Effects of metacognitive strategy instruction and instruction time on reading comprehension

Ten-year-old students in an experimental group and a control group were tested for metacognitive abilities in reading comprehension before and after implementation of treatment in the experimental group. The teachers of the students in the experimental group were trained in metacognitive strategy instruction and in optimizing instruction time for reading comprehension. The learning gains made by the students in the experimental group in metacognitive abilities for reading comprehension turned out to be significantly greater than those made by the students in the control group. In the next school, year the students in the former experimental group and the former control group were tested for reading comprehension. It turned out that the students in the former experimental group had significantly better results on reading comprehension than the students in the former control group.     

Deaf college students' reading comprehension and strategy use

Two comprehension studies were conducted with 46 deaf college students. In the first, 20 deaf college students representing higher and lower reading-ability levels were tested for correctly stating the main idea of a passage, answering content questions, indicating their understanding of the words and phrases, and recognizing a topically incongruent sentence embedded in the passage. The results suggest that deaf students profess a better understanding of what they read than they are able to demonstrate. The students' inability to identify a topically incongruent sentence in the passage further suggests a need for them to more carefully and accurately evaluate their understanding of what they are reading. A second study investigated the effect of strategy review instruction on deaf college students' comprehension of short reading passages. Students reading at a higher level showed improved comprehension on the posttraining passage, but students reading at a lower level did not. Similarly, the control group of deaf students comparable to the higher-level readers did not show improved comprehension.     

Effects of reciprocal teaching on reading comprehension of low‐achieving adolescents. The importance of specific teacher skills

Low‐achieving adolescents are known to have difficulties with reading comprehension. This article discusses how reciprocal teaching can improve low‐achieving adolescents' reading comprehension in whole‐classroom settings (as opposed to small‐group settings) and to what extent intervention effects are dependent on teacher behaviour. Over the course of 1 year, experimental teachers (n = 10) were given extensive training and coaching aimed at using principles of reciprocal teaching, while control teachers (n = 10) used their regular teaching method. Observations of teacher behaviour were focused on instruction of reading strategies, modelling and support of group work and were performed in both experimental and control classes, comprising a total of 369 students (mean age = 13.01). Our study shows that reciprocal teaching contributed to adolescent low achievers' reading comprehension only when experimental teachers provided high‐quality strategy instruction. In addition, results suggest that the quality of implementation of reciprocal teaching in whole‐classroom settings should receive more research attention.

Highlights

What is already known about this topic

• Reciprocal teaching is a method of instructing and guiding learners in reading comprehension.
• It consists of a set of three related instructional principles: (a) teaching comprehension‐fostering reading strategies; (b) expert modelling, scaffolding and fading; and (c) students practising and discussing reading strategies with other students, guided and coached by the teacher.
• High quality of implementation of reciprocal teaching by teachers in classrooms is difficult.

What this paper adds

• After 1 year of implementing reciprocal teaching, no main effects of the treatment were established.
• Intervention effects were moderated by quality of instruction: strategy instruction led to higher scores on reading comprehension in the treatment condition but not in the control condition.
• Implementation of the instructional principles was by no means optimal: teachers were unable to provide detailed guidance to students working in small groups and modelling of strategies requires more experience and theoretical insight in the use and nature of reading strategies.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Extensive training and coaching are needed for teachers to become experts in reciprocal teaching.
• Teachers need hands‐on tools to be able to guide students in their collaborative group work and to fade the teachers' role in order to allow more individual self‐regulation by students in their use of strategies.
• Implementation quality has to be taken into account when doing effectiveness research and when adopting new, theory‐based didactic approaches.

     

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。     

Peer feedback mediates the impact of self-regulation procedures on strategy use and reading comprehension in reciprocal teaching groups

The goal of this research was to highlight the role social regulatory processes play in making students’ teamwork in reciprocal teaching (RT) groups (a classroom activity in which students take the teacher’s role in small group reading sessions) effective. In addition to teamwork quality, we expected peer feedback to be a key factor in enhancing students’ reading comprehension achievements. Because previous research (Schünemann et al. in Contemp Educ Psychol 38:289–305, 2013) has shown that procedures of self-regulated learning (SRL) augment the effects of RT methods, we further assumed that such procedures would promote the quality of students’ collaborative efforts. In a cluster-randomized trial, students in 12 fifth-grade classes practiced a strategic approach to reading either in a RT condition or in a RT + SRL condition. In one of the 14 sessions, students’ interactive behavior was videotaped. Strategy use and reading comprehension were assessed at pretest, posttest, and maintenance. Performance differences between conditions were reliable only at maintenance. A multilevel mediation analysis showed that relative to RT students, RT + SRL students were better able to provide their teammates with informative feedback and organize their group work in a task-focused manner. Only feedback quality mediated the sustainability of treatment effects on strategy use and reading comprehension. In essence, this research suggests that effective reading comprehension trainings should integrate explicit instruction and practice in reading strategies, SRL, and focus on supportive peer processes in small groups with extensive instruction and practice in peer feedback.     

Phonological skills and reading comprehension

In the present study the mainfocus is on the impact of phonologicalawareness on reading comprehension. The studyinvolved 1300 children in Grade 1. Syllableawareness, phoneme awareness, word decodingand reading comprehension were each assessedwith two or three subtests. The results wereanalyzed by structural modeling. Due to themarked skewness observed for some of themanifest variables, separate analyses wereperformed for students with average worddecoding performance and for students with poorword decoding. Both among average and poordecoders, phonological awareness had a directimpact on reading comprehension, indicatingthat phonological factors play an independentrole in the processing of text. One possibleway to explain this observation is that atleast two critical factors in comprehension,vocabulary and short-term memory, are bothdetermined in part by phonological ability. Itmight also be the case that phonologicalawareness partly reflects metacognitiveprocesses assumed to be involved in readingcomprehension.     

Classical Chinese reading instruction: Current practices and their relationship with students' strategy use and reading motivation

The study examined current practices in Classical Chinese (CC) reading instruction in Hong Kong and the relationship between different instructional practices and students' strategy use and motivation in CC reading. A total of 519 secondary students voluntarily responded to a questionnaire that measured their perception of CC reading instruction, strategy use, and motivation. The findings indicate while teachers frequently teach both the language and content aspects of CC reading, the teacher-centered approach they are now adopting is ineffective in facilitating students' CC reading development. Relations between different instructional approaches and students’ strategy use and motivation in CC reading are discussed.     

外语阅读教学中的词汇教学

正如Wilkins所说：“没有语法,很多东西无法传递,没有词汇则任何东西都无法传递”。近年来,词汇学习策略得到中外学者的重视。Krashen等人对词汇的学习策略进行了研究,如：伴随性习得、关键词、上下文等。实际上融词汇教学于阅读之中。在阅读教学中提高词汇习得也不失为一种好的策略。     

新韩国语能力考试阅读理解解题技巧与教学

通过剖析新韩国语能力考试阅读理解真题,归纳九项阅读理解主旨,探析针对新韩国语能力考试阅读课程的主题教学及细项教学,强化解题技巧,提升教学创新能力。     

Using self-regulation as a framework for implementing strategy instruction to foster reading comprehension

Research on the implementation of reading strategies suggests that self-regulated learning might be a powerful framework to optimize effects on reading comprehension. Models of self-regulation emphasize that the teaching of strategy knowledge (Strat) has to be complemented by offering skills of cognitive (CSR) and motivational (MSR) aspects of self-regulation. In order to investigate whether all aspects of this model have to be carried out under regular classroom conditions, three different strategy programs (Strat + CSR + MSR vs. Strat + CSR vs. Strat) and a control condition were compared. Within a pre-, post-, and retention-test design with 20 classes, comprising of 593 fifth-graders (11 years), development of strategy knowledge, reading comprehension, school-related self-efficacy, and motivational orientation towards learning goals were assessed. While all strategy-oriented programs proved to enhance reading competence, understanding of reading strategies and competence for application of reading strategies, gains in self-efficacy did not differ from the control condition. As regards the retention test, the program that covered all aspects of strategy instruction (MSR + Strat + CSR) showed strongest effects as predicted by self-regulation theory.     

Improving learning disabled students' skills at composing essays: self-instructional strategy training

This study was conducted to determine if self-instructional strategy training would improve learning disabled students' writing. Students were taught a strategy designed to facilitate the generation, framing, and planning of argumentative essays. Training effects were investigated using a multiple-baseline across-subjects design, with multiple probes in baseline. Strategy instruction had a positive effect on students' writing performance and self-efficacy. Effects were maintained over time and transferred to a new setting and teacher. Evidence for generalization to a second genre, story writing, was also obtained. The students and their special education teacher recommended the use of the strategy with other students.     

Reading for different goals: the interplay of EFL college students' multiple goals,reading strategy use and reading comprehension

This study explored the effects of achievement goals on English as a foreign language (EFL) college students' reading strategy use and reading comprehension from the perspective of multiple goals. Fifty‐seven participants verbalised their thoughts while reading an English expository essay. They also completed assessments on their reading goal profiles and reading proficiency. The results of stimulated recall indicated that participants with profiles characterised by strong mastery and strong performance goals used intra‐sentential, inter‐paragraph, intra‐paragraph and monitoring/evaluating strategies significantly more frequently than did their counterparts. In contrast, participants with profiles characterised by strong mastery but weak performance goals utilised these strategies more often than those participants with weak mastery but strong performance goals. The strong‐mastery–strong‐performance goal profile served as a significant, positive predictor for degrees of reading comprehension. In line with these findings, suggestions for EFL reading pedagogy are provided.     

Reciprocal teaching and reading comprehension: a review

Reading researchers recently have turned their attention to co-operative forms of learning and teaching. One particular form of co-operative teaching is reciprocal teaching which involves the reciprocal interaction of experts and novices in explicit, overt demonstrations of strategy use. Scaffolding, active meaningful involvement, feedback, and fading of the expert's leading the interactions are seen as critical elements of the technique. This paper outlines the theoretical underpinnings of the technique and reviews research examining the effects of reciprocal teaching of comprehension strategies (summarising, predicting, clarifying, questioning) on comprehension disabled subjects. In general the findings show powerful effects, effects that transfer and generalise. The potential of the technique for enhancing other reading skills is discussed.     

Effects of instruction on beginning reading skills in children at risk for reading disability

Children identified in kindergarten as being at risk for reading disability were taught in grades one and two using one of two methods of reading instruction, a structured phonics code-emphasis approach or an approach emphasizing use of context. At the end of first and second grade, children were tested on measures of achievement in word identification, word attack, passage comprehension and spelling. Those in the Code group earned uniformly higher scores on all achievement measures at the end of first and second grades. At the end of first grade, statistically significant differences between groups were found on nonword reading and spelling of phonetically regular words. At the end of second grade, significant differences were found in reading of polysyllabic real words and decoding of monosyllabic and polysyllabic nonsense words. It was concluded that reading instruction does have an important impact on acquisition of early reading skills, and that structured, systematic phonics instruction results in more favorable outcome than does a context emphasis approach.This research was supported by PHS Grant HD21887 to Bowman Gray School of Medicine and by PHS Grant NS19413 to UNC-Greensboro, Subcontract to Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Request for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Idalyn S. Brown, Section of Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, 300 South Hawthorne Road, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27103, USA.     

浅谈如何提高学生的英语阅读理解能力

提高英语阅读理解能力,必须掌握足够的词汇量和正确的阅读技巧和方法。本文从词汇、理解技巧及阅读方法三个方面阐述了提高英语阅读理解能力的方法。     

Correlates of early reading comprehension skills: a componential analysis

This study had three main aims. First, we examined to what extent listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammatical skills and verbal short-term memory (VSTM) assessed prior to formal reading instruction explained individual differences in early reading comprehension levels. Second, we examined to what extent the three common component skills, namely vocabulary, grammar and VSTM explained the relationship between kindergarten listening comprehension and early reading comprehension levels. Third, we examined the relative contributions of word-reading and listening comprehension skills to early reading comprehension in Turkish. For this purpose, 56 Turkish-speaking children were followed from kindergarten (mean age?=?67.7?months) into Grade 2 (mean age?=?90.6?months). The relative role of kindergarten listening comprehension, vocabulary, VSTM and grammatical skills in later reading comprehension tended to vary across time, and they partly explained the relationship between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. Finally, as anticipated, listening comprehension, rather than word-reading , was found to play a more powerful role in children’s reading comprehension levels even during the early primary grades. These results contradicted those reported in English and can be explained by the rapid development of accurate word-reading skills due to the consistency of the grapheme–phoneme relationships of the Turkish orthography.     

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.     

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.     

Auditory and reading comprehension in hyperlexia: Semantic and syntactic skills

In contrast to dyslexia, in hyperlexia, there is precocious development of reading in the absence of other precocious skills, thus reading is significantly above expectation on the basis of prediction from age and intelligence. A psycholinguistic investigation is reported, of a 10 year old, non-autistic hyperlexic, on tasks of both written and auditory presentation of single words, sentences and text. M.S. shows good development of both phonological and lexical reading mechanisms. He does not display a pattern of reading performance which resembles any selective reading disorder and there is no evidence that the nature of his reading development, in relation to accuracy, is abnormal in style. However, reading accuracy is significantly better than both reading comprehension and auditory comprehension. The comprehension deficit does not affect language in an undifferentiated way. Semantic comprehension is normal for age but syntactic comprehension is significantly impaired. Thus, although there are no unusual dissociations in relation to reading accuracy, there is a significant dissociation between reading accuracy and reading comprehension, and also between semantic and syntactic comprehension of both written and auditory material which argues for modularity in the development of these subsystems.