英语阅读教学中语篇信息词的作用

文章作者以教学研究者和反思者的双重身份,以自己的课堂教学为试验基地,通过两年的实践,在英语阅读教学中有意识地强调语篇信息词在英语阅读课文中的作用。研究试验数据、教师的实际教学、问卷调查和随后的访谈都表明有意识地培养学生在英语阅读课文中关注语篇信息词,不仅可以提高学生阅读理解的效率,还可改进教师英语阅读课的教学方法和提高授课技巧。     

Developmental changes in the understanding of implied motion in two-dimensional pictures.

The power of various pictorial movement cues in eliciting a reading of movement was studied to determine the relationship between the ease with which a picture is interpreted and the degree to which the picture retains the structure of reality. Movement was indicated in 2 ways: pictorial conventions indicated movement by lines, blurs, and vibration marks; and pictorial postures indicated movement by figures which were isomorphic with the postures involved in real movement. Preschoolers, first graders, sixth graders, and college students were asked to label and sort pictures of human figures as "moving" or "still". Members of the 2 young groups did not classify pictures with conventional cues as "moving" as often as they did pictures with postural cues. Members of the 2 older groups classified both types of pictures as "moving". Since postural cues for movement are recognized at an earlier age than conventional cues, those that are more similar to reality may be easier to understand.     

Unpacking the relation between morphological awareness and Chinese word reading: Levels of morphological awareness and vocabulary

The nature of the relations among morphological awareness, vocabulary and word reading in Chinese children remains relatively unclear. The present study aimed to distinguish between sublexical morphological awareness, referring to the ability to use the meaning cues of semantic radicals embedded in a compound character, and lexical level morphological awareness, defined as the ability to understand and manipulate single characters (i.e., morphemes) comprising Chinese compound words, on word reading. We also examined the role of vocabulary knowledge on the relation between morphological awareness and word reading at both the sublexical and lexical levels. A group of 172 Chinese second graders were administered measures of sublexical and lexical level morphological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, nonverbal ability, and word reading. Both sublexical and lexical levels of morphological awareness were moderately correlated with word reading. Vocabulary knowledge appeared to partially mediate the effect of sublexical morphological awareness on word reading, but it fully mediated the effect of lexical level morphological awareness on word reading. These results suggest that sublexical and lexical level morphological awareness play distinct roles in Chinese word reading; vocabulary knowledge is an important factor influencing the relation between morphological awareness and word reading in Chinese.     

Does reading medium affect processing and integration of textual and pictorial information? A multimedia eye-tracking study

This study investigated effects of reading medium (print vs. digital) on integrative processing and integrated understanding of an illustrated text on human sexuality, as well as whether reading medium indirectly affected integrated understanding via integrative processing. Participants were 100 undergraduate and graduate students in educational sciences. Integrative processing was indicated by participants’ gaze transitions between complementary textual and pictorial parts of the document during reading, and integrated understanding was indicated by participants’ integration of textual and pictorial information in post-reading written responses. Results showed that participants who read the illustrated text on paper displayed more integrative processing during reading than did participants who read exactly the same text on a computer. In turn, integrative processing positively affected comprehension performance, resulting in a mediated effect of reading medium on comprehension via integrative processing. There was no main effect of reading medium on integrated understanding, however. Also, prompting participants to pay attention to both text and illustration as well as their relationship did not have any main effects on integrative processing or integrated understanding; nor were there any interaction effects of reading medium with instructional prompt on integrative processing or integrated understanding. These results are discussed in terms of the insights they offer into reading medium effects on processing and comprehension, as well as in terms of the directions they suggest for future research in this area.     

The effects of phonological transparency on reading derived words

The purpose of this study was to determine whether poor readers have more pronounced problems than average-reading peers reading derived words the base forms of which undergo a phonological shift when a suffix is added (i.e., shift relations as in “natural”), as compared to derived words whose forms are phonologically and orthographically transparent (i.e., stable relations, as in “cultural”). Two computer-based word recognition tasks (Naming and Lexical Decision) were administered to children with reading disability (RD), peers with average reading ability, and adults. Across tasks, there was an effect for transparency (i.e., better performance on stable than shift words) for both child groups and the adults. For the children, a significant interaction was found between group and word type. Specifically, on the naming task, there was an advantage for the stable words, and this was most noteworthy for the children with RD. On the lexical decision task, trade-offs of speed and accuracy were evident for the child reader groups. Performances on the nonwords showed the poor readers to be comparable to the average readers in distinguishing legal and illegal nonwords; further analyses suggested that poor readers carried out deeper processing of derived words than their average reading peers. Additional study is needed to explore the relation of orthographic and phonological processing on poor readers’ memory for and processing of derived words.     

The Relationship between Phonological Awareness and Early Reading for First Grade Korean Language Learners with Reading Difficulties

This study investigated the differences in four components of phonological awareness (i.e., judgment, deletion, blending, and substitution) and early reading ability across reading levels, and the correlation between phonological awareness (PA) and early reading ability in low and average-achievement groups. 27 students with reading difficulties and 34 students with average reading abilities participated in the study, and all participants were native Korean students in Grade One. The results indicated significant differences between low-achievement and averageachievement groups in PA and early reading measures, which revealed features of Korean phonology as different from English. Furthermore, phonological awareness showed significant positive correlation with both word identification and reading fluency for the low and average-achievement groups. For the low-achievement group, the correlation between phonological awareness and reading fluency was higher than between phonological awareness and word identification.     

Whole‐word shape effect in dyslexia

The research question here was whether whole‐word shape cues might facilitate reading in dyslexia following reports of how normal‐reading children benefit from using this cue when learning to read. We predicted that adults with dyslexia would tend to rely more on orthographic rather than other cues when reading, and therefore would be more affected by word shape manipulations. This prediction was tested in a lexical decision task on words with a flat or a non‐flat outline (i.e. without or with letters with ascending/descending features). We found that readers with dyslexia were significantly faster when reading non‐flat compared with flat words, while typical readers did not benefit from whole‐word shape cues. The interaction of participants' group and word shape was not modulated by word frequency; that is word outline shape facilitated reading for both rare and frequent words. Our results suggest that enhanced sensitivity to orthographic cues is developed in some cases of dyslexia when normal, phonology‐based word recognition processing is not exploited.     

Training individuals to label nonverbal facial cues

In recent years, a considerable amount of research on nonverbal behavior has focused on identifying facial cues of various emotions. This study attempted to examine the effects of training individuals to accurately label facial affects of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust, and neutral. The treatment period extended over three, one-hour group presentations based on Ekman and Friesen's (1975) model of training individuals to accurately label emotions from facial expressions. The posttest demonstrated that the experimental group significantly improved its ability to accurately label facial affect following the training program.     

A reading-level match study of phonemic processes underlying reading disabilities in a transparent orthography

The current study examined the relationship in Spanish (i.e., a transparent orthography) between different levels of phonological awareness and reading disabilities. In addition, the strategies used by the children when they resolved phoneme segmentation and reversal tasks were analyzed. A sample of 133 subjects were selected and organized in three different groups: (1) A group of 45 reading-disabled children, (2) A comparison group of 44 normal readers matched in age with the reading disabled, and (3) A reading level match group of 44 younger normal readers at the same reading level as the reading disabled. Three phonological awareness tasks were used to measure levels of intrasyllabic and phonemic awareness. The reading disabled group was equivalent to the younger reading level-matched control group in the odd-word-out task. However, there were differences in the phonemic tasks (e.g., phoneme segmentation and reversal) because the reading disabled group performed more poorly than the younger children. Overall, the children matched in age with the reading disabled group were superior in all phonological awareness tasks. There were differences between the groups when the strategies used by the children were analyzed.     

The Role of Home Literacy Environment,Mentalizing, Expressive Verbal Ability,and Print Exposure in Third and Fourth Graders’ Reading Comprehension

Children with a rich home literacy environment generally show better reading comprehension. For children in the higher grades of primary school, this relation is thought to be indirect. We propose a model in which this relation ran via children’s higher order language and cognitive skills (i.e., expressive verbal ability and mentalizing ability) and via print exposure. In our correlational study with 117 children ages 8–11, we found both a direct relation between children’s home literacy environment and reading comprehension and 2 indirect relations: via children’s print exposure and via mentalizing abilities. There was no significant indirect relation via expressive verbal abilities. Our findings imply that enhancing children’s mentalizing abilities and encouraging them to read books might contribute to their reading comprehension. In addition, parental involvement in children’s reading activities can contribute to their reading performance, both directly and indirectly, even in this age group.     

Reading subskill differences between students in Shanghai-China and the US: evidence from PISA 2009

Based on different language systems and educational practices of their respective countries, hypotheses were made regarding how 15-year-old students from Shanghai-China and the US might differ in the 5 reading subskills designated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) when they have the same overall reading ability (i.e., when their overall reading ability is controlled for). A multilevel analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses using the PISA 2009 reading dataset. When we controlled for students' overall reading ability, individual socioeconomic status (SES), and school mean SES, Shanghai-Chinese students performed significantly better in integrating and interpreting than US students. Further, when we controlled for students' overall reading ability and school mean SES, US students showed significantly higher performance in reading non-continuous texts than Shanghai-Chinese students, whereas US students showed significantly lower performance in reading continuous texts. The results of this study can inform reading instruction and learning in the 2 countries.     

Phonological processing, language comprehension, and reading ability

Previous research has indicated a relationship between reading ability and the integrity of certain phonological processing skills--skills that operate on the sound structure of language. This study shows how the deficient phonological processing skills of poor beginning readers can impair their comprehension of spoken phrases and sentences that are disambiguated by prosodic cues (i.e., pitch, stress, and pause). Following a brief summary of the available research literature, two new experiments are reported to illustrate that poor readers do not interpret certain sentences as accurately as good readers do, because they are less able to hold phonological material temporarily in working memory. Further insight into the basis of these differences between good and poor readers is provided by two additional pieces of evidence: The differences between good and poor readers are analogous to those between older and younger children readers, and the performance of poor readers tends to resemble that of younger children reading at their same level (i.e., reading-ability-matched controls). Apparently, good and poor readers tend to differ in the rate at which they develop phonological processing skills.     

The influence of technology-mediated and in-person communication on student satisfaction: The moderating role of national culture

This article analyses the effects of technology-mediated (i.e., social media) and in-person communication (i.e., non-verbal cues) on student satisfaction in a higher education context. Data were collected among 221 college students from the University of Valencia (UVEG) in Spain and analysed from the perspective of the respondents' national culture. Contrary to expectations, the results show that neither one of the social media aspects drives student satisfaction, thus providing support for the technology paradox literature. Instead, three non-verbal communication cues are found to influence student satisfaction, i.e., paralanguage, kinesics, and chronemics. The moderating role of national culture on the examined relationships is also considered. The results reveal that national culture seems to only affect the relationship between chronemics and satisfaction.     

The Effects of Grade Level,Type of Motion,Cueing Strategy,Pictorial Complexity,and Color on Children's Interpretation of Implied Motion in Pictures

The ability of kindergarten and 3rd-grade children to accurately interpret implied motion in pictures was examined. Sixty-four children responded to pictures from experimental conditions that varied type of motion, cueing strategy, pictorial complexity, and color. The 3rd-grade children were more adept at identifying implied motion than the kindergarten children, the postural motion condition was more effective than the flow-line condition in conveying motion, and cues and relevant pictorial background information increased accuracy of interpretation.     

Slow and fast adult readers in text comprehension

Reading speed is a component of reading ability tests designed to separate «good» and «poor» readers. The purpose of the two experiments reported in this paper were to study whether slow and fast adult readers differ in terms of the subprocesses involved in textual organization. For this, two variables were manipulated: title and type of text. Subjects were classified as slow and fast readers based on the median value of the distribution of reading times on a preliminary text. Data clearly show that reading speed is a reliable individual characteristic. In Experiment 1, the recall performance of slow and fast readers did not differ. No interaction between reading speed and the title and type of text variables were observed. In Experiment 2, these results were replicated and extended to a summary test. So, it appears that slow and fast readers do not process textual organization in a different way and show identical comprehension performances. Further research is necessary to identify those factors that characterize good comprehenders among slow and fast readers.     

Kindergarten prevention of dyslexia: does training in phonological awareness work for everybody?

This study examined the effects of training in phonological awareness on kindergarten children. Comparisons of children at risk (i.e., children with initially low levels of metalinguistic ability) with initially average and advanced children revealed that training gains were similar for all of these groups. Furthermore, training had comparable long-term effects on reading and spelling in Grades 1 and 2 for each group. In fact, the trained children at risk showed better reading and spelling performance than a randomly selected control group. Although considerable individual differences in training effectiveness were found Within the group of at-risk children, there was clear evidence that the training program substantially reduced the risk of becoming dyslexic in school.     

Emotional experiences during test taking: Does cognitive ability make a difference?

This study examined test-related experiences of enjoyment, anger, anxiety, and boredom in a sample of 2059 German school students (50% female) from grade 6, and how they relate to students' abstract reasoning ability (ARA). Emotions were assessed immediately before, during, and after a mathematics achievement test. Analysis of variance showed that emotions experienced during the test situation differed based on students' ARA level, with correspondence analysis revealing substantial differences between the emotional profiles of different ability groups. Enjoyment proved to be most prominent in students with high ARA, whereas anger and anxiety were predominant for students with low ARA. Boredom was found to be highest among students in the intermediate ARA group. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

DO THE SPATIAL FEATURES OF AN ADJUNCT DISPLAY THAT READERS COMPLETE WHILE READING AFFECT THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF A COMPLEX SYSTEM?

We varied the spatial features of adjunct displays that depicted a complex scientific system (i.e. human circulatory system). University students (n = 47), who were assigned randomly to a display condition before reading, selected relevant information from the text and wrote it (a) next to a list of definitions (list condition), (b) inside boxes organized to coincide with the sequence of blood flow (chart condition), or (c) on a picture of the heart (pictorial condition). Students in the chart and pictorial conditions had higher scores on 2 learning tests. Results supported the nonequivalence hypothesis, which states that a spatial display can promote learning more effectively than a list because a display’s nonverbal (e.g. spatial) features explicitly depict relationships among a system’s components. The results have implications for science educators.     

Teacher Judgments of Student Reading and Math Skills: Associations With Child- and Classroom-Related Factors

The purpose of the study was to examine whether students’ linguistic skills and task-avoidant behavior (i.e., the child-related factors) and the mean level of academic skills (reading comprehension and math) of classmates (i.e., the class-related factor) are associated with teacher judgments of children’s reading comprehension and math skills. The participants were third-grade Estonian-speaking students (n?=?656; age 9?11 years) and their classroom teachers (n?=?51). The results of the structural equation modeling path analyses indicated that teachers tend to judge students showing higher academic and linguistic skills and lower avoidance behavior as higher on the reading comprehension and math skills. In contrast, the classmates’ higher academic skill level was related to lower judgments of individual children’s reading comprehension and math skills by teachers.     

Does the Type of Textbook Matter? Results of a Study of Free Electronic Reading Materials at a Community College

This research describes a quasi-experiment across one face-to-face section and two online sections of introductory sociology testing freely available electronic resources (i.e., open education resources [OERs] and open access) to a paid printed textbook. This study fills a gap in the literature on how type of reading material (e.g., print/paid and electronic/open) affects student learning outcomes. The results show no significant relationship between type of reading materials on pre/posttest improvement or final grades. College-readiness at the time of enrollment at the college along with being a full-time student positively affected posttest score improvement. GPA was the only variable positively and significantly related to final grade. These findings suggest that using OERs and open access resources might be a viable choice for reducing textbook costs, thereby increasing access to higher education. Caution, however, is warranted as students indicate a preference for print (paid) over electronic (open) readings.