An experiment in reading motivation techniques

We are certainly the sum of our encounters with other people, of all sorts of hazards, of our sorrows and our triumphs, but we are also to a vast, an immeasurable degree, the product of the books we have read, those books which have become part of our very substance.—Albert Beguin,Esprit, April 1960. pupils.Chadly Fitouri, agréré, head of the Division of Documentation and Studies at the International Bureau of Education. Former director of the Institute of Educational Sciences in Tunis     

浅谈英语快速阅读的技巧

本文分析了影响学生阅读速度的几大因素 ,介绍如何提高英语快速阅读的四方面技巧     

Back in the USSR: the effect of teacher modelling of silent reading on pupils’ reading behaviour in the primary school classroom

Abstract A series of studies was carried out in four upper primary classes to determine the effect on pupil reading behaviour of the class‐teacher modelling silent reading during class reading periods. In every primary class studied pupil attention to text increased substantially when teacher modelling was practised and declined when this was discontinued. A further study showed that this effect was only partly accounted for by the reduction in teacher distractions (moving around the room, listening to pupils read) concomitant with teacher modelling of silent reading.     

Improving reading comprehension with readers theater

Abstract

Although readers theater has traditionally been recommended as a method for improving reading fluency, this 18-week quasi-experimental study examined the effects of a readers theater instructional protocol that updates and expands on traditional approaches by adding specific tasks that engage students in various reading comprehension and vocabulary activities. Because the students were not randomly assigned to either condition, propensity score matching was used to minimize potential bias between the groups. After the matching procedure, the overall total of second-grade students decreased from 145?to 76. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted for all three measures. The results revealed statistically significant time effects on all three measures of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, including decoding, word knowledge, and reading comprehension. Only the reading comprehension measure was qualified by an interaction effect, and the results favored the readers theater treatment group. Implications for instruction and future research are discussed.     

Improving reading achievements of struggling learners

This article questions whether culture and climate can be considered interchangeable concepts in school effectiveness research. Hereto both are compared by describing them thoroughly and reviewing their main advantages and disadvantages. It is argued that the two are different. Preference is given to culture as more suitable and more accurate for examining a school's cognitive structures. Climate, encompassing culture, should be reserved for picturing the school in its entirety.     

运用语篇教学法提高英语阅读理解能力

阅读能力的培养是英语教学的重要环节,是提高学生综合语言运用能力的保障。语篇教学法是语篇分析在教学中的实际应用,它既注重语言知识的学习,又注重对文章主题、结构及体裁的分析,对于提高学生文章整体理解能力具有重要的指导作用。     

Improving early reading comprehension using embodied CAI

An embodied approach to reading comprehension suggests that emerging readers must learn to map words and phrases onto their remembered experiences, but this is made difficult by the necessity of focusing attention on decoding. Having children manipulate toys to correspond to what they are reading overcomes this problem, but introduces its own problem for the classroom, namely having to provide a classroom full of children with manipulative. In this article, we demonstrate that having first- and second-grade children manipulate images of toys on a computer screen benefits their comprehension as much as physical manipulation of the toys. In addition, manipulation on one day facilitates reading in the same domain one week later. These findings encourage the use of manipulation of text-relevant images as an educational technology for enhancing early reading comprehension. The findings also set constraints on theoretical accounts of embodiment while reading.     

谈小学语文阅读与教学技巧

小学语文课堂是学生形成阅读习惯、掌握阅读方法的重要阵地,语文教师应该在教学过程中灵活运用教学技巧,兼任图书管理员、活动比赛裁判、阅读向导的角色,提高课堂教学效益.     

Improving teacher prediction of children at risk for reading failure

Whether screening tests or teacher ratings best predict children at risk for reading failure continues to be an area of disagreement in the early identification literature. Our early studies confirmed low positive identification rates (30%) when kindergarten teachers were asked to predict future reading achievement using a traditional rating scale, while a project-developed, theory-based screening battery correctly identified 81% of poor readers. Construction of a teacher rating scale of current skill levels on research-validated precursors to reading improved prediction in the current study, although results were still inferior to the screening test (64% and 80% valid positives, respectively). Combining test results and teacher ratings resulted in 88% identification of those who failed in first, second, or third grade, suggesting that both teacher ratings and screening tests should be used to identify the largest number of those who will later fail in reading. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Improving reading in children with German as a first or second language

The study Improving Language And Reading Skills (LARS) in children with German as a first or second language evaluates a newly developed differentiating programme for reading in terms of its effects on the reading and language ability of second graders with German as a first or second language. The participant group consisted of 105 children. Fifty-five children belonged to the group that received the programme (LARS-group) and 50 children received traditional instruction (TI-group). The reading, spelling and language ability of each participating child were assessed before and after the programme period. The children of the LARS-group were supported over three months in terms of reading texts and completing the corresponding tasks. The texts and the tasks were adapted to the students' ability levels (three different ability levels: above average, average and below average level in reading). The results indicate that the learning outcomes for children in the LARS-classes were significantly higher for reading fluency and comprehension, but no effect was observed for language and spelling. The results suggest that the LARS programme was equally effective for children with German as a first or second language.     

Improving the reading skills of young people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in preparation for adulthood

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive genetic condition that affects both muscle and brain. Children with DMD are at risk of psycho‐social difficulties such as poor academic achievement and behavioural and socio‐emotional problems. This article by Janet Hoskin and Angela Fawcett, both from the University of Swansea, describes how 34 participants with DMD took part in a 36‐week online literacy intervention which was delivered in partnership between home and school. The key objective was to improve reading skill. Participants were re‐tested at 36 weeks for single word and text level reading, comprehension, fluency, processing and timed single word reading. Pre and post results indicated that children who followed the intervention for 36 weeks made significant improvement in their single word reading (p = <0.0001), timed single word reading (p = <0.0001) and text level reading (p = <0.004). They also made significant improvement in their fluency and comprehension scores. The results showed that children with DMD and related literacy difficulties benefit from a regular, structured and systematic synthetic phonics programme. With young people with DMD increasingly living into adulthood, early literacy intervention is particularly important to ensure optimum career and training opportunities.     

Improving the reading ability of science students through study groups and multiple intelligences

This study explored the effects of appropriate pedagogical skills （study groups and multiple intelligences） on students＇ efficiencies in reading skills. It employed a factorial design using three variables. A sample of 90 science students choosing from three intact classes were involved in the study. Data analyses were carried out using mean, standard deviation, analysis of covariance and multiple classification analysis. Findings revealed the significant difference in performance of the groups taught using study groups and multiple intelligences methods.     

掌握语言技巧,提高阅读能力——高等学校英语应用能力考试试卷分析及应试对策

阅读理解在大学英语四、六级考试以及高等学校英语应用能力考试中所占比重最大,因此阅读理解部分对考试的成功与否有着直接的影响。考生普遍感到阅读时间紧,而自己的阅读速度较慢,难以充分地理解短文以及准确答题。解决这一矛盾的关键在于平时养成良好的阅读习惯,博览群书;掌握阅读技巧、方法,提高阅读能力。     

Improving the reading comprehension of children with dysphonetic and dyseidetic dyslexia using story grammar

Five 8- to 10-year-old children with dysphonetic and dyseidetic dyslexia were given instruction in reading comprehension using a story grammar strategy in which story instruction was differentially designed to match the simultaneous or sequential mental processing strengths of each dyslexia subtype. A multiple baseline, single subject experimental design and statistical analyses indicated that the experimental treatments yielded statistically and clinically significant improvements in the proportion of qualitatively important story elements recalled by the subjects, when compared to baseline traditional remedial instruction. The results suggested that students with dyslexia can increase their reading comprehension with training in metacognitive strategies. The question of whether the results were attributable to the subtype-matched methods per se or to strategy training in general, as well as a number of methodological issues, is being explored in subsequent research.