What oral text reading fluency can reveal about reading comprehension

Text reading fluency – the ability to read quickly, accurately and with a natural intonation – has been proposed as a predictor of reading comprehension. In the current study, we examined the role of oral text reading fluency, defined as text reading rate and text reading prosody, as a contributor to reading comprehension outcomes in addition to decoding efficiency and language comprehension. One hundred and six Dutch primary school children from fourth grade participated in this study and were assessed on decoding efficiency, vocabulary, syntactic ability, reading fluency performance and reading comprehension skills. Regression analysis showed that text reading prosody, not text reading rate, explained additional variance in reading comprehension performance when decoding efficiency and language comprehension were controlled for. This result suggests that the inclusion of text reading prosody as an aspect of text reading fluency is justified and that a natural intonation is associated with better comprehension of what is read.     

Bidirectional Relations Between Text Reading Prosody and Reading Comprehension in the Upper Primary School Grades: A Longitudinal Perspective

The purpose of this study was to examine the directionality of the relationship between text reading prosody and reading comprehension in the upper grades of primary school. We compared 3 theoretical possibilities: Two unidirectional relations from text reading prosody to reading comprehension and from reading comprehension to text reading prosody and a bidirectional relation between text reading prosody and reading comprehension. Further, we controlled for autoregressive effects and included decoding efficiency as a measure of general reading skill. Participants were 99 Dutch children, followed longitudinally, from 4th to 6th grade. Structural equation modeling showed that the bidirectional relation provided the best fitting model. In 5th grade, text reading prosody was related to prior decoding and reading comprehension, whereas in 6th grade, reading comprehension was related to prior text reading prosody. As such, the results suggest that the relation between text reading prosody and reading comprehension is reciprocal but dependent on grade level.     

Talking about cultural diversity at school: dialogical tensions and obstacles to secondarisation

European Journal of Psychology of Education - In Switzerland, as elsewhere, issues dealing with cultural diversity raise major challenges in education. At present, little is known about how...     

Biomechanical mechanisms of jumping performance in youth elite female soccer players

ABSTRACT

We aimed to determine key biomechanical parameters explaining age-related jumping performance differences in youth elite female soccer players. Multiple biomechanical parameters from countermovement (CMJ) squat (SJ) and drop (DJ) jump testing of elite female soccer players (n = 60) within the same national training centre were analysed across ages 9-11y, 12-14y and 15-19y. Effects of age group and jump type on jump height were found, with the older jumping higher than the younger groups in all jumps (P < 0.05). For DJ, higher reactive strength index was found for older, compared to each younger group (P < 0.001). For CMJ and SJ, peak power was the most decisive characteristic, with significant differences between each group for absolute peak power (P < 0.0001) and body-weight-normalised peak power in CMJ (57 ± 7W/kg, 50 ± 7W/kg, 44.7 ± 5.5W/kg; P < 0.05) and between the older and each younger group in SJ (56.7 ± 7.1W/kg, 48.9 ± 7.1W/kg, 44.6 ± 6W/kg; P < 0.01). Age-related differences in jumping performance in youth elite female soccer players appear to be due to power production during standing jumps and by the ability to jump with shorter ground contact times during reactive jumps.     

‘I h8 u’: Findings from a five‐year study of text and email bullying

This study charts reports of nasty or threatening text and email messages received by students in academic years 7 and 8 (11–13 years of age) attending 13 secondary schools in the North of England between 2002 and 2006. Annual surveys were undertaken on behalf of the local education authority to monitor bullying. Results indicated that, over five years, the number of pupils receiving one or more nasty or threatening text messages or emails increased significantly, particularly among girls. However, receipt of frequent nasty or threatening text and email messages remained relatively stable. For boys, being a victim of direct‐physical bullying was associated with receiving nasty or threatening text and email messages; for girls it was being unpopular among peers. Boys received more hate‐related messages and girls were primarily the victims of name‐calling. Findings are discussed with respect to theoretical and policy developments, and recommendations for future research are offered.     

Metamemory Assessment and Memory Behavior in a Simulated Memory Professional Task

This study investigated metamemory knowledge related to a professional task and the relationships between metamemory knowledge and memory performance in a simulated professional task, which was a beverage-service job with memory constraints changes. Metamemory knowledge was assessed by interviewing student waiters about hypothetical recall tasks concerning lists of beverages. They then carried out a simulated beverage-service task, including a first paired-associate recall (beverage-customer), then a global recall (order to the bartender), followed by a second paired-associate recall (beverage-customer). Memory constraints were manipulated with table size and perceptive cues. Results revealed that in metamemory knowledge, task-strategy, and strategy were the only variables that were related. Metamemory knowledge produced an effect on all memory performance, whatever the constraints were. The implications of these findings for professional training are discussed in terms of strategy instruction for enhancing professional performance when memory demands change in the work environment.     

How do L2 learners and L1 writers differ in their reliance on working memory during the formulation subprocess?

Reading and Writing - L1 and L2 writers attend to different aspects of the formulation subprocess of writing. L2 writers devote more time and attention to low-level aspects such as grammar...