Reading Group Research Articles

Victorian Women Writers and the Other Germany: Cross-Cultural Freedoms and Female Opportunity

Victorian Women Writers and the Other Germany: Cross-Cultural Freedoms and Female Opportunity

Roundtable Discussion on “War, Literature and History” Sponsored by the Australian Dostoevsky Society Hegel Reading Group Hosted by School of Critical Arts (Perth) 25 July 2022, 2-4 awst, 4-6 aest (virtual)

Roundtable Discussion on “War, Literature and History” Sponsored by the Australian Dostoevsky Society Hegel Reading Group Hosted by School of Critical Arts (Perth) 25 July 2022, 2-4 awst, 4-6 aest (virtual)

Double-Deficit Hypothesis and Reading Difficulties: A Longitudinal Analysis of Reading and Reading Comprehension Performance of Groups Formed According to This Hypothesis

In this study, we aimed to determine the validity of the double-deficit hypothesis, which argues that reading difficulties arise due to inadequacies in phonological awareness and rapid naming, in relation to reading difficulties in a transparent language such as Turkish. Accordingly, children attending a kindergarten were assigned to four groups: a double-deficit group (n = 23), phonological awareness deficit group (n = 35), rapid naming deficit group (n = 29) or control group (n = 48) according to the scores they received on measures of phonological awareness and rapid naming. The performance of the groups in reading and reading comprehension was followed longitudinally from the first grade to the end of the second grade and were compared at four time points. On the basis of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), it was determined that the double-deficit group performed worst in reading and reading comprehension tasks, and the control group performed best. While the reading and reading comprehension achievements of all groups increased over time, the findings suggest that the performance of groups with phonological awareness and rapid naming deficits differed significantly from the double-deficit group and the control group. This study, which examined the effects of the double-deficit hypothesis for Turkish-speaking children, offers a new approach to identifying children at risk of reading difficulties in early years and to planning appropriate interventions.

“None of it is important or all of it is”: Steinbeck, Ricketts, Ecology, and Identity

Abstract Interdisciplinarity emerges as a strong theme from the Log from the Sea of Cortez, based on the shared experience of Steinbeck and Ricketts and their influence on one another’s thinking and writing. This article reflects inquiry based on personal experiences as a contemporary marine scientist. It discusses the role and importance of scientific outreach, in particular the role of popularizers in connecting with audiences from diverse backgrounds and education levels. These concepts are explored in relation to an interdisciplinary reading group held as part of the Steinbeck Festival in Northern Ireland that was designed to build common language, to create discourse between the arts and science, and to understand the marine environment and our place within it. It explores issues of identity, systems of classification, and ways of understanding complex systems such as the environment and ecology as related to the personal and the sense of self. All these themes are explored in the Log to varying degrees and work in a complementary way. Technology and development are important and inextricably linked, from communications to methods of interrogation for the environment. As the technology improves, our ability to understand the environment changes, but “common” resources are then subject to market demands. We contrast the speed and efficacy of contemporary marine science with the contemplative Darwinian pace of the Western Flyer in the Log, and suggest that there is value in both approaches. The industrial scale and pace of modern scientific expeditions can present obstacles to the intimacy of experience within the environment, and there is much value to the bucket and spade approaches to build this rapport and affinity with the subject. This has an inherent value of its own and is worth conserving. The article concludes that for interdisciplinarity to succeed, it is essential to recognize that it is relationships between individuals that really gets things done--developing common language, a mutual appreciation, a spirit of cooperation, and the value of a shared endeavor.

SAGD-VL Framework: A Framework for Serious Adventure Game Development in A Virtual Laboratory

A virtual laboratory is an instructional approach to facilitate learning on a scientific procedure or experimental procedure to motivate students to think critically and to improve problem-solving skills through virtual media. A serious adventure game is a game that has a serious purpose for example Education but with an adventure genre that allows the user to go on adventures and explore within the game. The merging of a virtual laboratory and a serious adventure game will contribute to the progress of the education field and motivate students in virtual practicum activities. But currently, there is no particular software development framework for developing a serious adventure game for a virtual laboratory. This study aims to produce a serious adventure game framework for a virtual laboratory called SAGD-VL (Serious Adventure Game Development for Virtual Laboratory). SAGD-VL is obtained from analysis of characteristics of virtual laboratory, adventure game, similar software, existing game development methods, and game mechanics mapping framework so that an appropriate development framework will obtain and improve student ability. SAGD-VL consists of pre-production, production, testing, and post-production, and each of these steps has specific components. The SAGD-VL framework was tested by building a game according to the proposed framework. The proposed game mechanics is also the result of testing players repeatedly to get optimal game mechanics. This test aims to see the effectiveness of the game produced with SAGD-VL on improving the player's abilities and determine the importance of specific components in game design. The game was tested on 128 high school students by dividing them into reading groups and playing groups and tested by doing pre-test and post-test. The results show that the game produced by the SAGD-VL framework indicates a better positive impact than learning by reading and obtains an increase in post-test results achieving 115.74%.

A study into shared reading groups, with specific relation to religious reading.

This paper examines a live shared-reading group conducted through The Reader Organization, with the approval of the University of Liverpool's ethics committee. It is a revised excerpt from a successful inter-disciplinary Ph.D. thesis undertaken within the School of Psychology. The intention in forming the group was to explore the reading of Marilynne Robinson's Home by a wide variety of modern readers of different backgrounds and persuasions, in the light of religious writing in an age of diminished religious tradition. The main research question was to test what literature can do in carrying meaning which can be seen as religious, or was previously deemed religious, among readers who may not think of themselves in such terms. The second was to see how a shared community-group setting can enable collaborative engagement with the challenge to develop different ways of thinking, beyond the individual default of either religious dogma or anti-religious prejudice. The method employed overall in the wider Ph.D. study was Grounded Theory: essentially, empirical analysis rather than top-down conceptualization. Grounded Theory, in refusing to begin from rigidly preassembled categories, is appropriate to a literature-inflected study and, in particular, a literary study that is concerned with religious meaning in situations of humanitarian crisis. It allows the possibility of empirical work and careful detailed analysis, amid a complex of overlapping psychological, spiritual, and family concerns entangled within the experience of modern life. In this particular case study, which may be described as a form of Action Research, the researcher, also acting as the reader leader of the group, brought developed tools taken from psychologist Wilfred Bion, introduced to the reading group itself during the sessions as a means of measurement and navigation through the novel. If the aim was simply to undertake a study of the text, then this paper would be more narrowly literary, but the concern was with wider real-world effects in relation to individuals within the group work. Through close examination of the week-by-week transcripts of the reading group, this study highlights the search for moments of development, or what might have stood in the way of development. The researcher used a consensus group of three supervisors to check the selection of the best moments (failing or succeeding in coming closer to what will be called below, after Bion, "0") recorded in the written transcripts of the sessions. One of the most powerful findings in this study is what will be called a mini-tradition developed by the group members in praxis, in terms of practices which they find, use, and come back to during their work with more difficult and painful passages in the text.

Poetry in a pandemic. Digital shared reading for wellbeing

ABSTRACT Unexpectedly taking place in the midst of a pandemic, this research examined historical and contemporary assumptions about the relationship between storytelling and wellbeing and asked how a shared reading group might be used to help repair individuals and communities as they emerge into the post-Covid world. It asked how storytelling can help us to come to terms with the collective trauma we have experienced by developing empathy and enlarging identity, and considered the role of digital technology in creating safe spaces for connection and reflection. The research aimed to provide a nuanced and in-depth account of the experience of shared reading for wellbeing, and to make practical recommendations for the future of such initiatives in community settings. It identified significant risks in shared reading and asked how these can be minimised, whilst being wary of stifling the many benefits of creativity by becoming too risk averse.

Thoughts and Social Conditions: The Occurrence of the May Fourth Vernacular Movement

The May Fourth Vernacular Movement has been called "the most dynamic legacy" of the May Fourth Movement, which officially declared "vernacular" to replace "literary" as the common language of society. It has always been a matter of great concern. This transformation of the language from the old to the new is not simply a linguistic issue, but is firmly engraved with the brand of society and culture, as well as a microcosm of the changing times, providing a window into the social transition between the old and the new in the first half of the twentieth century, or even the entire twentieth century. An examination of the occurrence, development, and impact of the vernacular literary movement can help reveal the true social impact of the Vernacular Movement and contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the May Fourth. Reading is a social phenomenon, and looking at the May Fourth Movement through the phenomenon of reading and exploring the socio-historical conditions under which the Vernacular Movement took place provides us with a path to touch history and enter the May Fourth Movement. The vernacular movement originated in the May Fourth New Culture Movement, and its momentum continued from the propositions and practices of the late Qing Dynasty. The vernacular movement in the late Qing Dynasty not only laid the foundation for the May Fourth vernacular movement in popularizing vernacular concepts, experimenting with styles, and creating vernacular creations, but also in preparing for the creation of audience groups and communication environments. At the same time, the prosperity of mass media and a considerable number of reading groups constituted the social and historical conditions for the development of vernacular writing and stimulated the development of the May Fourth vernacular movement. This movement established the use of the vernacular language, and its influence continues today and is still ongoing, as an important part of the transition of Chinese society from traditional to modern.

Conspiring to decolonise language teaching and learning: reflections and reactions from a reading group

Within the spirit of conspiration, this article brings together contributions from participants of the PhD-led UCL Reading and React Group ‘Colonialism(s), Neoliberalism(s) and Language Teaching and Learning’, which ran in 2019/20. Weaving together various perspectives, the article centres on the dialogic nature of the decolonial enterprise and challenges the colonial concept of monologic authorial voice. Across the reflections on participants’ own engagements with questions of decolonising language teaching and learning, we pull together three threads: the inherent coloniality of the concepts that shape the very disciplines we seek to decolonise; the need to place decolonial efforts within broader contexts and to be sceptical of projects claiming to have completed the work of decolonising language teaching and learning; and the affordances and limitations offered to us by our positionalities, which the reflexivity of the conspirational encounter has allowed us to explore in some depth. The article closes with a reflection on the process of writing this article, and with the assertion that decolonising the curriculum is a multifaceted and open-ended process of dialogue and conspiration between practitioners and researchers alike.

Regaining autonomy, competence, and relatedness: Experiences from two Shared Reading groups for people diagnosed with cancer.

This study explored 12 cancer patients' experiences from participating in an online and on-site Shared Reading group for 16 weeks in Norway. Shared Reading is a practice in which prose and poetry are read aloud in small parts and discussed along the way. The study is a qualitative evaluation study with a particular focus on how the participants experienced the reading group supported their life living with cancer. The study was mainly based on the data collected from focus group discussions with the participants, which was analysed qualitatively through open coding. In total, four themes were identified: (1) open space, (2) disconnecting through connecting, (3) community, and (4) resonances and echoes. The participants expressed that the RG helped them to "balance life and cancer", and "disconnect" from their illness. The cognitive effort needed was beneficial for the participants as a form for "cognitive training." Since many of the participants had, due to their illness, completely stopped reading books, the reading group also brought literature back into the participants' lives. Furthermore, it was essential for the participants to feel they contributed to a community, to feel useful and valuable for others. The texts were also important, as some of them resonated strongly with the participants in the way of activating memories and connecting a text to own experiences. After a session, a text could still have an impact as an echo. The results are synthesised, discussed, and supported through the framework of self-determination theory and, more specifically, the basic psychological need theory. The reading group was experienced as a support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and promoted a feeling of intrinsic motivation that brought about new dimensions in the participants' lives. The study wishes to increase our knowledge of the benefits of integrating Shared Reading groups as a low-cost, literature-based psychosocial support in cancer organisations.

Reading Fluency in Chinese Children With Reading Disabilities and/or ADHD: A Key Role for Morphology

The Triangle Model of Reading proposes that phonology, orthography, and semantics are crucial to understand word reading and reading disability (RD). Morphology has been added as a binding agent to this model. However, it is unclear how these variables relate to word reading in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or comorbid ADHD and RD (ADHD+RD). This study examined the performance of Chinese children with RD, ADHD, or ADHD+RD in phonology, orthography, semantics, and morphology, and investigated whether morphology made an additional contribution beyond the other skills in explaining word reading fluency. Participants were 151 Grade 1 to 3 Chinese students: RD (n = 31), ADHD (n = 43), ADHD+RD (n = 27), and typically developing controls (TD, n = 50). Results indicated that children with ADHD+RD (a) showed similar performance to RD and ADHD in tone awareness, orthographic legality, and homophone morpheme awareness; (b) had similar performance to RD but worse than ADHD in phonology, semantics, and morpheme production; and (c) had more severe deficits than RD and ADHD in orthographic reversal, morpheme identification, and homograph awareness. Morphology significantly predicted word reading fluency beyond the other skills, and its predictive effect was more salient for ADHD+RD, ADHD, and TD. The findings provide evidence of both shared and additive effects of RD and ADHD. Morphology may be an important diagnostic factor in identifying Chinese reading and behavioral deficit groups and a worthwhile target for intervention.

The Role of Metacognitive Reading Strategies and Trait Anxiety in Critical Thinking for a Verbal Reasoning Task

Metacognitive reading strategies represent a goal-driven system that plays a role in critical thinking verbal tasks in students. Research reveals that greater attentional focus and use of executive functions is associated with lower trait anxiety, and better verbal reasoning. However, high verbal reasoning is also positively associated with trait anxiety. In this study, 122 undergraduate students were given Metacognitive Awareness Reading Strategy Inventory, critical thinking verbal task (WGCTA), and trait anxiety inventory. High global reading (GLOB) and high problem-solving strategy (PROB) groups had highest WGCTA scores, but moderate levels of anxiety. Low GLOB and low PROB groups had lowest WGCTA and high anxiety scores. There was no significant difference between support reading strategy groups for WGCTA and trait anxiety. Overall, high GLOB and PROB groups revealed effective use of a goal-directed system, which offset the effects of anxiety resulting in high WGCTA scores.

Discovering disagreement: The story of an undergraduate Wartime Quartet reading group

Abstract This paper describes and analyses the experience of the participants of an undergraduate reading group on ‘The Wartime Quartet’. In the first section, I explain the set-up of the reading group. In the second section, I discuss what the participants shared and the trends we noticed in our experiences as women and marginalised genders studying undergraduate philosophy In the third section, I explain why the philosophy of the Quartet was itself vital to our development and how it enabled us to begin critically engaging with the material presented in our courses. My fourth section introduces a phenomenon I call disassociated disagreement (DD) and uses testimonies from former members of the reading group to illustrate why this phenomenon is central to understanding the confusion that sometimes presents in students of philosophy. I then discuss a strategy for combating DD and illustrate how students’ seeming confusion can provide a pathway to unique and insightful philosophical perspectives. I conclude by situating my discussion within the broader framework of research into women's representation in philosophy and close by arguing that the concept of DD can be a potent tool for encouraging more philosophy undergraduates who belong to marginalised groups to pursue further study.

Multisensory Interactive Digital Text for English Phonics Instruction with Bilingual Beginning Readers

We investigated a technology-based tool for teaching English letter-sound correspondences with bilingual children learning phonologically and typologically distant languages: English and Chinese. We expect that learning about print at the phoneme level may be particularly challenging, given children’s experience with the morphosyllabic language of Chinese. This randomized-controlled study with 90 kindergarteners examined the effects of an iPad-based supplementary reading program compared with a control condition. The See Word Reading® program utilized picture-embedded cues for teaching phonics within lessons directed at the letter, word, and text levels. Measures of decoding, word reading, and spelling were taken at the pretest, posttest, and follow-up for both groups. Results showed better gains in word reading for the reading group, indicating the positive impact of this supplementary reading tool. Further, data collected online from the app showed that different types of letter-sound pairings were more challenging to learn, including pairings that are inconsistent and with phonemes that are specific to English.

Teenagers in the library: participatory mediation practices

In their efforts to reach out to teenagers, libraries facilitate different literary activities where youth come together, socialize and interact. In what ways do these practices contribute to the building of literary and social communities among the participating teenagers and to a broadened understanding of the concepts of libraries? This paper examines three different cases of participatory mediation activities in Norwegian libraries: a podcast, a voluntary reading group and a shared reading activity. The method used is qualitative interviews, and the findings are discussed in relation to theories on the social and participatory dimensions of cultural institutions and to a model from library and information theory. In the cases presented, the libraries facilitated the activities as part of their strategies. The study sheds light on how the mediation practices in question contribute to fostering literary and social communities among the participating teenagers. The present study demonstrates possible ways of expanding the understanding of what a library means to young people in a contemporary context.

Critical Voices

This article describes how a group of students and an instructor at an MLIS program developed a community of practice (CoP) around critical librarianship. We provide a literature review on CoPs and relate this to our own experience with the reading group. We include our individual narratives that reveal the similarities and differences in our experiences as students and practitioners. The Critical Librarianship Reading Group provided a community for peers, knowledge building around critical librarianship, and an opportunity to hear from a number of voices through the readings and the members of the group. We hope this inspires other MLIS programs to develop their own CoPs that connect students, instructors, and alumni/practitioners

The phenomenology of the causes of youth tendency to emerging spirituality (case study: Shiraz)

The phenomenon of emerging spiritualities has a social and cultural nature and is the result of structural changes in the modern world and actors. To study this phenomenon, while paying attention to cultural, social and historical contexts and theirs processes and considering aspects and macro social and cultural conditions, it is necessary to pay attention to the intentions, thoughts and mindsets of actors. Therefore, in this study, we seek to explore the causes of the tendency of youth to new spiritualities behind the lived experience of youth who have been involved in this social phenomenon. The method of this research is qualitative and its strategy is phenomenological. Semi-structured interview technique has been used to collect data. The participants were selected by using purposive sampling method from among the youth members of Masnavi reading, meditation and mysticism groups who have experienced new spiritualities in the last 5 to 15 years. The seven-step method of Klaizi (1978) was used to analyze the data and extract the main and secondary themes. Findings showed that instrumentalism (with the sub-theme of attraction) and teleology (with the sub-themes of lifestyle, meaning search, crisis victims) are among the causes of youth tendency to new spiritualities.

How emotions induced by reading influence sleep quality in young and older adults

Objectives This study examined whether emotions induced by reading before sleep influence sleep quality in young and older adults. Method Sixty older adults (64–75 years) and 60 young adults (18–35 years) were randomly assigned to three conditions: positive reading, neutral reading, and control. The reading groups read a short story at bedtime, whereas the control group kept its routine. Participants completed measures of affective states, subjective sleep parameters, and self-reported sleep quality related to emotions over 7 consecutive days. Results Older adults reported much longer sleep latency and lower sleep efficiency than young adults. In both reading conditions, older adults reported reduced sleep latencies compared to the control group. In the positive reading condition, older adults reported an increased sleep duration compared to younger adults and the other conditions. Young and older adults in the positive condition showed better self-reported sleep quality than those in the neutral conditions, regardless of age. Conclusions Reading at bedtime appears to reduce older adults’ time to fall asleep and increase their sleep duration. Positive emotions induced by reading short stories at bedtime seem to be a sleep-promoting factor that improves bedtime and wake time in young and older adults.

Reading activities compensate for low education-related cognitive deficits

BackgroundThe incidence of cognitive impairment is increasing with an aging population. Developing effective strategies is essential to prevent dementia. Higher education level is associated with better baseline cognitive performance, and reading activities can slow down cognitive decline. However, it is unclear whether education and reading activities are synergistic or independent contributors to cognitive performance.MethodsThis was a sub-study of an ongoing prospective community cohort of China National Clinical Research Center Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurodegenerative Disorder Research (CANDOR). Demographic and clinical information, educational levels, and reading activities were collected. All participants finished neuropsychological testing batteries and brain MRIs. We analyzed cognitive performance and brain structures with education and reading activities.ResultsFour hundred fifty-nine subjectively cognitively normal participants were enrolled in the study. One hundred sixty-nine (36.82%) of them had regular reading activities. Participants in the reading group had better performance in all cognitive tests compared with those in the non-reading group, but no difference in brain MRI variables. Participants with higher education levels (more than 13 years) had better cognitive performance and higher hippocampal volumes. In low education groups (less than 12 years), more reading activities were associated with better cognitive test scores.ConclusionsBoth education and reading activities are important and synergistic for baseline cognitive function. Higher education level is associated with larger hippocampal volumes. Education may stimulate the growth and development of the hippocampus. Reading activities help to maintain and improve cognitive function in people with low levels of education.Trial registrationNCT04320368.

Investigating the role of gamification in public libraries’ literacy-centered youth programming

ABSTRACT To support youth literacy, U.S. public libraries must constantly evaluate and adjust their offerings to better support how children engage in educational experiences and integrate the latest trends in teaching and learning. This mission makes libraries a unique source of insight into developing perspectives and pedagogy. The authors were curious whether gamification – an increasingly popular design approach – is one of these modern influences. Using online and social media content, the authors developed a list of common youth literacy strategies used by top libraries; this list was then analyzed for elements of gamification. Summer reading clubs, group storytimes, and physical environments stood out as the main initiatives imbued with gamification to better engage and motivate young readers. The goal of the discussion is to help librarians and educators build a foundational knowledge of what gamification is, what it looks like in practice, and what benefits it provides in a learning environment.