Fluency Skills Research Articles

Measuring Happiness and Life Satisfaction amongst Swedish Citizens: an Inquiry into Semantic Equivalence in Comparative Survey Research

A consistent empirical finding is that Scandinavian countries by international standards score steadily high in terms of subjectively reported levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Intrigued by previous findings in Denmark (Lolle and Goul Anderson in Metode Og Forskningsdesign 1:95–119, 2013, in Journal of Happiness Studies 6:1–14)), this paper confirms that this is partly due to language effects. In this paper, Sweden serves as a case study that, similar to the Danish study, seeks to determine whether it is possible to establish semantic equivalence between translated survey items. By using randomized experiments on a representative sample of Swedish citizens with fluent skills in English, we test the effects of different designs in question wordings and response scale labels implemented by international surveys. The results reveal significant differences in answers on happiness. While the mean differences are very small, the distribution of answers is substantial enough to confirm a strong semantic threshold between the English term happy the Swedish term lycklig. Hence, it requires something more to be “very happy” in Swedish than in English. Notably, language appears to have a lesser impact on the distribution of responses across language groups when using a numbered response scale with endpoint labels, indicating that a particular question design either mitigates or intensifies translational effects. Happiness, it is concluded, is not easily translated and survey practitioners should bear this caveat in mind when operationalizing the concept across countries and cultures.

Effectiveness of the multi-component reading intervention program in supporting fluency and motivation of Turkish primary school students with learning difficulties

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Multi-Component Reading Intervention Program (MRIP) developed to support reading fluency skills and reading motivation of third and fourth grade Turkish students with learning difficulties (LD). The changing criterion design, a single-subject research method, was used in determining the effectiveness of the MRIP. Five students aged 9–10 with LD participated in the study. For all participants, reading fluency is improved through MRIP. The results of this study manifested that the MRIP was effective in improving the reading fluency performance of students with LD and the participating students could maintain their skills 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month after the implementation of the MRIP. Findings suggest that experts should benefit from the MRIP to improve the reading fluency skills of Turkish students with LD.

The Online Intergenerational Tutoring Program: Older Adults Using Technology to Improve Children’s Early Literacy Skills

ABSTRACT Intergenerational tutoring programs can leverage technology to address the instructional needs of students. This study describes a novel online intergenerational tutoring program designed to target kindergarten students’ literacy skills. Older adult volunteers delivered evidence-based instructional strategies via Zoom. The study used a two-group, quasi-experimental design with students assigned to an intervention (n = 23) or waitlist control (n = 18) group. Five early literacy fluency skills were measured (letter naming, letter sound, phoneme segmentation, nonsense word, and real word). Tutors implemented the program with high fidelity. At posttest, the intervention group scored higher than the control group on each of the five skills and the group differences were statistically significant with a medium effect size for letter sound fluency and nonsense word fluency. Both tutors and parents reported high program acceptability. This study demonstrated how older adults can use online technology to disseminate evidence-based instructional interventions to children.

Reading comprehension differences between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and low cognitive abilities and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and intact cognitive skills: the roles of decoding, fluency and morphosyntax.

Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills learned in school and it has an important contribution to the academic success of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Though previous studies have investigated reading comprehension difficulties in ASD and highlighted factors that contribute to these difficulties, this evidence has mainly stemmed from children with ASD and intact cognitive skills. Also, much emphasis has been placed on the relation between reading comprehension and word recognition skills, while the role of other skills, including fluency and morphosyntax, remains underexplored. This study addresses these gaps by investigating reading comprehension in two groups of school-aged children with ASD, one with intact and one with low cognitive abilities, also exploring the roles of word decoding, fluency and morphosyntax in each group's reading comprehension performance. The study recruited 16 children with ASD and low cognitive abilities, and 22 age-matched children with ASD and intact cognitive skills. The children were assessed on four reading subdomains, namely, decoding, fluency, morphosyntax, and reading comprehension. The children with ASD and low cognitive abilities scored significantly lower than their peers with intact cognitive abilities in all reading subdomains, except for decoding, verb production and compound word formation. Regression analyses showed that reading comprehension in the group with ASD and intact cognitive abilities was independently driven by their decoding and fluency skills, and to a lesser extent, by morphosyntax. On the other hand, the children with ASD and low cognitive abilities mainly drew on their decoding, and to a lesser extent, their morphosyntactic skills to perform in reading comprehension. The results suggest that reading comprehension was more strongly affected in the children with ASD and low cognitive abilities as compared to those with intact cognitive skills. About half of the children with ASD and intact cognitive skills also exhibited mild-to-moderate reading comprehension difficulties, further implying that ASD may influence reading comprehension regardless of cognitive functioning. Finally, strengths in decoding seemed to predominantly drive cognitively-impaired children's reading performance, while the group with ASD and intact cognitive skills mainly recruited fluency and metalinguistic lexical skills to cope with reading comprehension demands, further suggesting that metalinguistic awareness may be a viable way to enhance reading comprehension in ASD.

Perception of ‘broad’ and ‘narrow’ fluency in the EFL performance of student interpreters

The oral fluency of non-native speakers is an important measure in evaluating a person’s second language (L2) proficiency. The present study investigates the relationship between the perception of fluency in its broad sense, meaning overall speaking proficiency, and in the narrow sense, in which flow and smoothness as well as grammar and vocabulary are evaluated. An experiment was conducted in which the speech fluency of 25 interpreter trainees was rated by 12 raters – three native experts, three native non-experts, three non-native experts and three non-native non-experts – in the narrow and broad senses, and then again after one month’. The results of the study showed that the raters’ judgements of fluency in the narrow sense were significantly lower than that of broad fluency. The expert raters were significantly less lenient than the non-experts overall, and more so when using the narrow definition of fluency. There was no statistically significant difference found in the scores of the native and non-native raters. It is suggested that interpreter trainees develop both broad and narrow fluency skills through training and practice. This can include improving their linguistic knowledge as well as practicing speaking skills.

Localized alterations in cortical thickness and sulcal depth of the cingulo-opercular network in relation to lower reading fluency skills in children with dyslexia

The traditional models of reading development describe how language processing and word decoding contribute to reading comprehension and how impairments in word decoding, a defining feature of dyslexia, affect reading comprehension outcomes. However, these models do not include word and sentence reading (contextual reading) fluency, both of which engage executive functions, with notably decreased performance in children with dyslexia. In the current study, we compared cortical thickness and sulcal depth (CT/SD) in the cingulo-opercular (CO) executive functions brain network in children with dyslexia and typical readers and examined associations with word vs. contextual reading fluency. Overall, CT was lower in insular regions and higher in parietal and caudal anterior cingulate cortex regions in children with dyslexia. Children with dyslexia showed positive correlations between word reading fluency and CT/SD in insular regions, whereas no significant correlations were observed in typical readers. For sentence reading fluency, negative correlations with CT/SD were found in insular regions in children with dyslexia, while positive correlations with SD were found in insular regions in typical readers. These results demonstrate the differential relations between word and sentence reading fluency and anatomical circuitry supporting executive functions in children with dyslexia vs. typical readers. It also suggests that word and sentence reading fluency, relate to morphology of executive function-related regions in children with dyslexia, whereas in typical readers, only sentence reading fluency relates to morphology of executive function regions. The results also highlight the role of the insula within the CO network in reading fluency. Here we suggest that word and sentence reading fluency are distinct components of reading that should each be included in the Simple View of Reading traditional model.

An Investigation into Speech Fluency Skills of Preservice Teachers

Bu araştırmanın amacı Türkçe öğretmeni adaylarının akıcı konuşma becerilerini betimlemektir. Araştırmanın örneklemini birinci, ikinci, üçüncü ve dördüncü sınıf düzeyindeki 153 öğretmen adayı oluşturmaktadır. Betimsel tarama yöntemiyle gerçekleştiren araştırmada veri toplama araçları olarak “Konuşma Miktarı Değerlendirme Formu”, “Konuşma Hızı Değerlendirme Formu”, “Konuşma Tutukluğu Değerlendirme Formu”, “Konuşma Doğruluğu Dereceli Puanlama Anahtarı” ve “Düşüncelerin Düzenlenişi Dereceli Puanlama Anahtarı” kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonuçlarına göre tüm sınıf düzeylerindeki öğrenciler dakikada en fazla 251-300 aralığında hece üretmektedir. Kelime miktarına göre birinci sınıf öğrencilerinin en fazla 101-125 aralığında, ikinci, üçüncü ve dördüncü sınıf öğrencilerinin 76-100 aralığında kelime ürettiği; cümle miktarına göre tüm sınıf düzeylerindeki öğrencilerin en fazla 7-9 aralığında cümle ürettiği belirlenmiştir. Konuşma hızına ilişkin sonuçlara göre dördüncü sınıf öğrencileri en fazla 81-120, diğer sınıf düzeylerindeki öğrenciler 41-80 saniye aralığında konuşmaktadır. Konuşma tutukluğuna ilişkin sonuçlara göre birinci ve dördüncü sınıf öğrencileri en fazla 31-40, ikinci ve üçüncü sınıf öğrencileri 41 ve üstü aralığında konuşma tutukluğu yaşamaktadır. Tüm sınıf düzeylerindeki öğrenciler orta düzeyde doğru; zayıf ve orta düzeyde planlı konuşma metni oluşturmaktadır.

Towards a STEAM model for digital fluency skills: Perceptions of students and teachers

Transliteration involves skills, critical thinking and practices based on digital fluency in a changing context. This concept is based on the inquiry process of scientific research, but is currently not integrated into the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) approach. In the first phase of the ‘TLIT4U – Improving Transliteracy Skills through Serious Games’ project, an attempt was made to clarify the STEAM framework towards an inquiry-based training model. The authors, belonging to different universities in Bulgaria, Finland and Italy, investigated the perception of the concept of digital fluency and the research-process awareness of students with different disciplinary backgrounds at their respective universities. Subsequently, the authors organized interviews and focus groups with teachers, librarians and scholars at partner universities to investigate their perceptions of transliteracy. The main findings and open questions highlighted by the TLIT4U comparative study are presented in this article.

The Effect of the Echo Reading on the Reading Fluency Skills of Bilingual 8th Grade Students

Akıcı okuma becerisini geliştirme yöntemleri sıkça çalışılmış olsa da iki dilli öğrenciler, köy okulları ve ortaokul öğrencileri bağlamında yapılan çalışmalara pek rastlanmamaktadır. Bu araştırmanın amacı okuma güçlüğü çeken iki dilli yedi sekizinci sınıf öğrencisinde yankılayıcı okuma yönteminin etkisini incelemektir. Bir köy okulunda yürütülen çalışmada tek gruplu deneysel desen kullanılmıştır. Çalışmaya katılan öğrencilerin 1-7. sınıf metinlerindeki akıcı okuma verileri ön test ve son test olarak toplanmıştır. Verilerin analizinde betimleyici analizlere ve Wilcoxon işaretli sıralar testine yer verilmiştir. Çalışmanın bulgularına göre yedi hafta gibi kısa bir sürede öğrenciler birinci sınıfta endişe düzeyinden ikinci sınıfta öğretim düzeyine gelebilmiştir. Bunun yanı sıra bütün sınıf seviyelerindeki metinlerde hız ve doğrulukta grubun ortalaması artmıştır. Bu artışlar hız ve doğruluk için üçer sınıf seviyesinde anlamlı çıkmıştır. Çalışmanın bulguları literatür ışığında tartışılmıştır.

Developmental profiles of arithmetic fluency skills from grades 1 to 9 and their early identification.

The aim of the present study was to examine the kinds of developmental profiles of arithmetic fluency skills that can be identified across Grades 1-9 (ages 7-16) in a large Finnish sample (n = 2,518). The study also examined whether membership in the developmental profiles could be predicted using a comprehensive set of kindergarten-age factors, including information on cognitive skills; motivational, parental, and home environment factors; and gender. Four profiles of arithmetic fluency skills development were identified using a factor mixture model: persistent arithmetic difficulties (12.23%), precocious onset (50.24%), delayed onset (36.96%), and precocious onset with a Grade 7 drop (.06%). The Cholesky models predicting membership in the three largest profiles suggested that overall, the strongest kindergarten-age predictors were cognitive skills (especially counting, number concepts, spatial relations, rapid automatized naming [RAN], phonological awareness, and letter knowledge), but motivational, parental, and home environment factors were also significant. Membership in the profile with precocious onset was predicted by most of the kindergarten-age measures, suggesting that the strengths in early skills, as well as motivational, parental, and home environment factors, are reflected in the advanced start in arithmetic development at school. The profiles with delayed onset and persistent difficulties were similar in most kindergarten-age measures but differed in task avoidance and four cognitive skills (letter knowledge, counting, number concepts, and RAN), suggesting that these factors predict differential development over the longer term. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Teaching Sight-Words to Enhance Word Recognition and Reading Fluency of Students with Specific Learning Disabilities at the Primary Level

The students with specific learning disabilities receiving tailored instructions became non-readers and developed frustration during the closure due to COVID-19. The present research aims to investigate the reasons and provide intervention solutions to improve their word recognition and reading fluency. Seven students from grade three participated in the study. The participants were assessed by presenting grade-level stories from their textbooks. The time taken by them to read the story was recorded. The errors made by them were recognised, graded, and analysed. Analysis reveals that while teaching reading, the practice of sight-words and high-frequency word recognition is a major concern. The researchers prepared an intervention program using Dolch sight-words, with a list of high-frequency words with multiple rounds of instruction and practice for a period of four weeks. The results reveal that the intervention program improved word recognition ability and fluency skill. The number of errors made by students decreased, and the time required to complete the story improved. Results indicate that training in sight-words enabled students to generalise the relationship between sounds and letters and apply it to the new word while reading.

Executive functions in preschool and school-age cochlear implant users: do they differ from their hearing peers? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Executive functions (EF) play a fundamental role in planning and executing goal-driven behaviours. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate EF skills mastered by preschool/school-age cochlear implanted children (CIC) without morpho-functional abnormalities and to compare their outcomes with typically hearing children (THC). Bibliographic search for observational studies of any language/date up to 16 December 2022 was performed with the following electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. After removal of duplicates, 2442 records were subjected to a three-stage screening process and 83 potentially eligible articles were identified. A total of 15 studies was included in the final analysis: 9 articles directly meeting the eligibility criteria plus 6 more studies thanks to the authors sharing their data set, specifically for participants who met present inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed a statistically significant difference only for verbal short-term memory, whereas group differences for visuospatial short-term memory and verbal/visuospatial working memory were not significant. For fluency skills, meta-analysis revealed statistical significance for the semantic fluency task but not for the rapid naming test. Qualitative analysis reflected group similarities in flexibility but CIC's difficulties in auditory attention/planning skills. Controversial findings for inhibitory control skills were observed. EF performance comparisons between CIC and THC show inter-skill and inter-test variances. Due to the paucity of existing studies, present findings should be interpreted with caution. Future research in this domain is strongly recommended.

Asmaa Zaghloul Abd Elatty Mohammed: The Effectiveness of a Program Based on Digital Posters and Video-Based Reflection in Developing Preparatory Stage Pu-pils' EFL Speaking Fluency Skills

Asmaa Zaghloul Abd Elatty Mohammed: The Effectiveness of a Program Based on Digital Posters and Video-Based Reflection in Developing Preparatory Stage Pu-pils' EFL Speaking Fluency Skills

Effectiveness of a Mixed Methods-Based Literacy Program in Improving Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary Mastery, and Reading Fluency Skills of Early Grade Students

Many young children still experience reading difficulties when they enter school age. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a mixed methods-based reading literacy program (computer-assisted reading, independent tiered reading, and group-based reading teaching) to improve reading comprehension skills, vocabulary mastery, and reading fluency among early grade students. The study used a quantitative approach with experimental research methods. A quasi-experimental design was used to achieve the research objectives by involving 350 elementary school students who were in the fourth to sixth grade range of elementary school. The sample selection in this study involved the purposive sampling technique using several criteria. The teachers involved in this study totaled 150 teachers from 8 schools who acted as program implementers at school. The reading literacy program was implemented for two semesters for five days each week. The research findings show that the mixed methods-based reading literacy program had a significant effect on all competencies (word reading efficiency, reading comprehension ability, and reading fluency) in Grade 3 students, but this increase in ability was not seen in grades 5 and 6 students. More specifically, the effect size of the intervention on oral reading fluency in Grade 3 students was greater than the effect size in Grade 5 students. Furthermore, the effect size in Grade 4 was greater than the effect size in grades 5 and 6. This is because the treatment of reading difficulties in younger students is easier and more effective than in older students. In addition, based on the results of the correlation analysis, the number of words read during reading activities using a computer had a positive relationship with word reading scores and visual word reading efficiency in the post-test phase. Therefore, mixed methods-based literacy programs have a significant impact on reading fluency, and on vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension competence and reading fluency. This research has implications in that improving reading ability in the early grades is better done by using a combination of methods, such as computer-assisted reading, independent tiered reading, and group-based reading teaching. In this way, the improvement of students’ reading skills is more optimal.

Fluency and comprehension revealed by 4th grade students from a public school

This article aims to present performance levels in reading fluency, considering the speed, accuracy and prosody segments in order to establish the relationship of these segments to the literal and inferential comprehension of narrative text by 54 students of the 4th year of teaching fundamental. The results show that speed and precision are related to literal comprehension, but prosody is the segment that is statistically significantly related to literal and inferential comprehension, and the procedures adopted in this study can help monitor fluency skills

Digital Tools for Children with Reading Difficulties

Numerous literature reviews and meta-analyses have examined the effectiveness of technology-based interventions in enhancing the reading skills of students facing difficulties in this area. However, given the rapid advancements in technology, it is crucial to review the most recent studies and their implementation methods in order to support students who are performing below their peers. This paper aims to consolidate the latest published research on technology-based interventions designed to improve reading abilities in children with reading difficulties. Fluency skills were the primary focus of the majority of technology-based interventions, with computer programs being the most commonly employed tool.

The Effects of Shared Reading Approach on Improving Students’ Comprehension

This study aimed to research the significance of using shared reading approach on improving KG students’ reading comprehension. The research was implemented with five students from KG2 who attend government kindergarten in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The research followed a mixed methods research design, considering both quantitative and qualitative data. A reading comprehension rubric and cloze test were used as quantitative data collection tools to masseur the students’ comprehension progress. An observation note was considered to observe students’ interaction while implementing the shared reading approach and recorded the occurrences of behaviors. A rating scale were utilized to further explore the students’ interactions. Additionally, an interview investigated English teachers’ perspectives about the shared reading and their outlook on its significant and strategies. Graphs were used to compare students’ progress. The findings showed a significant growth in students’ comprehension abilities. Results from reading comprehension rubric and cloze tests exhibited a substantial increase in comprehension. Observation notes and rating scale results showcased a positive improvement in students’ interaction skills. Implications from this study indicate the positive effects of using the shared reading approach to improve the students’ comprehension. Therefore, it is encouraged to further explore the impact of this approach on students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDS), and the students’ fluency skills

Embedding Digital Fluency in Our Courses: Moving from Theory to Practice

An increasing amount of literature from academic, governmental and non-governmental organizations (Kluzer, Reyna, Hanham, & Meier, 2018; Kluzer & Pujol Priego, 2018, etc.) points to the need for post-secondary institutions to do more to prepare students to be fluent in the consumption, understanding and use of digital media and tools. Digital fluency is increasingly seen as an essential skillset for graduates’ employability and for their citizenship, but while there is strong consensus about the need for students to be more digitally fluent, there is less consensus about what digitally fluency is, or about how to teach it.
 This paper will offer a working definition of digital fluency and describe an approach to fostering student digital fluency development that can be applied to a wide range of courses. Drawing on frameworks by various governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as current scholarship in the field of teaching digital literacy (Ng, 2012.; Caufiled, 2017, Ungerer, 2016, Hinrichsen & Coombs, 2013, etc.), the paper will provide an explanation of the rationale behind the framework tool that the author has developed and the paper will conclude with an explanation of how to use the tool to embed specific and authentic digital fluency skill development at the course level.

Expressive fluency skills in the arts of the European Renaissance

Expressive fluency skills in the arts of the European Renaissance

Turkish Teachers' Digital Fluency Skills and Their Attitudes Towards Distance Education

Turkish Teachers' Digital Fluency Skills and Their Attitudes Towards Distance Education