The effects of multimodal texts on science reading comprehension in Chilean fifth-graders: text scaffolding and comprehension skills

ABSTRACT

Reading comprehension is a crucial skill that elementary school students must develop in order to learn science. However, there is not yet enough research about the role that multimodal texts play in scaffolding student reading comprehension of complex scientific processes, such as energy transfer. This study explored how verbal and visual resources (scaffolding level) and individual differences (reading skills) contribute to science reading comprehension. One-hundred and sixty Chilean fifth-graders were assessed on reading skills, vocabulary, and prior science knowledge. A counterbalanced design was used to test two groups: Group 1 reads a text with low multimodal scaffolding and Group 2 reads a text with high multimodal scaffolding. Level of text scaffolding was determined by (1) image function, (2) visual-verbal relations, (3) presence of an explicit explanatory structure, and (4) lexico-grammatical resources. General monomodal and multimodal science reading comprehension were assessed with multiple-choice tests. An ANCOVA analysis revealed non-significant differences between groups after controlling for prior knowledge, fluency, and vocabulary. Likewise, a two-factor ANCOVA analysis showed that the high-multimodal scaffolding text significantly boosted science reading comprehension for low-skilled comprehenders. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for pedagogy and research, aiming to foster multimodal literacy for learning in content areas.     

Segmentación fonológico-silábica y adquisición de la lectura: un estudio empírico

El artículo presenta una investigación cuyos resultados muestran la menor capacidad de segmentación silábica entre aquellos niños con peor habilidad lectora. Plantea también la funcionalidad, facilidad de aplicación y carácter motivador de la prueba realizada—una tarea de ordenador—para evaluar la capacidad de segmentación.     

Comparing Disaster News on Twitter and Television: an Intermedia Agenda Setting Perspective

Intermedia agenda setting predicts a high degree of convergence between news media agendas. However, the rise of social media forces a re-examination of this expectation. Using the 8.8-earthquake of February 27, 2010 in Chile as a case study, this article compares which topics were covered by professional journalists on broadcast news and Twitter, analyzing both cross-sectional and longitudinal trends. A positive, reinforcing influence was found among the journalistic agendas of TV and Twitter. However, counter to the idea that social media are echo chambers of traditional media, it was found that Twitter influences TV news more so than the other way around. Thus, the study provides an early lens into the agenda setting function of social media among television news professionals, and its findings are consistent with Twitter succeeding among journalists due to its provision of valuable information.     

Adding interactive graphic organizers to a whole-class slideshow lesson

This study examines the effects of including interactive graphic organizers into a whole-class PowerPoint lesson as an instructional approach intended to improve student engagement and generative learning in schools. A software application was developed and integrated into PowerPoint that makes it possible for the instructor to fill in empty graphic organizers during PowerPoint projection mode. The participants were 152 fourth-grade students selected from three schools that were grouped in four classrooms. Each classroom was divided in two groups—graphic organizer and content-based. The graphic organizer group was taught using an 11-slide PowerPoint presentation on a social study topic that included two empty graphic organizers plus two additional slides explaining how to make a comparison. The content-based group was taught using the same presentation but without these additional slides plus a set of questions students had to answer as a class activity. The lessons were recorded and the verbal statements between instructor and students examined using the Flanders Interaction Analysis System. Results indicated significant differences in how instructors and students interacted in each group, including more questions asked by teachers (d?=?1.99) and more students participating in the classroom discussion in the graphic organizer group (d?=?1.76). Learning outcomes showed that the graphic organizer group outperformed the content-based group on a memory test (d?=?.45) and a comprehension test (d?=?.44). These results encourage the use of graphic organizers as an instructional approach, and are consistent with a generative theory of learning.     

Learning-oriented e-assessment: the effects of a training and guidance programme on lecturers’ perceptions

Various frameworks that acknowledge the importance of assessment as a core aspect of the learning process have been proposed to enhance life-long learning and promote participative strategies. In this context, learning-oriented e-assessment was developed to enhance learning through assessment in a technology-mediated context. Using a quantitative–qualitative mixed research method, the current study aimed to analyse the effects of a learning-oriented e-assessment training and guidance programme on university lecturers’ perceptions of the importance of assessment, their competence in assessment and their actual use of assessment, and to consider lecturers’ experience and perception when implementing learning-oriented e-assessment in one of their courses. The results of the quantitative research showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test measures in the competence and use criteria for the following four categories: ‘assessment planning and design’, ‘monitoring of student learning’, ‘participation of students in the assessment process’ and ‘improvement and changes to the assessment process’. The qualitative results support the quantitative outcomes, providing some insight into lecturers’ perception of the experience.     

Gender differential in self-assessment: a fact neglected in higher education peer and self-assessment techniques

This paper analyses student cross-assessment with a gender perspective in three different courses along several academic years in an engineering school in Spain. The aim of this study is to contribute to a wider understanding of the hidden effect of gender in higher education by testing if gender has any effect on the way students assess others and themselves. Previous research has demonstrated sex differences in self-image and self-confidence, which are both closely related to self-esteem and same- and other-sex esteem. It follows that gender effects might be expected in investigations on peer and self-assessment (PSA), as both techniques are closely linked to self-image and self-confidence. But a critical review of the literature on PSA with a gender perspective reveals that findings on this field are inconclusive, thus more research is needed. The analysis of the results of our study reveals that women judge themselves too harshly. As the literature on PSA does not show great concern for gender issues, some tentative suggestions are proposed to support PSA with gender-awareness sessions.     

A Structural Equation Model of Parental Involvement,Motivational and Aptitudinal Characteristics,and Academic Achievement

The authors used the structural equation model (SEM) approach to test a model hypothesizing the influence of parental involvement on students' academic aptitudes, self-concept, and causal attributions, as well as the influence of the 3 variables on academic achievement. The theoretical model was contrasted in a group of 12- to 18-year-old adolescents (N = 261) attending various educational centers. The results indicate that (a) parental involvement had a positive and significant influence on the participant's measured characteristics; (b) causal attribution was not causally related to self-concept or academic achievement when the task involved finding causes for success, but, self-concept and causal attributions were found to be significantly and reciprocally related when the task involved finding causes accounting for failure; (c) self-concept was statistically and predominantly causally related to academic achievement, but not vice versa; and (d) aptitude and self-concept accounted for academic achievement, although the effect of self-concept was predominant. These results suggest that in adolescence, cognitive-affective variables become crucial in accounting for academic behavior.     

The effect of efficient professional development on the teaching of code-focused skills in beginner readers: exploring the impact of professional development intensity and coaching on student outcomes

Reading and Writing - Professional development (PD) of teachers working with students in the first years of learning to read is a privileged way of preventing initial reading difficulties and its...