Issue Of Reading Research Articles

Utilizing The Read-Arounds Strategy in Junior High School Students’ Dialogic Reading Activities

Reading is a requirement for almost all academic pursuits, it is a crucial component of language learning, especially for students. When learning English, this is especially important. Students must be able to read comprehension in order to absorb the material they are taught. Readability issues with fluency are often seen in students who have trouble understanding a foreign language. There have been several studies on Dialogic Reading activities, but few have utilized group reading strategies during these activities. Therefore, this research aims to investigate students' responses to the use of read-arounds strategy in dialogic reading activities for junior high school students at one of the junior high schools in Karawang. Micro-ethnography method is employed in this study. To collect the necessary data, observation and interviews are conducted. Reflective journaling is also used to enhance data accuracy. The results reveal that using the read-arounds technique improves students' understanding and reading interest. based on their comments, which show that using the read-arounds method can benefit children in three points: (1) increasing their self-confidence; (2) motivating them to read in English; and (3) improving their vocabulary and pronunciation. It can be concluded that using enjoyable reading strategies can help students become more confident and reduce their reading anxiety.

Infrastructuring Readability: Framing and Overflowing in Writing Assistant Software for Biomedical Research Informed Consent Forms

This article analyzes the development process of a software solution designed to assist researchers in writing biomedical research–informed consent forms. Funded by a Swiss ethics committee, the purpose of the software is to enhance the readability of such documents to improve biomedical research participants’ understanding of the information disclosed therein and to reduce the editing work of research ethics committees. Drawing on an embedded ethnographic research, we show how concerns that emerge in ethics reviews shape ethics committee IT infrastructure and how, in turn, this infrastructure contributes to redefining research ethics. We demonstrate that while the software reinforces the biomedical framing of research ethics, it also generates unexpected overflows. By forming new collectives, this infrastructuring process furthers expertise on informed consent forms while giving rise to new areas of inquiry and redefining the issue of readability in biomedical research. Thus, we provide insights into the complex entanglements between research ethic, computer programs, and writing practices. We conclude by reflecting on the role played by our research team during the software's development and outline proposals on how ethnographic methods can contribute to make research ethics review accountable.

I’m writing in Tunisian: Orthography and identity in written Tunisian Arabic

In recent years the amount of written vernacular Arabic has increased dramatically. But encoding an unstandardized language in writing is not straightforward and mechanical; rather, it is a complex process that balances practical considerations with ideological stances such as autonomy from the standard language. This study examines how writers of Tunisian Arabic (or derja) are navigating this elaboration process. Using a quantitative analysis of a 279,000-word corpus of print literary works written in Tunisian Arabic (2014–2021) and a 5.8-million-word corpus of internet forum posts (2010–2021), this paper explores how Tunisians writing in derja make orthographic choices to collectively position themselves in relation to the larger Arab world. The study finds that forum writers who have advocated for an improved status for Tunisian Arabic use more phonemic spelling forms—more closely representing Tunisian pronunciation—while those who have advocated for Standard Arabic are more conservative in their spelling choices. The authors of Tunisian Arabic novels and translations—pulled between issues of elaboration and readability—are a bit more conservative than the pro- derja group. These results show how writers in unstandardized or not-yet-standardized languages like Tunisian Arabic use orthography to express national identity stances in relation to supranational languages and identities.

Preference and Use Pattern of Electronic Books among Postgraduate Students in a Nigerian University

This study investigated the preferences and use patterns of e-books among postgraduate students at Prince Abubakar Audu University. Four (4) research objectives guided the conduct of this study. A descriptive survey method was used for the study and a questionnaire was used for data collection. Statistical tools used for this analysis were frequency counts, simple percentages, and mean scores. The study concludes that eBooks are highly valued by postgraduate students, due to their ability to enhance productivity and effective learning. The ease of use and clear graphical illustrations further contribute to the preference for eBooks, making them indispensable tools in the academic pursuits of postgraduate students. The study highlights that eBooks are extensively utilized for a variety of academic purposes, including coursework completion, research, exam preparation, assignments, and reference needs. Despite the evident benefits, the study reveals varying levels of satisfaction among students, with a significant portion using eBooks only to some extent. Several challenges impede the optimal use of eBooks, such as high costs, device-related inefficiencies, limited access to computers or the internet, readability issues, and the need for operational skills. The study recommended that university libraries should expand their eBook collections and seek partnerships with publishers to provide more affordable or even free access to essential academic texts and universities should consider initiatives to provide or subsidize devices optimized for reading eBooks, such as tablets or e-readers with suitable screen sizes.

Assessing the Responses of Large Language Models (ChatGPT-4, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot) to Frequently Asked Questions in Breast Imaging: A Study on Readability and Accuracy.

Background Large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT-4, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, have been instrumental in various domains, including healthcare, where they enhance health literacy and aid in patient decision-making. Given the complexities involved in breast imaging procedures, accurate and comprehensible information is vital for patient engagement and compliance. This study aims to evaluate the readability and accuracy of the information provided by three prominent LLMs, ChatGPT-4, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, in response to frequently asked questions in breast imaging, assessing their potential to improve patient understanding and facilitate healthcare communication. Methodology We collected the most common questions on breast imaging from clinical practice and posed them to LLMs. We then evaluated the responses in terms of readability and accuracy. Responses from LLMs were analyzed for readability using the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level tests and for accuracy through a radiologist-developed Likert-type scale. Results The study found significant variations among LLMs. Gemini and Microsoft Copilot scored higher on readability scales (p < 0.001), indicating their responses were easier to understand. In contrast, ChatGPT-4 demonstrated greater accuracy in its responses (p < 0.001). Conclusions While LLMs such as ChatGPT-4 show promise in providing accurate responses, readability issues may limit their utility in patient education. Conversely, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, despite being less accurate, are more accessible to a broader patient audience. Ongoing adjustments and evaluations of these models are essential to ensure they meet the diverse needs of patients, emphasizing the need for continuous improvement and oversight in the deployment of artificial intelligence technologies in healthcare.

The Issue of Readability in the Chilean EFL Textbook

At the end of high school in Chile, it is expected that students achieve a B1 English language proficiency level. In the present article, we measure the level of readability of the texts used in the new EFL Chilean textbook and compare it with the readability level of the texts used in the Cambridge B1 preliminary exam to check its appropriacy. The results reveal that, even though the classic readability indices show a similar level of difficulty in the texts, the index RDL2, which is specific for second language learning, shows that there is a statistically significant difference. This finding indicates that the texts in the Chilean EFL textbook are more difficult to read than the ones students are supposed to read. Implications at a local and international level are then shared.

A computational analysis of accessibility, readability, and explainability of figures in open access publications

Figures are an essential part of scientific communication. Yet little is understood about how accessible (e.g., color-blind safe), readable (e.g., good contrast), and explainable (e.g., contain captions and legends) they are. We develop computational techniques to measure these features and analyze a large sample of them from open access publications. Our method combines computer and human vision research principles, achieving high accuracy in detecting problems. In our sample, we estimated that around 20.6% of publications contain either accessibility, readability, or explainability issues (around 2% of all figures contain accessibility issues, 3% of diagnostic figures contain readability issues, and 23% of line charts contain explainability issues). We release our analysis as a dataset and methods for further examination by the scientific community.

Enhancing health and eHealth literacy among nurses working with older people during COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-center e-Delphi study in five countries

BackgroundNurses’ health literacy (HL) and ehealth literacy (eHL) knowledge and skills are crucial for patient care. There is evidence that skills and knowledge on how HL and eHL can facilitate the provision of care, is low among nurses. Especially in the care of older adults with an increased risk of falls and infections, or poor adherence to pharmacotherapy, nurses could increase patient safety by assessing and supporting older people’ HL and eHL. This study aims to present the findings of an e-Delphi survey, which was implemented within the framework of the development of a course focusing on the enhancement of HL and eHL assessment and intervention competencies for nurses. MethodA modified e-Delphi study was conducted in five countries from September 2020 to January 2021. Initially, a 19-item questionnaire on HL and eHL skills and competencies was developed by the research team based on literature review. Twenty experts from five countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Poland) participated in two e-Delphi rounds. The research team met to reach consensus on the final version of the modules. ResultsFour modules were derived from the Delphi survey: 1) Introduction to HL and eHL 2) Communication skills in practice 3) eHealth challenges: Feasibility and readability issues, and 4) HL/eHL and patient safety. ConclusionsRaising awareness on HL and eHL skills in nurses and nursing students is considered a priority, especially during the COVID-19 era. The common effort among five academic institutions to develop an HL and eHL course targeting nurses and nursing students is considered an important step towards this direction.

Quantivine: A Visualization Approach for Large-Scale Quantum Circuit Representation and Analysis.

Quantum computing is a rapidly evolving field that enables exponential speed-up over classical algorithms. At the heart of this revolutionary technology are quantum circuits, which serve as vital tools for implementing, analyzing, and optimizing quantum algorithms. Recent advancements in quantum computing and the increasing capability of quantum devices have led to the development of more complex quantum circuits. However, traditional quantum circuit diagrams suffer from scalability and readability issues, which limit the efficiency of analysis and optimization processes. In this research, we propose a novel visualization approach for large-scale quantum circuits by adopting semantic analysis to facilitate the comprehension of quantum circuits. We first exploit meta-data and semantic information extracted from the underlying code of quantum circuits to create component segmentations and pattern abstractions, allowing for easier wrangling of massive circuit diagrams. We then develop Quantivine, an interactive system for exploring and understanding quantum circuits. A series of novel circuit visualizations is designed to uncover contextual details such as qubit provenance, parallelism, and entanglement. The effectiveness of Quantivine is demonstrated through two usage scenarios of quantum circuits with up to 100 qubits and a formal user evaluation with quantum experts. A free copy of this paper and all supplemental materials are available at https://osf.io/2m9yh/?view_only=0aa1618c97244f5093cd7ce15f1431f9.

Status and Types of Quotations in a Musical Text

The purpose of the research is to reveal the issues that highlight the status of the quotation in the musical text, as well as the problems of identification, recognition and readability of quotations of different types; to investigate the perception of the quoted material as another, alien in the flow of the author’s speech, which is the essence of the quotation. Identification of a quotation, problems of its readability and recognizability, the semantics contained in the quotation, including in the text the meanings of “others”, and “other texts” and building an intertextual strategy in the process of perceiving the text with the implementation of fragments of other texts have not been sufficiently and incompletely studied, and the results of these studies have not been properly systematized. The research methodology. Some methods are involved for the optimal solution of the tasks, among which the main ones are the source, systematic, comparative and terminological. The scientific novelty of the research. For the first time in Ukrainian musicology, the text-creating potential of quotations in a musical work is characterized, their status is determined, and the main types of quotations in music are described. Conclusions. The quotation in music is an effective means of diversifying the text of the work, enriching the meanings used, and adjusting the meanings formed. Taking into account the provisions of modern receptive poetics, we state that the quotation should be considered the textual material that is perceived by the listener as different from the main material of speech, alien in style, type of transmitted meanings or semantics, as a carrier of a different functional and stylistic code. The issues of readability of the quotation and its identification are important. Therefore, the appropriate and accurately readable form of quotation is put forward to the forefront in the perception of musical works with quotations.

Improving Communication in Kinesiology through a Practicum Course

ABSTRACT Trends about lay material quality suggest most college/university students enrolled in kinesiology programs are not taught about readability issues. Such trends are in diametric opposition to future graduates’ moral and legal mandate to communicate clearly (e.g., the 2010 US. Plain Writing Act). Numerous leaders in kinesiology have helped shine light upon the issue of readability and related barriers to translating knowledge from kinesiology into actions that serve the public. Following Thomas and Cardinal’s (2020) call to treat knowledge translation as the next frontier for kinesiology scholarship, we present one scaled-up approach that those in higher education could use to prepare students to be effective in lay communication, namely a practicum course on plain language communication. This article reports on our process to create an outline for a practicum course on plain language communication, which was designed for wide-scale adoption. Beyond the practicum course outline, we developed seven supplemental materials to aid delivery of the course – regardless of teaching experience or familiarity with the topic. We conclude with guiding discussion of the material we created for a kinesiology practicum course in lay communication, then we present recommendations for administrative action and future research.

Localization Quality Assessment for More Reliable E-Commerce Applications in Arabic

E-commerce software and applications are mainly designed to let business go globally with less cost and higher accessibility. The localization of such software and websites into several languages is intended for reaching the largest number of consumers through minimizing the impact of linguistic, cultural, and technical barriers. Such barriers are assumed to affect the quality of localization and accordingly the reliability of the e-commerce software of website. In exploring the persistent problems influencing localization quality in the Saudi context, this study sought to analyze consumers’ perceptions and attitudes regarding the Arabic version of Saudi Amazon (Arabic Amazon.sa) in respect of accessibility, readability, understandability, and translatability issues. Toward this overarching objective, two main research instruments have been used: an online survey covering diverse localization problems and a zoom-based open discussion with the website’s users to collect some concrete examples of the problems influencing the localization quality and website’s reliability. The findings showed that although localization adopts a functional approach to translation for the sake of reaching a large number of consumers, most of the users of the Arabic version of Amazon.sa developed a negative attitude. Such a negative attitude evolved owing to some salient problems that negatively affected the quality of localization and the reliability of website. Although website’s localizers managed to adapt the English version both technically and culturally, some other linguistically oriented problems prevailed including partial translations, vague and misleading translations of promotional texts, inconsistent translation of headings, the foreignization of the website’s settings, the absence of text boundaries, and the occasional mismatches between the website’s English and the Arabic versions.

What Are the Readability Issues in Sub-Contracting’s Tender Documents?

Readability is an important aspect that each sub-contracting’s tender documentation should have in order to ensure commonality in the interpretation of its terms by the general contractor and sub-contractor. Otherwise, their contractual relationship is fueled by conflict. Previous studies indicated that the documents provided to the sub-contractors in practice are often not easy to read; the reason behind this problem has not been explored yet. This paper bridges this gap by defining 14 readability issues, following a systematic content analysis of real documents of 34 tenders of the sub-contracting arrangement. Further, it introduces a framework of the anti-measures of the specified issues through examining the readability-associated literature. The research’s chief finding is that 8 out of the 14 readability issues are responsible for 73.1184% of the ease-of-reading problems in the sub-contracting’s tender documentation. These readability issues are as follows: poor presentation of the format of the tender documentation, sentences and clauses are too long and complicated, spelling and grammatical errors, abstractness or vagueness of words or sentences, using controversial phrases, repetition of provisions or clauses, poor illustration of procedure or process, and listing of irrelevant conditions to the tender scope. The study also, while discussing the readability issues, categorizes them into four pivots, including structural and presentation-related problems, lengthening and repetition-related problems, text-related problems, and terminology-related problems. To date, it is believed that such classification has not been realized in any of the prior literature. These results have implications that can benefit drafters by enabling them to know the possible dimensions of the readability problems and their countermeasures concerning the sub-contracting’s tender documents for up-skilling their drafting style when formulating such documentation in the future.

Systematic assessment of online health information related to drug therapy for non-small cell lung cancer.

e18626 Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer. Patients increasingly use the internet for drug therapy information that may influence decision-making, drug adherence, and self-management. However, online drug therapy information is prone to quality and readability issues. We systemically assess online drug therapy information for patients with NSCLC in terms of quality, suitability, reliability and readability. Methods: NSCLC online drug therapy websites were searched with three terms using three major engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing). Validated tools were used to assess the content in terms of quality (DISCERN), suitability (Suitability Assessment of Materials [SAM]), reliability (Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA] benchmarks and the Health on the Net [HON] code), readability (Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level). The scores were compared in drug therapy and affiliation subgroups. Results: A total of 52 websites were included. The median quality score was 48.8 (interquartile range [IQR], 39.5-57.0), or fair (39-50). The quality scores were not statistically significant between different subgroups. The median suitability score was 43.8% (40.6%-46.4%), or adequate (40%-69%). The commercial websites showed the highest median suitability score of 45.2%, which was significantly higher than that of non-profit websites ( P &lt; 0.05). The average readability was at a grade of 10.6 level using the Flesch-Kincaid scale which was significantly higher than the traditionally recommended grade-six level ( P＜0.001). The median reliability scores of commercial websites were observably higher than non-profit websites ( P＜0.05). Around 40% of websites were HON code accredited. Conclusions: Most online resources for NSCLC have fair quality, adequate suitability, and poor readability. Reliability was of a moderate level. Therefore, healthcare providers should be cautious when referring patients to online health information and the online information for NSCLC has great room for improvement.[Table: see text]

Literature, Testimony, and Regimes of Truth

ABSTRACT In the “post-truth” world, it seems possible to say anything we want. Drawing on examples from Holocaust testimony and fiction, this article argues that truth is nevertheless a central issue for readers, critics, and citizens, even if it is complex, difficult to grasp, and ethically fraught. It suggests that rather than retreating into a simple notion of truth, we need more refined vocabularies for talking about issues of truth. The article explores the relationship between literature and truth by outlining three different but interrelated regimes of truth: truth as correspondence, as disclosure, and as interpretative dialogue.

Readability and Readability Formulas: English as a Foreign Language Tertiary Education Teachers' Awareness in Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia

This study is an attempt to investigate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) University teachers’ awareness of the readability concept and formulas in Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia. The study also aims at investigating whether this awareness is affected by teachers’ experience. A three-scale questionnaire was designed to gather data from randomly selected 40 EFL teachers. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS program. The results showed that EFL teachers have only an overall awareness of readability concept and are not aware of its formulas. The results also showed that there is a weak relationship between teachers’ awareness of readability and their teaching experience. Based on the findings, the study recommended that the issue of readability and readability formulas should be included in EFL teachers’ pre-service and/or in-service training programmes.&#x0D; Keywords: readability, readability formulas, reading passages, EFL teachers

Readability of Accounting Disclosures: A Comprehensive Review and Research Agenda*

ABSTRACTUnderstanding corporate disclosures is important for accounting researchers, as information plays a central role on financial markets. A generation of accounting and finance researchers has shown how readability of different financial and nonfinancial disclosures affects our understanding of organizational behaviors. We review 138 papers from 1950 to 2020 using the five Ws analysis method (Who, What, HoW, Why, and to Whom) developed by Culiberg and Mihelič (2017). We organize the literature into a comprehensive framework, the readability wheel, which provides an overview of existing studies, helps with understanding the complexity and issues of readability, and outlines an agenda for future research. We also use the readability wheel to discuss the evolution of these studies.

Enhance to read better: A Multi-Task Adversarial Network for Handwritten Document Image Enhancement

Handwritten document images can be highly affected by degradation for different reasons: Paper ageing, daily-life scenarios (wrinkles, dust, etc.), bad scanning process and so on. These artifacts raise many readability issues for current Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) algorithms and severely devalue their efficiency. In this paper, we propose an end to end architecture based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to recover the degraded documents into a clean and readable form. Unlike the most well-known document binarization methods, which try to improve the visual quality of the degraded document, the proposed architecture integrates a handwritten text recognizer that promotes the generated document image to be more readable. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to use the text information while binarizing handwritten documents. Extensive experiments conducted on degraded Arabic and Latin handwritten documents demonstrate the usefulness of integrating the recognizer within the GAN architecture, which improves both the visual quality and the readability of the degraded document images. Moreover, we outperform the state of the art in H-DIBCO challenges, after fine tuning our pre-trained model with synthetically degraded Latin handwritten images, on this task.

Highlighting Readability Issues by the Content Analysis of a Legal Text, for Translation Purposes. Case Study

Highlighting Readability Issues by the Content Analysis of a Legal Text, for Translation Purposes. Case Study

Towards Equitable Communication of Kinesiology: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis of Readability Research

ABSTRACT Thirty-nine years ago, Bain and Poindexter (1981) implored higher educators of kinesiology to develop curricula that prepare students to use what they learn in practical ways. Lay resource material, however, often fails to meet metrics for adequate-to-optimal readability, regardless of who produces them. Research suggests that many people trained in kinesiology are not trained to communicate its content to lay adult audiences. Thus, the purpose of this study was to advance knowledge about this academic-practice-divide in kinesiology concerning plain language communication. Methodology for a critical interpretive synthesis was used to qualitatively synthesize readability research in kinesiology. Twenty-four peer-reviewed research articles met the study inclusion criteria, all published between 1992 and 2020 (M = 2010.1, SD = 8.8). There were 1550 materials studied across the articles. It was typical for these materials to run counter to plain language guidelines (i.e., low readability in one-or-more critical areas). Most materials were unsuitable for adults with basic health literacy or less – about half of the U.S. adult population. Following their presentation of results, the article authors often suggested one of six ways for improving lay material readability. Two major themes emerged from the qualitative synthesis of the articles: (a) how article authors discussed readability issues and what they proposed to be done to fix them, and (b) critiques of the research articles included in this study. The findings of this literature review shine light on the need to use readability research in kinesiology in programs that train people in an area of the discipline.