Reading expressively and understanding thoroughly: An examination of prosody in adults with low literacy skills

The purpose of the current study was to explore the relationship between prosody, which is the expressive quality of reading out loud, and reading comprehension in adults with low literacy skills compared to skilled readers. All participants read a passage orally, and we extracted prosodic measures from the recordings. We examined pitch changes and how long readers paused at various points while reading. Finally, for the adults with low literacy skills, we collected information on decoding, word recognition, and reading comprehension. We found several interesting results. First, adults with low literacy skills paused longer than skilled readers and paused at a substantially greater number of punctuation marks. Second, while adults with low literacy skills do mark the end of declarative sentences with a pitch declination similar to skilled readers, their readings of questions lack a change in pitch. Third, decoding and word recognition skills were related to pauses while reading; readers with lower skills made longer and more frequent and inappropriate pauses. Finally, pausing measures explained a significant amount of variance in reading comprehension among the adults with low literacy skills.     

Use of Contextual Information and Prediction by Struggling Adult Readers: Evidence From Reading Times and Event-Related Potentials

We employed self-paced reading and event-related potential measures to investigate how adults of varying literacy levels use sentence context information when reading. Community-dwelling participants read strongly and weakly constraining sentences that ended with expected or unexpected target words. Skilled readers showed N400s that were graded by the cloze probability of the targets, with larger N400s for more unexpected words. Moreover, it took these participants longer to read unexpected targets in strongly than weakly constraining sentences, suggesting a processing cost for revising predictions. Among less skilled readers, a reliable N400 difference was found between expected and unexpected targets only for the strongly constraining sentences. They also took longer when targets were unexpected, regardless of the context. These findings suggest that lower literacy readers could only immediately take advantage of strongly constraining context information to facilitate word processing and that they do not make as much use of predictive processing during comprehension.     

Examining an Extended Home Literacy Model: The Mediating Roles of Emergent Literacy Skills and Reading Fluency

We examined the developmental relationships between home literacy environment (parent teaching, shared book reading) and emergent literacy skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, rapid naming speed) in kindergarten, reading accuracy and fluency in Grade 1, and reading comprehension in Grades 2 and 3 in a sample of Canadian children learning to read English (N = 214). Results from a latent variable model showed that parent teaching predicted letter knowledge and phonological awareness, and shared book reading predicted vocabulary and rapid naming speed after controlling for family socioeconomic status. Moreover, both parent teaching and shared book reading contributed indirectly to reading accuracy and fluency in Grade 1, which then mediated the effects of home literacy environment on reading comprehension in Grades 2 and 3. The results suggest that the effects of home literacy environment on later reading development are distributed via more pathways than previously thought.     

The 'Simple View' of Reading: Some evidence and possible implications

This article explores components of reading accuracy and comprehension in 14 teenagers. The study contrasted the explanatory power of decoding and listening comprehension subskills (the 'simple view of reading'; Gough & Tunmer, 1990), and 'verbal cognitive ability' (a more traditional psychometric model). Research also investigated teenagers' literacy self-percepts. Listening comprehension was the best predictor of reading comprehension, although reading accuracy was an additional predictor. Decoding skills best predicted reading accuracy. Reading self-percepts correlated with decoding but not comprehension skills. Possible uses of 'the simple view of reading' for conceptualisations of literacy problems, interventions and effective professional roles are considered.     

英语阅读技巧及其常见问题浅谈

猜测词义 ,长句难句的理解都是阅读中的技巧。掌握并运用这一技巧 ,可以促进读者对文章的理解。同时 ,克服阅读中一些不好的习惯 ,提高阅读速度 ,才能在阅读中做得又快又好     

Differential growth patterns in emerging reading skills of Turkish-German bilingual and German monolingual primary school students

Students from Turkish-speaking families are the largest minority language group in Germany. Yet, little is known about this group’s literacy development. Using data from a 3-year longitudinal study, we examined whether the same base reading skills are involved in early reading comprehension of 100 Turkish-German bilingual and 69 German monolingual children. We applied a basic theoretical model of reading development to examine how emerging literacy develops for monolingual compared to bilingual children. Both the bilingual and monolingual children in this sample developed the investigated base reading skills at the same rate. However, the relations among phonological awareness, German vocabulary, and word decoding showed differential patterns in the development of German reading comprehension skills for the two groups: monolingual children appeared to make use of their phonological awareness skills more, whereas reading comprehension depended more on vocabulary skills for bilingual readers. Our findings indicate that bilingual emerging readers require specialized models of reading development to account for their unique routes into reading comprehension. The results of the study point to a need for increased attention to vocabulary building in the early phases of literacy acquisition for bilingual children.     

Not May Not be Too Difficult: The Effects of Negation on Older Adults' Sentence Comprehension

The present research investigated the effects of negation on young and older adults' comprehension of sentences. Participants read sentences, named probe words, answered comprehension questions, and completed the operation-span test. Negation adversely affected comprehension in both age groups such that probe word naming times were marginally slower and comprehension accuracy was reduced for negative sentences. Although older adults' comprehension overall was poorer than young adults, the negation effects were similar for both age groups. Furthermore, age was less predictive of negation comprehension than working memory. Unlike other variables that demonstrate age-related declines in reading comprehension, difficulties in processing negation may not increase with age.     

Reading Comprehension and Predictability Effects on Sentence Processing: An Event‐Related Potential Study

Electrophysiology studies have identified two event‐related potentials that are modulated by predictive processes during language comprehension: the N400 and a frontal positivity. The N400 is smaller when words are presented within highly restrictive sentences, indicating reduced lexical retrieval costs. Violations of strong predictions generate larger frontal positivities, possibly reflecting inhibitory processes. More skilled comprehenders may exhibit enhanced predictive processing, but this possibility has seldom been investigated with event‐related potentials (ERPs). We analyzed the association between predictability ERP modulations and reading comprehension abilities. Twenty‐four undergraduate students were exposed to strongly and weakly constraining sentences, ending with an expected or unexpected final word. Their comprehension skills were assessed with a cloze task. Better comprehenders showed smaller N400s for expected words, and larger posterior positivities for unexpected endings, in strongly constraining contexts. These effects correlated with reading comprehension scores. The results suggest that better comprehenders take more advantage of predictions to reduce retrieval costs, and allocate more resources to postlexical integration processes.     

Reading comprehension skills of young adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia

This study explores the contribution of cognitive processes to comprehension skills in adults who suffered from childhood developmental dyslexia (CD). The performance of adults with CD (ages 17 to 23), chronological age-matched (CA) adults, and reading level-matched (RL) children was compared on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, working memory (WM), general knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension. The results showed that adults with CD scored lower on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, WM, general knowledge, and vocabulary when compared to CA readers but were comparable to RL children on the majority of process measures. Phonological processing, naming speed, vocabulary, general knowledge, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to reading comprehension accuracy, whereas WM, intelligence, phonological processing, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to comprehension fluency. Adults with CD scored lower than CA adults and higher than RL children on measures of lexical processing, WM, and listening comprehension when word recognition and intelligence were partialed from the analysis. In summary, constraints in phonological processing and naming speed mediate only some of the influence of high-order processes on reading comprehension. Furthermore, adults with CD experience difficulties in WM, listening comprehension, and vocabulary independently of their word recognition problems and intellectual ability.     

Integrating Scenario‐Based and Component Reading Skill Measures to Understand the Reading Behavior of Struggling Readers

In recent years, researchers, educators, and policy makers have called for a new generation of reading comprehension assessments (e.g., Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008). Advocates of this movement argue for a deeper type of reading assessment, one that captures students’ ability to not only understand single texts in isolation but also to engage in purposeful, multisource integration of sources. While this shift in how we define and measure reading comprehension is laudable, assessments must also measure the fundamental reading skills that may impede higher‐level comprehension processes. This article presents data from two assessments that were designed to work in tandem to provide a more complete picture of reading comprehension. Middle school students were given a component skills battery which measured core reading skills such as word recognition, decoding, vocabulary, and morphology, as well a second assessment designed to measure reading comprehension. Reading comprehension was measured using a scenario‐based assessment approach, which required students to read a range of sources to fulfill a particular reading goal. The results indicate that students, including struggling readers, were able to read, understand, and problem solve in complex learning environments, but students’ ability to do so was often tempered by their basic reading skills. We argue that including a measure of component skills alongside a measure of higher‐level comprehension is beneficial in interpreting student performance. Accordingly, we present the results on the scenario‐based measure as a function of reading component skills and argue for the value of using this approach for struggling readers.     

Examining the structure of reading comprehension: do literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension truly exist?

Although the recent identification of the five critical components of early literacy has been a catalyst for modifications to the content of materials used to provide reading instruction and the tools used to examine student’s acquisition of early literacy skills, these skills have not received equal attention from test developers and publishers. In particular, a review of early literacy available measures for screening and monitoring students reveals a dearth of tools for examining different facets of reading comprehension. The purposes of this study were twofold: (a) to examine the relative difficulty of items written to assess literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension, and (b) to compare single factor and bifactor models of reading comprehension to determine if items written to assess students’ literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension abilities comprise unique measurement factors. Data from approximately 2,400 fifth grade students collected in the fall, winter, and spring of fifth grader were used to examine these questions. Findings indicated that (a) the relative difficulty of item types may be curvilinear, with literal items being significantly less challenging than inferential and evaluative items, and (b) literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension measurement factors explained unique portions of variance in addition to a general reading comprehension factor. Instructional implications of the findings are discussed.     

Why the Simple View of Reading Is Not Simplistic: Unpacking Component Skills of Reading Using a Direct and Indirect Effect Model of Reading (DIER)

Pathways of relations of language, cognitive, and literacy skills (i.e., working memory, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, inference, comprehension monitoring, word reading, and listening comprehension) to reading comprehension were examined by comparing four variations of direct and indirect effects model of reading. Results from 350 English-speaking second graders revealed that language and cognitive component skills had direct and indirect relations to listening comprehension, explaining 86% of variance. Word reading and listening comprehension completely mediated the relations of language and cognitive component skills to reading comprehension and explained virtually all the variance in reading comprehension. Total effects of component skills varied from small to substantial. The findings support the direct and indirect effects model of reading model and indicate that word reading and listening comprehension are upper-level skills that are built on multiple language and cognitive component skills, which have direct and indirect relations among themselves. The results underscore the importance of understanding nature of relations.     

Developmental Relations Between Home Literacy Environment,Reading Interest,and Reading Skills: Evidence From a 3-Year Longitudinal Study

We examined the bidirectional relations between home literacy environment, reading interest, and children’s emergent literacy and reading skills in a sample of 172 English-speaking Canadian children (M_age = 75.87 months) followed from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Results of cross-lagged analysis revealed that the reading comprehension activities (RCA) at home positively predicted children's reading skills at the end of Grade 2 and the reading skills negatively predicted the RCA in Grade 3. Parent-rated reading interest was bidirectionally related to reading skills, whereas child-rated reading interest was only predicted by earlier reading skills, but not vice versa. These findings suggest that parents are sensitive to their children’s reading performance and modify their involvement accordingly.     

Investigating morphological awareness and the processing of transparent and opaque words in adults with low literacy skills and in skilled readers

For adults with low literacy skills, the role of phonology in reading has been fairly well researched, but less is known about the role of morphology in reading. We investigated the contribution of morphological awareness to word reading and reading comprehension and found that for adults with low literacy skills and skilled readers, morphological awareness explained unique variance in word reading and reading comprehension. In addition, we investigated the effects of orthographic and phonological opacity in morphological processing. Results indicated that adults with low literacy skills were more impaired than skilled readers on items containing phonological changes but were spared on items involving orthographic changes. These results are consistent with previous findings of adults with low literacy skills reliance on orthographic codes. Educational implications are discussed.     

听障成人汉语唇读理解能力的发展研究

为了从年龄、性别和语言级别三方面探讨听障成人汉语唇读理解能力的发展趋势,研究以听障成人为被试,以汉字、词语、语句为实验材料,采用视频-图片匹配范式,测量不同年龄、不同性别被试汉语唇读理解的正确率与反应时。结果发现:(1)听障青年人的汉语唇读理解正确率显著高于听障中年人与老年人;反应速度由快到慢依次是听障青年人、听障中年人与听障老年人。(2)听障女性与听障男性的汉语唇读理解正确率与反应时无显著性差异。(3)听障成人汉语唇读理解词语的正确率显著高于语句和汉字;语言级别的反应速度由快到慢依次为词语、汉字、语句。研究结果表明:听障成人的汉语唇读理解能力有年龄差异,表现为随着年龄的增长而下降;无性别差异;听障成人具有汉语唇读理解词语优势。     

Predictive and concurrent relations between literacy skills in Grades 1 and 3: A longitudinal study of Italian children

A sample of 170 Italian children was assessed for reading accuracy, reading speed, text comprehension and spelling in Grades 1 and 3 in order to investigate the concurrent and longitudinal relationships among literacy skills. Main results from multivariate analyses (regression, discriminant and path analyses) indicated that reading speed was the best predictor of later literacy and that spelling was the most stable measure and influenced text comprehension and reading speed. An asymmetry was also observed in the longitudinal relationship between reading and spelling errors, with reading errors predicting later spelling errors and a non-significant result in the opposite direction.     

Predictors of Chinese reading and literacy skills among Chinese school children: a 3-year longitudinal study

Abstract

This study aims to identify the predictors of Chinese reading and literacy skills among Chinese school children in Taiwan. Participants recruited in the study were 182 Grade 1 elementary school students. First, data were collected on these students’ literacy skills, which comprised morphological awareness, orthography processing, visual perception skills, phonological awareness, and rapid automatised naming. In Grade 2, data were collected from these students on their word decoding skills, which comprised character recognition and reading fluency. Finally, in Grade 3, data were collected on the Chinese comprehension skills of the same students. A structural equation model examined the direct and indirect effects of students’ literacy skills at Grade 1 on their reading comprehension at Grade 3, with students’ word decoding at Grade 2 acting as a mediator. Results showed that reading comprehension of students at Grade 3 was predicted by their literacy skills at Grade 1.     

从阅读到“悦”读

在英语教学中“听说读写”是“四大要素”,而阅读能力的培养更是英语教学中最基本、最重要的内容。先看问题后读文章,生活常识很重要,议论文找出论点很重要,查找主要事实或特定细节,从而将阅读转化为“悦”读。     

An Oral Reading Fluency Assessment for Young Adult Career and Technical Education Students

Educators confront a difficult challenge of quickly and efficiently identifying students with literacy skill deficits in academically diverse career and technical education classes. A statistical examination of oral reading fluency (ORF) of 296 at‐risk students participating in Job Corps tests the hypothesis that a 2‐minute, two‐dimensional ORF task is a useful tool for differentiating the basic literacy skills of these students. This study formed four student groups on this basis and statistically demonstrated the groups were distinct in terms of standardized assessments of reading and cognitive processing: phonological processing, processing speed, memory, and integrated and fluent reading with comprehension. We discuss the implications of these findings for further diagnostic reading assessments and instructional planning.