Reading strategy use and motivation among Chinese good and poor readers in Hong Kong

Eighty‐three good readers and 76 poor readers were compared on their ability to use reading strategies in Chinese reading comprehension and on various reading motivation variables. Poor readers scored lower than good readers in using all reading strategies, and especially in using sophisticated cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Poor readers also had lower intrinsic motivation in reading than had good readers. While the ability to use reading strategies had the strongest relation with reading comprehension, intrinsic motivation and strategy attribution might facilitate reading development through their positive relations with strategy use. Implications of these findings for implementing effective reading instruction in Hong Kong Chinese language teaching are discussed.     

Reading comprehension and information processing strategies

The present study investigated the relationship between the reading comprehension and information processing strategies of relatively fluent oral readers of Oriya orthography. The study was necessary, because Oriya orthography has some significant differences from English orthography and these differences could bear implications for the reading strategies and processes. Hence, it was envisaged that findings in the field of reading research using English orthography may not hold good for the readers of Oriya orthography. One hundred students of grade V were taken as subjects in the present study. Reading comprehension tasks simultaneous and successive information processing tasks and a nonverbal measure of intelligence were administered to all the subjects. Results show that good comprehenders were relatively more intelligent than the poor comprehenders. So far as their performance on simultaneous and successive information processing strategies were concerned good cornprehenders were better off on both types of coding tasks and these differences were found to be statistically significant even after the effect of intelligence was partialled out. However, no differential proficiency on either of these coding strategies was observed neither for the good nor for the poor comprehender group.     

Reading skill components and impairments in middle school struggling readers

This study investigated how measures of decoding, fluency, and comprehension in middle school students overlap with one another, whether the pattern of overlap differs between struggling and typical readers, and the relative frequency of different types of reading difficulties. The 1,748 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students were oversampled for struggling readers (n = 1,025) on the basis of the state reading comprehension proficiency measure. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses showed partial invariance among struggling and typical readers (with differential loadings for fluency and for comprehension), and strict invariance for decoding and a combined fluency/comprehension factor. Among these struggling readers, most (85 %) also had weaknesses on nationally standardized measures, particularly in comprehension; however, most of these also had difficulties in decoding or fluency. These results show that the number of students with a specific comprehension problem is lower than recent consensus reports estimate and that the relation of different reading components varies according to struggling versus proficient readers.     

Not all reading disabilities are alike

In this article, reading disability is defined broadly to refer to below-average achievement in reading comprehension as assessed by a standardized test. With our research we tried to answer the question of whether all children with reading disability share a common etiology of deficient phonology, or constitute heterogeneous groups. The answer to this question was sought in four studies that examined reading disabilities from the perspective of componential skills of reading. In Part 1, the results of the first study are reported. A principal-components analysis of the performance of 139 children from Grades 3, 4, and 6 on reading-related tasks yielded two factors: decoding and comprehension. However, factor analyses conducted for each grade separately indicated that orthographic skill and processing speed could possibly constitute a third component. The orthography-speed factor emerged as a factor only in the 6th grade. Part 2 of this article reports the findings of three studies that analyzed the componential skills profiles of poor readers. It was found that the poor readers constituted heterogeneous groups and that four different types of poor readers could be identified with deficiency in any one of the following skills: (a) decoding only, (b) comprehension only, (c) a combination of decoding and comprehension, and (d) a combination of orthographic processing and reading speed. It was also found that the criteria used in selecting poor readers influenced the distribution of the ratio of the four types of poor readers within any given group.     

Phonological processing, language comprehension, and reading ability

Previous research has indicated a relationship between reading ability and the integrity of certain phonological processing skills--skills that operate on the sound structure of language. This study shows how the deficient phonological processing skills of poor beginning readers can impair their comprehension of spoken phrases and sentences that are disambiguated by prosodic cues (i.e., pitch, stress, and pause). Following a brief summary of the available research literature, two new experiments are reported to illustrate that poor readers do not interpret certain sentences as accurately as good readers do, because they are less able to hold phonological material temporarily in working memory. Further insight into the basis of these differences between good and poor readers is provided by two additional pieces of evidence: The differences between good and poor readers are analogous to those between older and younger children readers, and the performance of poor readers tends to resemble that of younger children reading at their same level (i.e., reading-ability-matched controls). Apparently, good and poor readers tend to differ in the rate at which they develop phonological processing skills.     

Qualitative and quantitative differences among dyslexic,normal, and nondyslexic poor readers

This study tested the hypothesis that when a stringent criterion of normal IQ is applied in the selection of dyslexic readers, and when dyslexics, nondyslexic poor readers, and normal readers are matched on reading comprehension — rather than word reading — significant differences among these groups can be demonstrated. Two groups of poor readers from primary grades, one with normal IQ (dyslexics) and the other with below-average IQ (nonspecific reading disabled, NSRD) were matched for reading comprehension with a group of younger normal readers. The dyslexic group was found to be inferior to the other two groups in tests of decoding and spelling. The dyslexic readers were more context-dependent for word recognition than the other two groups. The NSRD group did not differ from the normal readers in these aspects but had the worst performance on a test of inferential comprehension. It was concluded that dyslexics differ from normal readers and low-IQ poor readers in word and nonword reading skills and context-dependency for reading. A group of six adult dyslexics were also found to be deficient in decoding skills. A lack of unanimity in the use of certain terminology, a substantial age difference between low-IQ poor readers and normals, and the difference in the criteria used for matching the different groups could be factors that can explain the disagreements seen between the findings of the present study and those reported by some other studies. Potential problems associated with reading-age matched experimental design are discussed.     

Dissociation between comprehension and pronunciation in dyslexic and hyperlexic children

Findings from an analysis of the reading performances of three reading-disabled children provide a tentative answer to the controversial issue whether reading-disabled children have a language comprehension deficit or not. Of the three reading-disabled children studied, two were poor in language comprehension but had much better word-reading skill. The third disabled reader had superior listening comprehension but was poor in word-reading skill. The two good word-readers appear to use two different strategies, viz., grapheme—sound association and whole word-pronunciation asssociation to pronounce the written word. It is concluded that pronunciation and comprehension skills are two dissociable components of the reading process and that they follow separate courses of development. Case studies presented in this paper suggest that these two components can be affected independent of each other resulting in different types of reading disabilities. It is concluded that answer to the question whether poor readers are also deficient in language comprehension depends on the type of disabled readers investigated even though educational experience and severity of the reading problem can act as confounding factors.

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元认知知识在外语阅读教学中的作用

20世纪70年代以来，Flavell对元认知知识进行了诸多研究。他认为，元认知知识是个体已获得的世界知识的一部分，元认知知识对外语阅读教学的重要作用在于：有利于发展学习的自主性、有利于提高学习的动机、有利于增强学习的责任感、有利于发挥元认知策略的有效性、有利于鉴别学习的阅读品质。     

Is there a thing called dyslexia?

A controversy whether developmental dyslexia is qualitatively different from other forms of reading disability has existed among reading specialists for many years because poor readers, regardless of the labels attached to them, resemble each other symptomatically (i.e., in reading achievement). For this reason, it is difficult to establish a priori criteria based on symptoms to identify dyslexia and compare it with other forms of reading disability. One possible solution to this impasse is to see if poor readers differ in the etiology of their reading disability and, if they do, then to see whether one group of poor readers fits the traditional definition of dyslexia. This strategy was adopted in the present study. In this paper, it was hypothesized that the etiology of dyslexia is different from that of other forms of reading disability because there is a difference in the components that malfunction in dyslexia and other forms of reading disability. Studies have shown that the two components that account for a large proportion of variance in reading are decoding and comprehension. Previous studies also indicate that dyslexic children are deficient in decoding skills but not necessarily in comprehension. In this study, reading-disabled children were divided into two groups on the basis of their listening comprehension. Children whose listening comprehension was at or above grade level were placed in one group; poor readers with below-grade-level listening comprehension were placed in the second group. Both groups, however, were matched for reading comprehension. The two groups and a control group of normal readers were administered a number of tasks that were designed to assess the efficiency of the components of reading. It was found that poor readers with normal listening comprehension were deficient in tasks that involved grapheme-phoneme conversion (Component I, decoding). When tested on tasks that minimized decoding requirements, their reading comprehension was comparable to that of normal readers. In contrast, the group with sub-average listening comprehension was poor in measures of reading comprehension, even when decoding requirements were minimal. With the exception of very few children, this group also had adequate decoding skills. Because poor readers with normal listening comprehension had average or above average IQ, they conform to the traditional definition of dyslexia. Poor readers with below average listening comprehension had below average IQ and could be considered as “general reading backward.” It was, therefore, concluded that the etiology of developmental dyslexia is different from that of general reading backwardness. In this paper, the termetiology refers to proximal causal factors such as decoding and comprehension and not to distal causal factors such as genetic and neurological characteristics.     

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 strategy use between Chinese good and poor readers: a think‐aloud study

This study aimed to explore the differences between Chinese good and poor readers in their strategy use by using a think‐aloud method. Eight grade 7 students in Hong Kong, four good readers and four poor readers, received a think‐aloud task and an interview in the study. Consistent with the Western studies, findings of this study indicated that Chinese good readers used more strategies and had better ability and knowledge of strategy use than did poor readers. In addition to the cognitive deficiencies, poor readers were also found to have poorer intrinsic motivation than did good readers. The combined problems of poor reading ability and motivation made them reluctant to process the text at a deeper level and they gave up easily when they encountered reading difficulties. Implications of these findings for studying the reading problems of Chinese students and implementing effective reading instruction in Hong Kong Chinese language teaching are discussed.     

The effect of modifying the cognitive tempo of reading disabled children on reading comprehension

The present investigation was concerned with teaching poor readers to use a reflective cognitive style. It was hypothesized that such a strategy would facilitate the reading ability of poor readers. To test this hypothesis, approximately half the poor readers and half the average readers were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group of children was taught to delay their responses and to use more efficient search and scanning techniques. All groups were tested before and after training on the Matching Familiar Figures test and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. Poor readers' vocabulary and comprehension scores and level of reflectivity improved following training. It was concluded that imposing slow reading strategies on impulsive children is an important factor in developing educational programs for children with reading disabilities and that teaching poor readers a reflective cognitive strategy may have important consequences on the child's reading performance.     

A prospective study of the relationship between phonological,semantic and syntactic skills and specific reading disability

Although it is well established that a relationship exists between specific reading disability and spoken language difficulties, the nature of that relationship remains controversial. In the study reported here, the performance of poor readers was firstly compared with that of matched good readers on a series of spoken and written language tasks on three assessment trials 12 months apart, and secondly to that of younger average readers. Five experimental tasks were used to measure the readers' phonological processing skills, and three subtests from the CELF-R were selected to measure the students' syntactic and semantic skills. Reading accuracy and comprehension ability were assessed by the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability-Revised. The results showed that 8–10-year-old poor readers performed poorly in all three linguistic areas concurrently, and that these difficulties persisted. However, the important finding from this study was that while the good readers demonstrated no significant difference between their phonological processing skills and their semantic/syntactic skills, the poor readers' ability did differ according to skill area. The poor readers' phonological processing skills appeared to be particularly impaired, a finding which was further enhanced by results from the reading-match comparison. The results are discussed in terms of current theories of reading disability.     

Combined strategy and attributional training for seventh grade average and poor readers

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of combined strategy and attributional training through small-group intervention in a specific reading task context. The training aims to provide instruction in the use of reading strategies while at the same time to convince students that their reading performance is attributable to their use of effective strategies, which is under their personal control. Four grade 7 (13 year old) classes, consisting of 40 poor readers and 56 average readers, participated in the study. Students were randomly allocated to one of four instruction conditions involving different combinations of strategy instruction and attributional training. Instruction was provided in small groups of 6 to 8 students over nine one-hour sessions. Results indicated that teaching poor readers use of effective reading strategies, while convincing them that reading successes and failures were attributable to use of effective or ineffective strategies, not only improved their comprehension performance and increased use of reading strategies, but also reduced their perceptions of learned helplessness.     

Strategies for professional reading in L1 and L2

Reading strategies of future professionals, both in native language (L1) and in one or more foreign languages (L2), have been little explored. Findings from research concerning the transfer of L1 reading strategies to the L2 context are contradictory. Our hypothesis is that relative performance in L1 and L2 reading is associated with two key variables involved in successful L2 reading comprehension: L1 reading proficiency and L2 language competency, the latter being the stronger predictor. 39 students were divided into three groups by strength or weakness on each independent variable. Their reading strategies, explored by questionnaire, were compared within and between groups, both in L1 and L2, and were correlated to text recall comprehension scores. Readers strong on both key variables were equally effective in both languages. Strong L1 readers weak in L2 were poor L2 readers but fared better than readers weak on both variables. General reading strategies differentiated efficient readers from poor ones both in L1 and L2, but specific problem-solving strategies were the main obstacle in L2. Comprehending – the process, or strategic approach employed – correlated very strongly with comprehension – the product, or score – in L2 and fairly strongly in L1. Pedagogical implications suggest individualised reading training in the light of relative difficulties.     

Using a Think-Aloud with Diverse Students: Three Primary Grade Students Experience Chrysanthemum

Many struggling readers, students with English as a second language, and children with disabilities do not engage in the strategies that good readers use when reading for understanding. Reading comprehension depends upon the students’ ability to successfully use strategies to monitor and control their own comprehension. Teachers need to help students develop skills that will aid in reading comprehension. The think-aloud is one strategy that can help struggling readers improve fluency and comprehension. One of the most important components to determine the success of the think-aloud is the teacher’s ability to model and facilitate the think-aloud procedure. The teacher needs to have a basic understanding of what is meant to be accomplished using this method. This article profiles how three teachers model and facilitate a think-aloud with three struggling readers.     

Living with dyslexia

This study facilitates the use of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) to investigate the effect of short vowels on oral reading fluency (ORF) and silent reading comprehension in Arabic orthography. A total sample of 131 fifth-grade students (89 skilled readers and 42 poor readers) participated in the study. Two kinds of CBM probes were administered: CBM ORF and CBM Maze. Nine texts of each kind were presented in three reading conditions: fully vowelized, partially vowelized and unvowelized. Results indicated that CBM ORF and CBM Maze tests distinguished between skilled and poor readers in all vowelization conditions. In addition, vowels were a good facilitator of oral reading fluency and silent reading comprehension for both types of readers. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed in this study as well.     

Very early language skills of fifth‐grade poor comprehenders

This study tested the theory that future poor comprehenders would show modest but pervasive deficits in both language comprehension and production during early childhood as compared with future poor decoders and typical readers. Using an existing database (NICHD ECCRN), fifth‐grade students were identified as having poor comprehension skills (n=16), poor decoding skills (n=11) or typical reading skills (n=35) based on standardised assessments of word recognition and reading comprehension. Language comprehension and production during the toddler and preschool years were retrospectively compared across these subgroups. Compared with future typical readers and poor decoders, poor comprehenders had the lowest abilities on language assessments at 15, 24, 36 and 54 months. For nearly all contrasts, the difference between poor comprehenders and the other groups of readers exceeded .5 standard deviation in magnitude, indicating that the early language skills of poor comprehenders exhibit appreciable lags.     

Structures of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategy use for reading comprehension of geometry proof

In this study, we explored the structural relationship between the students’ perceived use of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies (CMRS) and their reading comprehension of geometry proof (RCGP), and we also examined the differences in students’ perceived use of reading strategies among the poor, moderate and good comprehenders. A sample of ninth graders (N = 533) completed a RCGP test and then the CMRS questionnaire. In the exploratory factor analysis with one subsample (n = 150), principal component analysis was used to extract factors of CMRS use for improving the CMRS instrument. Another subsample of students (n = 370) participated in the study on the confirmatory factor analysis with structural equation modelling method. Results revealed that the use of metacognitive reading strategies exerts an executive function over that of cognitive reading strategies, which directly influenced students’ RCGP. Our interesting findings were that good comprehenders tended to employ more metacognitive reading strategies for planning and monitoring comprehension and more cognitive reading strategies for elaborating proof compared with the moderate comprehenders, who in turn employed these strategies more often compared with the poor comprehenders.     

Interactive Read Alouds: Teachers and Students Constructing Knowledge and Literacy Together

Interactive read alouds are important learning opportunities for emergent readers because teachers and peers can actively model and scaffold comprehension strategies, engage readers, and cultivate a community of learners. Using data from a 9 month ethnographic study in an urban kindergarten classroom, this article describes how the teacher’s approach facilitated rich interaction in the classroom as students read and made sense of stories together. Findings of this study demonstrate how interactive read alouds were important learning opportunities for emergent readers because they provided opportunities for open-ended responses combined with specific reading instruction. The interactive read alouds created a space where meaning was constructed through dialogue and classroom interaction, providing an opportunity for children to respond to literature in a way that builds on their strengths and extends their knowledge.