Reading proficiency is an important life skill that contributes to improved quality of life and becoming an active member in society. This pilot randomized clinical trial tested the effects of a functional literacy intervention in young adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDDs). Participants included 44 young adults with IDD between 18 and 26 years old. Participants were randomly assigned to the Functional Reading Activities to Motivate and Empower (FRAME) treatment group or a "business-as-usual" control group. Participants participated in 24 twice-weekly sessions in which they were taught reading comprehension strategies in the context of functional text stimuli or activities of daily living that require reading (e.g., text messages, e-mails). The primary outcome measure was the number of reading comprehension strategies used. Secondary outcomes included (a) multiple-choice comprehension questions, (b) text message response, (c) e-mail response, (d) summarization, and (e) verbal responses to functional text samples. Young adults with IDD in the treatment group made statistically significant gains in use of reading comprehension strategies (d = 1.09, p = .002) and multiple-choice comprehension questions (d = 0.79, p = .038) as compared with the control group. There were no statistically significant differences on the remaining outcome measures. This study provides preliminary support for the short-term effects of the FRAME intervention for young adults with IDD, with particular emphasis on explicit reading comprehension strategy instruction within a functional context. Therapeutic services typically end during the transition period for young adults with disabilities. However, it is essential that evidence-based literacy supports are available as this is a skill that continues to develop throughout the lifespan and has the potential to transform an individual's transition to adulthood and independence. Future research should include a larger clinical trial and evaluate mediators of intervention effects.

A huge number of studies on reading strategies have been carried out in relation to reading proficiency levels. The conflicting findings and rarity of studies concerning the use of reading comprehension strategies in English testing become the impetus to conduct a further study on reading comprehension strategies issues. The recent research aims to delve into Indonesian pre-service English teachers' reading strategies and how these reading strategies enhance their reading comprehension on IELTS. This study employs a narrative study and uses in-depth semi-structured interviews to collect the data. There are six Indonesian pre-service English teachers involved as research participants, and they were periodically interviewed for adequate data regarding their reading comprehension strategies. The follow-up interview was performed throughout data collection until data saturation was achieved, and the data were then analyzed qualitatively by transcribing, coding, categorizing, and thematizing to find out the emerging themes concerning reading comprehension strategy. The results reveal that there are four themes, namely vocabulary mastery, activating background knowledge, test-taking strategies, and appropriate institutional policies. The results of this study can be used as a reference to foster reading comprehension on IELTS. Suggestion for further research is discussed at the end of this research.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Functional Reading Activities to Motivate and Empower (FRAME) on use of reading comprehension strategies in intellectually and/or developmentally disabled young adults. A single-case, multiple-probe design across functional literacy stimuli (e.g., text messages, e-mails) was replicated across three intellectually or developmentally disabled 23- to 26-year-old young adults, all of whom had a primary diagnosis of autism. Within FRAME, reading comprehension strategies were taught and practiced within the context of functional texts or activities of daily living that involve written language (e.g., text messages, e-mails). Each session followed the teach-model-coach-review approach and was conducted via telepractice. Participants' use of reading comprehension strategies was measured in baseline, intervention, maintenance, and with generalization probes. Visual analysis of the data indicated a functional relation between FRAME and the use of reading comprehension strategies for two of the three autistic young adults. All participants maintained increased use of reading comprehension strategies post-intervention. This study provides preliminary evidence that FRAME is associated with improved use of reading comprehension strategies that maintains over time. Thus, FRAME has the potential to support continued improvement of functional reading skills throughout the lifespan, which is critical as autistic individuals make the transition from adolescence to adult life. Further research is needed to evaluate the effects of the intervention on more distal outcomes of written language and to examine how to best tailor the intervention to individual differences to optimize outcomes. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.26882422.

The present study explored the combined effects of students’ learning-related beliefs as well as use of reading comprehension strategies on academic success—academic outcomes and exhaustion. In total, 1165 eighth grade students’ beliefs, use of reading comprehension strategies and reading comprehension were assessed at the beginning of the school year. Half a year later 296 students from the sample reported their academic exhaustion and grades from the previous semester. Students’ learning-related beliefs and use of deep reading comprehension strategies were associated with their academic outcomes and exhaustion. More specifically, believing in quick and effortless learning was associated with the use of a smaller variety of deep reading comprehension strategies and lower academic outcomes. Additionally, students’ motivational beliefs about effective learning were mainly indirectly through strategy use linked to their academic outcomes, while having direct effects on academic exhaustion. These results refer to the importance of addressing learning-related beliefs in addition to strategy instruction.

A reading circle is a small discussion group administered by peers who choose to read the same story, poem, article or book (Daniels, 2002, p. 2). Various studies have proven that reading circles have a positive impact on students’ reading comprehension skills (Altınkaya, 2019; Avcı & Yüksel, 2011; Balantekin, 2016; Brown, 2002; Kaya-Tosun, 2018; Sarı, Kurtuluş, & Yücel-Toy, 2017). This study aims to improve students’ reading comprehension strategies and help them develop a positive attitude toward reading as well as contribute to their reading habits using the reading circle technique. The researcher and a Turkish teacher cooperated within the scope of this study, which was designed as action research, and they used the reading circle technique to improve students’ reading comprehension strategies as well as their reading attitudes and habits. This study was conducted with 28 students, and the students were divided into four groups with seven members to form small discussion groups. Reading circle sessions were held on Zoom for 10 weeks, with each session lasting 30 minutes for each group. In the present study, the “Book Metaphor Form” was developed by Gül (2019), and students’ progress was monitored by administering pre-test and post-test with the “Reading Habits and Attitudes Scale” as well as the “Reading Comprehension Strategies Scale” developed by Susar-Kırmızı (2006). The process was monitored through “Task Cards,” “Reading Circle Control List,” “Researcher Observation Form” and “Reading Circle Evaluation Form.” Results of the quantitative analyses showed that reading circles did not affect students’ reading comprehension strategies as well as their reading attitudes and habits. Results of the qualitative analyses indicated that reading circles had an increasing effect on students’ motivation to read a book, their positive attitudes toward books/reading, such as using the library and exchanging books, and their use of strategies to learn a new word. On the other hand, students were observed to be able to associate what they read with real life and improve their skills to make a summary and work in groups. At the end of the process, students’ metaphoric perceptions of books changed, and those who perceived books as a tool of amusement decreased while the number of students who regarded books as a source of information increased. In brief, the qualitative analyses conducted within the scope of this study suggested that students’ use of reading comprehension strategies as well as their attitudes and habits about reading improved, whereas this was not reflected in the quantitative data of this study. The current study results support the idea of using reading circles with secondary school students and point out because it is necessary to investigate the effect of reading circles with studies to be conducted with different groups for longer periods.

The most challenging skill for S1 university students in the EFL context is Reading comprehension. This may be due to the lack of possessing the necessary reading comprehension strategies that would help them to understand English texts efficiently. In this respect, this study is first intended to determine the relationship between the frequency of use of reading-comprehension strategies and the students’ familiarity with them before and after completing the usual curriculum of reading comprehension course. Furthermore, this study also attempts to evaluate the effect of the S1 students’ familiarity with and frequency of use of reading comprehension strategies on their performance in reading comprehension tasks. A sample of 85 University students in EFL context was chosen, but only 73 of them filled in the questionnaire and completed their pre-test and post-test. All of these 73 students attended the usual reading curriculum without any special treatment. The findings of the study indicate that the students’ awareness and frequency of use do not show any improvement as the S1 students completed their usual reading comprehension courses. Another major finding is that reading strategies frequency use and familiarity with them show no correlation with the students’ performance while taking both the pre-test and post-test. Therefore, the fact that S1 students show no development of both their use and awareness of reading comprehension strategies after completing the usual reading comprehension course and also no improvement in their performance can be explained by the ineffective training that they underwent during Semester 1 of their English studies journey. In other words, the students’ high or low scores in reading comprehension courses are not determined by their familiarity with reading comprehension strategies or their frequency use. Thus, researchers on education are urged to hold studies that shall investigate the teaching of reading comprehension strategies in the usual curriculum and how they should be taught efficiently.

Late elementary education constitutes a critical period in the development of reading comprehension strategies, a key competence in today's society. However, to date, appropriate measurements to map late elementary students' reading strategies are lacking. In this respect, the present article first describes the development and validation of the 26-item reading comprehension strategies questionnaire (RCSQ). To this aim, exploratory (sample 1: n = 1585 students) and confirmatory (sample 2: n = 1585 students) factor analyses were conducted. These analyses resulted in the RCSQ, consisting of five subscales: (1) overt cognitive reading strategies, (2) covert cognitive reading strategies, (3) monitoring, and (4) evaluating. For non-native and bilingual students, a fifth subscale 'using home language in view of comprehending texts' emerged. Second, multilevel analyses were performed to explore individual differences in late elementary students' reading comprehension strategy use. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Over the last few years, technology has offered new ways of teaching and learning. Accordingly, educational systems are adopting what technology has purveyed to education. The abrupt upsurge of the COVID-19 pandemic also expedited this employment and impelled educational systems to shift to online teaching and learning. Consequently, the offline and paper-based mode of testing has been being replaced with the online and remote mode. Whether the testing mode itself, in its nature, affects the use of reading comprehension strategies and whether learners follow the same patterns of strategies during offline and online reading comprehension tests have not been paid enough attention by scholars, and the findings of few studies in this regard in the literature are also disparate. Thus, the present paper investigated and compared the use of strategies and their patterns of use in offline and online reading comprehension testing. The quantitative analysis of the data revealed that learners apply reading comprehension strategies more in the offline testing mode although they employ the same patterns of strategies in offline and online reading comprehension testing. The qualitative phase of the study uncovered the reasons. That is learners’ perception, shaped by their experience and familiarization with the mode of testing; individual differences; washback and reverse washback effects; and affective and emotional factors, yields this difference. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

The boom in education industry is further supported by the added convenience of distance and online learning has encouraged adult learners to pursue their studies. Reading is the most important skill for undergraduates in higher institutions. Reading skills are required to access knowledge for learning. Reading skills are needed to write assignments in higher institutions of learning. This study is therefore done to investigate adult learners’ perception of reading strategies used. The use of strategies portrays the attribution portrayed by the learners- dispositional and situational attributions. This quantitative pilot study is done to investigate adult learners’ perception on their use of reading comprehension strategies. 38 adult learners taking online undergraduate courses took part in this study. The instrument used is a survey with 5 Likert scales. The survey has 2 main sections; dispositional and situational attribution. A summary of findings revealed that the dispositional attribution that is evident during reading comprehension activity are the readers’ perception of difficulties they encounter and also their perception of their use of metacognitive strategies. Next, for situational attribution, this study focused on the use of (a) cognitive and (b) social-affective reading strategies among academic readers. Findings in this study bear interesting implications in the teaching of academic reading for adult learners.

The use of adequate reading comprehension strategies is important to read efficiently. Students with dyslexia not only read slower and less accurately, they also use fewer reading comprehension strategies. To compensate for their decoding problems, they often receive audio-support (narration written text). However, audio-support linearly guides readers from beginning to end through texts, possibly hindering the use of reading comprehension strategies in expository texts and negatively impacting reading time and reading comprehension performance. We examined to what extent audio-support affects reading comprehension strategies, reading times, and reading comprehension performance in 21 secondary school students with dyslexia and 22 typically developing controls. Participants were provided with three types of assignments (summarizing, open-ended questions, statement questions) in each condition (written text with and without audio-support). SMI RED-500 eye tracker captured eye movements during reading. The standard deviation of the weighted fixation duration times on the three paragraphs was considered indicative of the disparity of readers’ attention within the text. Following a discrimination based on experts’ reading behavior and hand-coded validation, these scores visualized whether students used the intensive reading strategy (reading whole text) or selective reading strategy (focusing on part of the text). In open-ended assignments, students divided their attention more over the whole text instead of focusing on one specific part when audio was added. In addition, audio-support increased reading time in students with and without dyslexia in most tasks, while in neither of the tasks audio-support affected reading comprehension performance. Audio-support impacts reading comprehension strategy and reading time in all students.

Simultaneous development of academic language and reading comprehension is critical for emerging bilingual students’ academic success. With a focus on reading comprehension, this study extends the research on self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) to include emerging bilingual students with learning disabilities. Through a multiple probe across participants design, researchers evaluated effects of instruction on fifth-grade participants’ use of reading-comprehension strategies and accuracy with comprehension-question answering. Intervention sessions lasted 32 minutes and met for 61 consecutive school days. Visual analyses indicated level changes and a functional relation between SRSD instruction and scores depicting strategy use and question-answering accuracy. Furthermore, participants reported high satisfaction with the goals, procedures, and outcomes of the intervention. Implications for supporting emerging bilingual students with learning disabilities are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to identify the types of reading strategies used by first year college students for reading different materials and their effects on students’ academic performance/achievement. The sample of the study consisted of 269 first year students of different departments of Arts and Humanities group at Government College (Wahdat Road), Lahore. IELTS’ Reading Comprehension Test (Academic/General) was used to assess the reading comprehension skills of students. Meta Comprehension Strategy Index (MCSI) by Schmitt (1990) was used to assess the level of awareness and the use of reading comprehension strategies. Data was analyzed using SPSS and was graphically presented to provide a clear understanding of results which indicated the lack of awareness about reading comprehension strategies as a key factor leading to the poor performance of students in the reading comprehension test. The study contributes scholarly in the existing literature by accentuating the need to make instruction about reading strategies compulsory in English language classrooms. It will increase the academic success of students and will also provide them with better job opportunities in future.

This study analyses reading proficiency, reading comprehension strategy use, and interest in English as the second language (L2) of 463 upper secondary students (16-year-olds). They were identified among a national sample of 10,331 students and labelled ‘Outliers’ due to their unusual combination of being poor readers in the first language (L1), but good readers in L2. Analysis showed that the Outliers use relevant strategies and report high interest in L2. The largest group was boys in vocational programmes, a group with a high dropout rate internationally. The findings challenge key assumptions about poor L1 readers also being poor readers in L2, while at the same time adding to studies on the importance of gender and interest for L2 reading comprehension.

The current study used a multiple-baseline design to examine the effect of providing performance feedback on comprehension strategy use and reading comprehension. The participants were four seventh grade students with comprehension difficulties. The students were taught the reciprocal teaching comprehension strategies of generating questions, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting. Responses to a post-reading interview were coded to identify how well the students implemented the strategies, and this information was then used to provide performance feedback to the students. The use of the comprehension strategies and subsequent reading comprehension increased after receiving the feedback. Directions for practice and future research are included. Subscribe to LDMJ

Abstract The current study is a contribution to reading research dealing with tuition in reading comprehension and specifically with the issue of arranging tuition to support the development of metacognition. The empirical findings referred to in this study are from textual discussions of works of fiction in grades 6 and 7. The specific focus of the study is the correlation between the linguistic strategies used by the teacher and the pupils' opportunities to develop metacognitive perspectives as a consequence of these strategies. The study shows how the teachers, by use of a series of linguistic strategies, can offer pupils support in order to (1) identify and visualise the premises of their personal queries; (2) observe and verbalise their processes of interpretation together with their emotional reactions when reading; (3) survey, adjust and communicate their use of reading comprehension strategies and (4) recognise the text as an aesthetic construction and the interaction/transaction between texts and the reader.

ABSTRACTThis qualitative study examines a reading comprehension strategy use in English as a second language in upper-secondary schools one year after teachers participated in a professional development course. The data comprises observations, teacher narratives, and student interviews. A key finding is that the teachers used a repertoire of strategies from the course, suggesting an impact of the course. A second finding was a clear difference between how students in general and vocational programmes used the strategies taught: the vocational students used them in ways that indicated their relevance to them as learners, while the students in general programmes did not. The findings also suggest how and why students employ strategies. The article discusses implications for strategy instruction and how to enhance the reading proficiency of adolescent readers.

Adults with mild to moderate acquired brain injury (ABI) often pursue post-secondary or professional education after their injuries in order to enter or re-enter the job market. An increasing number of these adults report problems with reading-to-learn. The problem is particularly concerning given the growing population of adult survivors of ABI. Despite the rising need, empirical evaluation of reading comprehension interventions for adults with ABI is scarce. This study used a within-subject design to evaluate whether adult college students with ABI with no more than moderate cognitive impairments benefited from using reading comprehension strategies to improve comprehension of expository text. Integrating empirical support from the cognitive rehabilitation and special education literature, the researchers designed a multi-component reading comprehension strategy package. Participants read chapters from an introductory-level college anthropology textbook in two different conditions: strategy and no-strategy. The results indicated that reading comprehension strategy use was associated with recall of more correct information units in immediate and delayed free recall tasks; more efficient recall in the delayed free recall task; and increased accuracy recognising statements from a sentence verification task designed to reflect the local and global coherence of the text. The findings support further research into using reading comprehension strategies as an intervention approach for the adult ABI population. Future research needs include identifying how to match particular reading comprehension strategies to individuals, examining whether reading comprehension performance improves further through the incorporation of systematic training, and evaluating texts from a range of disciplines and genres.

This study sought to investigate reading perceptions, computer use perceptions, and online reading comprehension strategy use of 26 students who are deaf/hard of hearing in grades 4 through 8 attending public school districts in a tri-state area of the U.S. Students completed an online questionnaire and descriptive analysis indicated that students liked to read information online and that they felt this was an easy task. Results further revealed moderate use of comprehension strategies. The highest reported usage of comprehension strategies with online text were Problem Solving strategies and the lowest reported usage were Support strategies. Relationships were found between strategies reported to be used and several demographic variables, participants' perceptions of themselves as a reader, and perceptions of the task of reading online text.

Adolescents' use of reading comprehension strategies: Differences related to reading proficiency, grade level, and gender

The purpose of this article was to analyze whether students in the first grade of primary school who were taught using a direct instruction method improved their use of reading comprehension strategies and their text recall. The participants were 48 firstcourse Primary School students. The design was quasiexperimental with a pretest and two posttest measures in both groups (control and experimental). The instrument applied to collect the data was the Contextualized Scale for the Evaluation of Learning Strategies. The findings favor direct instruction in first course. Thus, in the majority of the students who participated in our direct instruction method, the results showed an improvement in reading comprehension strategies and text recall.