Reading Profiles Research Articles

Reading Comprehension of Key Stage 2 Learners

Reading comprehension is a critical learning skill for all students, as it is the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language. There are many reasons why children may have difficulty understanding what they read, including a lack of vocabulary, fluency, and word recognition. In this premise, this study aimed to determine the reading comprehension levels of key stage 2 learners in terms of vocabulary, fluency, and word recognition. The study was tested on 83 key stage 2 learners using a self-made questionnaire that passed stringent tests of validity and reliability. The data were statistically analyzed using the mean, t-test, and analysis of variance. Overall, the reading comprehension level of key stage 2 learners was at an instructional level. When grouped according to four variables, the reading comprehension level of key stage 2 learners in all three areas is at the instructional level. Further, no difference was found in the reading comprehension level of key stage 2 learners in all three areas when compared by their profile variables. Learners’ instructional rating in the three areas stems from poor vocabulary knowledge and less mastery in reading basic sight words that impede them from comprehending the given reading material. These calls for DepEd authorities, reading implementers, and school stakeholders to consider the reading profile of key stage 2 learners in proposing reading programs and in the development of localized instructional materials. Keywords: Reading comprehension, Key Stage 2, learners

Pathways to reading comprehension in Amharic vary by reading profile

Pathways to reading comprehension in Amharic vary by reading profile

Optimizing mammography interpretation education: leveraging deep learning for cohort-specific error detection to enhance radiologist training.

Accurate interpretation of mammograms presents challenges. Tailoring mammography training to reader profiles holds the promise of an effective strategy to reduce these errors. This proof-of-concept study investigated the feasibility of employing convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with transfer learning to categorize regions associated with false-positive (FP) errors within screening mammograms into categories of "low" or "high" likelihood of being a false-positive detection for radiologists sharing similar geographic characteristics. Mammography test sets assessed by two geographically distant cohorts of radiologists (cohorts A and B) were collected. FP patches within these mammograms were segmented and categorized as "difficult" or "easy" based on the number of readers committing FP errors. Patches outside 1.5 times the interquartile range above the upper quartile were labeled as difficult, whereas the remaining patches were labeled as easy. Using transfer learning, a patch-wise CNN model for binary patch classification was developed utilizing ResNet as the feature extractor, with modified fully connected layers for the target task. Model performance was assessed using 10-fold cross-validation. Compared with other architectures, the transferred ResNet-50 achieved the highest performance, obtaining receiver operating characteristics area under the curve values of 0.933 ( ) and 0.975 ( ) on the validation sets for cohorts A and B, respectively. The findings highlight the feasibility of employing CNN-based transfer learning to predict the difficulty levels of local FP patches in screening mammograms for specific radiologist cohort with similar geographic characteristics.

The interplay between teacher beliefs, instructional practices, and students’ reading achievement: national evidence from PIRLS 2021 using path analysis

BackgroundReading and reading comprehension are crucial skills, yet many students in grade 4 struggle with them. To address this, several instructional practices have gained popularity. For one, explicit reading strategy instruction (ERSI) is deemed useful, given the finding that successful readers tend to employ reading strategies. As a second example, differentiated reading instruction (DRI) is believed to improve all students’ reading comprehension. Indeed, a one-size-fits-all approach may not work for all students, considering their different reader profiles. Despite the importance of ERSI and DRI, much uncertainty remains about what happens in the classroom and why. One way to understand teacher instructional practices such as ERSI and DRI, is by applying psychological behavioural theories to the teaching context. They provide a framework to predict human behaviour based on human characteristics and beliefs. Educational research points to teachers’ self-efficacy (TSE) and attitudes (TA) as particularly important concepts, especially in the field of science. However, associations between TA, TSE, instructional practices and students’ reading achievement remain insufficiently studied. This study addresses this knowledge gap by exploring the interplay between TSE and TA regarding ERSI and DRI, the implementation of these practices, and students’ reading achievement.MethodsDigitalPIRLS 2021 data from Belgium (Flanders) were used. To gather information about ERSI, DRI, TA and TSE, national adaptations were made to the teacher questionnaires. Three nested path models with a two-level design (students nested into classes) were estimated.ResultsThis study indicates that teachers with higher TSE and more positive TA in ERSI and DRI implement these practices more frequently. Positive TA regarding ERSI and DRI also correspond to positive TSE regarding these instructional practices. Furthermore, ERSI and DRI implementation are positively related. Finally, no significant associations between teacher beliefs, instructional practices, and students’ reading comprehension were found.ConclusionWhereas TSE and TA are considered highly context-dependent, uncertainty remains about TSE and TA regarding ERSI and DRI. The results highlight the importance of subject-specific TSE and TA for teachers’ instructional practices. Ultimately, the findings emphasize the necessity of supporting teachers in developing their TSE and TA towards reading comprehension instruction.

Students’ emotional experiences and learning outcomes during digital vocabulary instruction: comparing struggling and typical third grade readers

This study investigated the impact of digital vocabulary games (DG) and digital vocabulary worksheet (DW) on achievement emotions and learning outcomes among 62 third-grade students with diverse reading abilities. Participants were classified as struggling or typical readers based a standardized reading fluency assessment. The research examined how these digital tools influenced vocabulary acquisition and emotional responses across the diverse reading abilities. Results showed that both DG and DW effectively improved vocabulary knowledge, with no significant difference in learning gains between modalities. However, DG elicited greater active positive emotions and calmness than DW, which could foster motivation and persistence, crucial for learning. Struggling readers experienced increased calmness and decreased negative emotions with DG, achieving gains comparable to their typical readers peers with both tools. Typical readers did not exhibit significant differences in emotional experiences or learning outcomes between the digital tools, suggesting their adaptability to various digital formats. This study illuminates the role of digital tools in not only promoting vocabulary growth but also shaping diverse emotional experiences during learning among young students with varied reading profiles. The findings have important implications for supporting struggling readers and nurturing a positive learning experience for all.

Most challenging types of offline inferences for Chinese migrants when reading public notices in Spanish

Written discourse comprehension implies a complex inferential function. In this study, we analyse those inferences taking place after reading (so-called offline), known to be elaborative and complementary. Following a non-probabilistic convenience sampling, we carried out a qualitative, descriptive study with 30 Sino-speaking adult migrants living in Madrid. The POEM test (Ureña, Flores & Martín Leralta, under review) divided them in 3 equitative groups of initial, intermediate and advanced level. The objective was to identify the type of offline inferences most challenging for the participants when reading public notices in Spanish L2. The frequency of appearance in daily life of those notices and the level of proficiency were also analysed. Experts in inferences and in Spanish as a migration language validated the reading test. Results showed some relevant features of this reading profile and its didactic consequences to train the inferential skill.

A Decodable Reader in Southern Sorsoganon for Grade One Pupils

This study developed and validated decodable reader in Southern Sorsoganon as a supplementary reading material for Grade One pupils at Bulusan Central Sachool, Bulusan District, Division of Sorsogon Province for the school year 2023-2024. The respondents of the study were twenty (20) Grade One pupils. Seventeen (17) pupils were from the last section who took the Modified Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (mCRLA) for the Beginning of School Year to determine their reading profile, while three (3) Grade One pupils were from the first section who took the field testing since they were identified as At Grade Level/fluent readers. Additionally, five (5) evaluators validated the said supplementary reading material. The study employed ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) model instructional design in the development and validation of the material. The decodable reader covered Mother Tongue 1; Quarter 1 under the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs). The validity of the decodable reader was evaluated by evaluators using Evaluation Sheet for Print Resources adopted from DepEd Learning Resource Development and Management (LRMDS) along with the following factors: Content, Format, Presentation and Organization, and Accuracy and Up-to-datedness. The decodable reader in Southern Sorsoganon for Grade One pupils passed DepEd Learning Resource Management and System (LRMDS) standards. Moreover, all evaluators agreed that the material should be approved for use in public schools if the necessary changes and revisions were made. The decodable reader, according to evaluators, would effectively supplement the teaching-learning process for the target pupils. In addition, based on the result of the field testing, the pupils regarded the decodable reader as relatable and interactive reading material.

What influences the comprehensibility of L2 writers' opinion texts by L2 readers? Interactions between textual characteristics and readers’ profiles

This study explored how L2 readers perceive the comprehensibility (i.e., ease of understanding) of L2 opinion texts in terms of reader profiles and text characteristics. We investigated how 100 Japanese learners of L2 English evaluated the comprehensibility of 16 variants of two opinion essays, which differed in lexico-grammatical accuracy, coherence, and rhetorical organization (inductive vs. deductive structure). To delve into the evaluators' backgrounds, exploratory factor analysis was conducted with a view to streamlining background variables. These variables were then compared through a t-test of two groups of readers identified by cluster analysis based on their degree of leniency or strictness. We further identified the influence of specific linguistic features on their evaluations by conducting linear mixed-effects analyses. Our findings reveal that: (1) Some L2 readers were significantly stricter than the L1 readers, whereas others were more lenient; (2) The lenient readers typically began learning English earlier, used it more extensively outside academic settings, and engaged more frequently in online communication compared to their stricter counterparts; and (3) Though disrupted sequences of ideas (coherence errors) were universally detrimental to comprehensibility, lexico-grammatical errors significantly impacted only the strict readers, not the lenient ones.

The Reading Profiles of Grade 1 Learners of Tagudin District: Input for an Instructional Plan

The Reading Profiles of Grade 1 Learners of Tagudin District: Input for an Instructional Plan

Impact of Affective and Cognitive Variables on University Student Reading Comprehension

The problem of reading comprehension at the university level has not been sufficiently explored in the field of education research. Understanding written texts is an essential prerequisite for academic success during university. Consequently, reading comprehension challenges can influence the dropout rate at the university level. On the other hand, research has been conducted from a cognitive perspective, without considering affective variables such as reading motivation and its relationship with linguistic and psychological variables. In this study, five questionnaires were administered to a sample of 65 teaching students from different disciplines. The questionnaires dealt with linguistic dimensions such as reading comprehension, at lexical, textual, and discursive levels; psychological aspects such as reading motivation; and cognitive aspects such as working memory. The results obtained through bivariate and mediation analyses show the mediating role of vocabulary in reading comprehension and other cognitive and affective variables. In this context, working memory has a positive indirect effect on more explicit processing tasks in reading comprehension of long texts associated with discourse comprehension. Finally, intrinsic motivation has a positive indirect effect on reading fluency and also on the comprehension of short texts. It also correlates positively with vocabulary tasks. These results are relevant in order to establish a reading profile of university students who have reading comprehension problems, as found in this study.

Subsurface Mapping of Groundwater Contamination Pathway at Using Very Low Frequency Electromagnetic Method at Waste Site of Kubanni Basin, Zaria, Kaduna State

Subsurface Mapping of Groundwater Contamination Pathway at Using Very Low Frequency Electromagnetic Method at Waste Site of Kubanni Basin, Zaria, Kaduna State

English Reading Performance and Metacognitive Strategies: Implications for Students’ Academic Success

Education is not a privilege; it is a human right. In response, Sustainable Development Goals' "Let Me Learn" stated that nearly two-thirds of 10-year-olds can hardly read nor perceive and simplify a text, which is even more severe in the Philippines, where reading is in English. Thus, this research sought to examine the relationship between English reading performance and the metacognitive strategies of the grade 7 students on their word recognition and reading comprehension through the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory to determine their reading profile. In correlation, the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Questionnaire was used to self-assess reading strategies. The quantitative-descriptive correlational research design revealed no significant relationship between English reading performance and metacognitive strategies. However, a significant but weak relationship was seen between oral reading and pragmatic-behavioral strategies. It signifies that they can read some words but can hardly comprehend the reading text. The study's product mainly suggested that the variables do not correlate, concluding that to move toward equitable educational outcomes for an increase in their reading level, reimagining how to foster and reinforce the students to discover and strengthen their gradual progress in reading must at least be achieved to meet the expectations and specifications throughout the act of reading.

Reading processes of public and private middle school and high school students

IntroductionReading has been widely discussed, mainly due to the published results of international performance tests of schoolchildren. The gaps generated in literacy hinder the development of basic skills necessary for reading, which will have a negative impact on the teaching-learning process from elementary school to high school. This study aimed to compare the reading performance of the students in public and private schools through tests of the Brazilian reading processes-PROLEC-SE-R.MethodsCross-sectional study. The Brazilian adaptation of the PROLEC-SE-R was administered to 436 students: 221 from the state school (G1 6th year, n = 30; G2 7th year, n = 33; G3 8th year, n = 35; G4 9th year, n = 31; G5 1st year, n = 32; G6 2nd year, n = 30; G7 3rd year, n = 30) e 215 private schools (G8 6th year, n = 31; G9 7th year, n = 31; G10 8th year, n = 30; G11 9th year, n = 31; G12 1st year, n = 30; G13 2nd year, n = 31; G14 3rd year, n = 31). Tools of descriptive and bivariate analysis were used.ResultsSuperior performance of the private school students on spelling tests helps their reading as evidenced by their scores for syntactic and semantic processes. When the knowledge of the use of the word in text, extraction of meaning and its understanding was needed, the difficulty of access to the mental lexicon of the studied population became evident.ConclusionThe PROLEC-SE-R, in addition to establishing the reading profile of elementary and high school students, shows that the gaps in teaching and learning, which exist between public and private education in the literacy period, accompany students throughout the basic education cycle. Knowing the reading profile and in which process there is a disruption is important so that the teaching of specific strategies can be promoted throughout the entire schooling process, especially in primary and secondary education.

Profiling reading strategies used by Grade 10 English First Additional Language learners in two selected high schools in KwaZulu-Natal

In order to address learners’ reading difficulties, several researchers recommend the development of their reading profiles. To this end, South Africa is no exception. Many South African based researchers are of the view that designing and analysing learners’ reading profiles should be seen as a wise move towards fixing South African learners’ reading challenges. The study sought to profile the reading strategies that Grade 10 English First Additional Language (EFAL) learners used more and least frequently. The idea was to make teachers aware of their learners’ strengths and weaknesses with regard to reading. The study was quantitative in nature and a survey design was followed. A reading strategies questionnaire was administered to 60 Grade 10 EFAL learners who were purposively selected from two high schools. The mean and standard deviation (SD) were calculated in order to assess the frequency of strategy used by the Grade 10 EFAL learners. The results indicated that before-reading and during-reading strategies were least frequently used by the learners. Moreover, the results showed that learners appeared to be using after-reading strategies more frequently. Recommendations are made that learners need to be made aware of the wide range of before-reading and after-reading strategies, along with how to use them during the process of reading.Contribution: The contribution of the study resides in the conclusion that teachers’ knowledge on how to develop and monitor learners’ reading profiles has the potential to improve learners’ reading proficiency.

Reading comprehension improvement in autism.

A subset of autistic children excel at word decoding but have difficulty with reading comprehension (i.e., the discrepant poor comprehender reading profile). Prior research suggests the Visualizing and Verbalizing (V/V) for language comprehension and thinking intervention helps improve reading comprehension in autistic children with this reading profile. Previous studies have demonstrated the role of vocabulary, memory, and social functioning in reading comprehension; however, predictors and moderators of reading comprehension within this specific profile of autistic readers have not been thoroughly explored. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of the V/V intervention by comparing reading comprehension scores between groups and across time. Participants included a sample of autistic children (AUT-EXP; n=22) and a waitlist control group of autistic children (AUT-WLC; n=17) with reading comprehension difficulties, as well as a sample of non-autistic children (Non-AUT; n=26) (all age 8-13 years). AUT-EXP and AUT-WLC groups completed a battery of cognitive assessments during pre and post tests. We also analyzed whether cognitive assessment scores predicted reading comprehension, and examined the moderating effects of group (AUT-EXP vs. AUT-WLC) on these relationships. The AUT-EXP group significantly improved in their pre to post reading comprehension scores (t(21)=4.19, p<.001, d=.89), whereas the AUT-WLC group did not. Verbal memory significantly predicted reading comprehension, though group did not moderate relationships between cognitive test performance and reading comprehension. Results suggest that the V/V intervention may help improve reading comprehension for autistic children with the discrepant poor comprehender reading profile. Additionally, strategies for improving verbal memory may indirectly enhance reading comprehension in autistic children with this reading profile.

Augmented Reality Based Personalized Learning in Autism Spectrum Disorder Reading Skills

Reading can be a way to increase students’ social interaction and writing, especially for those continuing to a higher level of education. More recent research shows that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have a variety of reading profiles that differ across a range of reading sub-skills. Meanwhile, the school teaching system provides one-size-fits-all learning for students with different abilities. This study aimed to test the use of personalized learning model-based Augmented Reality (AR) in supporting the learning of early reading skills in aspects of reading words, syllables, and letters. Four students with ASD participated in various cross-behavioral investigations. Data was collected based on early reading skills in words, syllables, and letters using the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) instrument, which had been adjusted according to the children’s abilities (three groups of children). Participants went through baseline-1 sessions, AR interventions, and baseline-2. The results show increased student learning outcomes in reading words and syllables. However, there was no significant increase in learning outcomes regarding recognizing letters.

Discovering External Motivation in EFL Students Toward Word Target and Reading Pleasure Using Xreading Application

This study explores foreign language students' external motivation in extensive reading related to word targets and reading enjoyment. This research aims to find out how word targetss become assessments that can motivate foreign language students to enjoy reading. Extensive reading is not related to assessments that require foreign language students to be motivated to read. This research is qualitative research. The participants in this research were students in the A-class students of the English language and literature education study program at a university in Surabaya, Indonesia. The data collected is in the form of interview data and student reading profiles recorded in the Xreading application. Xreading is an application that students use as a learning management system in their extensive reading process. Xreading can also provide a place for foreign language students to determine what they want to read according to their pleasure. The results of this research found that students used target words as their external motivation to enjoy reading. The findings in this research also suggest ongoing monitoring by lecturers so that foreign language students continue to be motivated and enjoy reading so that their reading progress continues to increase.

Reading profiles in secondary school: concurrent language and cognitive abilities, and retrospective and prospective reading skills.

We examined the concurrent language and cognitive abilities in a group of Swedish students with different reading profiles in secondary school, and the retrospective (primary school) and prospective (upper-secondary school) reading skills of each reading profile. Seventy-nine students participated in data collections in primary (grade 2: age 8), secondary (grade 8: age 14) and upper-secondary school (year 2: age 17). Independent variables included measures of word recognition, and vocabulary and text comprehension in secondary school. Dependent variables included measures of phonemic awareness, verbal fluency, listening comprehension, spelling, verbal working memory and nonverbal reasoning skills in secondary school, and word recognition and reading comprehension in primary and upper-secondary school. When exploring the concurrent language and cognitive abilities of the reading profiles in secondary school, spelling emerged as a weakness and listening comprehension as a strength for students with poor decoding. Students with poor comprehension experienced weaknesses in spelling, and non-verbal reasoning. Students with both poor decoding and comprehension displayed a multi-deficit profile in language and cognition. As regards the retrospective and prospective reading skills, the relative ranking of the reading profiles was rather consistent in both primary and upper-secondary school. The findings suggest that limitations in phonological awareness may not be a prominent feature of secondary school students with poor decoding in more transparent orthographies. From an educational perspective, spoken sources may support learning among students with poor decoding, whereas students with poor comprehension or combined difficulties in decoding and comprehension need support when learning from both spoken and written sources.

Language exposure within peer and family contexts and bilingual reading profiles of German–Russian and German–Turkish adolescents in Germany

Aims and Objectives: While research has focused on effects of language exposure within the family, evidence for the role of the quality and quantity of language exposure within peer contexts for the acquisition of both majority language (ML) and heritage language (HL) skills is still limited. Against this background, the present contribution investigates the patterns in which language exposure within family and peer contexts relate to different bilingual reading outcomes of migrant adolescents. Design: The data used for this contribution provide a unique opportunity to fill in this research gap as it contains standardized reading assessments in the ML and HL as well as questionnaires on language exposure within peer and family contexts. Data and Analysis: Using multinomial regression models with a sample of n = 803 adolescents with German–Russian and German–Turkish language backgrounds, we investigate the role of adolescents’ bests friends’ language backgrounds and language skills as well as adolescents’ language use with parents for the prediction of different bilingual reading outcomes (i.e., skilled bilingual readers, skilled ML readers, skilled HL readers, and low-skilled bilingual readers). Findings: The results indicate that dual inclusion into best friendships with both monolingual German as well as HL peers might be a favorable friendship pattern as it is positively related to both the skilled bilingual reading and the skilled ML reading outcome. Furthermore, we observe a tendency that skilled bilingual readers benefit from having a high-skilled HL speaking best friend. In addition, HL use with parents is an important predictor for HL skills, but not a hindrance for high ML proficiency. Effects of the peer group predictors are rather small, nevertheless they add value for explaining bilingual language outcomes controlling for relevant predictors.

Reading Profile Assessment: The Interplay of Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension among Junior High School Learners

Reading Profile Assessment: The Interplay of Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension among Junior High School Learners