Oral reading errors: part of speech effects and their theoretical and practical implications

Data are presented which show striking differences between the characteristics of oral reading errors made to content and function words. Content word errors tend to be graphically similar but contextually unacceptable, whereas the reverse is true for errors made to function words — which are contextually acceptable but graphically dissimilar. This was true for two samples: for one child reading a total of 2,588 words, and for 12 children reading about 450 words each. There were however differences between the samples, and reasons for these are discussed. It is argued that some errors are better viewed not as errors in word recognition, but as post-recognition errors — that is, errors which occur even when the word has been correctly identified. The errors in this study are also compared with those made by an adult with acquired deep dyslexia reading words in isolation, and similarities between the two sets of errors were observed. Finally it is concluded that teachers and researchers should (1) categorize errors into visual, semantic, derivational and function word errors, (2) should calculate the proportion of function word errors, and (3) bear in mind that oral reading errors may occur even when words are correctly recognised.     

Preservice teachers and parents: using a reading course to change perceptions and practice

The authors sought to understand preservice teachers’ views about parents of students who struggle with reading and about their own preparedness to deal with such parents. Research, including surveys, student evaluation and tutoring intervention, indicates that before their work with parents and students, preservice teachers held strong beliefs about parents’ role and responsibilities with respect to their children who find reading daunting. After a semester‐long reading course which provided opportunities to work with struggling readers and their parents, the preservice teachers in this study expressed beliefs that were contrary to the ones they offered at the beginning of the course.     

Basic research in speech and lateralization of language: Some implications for reading disability

Basic research in speech and the lateralization of language is shown to illuminate the problems of reading and some of its disabilities. First, it is pointed out how speech, or language for the ear, differs markedly from reading, or language for the eye. Though the sounds of speech are a very complex code and the optical shapes of written language are a simple cipher or alphabet on the phonemes, we all perceive speech easily but read only with difficulty. Perceiving speech is easy because, as members of the human race, we all have access to a special physiological apparatus that decodes the complex speech signal and recovers the segmentation of the linguistic message. Reading is hard because the phonemic segmentation, which is automatic and intuitive in the case of speech, must be made fully conscious and explicit. The syllabic method supplemented by phonics (used with certain reservations) is suggested for remediation of segmentation problems. Second, it is posited that since the sounds of speech are processed differently from non-speech sounds, the two should not be diagnosed and remediated interchangeably. Third, it is shown that the relationships among cerebral lateralization for language, handedness and poor reading can now be studied more meaningfully because of the recent development of new techniques. A truism often heard in the opening lecture of graduate classes in education is that we have few answers to the problems that beset us, only questions. In the field of reading, the difficulty may be owing at least in part to our impatient attempts to find immediate solutions for the teacher and the student in the classroom, and our consequent neglect of basic research. I should like to suggest today how knowledge of basic research in related disciplines may lead to clues for improving beginning reading instruction and the lot of the disabled reader—if only by affording us a deeper understanding of the reading process. Paper based on a talk given at the Twenty-first Annual Conference of The Orton Society, Washington, D.C., November 14, 1970.     

Rhyme and reading: a critical review of the research methodology

There is debate over whether children’s early rhyme awareness has important implications for beginning reading instruction. The apparent finding that pre‐readers are able to perform rhyme tasks much more readily than phoneme tasks has led some to propose that teaching children to read by drawing attention to rime units within words is ‘a route into phonemes’ (Goswami, 1999a, p. 233). Rhyme and analogy have been adopted as an integral part of the National Literacy Strategy (DfEE, 1998), a move which appears to have been influenced by three major research claims:1) rhyme awareness is related to reading ability, 2) rhyme awareness affects reading achievement, and 3) rhyme awareness leads to the development of phoneme awareness. A critical examination of the experimental research evidence from a methodological viewpoint, however, shows that not one of the three claims is sufficiently supported. Instructional implications are discussed.     

Evaluating the effects of repeated reading and continuous reading using a standardized dosage of words read

Repeated reading (RR) is a common fluency intervention, but recent studies comparing RR to continuous reading (CR; i.e., wide reading) found no significant differences in effects. This prompts the question of whether the mechanism that improves skills is repeatedly reading portions of connected text, or simply reading connected text. The current study examined the differential effectiveness of RR and CR for increasing oral reading fluency rate (ORF) and comprehension of 40 students in second and third grades, randomly assigned to receive the RR or CR intervention. Students in both conditions received a standardized amount of practice (dosage) in the form of number of words read during each intervention session. All but two participants increased their ORF and there were no significant differences between groups on posttest ORF or broad comprehension. Moreover, students with the highest pretest scores made slightly more growth regardless of condition. Students in the RR group demonstrated significantly higher comprehension of practiced passages and students in the CR condition reported significantly higher levels of intervention acceptability. Implications for reading fluency intervention research and practice are discussed.     

An exploratory study examining the influence of the number of reading methods courses on pre-service and in-service teacher perceptions of ability to teach reading

Teacher education programmes (TEPs) are left with limited research on how the coursework they provide influences the perceptions teachers have about their ability to teach young children how to read – especially over the long term. The purpose of this study was to compare how teacher candidates rate their ability to teach reading at the conclusion of their TEP, and then again after a year of teaching. The matched participants (N = 126) were elementary education teachers representing five TEPs in one US state. Results revealed that the number of reading methods courses provided does influence the perceptions of pre-service and in-service teachers. Teachers who had two reading methods courses compared with teachers who had only one reading methods course reported statistically significant higher scores at the pre-service stage and were able to maintain higher scores at the in-service stage. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Reading motivation,perceptions of reading instruction and reading amount: a comparison of junior and senior secondary students in Hong Kong

This study examined the relations between students' reading motivation, perceptions of reading instruction and reading amount, together with grade differences, in a Chinese educational context. A total of 1,146 students from 19 secondary schools in Hong Kong voluntarily responded to a questionnaire that measured these three sets of variables. The study's findings indicated that students' intrinsic motivation was most strongly related to their reading amount. Students' perceptions of the reading instruction they received in their Chinese language class were significantly related to their reading motivation, but were only indirectly related to their reading amount, being mediated through reading motivation. Consistent with previous studies, significant grade differences were found in all types of reading motivation, students' perceptions of reading instruction and students' reading amount. The findings indicated that junior secondary students had better self‐efficacy, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and social motivation than senior secondary students. The largest grade difference was in students' self‐efficacy. Junior secondary students also perceived the reading instruction in their Chinese language class as more mastery‐oriented and read more frequently than senior secondary students. The implications of these findings for understanding Chinese students' reading motivation and for planning effective reading instruction to enhance their motivation are discussed.     

Extending the constructs of active learning: implications for teachers' pedagogy and practice

Active learning is a pedagogical construct widely appealed to within the global discourse of lifelong learning. However, an examination of the literature reveals a lack of clarity and consensus as to its meaning. This article provides a critical analysis of a range of dimensions underpinning the concept of active learning including policy discourses, definitions, interpretation and enactments in educational settings, and resultant pedagogical implications. A more robust theoretical framework is presented to support educator understanding which synthesises and extends current constructs and which bridges the divide between active learning considered as either theory of learning or pedagogical strategy.     

School psychologists' perceptions regarding the practice of identifying reading disabilities: Cognitive assessment and response to intervention considerations

This study surveyed a national sample of school psychologists with respect to the identification of reading disabilities (RD). It covers school psychologists' opinions regarding perceived benefits of the use of cognitive assessment in RD identification, both within and outside of an IQ–achievement discrepancy model. The survey also solicited opinions about the nature of RD, particularly conceptions of general slow learners (and readers) versus those evidencing a discrepancy. Results related to school psychologists' concerns about job security, should IQ testing be reduced, are presented. Furthermore, the perceived benefits of a Response to Intervention (RTI) model, how school psychologists see themselves contributing to an RTI effort, as well as possible hurdles to RTI implementation are covered. Measurement of these perceptions may be beneficial in informing current and future service delivery models for RD identification as well as possible training needs of currently practicing school psychologists. Finally, the current work represents an effort to measure assessment acceptability for RD identification techniques. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Metacognition and reading in children who are deaf: a review of the research

The purpose of this article is to review and synthesize the literature linking metacognition and reading in children who are deaf. Although this body of research is sparse, three issues emerge. First, the research implies that current instructional practices used to teach reading to deaf children might actually hinder their development of mature metacognitive knowledge and control. Second, the studies suggest that the low-level reading material typically given to deaf children might not provide the opportunity for them to develop, practice, or use metacognitive strategies. And third, the research shows that deaf students can benefit from metacognitive strategy instruction.     

The design of a software to enhance the reading comprehension skills of deaf students: An integration of multiple theoretical perspectives

In this paper we discuss the role of visual resources, namely Greek Sign Language videos, concept maps and pictures, and their allocation in a multimedia educational software designed to enhance reading comprehension in deaf children. First, we summarize research findings from three bodies of literature that informed the design of the software: reading comprehension and deaf children, the role of visual displays in reading comprehension and multimedia learning theories. In the following part, we describe the software “See and See” and explain how relevant theory and research regarding visual displays and multimedia learning has been applied to its design. Finally, we present a pilot evaluation of “See and See” regarding the students’ interaction with the software and its role in reading comprehension.     

Graphic organizers and their effects on the reading comprehension of students with LD: a synthesis of research

Previous research studies examining the effects of graphic organizers on reading comprehension for students with learning disabilities (LD) are reviewed. An extensive search of the professional literature between 1963 and June 2001 yielded a total of 21 group design intervention studies that met the criteria for inclusion in the synthesis. Using graphic organizers (i.e., semantic organizers, framed outlines, cognitive maps with and without a mnemonic) was associated with improved reading comprehension overall for students with LD. Compared to standardized reading measures, researcher-developed comprehension measures were associated with higher effect sizes. Initial gains demonstrated when using graphic organizers were not revealed during later comprehension tasks or on new comprehension tasks.     

Success on the decks: working-class boys,education and turning the tables on perceptions of failure

Although working-class boys' disengagement with education continues to be a major public concern, the focus of educational research has been on anti-school, hyper-masculine so-called laddish masculinities and their salience within learner identities. What tend to be forgotten are the areas in which low-achieving boys actively engage and succeed in their learning and what these successes mean for their identity construction. This article shows how learning practices manifest themselves in extracurricular peer subcultures by presenting the findings of two related musical activities, DJ-ing and MC-ing. In this music-making, secondary school boys in the Northeast of England showed themselves to be capable of high levels of engagement, enthusiasm and success despite generally being considered low achieving and highly disaffected. This small case study based on semistructured interviews aimed to explore how boys aged 14–16 years enact their passion through creative agency and expressive cultural processes.     

尊学或崇术:高校办学理念的分野

19世纪以来,地方大学开始成为推动高等教育发展的重要力量,同时也因其简单模仿重点大学而陷入诸多误区。本文对两类大学在办学理念上“尊学”与“崇术”的分野进行了深入分析,指出重点大学应坚持“学术兼容,尊学为主”;地方大学应坚持“学术并举,崇术为主。”