The Braille reading skills of German-speaking students and young adults with visual impairments

Parallel versus sequential processing in print and braille reading

Effect of reading on blood flow changes in the posterior cerebral artery in early blind and sighted people — A transcranial Doppler study

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a reading literacy tutoring program in improving students’ reading skills at SDN 2 Ampenan. The subjects of the study consisted of 16 students, including 7 third-grade students, 5 fourth-grade students, and 4 fifth-grade students. The research employed Classroom Action Research (CAR) conducted in two cycles, with stages of planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. Research instruments included student activity observation sheets and reading skill tests covering five aspects: accurate word recognition, pronunciation accuracy, word completeness, reading fluency and proper intonation, and text comprehension. The results indicated a significant improvement in students’ reading skills, with the average score increasing from 56.4% in the pre-action stage to 85.2% in Cycle II, with the largest improvement observed in text comprehension (60%). Student activity also increased from 58.4% in the pre-action stage to 88.0% in Cycle II, moving from the “Adequate” to “Very Good” category. These findings align with previous studies in Indonesia, which emphasize that structured literacy instruction combined with intensive guidance can enhance students’ reading skills and learning motivation. Thus, reading literacy tutoring can be recommended as an effective instructional strategy to improve literacy in elementary schools.

This study aims to analyze the reading skills of elementary school students in Indonesian language learning. The research employs a qualitative method using a literature review approach by analyzing ten accredited journal articles focusing on reading difficulties among elementary students. Data were collected through documentation techniques and critically analyzed to identify patterns of reading challenges and effective strategies to address them. The findings show that students in lower grades predominantly face technical difficulties such as recognizing letters, reading syllables, and reading fluency, while students in higher grades encounter more complex problems related to reading comprehension and correct pronunciation. Internal factors such as memory weakness, low motivation, and lack of concentration, along with external factors like limited literacy facilities and conventional teaching approaches, contribute significantly to students' reading difficulties. Persistent problems in reading are found to negatively affect students' academic achievements and psychological well-being. Therefore, early detection of reading difficulties, the application of adaptive and varied teaching strategies, and strong collaboration among teachers, schools, and parents are essential steps to enhance students' literacy skills and ensure academic success. This study highlights the urgent need for integrated efforts in improving reading abilities from the early stages of elementary education. Keywords : reading skills, Indonesian language learning, elementary school, literacy

Although literacy skills, as typically measured by reading accuracy and fluency, are known to greatly influence a child’s later academic and social success, national literacy rates continue to decrease across grade levels. Research has shown that serial rapid automatized naming (RAN) is one of the best predictors of reading fluency; however, there is significant variability regarding the specific relationship between RAN and reading as noted between meta-analyses, age groups, RAN stimuli, and measures of socioeconomic status (SES). This study aims to investigate the relationship between serial RAN and 1) real word reading fluency and 2) socioeconomic status (SES) across thirty-three first and second grade participants. Specifically, RAN was measured by rapid letter naming (RLN) and rapid digit naming (RDN) raw scores, and real word reading fluency was determined utilizing the eye-tracking measure of gaze duration. To prevent bias in determining SES based on one measure alone, SES was calculated in three ways: mother’s education, free and/or reduced lunch services, and a composite measure of parental education and occupation. The results indicated that RAN and gaze duration are not correlated when the first and second grade participants are combined in analyses. However, when analyzed separately, gaze duration and RAN were correlated for the second grade only. It is possible that correlations were not significant in first grade as there was a smaller sample size and their reading skills were weaker than second grade students. It is possible that RAN may be a more useful measure of reading fluency only when students become more skilled readers. In research, it is common that first and second grades are grouped together and labeled as “beginning readers.” To gain a better understanding of RAN’s correlation with reading fluency across grade levels it may be best to separate first and second grades in future studies as there is significant variability in reading skills between these two grades. As both RLN and RDN were significantly correlated with our measure of reading fluency (gaze duration) for second grade participants, RLN and RDN may be useful diagnostic tools within a comprehensive evaluation of reading fluency for students who are more skilled readers. Lastly, the results indicate that RAN and SES were not correlated across all three indicators of SES. It is possible that the small and relatively homogenous sample size may negatively impact the correlation strength. The results of the insignificant RAN-SES correlations across all three measures suggest that

In order to investigate braille reading behavior, we need a device capable of tracking readers' finger movements in real-time. This paper presents software for tracking the fingers of braille readers. The software is developed to observe reading braille-embossed paper on an Android tablet. It provides online visual information of finger movement patterns, reading durations on cells, total reading time, and the average reading rate. This allows researchers to investigate braille reading in more depth in order to help improve the readers' braille reading skills.

The global COVID-19 pandemic disrupted face-to-face teaching, having a significant impact on the teaching-learning process. As a result, many students spent less time reading (and learning to read) than they did during face-to-face instruction, requiring the use of alternative approaches of instruction. A combined online and peer tutoring intervention was designed to improve reading skills such as fluency and accuracy. Following a quasi-experimental design, this study sought to evaluated the impact of implementing an online peer tutoring intervention on the development of reading fluency and accuracy in a sample of 91 2nd and 4th graders (49.6% female). Children were aged 6–10 years old (M = 7.81, SD = 1.10) and were enrolled in five classrooms (A, B, C, D, and E) from three schools in the Portuguese district of Porto, between January and May 2021. A set of 10 texts were chosen from official textbooks to assess reading fluency and accuracy. Classes were evaluated in three moments: initial (pre-intervention), intermediate (after 10 sessions) and final (post-test, after other 10 sessions). In order to examine the effects of the intervention, there was a 8-week lag between the start of the intervention in classes A, B, and C (experimental group) and classes D and E (control group). Moreover, classes D and E started intervention with a gap of 5 weeks between them. Students in the experimental group registered significant higher improvements in reading accuracy and fluency than in the control group. Interaction effects revealed that students with an initial lower performance (i.e., at the frustration level) showed higher increases in reading accuracy. Furthermore, 2nd graders showed higher increases throughout the intervention while the 4th graders stablished their progress after the first 10 sessions of intervention. Despite the study’s limitations, the findings support the positive impact that online peer tutoring can have on promoting students’ reading skills, adding to the ongoing discussion—which has gained a special emphasis with the COVID-19 pandemic—about the development of effective strategies to promote reading abilities in the first years of school.

One of the four skills that should be developed in primary school reading skills. The necessity of forming reading skills in primary school students according to time management methodology is increasing. The article discusses the importance of developing both learning skills and speed reading skills in students based on time management technology. Definitions and explanations of the concepts «reading skill» and «time management» are provided.The content of the article examines the effectiveness of forming a student’s reading skill using time management technology. Methodologies are proposed that help primary school students respond quickly depending on time and develop their reading skills. A review of educational goals and textbooks related to reading skills in the typical primary school curriculum has been conducted in the context of developing speed reading skills. The methodological materials not only contribute to the development of students speed reading but also provide valuable information on understanding the content of texts, analysis, educational and cognitive functions, and the expansion of horizons. For example, the article describes a methodology for transforming reading skill tasks from the subject «Literary Reading» for the 2nd grade, taking into account the student’s level and their implementation throgh time managment technology. The possibilities of applying time management technology to achieve quality education and the systematic work of teachers are the foundation of the research problem.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the self-regulation skills of teachers with specific learning disabilities and the reading comprehension skills of students with specific learning disabilities. In this direction, the relational screening model was used in the study. The research universe consists of students diagnosed with specific learning disabilities studying in Bursa in the 2023-2024 academic year and the teachers who work with these students. The sample group was determined using the criterion sampling method and consisted of 203 teachers who have worked with these students for at least four years and 203 students with specific learning disabilities studying at the 4th grade level. The Self-Regulation Scale, developed by Brown et al. (1999) and adapted to Turkish by Aydın et al. (2013), was used to measure the self-regulation skills of the teachers. The “Reading Comprehension Achievement Test” developed by Yurdakal (2018) was used to measure the reading comprehension skills of the students in the study. Independent samples t-test and ANOVA methods were used in the analysis of the data. In addition, Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between teachers' self-regulation skills and students' reading skills. As a result of the research, teachers' self-regulation skills were found to be at a moderate level. While teachers' self-regulation skills did not differ in terms of gender and the number of integrated students, they differed significantly in terms of the district they worked in and the level of knowledge about self-regulation. The reading skills of students with specific learning difficulties were found to be at a moderate level. It was determined that students' reading skills did not differ significantly in terms of their teachers' gender and level of knowledge about self-regulation; however, they differed in terms of the district the teachers worked in and the number of integrated students in the classroom. Finally, a low-level, positive and significant relationship was found between students' reading skills and teachers' self-regulation skills.

This study aimed to cultivate the reading skill, comprehension, and fluency of the twelfth-grade students. Quantitative research and quasi-experimental methods were used with a research design of one group pre-test-post-test. Philippine Informal Reading Inventory was used to evaluate students' reading skills, comprehension, and fluency. The collected data were subjected to analysis through mean, t-test, and Glass Delta. It can be said that the study was successful because the reading skill level of all the students went from the previous level of Frustration to Instructional. The students' skills also increased in the aspects of reading speed, comprehension, and fluency. Also, data analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the students' score in the pre-test and post-test after applying the intervention.

In this study, the effect of dialogic reading practices on the development of fluent reading skills of primary school 2nd grade students under the guidance of teachers and parents was examined. In the study, in which the quasi-experimental design of the quantitative research approach was applied, the fluent student reading scale (by the teacher) applied to the students as a pre-post-retention test was prepared by the researchers. In the application, which lasts for 5 weeks, twice a week; dialogic reading was done with the experimental groups (1st experimental group: parents-teacher-students, 2nd experimental group: teacher-students), and traditional reading was done with the control group. Since the assumptions of the ANCOVA test could not be met after the application, the significant difference between the pre-post-test and post-retention test scores of each group was determined with the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. The significance between the pre-posttest and retention test scores of the groups was determined by the Kruskal Wallis test. At the end of the study; It was determined that the dialogic reading practice performed in the presence of parents and teachers created a statistically significant difference in the automaticity and accuracy sub-dimension of fluent reading, but not in the prosody sub-dimension. The development of dialogic reading under the guidance of parents and teachers in the automaticity and accuracy sub-dimension of fluent reading continues in permanence.

The association made between the meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of a word has been shown to help children remember the meanings of words. The present study addressed whether the presence of a target word in Braille during instruction facilitated vocabulary learning more efficiently than an auditory-only instructional condition. The authors used an adapted alternating treatments single-case experimental design with three students with visual impairments who read Braille, collecting data on definition recall and spelling during each session. Data on definition recall were used to determine mastery. The results of this study are not consistent with previous findings with students who read print. Visual analyses of the data indicated that participants reached mastery in both conditions, but all three reached mastery on definition recall in fewer sessions in the auditory-only condition. Spellings of words were learned in the flashcard condition only, and possible implications of this are discussed. The difference in the unit of recognition and working memory load between reading Braille and reading print is discussed as one possible explanation.

This study aimed to develop the Reading Fluency and Comprehension Supplemental Education Program (OKA2DEP) and investigate the effects on reading fluency and comprehension skills of students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) in Turkey. OKA2DEP is the abbreviation of the Turkish name of the program and OKA stands for both reading fluency and reading comprehension and therefore had 2 as a superscript number. DEP stands for Supplemental Education Program. OKA2DEP contains the keyword/mnemonic, repeated reading and story map strategies, and the word cards exercises. The changing criterion design, which belongs to the single subject designs, was used for the study. Social validity data were collected through subjective evaluation and social comparison. Results showed that OKA2DEP was effective in developing participants’ reading fluency and comprehension and that they were able to maintain these skills one, two and three months after completing the implementation. Findings indicated that participants and their parents were satisfied with the effects of OKA2DEP, but participating students’ reading levels were still behind their peers without disabilities.

Types of Reading and their Teaching in English Summary The development of reading skills in students plays an important role in the process of mastering the English language, because it is one of the foundations on which literate speech in English is built. It is important that reading instruction is based on teaching new ways of thinking and understanding about reading texts to students who master English as a foreign language. The main goal of the process of teaching reading and its types in English is to acquire important skills such as acquiring information in the language being taught and enriching motivational ideas and concepts. To achieve this goal, different types of reading in English classes should be properly implemented by teachers and the teaching of reading should help students acquire literary skills in English and new ways of thinking about texts. In this article, reading in English and its types, their correct implementation by teachers in classes, etc. issues are discussed. The article also talks about the tasks aimed at developing students' reading and comprehension skills, types of reading such as intensive reading, extensive reading, reading aloud, analytical reading and fluent reading, their implementation methods in English classes, and their theoretical and practical basis. Key words: reading, skills, types of reading, extensive reading, intensive reading, reading aloud, fluent reading, analytic reading, strategies

Braille readers encounter difficulties when reading mathematical expressions. In this exploratory study, we created a setting to investigate these difficulties. Using a motion-capturing system, we analyzed the tactile strategies of three braille readers while they read mathematical expressions. To compare tactile and visual reading strategies, we also analyzed the oculomotor performance in five print readers. The analysis showed that the two experienced braille readers -experienced in reading in braille -needed about 3.5 times as much time as print readers to read and solve four items involving mathematical expressions. The other braille reader needed even more time. The braille readers used personal reading strategies for all items with little use of the expression's mathematical structure. In contrast, the reading strategies of print readers showed item-dependent and structure-related characteristics. Within the constraints of tactile reading, the braille readers had difficulties to align their reading strategies to the solution procedures required by the mathematical structure of the items. The practical implication of this study is that mathematics teachers need to become aware of the kind of problems that braille readers face when they try to read and comprehend mathematical expressions.