An international comparison using Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment: Fourth graders’ diagnostic profile of reading skills on PIRLS 2016

Cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA) approach has been increasingly applied to non-diagnostic large-scale assessments to extract fine-grained diagnostic feedback about students’ ability in a given domain and meet accountability demands for student achievement. This study aimed to diagnose the reading abilities of 4324 students from 19 European Union (EU) member countries that participated in the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), one of the most comprehensive international studies that investigate students’ reading achievement. The PIRLS data were analyzed by using the Log-linear Cognitive Diagnosis Modeling (LCDM), a type of cognitive diagnostic classification model (DCM). Students’ weaknesses and strengths were identified based on a four-skill reading ability model. The results revealed that the methodology could provide more fine-grained diagnostic information about students’ reading skills than traditional aggregated-test scoring could. Such information could be utilized by teachers, school administrators, decision-makers, and students for maximizing the learning outcomes of reading programs and instruction.     

Validity of school history as a diagnostic criterion for reading disability

In order to assess the validity of school history information as a diagnostic criterion for reading disability, reading performance data from 304 children with a positive history for reading problems were compared to those from 319 children with a negative school history. These children are members of twin pairs who are participants in the Colorado Reading Project (DeFries 1985). A multivariate analysis of variance of Reading Recognition, Reading Comprehension, and Spelling subtest scores from the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (Dunn and Markwardt 1970) yielded a highly significant (p <0.001) difference between groups for both the multivariate and univariate comparisons. The difference between the unweighted mean scores of the school-history positive and negative groups for Reading Recognition was 2.1 standard deviations. Moreover, when discriminant weights estimated from an independent sample of 140 reading-disabled and 140 control nontwin children were used to reclassify the sample of twins, 75% of those with a positive history for reading problems were classified as being reading disabled and 95% of those with a negative history were classified as unaffected. Thus, results of this study establish the validity of school history information and suggest that such information may have considerable utility for ascertaining samples of reading-disabled children.     

完形默读法：汉语第二语阅读理解监控试验教学研究

文章以＂为意义而阅读＂为基本的阅读理念,把测量阅读理解和教材难易度的阅读填空（Cloze）测量法应用在第二语课堂阅读教学中,设计成＂完形默读法＂（Cloze Silent Reading Method）,作为阅读过程中的自我监控工具,让学习者能集中注意、调动先备知识与经验,主动与语篇交际。研究结果初步发现,初中二年级的受试在经过第一阶段完形默读历程后,其字面性理解力提升,推论理解力也有所提升;从教学意义来看,完形默读法能发挥理解监控的正面作用,促进学习者的阅读力,意味着第二语阅读过程之教学的一种突破。     

Should the Simple View of Reading Include a Fluency Component?

The Simple View of Reading states that reading comprehension is the product of word recognition and listening comprehension. Whereas much research has focused on word recognition accuracy, recent attention has been directed toward word recognition fluency. The current study investigated whether a separate fluency component should be added to the Simple View of Reading. A battery of reading and language measures was administered to 604 children in second, fourth, and eighth grades. Approximately half these children had language and/or nonverbal cognitive impairments in kindergarten, but weighting procedures were used to reduce the potential bias this sampling characteristic may have entailed. Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether fluency accounted for unique variance in reading comprehension after controlling for word recognition accuracy and listening comprehension. Individual profile analyses were conducted to determine the number of individual participants who␣had poor fluency in the spite of good word recognition accuracy and listening comprehension. Results showed that fluency did not account for unique variance in reading␣comprehension and that few individuals had problems in fluency separate from word recognition accuracy or listening comprehension. Thus, it does not appear that a separate fluency component should be added to the Simple View of Reading.     

"指导性阅读方法"浅析

本文从介绍本世纪较为流行的三种阅读模式出发 ,着重介绍了“指导性阅读方法”与其它方法之间的异同 ;通过分析 ,简单地介绍了“指导性阅读方法”的起源 ,特点以及如何在教学中加以运用的程序。本文的目的在于为广大英语教学工作者在英语阅读教学上提供一些理论上的依据和帮助     

To what extent do frameworks of reading development and the phonics screening check support the assessment of reading development in England?

The purpose of this article is to question the suitability of the phonics screening check in relation to models and theories of reading development. The article questions the appropriateness of the check by drawing on theoretical frameworks which underpin typical reading development. I examine the Simple View of Reading developed by Gough and Tunmer and Ehri's model of reading development. The article argues that the assessment of children's development in reading should be underpinned and informed by a developmental framework which identifies the sequential skills in reading development.     

How Simple is the Simple View of Reading?

According to the Simple View of Reading, reading ability can be divided into decoding and language comprehension. In the present study, decoding and comprehension's contribution to reading ability was studied both in children with reading difficulties and in children with typical reading ability. Decoding and comprehension was further divided into sub-components, and the contribution from non-verbal ability and general processing speed was also studied. The results demonstrated that decoding made the largest contribution to reading ability for children with reading difficulties, while language comprehension contributed the most for children with typical reading ability. The contribution of non-verbal ability was not significant, and general processing speed only made a significant contribution to decoding for typical children. The two factors in the Simple View of Reading, decoding and comprehension, together explained less of the variance in reading ability for children with reading difficulties than for children with typical reading ability.     

Headsprout® Early Reading for children with severe intellectual disabilities: a single blind randomised controlled trial

Research evaluating phonics reading programs for children with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) is limited. The current study investigated whether using an online reading program (Headsprout^® Early Reading; HER) as supplementary reading instruction for children with a severe ID leads to improvements in reading skills as compared to children not receiving this additional instruction. Fifty-five children from a special school were randomly allocated into the HER group or a waiting list control group. For six months, children in the intervention group received HER as supplementary instruction, whereas children in the control group received only ‘reading as usual’ teaching. Pre- and post-intervention tests on standardised reading measures were conducted. Analysis of data from outcome measures indicated that the HER group made improvements at post-intervention in comparison with the control group, with medium effect sizes on two domains from the main outcome measure. These results support the case for a larger research trial of HER for children with severe ID.     

Contexts for Remedial Reading: Practice Reading and Pause,Prompt and Praise tutoring

Abstract Fourteen residential childcare workers were trained to implement both a Practice Reading and the Pause, Prompt and Praise remedial reading procedures in school and cottage settings with 18 low‐progress readers of primary school age. Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures were introduced in each setting only if readers made insufficient progress with Practice Reading alone. Childcare workers displayed major change in their tutoring behaviour between baseline (untrained tutoring) conditions and trained tutoring conditions (Practice Reading or Pause, Prompt and Praise). Readers who received a six week programme of individual reading assistance made significant gains on standardised tests of reading accuracy and comprehension and made accelerated progress through graded book levels, while children in the comparison group did not. Results are discussed in terms of the interactive social contexts provided by the two procedures and of the opportunities for reciprocal gains in skill between readers and tutors with the Pause, Prompt and Praise procedures.     

An evaluation of the use of Lexia Reading software with children in Year 3, Northern Ireland (6‐ to 7‐year olds)

This paper evaluates the impact of Lexia Reading software on the progress of children experiencing reading difficulties in four Northern Ireland Schools. The program is designed to raise reading standards through a phonics‐based approach to learning to read. A key feature of the software is the use of an ‘assessment without testing’ tool, to accurately place children on the program and to adapt the program to meet the individual needs of each child.     

Reading development and dyslexia in a transparent orthography: a survey of Spanish children

Spanish-speaking children learn to read words printed in a relatively transparent orthography. Variation in orthographic transparency may shape the architecture of the reading system and also the manifestation of reading difficulties. We tested normally developing children and children diagnosed with reading difficulties. Reading accuracy was high across experimental conditions. However, dyslexic children read more slowly than chronological age (CA)-matched controls, although, importantly, their reading times did not differ from those for ability-matched controls. Reading times were significantly affected by frequency, orthographic neighbourhood size and word length. We also found a number of significant interaction effects. The effect of length was significantly modulated by reading ability, frequency and neighbourhood. Our findings suggest that the reading development of dyslexic children in Spanish is delayed rather than deviant. From an early age, the salient characteristic of reading development is reading speed, and the latter is influenced by specific knowledge about words.     

Attitude items and low ability students: the need for a cautious approach to interpretation

The results of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2001) were published in 2003. In addition to data about the reading achievements of 10‐year‐olds in 35 countries, PIRLS 2001 also collected questionnaire information from children, their teachers, headteachers and parents. The results showed not just how well students can perform in various reading tasks, but also the relationship between reading abilities and other characteristics, including the characteristics of their homes and schools, the students' attitudes to reading, reading enjoyment, self‐confidence, engagement and perceptions of their reading abilities. Surprisingly enough, children in England were reported as having poor attitudes to reading, compared to children in many other countries, despite high achievement on the reading tests. This paper raises some concerns about the interpretation of results from the study, suggesting a more complex picture than that presented in the summary index published in 2003. Our secondary analysis of the attitude and achievement data from PIRLS shows that pupils with low ability levels have misunderstood the questions which tested their attitudes towards reading. The authors point out that caution is needed when making cross‐country comparisons to avoid naïve approaches to interpretation.     

阅读障碍评估研究的趋势

阅读障碍作为一个严重且普遍的问题受到了研究者的重视。阅读障碍儿童的异质性和阅读过程的复杂性使得很难形成统一、有效和有指导性的评估模式。本文回顾了以往的评估模式,介绍了新近出现的各种评估方法和理念,在此基础上对阅读障碍评估的发展趋势做了简要的总结。     

Perspectives on dealing with reading difficulties

ABSTRACT

Learning to read is an expectation rather than an exception in society today. Despite this, some children experience reading difficulties. The purpose of this article is to review recent and seminal research on reading difficulties through the lenses of three perspectives: cognitive, social and cultural and interactive. The three perspectives are reviewed and the contribution they make to our understandings of how to support children with reading difficulties are considered. The implication of these perspectives on instruction is explored by examining one contentious contemporary debate in the field of reading instruction; choice of texts to support reading development. To conclude, an argument for a more holistic approach to reading difficulties is provided with reference to two contemporary assessment tools.     

Scottish education: Beyond devolution

ABSTRACT

Reading Recovery is a highly successful and widely used intervention for children with reading difficulties. However, it is an intensive intervention and some have argued that it is for this reason alone that it is effective. This argument is examined but found to be unsound. The central features of Reading Recovery are then described under the headings of assessment, curriculum and instruction, and the empirical evidence of their value reviewed. Using this method to analyse Reading Recovery as a case‐study of successful intervention certain key elements are revealed. The intensity of the intervention is identified as a necessary but not sufficient ingredient for effective remediation. Other factors of importance are the rigour and focus of assessment, the breadth of the curriculum which includes writing as well as reading, and the quality of instruction.     

Oral reading fluency and comprehension in Kenya: reading acquisition in a multilingual environment

Reading research has shown that variable relationships exist between measures of oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, depending on whether the language of the text is the reader's first language or an additional language. This paper explores this phenomenon, using reading assessment data for 2,000 Kenyan children in two or three languages: English, Kiswahili and one of two mother tongues, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The assessment data allowed us to compare reading and comprehension rates across languages. The data indicated that many children could read English words more easily than words in Kiswahili or their mother tongue; nevertheless, their reading comprehension was significantly lower in English than in Kiswahili, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The paper concludes that emphasising English reading fluency is an inefficient route to gaining reading comprehension skills because pupils are actually attaining minimal oral reading fluency in English and only modest comprehension skills in their own languages. The evidence also demonstrates that Kenya's national language policy of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the early primary grades is consistently ignored in practice.     

外语阅读课程设计原则综述

过去20年来,阅读在外语领域受到了极大的关注。一个主要的原因就是,学习者入门后,其提升外语水平的主要来源就是阅读材料。外语阅读课程则为外语学习者提供了这样一个大量接触阅读材料的机会。本文从与阅读相关的五个因素阐释了外语阅读课程设计的原则：阅读模式、阅读策略、真实语言材料、词汇知识和教师角色。     

Reading Recovery in Context: implementation and outcome

Reading Recovery is a school‐based preventive strategy designed to reduce the number of children with reading and writing difficulties. This study evaluated the implementation of Reading Recovery in 12 New Zealand schools. Target (Reading Recovery) and Comparison pairs of children were identified through the Reading Recovery procedures operated by each school. Results indicated that very few schools adhered closely to all recommended entry and discontinuation criteria. Results for Target and Comparison children's reading progress up to the time of discontinuation are highly consistent with results reported by Clay (1985), with clear gains in favour of Target children. However, these gains had reduced considerably by the time of follow‐up. Data suggest that programme gains were greatest for children entering the programme at the lowest reading levels. Outcomes are discussed in terms of the need for better articulation between Reading Recovery teachers and regular classroom teachers.     

读书与读网之我见

书籍与网络是两种不同的阅读载体,这两种载体互相依存,互为转化。倡导全民阅读,应让读书与读网相互补充,共同发展,使其构成现代阅读形态的两大体系。     

英汉语阅读过程与模式分析

阅读是人们获取知识最重要的方式之一。英语和汉语的阅读学研究人员对英汉语阅读过程与模式的表述各有特点,对他们的观点加以分析,有助于发现英汉语阅读过程与模式的异同点,并利用之为两种语言的阅读服务。