Reading Comprehension Accuracy Research Articles

Enhancing English comprehension: a UbD mind walker intervention for remote upper-grade elementary students

This preliminary study examines the efficacy of the Mind Walker Reading Programme in improving word knowledge and, consequently, improving reading comprehension skills for three upper-grade elementary students in a remote setting. The programme is based on the understanding by design (UbD) Model developed by Wiggins and McTighe (The understanding by design guide to creating high-quality units, ASCD, Alexandria, 2011; The understanding by design guide to advanced concepts in creating and reviewing units. ASCD, Alexandra, 2012), emphasizing defined reading comprehension outcomes and appropriate indicators for assessment. To assess the Programme’s impact and the retention of acquired skills, pre- and post-tests were administered, with a delayed post-test conducted over an 11-week period. Analysis of the test results, collected from the city government’s test pool, reveals a significant improvement in reading comprehension accuracy among participants using the UbD Mind Walker reading tool. This study highlights the effectiveness of the UbD Mind Walker programme in enhancing English language proficiency and supporting sustainable learning for elementary school students, particularly in remote areas with limited educational resources.

Impact of background music on reading comprehension: influence of lyrics language and study habits.

Numerous studies have explored the effects of background music on reading comprehension, however, little is known about how native language (L1) lyrics and second language (L2) lyrics in background music influence reading comprehension performance for college students. The present study used a mixed experimental design to examine the effects of listening habits (between-participants variable: non-listeners or listeners), music type (between-participants variable: L1 (Mandarin) pop music, L2 (English) pop music or no music) and text language (within-participants variable: L1 or L2) on reading comprehension of college students in East China. A total of 90 participants (50 females) were screened into non- listeners (n = 45) and listeners (n = 45), and then were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Mandarin pop music group (n = 30), English pop music group (n = 30) and no music group (n = 30). The results showed that reading comprehension performance was negatively affected by music with lyrics compared to the no music condition. Furthermore, Chinese/English reading comprehension was reduced more by pop music in the same language as the written texts. As expected, non-listeners were more negatively affected by music with lyrics than listeners. For both listeners and non-listeners, average reading comprehension accuracy rates were the lowest in the condition of music with native language lyrics. Overall, our research findings indicate that listening to pop music with lyrics reduces reading comprehension performance. However, listening to background music cause much less distraction if the students commonly listen to music while reading. The current study supports the duplex-mechanism account of auditory distraction.

The Relationship of Text Inference Abilities and Reading Comprehension in Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

Objectives: Reading comprehension in school-age children is an essential ability facilitates acquisition of information from general education. Yet, even with average or above cognitive and word recognition abilities, children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HF-ASD) demonstrate difficulties with reading comprehension. The purpose of the this study was to investigate that identifying the reading comprehension competence with a focus on text inference abilities (coherence processing, metalinguistic, theory of mind) in children with HF-ASD in the lower grades of elementary school.Methods: 15 HF-ASD and 15 age matched typically developing peers (TD) participated in this study. The participants performed reading comprehension tasks and text inferencing tasks (coherence processing, metalinguistic, theory of mind).Results: First, the reading comprehension accuracy of the HF-ASD group was significantly lower than the TD group. Second, the text inference accuracy of the HF-ASD group was significantly lower compared with the TD group. Third, in the TD group, there was a significant correlation between all text inference abilities (coherence processing, metalinguistic, theory of mind) and reading comprehension competence. In contrast, in the HF-ASD group, there was a positive correlation between coherence processing, metalinguistic and reading comprehension competence; however no significant relationship was found between theory of mind and reading comprehension competence. Finally, the coherence processing task predicted reading comprehension competence of children with HF-ASD by 52.2% and TD children by 42.1%.Conclusion: This study suggests that supporting connecting information within a text, local inferencing, and focusing on the coherence processing intervention is necessary for reading comprehension of children with HF-ASD in the lower grades of elementary school.

Aging Effects on Perceptual Reading Span: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Study

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate how aging influences the perceptual span and reading through online reading measurement variables using an eye-tracking paradigm. Methods: This study had a total of 38 participants including 20 normal younger and 18 older adults. Offline (reading comprehension accuracy) and online (words per second, mean fixation duration) measurement variables were analyzed through sentence comprehension questions and perceptual span measurement tasks. Results: 1) There were not significant differences between the older adults and younger adults in reading comprehension accuracy. There was no cognitive demand due to the low difficulty of the task, and it did not affect the reading comprehension accuracy of each group. 2) There were significant differences between the older adults and younger adults in both words per second and mean fixation duration. The older group showed a decrease in encoding ability due to the normal aging process. Additionally, the performance of words per second and mean fixation duration was significantly lower under the one fixated word condition (1W) in both groups. 3) In the case of mean fixation duration, the older group fixed their gaze longer than the younger. The older group showed greater difficulty under the 1W condition when the cognitive load was increased by presenting limited language information. Conclusion: This study was intended to examine the perceptual span of older adults and the level which shows the aging-effect concretely. It was possible to predict that the perceptual span of the younger group was between one or two words to the right of the fixated word (W+1 and W+2), and that of the elderly was W+1.

Mobile-assisted or paper-based? The influence of the reading medium on the reading comprehension of English as a foreign language

The issues of whether mobile-assisted English as a foreign language (EFL) reading is effective have become increasingly important for EFL teachers and policy-makers. However, empirical studies investigating EFL students’ reading comprehension performance on mobile phones and students’ perceptions of these reading formats are lacking. The present research employed questionnaire surveys and semistructured interviews to investigate whether differences exist between mobile-assisted and paper-based EFL reading in terms of participants’ reading comprehension accuracy, reading speed, and reading strategy used (i.e. general, problem-solving or support strategies) and explore EFL learners’ perceptions of mobile-assisted EFL reading. A sample of 81 first-year college students participated in a quasiexperiment, 6 participants participated in a semistructured interview, and a sample of an additional 10 students participated in a pilot study. The analyses, including qualitative descriptions, mixed-design analysis of variance (ANOVA), paired-sample t-tests, and independent-sample t-tests, indicated that participants achieved superior reading comprehension accuracy when reading from printed paper compared to reading from mobile phones. Superior reading speed from paper was observed only when participants were instructed to read and complete the comprehension test the first time, while no difference in speed between the two reading media was observed the second time. Additionally, participants’ use of reading strategies during mobile-assisted EFL reading was not as effective as that during paper reading. Regarding participants’ preferences, most participants (79%) preferred reading from paper over mobile phones because hard copies provided a better reading experience and promoted active reading engagement. However, participants held positive attitudes toward mobile-assisted EFL learning and wanted to continue to read from mobile phones to assist their foreign language learning due to their convenient built-in functions and portability. The implications for the use of mobile devices to assist language pedagogical practice are discussed.

I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying: An Evaluation of the Impact of Emotional Text on Negation Comprehension

Previous research has demonstrated that negated text (i.e., text that contains words such as no, not, or never) presents considerable challenges to accurate reading comprehension. Furthermore, while metacomprehension judgements have indicated an awareness of this challenge on the readers’ part, this insight has not translated into improvements in comprehension of this type of text. Previous research in reading has also demonstrated that emotional text, as compared to non-affective text, enhances attention to the text, resulting in accurate comprehension. The present study aimed to determine whether this strategy would impact negated text similarly. Results confirmed that negated text detrimentally impacted reading comprehension accuracy, and that overall, emotional text positively impacted comprehension accuracy. However, metacomprehension ratings suggested that while readers were aware of the increased difficulty presented by negated text, and also believed that emotion would help comprehension. Unfortunately, negation comprehension was not impacted by the affective nature of the text. These results indicate that negated text is sufficiently difficult to not benefit from the presence of emotion, and further investigation into improving comprehension of negated text is needed.

The effects of two assistive technologies on reading comprehension accuracy and rate

ABSTRACTThis study compared the effectiveness of two assistive technologies to accommodate the word reading skills of four middle school students with reading learning disabilities. Kurzweil 3000 is a continuous text-to-speech (TTS) computer software program that allows students to follow along on a computer monitor while passages are read aloud. A reading pen is a discontinuous TTS assistive technology (AT) device that allows students to scan and hear selected words read aloud. An adapted alternating treatments design was implemented to compare the effects of listening-while-reading using continuous TTS AT, discontinuous TTS AT, and silently reading without accommodation on reading comprehension accuracy and rate. Results indicate that in three of the four participants, continuous TTS technology led to the greatest improvements in both comprehension accuracy and rate when compared to silent reading with effect sizes reaching 0.70 and 0.99, respectively. The fourth participant demonstrated the highest comprehension accuracy and rate in the discontinuous TTS condition. The discontinuous TTS condition led to the lowest comprehension rates across all four students. Additionally, participants generally found the continuous TTS AT to be the more acceptable of the two accommodations. Discussion focuses on possible theoretical explanations for the results and implications for future research.

Training and Generalization Effects of a Reading Comprehension Learning Strategy on Computer and Paper–Pencil Assessments

Many schools use computer-based testing to measure students’ progress for end-of-the-year and statewide assessments. There is little research to support whether computer-based testing accurately reflects student progress, particularly among students with learning, performance, and generalization difficulties. This article summarizes an investigation of a reading strategy on comprehension of expository and narrative text; comprehension was assessed using both paper- and computer-based tasks. Results showed that students increased their learning strategy use and reading comprehension accuracy when using the strategy on computer-based assessments with expository text. Also students generalized their strategy use to paper–pencil assessments with narrative text. Reading comprehension of narrative passages also increased. The results suggest the value of teaching a reading strategy to students who struggle with both paper–pencil and computer-based assessments of comprehension.

It matters whether reading comprehension is conceptualised as rate or accuracy

This study shows that it makes a difference whether accuracy measures or rate measures are used when assessing reading comprehension. When the outcome is reading comprehension accuracy (i.e., the number of correct responses), word reading skills (measured as access to orthographic representations) account for a modest amount of the variance in the reading comprehension of 10‐year old children. However, this changes when reading comprehension is conceptualised as rate (i.e., number of correct responses per minute); when this is done, the correlation with word reading increases. The result was validated in two different reading comprehension tests. Moreover, this study indicates that it is not merely efficient word reading that influences the process of comprehending at a fast rate. When word reading and receptive vocabulary are controlled, a written measure of the ability to access and connect similar word meanings (synonym judgement) explains additional variance in reading comprehension rate.

Computerized Silent Reading Rate and Strategy Instruction for Fourth Graders at Risk in Silent Reading Rate.

Fourth graders whose silent word reading and/or sentence reading rate was, on average, two-thirds standard deviation below their oral reading of real and pseudowords and reading comprehension accuracy were randomly assigned to treatment (n=7) or wait-listed (n=7) control groups. Following nine sessions combining computerized rapid accelerated-reading program (RAP), which individually tailors rate of written text presentation to comprehension criterion (80%), and self-regulated strategies for attending and engaging, the treated group significantly outperformed the wait-listed group before treatment on (a) a grade-normed, silent sentence reading rate task requiring lexical- and syntactic level processing to decide which of three sentences makes sense; and (b) RAP presentation rates yoked to comprehension accuracy level. Each group improved significantly on these same outcomes from before to after instruction. Attention ratings and working memory for written words predicted post-treatment accuracy, which correlated significantly with the silent sentence reading rate score. Implications are discussed for (a) preventing silent reading disabilities during the transition to increasing emphasis on silent reading, (b) evidence-based approaches for making accommodation of extra time on timed tests requiring silent reading, and

Text-to-speech technology effects on reading rate and comprehension by adults with traumatic brain injury

Objective: This study’s purpose was to examine the comprehension, rate and perceptions and reading preferences of adults with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) when reading passages with and without computerized text-to-speech (TTS) support.Design and methods: Nine adults with severe TBI read 24 passages in two conditions: with and without TTS support. The researchers compared reading rate and comprehension accuracy across conditions. Also, participants rated their perceived performance and reading preferences via a follow-up questionnaire.Results: Comparison to normative data revealed that all nine participants read slower than average neurotypical readers. As a group, participants read significantly faster with TTS support than without such support, even though the TTS reading rate was roughly comparable to the oral rather than silent reading rate of neurotypical adults. No significant differences in comprehension resulted between the two conditions. Over half of the participants preferred the TTS condition over the no-TTS condition. In general, participants were inaccurate in judging their relative reading rates and comprehension accuracy across conditions.Conclusions: TTS may improve reading efficiency without compromising reading comprehension accuracy for adults with TBI. Given this finding, some survivors may find use of TTS technology contributes to increased participation in and efficiency when performing reading activities.

Reading Comprehension Skills of Young Adults with Childhood Diagnoses of Dyslexia

This study explores the contribution of cognitive processes to comprehension skills in adults who suffered from childhood developmental dyslexia (CD). The performance of adults with CD (ages 17 to 23), chronological age-matched (CA) adults, and reading level-matched (RL) children was compared on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, working memory (WM), general knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension. The results showed that adults with CD scored lower on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, WM, general knowledge, and vocabulary when compared to CA readers but were comparable to RL children on the majority of process measures. Phonological processing, naming speed, vocabulary, general knowledge, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to reading comprehension accuracy, whereas WM, intelligence, phonological processing, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to comprehension fluency. Adults with CD scored lower than CA adults and higher than RL children on measures of lexical processing, WM, and listening comprehension when word recognition and intelligence were partialed from the analysis. In summary, constraints in phonological processing and naming speed mediate only some of the influence of high-order processes on reading comprehension. Furthermore, adults with CD experience difficulties in WM, listening comprehension, and vocabulary independently of their word recognition problems and intellectual ability.