Text Comprehension Research Articles

The Importance of Fluency in Reading: A Comparison of English, Swedish, Croatian, and Estonian

We report results from children learning to read in one of four different languages: Croatian, English, Estonian and Swedish. The languages all have an alphabetical script but vary greatly on the dimension deep-shallow (or complexity-simplicity, or opacity-transparency), i.e., how close orthography and phonology are related. These languages also vary in the complexity and type of grammatical structure. We used tasks to measure phonological awareness, morpho-syntactic processing, word and pseudoword identification speed, working memory, and reading comprehension. In English, Swedish, and Croatian, fluency was the most significant predictor of reading comprehension. In Estonian, morpho-syntactic awareness was the most significant predictor, although reading fluency was a close second. Fluency was of primary importance in reading comprehension because the limitations of working memory result in fast decay of input information. Therefore, it is important to read with fluency for proper text comprehension.

Grammatical cohesion found in undergraduate student’s thesis writing: A case study at one private university in Indonesia

Writing an excellent and comprehensive text depends on applying appropriate grammatical cohesive devices. This study aims to investigate the types and errors of the grammatical cohesive devices found in the undergraduate student's thesis. The analysis used in the present study applied the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) proposed by Halliday and Hasan (2014). Through the qualitative design with content analysis, this study examines two undergraduate students' theses, focusing on finding and discussing sections at one private university in Jakarta. The analysis revealed that grammatical cohesive devices in the thesis are not diverse. The data's most dominant grammatical cohesive devices are references and conjunctions—no elliptical and substitution devices are found in the data. Besides, errors in applying grammatical cohesion in the undergraduate students' writing were found, especially in using personal and demonstrative references and extension conjunctions. It indicates that the students still lack understanding in applying the knowledge of grammatical cohesion in their writing, influencing the readers' understanding in capturing information from the thesis. It implies that the knowledge of appropriate grammatical cohesion is essential for students in academic writing, predominantly undergraduate thesis, to convey the ideas and information properly and coherently.

Unraveling the Potential of ChatGPT: Investigating the Efficacy of Reading Text Adaptation

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of ChatGPT in reading text adaptation. Its primary focus is on examining ChatGPT's ability to adapt texts with particular attention to its contextual understanding and limitations. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research combines quantitative analysis and qualitative evaluation. Quantitative measures assess the consistency of ChatGPT's responses across various text adaptation scenarios, whereas qualitative evaluations involve the assessment of language teachers' attitudes and perceptions towards the use of ChatGPT for text adaptation in their teaching practices. Ethical considerations pertaining to potential biases and misinformation in the model's output are also discussed. The outcomes of this investigation contribute to understanding ChatGPT's strengths and limitations in reading text adaptation. The research has practical implications for domains such as language education, content creation, and information retrieval, where accurate and adaptable text comprehension is crucial.

Scaffolding comprehension with reading while listening and the role of reading speed and text complexity

AbstractAudiobooks allow language learners to read and listen to the same text simultaneously; yet the effects of this bimodal input (written and spoken) on learners’ comprehension have been inconsistent, suggesting that the conditions under which audiobooks can help comprehension are not well understood. As such, I explored silent reading speed and text complexity as two potential variables that moderate reading‐while‐listening (RWL) comprehension. In a within‐participant design, 46 English learners in an American university read, listened to, and simultaneously read and listened to two complexity versions of a fictional text. Mixed‐effects regression modeling revealed that participants comprehended better in the RWL conditions than in the listening‐only conditions, echoing findings from the captions literature. This effect was moderated by neither silent reading speed nor text complexity. There were also no main effects between RWL and reading‐only conditions, indicating limitations in the use of audiobooks in language classrooms to promote written text comprehension.

Text emotional analysis in Natural Language Processing

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is an important research direction in the field of artificial intelligence, aimed at enabling computers to understand and process human natural language. Emotional analysis refers to the use of computer technology to automatically recognize and classify the emotional tendencies expressed in text, such as positive, negative, or neutral. This technology can be applied to fields such as social media analysis, public opinion monitoring, market research, etc. The goal is to enable computers to understand and interpret emotional information in text like humans. Text sentiment analysis, as a key task of NLP, aims to identify and classify emotional tendencies expressed in text. This article will delve into the field of text sentiment analysis in natural language processing, focusing on the role and application of standard sentiment dictionaries and corpora in sentiment analysis. Reviewing relevant research conclusions, providing reference and inspiration for achieving more accurate and comprehensive text sentiment analysis through research and exploration.

Abstractive text summarization model combining a hierarchical attention mechanism and multiobjective reinforcement learning

Text summarization research is significant and challenging in the domain of natural language processing. Abstractive text summarization mainly uses the encoder-decoder framework, wherein the encoder component does not have a sufficient semantic comprehension of the input text, and there are exposure biases and semantic inconsistencies between the reference and generated summaries during the training process. We propose an improved encoder-decoder model that incorporates a hierarchical attention mechanism and multiobjective reinforcement learning. The encoder introduces a multihead self-attention mechanism to allow for the acquisition of more comprehensive semantic information from multiple angles and dimensions, while the decoder introduces a pointer-generator network to solve the out-of-vocabulary problem. Multiobjective reinforcement learning methods are constructed throughout the training process to optimize the model in terms of addressing exposure bias, maintaining semantic consistency, and enhancing readability. The results of the comparative experiments demonstrate that the proposed model significantly improved in terms of the ROUGE evaluation metric, and the generated summaries were semantically similar to the reference summaries.

The Role of Verbal Fluency as a Variable in Reading and Comprehension Skills in Bengali.

The study explored the role of verbal fluency in determining reading and comprehension skills in Bengali among 10-year old typically developing Bengali children. Robust correlations were found between semantic fluency and word reading (0.63) as well as semantic fluency and comprehension (0.70). Good correlation was found between letter fluency and comprehension (0.49), and, word reading and comprehension (0.62). The findings suggest that good word storing capacity and executive functions led to enhanced automaticity of retrieval and verbal fluency, which together with improved orthographic and phonological processing led to good word reading scores, contributing to lesser cognitive load thereby easing out the complex text comprehension task. Transcending narrow empirical base of reading theories derived from Western writing typologies delimited to orthographic depth and psycholinguistic grain size, the study contends that verbal fluency is another interesting variable determining the reading and comprehension skills in Bengali along with visuo-spatial complexity and complex phonology-orthography inconsistencies.

Reading skills in children with Irlen Syndrome

Visual perceptual distortions and physical discomfort that cause difficulties in reading are some of the characteristics of Irlen syndrome. This study examined if students with Irlen syndrome, assessed with different reading tasks, present differences in reading skills when compared to those without the condition. Participants were 110 fourth and fifth graders (mean age = 8.6 years), 55 with Irlen syndrome (ISG group) and 55 without the syndrome (control group). Researchers applied the Irlen Reading Perceptual Scale to evaluate the Irlen Syndrome and the PROLEC-R Test to assess reading processes. The results showed significant group differences in Word Reading, Pseudoword Reading, Punctuation Marks, Sentence, and Text Comprehension. Oral comprehension in the auditory modality was not significantly different, which would support the idea that Irlen syndrome seems to be related to visual sensory processes. In conclusion, participants with Irlen syndrome presented impaired reading processes that might affect overall visual comprehension but not oral reading comprehension.

Domain‐general and reading‐specific cognitive flexibility and its relation with other executive functions: Contributions to science text reading comprehension

BackgroundCognitive and linguistic factors have been incorporated into models to explain reading comprehension beyond classical models of reading. This study explores the contribution of executive functions, mainly domain‐general and reading‐specific cognitive flexibility, in reading comprehension of science texts in monolingual Spanish speaking upper elementary students.MethodsA total of 275 Chilean students from fourth to sixth grade participated in this study. They were evaluated in working memory, inhibition, reading fluency, domain‐general and reading‐specific cognitive flexibility, academic vocabulary and science reading comprehension.ResultsThe results show that cognitive flexibility is a variable that explains performance in science reading comprehension across elementary grades. Furthermore, reading domain‐specific cognitive flexibility was found to be the variable that explains additional performance in science reading comprehension above inhibition, reading fluency, academic vocabulary and domain‐general cognitive flexibility in Grade 4 and Grade 5, but not in Grade 6.ConclusionsThese results suggest the contribution of cognitive variables such as cognitive flexibility in explaining performance in reading comprehension of science texts. The need to develop cognitive tests specific to reading domain is also discussed.

Comparing Textual Comprehension Strategies of Lower Secondary Students with and without Learning Disabilities through Metacognitive Interviews

Metin anlama becerisi; okuyucunun okuma öncesi, okuma sırası ve okuma sonrasında bilişsel ve üstbilişsel stratejilerin kullanımını gerektirir. Bu araştırmada Öğrenme Güçlüğü (ÖG) olan ve Ortalama Başarı (OB) gösteren ortaokul öğrencilerinin metin anlama strateji bilgilerinin üstbilişsel görüşme aracılığıyla belirlenmesi ve kullandıkları stratejiler bakımından farklılıklarının ortaya konması amaçlanmıştır. Çalışmaya 5, 6, 7 ve 8. sınıflara devam eden 30 ÖG olan ve 30 OB gösteren öğrenci katılmıştır. Araştırma verilerinin toplanması amacıyla üstbilişsel görüşme yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçları; ÖG olan öğrencilerin OB gösteren öğrencilere göre yetersiz ve etkisiz metin anlama strateji bilgisine sahip olduklarını göstermektedir. OB gösteren öğrencilerin ise okuma öncesi ve okuma sonrası bilişsel strateji bilgisinin bir kısmına sahip oldukları buna karşın okuma sırasında kullanılan bilişsel ve üstbilişsel stratejiler konusunda sınırlılıkları olduğu bulunmuştur.

Kahoot Application As A Formative Evaluation Media In Students’ Comprehension Of The Aspect Of Writing Narrative Text In Online Class (Qualitative Case Study At One Of Senior High School)

This article figures out the ways of applying Kahoot as a formative evaluation media in students' comprehension of the aspect of writing narrative text in an online class; and investigates the perceptions of the teacher of using Kahoot as a formative evaluation media in students' comprehension of the aspect of writing narrative text in an online class. The study applied a qualitative research design, employing the case study characteristics. The data were attained from some sources, including classroom observation and interviews. Classroom observation was conducted to 11 MIPA and the interview was administered to an English teacher. The findings revealed that implementing Kahoot in the process of evaluation can increase the student's achievement; so that student's comprehension of the narrative text can be improved. The teacher perceives that Kahoot helped carrying out the formative evaluation process in the online classroom because the teacher can easily see the level of students' understanding of aspects of writing narrative text. However, the evaluation process is hampered by unstable internet connections. The finding of this research recommended English teachers to apply technology, in particular, Kahoot, that can make the learning and evaluation process in online classes easier and more fun. Also, Kahoot helps students practicing and increasing their understanding towards the delivered materials.

The Influence of the Reading Medium on Learning Efficacy

This paper outlines the differences between electronic and printed reading comprehension for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. It explores which sources EFL students prefer and the reasons behind that; whether the reading mode influences the comprehension of the material being read; and which reading strategies are applied to each reading mode. We hypothesize that comprehension is easier and more successful when reading from printed sources. The method includes an experiment with students from the English Language Teaching (ELT) Program at the South East European University (SEEU) in North Macedonia. It aims to analyze and compare text comprehension and strategies used during digital reading (e-reading) and printed reading (p-reading). Findings clearly showed a preference for p-reading and more successful comprehension with this mode. No difference was found in the reading strategies application between e-reading and p-reading. The main conclusion is that there are no differences in the cognitive process underlying reading and understanding of electronic and print media, but comprehension and hence learning is more successful with printed sources. Eye fatigue and brain strain are the greatest disadvantages of electronic reading. Current and future English teachers, educational workers and policy makers should consider these conclusions when creating curricula for all educational levels and all ages.

Cognitive-Motor Training Improves Reading-Related Executive Functions: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study in Dyslexia.

Children with developmental dyslexia (DD) often struggle with executive function difficulties which can continue into adulthood if not addressed. This double-blinded randomized clinical trial study evaluated the short-term effects of the Verbal Working Memory-Balance (VWM-B) program on reading-related executive functions, reading skills, and reading comprehension in Persian children with DD. The active control group [12 children with DD with a mean age of 9 years (SD = 0.90)] received training using the single-task VWM program, while the experiment group [15 children with DD with a mean age of 8 years (SD = 0.74)] received training with the dual-task VWM-B program. Both groups received fifteen training sessions, and assessments were conducted before and after the intervention. The groups were homogenized for possible confounders of age, gender, IQ level, and attention level. The study employed separate mixed ANOVA analyses to estimate the impact of training programs on various measured functions. Significant improvements were observed in the outcome measures of backward digit span, text comprehension, verbal fluency, Stroop color-word test and interference, and the reading subtests. Additionally, significant correlations were found between reading skills and backward digit span, text comprehension, verbal fluency, and Stroop variables. In conclusion, the dual-task VWM-B program was found to be more effective than the single-task VWM program in improving selective attention, cognitive inhibition, verbal working memory capacity, information processing speed, naming ability, and lexical access speed. These enhanced executive functions were associated with improved reading skills in children with DD.

Print and digital reading habits and comprehension in children with and without special education needs

BackgroundText comprehension is a major obstacle for many Primary school students with special education needs (SEN). Reading episodes bring students opportunities to be exposed to new vocabulary and knowledge, potentially boosting their development of text comprehension skills. AimsOur study seeks to understand how reading frequency (leisure and academic) and reading medium (print and digital) contribute to the development of text comprehension during Primary school in students with and without SEN. Methods and proceduresWe tested 2289 Spanish students from fourth to sixth grade, from which 212 had an official decision of SEN. Students self-reported their reading frequency (as a measure of their reading habits) and completed a standardized text comprehension test. We employed multiple regression models with a robust maximum likelihood estimator to test associations between reading frequency and comprehension. Outcomes and resultsStudents’ comprehension was positively associated with their leisure print reading habits, and negatively associated with their frequency of academic digital reading. Those associations were independent of SEN status. Conclusions and implicationsResults highlight the importance of promoting leisure reading in print to all students, regardless of SEN status. In addition, caution is advised when encouraging Primary school children to use digital texts when the emphasis is on comprehending texts for acquiring knowledge.

DIFFICULTIES OF READING AND ACTUAL INTERPRETATION IN CLASSES OF 1st YEAR OF E. E. F. M. DE AMONTADA.

Difficulties in reading and textual interpretation are one of the problems that schools in general have faced on a daily basis. This problem has challenged many of these schools to devise and implement different strategies in order to solve or alleviate this problem that has challenged teachers and school managers. . In this perspective, the referred article sought to analyze the profile of the 1st year students of the Elementary and High School of Amontada, located in the city of Amontada, in the northern region of the state of Ceará. For that, their class routines were observed for 2 weeks, from the application of the activities to the correction of the same. Thus, it is considered that the research in evidence is qualitative and bibliographic. After this period, several reading activities were applied involving the comprehension of different texts, through these collections it was concluded that those students presented a series of difficulties in terms of reading and comprehension. For this reason, it is recommended that diversified and innovative strategies be devised and implemented through projects, addressing and working more intensively on such difficulties.

The role of different types of knowledge in the text comprehension when reading (experience of experimental interpretative observation)

The article discusses the problem of studying knowledge, as well as the role of different types of knowledge in the text comprehension. In terms of theory, the purpose of this paper is to review the scientific literature on the problem of knowledge, their classification. On the practical side, the purpose of the article is to analyze the role of different types of knowledge in the process of the comprehension of a particular text when reading by a study population, as well as to identify some strategies and principles that students could be guided by when faced with the problem of adequate perception and comprehension of foreign-language texts.The paper applied the method of experimental interpretative observation using a private psycholinguistic empirical questionnaire method, involving interviewing and conversation with subjects under study, during which actual data were obtained. On the basis of these empirical data, the main theoretical and practical conclusions were builtThe article analyzed a certain amount of scientific literature on the problem of knowledge and its classification.It was found out that the problem of knowledge had been dealt with for a long time and there are quite a lot of controversial and unresolved issues in this area: problems of storing, using and acquiring knowledge. It was also found in the work that there are quite a large number of classifications of knowledge, the bases for these classifications, which often overlap.Based on the results of the practical study, some conclusions were drawn. Those conclusions imply that in the process of semantic perception and comprehension of the text when reading, which is an active process, the study population activate and apply numerous knowledge. In the process of reading the text, they also resort to certain strategies and principles of working with it. This allowed us to develop certain recommendations that students could apply when comprehending foreign-language text information. This problem is highly relevant due to the fact that the problem of adequate perception and comprehension of the text is important as one of the problems that determine the effectiveness of both teaching and learning a foreign language in an educational institution. In addition, knowledge of strategies and principles of understanding textual information could facilitate communication in a foreign language in real speech situations.

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.

The structure of metacognition in middle childhood: Evidence for a unitary metacognition-for-memory factor

It has been debated whether children’s metacognitive monitoring and control processes rely on a general resource or whether metacognitive processes are task specific. Moreover, findings about the extent to which metacognitive processes are related to first-order task performance are mixed. The current study aimed to uncover the relationships among children’s monitoring (discrimination between correct and incorrect responses), control (accurate withdrawal of wrong answers), and performance across three memory-based learning tasks: Kanji learning, text comprehension, and secret code learning. All tasks consisted of a study phase, a test phase, monitoring (confidence judgments), and control (maintaining/withdrawing responses). Participants were 325 children (151 second graders [Mage = 8.12 years] and 174 fourth graders [Mage = 10.20 years]). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that a model in which monitoring and control loaded on a joint factor and performance on a separate factor provided the best fit to the data. Fourth graders had better monitoring and control accuracy than second graders. However, the factor structure of metacognition was similar for both age groups, contradictory to the assumption that metacognition generalizes across tasks as children grow older. After accounting for task-specific processes, monitoring and control skills for language-based memory tasks appear to be generalizable in middle childhood. In sum, children’s monitoring and control for three separate memory tasks appear to reflect a unitary metacognition-for-memory factor related to, but distinguishable from, performance.

Using Wikipedia to Develop 21st Century Skills: Perspectives from General Education Students

Purpose: The aim of the study was to find out how and why students use Wikipedia and what their attitudes are towards Wikipedia as a source of information for learning. Methodology: The article is based on a quantitative study in which 381 Estonian school children participated in filling out an online survey. The questionnaire included both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Findings: Statistical analyses and responses to open-ended questions showed that students often use Wikipedia as a primary source of information, but that their use of the site for learning tasks is guided by teachers’ attitudes and perceptions towards Wikipedia. Students perceive Wikipedia as a quick and convenient source of information but are uncertain about its reliability. Under teachers’ guidance, they have learnt to search for information and to be source-critical, while more attention is needed to develop academic literacy, including both text comprehension and text composition. Value: As there is still very little research on how Wikipedia is used for learning purposes in general education schools, the results of the study contribute to further discussion on the potential of Wikipedia as an innovative teaching tool for different subjects.

Towards adaptive support for self‐regulated learning of causal relations: Evaluating four Dutch word vector models

Advances in computational language models increasingly enable adaptive support for self‐regulated learning (SRL) in digital learning environments (DLEs; eg, via automated feedback). However, the accuracy of those models is a common concern for educational stakeholders (eg, policymakers, researchers, teachers and learners themselves). We compared the accuracy of four Dutch language models (ie, spaCy medium, spaCy large, FastText and ConceptNet NumberBatch) in the context of secondary school students' learning of causal relations from expository texts, scaffolded by causal diagram completion. Since machine learning relies on human‐labelled data for the best results, we used a dataset with 10,193 students' causal diagram answers, compiled over a decade of research using a diagram completion intervention to enhance students' monitoring of their text comprehension. The language models were used in combination with four popular machine learning classifiers (ie, logistic regression, random forests, support vector machine and neural networks) to evaluate their performance on automatically scoring students' causal diagrams in terms of the correctness of events and their sequence (ie, the causal structure). Five performance metrics were studied, namely accuracy, precision, recall, F1 and the area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC‐AUC). The spaCy medium model combined with the neural network classifier achieved the best performance for the correctness of causal events in four of the five metrics, while the ConceptNet NumberBatch model worked best for the correctness of the causal sequence. These evaluation results provide a criterion for model adoption to adaptively support SRL of causal relations in DLEs. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Accurate monitoring is a prerequisite for effective self‐regulation. Students struggle to accurately monitor their comprehension of causal relations in texts. Completing causal diagrams improves students' monitoring accuracy, but there is room for further improvement. Automatic scoring could be used to provide adaptive support during diagramming. What this paper adds Comparison of four Dutch word vector models combined with four machine learning classifiers for the automatic scoring of students' causal diagrams. Five performance metrics to evaluate the above solutions. Evaluation of the word vector models for estimating the semantic similarity between student and model answers. Implications for practice and/or policy High‐quality word vector models could (em)power adaptive support during causal diagramming via automatic scoring. The evaluated solutions can be embedded in digital learning environments (DLEs). Criteria for model adoption to adaptively support SRL of causal relations in DLEs. The increased saliency of (in)correct answers via automatic scoring might help to improve students' monitoring accuracy.