence construction, cloze passages, puzzles, games, and other creative manipulations of the surface features of languages. The program has proven successful in schools, homes, and clinics.     

The monitoring and responding behaviours of proficient fourth grade readers to miscues on a complex scientific text

The monitoring of meaning and the correction of miscues that fail to make sense are a hallmark of a proficient reader. Much of the research, however, has focused on the reading of fictional, narrative texts. In contrast, this research examines the monitoring and response behaviours of 35 proficient fourth grade readers (nine and 10 years of age) to their miscues on a complex, scientific text. Specifically, reader reactions to their miscues that did and did not disrupt meaning were analysed. Regardless of their impact on meaning, the majority of miscues were ignored. Readers failed to correct, failed to attempt to correct, the majority of their meaning disrupting miscues. This behaviour may be due to an emphasis on reading rate in many classrooms, a failure to explicitly teach older students monitoring and correcting strategies, and the complexity of the text.     

Genre effects on higher education students' text reading for understanding

This study provides empirical support for the proposalthat student learning in higher education is affectednot only by prior subject knowledge and by approachesto learning but also by ability to deal with textgenre. It first explores how 22 higher degreestudents on a course in education understood selectedtext extracts from different genres when reading attheir own pace under conditions expected to promotethorough understanding. After reading a text eachstudent wrote answers to a set of questions abouttheir reading and understanding of the text. Intape-recorded discussion with another reader of thesame text they then looked for similarities anddifferences between their responses. They laterreported on their feelings about the task and text. Understandings were found to vary between readers ofthe same text, difference being largely attributed bythe students to difficulty with the language andstructure of the texts in terms which pointed to thegenre. Considerable anxiety about difficulty anddifference in understanding was partly allayed throughdiscussion, but understanding was not much furthered. Most students felt that more work on the texts wouldbe fruitful.In a second part of the study a further 39 studentsfrom a new intake to the same course were asked abouttext types in their recommended and actual coursereading. The types they reported as most frequentlyrecommended were also felt to be the most difficultfor reasons to do with text genre. They were alsothose from which the earlier text extracts had beendrawn. Theoretical and practical issues arediscussed.     

A Systematic Approach to Teaching Reading and Spelling to a Nine‐year‐old Boy with Severely Impaired Literacy Skills

Abstract An attempt was made to develop reading and spelling skills in a nine year‐old boy who was a severe underachiever in both areas, over an 18 month treatment period. A structured and systematic approach was used with provision of incentives via token reinforcement which could be exchanged for back‐up reinforcers of the child's choice. The remedial reading programme was successful in developing systematic reading strategies which were applied to the decoding of new words. These gains generalised outside the tutoring situation and were reflected in performance on a standardised test of reading. The spelling programme was less successful although the goal of lessening the disparity between spelling age and chronological age was achieved. Follow‐up at 14 months indicated continued gains although the rate of progress was considerably slower following the cessation of regular remedial teaching particularly in the area of spelling. Implications for the development of future remedial programmes are discussed.     

Toward a resolution of inconsistencies in the phonological deficit theory of reading disorders: phonological reading difficulties are more severe in high-IQ poor readers

This study examined whether high- and low-IQ poor readers differed in patterns of reading performance. Ten-year-old poor readers with IQ scores of 110 and higher showed difficulty in taking a phonological approach to reading, failing to show an advantage in reading high-frequency regular versus irregular words and showing impaired nonword reading accuracy for their reading age. However, poor readers with IQ scores of 90 and below showed a more phonological approach to reading, with better reading of regular than irregular words of both high and low frequency, and with nonword reading skills slower than, but as accurate as, those of reading-age controls. We concluded that the high-IQ poor readers experienced difficulty in taking a phonological approach to reading, whereas the low-IQ poor readers had much less marked phonological problems, supporting Stanovich's phonological-core variable-difference model.     

Accuracy and Fluency in List and Context Reading of Skilled and RD Groups: Absolute and Relative Performance Levels

The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the performance levels and the magnitude of performance difference between students with reading disabilities (RD) and skilled readers when reading a typical classroom text; (2) the hypothesis that students with RD have specific difficulty using context in such a way that reading fluency is affected; and (3) whether RD subtypes may be differentiated according to performance on contextual and context‐free reading tasks. Two groups of fourth graders (85 skilled readers and 24 students with RD) completed a standardized test of reading comprehension, read aloud a folktale, and read aloud the folktale's words in a randomly sequenced list. Performance was scored as correct rate and percentage correct. Based on the number of words per idea unit in the passage, we also estimated the rate at which reader groups encountered and processed text ideas. Compared to the RD group, skilled readers read three times more correct words per minute in context, and showed higher accuracy and rates on all measures. Both context and isolated word‐reading rates were highly sensitive to impairment. We found no evidence for RD subtypes based on these measures. Results illustrate differences in reading levels between the two groups, the temporal advantage skilled readers have in linking text ideas, how word reading differs as a function of task format and performance dimension, and how limited word‐identification skills (not comprehension) produce contextual reading difficulties for students with RD.     

A Dutch comprehension test for identifying reading problems in L1 and L2 students (Research Note)

The Dutch Text Comprehension Test was developed in order to help improve the education of minority students in the Netherlands. As it appeared that many second language (L2) readers have more difficulties with respect to the micro-processing of words and sentences while compensating on the macro level, there was a need for an instrument with diagnostic value so as to yield clues for further remedial teaching. The test proved reliable for both L1 students and L2 students. The test, with regard to diagnosing the type of reading problem, was validated by carrying out further observations by video. Although the classification results were not optimal, the test can be used for diagnostic purposes provided that there is a relatively large difference between sub-test scores on the micro and the macro levels. The results of a screening survey show that there are great differences in percentages of weak readers and distribution of reader types among the different secondary school types in the Netherlands. Unlike weak readers who attend the higher school types, weak readers at the lower educational school types – among them many L2 readers – are ‘problem readers’ who do not compensate for their lack of word knowledge and sentence processing and who do not appear to be efficient ‘bottom-up readers.’ Secondary schools are therefore encouraged to screen their first year students in order to gain insight into the problems that weaker readers – including L2 readers – may have, and to develop remedial teaching programmes tailored to the different needs of L1 and L2 students.     

Is It Still Considered Reading? Using Digital Video Storytelling to Engage Adolescent Readers

In order to comprehend and ultimately enjoy reading a text, a reader must first be engaged in it. However, many high school students have difficulty engaging with texts for a variety of reasons. This study was interested in innovative solutions to this problem and examined the educational and aesthetic value of a particular digital video reading aid designed to help engage high school students in reading literature. Results suggested that this reading solution did indeed engage these students in the text while also helping them comprehend, critically analyze, and enjoy the reading experience as a whole. Additionally, these students positively responded to a bonus literature discussion section, thereby suggesting their desire to co-construct meanings with other readers.     

Knowledge,its Application,and Attitudes Associated with the Reading of Diverse Genres of Science Texts

The purpose of this article is to assess the knowledge, application of knowledge, and attitudes associated with the reading of different genres of expository science texts. We assigned approximately half of a sample consisting of 220 students 14–15 years of age, chosen at random, to read an excerpt from a popular scientific text, and the other half to read an excerpt from a textbook addressing the same topic. Readers took knowledge and application tests immediately after the reading and again 15 days later. Students also took knowledge and reading proficiency pre-tests, and attitude tests related to the selected texts. Overall, girls scored higher than boys and readers of the popular scientific text scored higher than their colleagues who read the textbook excerpt. We noted interaction between ‘reader gender’ and ‘genre of the text read’ in terms of long-term learning based on the reading. Attitude regarding the text read appears as an important factor in explaining behavior of boys who read the popular scientific text. Surprisingly, knowledge and application test scores were not statistically different among girls with different degrees of reading proficiency who read the textbook excerpt. In addition, on the application tests, among the boys who read the popular scientific text, good readers scored lower than their colleagues who read the textbook excerpt. In our opinion, this study can serve to show that ‘reading in science education’ is not a trivial matter and we feel that the subject merits more in-depth investigation.     

Patterns of inverted reading and subgroups in dyslexia

Reading performance of 46 poor readers was compared with that of 20 normal control readers. All subjects were second grade children. In Experiment 1 two matching word lists were presented under two conditions: one version of the test was read in the upright position and the other inverted. In Experiment 2 the eye movements of all subjects were recorded during reading of two meaningful sentences in the normal and inverted position. While the controls were negatively influenced by inversion of the text, the poor readers showed a variety of responses. Overall, the poor readers showed a slight tendency to be better at reading in the inverted position when the text must be scanned from right to left. An individual analysis of the data revealed that in 28.3% of the poor readers inverted reading improved performance at least 15 %, a phenomenon found in none of the controls.