What do upper-elementary and middle school teachers know about the processes of text comprehension?
(Source: Reading and Writing)
Source: Reading and Writing - March 5, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Word processing difficulty and executive control interactively shape comprehension monitoring in a second language: an eye-tracking study
AbstractSuccessful reading comprehension —especially in a second language (L2)—relies on the ability to monitor one’s comprehension, that is, to notice comprehension breaks and make repairs. Comprehension monitoring may be limited given effortful word processing but may also be supported through active reading. The current study addr esses to what extent word processing difficulty reduces adolescents’ ability to monitor their comprehension in their L2, and whether readers can compensate limitations given sufficient executive control. We conducted an eye-tracking experiment in which 34 adolescent L2 learners (aged 1...
Source: Reading and Writing - March 4, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Linguistic constraints on the cross-linguistic variations in L2 word recognition
This study investigated how experience with a first language (L1) writing system affects the development of the second language (L2) word recognition subskills and how L2 linguistic knowledge constrains such L1 impacts. In this study, word recognition is conceptualized as a complex construct that entails multiple subskills necessary for identifying a word based on the linguistic information (phonology and morphology) encoded in its visual form. To capture the complexity of the construct, we measured three word-form analysis skills, including orthographic, grapho-phonological, and grapho-morphological processing subskills. ...
Source: Reading and Writing - March 4, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Joint contributions of teacher ’s pedagogical content knowledge and book reading to preschooler’s growth in language skill
In this study we explored how early childhood teachers’ (n = 86) pedagogical content knowledge for language and vocabulary, and their book-reading implementation across the school year independently and jointly predicted children’s (n = 582; mean age = 49.76 months,SD = 7.06) growth and spring status on five standardized measures of vocabulary and syntax. Results indicated modest book-reading durations, on average, but also variability across teachers. Whereas there were limited or no main effects for book reading or teacher knowledge there were significant moderation effects in 6 of 10 models when pre...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 25, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Task-oriented reading efficiency: interplay of general cognitive ability, task demands, strategies and reading fluency
AbstractThe associations among readers ’ cognitive skills (general cognitive ability, reading skills, and attentional functioning), task demands (easy versus difficult questions), and process measures (total fixation time on relevant and irrelevant paragraphs) was investigated to explain task-oriented reading accuracy and efficiency (n umber of scores in a given time unit). Structural equation modeling was applied to a large dataset collected with sixth-grade students, which included samples of dysfluent readers and those with attention difficulties. The results are in line with previous findings regarding the dominant r...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 24, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
What knowledge do early childhood teachers use during literacy instruction? Using stimulated recall to investigate an unexplored phenomenon
This study utilized a novel phenomenological approach with a stimulated recall procedure to understand the pedagogical reasoning of eight early child teachersduring the enactment of literacy instruction in whole-group meeting and language arts activities. This approach to investigating knowledge —in contrast to more traditional conceptualizations of knowledge—focused on knowledge use as a process and prioritized teachers’ perspectives on knowledge used to enact literacy instruction in their own classrooms. Additionally, it allowed for a more nuanced investigation of the role of settin g and teacher characteristics th...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 22, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Belief bias when adolescents read to comprehend multiple conflicting texts
AbstractThe current study examined the extent to which sixth grade students used their pre-existing topic beliefs to guide comprehension of semantic ideas within multiple conflicting texts, and the sources providing them. Adolescents completed an inventory assessing their pre-reading topic beliefs one week prior to the study. During the study, students read 6 controversial texts, completed an assessment of their metacognitive awareness during reading, and wrote an essay from memory based on information provided by the texts. A between-participants manipulation tasked adolescents to read opposing stances in an alternating f...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 19, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
A quick briefing on the new version of Eye and Pen (version 3.01): news and update
AbstractTo explore the dynamics of processing in manuscript production, it is necessary to possess a system for recording the writer's graphic activity. This work describes the new version of the Eye and Pen program (version 3.01). In addition to the fact that it is now freely available (https://www.eyeandpen.net), the improvements described focus on its use for handwritten word production. First, we give some examples of the new features and improvements included in this new version, e.g., compatibility with previous versions and with other writing dynamics acquisition programs; “in-air” measurements; the choice of dr...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 18, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Meanings within meanings: skilled readers activate irrelevant meanings of radicals in Chinese
AbstractMany characters in written Chinese incorporate components (radicals) that provide cues to meaning. These cues are often partial, and some are misleading because they are unrelated to the character ’s meaning. Previous studies have shown that radicals influence the reader’s processing of the characters in which they occur (e.g., Feldman and Siok in J Memory Language 40(4):559–576, 1999). We investigated whether readers automatically activate the semantic information associated with a rad ical even when it is irrelevant to the character’s meaning, using a modified version of the Van Orden (Memory Cogn 15(3):1...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 18, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Written text production in Greek-speaking children with Developmental Language Disorder and typically developing peers, in relation to their oral language, cognitive, visual-motor coordination, and handwriting skills
AbstractWritten text production remains a relatively under-explored area in the child development literature, not only for typically developing (TD) children, but also for children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), despite its important role for academic performance and life success. The present study attempts the combined investigation of written text production (productivity, accuracy, and complexity) in relation to oral language, cognitive, visual-motor coordination, and handwriting skills, among 60 Greek-speaking sc hool-age children with and without DLD (N = 30 in each group). Participants were given a...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 17, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Predictors and outcomes of behavioral engagement in the context of text comprehension: when quantity means quality
AbstractUsing a path analytic approach with a sample of Norwegian undergraduate readers, we investigated the effects of behavioral engagement on text comprehension as reflected in students ’ post-reading written reports on the topic in question. Results indicated that the behavioral engagement components of writing time and the length of the written responses had distinctive, unique effects on comprehension performance, and that behavioral engagement also mediated the effects of cog nitive (prior knowledge, working memory) and motivational (intrinsic reading motivation) individual differences on comprehension performance...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 17, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
What do teachers know about dyslexia? It ’s complicated!
AbstractIn recent years, many states have passed laws requiring dyslexia training for teachers. Research suggests teachers hold both scientifically-based conceptions as well as misconceptions of dyslexia, but there is little research regarding the specific concepts of dyslexia in which teachers are unsure. Research on conceptual change suggests a different teaching approach is needed if an individual holds a misconception rather than an uncertainty. The purpose of this study was to examine the concepts of dyslexia teachers know accurately as scientific conceptions, hold as misconceptions, or are uncertain. We also examined...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 14, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
The effect of efficient professional development on the teaching of code-focused skills in beginner readers: exploring the impact of professional development intensity and coaching on student outcomes
The objective of this study is to determine which modality (face-to-face with a coach vs. without a coach) and intensity (number of contact hours) of PD are more efficient in achieving fluency improvement in student performance in the code-focussed skills in the first years of learning to read. Both pre-schoolers and their teachers took part in the study with a quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design. The experimental group (n = 71) was provided literacy instruction from teachers (n = 8) who received 40 h of face-to-face training with a coach and the control group (n = 29) was provided literacy instructi...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 10, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Vocabulary limitations undermine bilingual children ’s reading comprehension despite bilingual cognitive strengths
AbstractPrevious research reported bilingual cognitive strengths in working memory, executive function and novel-word learning skills (Bialystok in Psychol Bull 143:233 –262, 2017; Kaushanskaya and Marian in Psychon Bull Rev 16:705–710, 2009). These skills should also support bilingual children’s vocabulary and reading development, yet bilingual children show weaknesses in their second language vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. Our primary aim was to clarify these seemingly paradoxical reports by investigating the cognitive strengths and weaknesses associated with both bilingual experience and reading comp...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 10, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Effects of an executive function-based text support on strategy use and comprehension –integration of conflicting informational texts
AbstractExecutive functions (EF) have been theoretically implicated in multiple text comprehension. Yet, the contributions of EFs to comprehension and integration of multiple texts have not been tested empirically, and instructional supports for text integration grounded in EFs are only beginning to be developed. Using a conflicting-text paradigm, this study examined the roles of EFs, based on measures of learners ’ reported EF use and EF skills, and a text-embedded intervention, designed to elicit readers’ EF and metacognitive engagement, in comprehension–integration of conflicting informational texts. Structural eq...
Source: Reading and Writing - February 10, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
