Science Reading Comprehension Research Articles

The effects of explicit science reading instruction on selected grade 7 students' metacognition and comprehension of specific science text

This study investigated the correlations between metacognition and comprehension of science text and the differential effects of reading ability and gender on the acquisition of metacognition and science reading comprehension among an intact group of 27 students. A single-group pretest/posttest design was carried out over a 22-week instructional period by a teacher-researcher. Six reading strategies were taught using an explicit model of instruction embedded in the regular science program and reinforced across other curriculum areas as appropriate. Pretest and posttest results indicated positive correlations between metacognition (awareness and self-management) and success on reading comprehension tasks. Pretest-posttest gains indicated that 22 weeks of schooling with explicit strategy instruction significantly enhances students' metacognition and their abilities to comprehend science text across all reading abilities. A significant gender difference favoring females was found for the metacognitive self-management results.

DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING FOR MALES AND FEMALES ON SAT‐VERBAL READING SUBSCORE ITEMS: FOLLOW‐UP STUDY1,2

ABSTRACTThis study was conducted to attempt to verify findings from an earlier study by Lawrence, Curley, and McHale (1988) in which DIF was examined for females on Reading subscore items in four forms of SAT‐Verbal. Specifically, the focus of this research was on verifying the technical science hypothesis as a contributing factor to DIF for females on science reading comprehension questions, and the true‐science classification as a contributing factor to DIF for females on sentence completion items. Confirmatory evidence for the factors identified in the earlier study is not clear‐cut in this study. For reading comprehension items, the presence of technical science material in a reading passage tends to make the corresponding items more difficult for females. However, some items associated with highly technical passages do not function differently for males and females. With respect to sentence completion items, there was partial support for the hypothesis that true‐science items are more difficult for females. However, the limited number of items studied does not warrant statements about the differential functioning of sentence completion items.

A Psycholinguistic Study of the Relationships between Children's Ethnic-Linguistic Attitudes and the Effectiveness of Methods Used in Second-Language Reading Instruction

This psycholinguistic study investigated the relationships between Chinese children's attitudes toward their native dialect (Cantonese) as well as the second language (English) and the effectiveness of certain methods used in the teaching of second-language reading. The two methods compared in the experiment were the Translation Method and the NonTranslation Method. The main hypothesis states that the Translation Method is the superior method for children who have a very positive attitude toward their native language and culture while the Non-Translation Method (English only) is superior for those who do not hold their native language in very high esteem. Eight special ESL classes at three elementary schools in Chinatown, San Francisco were randomly assigned to the two treatment groups. Attitudes toward the two languages (inclusive of the cultures and speakers) were measured with a matched-guise test. On the basis of the lessons taught in the 20 forty-minute sessions, a science reading comprehension test was constructed by the experimenter. The same test was used for both pre-testing and post-testing purposes, and the gain-scores served as the dependent variable. The findings of this experiment provide substantial evidence to justify the acceptance of the hypothesis stated in the second paragraph.