Comprehension of written sentences as a core component of children's reading comprehension

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that sentence processing is an essential mediatory skill between word recognition and text comprehension in reading. In Experiment 1, a semantic similarity judgement task was used with children from Grade 2 to Grade 9. They had to say whether two written sentences had the same (or very similar) meanings or whether the meanings of the two sentences were very different. As expected, performance improved with age both on the high‐frequency words and with increasingly complex sentences. In Experiment 2 with children in Grade 3, scores in written sentence comprehension and vocabulary made the most important unique contribution to the reading comprehension of an expository text. The results are discussed first, in the light of a general framework in which sentence‐level skill is at the core of reading comprehension and second, with reference to the issue of reading assessment.     

SOCIOMETRY IN SCHOOL ‐‐ II. APPLICATIONS

For the purposes of scoring essays written in a second language, two of the most important considerations are the intelligibility and the structural complexity of the writing.

Various disadvantages are inherent in the use of clauses and/or sentences as a basis for analysing structure in written work; a more satisfactory technique was developed by Kellogg W. Hunt in America, using what he termed a ‘minimal terminable unit’ or ‘T‐unit’.

This technique was applied in the scoring of the NFER open‐ended writing and speaking tests, which formed part of the battery of ‘Tests of English Proficiency forImmigrant Children’.

During the development of these tests, the battery was administered to Asian children, for whom it was found that the average T‐unit length in writing and speech increased with increasing length of stay in Britain. (Average T‐unit length has been found by Hunt and O'Don‐nell to increase with age for children writing and speaking in their native language.) The results of the NFER testing indicated that much of the development of proficiency in both the speech and writing of the Asian children tested took place after three‐and‐a‐half years in Britain. (These findings were essentially a by‐product of test development, and therefore must be viewed with caution.).     

Syntactic complexity measures: variation by genre,grade-level,students’ writing abilities,and writing quality

Syntactic complexity has been recognized as an important construct in writing research, and for the past five decades, many syntactic complexity measures (SCMs) have been examined in numerous studies. This systematic review is the first study of its kind to synthesize 36 studies spanning from 1970 to 2019 by identifying and cataloging all SCMs examined during this period. An analysis was performed on how the use of SCMs varied by genre, grade level, students’ writing ability, and writing quality. Five online databases (Academic Search Premier, ERIC, PsycINFO, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, and PsycARTICLES) were searched. A total of 48 SCMs were grouped into six categories: T-units and sentences, clauses, phrases, words, combined measures, and other measures. Most studies examined three common SCMs: mean T-unit length, mean number of words per clause, and mean number of clauses per T-unit. The argumentative genre had the highest values for T-unit length and mean number of clauses per T-unit, which could indicate greater sentence complexity. Higher-grade-level students generally construct sentences that are syntactically complex, but comparison between studies was difficult because different studies investigated different SCMs. Although students with higher writing abilities generally construct sentences that are syntactically more complex compared to students with lower writing abilities, the findings are not conclusive, as only a few studies examined this relationship. A similarly inconclusive relationship was found between syntactic complexity and writing quality because only a few studies examined this relationship. More research is needed to examine the relationship between SCMs, writing quality, and genre.

     

新建本科院校英语专业一年级学生作文句子类型的调查与分析

文章抽取了新建本科院校英语专业一年级学生的30篇作文作为语料对句子类型及句式特征进行了分析,得出此类学生的作文句型主要以简单句为主,复杂句的引导词单一且重复;由于受母语负迁移的影响,文章中出现了较多的兼语句、流水句和残缺句;句式缺乏多样化,倒装句、被动句、with复合句型等出现频率很低。针对学生作文中句子类型的特征分析了他们在写作中运用的回避策略并且提出了一些相应的教学改革建议。     

Text Writing within Simple Sentences: A Writing Fluency Intervention for Students with High‐Incidence Disabilities

Good sentence construction, the act of writing multiple words into sentence types that make semantic and syntactic sense, is needed for clear and meaningful written expression. The present study investigated the effects of a multi‐component writing intervention, sentence instruction and frequency building to a performance criterion, on the simple sentence construction of intermediate‐grade level students with high‐incidence disabilities. Four special education teachers delivered intervention to small groups of two students, a total of eight students, and assessed for retention. Overall results were positive but inconsistent across the small groups. Three of the four small groups improved their text writing within simple sentences during and following intervention, and moderate to large Tau‐U values for correct word sequences and for incorrect word sequences, respectively, were found. Results suggest that postinstruction writing fluency practice can be an effective part of writing intervention for intermediate‐grade level students with high‐incidence disabilities.     

Take Your Word or Tone for It? European American and Chinese Children’s Attention to Emotional Cues in Speech

Cultural experiences can influence how people attend to different emotional cues. Whereas semantic content explicitly describes feelings, vocal tone conveys implicit information regarding emotions. This cross-cultural study examined children’s attention to emotional cues in spoken words. The sample consisted of 121 European American (EA) and 120 Chinese children (4–9 years old). Each child played two computer games in which they listened to spoken words and judged the pleasantness of either the word meaning (Word game) or the vocal tone (Tone game) while ignoring the other aspect. Chinese children paid more spontaneous attention to vocal tones and less to word meanings than did EA children. These findings shed critical light on the role of culture in shaping affective cognitive processes during development.     

The Role of Vocabulary and Syntax in Informational Written Composition in Middle School

The current study explores the contributions of written vocabulary and syntax to informational writing quality in Grades 5 through 8. Various aspects of language skills (receptive to written, oral register to academic register) have differing relationships with narrative and informational writing achievement across development. In this study, we explore one relatively understudied aspect of language (written language in the oral register) during a key transition period. Specifically, we find support for the role of vocabulary and syntax skills in informational writing quality in early and later middle school; that the role may differ according to students’ skill level; and we explore the role of written vocabulary and syntax in the gender gap between girls’ and boys’ informational writing quality.

     

面向信息处理的“二标三句式”复句层次关系判定

复句层次关系识别对计算语言学句法分析和复句信息工程意义重大。为解决关系标记显现不充足给复句层次关系识别所带来的困扰,需要充分挖掘可供计算机理解的复句关联的形式化句法语义知识。本文探讨了分句主语指称一致性和谓语语义相关性对分句语义关联的影响,深入分析了4种联结模式的"二标三句式"复句的句法语义特点,总结提取出11条层次关系判定规则,以期为复句层次关系识别奠定基础。语例验证表明,该研究能有效解决"二标三句式"复句的层次关系判定问题。     

Comparison of reading comprehension levels of literate learners with different methods

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between two teaching methods used to teach reading and writing and reading comprehension skills and successes of fifth-grade students. The main difference between the two methods in our research; teaching of the first literacy in the sentence method, determined and sentences with various features, in the voice based sentence method, the sound of the letters in the alphabet is determined by the instruction of the determined group order. The mixed method research design is the process in which both quantitative and qualitative methods are used in collecting, analyzing and mixing the data in a study. The application of the study lasted for two years. The achievement test developed by the researcher was first applied to 1000 fifth-grade students who learned reading and writing by the sentence method, and, then, to 1000 fifth-grade students who learned reading and writing by the sound-based sentence method in the following year. The results showed that there was a significant difference between reading comprehension levels of the fifth-grade students who learned reading and writing by the sentence method versus by the sound-based sentence method. The difference was in favour of the students who learned reading and writing by the sentence method.     

Reading Relative Clauses

This study investigated children's ability to read and understand sentences containing relative clauses (RCs). A small group of seven-year-old children were tested on their comprehension of four different types of sentences containing them. It was anticipated that sentences without relative pronouns would be more difficult to understand than those where they were present: for example, The horse the man is chasing is fat would be more difficult than The horse that the man is chasing is fat. This was indeed the case in sentences where the pronoun functioned as object in the RC. Where the pronoun functioned as subject, presence or absence of the pronoun (plus auxiliary verb) was not an important factor. It seemed that the children did not make consistent use of pronouns to aid their parsing of the sentence. It is suggested that a still incomplete understanding of function words may contribute to beginning readers' difficulties. Moreover, these results did not entirely bear out predictions made from spoken language data, which suggests that syntactic complexity in written language may need special consideration.     

英语多义句

多义句是指拥有超过一种以上解释的句子。多义句的出现有如下原因：句子中的出现的一个多义词导致整个句子多义：句子中出现了一个多义的惯用语;对于句子中词汇的不同分组理解可造成整个句子多义：对于所有格的不同判定,主格或宾格,是否带有介词“of”;英语成语有时也是一个原因;口语上出现的多义句;英语的否定词;英语的单数及复数形式有时也是一个有趣的原因。大多数时候,当碰到一个多义句,正确理解它的方法是通过上下文来做出准确的判断。     

The link between executive functions and literacy: introduction

This special issue was born within the M2S Project (Mindfulness to students’ success: Relating executive functions and writing through a mindfulness app to promote children’s cognitive, social, and health-related outcomes) to call researchers and practitioners’ attention to the role that executive functions play on the acquisition and development of literacy skills, a neglected topic in the field. The selected papers include various methods and techniques to examine the relationships between literacy and executive functions across languages/cultures and different age groups, with and without disabilities.

     

Differential lexical predictors of reading comprehension in fourth graders

The mental lexicon plays a central role in reading comprehension (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). It encompasses the number of lexical entries in spoken and written language (vocabulary breadth), the semantic quality of these entries (vocabulary depth), and the connection strength between lexical representations (semantic relatedness); as such, it serves as an output for the decoding process and as an input for comprehension processes. Although different aspects of the lexicon can be distinguished, research on the role of the mental lexicon in reading comprehension often does not take these individual aspects of the lexicon into account. The current study used a multicomponent approach to examine whether measures of spoken and written vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and semantic relatedness were differentially predictive of individual differences in reading comprehension skills in fourth-grade students. The results indicated that, in addition to nonverbal reasoning, short-term memory, and word decoding, the four measures of lexical quality substantially added (30 %) to the proportion of explained variance of reading comprehension (adding up to a total proportion of 65 %). Moreover, each individual measure of lexical quality added significantly to the prediction of reading comprehension after all other measures were taken into account, with written lexical breadth and lexical depth showing the greatest increase in explained variance. It can thus be concluded that multiple components of lexical quality play a role in children’s reading comprehension.     

The contribution of vocabulary knowledge and semantic orthographic fluency to text quality through elementary school in Catalan

Building a text is a multidimensional endeavor. Writers must work simultaneously on the content of the text, its discursive organization, the structure of the sentences, and the individual words themselves. Knowledge of vocabulary is central to this endeavor. This study intends (1) to trace the development of writer’s vocabulary depth, their vocabulary fluency in writing, and the features of the text they produce (productivity, lexical richness, and text structure) through elementary school and (2) to determine the contribution of the writer’s performance and the text features to the quality of the text. One hundred and eighty bilingual Spanish/Catalan speakers from first, third, and sixth grade took part in the study. They participated in three researcher-created tasks; a synonyms/antonyms task to orally assess vocabulary depth; a semantic orthographic fluency task to examine their vocabulary fluency in writing; and a text writing task to evaluate text quality. Data was analyzed using structural equation modeling in order to examine the relationship between the target writer’s performance and the text features of the written compositions, and the externally evaluated text quality. Results revealed that both writer’s performance on vocabulary depth and semantic orthographic fluency and text features improved with school level. However, the capacity to establish meaning relations between words contributed more directly to the quality of texts than the speed to find words with a specific phonographic correspondence. External evaluation of text quality was more variable for younger students than for older students and was affected by school level mediated by writer performance and text features.     

Extraction of scientific semantic networks from science textbooks and comparison with science teachers’ spoken language by text network analysis

ABSTRACT

Just as language reflects one’s thoughts, the text of science textbooks reflects the structure of scientific knowledge and thought. Therefore, students’ learning of scientific language leads to their acquisition of the structure of scientific knowledge and thought. The purposes of this study were to extract scientific semantic network from science textbooks as the ideal model of using scientific language, and to examine how well science teachers are implementing scientific semantic networks in science classes by comparing and analysing their spoken language. Through a recursive method, science textbooks were searched for keywords and their relationships, and consequently a scientific semantic network was presented. As a result of the comparison with science teachers’ spoken language, it was found that the teachers were not able to implement the scientific semantic network exactly and efficiently in class, and the focus of the contents of their instruction was also different from the textbook. Science textbook was focused on qualitative aspects of the concept such as meaning, element, characteristic etc, on the other hand science teachers’ language was focused on quantitative aspect of the concept such as calculation, graph etc.     

Early literacy and parental writing mediation in young children with and without ADHD

The study compared early literacy of Israeli children aged five to six years with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), contrasted parental writing mediation in the two groups and tested the relations between parents’ mediation characteristics and children’s early literacy skills. Each of 62 parent‐child dyads (32 with ADHD) was videotaped at home while writing words. Videotapes were transcribed and analysed for mediation (specific writing task measures, emotional measures typical of problem‐solving tasks, and general measures of interactions). Children’s early literacy (word writing, letter knowledge and phonological awareness) was assessed at home. Results showed that children with ADHD already exhibited lower literacy achievements at ages five to six compared to their peers without ADHD. Parents of children with ADHD scored lower than parents of children without ADHD on the writing‐specific, emotional and general mediation measures. In both groups, the specific writing mediation measures correlated significantly with children’s early literacy. More emotional mediation measures correlated significantly with children’s early literacy in the ADHD than in the non‐ADHD group. Discussion focused on parent‐child writing interactions as a context of early literacy development among young children with ADHD.     

Language,literacy, attentional behaviors,and instructional quality predictors of written composition for first graders

We had two primary purposes in the present study: (1) to examine unique child-level predictors of written composition which included language skills, literacy skills (e.g., reading and spelling), and attentiveness and (2) to examine whether instructional quality (quality in responsiveness and individualization, and quality in spelling and writing instruction) is uniquely related to written composition for first-grade children (N = 527). Children's written composition was evaluated on substantive quality (ideas, organization, word choice, and sentence flow) and writing conventions (spelling, mechanics, and handwriting). Results revealed that for the substantive quality of writing, children's grammatical knowledge, reading comprehension, letter writing automaticity, and attentiveness were uniquely related. Teachers’ responsiveness was also uniquely related to the substantive quality of written composition after accounting for child predictors and other instructional quality variables. For the writing conventions outcome, children's spelling and attentiveness were uniquely related, but instructional quality was not. These results suggest the importance of paying attention to multiple component skills such as language, literacy, and behavioral factors as well as teachers’ responsiveness for writing development.     

Using attachment enhancing activities based on the principles of Theraplay® to improve adult-child relationships and reduce a child’s ‘overall stress’ as measured by the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

ABSTRACT

The study investigated whether 10 minutes of attachment enhancing play delivered daily over 2 weeks could improve adult-child relationships and whether this bettered the way they functioned socially and emotionally. The attachment enhancing play was based on Theraplay® principles and utilized the 4 dimensions of ‘Structure, Engagement, Nurture, and Challenge’. The sample was of 5 different adult/child dyads in 5 different schools. All the children had identified Social, Emotional, Behavioural Difficulties and each adult led the attachment activities with the children they were supporting. Following the 2-week intervention there was a real change in each of the adult/child relationships. The Goodman’s SDQ and a Boxall Profile were completed, a month apart, before and after the intervention. The SDQ overall stress scores reduced for all the children and on average by 29%. The Boxall Profile showed improvement in scores that indicate that the children were more able to ‘accept constraints’ and ‘accommodate and respond constructively to others’. Pianta’s ‘Student-Teacher Relationship Scale’ results indicated an improvement in closeness and an even better reduction in conflict in the relationships. The activities were the only change to the children’s routine, so the inference is that the intervention created the conditions for change.