Showing papers in "Reading Research Quarterly in 1988"

Strategies for increasing text-based interest and students' recall of expository texts.

Abstract: RECENT RESEARCH has indicated that how interesting a text is will affect students' cognitive performance. This kind of "interestingness," or text-based interest, was the focus of the study. More specifically, the authors attempted to develop strategies to create text-based interest in expository texts used in schools in order to improve children's recall. Three versions of a single text were constructed utilizing three interest-evoking strategies. All fourthand sixthgrade students in one suburban school were randomly assigned to study and recall one of the versions. Although overall recall was relatively high across the three text versions as compared with recall of standard texts in an earlier study, the strategies did not result in any significant difference in recall. However, children's interest ratings indicated that two of the three strategies resulted in increased subjective interest. A content analysis performed on the recall protocols showed that the interest-evoking strategies were most effective in increasing children's recall of concrete, specific, or personally involving information, and did not enhance the acquisition of more abstract, general, or scientific information.

Young children's responses to one-to-one story readings in school settings.

Abstract: CASE STUDY and correlational research has indicated that frequent exposure to story readings has positive effects on some aspects of early literacy. Much of the work on storybook readings has focused upon the interactive behavior between parent and child during one-to-one readings in middle-class homes. This study was designed to investigate whether frequent one-toone readings in a school setting would increase the number and complexity of comments and questions from children of low socioeconomic status (SES). The 79 subjects, who were lowSES four-year-olds in three urban day-care centers, were assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. Students in the first experimental group were read a different book each week for 10 weeks. Those in the second experimental group heard repeated readings of three different books. In both groups, interactive behavior between adult and child was encouraged during story readings. The control group was guided through traditional reading readiness activities. The author found that one-to-one story readings did increase the number and complexity of questions and comments made by children in both experimental groups. Repeated readings were found to result in more interpretive responses and more responses focusing on print and story structure, and were most effective with children of low ability.

Locating Information in Documents: Examination of a Cognitive Model.

Abstract: READING DOCUMENTS to locate specific information is a challenge to young adults as well as children. According to the 1986 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), about 50% of high school graduates fail tasks that require matching three elements in a question with three elements in a corresponding document, such as a plane schedule. A task analysis of such items shows that performance depends heavily on analytical reasoning. A cognitive model proposed to account for performance includes (1) formation of a goal, (2) selection of an informational category, (3) extraction of the information, (4) integration of the information, and (5) recycling until the goal is met. To study this cognitive model, the author constructed computer presentations of two such tasks. Interactions of the reader with the computer-based documents were automatically recorded by the computer, to form measures of the reader's efficiency on components 2-5. In Study 1 with 26 college students, scores on components 2-5 accounted for 68 percent of the variance in performance. Efficiency on components 2, 3, and 4 improved significantly when students answered three questions in succession on the same document. In Study 2 with 24 college students, the author measured transfer of ability to perform the three-feature-match task between two documents drawn from the NAEP assessment. Analyses showed overall performance was facilitated; increased efficiency at category selection (2) and integration of information (4) appeared to mediate the transfer. Locating information in documents thus appears to warrant a unique cognitive process model that is more similar to analytical reasoning than to language processing or visual search.

The Word Recognition and Spelling of Dyslexic Children.

Abstract: THIS STUDY was designed to test the common assumption that children with diagnoses of developmental dyslexia use idiosyncratic processes to read and to spell words. Children aged 9 to 16 (mean age, 10.7) who met the exclusionary criteria for developmental dyslexia were administered tasks to assess (a) their use of phonological and visual information for word recognition, (b) their knowledge of spelling-sound correspondences for word recognition, (c) their use of context to facilitate word recognition, and (d) their use and knowledge of phonological and visual information for spelling. These processes were measured at the beginning and end of a school year. The dyslexic children's performance was compared with that of normal children of the same reading and spelling levels (mean age, 7.6). Dyslexic children did not use qualitatively different processes to read and spell words. The implications of the results for understanding the basic problems of dyslexia are discussed.

Comparison of the Effects of IQ Control Methods on Memory and Naming Speed Predictors of Reading Disability.

Abstract: IN AN ATTEMPT to isolate factors that may distinguish between severely reading-disabled and "ordinary" poor readers, the authors investigated how well measures of verbal short-term memory and naming speed for digits and colors predict children's reading achievement under various IQ control conditions. Subjects were 8to 11-year-old children of at least average IQ who had been referred to a university clinic for assessment. All subjects were clinic referrals, but only half were severely reading-disabled. Both short-term memory and naming speed were effective predictors of performance on two reading subtests, even when nonverbal IQ was statistically controlled. Controlling for verbal intelligence, either by statistical means or by stringent selection criteria, reduced considerably the contribution of memory measures to reading. However, digit-naming speed remained a significant contributor to reading achievement. Thus, the authors found some evidence that dyslexics may have a specific deficit in naming automaticity.

The displacement effect: Assessing the relation between television viewing and reading performance

Abstract: TELEVISION'S implications for reading performance and school achievement are examined within the framework of the displacement hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that watching television may affect students' reading achievement by displacing other activities crucial to the development of reading skills, such as leisure reading. A synthesis of eight statewide reading assessments and a secondary analysis of the 1984 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which included measures of scholastic achievement, out-of-school activities, and reported television viewing exposure, are used to analyze four theories of displacement: that television displaces activities with functional similarity, activities in physical and psychological proximity, marginal fringe activities, and activities that have become less appealing due to reorganization of the child's functional needs with age. Results indicate that the differences in reading scores for those students watching 2-4 hours per day are small, but that beyond 4 hours of viewing, the effects are negative and increasingly more deleterious. Analysis of outside activities suggests that television viewing is tied to a different set of needs and gratifications than leisure reading, sports, or spending time with friends. Small but negative relations are reported between television viewing and homework activities. For the vast majority of children, however, time spent television viewing is tempered by the increasing demands of schooling and the onset of social activities as children grow older.

Reading Practice for Beginners: Effects of Guided Reading, Reading-while-Listening, and Independent Reading with Computer-Based Speech Feedback.

Abstract: THE PURPOSE of this study was to determine which of three ways of practicing reading best facilitates the development of efficient reading skills in beginners: guided reading, readingwhile-listening, or independent reading with computer-generated speech feedback available for students to use at will. Seventy-two first-grade students in the three experimental conditions and a control condition read a passage of text each day for five consecutive days. Except in the control condition, the five texts repeated 20 target words that were relatively hard to read for beginners. Students were tested on the 20 words before and after treatment, and changes in rate and accuracy were analyzed. Both guided reading and independent reading with self-selected speech feedback were found to be significantly more effective than the control and reading-while-listening conditions. The findings suggest that increases in reading efficiency depend largely on the amount of independent, self-propelled reading activity of young readers. If such independent activity is included, computer-aided practice with speech feedback seems promising as a means of improving reading skills in beginners.

The Critical but Transitory Importance of Letter Naming.

Abstract: THIS STUDY tests the theoretical claim that letter naming involves processes which, if slow and awkward, obstruct the transitions through which novice readers ordinarily must pass. According to the theory, this effect should exist even for children who are able to name letters accurately. Also implied is a threshold level in letter-naming speed: Below the threshold, variations in letter-naming speed arise primarily from letter-specific faltering that disrupts reading; above it, from processes that are more general, but also less important to reading. Methodologically innovative data on letter-naming speed, object-naming speed, and letternaming accuracy were obtained from kindergarten and second-grade children in two schools. Reading achievement data from the end of the following school year were also obtained. For kindergarten children, but not for second-grade children, letter-naming speed was very strongly associated with subsequent progress in reading. In addition, one measure of later reading achievement had a curved, diminishing-returns relation to kindergarten children's letter-naming speed. The findings are consistent with the theoretical claims above, and inconsistent with several rival interpretations.

Word-Reading Strategies in Elementary School Children: Relations to Comprehension, Reading Time, and Phonemic Awareness.

Abstract: THE AUTHORS examine the word-reading strategies of a sample of secondand third-grade students in normal classrooms, focusing on the students' relative reliance on decoding versus sight-word associations, and on the relations between their use of these strategies and their performance on other reading-related measures Students were clustered on the basis of their performance on grade-appropriate lists of irregularly spelled words (eg, laugh) and nonsense words (eg, lemat) In both grades, approximately half of the children performed above average on both lists; one eighth performed well below average on both; one fifth attained average scores on irregular words but substantially below-average scores on nonsense words (termed Chinese readers), and one seventh showed the opposite pattern-average or better nonsense-word scores but poor irregular-word performance (Phoenician readers) The fourcluster solution accounted for about 84% of the variability at each grade level When the Chinese and Phoenician groups were compared, a significant interaction between grouping and grade level was found on reading comprehension, due to the superior performance of the Grade 3 Phoenicians compared with their counterparts in Grade 2 No such contrast was found for the Chinese readers The authors suggest that word-specific associations may serve a student adequately up to about second grade, but that failure to acquire and use efficient decoding skills will begin to take a toll on reading comprehension by Grade 3 In contrast, Phoenicians may be hindered in comprehension performance in the early years, but begin to improve comparatively as they progress through school The authors also discuss the compatibility of the findings with typologies such as Boder's classification system of dysphonetic, dyseidetic, and mixed reading disabilities

Television's Impact on Children's Reading Skills: A Review of Research.

Abstract: THE AUTHORS discuss the hypotheses that explain why television might influence the child's development of reading skills positively (facilitation hypothesis), negatively (inhibition hypothesis), or not at all (no-effect hypothesis). Although the evidence is not unequivocal, most of the research supports the inhibition hypothesis. However, television's relation to reading achievement is complex; the magnitude and direction of the relation are influenced by a number of conditions. Heavy viewers, socially advantaged children, and intelligent children tend to be most vulnerable to television's inhibition effect. In addition, the relation is sensitive to the type of television content watched. The authors evaluate the utility of the five research approaches used in the past, and suggest directions for further research.

The Operation of Text Structure and Content Schemata in Isolation and in Interaction.

Abstract: IN ORDER to examine the operation of text structure and content schemata in isolation and as they interact, the authors asked fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-grade students and adults to read and underline the important information in one of three versions (C/S, C, or S) of a social studies passage about an unknown country. Passages were developed to allow readers to use both content and text structure schemata (C/S passage), or to use one of the schemata (C passage or S passage) while discouraging the use of the other. Consistent with developmental expectations, subjects performed better on all passages with age, and performance on a strategic awareness task indicated that subjects were using the schema required by the passage, thus supporting the psychological validity of both types of schemata. Post hoc explorations of developmental trends and preferences for strategies revealed by comparing strategic awareness scores for the C/S and the appropriate C-only or S-only passage suggested a series of complex interactions between prior knowledge, schooling, and text.