Reading Task Research Articles

Neurovascular Coupling in Acutely Concussed Adolescent Patients.

Neurovascular coupling (NVC) uniquely describes cerebrovascular response to neural activation and has demonstrated impairments following concussion in adult patients. It is currently unclear how adolescent patients experience impaired NVC acutely following concussion during this dynamic phase of physiological development. The purpose of this study was to investigate NVC in acutely concussed adolescent patients relative to controls. We recruited patients presenting to a sports medicine practice within 28 days of a concussion or a musculoskeletal injury (controls). Transcranial Doppler ultrasound was used to measure changes in patients' posterior cerebral artery (PCA) velocity in response to two progressively challenging visual tasks: (1) reading and (2) visual search. Each task was presented in five 1-min trials (20 sec eyes closed/40 sec eyes open). Resting PCA velocity data were derived by averaging PCA velocity across a 2-min baseline period that preceded the visual tasks. Filtered task data were converted to time-series curves representing 40 consecutive 1-sec averages for each trial. Curves were then averaged across the five trials and time-aligned to stimulus onset (eyes open) to generate a single ensemble-averaged 40-sec curve representing NVC response for each participant for each task. Independent t tests were used to assess group differences (concussion vs. control) in resting PCA velocity. Separate linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate group differences (concussion vs. control) in NVC response profiles for both visual tasks and group-by-task interaction. Twenty-one concussion patients (female = 8 [38.1%]; age = 14.4 ± 1.9 years) and 20 controls (female = 7 [35.0%]; age = 14.4 ± 1.9 years) were included in our analysis. Average resting PCA velocity did not significantly differ between concussion patients (36.6 ± 8.0 cm/sec) and controls (39.3 ± 8.5 cm/sec) (t39 = 1.06; p = 0.30). There were no significant group differences in relative NVC response curves during the reading task (F1,1560 = 2.23; p = 0.14) or the visual search task (F1,1521 = 2.04; p = 0.15). In contrast, the differential response to task (e.g., increase from reading task to visual search task) was significantly greater in concussion patients than in controls (p < 0.0001). The NVC response to the visual search task was 7.1% higher than the response to reading in concussion patients relative to being 5.5% higher in controls. Our data indicate that concussed patients present with a significantly greater response to more difficult tasks than do controls, suggesting that concussed adolescents require increased neural resource allocation as task difficulty increases. The study provides insight into the neurophysiological consequences of concussion in adolescent patients.

Paradigmatic and syntagmatic effects of information status on prosodic prominence - evidence from an interactive web-based production experiment in German.

In this paper, we investigate how information status is encoded paradigmatically and syntagmatically via prosodic prominence in German. In addition, we consider individual variability in the production of prominence. To answer our research questions, we collected controlled yet ecologically valid speech by applying an innovative recording paradigm. Participants were asked to perform an interactive reading task in collaboration with an interlocutor remotely via video calls. Results indicate that information status is encoded paradigmatically via the F0 contour, while syntagmatic effects are subtle and depend on the acoustic parameter used. Individual speakers differ primarily in their strength of encoding and secondarily in the type of parameters employed. While the paradigmatic effects we observe are in line with previous findings, our syntagmatic findings support two contradictory ideas, a balancing effect and a radiating effect. Along with the findings at the individual level, this study thus allows for new insights regarding the redundant and relational nature of prosodic prominence.

Analysis of reading-task-based brain connectivity in dyslexic children using EEG signals.

Developmental dyslexia, a neurodevelopment reading disorder, can impact even children with average intelligence. The present study examined the brain connectivity in dyslexic and control children during the reading task using graph theory. 19-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were recorded from 15 dyslexic children and 15 control children. Functional connectivity was estimated by measuring the EEG coherence at 19 electrode locations, and graph measures were calculated using the graph theory method. Reading task results identified deprived task performance in dyslexic children against controls. Graph measures revealed longer path length, reduced clustering coefficient and reduced network efficiencies (in theta and alpha bands) of dyslexic group. At the nodal level, we found a significant increase in delta strength (T4 and T5 electrode locations) and reduced strength in theta (T6, P4, Fp1, F8 and F3) and alpha bands (T4, T3, P4 and F3) during the reading task in dyslexic group. In conclusion, the present study identified distinct graph measures between groups when performing a reading task and showed possible evidence for compromised brain networks in dyslexic group.

Ciluba Speaking Learners’ Interference in Sound Production

This study addresses interference produced by Cilubà speaking learners in their English learning process in the classroom (in some schools of Mbujimayi). It aims at providing some hints which are likely to help overcome such difficulties of language learners use English with some connected speech sounds. Observation and questionnaires (interviews) are approaches used to collect and interpret the data. After investigation, the study has proved that there are three types of sounds interference learners’ levels, namely grouped as Higher interference users (75% of 80 learners observed); Intermediate level learners (36% of 125 learners observed); and Advanced level learners (25% of 42 learners observed). Some remedies should be taken into consideration like, intensification of reading tasks, the allotment of more time to oral tasks than to written ones by making learners talk more and more, the focus on learners’ pronunciation problems for some items containing complex vowel sounds, training learners how to discriminate sounds they cross enough difficulties, and helping them to have more practice on spelling exercises.

Evidence‐Based Practices to Enliven Integrated Reading‐to‐Writing Instruction

AbstractDespite strong support for integrating reading and writing instruction, writing practice is often crowded out of the schedule in elementary classrooms. To promote increased emphasis on writing, a working group of literacy researchers highlights three writing goals and six research‐based reading‐to‐writing practices to enliven instruction with more integrated opportunities. The three featured goals are maximize reading–writing connections, increase student collaborative writing, and promote a classroom writing community. To achieve these goals, the authors highlight flexible, evidenced‐based writing activities to encourage genre diversity, goal‐setting, peer feedback, and cross‐curricular reading tasks. The collection of recommended practices has the potential to engage students and improve both reading and writing achievement.

Processing reflexives in adjunct control: an exploration of attraction effects

Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that dependencies between reflexives and their licensors resist attraction effects from structurally illicit but feature-matching attractors. However, mechanisms guiding reflexive licensing in control clauses remain insufficiently explored. To address this gap, this paper examines whether reflexives in adjunct control clauses primarily seek their licensors within the same clause (i.e., from the null subject) or access noun phrases in higher clauses by probing attraction effects from attractors in the higher clauses. The licensing of the null subject is dependent on the animacy requirement of the main clause subject. Therefore, if the reflexive searches for its licensor from the higher clause, the gender manipulation of noun phrases in the higher clause should exclusively impact the reflexive processing, not the null subject licensing. A self-paced reading task reveals that the licensing of reflexives is sensitive to attraction effects, but only when the overall gender feature of the main clause subject is complex. This finding suggests that reflexives in adjunct control clauses do not exclusively rely on the null subject as a licensor; instead, they extend their search beyond the local domain of the adjunct clause, using gender cues. The observed selective attraction effects support the notion that the distinctiveness of the main clause subject matters.

Effects of Task-Induced Involvement and Time on Task on Incidental L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

This study investigates the impact of task-induced involvement and time on task on incidental second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition. Utilizing a 3 (task-induced involvement) × 2 (time on task) × 2 (post-test time) research design, three task-induced involvement conditions were employed based on the Involvement Load Hypothesis (ILH): reading and gap-fill task, reading and sentence-making task, and reading and translation task, with corresponding involvement load (IL) indices of 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Two time-on-task conditions were implemented: uncontrolled time on task, where participants in different groups completed tasks with varied durations, and controlled time on task, where participants in different groups completed tasks with roughly equal durations. Five intact classes comprising 256 Chinese middle school students participated and were randomly assigned to one of five designed tasks aimed at learning 10 carefully selected target words. The results of a three-way repeated measures ANOVA indicate a significant three-way interaction effect among task-induced involvement, time on task, and post-test time, as well as a significant two-way interaction effect between task-induced involvement and time on task. These findings demonstrate that task-induced involvement and time on task interact to significantly influence both initial acquisition and retention of incidental L2 vocabulary. Specifically, under uncontrolled time conditions, tasks with higher ILs and longer durations yield better initial vocabulary gains and retention, partially supporting the ILH. Conversely, under controlled time conditions, tasks with lower ILs exhibit superior initial vocabulary gains and retention, contradicting the predictions of the ILH. Relevant implications are also discussed.

A Descriptive Study of the Students' Problems in English Reading Comprehension of X grade at SMAS AMKUR Sungai Pinyuh in the Academic year 2021/2022

This study investigates the problem of student English reading in the Senior High School of SMAS AMKUR Sungai Pinyuh in terms of types of material, reading tasks, and cognitive level of reading tasks. The participant of this study consists of 23 students of grade X Social Studies. The researchers used descriptive qualitative research to develop the material in teaching reading, especially for English subjects. Not only for the texts, vocabulary, and the information but also to build students’ critical thinking in reading comprehension. The book used as the instrument is Bahasa Inggris SMA/MA/SMK/MAK Kelas X Edisi Revisi 2017 published by Pusat Kurikulum dan Perbukuan, Balitbang, Kemendikbud. The findings based on the teacher’s observation from the students showed that some texts are too long and most of the time the readers do not suitable to the local contexts, the text used unfamiliar words to the students, and the books do not provide the list of vocabularies, used direct information to the answers of the questions after reading the text. Based on the research findings, the recommendation to improve students' reading comprehension is that the teacher needs to be more selective to know that the material is suitable for the students.

Symbol Description Reading

Mathematical formulas give concise representations of a document's key ideas in many natural sciences and engineering domains. The symbols that make up formulas carry semantic meaning that may differ by document or equation. What does ? mean in a given paper? Interpreting the symbols that comprise formulas requires identifying descriptions from the surrounding text. We approach this task of symbol description reading as an application of current AI technologies targeting the tuning of large language models for particular domains and automation of machine learning. Our pipeline integrates AI question answering and natural language processing to read symbol descriptions. We consider extractive and generative AI model variations and apply our pipeline on two example tasks of symbol description reading. Promising results provide motivation for wider deployment for which we describe a microservice architecture and related challenges.

Students' reading in higher education: Challenges and ways forward

AbstractThis article deals with reading as a significant challenge for higher education students. The study aimed to understand students' experiences of challenges in reading during their first three semesters at university and how they handled these challenges. It is a qualitative case study built on in‐depth interviews with nine people studying to be primary teachers and their diaries about reading experiences in the academy. The findings show that students experience considerable anxiety and stress regarding finding enough time for reading tasks and comprehending what they read. They soon discover that extensive reading is a prerequisite for writing, questioning, and active participation in lectures and seminars. Despite experiences of lack of support from their teachers, most students identify new approaches and strategies to develop their reading, moving from passive to active engagement with texts. The findings implicate that continuous support from disciplinary experts is crucial for students' reading and writing development. Such support includes inviting students to participate in disciplinary practices, its tools, concepts, ways of thinking, genres used, approaches to reading, and what it means to reason, analyze, and argue in a discipline.

Effects of pronominal reference on the integration of syntactic and semantic information in second language processing

AbstractThis study investigated the effect of pronominal reference on the integration of syntactic and semantic information in second language (L2) processing. We conducted a self‐paced reading task involving 60 adult Korean‐speaking learners of English and 44 native English speakers. The experiment manipulated the semantic congruity between a subject and its adjectival predicate, as well as the reference type (pronoun vs. full noun) within the intervening relative clause. The results showed that the native speaker group consistently displayed sensitivity to the incongruity between the subject and the predicate, regardless of the reference type. Similarly, the nonnative speakers exhibited sensitivity to the mismatch in the critical region. However, this effect did not persist in subsequent regions including the spill‐over and wrap‐up regions. Instead, in the wrap‐up region, the L2 learners’ processing patterns were affected by the reference type, with sensitivity exclusively observed in the pronoun condition. The L2 learners’ processing pattern remained consistent across varying levels of English proficiency. These findings provide insights into the role of pronominal reference in L2 sentence processing.

ANALYZING TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR ENGLISH READING IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AMID THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light numerous challenges in the field of English language learning, including the need for strict adherence to health protocols like school closures, mask mandates, and frequent handwashing. This period required a swift adaptation to blended learning, fostering critical and creative thinking to address COVID-19 issues. This study aims to investigate various strategies utilized by English teachers to enhance reading skills amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. Transcription data were gathered through observational methods and interviews involving three participants – one teacher and two students. Grounded theory was employed for data analysis, revealing eight strategies for improving students' reading abilities. These strategies include utilizing E-learning (WhatsApp) as a platform for delivering reading materials, employing visual aids like PPT presentations and YouTube videos to illustrate texts, identifying and marking challenging vocabulary in PDF texts, translating sentences using online tools (Google Translate), facilitating oral reading through WhatsApp's voice-notes feature, assigning reading tasks on specific websites or PDFs, engaging in Q&amp;A discussions on WhatsApp, and conducting project discussions via virtual platforms like WhatsApp and Google Meet. This study contributes to the understanding of reading teaching practices for junior high students during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus expanding the knowledge of strategies employed by teachers in the teaching of reading.

Task-irrelevant decorative pictures increase cognitive load during text processing but have no effects on learning or working memory performance: an EEG and eye-tracking study

Decorative pictures (DP) are often used in multimedia task materials and are commonly considered so-called seductive details as they are commonly not task-relevant. Typically, DP result in mixed effects on behavioral performance measures. The current study focused on the effects of DP on the cognitive load during text reading and working memory task performance. The theta and alpha frequency band power of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and pupil dilation served as proxies of cognitive load. The number of fixations, mean fixation durations, and the number of transitions served as proxies of the attentional focus. For both, text reading and n-back working memory tasks, the presence and congruency of DP were manipulated in four task conditions. DP did neither affect behavioral performance nor subjective ratings of emotional–motivational factors. However, in both tasks, DP increased the cognitive load as revealed by the EEG alpha frequency band power and (at least to some extent) by subjective effort ratings. Notably, the EEG alpha frequency band power was a quite reliable and sensitive proxy of cognitive load. Analyzing the EEG data stimulus-locked and fixation-related, the EEG alpha frequency band power revealed a difference in global and local cognitive load. In sum, the current study underlines the feasibility and use of EEG for multimedia research, especially when combined with eye-tracking.

Improvement in simultaneous processing through metacognitive instruction

This study presents the improvement generated in simultaneous processing by the application of metacognitive instruction to 3rd grade primary education students. A pre-post-follow-up test design was used. The sample consisted of 30 students from one classroom. Two groups were formed; an intervention group comprising students in the classroom who presented difficulties in simultaneous processing, showing a cognitive weakness that compromises reading comprehension, and a comparison group comprising the rest of the students in the class. The instruments used were the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (DN CAS), Assessment of Reading Comprehension (ACL) test and the Reading Awareness Scale (ESCOLA). The groups were equivalent in socioeconomic and cultural status and in successive processing. Reading and study variables were used as differentiators: simultaneous processing and reading awareness. A metacognitive training program based on the Planning Facilitation method was applied to the intervention group. The comparison group followed the usual curricular activities of the classroom and for the education level, according to the traditional teaching model. The program was implemented in 48 sessions over 12 weeks. After the intervention, the group with weakness improved significantly in simultaneous processing and reading awareness; the comparison group did not show any change in their initial scores. The metacognitive instruction that facilitates discussion between students and reflective verbalization about reading tasks promotes improvement in reading awareness and in the simultaneous processing necessary for reading comprehension.

The processing of spatial frequencies through time in visual word recognition

This study examined the temporal profile of spatial frequency processing in a word reading task in 16 normal adult readers. They had to report the word presented in a 200 ms display using a four-alternative forced-choice task (4AFC). The stimuli were made of an additive combination of the signal (i.e. the target word) and of a visual white noise patch wherein the signal-to-noise ratio varied randomly across stimulus duration. Four spatial frequency conditions were defined for the signal component of the stimulus (bandpass Butterworth filters with center frequencies of 1.2, 2.4, 4.8 and 9.6 cycles per degree). In contrast to the coarse-to-fine theory of visual recognition, the results show that the highest spatial frequency range dominates early processing, with a shift toward lower spatial frequencies at later points during stimulus exposure. This pattern interacted in a complex way with the temporal frequency content of signal-to-noise oscillations. The outcome of individual data patterns classification by a machine learning algorithm according to the corresponding spatial frequency band further shows that the most salient spatial frequency signature is obtained when the time dimension within data patterns is recoded into its Fourier transform.

Cognitive control affects the reanalysis of reduced complement clause ambiguities

Cognitive control (CC) affects the ability to revise an incorrect parse. It has been shown to be implicated in detecting and resolving conflicts between semantic and syntactic cues during sentence processing. Previous studies in this area have primarily found CC effects with sentences requiring relatively substantial reanalyses, which may be expected to draw more on CC. This study investigates whether CC is also implicated in the processing of ambiguous sentences requiring relatively minor reanalysis. Participants read reduced complement-clause ambiguities in a self-paced reading task. The plausibility of the initial analysis was manipulated. N-back data were collected to assess CC abilities. N-back score interacted with plausibility at the sentence regions signalling the need for reanalysis. The findings show that CC is implicated even in relatively simple sentence reanalyses when conflict between semantic and syntactic cues must be resolved.

Comparability of reading tasks in high-stakes English proficiency tests and university courses in Korea

With the increased popularity of English-medium instruction (EMI) in higher education, many East Asian universities are using international English proficiency tests to make admissions and placement decisions. Since these tests were not originally designed for the EMI contexts, validity evidence is needed to support the use of these tests in this new context. To interpret performance on a test as representative of performance in a target language use (TLU) domain, this study investigated (1) the characteristics of English reading tasks in Korean EMI undergraduate and graduate courses, (2) the extent to which they are comparable to the characteristics of reading tasks on TOEFL iBT and IELTS, and (3) the extent to which students perceive EMI reading tasks and the test reading tasks to be comparable. Fifty-four undergraduate and graduate students in EMI content courses at a Korean university completed an online questionnaire. Analyses revealed that EMI reading tasks share several characteristics with USA/UK university reading tasks. Although EMI reading tasks had some key characteristics in common with TOEFL and IELTS reading tasks, the test tasks were much more limited in range. Finally, the extent to which students perceived EMI reading tasks and TOEFL/IELTS reading tasks comparable varied across academic areas.

Duration Perception and Reading in Typically Developing Adults and Adults with Developmental Dyslexia: Implications for Assessment and Intervention.

While the link between beat perception and reading skills is attributed to a general improvement in neural entrainment to speech units, duration perception (DP) is primarily linked to a specific aspect of speech perception, specifially discriminating phonemes of varying lengths. Our previous study found a significant correlation between DP and pseudoword reading in both typically developing (TD) individuals and adults with dyslexia (DD). This suggests that, like beat, DP may also enhance overall speech perception. However, our previous study employed a composite measure that did not discriminate speed from accuracy. In this study, we sought to replicate the link between DP and pseudoword reading in a new sample and explore how it might vary depending on the reading parameter being measured. We analyzed the performance of 60 TD vs. 20 DD adults in DP, word reading and pseudoword reading tasks, analyzing the latter for both speed and accuracy. Indeed, duration skills correlated positively with pseudoword reading accuracy. In TD adults, there was no association between DP and reading speed, whereas DD individuals exhibited slower reading speed alongside improved duration skills. We emphasize the potential usefulness of DP tasks in assessment and early intervention and raise new questions about compensatory strategies adopted by DD adults.

Being a heritage speaker matters: the role of markedness in subject-verb person agreement in Italian.

This study examines online processing and offline judgments of subject-verb person agreement with a focus on how this is impacted by markedness in heritage speakers (HSs) of Italian. To this end, 54 adult HSs living in Germany and 40 homeland Italian speakers completed a self-paced reading task (SPRT) and a grammaticality judgment task (GJT). Markedness was manipulated by probing agreement with both first-person (marked) and third-person (unmarked) subjects. Agreement was manipulated by crossing first-person marked subjects with third-person unmarked verbs and vice versa. Crucially, person violations with 1st person subjects (e.g., io *suona la chitarra "I plays-3rd-person the guitar") yielded significantly shorter RTs in the SPRT and higher accuracy in the GJT than the opposite error type (e.g., il giornalista *esco spesso "the journalist go-1st-person out often"). This effect is consistent with the claim that when the first element in the dependency is marked (first person), the parser generates stronger predictions regarding upcoming agreeing elements. These results nicely align with work from the same populations investigating the impact of morphological markedness on grammatical gender agreement, suggesting that markedness impacts agreement similarly in two distinct grammatical domains and that sensitivity to markedness is more prevalent for HSs.

Evaluating the Pseudorelative-First Hypothesis: Evidence from self-paced reading and persistence effects

Within the psycholinguistic literature, there has been a longstanding debate regarding whether we resolve syntactic parsing ambiguities via universal or language-specific biases. The present study investigates attachment biases in the online parsing of ‘relative clause’ (RC) attachment in Italian with respect to pseudorelative (PR) availability. Following the PR account Grillo (2012), languages are assumed to universally prefer local attachment. When languages appear to prefer non-local attachment, this is due (at least partially) to the availability of PRs. Specifically, Grillo and Costa (2014) suggest that whenever a string is ambiguous between a PR and a RC, the parser will prefer the PR parse, resulting in apparent non-local attachment. Although there is growing evidence that PR availability indeed affects offline interpretations, few studies have explored this account from an online perspective. Hence, we conducted a self-paced reading task in Italian. In that task, we directly manipulated PR availability and attachment. Reading times for the critical and postcritical regions along with accuracy to comprehension questions were subjected to mixed-effect regressions. Consistent with the PR account, online results indicated a clear bias for local attachment with true RCs. When PRs were available, we observed a non-local bias. Additionally, the present study provides novel evidence in support of the PR-First Hypothesis, as results indicated that the initial preference for PRs may persist and affect the interpretation of even globally disambiguated items.