Comprehension of written sentences as a core component of children's reading comprehension

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that sentence processing is an essential mediatory skill between word recognition and text comprehension in reading. In Experiment 1, a semantic similarity judgement task was used with children from Grade 2 to Grade 9. They had to say whether two written sentences had the same (or very similar) meanings or whether the meanings of the two sentences were very different. As expected, performance improved with age both on the high‐frequency words and with increasingly complex sentences. In Experiment 2 with children in Grade 3, scores in written sentence comprehension and vocabulary made the most important unique contribution to the reading comprehension of an expository text. The results are discussed first, in the light of a general framework in which sentence‐level skill is at the core of reading comprehension and second, with reference to the issue of reading assessment.     

俄汉语简单句中状语语序对比研究

语序对比是语言对比一个重要的方面,因为语序不仅仅是句子结构形式的基础,也反映了各个国家人们思维和表达方式上的差别。对比俄语和汉语的状语语序,从中找到两种语言中语序排列的内在规律,对于研究两种语言的句子结构和俄汉句子互译有着积极意义。     

Lexical- and sentence-level processes in comprehension of written sentences

Two experiments and three measures of lexical skills (word finding, rapid automatized naming, receptive vocabulary) were administered to 24 third and 24 fifth graders. Each experiment included two between-subject variables (grade and sex) and four within-subject variables (mode of sentence presentation – one word and one-sentence-at-a-time; word type – orthographic, phonological and semantic foils; position of foil in sentence – beginning, middle, and end; and sentence type – meaningful and nonsense). The experiments contrasted on reading comprehension task: receptive sentence acceptability (Experiment 1) or expressive sentence reproduction (Experiment 2). One-word-at-a-time presentation, which highlights the lexical unit, resulted in better accuracy on the expressive task that required verbatim reproduction than on the forced choice receptive task. Word finding and rapid automatized naming that require active production of phonologically-referenced name codes, but not receptive vocabulary, were correlated with measures of word recognition and reading comprehension in the experiments and on the psychometric tests. These results are consistent with Perfetti's contention that a phonologically-based name code is the heart of lexical access.     

语文词典词性及语法功能标注的问题

汉语词与英语词不同,致使汉语词典词性及功能标注显得没那么迫切,而且,即使标注也不可能与英语模式一样。尽管如此,词性及功能标注还应继续尝试,它毕竟可以给学习者带来诸多方便。     

德语句型转换攻略——主动句与被动句的相互转化

在德语中,常见的句型转化有:从句与不定式的相互转换,主动句与被动句的相互转换,被动态与其替换形式间的转换,介词短语与说明语从句的相互转换,直接引语与间接引语的相互转换,关系从句与分词短语的相互转换,说明语从句与分词短语间的相互转换等。本文将从主动句与被动句句式差异入手,探讨主动句与被动句间相互转换的具体策略,并针对转化中的常见错误予以分析,探讨相应的解决方案,进而设法解决转化中常见的问题。     

Young children's comprehension of montage

2 studies examined children's comprehension of brief stop-animation televised segments incorporating elements of cinematic montage such as pans, zooms, and cuts. Children reconstructed the action and dialogue in these segments using the same dolls and settings depicted. In Study 1, there was no effect of cinematic techniques on reconstruction performance of 3- and 5-year-olds as compared to control segments filmed without these techniques. The results challenged the assumption that the use of such techniques per se contributes to young children's poor comprehension of television shows. In Study 2, 12 new segments were produced in which comprehending the montage required inferences of character perspective, implied action sequences, spatial relationships, and simultaneity of different actions. Averaging across all segments, 62% of the 4-year-olds and 88% of the 7-year-olds demonstrated clear comprehension of the montage. Inferences concerning implied action sequences were easiest for both ages. Inferences of simultaneity were most difficult for 4-year-olds, whereas inferences of character perspective were most difficult for 7-year-olds. Preschool children are thus capable of understanding cinematic events conveyed through camera techniques and film editing, despite previous assertions to the contrary. This ability nevertheless substantially increases with age.     

Development in children's comprehension of linguistic register

For socially appropriate communication, speakers must command a variety of linguistic styles, or registers, that vary according to social context and social relationships. This study examined preschool children's ability to use a speaker's register choice to infer the identity of their addressee. Four-year-olds could draw correct inferences based on Spanish and formal speech, and had limited success with infant-directed and casual styles. Five-year-olds drew appropriate inferences with all 4 styles; moreover, these children demonstrated strong explicit understanding of register, as measured through response justifications. These results demonstrate that children can use language for social judgments that extend beyond evaluating the speaker, and can interpret social implications of language even when not directly engaged in the particular social interaction.     

谈涉外英文合同长句的理解及其翻译

英文合同是一种特殊的应用文体,是具有法律效力的文件,其用词专业、正式、准确。本文从分析英文合同的语言特点入手,应用典型实例,提出了英文合同长句中简单长句、并列长句和复合长句的理解及其翻译策略。     

Working memory resources and children's reading comprehension

Reading and Writing - Working memory capacity is described as a pool of limited resources that carry out processing and storage functions. Its role has been emphasised in adults' reading...     

Chinese children's constructive activity and text comprehension

This study investigated how constructive activities are involved when Chinese students are performing reading tasks that require deeper levels of understanding. Forty students from Grade 5 (19 boys and 21 girls), and 42 students from Grade 6 (20 boys and 22 girls) participated in this study. To reveal the children's constructive processes in reading, they were asked to think aloud while responding to a text. Analyses of the children's protocols identified five levels of constructive activity. Analyses further indicated that the Grade 6 children performed better than the Grade 5 children, and skilled readers outperformed less skilled readers in higher levels of constructivist activity and text understanding tasks. Implications of the important roles of constructivist activity in children's learning from texts were discussed.     

How prior knowledge affects word identification and comprehension

While prior knowledge of a passage topic is known to facilitate comprehension, little is known about how it affects word identification. We examined oral reading errors in good and poor readers when reading a passage where they either had prior knowledge of the passage topic or did not. Children who had prior knowledge of the topic were matched on decoding skill to children who did not know the topic so that the groups differed only on knowledge of the passage topic. Prior knowledge of the passage topic was found to significantly increase fluency and reduce reading errors, especially errors based on graphic information, in poor readers. Two possible mechanisms of how prior knowledge might operate to facilitate word identification were evaluated using the pattern of error types, as was the relationship of errors to comprehension. Implications of knowledge effects for assessment and educational policy are discussed.     

Manipulatives and number sentences in computer aided arithmetic word problem solving

In this study we investigated the relative contribution of two main components often used in the instruction of arithmetic word problem solving to first-grade children and children with learning problems, external representation with manipulatives and formal mathematical representation with number sentences. Four computer aided treatments were developed along these dimensions. Furthermore, an assessment control group was formed.It was shown that performance improved significantly after treatment in comparison to the performance of the assessment control group. Comparison of the different training conditions showed that a number sentence treatment was the most effective training component. However, this effect was only present with the relatively high competent children and not with the relatively low performing children.     

Usage of statistical cues for word boundary in reading Chinese sentences

The present study examined the use of statistical cues for word boundaries during Chinese reading. Participants were instructed to read sentences for comprehension with their eye movements being recorded. A two-character target word was embedded in each sentence. The contrast between the probabilities of the ending character (C2) of the target word (C12) being used as word beginning and ending in all words containing it was manipulated. In addition, by using the boundary paradigm, parafoveal overlapping ambiguity in the string C123 was manipulated with three types of preview of the character C3, which was a single-character word in the identical condition. During preview, the combination of C23′ was a legal word in the ambiguous condition and was not a word in the control condition. Significant probability and preview effects were observed. In the low-probability condition, inconsistency in the frequent within-word position (word beginning) and the present position (word ending) lengthened gaze durations and increased refixation rate on the target word. Although benefits from the identical previews were apparent, effects of overlapping ambiguity were negligible. The results suggest that the probability of within-word positions had an influence during character-to-word assignment, which was mainly verified during foveal processing. Thus, the overlapping ambiguity between parafoveal words did not interfere with reading. Further investigation is necessary to examine whether current computational models of eye movement control should incorporate statistical cues for word boundaries together with other linguistic factors in their word processing system to account for Chinese reading.     

Generated meanings in the comprehension of word problems in mathematics

A Generative-Predicational Model is proposed and applied to the generation of meanings of simple mathematical word-problems. The model suggests that a fundamental property of cognition is a generative process that takes arguments and that produces results, such as events, answers and inferences. This fundamental property, called predication, generates a task-environment i.e., a problem and its corresponding problem-space i.e., its solution. More precisely, a task-environment is a predication consisting of a written mathematical problem and a writer's life experience. A problem-space is a predication consisting of a leamer's problem solving schema and of the meaning that the learmer generates for the text.The case with which relations can be established between a task-environment and a problem-space depends on the problem's coherence and complexity and the leamer's experiences and thought processes. Faceted definitions of task-environment and problem-space are used to analyze talk-aloud protocols of fifty Israeli sixth-graders tested with thirty word-problems. The empirical results support the proposed model.     

语序选择与语序创新——汉语语序演变的观察和断想

本文将传统所说的语序演变离析为"语序选择"和"语序创新(语序演变)",指出以往所揭示的汉语语序演变多为语序选择,汉语史上严格意义的语序创新殊为罕见。造成这种情形的主要动因可能是标准语或官话方言语法结构的扩散,以及北方非汉语对汉语的影响。     

The association between mathematical word problems and reading comprehension

This study aimed to investigate the interplay between mathematical word problem skills and reading comprehension. The participants were 225 children aged 9–10 (Grade 4). The children’s text comprehension and mathematical word problem‐solving performance was tested. Technical reading skills were investigated in order to categorise participants as good or poor readers. The results showed that performance on maths word problems was strongly related to performance in reading comprehension. Fluent technical reading abilities increased the aforementioned skills. However, even after controlling for the level of technical reading involved, performance in maths word problems was still related to reading comprehension, suggesting that both of these skills require overall reasoning abilities. There were no gender differences in maths word problem‐solving performance, but the girls were better in technical reading and in reading comprehension. Parental levels of education positively predicted children’s maths word problem‐solving performance and reading comprehension skills.     

In search of factors in deaf and hearing children's reading comprehension

The present study examined whether specific item characteristics, such as mode of acquisition (MoA) of word meanings, make reading comprehension tests particularly difficult for deaf children. Reading comprehension data on nearly 13,000 hearing 7-to-12-year-olds and 253 deaf 7-to-20-year-olds were analyzed, divided across test levels from second to sixth grade (not necessarily corresponding to chronological age). Factor analyses across item scores suggested that, of the determinants studied, MoA--referring to the type of information (perceptual, linguistic, or both) used in word meaning acquisition--was the only factor that contributed significantly to deaf and hearing children's reading comprehension. For hearing children, MoA influenced item scores at the third- and fourth-grade levels. For the deaf children, MoA influenced item scores through the sixth-grade level.