Eye movements in code reading:relaxing the linear order

Abstract—Code reading is an important skill in programming. Inspired by the linearity that people exhibit while natural lan-guage text reading, we designed local and global gaze-based mea-sures to characterize linearity (left-to-right and top-to-bottom) in reading source code. Unlike natural language text, source code is executable and requires a specific reading approach. To validate these measures, we compared the eye movements of novice and expert programmers who were asked to read and comprehend short snippets of natural language text and Java programs. Our results show that novices read source code less linearly than natural language text. Moreover, experts read code less linearly than novices. These findings indicate that there are specific differences between reading natural language and source code, and suggest that non-linear reading skills increase with expertise. We discuss the implications for practitioners and educators. I

Oral reading: practices and purposes in secondary classrooms

PURPOSE This paper aims to investigate teacher-initiated whole-group oral reading practices in two ninth-grade reading intervention classrooms and how teachers understood the purposes of those practices. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH In this qualitative cross-case analysis, a literacy-as-social-practice perspective is used to collaboratively analyze ethnographic data (fieldnotes, audio recordings, interviews, artifacts) across two classrooms. FINDINGS Oral reading was a routine instructional reading event in both classrooms. However, the literacy practices that characterized oral reading and teachers’ purposes for using oral reading varied depending on teachers’ pedagogical philosophies, instructional goals and contextual constraints. During oral reading, students’ opportunities to engage in independent meaning making with texts were either absent or secondary to other purposes or goals. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Findings emphasize the significance of understanding both how and why oral reading happens in secondary classrooms. Specifically, they point to the importance of collaborating with teachers to (a) examine their own ideas about the power of oral reading and the institutional factors that shape their existing oral reading practices; (b) investigate the intended and actual outcomes of oral reading for their students and (c) develop other instructional approaches to support students to individually and collaboratively make meaning from texts. ORIGINALITY/VALUE This study falls at the intersection of three under-researched areas of study: the nature of everyday instruction in secondary literacy intervention settings, the persistence of oral reading in secondary school and teachers’ purposes for using oral reading in their instruction. Consequently, it contributes new knowledge that can support educators in creating more equitable instructional environments.Accepted manuscrip

Can official advice improve mortgage-holders’ perceptions of switching? An experimental investigation. ESRI WP612, February 2019

Encouraging consumers to seek out and switch to lower-rate mortgages is important both for the individual consumer’s finances and for functioning competitive markets, but switching rates are low. We conducted an experiment with mortgage-holders to test whether official advice on how to select good mortgage products and how to navigate the switching process alters perceptions of switching. The experiment shows that the advice made consumers more sensitive to interest rate decreases and more favourable towards switching at longer terms. It also increased consumers’ confidence in their ability to select good offers. The findings imply that advice from policymakers can change perceptions and increase switching rates

Children at risk : their phonemic awareness development in holistic instruction

Includes bibliographical references (p. 17-19

From corpus-based collocation frequencies to readability measure

This paper provides a broad overview of three separate but related areas of research. Firstly, corpus linguistics is a growing discipline that applies analytical results from large language corpora to a wide variety of problems in linguistics and related disciplines. Secondly, readability research, as the name suggests, seeks to understand what makes texts more or less comprehensible to readers, and aims to apply this understanding to issues such as text rating and matching of texts to readers. Thirdly, collocation is a language feature that occurs when particular words are used frequently together for other than purely grammatical reasons. The intersection of these three aspects provides the basis for on-going research within the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Strathclyde and is the motivation for this overview. Specifically, we aim through analysis of collocation frequencies in major corpora, to afford valuable insight on the content of texts, which we believe will, in turn, provide a novel basis for estimating text readability

Tracking Eye Movements in Sight Translation – the comprehension process in interpreting

[[abstract]]While the three components of interpreting have been identified as comprehension, reformulation, and production, the process of how these components occur has remained relatively unexplored. The present study employed the eye-tracking method to investigate the process of sight translation, a mode of interpreting in which the input is written rather than oral. The research focused especially on the comprehension component in sight translation, addressed the validity of the horizontal and the vertical perspectives of interpreting, and ascertained whether reading ahead exists in sight translation. Eye movements of 18 interpreting students were recorded during silent reading of a Chinese speech, reading aloud a Chinese speech, and Chinese to English sight translation. Since silent reading consists of the comprehension component while reading aloud consists of the comprehension and production components, the two tasks served as a basis of comparison for investigating comprehension in sight translation. The findings suggested that sight translation and silent reading were no different in the initial stage of reading, as reflected by similar first fixation duration, single fixation duration, gaze duration, fixation probability, and refixation probability. Sight translation only began to demonstrate differences from silent reading after first-pass reading, as shown by higher rereading time and rereading rate. Also, reading ahead occurred in 72.8% of cases in this experiment, indicating the overlap between reading and oral production in Chinese to English sight translation. The results supported the vertical perspective in interpreting as well as the claim of reading ahead. Implications for interpreter training are to attach more importance to paraphrasing skills and to focus more on the similarities between sight translation and simultaneous interpreting.

Primary reading exercises for use with the Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

A Study of the Differences between Classrooms Using a Meaning-Centered Approach and a Code-Centered Approach in the First Year Implementation of the California English-Language Arts Framework

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine how a meaning-centered approach versus a code-centered approach affects student performance: (a) in the teaching of language arts; (b) in regular education classrooms containing low achieving, low socio-economic, multi-ethnic, and learning handicapped students; (c) in grades one, three and six; and (d) in the first year implementation of the California English-Language Arts Framework. This study focused on three interrelated dimensions of organizational change which are linked to student performance: curriculum materials, teacher behaviors, and organizational change processes. Eight research questions guided the examination of qualitative and quantitative data originating from teacher and principal interviews, teacher questionnaires, teacher meeting observations, classroom observations, and standardized test scores in language arts and reading of the student sample population, the school and the district. Some of the findings indicated that: 1. New language arts curriculum materials generated motivation and excitement. 2. Teachers continued to supplement the prescribed curriculum with materials they had previously found to be effective. 3. Students who received opportunities to use both a systematic skill program and inventive spelling appeared to reflect the greatest improvement in the subject of spelling on standardized tests. 4. Of the 11 instructional practices identified for examination, three practices consistently appeared to influence student performance: (a) instruction in both a systematic skill program and in an integrated literature program; (b) hearing literature read daily; (c) and daily writing activities. 5. Observations indicated that teachers\u27 instructional behaviors did not focus on transference of learning through the use of guided practice, generalization, or independent practice. 6. Teachers\u27 estimations of students\u27 progress seemed to correlate with achievement test results. 7. The percentage of multi-ethnic, low socio-economic, low achievement, and learning handicapped students in classrooms did not appear to make a difference in student performance. 8. There appeared to be a limited focus on minority languages and cultures in the curriculum materials and in classroom cooperative discussions. 9. The types of openness and bonding behaviors observed among organizational members did not appear to be effective in bringing about changes in teacher behaviors which would lead to better student performance. 10. Teachers\u27 degree of commitment to the language arts philosophy seemed to depend upon the level of achievement of their students on end of year standardized tests. 11. Reform implementation requires a revised focus on transformational leadership and organizational change processes. One recommendation emerging from this study is that organizations seeking to change must provide training and development which support the change process through demonstration, modeling, practice, correction, teaching, feedback, sharing and coaching in a collegial fashion. This study concludes with a series of implications, recommendations, and suggestions for further research which are needed to create change in literacy instructional practices