Development Of Reading Comprehension Skills Research Articles

The Effect of the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy in the Development of Reading Comprehension Skills of the Elementary Fifth Grade in Jordan

The Effect of the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy in the Development of Reading Comprehension Skills of the Elementary Fifth Grade in Jordan

Improving Reading Comprehension One Word at a Time…

A group of seventh grade teachers and administrators work to improve reading through careful yet intense formative assessment focused on enhanced vocabulary instruction as an integral building block for success.The challenge of literacy in middle schoolFor years, teachers and administrators at our Los Angeles middle school have grappled with the poor reading skills of our middle school students. Discouraged by the reading scores on standardized tests and frustrated with the limits of our readers, we struggled to improve reading comprehension in our heterogeneous classrooms. Our professional mandate was clear: We needed to develop accurate comprehension assessments of our students beyond annual standardized testing, and we needed to learn to translate this knowledge into practice across the curriculum. Based on our student population and the research on reading in middle schools, we focused our work on vocabulary development, improving reading comprehension one word at a time.We knew that our local challenge was embedded within a distressing national context. In fact, reading failure has been called a national health problem. Joshi and colleagues (2009) reported that in the United States, roughly 6 million secondary students read far below grade level, and approximately 3,000 students drop out of U.S. high schools every day.Our particular challenge assumed a greater sense of urgency because middle school provides the last chance for many students to build the sufficient reading skills necessary to succeed in demanding courses (Biancarosa & Snow, 2006). Propelled by reading-focused accountability programs and by the growing recognition of the widespread need to address literacy in later stages of schooling, schools in the United States are increasingly providing reading instruction to a large portion of middle school students (Palincsar, Nair, Deshler, & Biancarosa, 2007). Yet, in spite of the burgeoning national concern about late literacy development, limited understanding plagues administrators and the teaching profession regarding the particular challenges students in middle school face when they encounter texts in the classroom. We face a shortage of academic exploration of the different profiles of readers in middle school who are typically, and often inaccurately, clustered into high, medium, or low groups. Middle school teachers know all too well that middle school readers exhibit characteristics that defy simple categorization; students possess strengths and weaknesses in the realms of vocabulary, accuracy, motivation, and higher-order thinking (Guthrie, & Humenick, 2004; Moje, 2006; Primor, Pierce, & Katzir, 2011; Snow, 2010). Over the past year, we implemented an assessment system that revealed the strengths and weaknesses of our readers in these subskills, and we developed a research-based approach to changing our classroom practice to improve reading comprehension across the curriculum.The misconception of reading development in middle schoolRemarkably, a systematic, wide-ranging review of the research on reading comprehension in middle school does not exist (Vaughn et al., 2010). The What Works Clearinghouse (2007), published by the U.S. Department of Education (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/ PLATO_030210.pdf) has completed a review of research on elementary school reading programs; however, its long-term plans do not even include a review of research on secondary reading programs. Of course, despite the horrors of this deficit, given the emphasis that federal mandatory testing places on reading at all levels, please note the multilayered professional neglect found here in the absence of explicit attention given to reading at the middle level. Indeed, middle grades teachers often focus more on content than on developing reading comprehension skills and subskills. This longstanding trend stems from older, theoretical models of how we learn to read (Chall & Conard, 1991) and from similar malpractice that comes from lingering persistence of the old junior high model, where strict concern for academic matters result in neglecting the importance of relevance and the whole child that comes in the wake of the middle school movement. …

Motivational and Learning Effects of Computer-aided Procedures on Students' Reading Comprehension

Reading development and instruction is a pedagogical priority at all academic levels. Historically, in the educational field, numerous efforts have been made to facilitate the complex process of foreign language reading comprehension. More recently, increasing attention has been paid to the use of computers for developing reading comprehension skills and various efforts have been made in this regard. The present study investigates the connection between computer technology and reading comprehension. It relies on the current models of reading which emphasize the interactive nature of reading and constructive nature of comprehension. The study sample consisted of 30 freshman students studying English Language and Literature at Semnan University. Of this total, 15 students were subjected to a computer-assisted instructional program. They filled out a background questionnaire and during ten sessions they read computerized texts provided with comprehension aids (texts, pictures, and sounds). The other 15 students, randomly selected from the group, received no computer training and served as a control group. Both groups took a reading comprehension pre-test and post-test. After the treatment, the experimental group filled out an attitude questionnaire. Both quantitative and qualitative findings of the study are clear indications that the computerized reading contributes to the development of EFL reading skills more significantly than the conventional academic reading method.

The development of reading comprehension skills in children learning English as a second language

Reading comprehension is a multi-dimensional process that includes the reader, the text, and factors associated with the activity of reading. Most research and theories of comprehension are based primarily on research conducted with monolingual English speakers (L1). The present study was designed to investigate the cognitive and linguistic factors that have an influence on reading comprehension in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) speakers. The cognitive aspects of reading comprehension among L1 speakers and ESL speakers in the seventh grade were investigated. The performance of both groups was compared and the role of some relevant processes, including word reading, word reading fluency, phonological awareness, working memory, and morphological and syntactic awareness were assessed. Within this sample, three groups were examined: (1) children with poor comprehension (PC) in the absence of word reading difficulties (2) children with poor word reading and poor comprehension (poor readers, PR) (3) and children with both good word reading and comprehension abilities (good comprehenders, GC). The results demonstrated that a variety of cognitive processes, such as working memory and phonological, syntactic, and morphological awareness are important for reading comprehension and compromised in poor comprehenders. The GC group performed better than the PC group on all of the cognitive measures, indicating that comprehension depends on a variety of phonological, memory and linguistic processes and that adequate word recognition skill are important for reading comprehension. The prevalence of the ESL and L1 students was similar across the three reading groups. The ESL and L1 students demonstrated similar performance, indicating that the skills underlying reading comprehension are similar in the ESL and L1 students. This study demonstrated that ESL students are capable of developing word reading and reading comprehension skills that are as strong as those of their L1 peers.

Improved Reading Comprehension by Writing

In this article, the author argues that writing skills are important in developing reading comprehension skills that prepare our students for the advanced studies of the 21st Century. Examples are provided of available writing tools/interventions that may help teachers provide more writing practice that makes this connection to improved reading comprehension. One example discussed is Summary Street, which focuses on the process of summarization. Summarizing is an important comprehension skill that helps readers develop the gist of their reading and form a lasting and accurate text base representation of text meaning.

Vocabulary knowledge is a critical determinant of the difference in reading comprehension growth between first and second language learners

This study examines the role of decoding and vocabulary skills as longitudinal predictors of reading comprehension in young first (L1) and second (L2) language learners. Two-group latent growth models were used to assess differences in growth and predictions of growth between the 198 L1 and 90 L2 language learners. L1 learners had better initial reading comprehension skills and faster growth in these skills over time. Individual differences in decoding and vocabulary predicted initial reading comprehension skills, but only vocabulary predicted the subsequent growth of reading comprehension skills. Vocabulary seemed to be a stronger predictor of growth in reading comprehension among the L2 learners than among the L1 learners. Vocabulary appears to be a critical predictor of the early development of reading comprehension skills in both L1 and L2 learners. The limitations in vocabulary skills in the L2 learners seemed sufficient to explain their lag in developing reading comprehension skills, and this suggests that oral vocabulary training should be given a high priority in this group.

Insights into Fluency Instruction: Short- and Long-Term Effects of Two Reading Programs

The purpose of the study was to examine short- and long-term effects of two instructional approaches designed to improve the reading fluency of second-grade children: Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (or FORI; Stahl & Heubach, 2005) and a wide reading approach (Kuhn et al., 2006). By the end of second grade, children in the wide reading classrooms showed better fluency and self-concept compared to children in control classrooms. Classroom observations indicated children in FORI classrooms were more likely to be off-task than controls. However, by the end of third grade, children in both programs displayed better comprehension. We conclude that extensive and long-term focus on the oral reading of complex texts using practices that scaffold reading in second grade is beneficial for the long-term development of reading comprehension skills.

The Effectiveness of the Methods of Reciprocal Teaching: As Applied Within the NSW Primary Subject Human Society and Its Environment: An Exploratory Study

Reciprocal teaching (RT) is a process involving four distinct activities (questioning, clarifying, summarising and predicting) employed in a student-led, team approach to develop reading comprehension skills among primary students. In this study a series of readings were prepared for a topic taught within the NSW key learning area of Human Society and its Environment (HSIE). The readings were used in a study comparing the effects of RT with those of a more traditional approach to reading. A mixedmethod procedure was employed with 25 Year Four students who were divided into two groups (control and experimental) balanced for age, sex and ability. Both groups were pre- and post-tested for their knowledge of information supplied within the readings. An analysis of variance of the results indicated no detriment to the use of the RT procedures in comparison to the effective traditional approach taken by the home-teacher. Further, exit interviews with, and journal entries of students from both groups suggested that while the students in the control group viewed reading as a decoding process, the students from the RT group had begun to internalise the questioning and clarifying strategies and viewed reading as a process of dealing with ideas (comprehension).

Reading comprehension: Developmental processes, individual differences, and interventions.

Research on the typical development of reading comprehension, individual differences in comprehension, and reading comprehension interventions is less common than research on word reading. The authors present an overview of research on the development of reading comprehension skills and sources of individual differences in comprehension with reference to cognitive models of comprehension. Methodological issues particular to developmental and individual difference research on comprehension are also described. The article ends with a selective review of research programmes that illustrate effective comprehension interventions for typically developing children and for children who struggle to understand what they read.

Contribution of Working Memory Capacity to Children’s Reading Comprehension: A Longitudinal Investigation

We examined the contribution of working memory capacity to the development of children’s reading comprehension. We present data from three waves of a longitudinal study when the children were 7 years (Grade 1), 8 years (Grade 2) and 9 years (Grade 3). Two questions were raised: The first question concerned the developmental changes of the relative contribution of working memory in predicting reading comprehension compared to vocabulary and decoding skills. The second question explored to what extent reading comprehension could be predicted by working memory capacity measured at a prior time. At the end of each grade, reading comprehension, nonword reading, vocabulary knowledge and working memory capacity were assessed. To test the first question, the predictive power of working memory capacity was compared to vocabulary and decoding skills by performing concurrent multiple-regression analyses in each grade. The results showed that working memory capacity emerged as a direct predictor of reading comprehension in Grade 3. To address the second question, we performed multiple-regression analyses predicting reading comprehension from working memory, nonword reading, and vocabulary measured at a prior time. In these analyses, the autoregressive effect was taken into account to separately assess the unique contribution of each predictor to the development of later reading comprehension. The results showed that Grade 1 vocabulary and Grade 2 working memory had additional effects on Grade 3 reading comprehension after the autoregressive effect of reading comprehension had been accounted for. These findings support the idea that, as word recognition becomes automated throughout the early grade levels, working memory becomes an important determinant of reading comprehension. There is also evidence that working memory capacity directly influences the development of reading comprehension skills. The direction of the causal flow is discussed.