Exploring the relationship between reading strategy use and multiple intelligences among successful L2 readers

Over the years, the multiple intelligences theory (MIT) proposed by Howard Gardner has renewed interest in learners’ use of effective learning strategies and produced interesting results. This MIT-oriented study investigated the role of successful L2 readers’ multiple intelligences in their effective use of reading strategies. To this end, a TOEFL reading comprehension test was administered to a cohort of 135 English as a foreign language students at several universities in the southwest and centre of Iran, and 80 students were identified as successful L2 readers based on the ETS rating scale and their TOEFL scores. Then, they answered an MI questionnaire originally developed by Armstrong and a reading strategies inventory adapted by Singhal. The data were quantitatively analysed using correlations and multiple regressions. The results revealed that linguistic, logical–mathematical and intrapersonal intelligences were the good L2 readers’ most dominant intelligences, while bodily intelligence was the least common type. In addition, they mostly employed metacognitive and cognitive strategies but rarely drew upon affective and compensation strategies while reading. Further, there was a significant positive relationship between linguistic, logical–mathematical, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences and the use of metacognitive and cognitive reading strategies. Similar relationships were also found between linguistic intelligence and the participants’ use of memory strategy, on one hand, and between interpersonal intelligence and compensation and social strategy use, on the other. Importantly, linguistic and intrapersonal intelligences as well as metacognitive and cognitive strategy use were shown to be the best predictors of reading comprehension. Finally, the theoretical or pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Examining an extended simple view of reading in Chinese: The role of naming efficiency for reading comprehension

The simple view of reading (SVR) proposes that reading comprehension is the product of two constructs, namely decoding and linguistic comprehension. The present study examined the adequacy of an extended SVR in Chinese. Participants were 190 pairs of Chinese twin children of Grades 1–3 recruited in Hong Kong. The children were given Chinese measures of decoding (character reading, word reading, and 1-min word reading), linguistic comprehension (morphological awareness, vocabulary, morphosyntactic skills, and discourse skills), rapid naming (Chinese digits, English digits, and English letters), and passage reading comprehension (with multiple-choice and open-ended questions). Results of structural equation modeling showed that the direct paths from decoding and linguistic comprehension to reading comprehension were significant, but that from rapid naming was not. For the role of rapid naming in reading comprehension, the best fitting model showed that the contribution of rapid naming to reading comprehension was fully mediated by decoding. The model explained a total of 83% of the variance in reading comprehension. Therefore, the present findings support the SVR in a Chinese writing system; rapid naming may reflect some basic visual-verbal learning ability which is important for acquiring word recognition skills.     

Relationships between teachers’ metacognitive knowledge and students’ metacognitive knowledge and reading achievement

The study examined the relationships between teachers’ metacognitive knowledge of reading strategies and their students’ metacognitive knowledge and reading comprehension. The study was carried out among language art teachers (N?=?34) and their students (N?=?534) in the last year of primary school (ninth grade) in Estonia. Multilevel modeling was used to test the hypotheses of relationships between students’ metacognitive knowledge and reading comprehension, while controlling for students’ previous reading comprehension (in eighth grade) as well as the relations between teachers’ metacognitive knowledge of reading strategies and students’ metacognitive knowledge and comprehension. The results showed that students’ metacognitive knowledge of reading strategies related to their reading comprehension, concurring with previous findings. The main finding was that teachers’ metacognitive knowledge of reading strategies significantly related to their students’ metacognitive knowledge, but not to reading comprehension. These results indicate that students’ reading comprehension may be supported by improving their metacognitive knowledge of reading strategies. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of teachers’ metacognitive knowledge in students’ metacognitive knowledge.     

The simple view of reading

A simple view of reading was outlined that consisted of two components, decoding and linguistic comprehension, both held to be necessary for skilled reading. Three predictions drawn from the simple view were assessed in a longitudinal sample of English-Spanish bilingual children in first through fourth grade. The results supported each prediction: (a) The linear combination of decoding and listening comprehension made substantial contributions toward explaining variation in reading comprehension, but the estimates were significantly improved by inclusion of the product of the two components; (b) the correlations between decoding and listening comprehension tended to become negative as samples were successively restricted to less skilled readers; and (c) the pattern of linear relationships between listening and reading comprehension for increasing levels of decoding skill revealed constant intercept values of zero and positive slope values increasing in magnitude. These results support the view that skill in reading can be simply characterized as the product of skill in decoding and linguistic comprehension. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the simple view for the practice of reading instruction, the definition of reading disability, and the notion of literacy.     

How graphic novels support reading comprehension strategy development in children

This qualitative case study explored the relationship between comprehension strategies and graphic novels in one Grade 4 classroom, utilising children as informants. The primary research questions related to children's applications of metacognitive reading comprehension strategies as well as the potential for graphic novels to support the students’ development as readers. Findings demonstrated that the children were able to apply two types of strategies to their reading of graphic novels: ‘keys’ that supported form‐specific comprehension strategies and ‘master keys’ that supported more general comprehension strategies that could be applied to other types of texts. Student preferences for graphic novels aligned with their preferences for reading narrative novels and non‐fiction, and did not align with preferences regarding comics or cartoons. Student preferences for reading graphic novels increased throughout the study. Fluent student responses to graphic novels through process drama were identified. Implications of the study involve the employment of graphic novels to support metacognitive strategies for reading and writing as well as to facilitate process drama.     

Integrating reciprocal teaching in an online environment with an annotation feature to enhance low-achieving students’ English reading comprehension

Reciprocal teaching (RT) has been used to improve English as Foreign Language (EFL) students’ reading comprehension in face-to-face instruction. However, little was known about how they use the RT to comprehend English texts in an online environment. This study explored how the implementation of RT strategies with the use of an annotation tool to improve low-achieving students’ English reading comprehension in an online environment. A total of 22 low-achieving EFL students participated in this study. The pre- and post- reading comprehension tests showed that the students’ English reading comprehension improved after practicing RT strategies with annotation tools. Questioning and predicating strategies were ranked as the two most useful strategies, as both promoted successful collaborative reading among students. Summarizing and clarifying were less useful than questioning and predicting strategies because the low-achieving EFL students faced language difficulties when summarizing and clarifying. The annotations supported RT strategies by (1) establishing a collaborative environment for students to discuss RT strategies any time, (2) organizing and indexing reading content in multimodal forms, and (3) helping students review and revise their comprehension.     

Components and context: exploring sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native english speakers in urban schools

Drawing on the cognitive and ecological domains within the componential model of reading, this longitudinal study explores heterogeneity in the sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Students (N = 150) were followed from first through third grade and assessed annually on standardized English language and reading measures. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relative contributions of code-related and linguistic comprehension skills in first and second grade to third grade reading comprehension. Linguistic comprehension and the interaction between linguistic comprehension and code-related skills each explained substantial variation in reading comprehension. Among students with low reading comprehension, more than 80% demonstrated weaknesses in linguistic comprehension alone, whereas approximately 15% demonstrated weaknesses in both linguistic comprehension and code-related skills. Results were remarkably similar for the language minority learners and native English speakers, suggesting the importance of their shared socioeconomic backgrounds and schooling contexts.     

A latent variable approach to the simple view of reading

The present study utilized a latent variable modeling approach to examine the Simple View of Reading in a sample of students from 3rd, 7th, and 10th grades (N = 215, 188, and 180, respectively). Latent interaction modeling and other latent variable models were employed to investigate (a) the functional form of the relationship between decoding and linguistic comprehension in third grade, (b) the contribution of these predictors as children progress through school, and (c) the contribution of passage fluency, working memory, and performance IQ to a model of reading for all grades. Results did not support the Simple View of Reading for students in grades 3, 7 and 10. Additionally, it was found that passage fluency significantly predicted reading comprehension after controlling for decoding and linguistic comprehension for students in grades 7 and 10. Likewise performance IQ was found to be a significant predictor of reading comprehension for students in third grade.     

Metacognitive strategies and reading comprehension in elementary-school students

The aim of this study was to explore comprehension monitoring and perceived use of reading strategies as factors of reading comprehension. Participants were elementary school students from the fifth to the eighth grade. Error correction and text sensitivity tasks from the Metacomprehension test (Pazzaglia, De Beni, &; Cristante, 1994). and the cloze-task were used as measures of comprehension monitoring during reading. A Strategic reading questionnaire (Koli?-Vehovec &; Baj?anski, 2001b) was applied as a measure of perceived use of strategies during reading. Girls had better results than boys on text comprehension, all measures of comprehension monitoring, as well as on the Strategic reading questionnaire. Significant developmental improvements in comprehension monitoring occurred after the fifth grade and between the sixth and the eighth grade. A similar change was evident in reading comprehension. All measures of comprehension monitoring were significantly related to text comprehension in all age groups. However, perceived use of reading strategies was significantly related to reading comprehension only in eighth-grade students.     

Utilizing Nonfiction Texts to Enhance Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary in Primary Grades

Many primary grade students are not afforded nonfiction-rich opportunities, with fiction comprising the majority of books read aloud in classrooms. With the Common Core Standards recommending that half of the texts made available to students be nonfiction, educators are increasing their use of informational text. The present study explored the impact of explicitly teaching reading comprehension and vocabulary strategies with nonfiction text compared to fiction text in primary-grade classrooms. Two first-grade (n = 39; 25 male, 14 female) and one second-grade class (n = 20; 13 male, 7 female) participated in the quantitative study that followed a repeated measures design in which the students alternated every 2 weeks between fiction-based instruction and nonfiction-based instruction for a total of 8 weeks. Vocabulary and use of comprehension strategies were assessed at the end of each 2-week period. Overall findings indicated that students were better able to apply the comprehension strategies and define vocabulary following nonfiction-based instruction; they also were more motivated to read informational text. The authors recommend that teachers use more nonfiction texts in the primary grades to support students’ reading comprehension and vocabulary development.     

Teacher Judgments of Student Reading and Math Skills: Associations With Child- and Classroom-Related Factors

The purpose of the study was to examine whether students’ linguistic skills and task-avoidant behavior (i.e., the child-related factors) and the mean level of academic skills (reading comprehension and math) of classmates (i.e., the class-related factor) are associated with teacher judgments of children’s reading comprehension and math skills. The participants were third-grade Estonian-speaking students (n?=?656; age 9?11 years) and their classroom teachers (n?=?51). The results of the structural equation modeling path analyses indicated that teachers tend to judge students showing higher academic and linguistic skills and lower avoidance behavior as higher on the reading comprehension and math skills. In contrast, the classmates’ higher academic skill level was related to lower judgments of individual children’s reading comprehension and math skills by teachers.     

Component skills of text comprehension in less competent Chinese comprehenders

The present study examined the role of verbal working memory (memory span and tongue-twister), two-character Chinese pseudoword reading (two tasks), rapid automatized naming (RAN) (letters and numbers), and phonological segmentation (deletion of rimes and onsets) in inferential text comprehension in Chinese in 31 less competent comprehenders compared with 37 reading comprehension control students and 23 chronological age controls. It was hypothesized that the target students would perform poorly on these cognitive and linguistic tasks as compared with their controls. Furthermore, verbal working memory and pseudoword reading would explain a considerable amount of individual variation in Chinese text comprehension. RAN would have a nonsignificant role in text comprehension. Structural equation analyses and hierarchical multiple regression analyses generally upheld these hypotheses. Our findings support current literature of the role of verbal working memory in reading comprehension found in English. The results, however, suggest differential role of the constructs and the tasks in reading comprehension and provide some answers for comprehension impairment in Chinese students.     

Role of reading engagement in mediating effects of reading comprehension instruction on reading outcomes

The engagement model of reading development suggests that instruction improves students' reading comprehension to the extent that it increases students' engagement processes in reading. We compared how Concept‐Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) (support for cognitive and motivational processes in reading), strategy instruction (support for cognitive strategies in reading), and traditional instruction in fourth‐grade classrooms differentially influenced students' reading comprehension, strategy use, and engagement in reading. Students experiencing CORI were significantly higher than both comparison groups on reading comprehension, reading strategies, and reading engagement. When students' level of reading engagement was statistically controlled, the differences between the treatment groups were not significant. We infer that the level of students' reading engagement during classroom work mediated the instructional effects on reading outcomes. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exploring metacognitive strategies and hypermedia annotations on foreign language reading

The effective use of reading strategies has been recognized as an important way to increase reading comprehension in hypermedia environments. The purpose of the study was to explore whether metacognitive strategy use and access to hypermedia annotations facilitated reading comprehension based on English as a foreign language students’ proficiency levels. The primary investigation finding revealed that the strategies used the most were problem-solving strategies, followed by global strategies, whereas support strategies were used the least. The specific strategy of guessing content was used much more frequently which was reliably predicted by their comprehension scores; on the contrary, reading slowly might hinder hypermedia reading comprehension. Regarding the frequency of access to annotations, background information was viewed the most frequently, while word glossary was identified as least frequently; no significant relationship, however, was observed among proficiency levels, frequency of annotation use, and reading strategies. Based on further think-aloud investigation results, limitations and future research are discussed and presented.     

Cognitive and linguistic predictors of text comprehension

The problem was concerned with the extent to which cognitive/linguistic functions and domain-specific strategies could predict readers’ text comprehension when working with science texts. Six hypotheses were stated and tested in two prediction studies (N=101 eighth-graders), and one experiment (N=8 pupils of same age). Handal’s reading test was used for classifying pupils into good and poor readers. Two texts, one with a known subject and another with an unknown theme were imposed pupils as science reading tasks. Questionnaires and tests concerning cognitive and linguistic functions were used as independent variables in the prediction studies. Two different tests were used as independent variables (for text comprehension) in all of the three studies, and one additional criterion test (writing essays on main ideas in the texts) was applied in the experient. The experiment was organized as a 2x2 factorial design where text type and reading skill were the factors. According to the results, 5 of the 6 hypotheses could not be rejected, i.e., general concept information was the most significant predictor of science text comprehension. Furthermore, text based on a subject known to the reader always surpassed text with an unknown subject as to text comprehension. Similarily, across-domain strategies were more closely related to reading comprehension than domain-specific strategies.     

The role text structure inference skill plays for eighth graders’ expository text comprehension

The present study investigated whether text structure inference skill (i.e., the ability to infer overall text structure) has unique predictive value for expository text comprehension on top of the variance accounted for by sentence reading fluency, linguistic knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. Furthermore, it was examined whether the unique predictive value of text structure inference skill differs between monolingual and bilingual Dutch students or students who vary in reading proficiency, reading fluency or linguistic knowledge levels. One hundred fifty-one eighth graders took tests that tapped into their expository text comprehension, sentence reading fluency, linguistic knowledge, metacognitive knowledge, and text structure inference skill. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that text structure inference skill has no unique predictive value for eighth graders’ expository text comprehension controlling for reading fluency, linguistic knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. However, text structure inference skill has unique predictive value for expository text comprehension in models that do not include both knowledge of connectives and metacognitive knowledge as control variables, stressing the importance of these two cognitions for text structure inference skill. Moreover, the predictive value of text structure inference skill does not depend on readers’ language backgrounds or on their reading proficiency, reading fluency or vocabulary knowledge levels. We conclude our paper with the limitations of our study as well as the research and practical implications.     

Comprehension of humor in children with nonverbal learning disabilities,reading disabilities,and without learning disabilities

The normal development of humor in children has been well documented with a predictable course that is tied to social, cognitive, and linguistic development in children. This study explored humor comprehension in children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD). Children with NVLD were compared with children with reading disabilities and a comparison group of children with no learning disabilities to assess their comprehension of humor. The humor test was composed of a joke and cartoon section. No group differences in humor comprehension were found when the NVLD group was defined as having visual–spatial and visual reasoning deficits. However, when the NVLD group was divided into children with and without social perceptual difficulties as defined by a direct measure of social comprehension, significant group differences were found in the levels of humor comprehension. These results support the association of humor comprehension with social perception and lend tentative support to the hypothesis that children with NVLD may not be a homogenous group. Future study directions include further exploration into the nature of the association between humor comprehension and social perception as well as closer examination of the heterogeneity of NVLD.     

《高级英语》课程文化背景知识与阅读理解的相关研究

本文运用萨丕尔和沃尔夫等人的"语言相对论"理论研究了《高级英语》课程文化背景知识与阅读理解的相关性。通过研究,本文发现文化背景知识和学生的阅读理解成绩呈正相关;但是,不论测试组还是对照组,其相关系数都不够高。这就暗示在阅读理解的过程中还有其他因素影响学生的阅读成绩。在考查了学生其他各门相关课程的成绩后,本文发现学生的语言能力和非文化认知知识也影响着学生的阅读成绩。