Correlates of early reading performance in a transparent orthography

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 83first – and 81 fourth graders at the end of theschool year to examine factors accounting forearly reading performance in Finnish, atransparent orthography with a clear mapping ofphonemes onto graphemes. Measures for bothgrades included reading comprehension, phonemeawareness, and object- and digit naming.Additionally measures of skills in morphology,spelling and a screening battery wereadministered to the first graders. The sets ofmeasures accounted for 56% of the variance inreading performance in first grade and 64% infourth grade. Phoneme awareness was stronglyrelated to reading performance and spelling atthe end of first grade, but only forless-skilled readers in fourth grade. Theseresults suggest a larger role for phonemeawareness for children learning a transparentorthography than has been suggested in earlierstudies. At the same time, listeningcomprehension contributed more strongly tofirst-grade reading performance than has beenreported for children learning to readEnglish.     

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.     

Correlates of orthographic learning in third‐grade children's silent reading

This study examined word identification, phonological recoding efficiency, familiar word reading efficiency, orthographic choice for familiar words and serial naming speed as potential correlates of orthographic learning following silent reading in third‐grade children. Children silently read a series of short stories, each containing six repetitions of a different target non‐word. They subsequently read target non‐words faster than homophones and preferred target non‐words to homophones in an orthographic choice task, indicating that they had formed functional orthographic representations of the target non‐words through phonologically recoding them during silent story reading. Target non‐word orthographic choice was correlated with all measures bar non‐symbol naming speed. The association between phonological recoding efficiency and orthographic learning lends support to the hypothesis that self‐teaching occurs through phonological recoding even in silent reading. Our findings were not generally consistent with the view that serial naming speed assesses orthographic learning aptitude.     

对高师非体育专业大学生余暇体育的研究

采用问卷调查法对我校非体育教育专业大学生余暇体育现状进行了研究 ,揭示了高师大学生余暇体育的兴趣动机、余暇体育的行为、余暇体育的消费情况 ,从而找出影响余暇体育开展的因素 ,提出相应的对策 ,为高校体育改革提供一个参考依据     

Reading Derrida close reading Lemov close reading close reading

Asbtract

This article does exactly what the title suggests: It reads Derrida’s idea of close reading into Doug Lemov’s idea of close reading by close reading Lemov’s definition for close reading. Building on work that considers poststructural approaches in reading classrooms, I engage Lemov and Derrida in a conversation about the meaning and uses of reading as a classroom practice. This approach asks questions about who gets to read, where, and in what ways. Within this conversation, I aim to open new considerations of reading in classrooms in public schools in the U.S. The article concludes with some possibilities and risks of pursuing these ideas, focusing on the potential of new inquiries into the ‘right’ to read.     

Systematic quality development work in a Swedish leisure-time centre

There is increasing activity in the area of quality issues in education in Europe. Diverse discourses of policy for quality are encountered in daily practice. This article explores systematic quality development work in a Swedish educational setting: the leisure-time centre. By following 2 teachers’ enactments of policy in planning, organising, documenting, and evaluating the quality of a leisure-time centre and children's achievement of objectives, different logics were found. Tensions in practice that visualise pluralistic intentions in policy and educational approaches were also revealed. Planning and organising as parts of systematic quality development work reveal an emerging individualistic perspective. However, when teachers carry out documentation and evaluation, they reconstruct a social pedagogical approach grounded in the tradition of the leisure-time centre with a group-oriented focus.     

Students' self-perception of reading ability,enjoyment of reading and reading achievement

Using data from New Zealand's National Education Monitoring Project, a light sampling, low stakes performance based national school assessment program, reading self-efficacy, reading enjoyment, and reading achievement were examined in samples of 8 and 12 year old children. Sample sizes were n = 480 for each group. While reading achievement increased substantially in going from age 8 to age 12, reading enjoyment and reading self-efficacy declined. Girls outperformed boys in reading achievement and showed higher levels of reading enjoyment; differences in self-efficacy by gender were minimal. Results are discussed in terms of previous research and implications for instructional practice.     

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.     

阅读规律与阅读教学

“披文入情”，熟读记诵；“以意逆志”，自得自求；博约相兼，“循序渐进”；“专心致志”，坚韧有恒，是我们的古人从长期汉语文教学实践中总结出来的阅读规律。它的应用曾为灿烂的华夏古代文明建设和华夏精英的育养做出重要贡献。它根源于中华民族心理特征和汉语的非形态性、汉字的表意性。它至今仍具有很大的实践价值。继承并发展它，将有效提高阅读教学水平，使语文教学早日摆脱少慢差费的困扰。     

Correlates of Physics Achievement

This research examined the interactive effect of cognitive entry behaviors (CEB) with mastery vs. non-mastery learning strategies of instruction on reading comprehension. One hundred eighty grade-three students were randomly assigned to four treatment groups: 90% mastery, 70% mastery, non-mastery, and control. Subjects were individually instructed a sequence of three tasks that aimed to teach the skills of word recognition, word meaning, and word order. Multivariate multiple regression analysis indicated a significant CEB × Treatment interaction on immediate comprehension achievement. A comparison of regression slopes revealed that low CEB mastery learning students benefited relatively more than high CEB mastery learning students. These findings confirmed the interactive relationship between initial abilities and instructional methods postulated in Bloom’s theory of school learning. The CEB × Treatment interaction on long-term retention was not significant, suggesting the need for extended mastery learning programs for low CEB students.     

The use of computer-automated reading in reading instruction

This study evaluates the use of computer-automated reading in reading instruction and illustrates a resource role for school psychologists in providing consultative assistance for computer-assisted instruction. A reading specialist serving as the teacher's aide was taught to write computer programs for automated reading on a personal computer with a speech synthesizer. The teacher selected six beginning-reading books for her remedial reading classes with 1st- and 2nd-grade students. Five 1st-grade and five 2nd-grade students, enrolled in a compensatory education program, were randomly assigned to two experimental groups; five 1st-grade and five 2nd-grade students, enrolled in the same program, were randomly assigned to two control groups. The students in the experimental groups received automated reading with their instruction; the students in the control groups received instruction in the same books, without automated reading. Pre- and posttests of word recognition, phrase reading, and reading comprehension were administered. The random selection of 1st-grade students failed to yield comparable groups, and the contrast of adjusted posttest scores was nonsignificant. Analyses of covariance on the reading criteria for the 2nd-grade groups indicated significant achievement gains for the experimental group.     

What are teenagers reading? Adolescent fiction reading habits and reading choices

What are adolescents choosing to read? This is an important question because of potential divergence between school students' reading interests and reading expectations in school. This article considers the findings from a study of the reading over one week in May 2002 of 707 school students aged between 11 and 15, undertaken in 30 schools in the south‐west of England. The findings are related to earlier research by, amongst others, Whitehead, Benton, and Hall and Coles. The article reflects on adolescent reading choices, influences on those choices and the importance of validating all reading experience, including the new literacies.     

Oral reading fluency,reading motivation and reading comprehension among second graders

The relationships between oral reading fluency, reading motivation and reading comprehension were examined at the beginning and the end of second grade among 121 Hebrew speaking students. The contribution of oral reading fluency and three sub-factors of motivation—self-concept as a reader, value attached to reading and literacy outloud (social interactions about literacy)—at the beginning of the school year to reading comprehension at the end of the year was also examined. Results indicate that all oral reading fluency measures and all motivational sub-factors were significantly correlated with reading comprehension at the end of second grade. In addition, positive change in self-concept as a reader along the school year was related to improvement in reading achievement. Finally, text rate and self-concept as a reader at the beginning of second grade together predicted 28% of the variance in reading comprehension at the end of second grade. The results support the notion that the cognitive approach to reading cannot explain all the variance in reading comprehension and emphasize the necessity of including motivational factors in the language arts curriculum in the early stages of reading acquisition.

     

Beginning readers' reading performance and reading habits

This study investigated the prospective relationships between reading performance and reading habits among Finnish children during the first and second grades of primary school. One hundred and ninety‐five children were examined twice during their first primary school year and once during the spring term of Grade 2. The results showed, first, that children's reading skills predicted their reading habits: the more competent in reading children were at the end of Grade 1, the more likely they were to engage in out‐of‐school reading one year later. Second, reading habits also predicted reading skills: the amount of out‐of‐school reading at the end of Grade 1 contributed to the development of word recognition skills.     

Learning reading strategies by triggering reading motivation

In this article, the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at the development of reading motivation and reading strategies within problem-oriented learning environments is evaluated. The basic assumption underlying the intervention is that reading should occur in meaningful contexts and that reading and science should be regularly integrated. The intervention challenges pupils to investigate a self-formulated problem, read several books or texts on the topic and report the results of their study. The participants were six experimental third-grade classes and seven comparable control classes. The effects of the intervention were measured using a pretest-posttest control group design. Analyses of covariance were conducted to examine the effects as measured by a standardized Reading Comprehension Test, a Reading Comprehension Questionnaire, a Reading Strategy Test and a Reading Motivation Scale. The results showed the experimental group to outperform the control group with regard to knowledge of reading strategies (Reading Comprehension Questionnaire) and the use of such strategies (Reading Strategy Test). A significant difference in favour of the experimental group was also found for the Reading Motivation Scale. An effect on the standardized Reading Comprehension Test was not found.     

Forecasting reading anxiety for promoting English-language reading performance based on reading annotation behavior

To reduce effectively the reading anxiety of learners while reading English articles, a C4.5 decision tree, a widely used data mining technique, was used to develop a personalized reading anxiety prediction model (PRAPM) based on individual learners' reading annotation behavior in a collaborative digital reading annotation system (CDRAS). In addition to forecasting immediately the reading anxiety levels of learners, the proposed PRAPM can be used to identify the key factors that cause reading anxiety based on the fired prediction rules determined by the developed decision tree. By understanding these key factors that cause reading anxiety, instructors can apply reading strategies to reduce reading anxiety, thus promoting English-language reading performance. To assess whether the proposed PRAPM can assist instructors in reducing the reading anxiety of learners, this study applies the quasi-experimental method to compare the learning performance of three learning groups, which are, respectively, supported by a CDRAS with individual annotations, collaborative annotations, and collaborative annotations with online instructor's support to reduce reading anxiety by the proposed PRAPM. The instructional experiment was conducted on Grade 7 students at Taipei Municipal Wan-Fang high school. Experimental results indicate that the average correct prediction rate of the proposed PRAPM in identifying the reading anxiety levels of learners was as high as 70%. Moreover, analytical results show that the collaborative annotation with online instructor's support for reducing reading anxiety by the proposed PRAPM indeed helps learners reduce reading anxiety, particularly for the male learners, showing that gender difference exists. Furthermore, based on online instructor's support for reducing reading anxiety by the proposed PRAPM, the correlation analysis also shows that the online instructor's interaction with the male learners is significantly correlated with the reading anxiety reduction. Furthermore, English-language learning performance of the three learners groups, which were given a CDRAS with different learning mechanisms, was significantly promoted.     

Syllable-based reading improvement: Effects on word reading and reading comprehension in Grade 2

This study examined the effects of a syllable-based reading intervention for German second graders who demonstrated difficulties in the recognition of written words. The intervention focused on fostering word reading via syllable segmentation. The materials consisted of the 500 most frequent syllables typically read by 6- to 8-year-old children. The aims were to practice phonological recoding, consolidate orthographic representations of syllables, and routinize the access to these representations. Compared to children randomly assigned to a wait-list group, poor readers in the treatment condition showed significant improvements in standardized measures of phonological recoding, direct word recognition, and text-based reading comprehension after the 24-session intervention. Poor readers in the treatment condition also showed greater improvements in development of word recognition compared to children with efficient word recognition skills. The results provide evidence that a syllable-based reading intervention is a promising approach to increase struggling readers’ word recognition skills, which in turn will improve their reading comprehension.     

Hypertext reading: novice vs. expert reading

This paper discusses some differences between linear reading and reading in hypertext, a non-linear medium. The investigations of hypertext form part of a research project on the design and use of multimedia systems, and hypertext in particular, for assessing planning applications for large scale building developments, such as chemical plants which are subject to the Air Pollution Laws (Immissionsschutzgesetz). The key question treated here is whether hypertext makes it easier to read and assess such planning applications for experts (officials of the regional government and advisers to interest groups) and for lay people who may be objectors (such as members of ecology groups or those living in the neighbourhood). The development and testing of a hypertext system for this purpose involves considering the literature in psychology on cognitive differences between reading conventional and hypertext documents and on advantages and disadvantages of hypertext. From the literature review and from interview data, it is concluded that hypertext has fewer benefits in this situation than it appears to promise; while there are some advantages for experts, who nevertheless also need to apply conventional reading strategies to conventional paper texts, it is of limited use to the lay non-experts who have an interest in planning inquiries.