A guide to the cognitive measures in five British birth cohort studies

Explore the measures used to assess diverse aspects of cognition within and across five British birth cohort studie

Situation models and children’s reading comprehension: what role does visual imagery play?

Individual differences in children’s reading comprehension have been attributed to the level at which a reader is able to construct a coherent meaning-based mental representation of the situation described in a text (i.e., a “situation model”). However, although there is evidence that situation models contain perceptual information such as visual imagery, it is yet to be established whether visual imagery contributes to children’s reading comprehension via its role in situation model construction. To investigate this, three studies were conducted with children in Grades 4 and 5 (age range: 8.08-11.17 years) as part of the current thesis. Study 1 explored the utility of several measures of visual imagery and examined whether this construct is best captured by the differentiation of separate visual imagery processes in this younger population. Fifty-nine children completed five measures of visual imagery, each designed to capture a distinct subcomponent of the visual imagery system, including image generation, image maintenance, image scanning, image transformation, and image strength/vividness. It was found that the visual imagery measures were not highly related to one another and thus each represented a unique construct. However, not all of the included measures proved to be valid and reliable. Utilising the measures of visual imagery that were found to have adequate psychometric properties in Study 1, Study 2 then examined the influence of different subtypes of visual imagery (image maintenance, image scanning and image transformation) on individual differences in reading comprehension. In addition, this study further investigated existing criticisms that traditional measures of reading comprehension do not capture all of the skills involved in situation model construction, by including two separate measures of reading comprehension: a traditional standardised measure (the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability), and a newer measure designed from cognitive theory, which measures higher-level comprehension processes separate to the effects of lower-level reading ability (the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading Comprehension; DARC). It was found that each subtype of visual imagery differentially predicted reading comprehension. In addition, each measure of reading comprehension was differentially influenced by variations in word reading ability and verbal working memory, with evidence that the Neale was more influenced by lower-level reading skills and simple verbal working memory, whereas the DARC was more influenced by non-verbal reasoning and complex verbal working memory. However, visual imagery was not found to be a reliable predictor of reading comprehension; although, this may have been due to an incongruity between the type of imagery that occurs during objective tasks of visual imagery and the visual simulation of narrative events. Thus, Study 3 was designed to disrupt good and poor comprehenders’ visual imagery during reading in order to determine whether good comprehenders show more reliance on visual imagery during comprehension than poor comprehenders. Unexpectedly, however, good comprehenders showed limited evidence of engaging in higher-level comprehension processes (i.e., predictive inferencing) even when imagery was not impaired. Despite this, important implications regarding the use of both textbase and imagery-based representations were revealed, as poor comprehenders displayed increased difficulty maintaining a verbal load during reading compared to a visuospatial load. This suggests that in comparison to good comprehenders, poor comprehenders may have a greater reliance on textbase over imagery-based representations during reading. Overall, this thesis adds to the literature that suggests not all reading comprehension measures are interchangeable in regard s to the underlying skills that they measure. Further, visual imagery may be relevant to reading comprehension; yet, it is likely that this relationship will be further established through careful conceptualisation and measurement of visual imagery versus visual simulation. These findings have implications regarding the use of existing comprehension measures in research and practice, and may also aid future research that investigates the role of visual imagery in higher-level comprehension processes

Comparing the impact of OpenDyslexic and Arial fonts on the reading performance of Key Stage 2 readers with dyslexia

Several fonts have been designed with the aim of ameliorating some of the reading difficulties experienced by those with dyslexia. Anecdotal reports assert that the use of the dyslexia-friendly font OpenDyslexic mitigates reading difficulties by enhancing legibility through unique letterforms but there are few methodologically rigorous, peer-reviewed studies to substantiate or refute these claims. Without empirical evidence it may not be prudent for educational professionals to recommend that readers with dyslexia use a specific font. To investigate the impact of font on reading performance this mixed methods study compared the test scores in reading accuracy, reading rate and reading comprehension of 40 Key Stage 2 (KS2) participants with dyslexia and a control group of 38 typically progressing KS2 readers when texts were presented in the fonts OpenDyslexic and Arial. The spacing effect of the default designs of the two fonts was considered by including an expanded version of Arial. A semi-structured interview enabled all participants to voice their preferences and opinions of the two fonts. Findings showed that participants in both the groups achieved significantly higher test scores in reading accuracy and reading rate when passages were presented in OpenDyslexic font. No significant effect of font was found on reading comprehension scores for either group. The variable of spacing did not demonstrate a significant impact on test scores recorded. Readers’ preferences for font design were influenced by a number of subjective factors and did not align consistently with reading test scores. The findings of this study suggest that there may be a benefit to offering all reading matter in OpenDyslexic font to young readers with and without reading difficulties

The Independent Reading Level Assessment and Its Impact on Third Grade Reading Achievement

This study focuses on the developmental reading taxonomy known as the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA). The purposes of the study were to analyze the inclusion and timing of the elements required for learning to read, and to discover whether the use of the IRLA impacted results on summative third grade assessments (Smarter Balanced Assessments). A taxonomic structure was used to examine the content validity study of the IRLA. Findings were that while the developmental progressions were accurate and the elements were inclusive, the areas of executive functioning, phonological awareness, and vocabulary could be strengthened, and that spelling could be more pronounced to strengthen decoding and encoding of language. ANOVA analysis of standardized test scores in 49 IRLA schools over four years showed no statistically significant change. The wide range of scores from year one to year four indicated potential issues with implementation of the IRLA. This study yielded two conclusions: (1) the elements and timing for teaching reading as presented in the IRLA largely match the research base; 2) no evidence through standardized test scores of the impact of the IRLA was found

Musical linguistics: How music and artistic creativity when delivered as a linguistic practice, help students master academic skills in English language arts

This Masters project consists of two elements: 1) an integrated after-school program to improve student English language reading and academic outcomes for third graders\u27 vocabulary development by incorporating music, artistic creativity and linguistics; 2) a pilot sample curriculum that demonstrates the approach for building student comprehension through musical theater and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content experiences. Called Water Buddy , this is an after-school program uses singing, dancing, writing, and play to build reading and vocabulary skills. The goal is to improve learner academic outcomes by mastering the elemental building blocks of words, letters, symbols by making memorable the sound units, idioms, print conventions, and concepts that they were previously lacking

The Use of Reading Strategies in Second Language Adult Learners

The current study examined the use of reading strategies in connection to reading comprehension success. 38 graduate students, who did not consider English their first language participated in this study. The participants’ vocabulary knowledge, word reading fluency, decoding, and working memory were measured. Think-alouds captured strategy use and reading comprehension was assessed through questions about the text. Results indicate that vocabulary knowledge was correlated to reading comprehension success but word fluency, decoding and working memory were not. A factor analysis on strategy use revealed that three factors emerged to account for unique variance in reading comprehension performance. These factors were text analysis and integration (text structure, vocabulary, connecting and predicting), meaning extraction (summarizing and inferencing), and extrapolating beyond the text II (visualizing and elaborative inferencing). Therefore, reading strategy use predicted reading comprehension success beyond vocabulary knowledge and working memory

Practice, principles, and theory in the design of instructional text

This study is concerned with an analysis of the research arising from three quite different perspectives on instructional text - the `physical characteristics' research (legibility, layout, and readability), the `improvement of text' research (visual illustrations, adjunct aids, and typographical cueing), and the `learning theories' research (representation of knowledge, human memory, and quality of learning). From this analysis there is synthesised principles for the design of instructional text against which heuristic practice in text design is evaluated and from which a nascent theory of instructional text design is evolved. The principles derived from the various research perspectives provide a basis for the manipulation of text design elements in order to ensure that (a) existing knowledge in the reader can be activated, and (b) new knowledge can be assimilated in a manner facilitative of comprehension by (i) presentation in a structured and organised way, and (ii) appropriately highlighted through verbal and typographic cueing supported, as required, by verbal illustration and organisation. The emerging theory of instructional text design suggests: a topical analysis to determine the heirarchic relationship of ideas within the topic and the desired learning outcomes or objectives; a consideration of the linguistic aspects of the text; a consideration of the role of visual illustrations; and a consideration of the physical parameters of the text. These activities are concerned, respectively, with the design areas of structure and organisation, readability, visual illustration, and legibility, and are summed up in the acronym SORVIL

Working memory training and explicit teaching : A transdisciplinary approach to reading intervention

This multiple case study investigates the use of adaptive, cognitive working memory training in tandem with a literacy intervention program in the address of learning difficulties in reading as well as working memory difficulties. The study was completed with middle primary aged students in a large Australian primary school. The study adds to research in this area through indication a transfer of trained improvement in working memory to improvement in reading skills with a high level of inter-relationship with working memory may be evidenced when both working memory training and reading intervention are delivered within the school setting. The study indicated the importance of considering cognitive load when structuring the delivery and timing of these intervention programs. Several suggestions for future research are offered to both challenge and extend the findings of this study