篇章结构在阅读理解中的作用

缺乏对篇章结构的认识是目前大学英语阅读教学的一个主要问题。由于传统教学偏重对词和句法的讲解,阅读教学缺乏对篇章的宏观处理,因而制约了学生阅读理解水平的提高。篇章结构作为文本重要的内在特征对提高阅读理解的正确性和效率有着积极作用,采用正确的阅读教学策略,传授篇章结构知识,从长远来看可以大幅提高阅读教学的效率。     

Teaching community-college students to follow the train of thought in expository texts

Community-college students in a one-semester remedial reading course were taught that main ideas in expository texts are located in sentences connected by rhetorical relations into trains of thought. After extensive practice with a variety of materials, they were compared to students in no-treatment and alternative-treatment control groups on (a) identifying main ideas while reading a test passage, and (b) recalling main ideas and supporting details two days later. The test passage differed in rhetorical structure from passages previously studied. Results indicated that the experimental group scored significantly higher than both control groups on main-idea identification. The experimental group also scored significantly higher than the alternative-treatment group on the free-recall of main ideas but not supporting details. Effect sizes were generally large. Information about the course is presented, and the theoretical rationale for its design is discussed. Implications for classroom instruction and for the reading comprehension curriculum are discussed.     

The role of question type and reading ability in reading comprehension

Performance on a standardized reading comprehension test reflects the number of correct answers readers select from a list of alternate choices, but fails to provide information about how readers cope with the various cognitive demands of the task. The aim of this study was to determine whether three groups of readers: normally achieving (NA), poor comprehenders (CD), with no decoding disability, and reading disabled (RD), poor comprehenders with poor decoding skills, differed in their ability to cope with reading comprehension task demands. Three task variables reflected in the question-answer relations that appear on standardized reading comprehension tests were identified.Passage Independent (PI) question can be answered with reasonable accuracy based on the reader's prior knowledge of the passage content.Inference (INFER) questions required the reader to generate an inference at the local or global test level.Locating (LOCAT) questions require the reader to match the correct answer choice to a detail explicitly stated in the text either verbatim or in paraphrase form. The relations among reader characteristics, cognitive task factors and reading comprehension test scores were analyzed using a structural relations equation with LISREL. It was found that the three reading groups differed with respect to the underlying relationship between their performance on specific question-answer types and their standardized reading comprehension score. For the NA group, a high score on PI was likely to be accompanied by a low score on INFER, whereas in the CD and RD groups, PI and INFER are positively related. The finding of a negative relationship between background knowledge and inference task factors for normally achieving readers suggests that even normal readers may have comprehension difficulties that go undetected on the basis of a standardized scores. This study indicates that current comprehension assessments may not be adequate for assessing specific reading difficulties and that more precise diagnostic tools are needed.     

大学英语专业学生听力理解水平差异调查

听力理解是一个循序渐进过程，需要学生具有良好的口语基础、厚实的阅读理解基础及精读章的能力。学生的学习态度、学习毅力等也是一个非常重要的。本从以上几个方面出发，初探大学英语专业学生听力理解水平差异。     

Children’s Reading Comprehension and Oral Reading Fluency in Easy Text

This study explored third-graders’ oral reading fluency (ORF) in easy text in relation to their third- and fourth-grade reading comprehension. It also examined the children’s performance on two different measures of text exposure, a self-report questionnaire and a title-recognition test. Although third-graders’ ORF related significantly to their reading comprehension, oral language comprehension accounted for most of the variance in reading comprehension, whereas single word reading speed accounted for most of the variance in ORF. Third-grade reading comprehension and ORF each predicted unique variance in children’s scores on a fourth-grade state-mandated reading comprehension assessment. Scores on the self-report questionnaire correlated significantly with third-grade ORF and fourth-grade reading; the self-report accounted for reliable variance in ORF even with all of the other reading ability variables entered first. Results are consistent with the viewpoint that text exposure affects reading fluency. They also demonstrate that ORF is a valuable predictor of middle-elementary children’s reading comprehension, even when the ORF measure employs very easy text in which children achieve near-perfect word accuracy.     

试论中学语文阅读教学中文本意义的多元阐释

随着教育改革的不断深入，文章意义的解读从单一化向多元化转变，阅读教学重视体现学生的主体性，培养学生的创造性思维，发挥学生的潜能，让学生对作品进行自由、广泛、深入的认识，形成自己独特解悟。认识这些重要性后就要做到：一、课堂学习学生要实现由学“答”到学“问”的转变；二、在合作学习小组中，对文章进行评读，互赖促进；三、在自主探索中体验求知的快乐；四、尊重学生情感，正确看待学生个体差异，做好同步与差异的统一；五、鼓励学生养成健康时尚并富有个性的审美观；六、保证学生课外阅读正常有效的进行。     

Does mind wandering mediate the effects of habitual reading motivation on comprehension?

The present article reports on a study that examined how individual differences in habitual reading motivation affect a reader's tendency to engage in text-related and text-unrelated thinking during reading. Two-hundred participants read each three texts about finance and meteorology topics and answered comprehension questions afterward. Participants' thoughts during reading were assessed with retrospective ratings and thought samples. Habitual reading motivation was assessed with questionnaires in a separate session prior to reading. Structural equation models fit to this data revealed that more motivated readers reported less mind wandering, more engagement in elaborative thinking and comprehension monitoring, as well as higher topic interest. Furthermore, the beneficial effect of reading motivation on comprehension was partially mediated by mind wandering, elaboration, comprehension monitoring, and interest. Our findings offer a novel explanation for the well-known beneficial effects of reading motivation on comprehension: habitually motivated readers are more likely to engage in text-related thinking and avoid text-unrelated thoughts.     

Fluency and comprehension of narrative texts in Turkish students in grades 4 through 8

The present study attempted to extend our knowledge of the role of reading fluency in contributing to reading comprehension among Turkish students in grades 4 through 8. One hundred students at each grade level were administered assessments of reading fluency, word recognition automaticity and prosody, and silent reading comprehension. Word recognition automaticity was found to be a significant predictor of comprehension at all grade levels tested. Prosody predicted comprehension at all grades levels except grade 4. Regression analyses at each grade level indicate that, except for grade 4, word recognition automaticity and prosody, together contribute to the prediction of reading comprehension. The magnitude of fluency’s prediction of comprehension ranged from approximately a quarter to a third of comprehension. The results are discussed in terms of policy and instructional changes that may be considered for reading instruction for Turkish students.     

Young learners’ reading and writing performance: Exploring collaborative modeling of text structure as an additional component of self-regulated strategy development

This study examined the effects of adding collaborative modeling of text structure as an additional component of self-regulated strategy development for elementary school 6th-grade students learning English as a second language (ESL). In this study, 34 students receiving a ‘Self-regulated strategy development plus collaborative modeling of text structure’ intervention were compared with 36 students receiving a ‘collaborative modeling of text structure only’ intervention, 38 students receiving a ‘self-regulated strategy development only’ intervention, and 36 students receiving traditional instruction. Several measures (i.e., content comprehension, summarization of main ideas, and essay writing) were administered after the one-month intervention. Results revealed that, compared to traditional instruction, self-regulated strategy development and collaborative modeling of text structure respectively resulted in better comprehension levels and writing performance. The combination of self-regulated strategy development and collaborative modeling of text structure was particularly effective in increasing primary school students’ content comprehension and writing quality. These findings highlight the benefit of coupling self-regulated strategy development and collaborative modeling of text structure for elementary school ESL classroom instruction.     

Word recognition: The interface of educational policies and scientific research

As a result of a tremendous amount of research in educational, cognitive and developmental psychology on the nature and acquisition of reading skills, practitioners have a goldmine of evidence upon which to design effective educational programs for beginning and problem readers. This evidence is highly consistent in terms of delineating different stages of reading that young children pass through, the types of skills that they are to acquire, and the sorts of difficulties that they are likely to encounter. The purpose of this paper is to broadly outline current knowledge of the beginning stages of reading acquisition for both normal and problem readers and to relate this knowledge to current language arts curricular practices in North America.     

On the role of linguistic features for comprehension and learning from STEM texts. A meta-analysis

Learning from texts is an important part of STEM education, but linguistic text features can affect comprehension and learning. We synthesized 45 experimental studies that investigated the effect of linguistic modifications on STEM text comprehension and learning, with a total of N = 6477 learners. In a meta-regression, we distinguished between eight categories of linguistic modifications and several other moderators, including prior knowledge. We found a small positive mean effect of linguistic modifications (g = 0.15). In line with previous research, the results showed that learners with low content prior knowledge benefited more from linguistic modifications. Personalization and increasing clarity and elaboration had positive effects, while reducing complexity and increasing cohesion did not have significant effects. This study highlights the potential and limits of linguistic modifications in STEM texts and provides implications for educational practice.     

Reading comprehension difficulties in children

This paper reports two studies investigating the nature of comprehension deficits in a group of 7–8 year old children whose decoding skills are normal, but whose reading comprehension skills are poor. The performance of these poor comprehenders was compared to two control groups, Chronological-Age controls and Comprehension-Age controls. The first study examined whether these comprehension difficulties are specific to reading. On two measures of listening comprehension the poor comprehenders were found to perform at a significantly lower level than Chronological-Age controls. However, they did not differ from a group of younger children matched for reading comprehension skills. This indicates that the observed comprehension difficulties are not restricted to reading, but rather represent a general comprehension limitation. The second study investigated whether these comprehension difficulties can be explained in terms of a memory deficit. The short-term and working memory skills of these three groups were examined. The poor comprehenders did not differ from their Chronological-Age controls on either of these tasks. In conclusion, it is argued that working memory processes are not a major causal factor in the creation of the comprehension difficulties identified in the present group of poor comprehenders.     

六级英语阅读能力的培养及应试技巧

本文根据个人的平时教学经验,分析了六级考试阅读的特点,提出了如何培养学生六级英语阅读的能 力,及学生如何应付六级英语阅读考试的技巧。旨在帮助学生了解阅读及阅读考试的特点,提高学生的阅读能力。     

Designating reader perspective to increase comprehension and interest

In three experiments we examined whether reader perspective on a long expository text could be manipulated such that increased text interest and enhancement of two comprehension outcomes would result. In Experiment 1 we verified the viability of a new text for experimental purposes. We then assigned readers a perspective before reading in Experiment 2 and after reading in Experiment 3. One primary research question addressed whether interest in a long expository text could be manipulated by assigning readers a perspective. We considered this to be an examination of purpose-driven interest ( Schraw & Dennison, 1994). As hypothesized, participants rated text segments as more interesting when the segments corresponded to their assigned perspective. In support of our second hypothesis, that recall would increase as a function of reader perspective, low to medium effects were found for both total number and depth of ideas recalled. We discuss implications of this work for understanding of the role of relevance in increasing recall. Implications for practice and future research are also discussed.     

A longitudinal think-aloud study of spontaneous strategic processing during the reading of multiple expository texts

This study examined the strategiesspontaneously used by university students asthey tried to understand multiple expositorytexts as part of their normal reading andstudying. Law students read self-selected textsat different points in time during onesemester. Think-aloud protocols generatedduring reading were analyzed to identify typesof strategic text processing. It was foundthat students' strategic processing changedover time, with some of the changes associatedwith changes in students' perception of thenature of the reading task. Different changesin strategic processing were observed forstudents at different levels of performance.     

A profile of causal development amongst ten-year-olds: Implications for reading and writing

Causality has been singled out by several researchers as an important factor in text comprehension and memory. The basic assumption underlying this view is that the perception of causal ties between elements in a text binds the text elements together and enables the reader to construct a coherent representation of the text in memory. Although research findings indicate that causality is a strong predictor of comprehension in narrative texts, the role that causality plays in the comprehension of expository texts has received relatively little attention. In the research reported in this article, a profile of causal development in ten-year-olds was built up on the basis of their recall of history and science texts in which the amount of causal connectivity differed. Four variables were identified and measured, namely length of recall protocols, amount of causal connections recalled from original test passages, amount of causal density and causal hierarchicalization created in the recall protocols. The results of the recall test were also compared to the subjects' English grades. The findings indicate that causal connections play an important role in expository text recall, and that subjects who have a strong causal profile also, generally, perform well in English. The research and pedagogical implications of these findings for reading and writing skills are discussed.     

谈英语阅读能力的学习与提高

英语阅读是通向英语学习高级阶段所必经的困惑、彷徨、劳顿之旅。为了除疑解惑,本文本着提供有益的思考和启发,方便学习者借鉴和实践的原则,结合本人在学习以及教学过程中的一些浅略思考,呈现给大家一些有益的建议。     

Impact of text availability and question format on reading comprehension processes

We conducted two experiments to analyze how text availability and question format affect readers’ processes and performance on measures of expository text reading comprehension. Junior high school students read expository texts and answered both multiple choice and open-ended questions on a computer that recorded reading times and readers’ actions with Read&Answer software. The results showed that readers reread prior text segments during initial reading of the text more often when they knew that the text would be unavailable when answering questions than when they knew that the text would be available. In addition, readers made more search decisions in the text- available condition when answering open-ended questions than when answering multiple-choice questions. Regarding performance, we repeatedly found an interaction effect between availability and question format: text availability benefited the open-ended but not the multiple-choice format. We concluded that the two availability conditions are useful in assessing different discourse processes. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for the development of models of reading and new ways to assess reading literacy skills that emphasize purposeful reading.     

Warning readers to avoid irrelevant information: When being vague might be valuable

Students are often provided with instructions that are intended to influence their attention to particular sections or elements of their reading materials. To date, the bulk of the work on such prereading instructions has focused on drawing reader attention to relevant text information. In the current project, we examined whether instructions might also be useful in helping readers ignore irrelevant (albeit inherently interesting) information in text. In two experiments, prereading instructions asked readers to (a) focus on specific relevant text segments, (b) ignore specific irrelevant text segments, (c) maintain an awareness that the text contained irrelevant segments without specifically identifying them, or (d) read without warnings. Participants generally exhibited longer reading times and enhanced recall for irrelevant segments compared to base content, except in cases for which general instructions warned about but did not specifically identify those irrelevant elements. The implications of these findings for research on seductive details and text processing, as well practical applications for the design of reading instruction, are discussed.