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.     

Individual and group sensitivity to remedial reading program design: examining reading gains across three middle school reading projects

The purpose of this project was to examine group- and individual-level responses by struggling adolescents readers (6th–8th grades; N = 155) to three different modalities of the same reading program, Reading Achievement Multi-Component Program. The three modalities differ in the combination of reading components (phonological decoding, spelling, fluency, comprehension) that are taught and their organization. Latent change scores were used to examine changes in phonological decoding, fluency, and comprehension for each modality at the group level. In addition, individual students were classified as gainers versus non-gainers (a reading level increase of a year or more vs. less than 1 year) so that characteristics of gainers and differential sensitivity to instructional modality could be investigated. Findings from both group and individual analyses indicated that reading outcomes were related to modalities of reading instruction. Furthermore, differences in reading gains were seen between students who began treatment with higher reading scores than those with lower reading scores; dependent on modality of treatment. Results, examining group and individual analyses similarities and differences, and the effect the different modalities have on reading outcomes for older struggling readers will be discussed.     

An investigation of extensive reading with remedial students in a Philippines secondary school

This chapter reports a 6-month study that used a matched-pairs pre-test, post-test control group design to evaluate the effectiveness of extensive reading with remedial reading students in a Philippines secondary school (n=60). Ninety percent of students at the school come from low-income homes where reading materials tend to be scarce. The dependent variable, reading proficiency, was assessed using the Informal Reading Inventory and the Gray Standardized Oral Reading Test. Each day, both groups received the same 40 min of English instruction, plus a remedial class. In their remedial class, the control group studied via a traditional approach, emphasizing intensive reading and phonics. For the extensive reading group, the remedial reading class involved reading self-selected materials and doing a variety of post-reading activities. Results suggest that extensive reading led to greater gains than traditional reading instruction. Details on how extensive reading was implemented and a rationale for extensive reading are provided.     

Evaluation of the effectiveness of remedial reading courses at community colleges

Limited research is available on the effectiveness of remedial college courses. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of two instructional approaches for developmental reading courses at a community college in the southwestern United States. The instructional approaches were traditional textbook-based instruction and strategic-reading instruction. The sample consisted of 64 participants. Half (n = 32) of the participants were in the control group (n = 32) and received traditional textbook-based instruction; the other half (n = 32) were in the experimental group and received strategic-reading instruction. All participants completed the Nelson-Denny Reading Form G at the beginning of the semester and then again 12 weeks later, at the end of the semester. The data were then statistically analyzed to identify any relationships between the type of instruction and the differences between the students’ pretest and posttest scores. The null hypotheses for H1 and H2 were rejected because the results of the paired t tests indicated that both traditional textbook-based instruction and strategic-reading instruction have a statistically significant positive effect on students’ performance on the test. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to determine whether the pretest/posttest difference scores varied based on the type of instruction. The findings showed that both methods of instruction were equally effective in improving the reading comprehension skills of community college students in a developmental reading course. Based on the findings, community college leaders are encouraged to assess the effectiveness of the instructional methods used in developmental courses to ensure at-risk community college students are receiving the most beneficial instruction.     

大学英语专业阅读教学的误区分析思考

阅读是学生掌握语言知识,获得各种信息的重要途径之一,同时也是提高听说写译能力的基础;因此培养学生阅读能力始终摆在英语教学的首位。但在实际教学中许多教师忽视大学学生英语学习的特点,没法调动学生的学习积极性,使学生产生畏难情绪。本文就实际阅读教学中存在的几个误区进行阐释。     

Within-year oral reading fluency with CBM: a comparison of models

This study examined the type of growth model that best fit within-year growth in oral reading fluency and between-student differences in growth. Participants were 2,465 students in grades 3–5. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses modeled curriculum-based measurement (CBM) oral reading fluency benchmark measures in fall, winter, and spring with grade level and student characteristics (including special education and Limited English Proficiency status) as covariates. Results indicated that a discontinuous growth model fit the data better than a linear growth model, with greater growth in the fall than in the spring. Oral reading fluency growth rates also differed by grade and student characteristics. Implications for school practice and research are discussed.     

Blending versus whole word approaches in first grade remedial reading: Short-term and delayed effects on reading and spelling words

Twelve very poor readers in May of first grade, including four withdisabilities, were randomly assigned to one of two daily tutoring conditions designed to teach children to read regularly spelled short words by one of two methods: blending sounds to form words, or cumulative introduction of whole words. Both treatments included letter/sound correspondences and spelling words in the reading set. At the end of ten sessions, no differences were found between the treatment outcomes; however, delayed posttests one week later found differences favoring the blending treatment on reading and spelling instructional words, and on transfer to words composed of known letter sounds.     

Predicting word-level reading fluency outcomes in three contrastive groups: Remedial and computer-assisted remedial reading intervention,and mainstream instruction

The aim of the longitudinal intervention study was to build a model of predictive values of reading fluency in three contrastive reading groups: remedial and computer-assisted remedial reading intervention, and mainstream instruction, to identify the most effective type of intervention for children with different profiles of compromised pre-reading skills. The participants were 7-year-old Finnish school beginners (N = 166). Two remedial interventions took place in four weekly sessions of 45 min over a period of 28 weeks in Grade 1. For a child with deficits in the core pre-reading skills (letter knowledge, phonological awareness or rapid automatized naming), the computer-assisted remedial intervention would be the most successful in remediating reading fluency in the transparent Finnish language. Furthermore, children in the computer-assisted intervention were able to reach the average level of the mainstream children by the end of Grade 2.     

The incidence and nature of letter orientation errors in reading disability

Letter orientation confusions (reversals) in the reading and writing of 10-year-old children with and without reading disability were investigated to determine whether reading disability is associated with letter orientation errors and to identify the nature of the errors. In a variety of tasks measuring letter orientation confusions in reception (reversal detection and recognition) and production (controlled writing, copying), individuals with reading disability made more orientation confusions than average readers. Orientation errors were more frequent for reversible than for nonreversible items in tasks involving long-term memory processes. The results did not appear to be related to group differences in attention or speed of motor responding. Possible sources of orientation confusions, including deficient magnocellular system processing, mislabeling, and overreliance on visual strategies, are discussed.     

Instability of children's reading errors in bisyllabic words: The role of context-sensitive spelling rules

We examined the instability of reading errors, that is whether a child reads the same word sometimes correctly and sometimes incorrectly, as a function of the complexity of context-sensitive spelling rules (vowel degemination and consonant gemination). Dutch bisyllabic words were read twice by typical readers in Grades 2 and 3, and reading-level matched poor readers. Grade 3 readers produced more unstable errors than Grade 2 readers. The poor readers did not differ from the typical readers in overall error instability. For typical readers, vowel degemination complicates word identification. For poor readers this effect was even stronger. Of the lexical and sublexical word characteristics, word frequency was the strongest predictor: The higher word frequency, the higher error instability. Word frequency, moreover, interacted with context-sensitive spelling rules in its effect on error instability. Error instability can be considered as an indicator of the transition from incompetence to reading competence.