The effects of explicit instruction of predictions and inference making on the reading comprehension of an elementary-school student

This study examined how the explicit instruction of prediction and inference making skills affects overall reading comprehension. The participant was one third-grade student who was diagnosed with dyslexia. She required skills to overcome the decoding and word recognition challenges that prevented her from comprehending texts. Over the course of four weeks, the participant attended 55-minute sessions in which areas of reading comprehension, especially inference making, were assessed. She also received extensive modeling and guided practice in various comprehension strategies. Results for the study show that explicit instruction of prediction and inference making increases overall reading comprehension

Reading Comprehension Instruction of Effective Grades 5 and 6 Saint Lucian Teachers

This study set out primarily to investigate the nature of reading comprehension instruction in Saint Lucia, and to examine the explanations of teachers with regard to the factors that they perceive contribute to Grade 6 students' failure in the main idea comprehension test in the national Common Entrance Examination in Saint Lucia. Four effective Grades 5 and 6 teachers (two per grade) from two Saint Lucian primary schools participated in a total of four individual semi-structured interviews and were observed in their regularly scheduled reading comprehension lessons. A total of 27 lessons were observed and audio tape-recorded to examine the nature of reading comprehension instruction in the classrooms. From this cohort of lessons, a sample of 16 lessons was randomly selected and transcribed to determine the presence of direct instruction in comprehension strategies, and the quality of instruction that took place. This quality was measured and described in terms of the elements of the Direct Instruction Model (Pearson Dole, 1987), the nature of questioning, and time allotted to instruction. This data was also used to make comparisons between Grades 5 and 6 classes. The results show that the four teachers perceived that there are four areas of blame for students' poor performance in reading comprehension: the teacher's inability to instruct, the students' poor decoding and comprehension abilities, the inadequacy of the main idea test, and the teaching materials available for teaching comprehension. However, the main factor perceived by teachers as contributing to the students' poor performance is teachers' inability to instruct. Nonetheless, the observation of the Grades 5 and 6 effective teachers' reading comprehension lessons showed that these teachers were indeed teaching a number of comprehension strategies. They relied predominantly on the question answering strategy in all their lessons which was mainly taught in combination with other strategies. However, it was the teaching of summarization through the main idea that was the dominant strategy more explicitly taught in 7 of the 16 lessons observed, appearing more frequently in the Grade 6 classes. An assessment of the quality of the reading comprehension instruction revealed that 11 of1 6 lessons, included all the four elements of direct instruction, and were rated as 'excellent' in quality. None of the lessons had fewer than two elements identified on the model. An assessment of the types of questions asked also showed that questioning was used both for the purpose of assessment and as an instructional strategy. The timing of the lessons support the quality of instruction, as 90% of the total time observed was allotted to instruction. The greater portion of that time went to guided practice (38%) and independent practice (33%) of reading comprehension strategies. This study shows that explicit comprehension instruction of strategies is evident in the reading comprehension classes of the 4 effective Saint Lucian Grades 5 and 6 teachers. It is therefore recommended that educational officials ensure that similar practices are maintained in other Saint Lucian classes, that the reading comprehension instruction practices of a wider cross section of Saint Lucian teachers be examined, and that future research looks into other probable causes of students' failure on the main idea comprehension test

The Effectiveness of Self-Questioning Strategy toward Students’ Reading Comprehension Skill at the Third Semester English Students of STAIN Palangka Raya

The principle purpose of the study is to measure the effect of self-questioning strategy toward students’ reading comprehension skill at the third semester English students of STAIN Palangka Raya. The type of study was quasi-experimental study especially non-randomize control group, pre-test - post-test design and the writer used quantitative approach in finding out the answer of the problem of study. The population of the study was the whole students of the third semester English students of STAIN Palangka Raya. There were two classes becoming sample of study namely A class as experiment group and C class as control group with the total number of each class are 26 students and 27 students. The sample of study is determined using cluster sampling technique. Both of groups were given a pre-test to gain the first students’ reading score. After gaining the pretest score, the students in the experimental group were taught using self-questioning and the students in the control group were taught without using self-questioning. After that, the writer gave a post-test to the both experimental and control group to gain the students’ final score. After getting the data from experimental and control group, the writer analyzed the data using t-test calculation with manual and also SPSS 17.0 program to test the hypothesis. The result of t-test with manual calculation found the calculated value ( tobserved ) was greater than ttable at 1% and 5% significance level or 2.021 2.704 and the result of t-test with SPSS 17.0 calculation also found the calculated value ( tobserved ) was greater than ttable at 1% and 5% significance level or 2.021 2.704. The result of testing hypothesis determined that alternative hypothesis (ha) stating that self-questioning strategy gives effect on the students’ reading comprehension skill was accepted and Ho stating that self-questioning strategy does not give effect on the students’ reading comprehension skill was rejected. It meant that reading with self-questioning strategy gave significant effect on the students’ reading comprehension skill of the third semester English students of STAIN Palangka Raya Indonesia Tujuan utama dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengukur pengaruh strategi Self-questioning terhadap kemampuan pemahaman membaca mahasiswa semester tiga jurusan Bahasa Inggris di STAIN Palangka Raya. Jenis penelitian ini adalah penelitian eksperimen semu khususnya desain tanpa pengacakan, kelompok kontrol, pra-uji - pasca-uji dan penulis menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif untuk menemukan jawaban dari penelitian. Populasi dari penelitian ini adalah seluruh mahasiswa semester tiga jurusan Bahasa Inggris STAIN Palangka Raya. Terdapat dua kelas yang menjadi sampel penelitian yaitu kelas A sebagai kelompok eksperimen dan kelas C sebagai kelompok kontrol yang masing-masing kelas berjumlah 26 mahasiswa dan 27 mahasiswa. Penentuan sampel penelitian dengan menggunakan teknik cluster sampling. Kedua kelompok diberikan pra-uji untuk memperoleh nilai pertama siswa. Setelah memperoleh nilai pra-uji, siswa di kelompok eksperimen diajarkan dengan strategi self-questioning dan siswa di kelompok kontrol diajarkan tanpa strategi self-questioning. Kemudian, penulis memberikan pasca-uji kepada kedua kelompok ekperimen dan kontrol untuk memperoleh nilai akhir siswa. Setelah mendapatkan data dari kelompok eksperimen dan kontol, penulis menganalisis data tersebut menggunakan perhitungan T-test dengan perhitungan manual dan program SPSS 17.0 untuk pengujian hipotesis. Hasil dari perhitungan uji-t dengan perhitungan manual menunjukkan nilai thitung lebih besar dari pada ttable pada 1% and 5% tingkat signifikansi atau 2.021 2.704 dan hasil dari perhitungan uji-t dengan perhitungan program SPSS 12.0 juga menunjukkan nilai thitung lebih besar dari pada ttable pada 1% and 5% tingkat signifikansi atau 2.021 2.704. Hasil pengujian hipotesis menunjukkan bahwa Hipotesis Alternative (ha) yang menyatakan bahwa mengajar membaca menggunakan strategi self-questioning memberikan pengaruh pada kemampuan pemahaman membaca mahasiswa telah diterima dan Hipotesis Nihil (ho) yang menyatakan bahwa mengajar membaca menggunakan strategi self-questioning tidak memberikan pengaruh pada kemampuan pemahaman membaca mahasiswa telah ditolak. Ini berarti bahwa mengajar membaca menggunakan strategi self-questioning memberikan pengaruh terhadap kemampuan pemahaman membaca mahasiswa semester tiga jurusan Bahasa Inggris di STAIN Palangka Raya

An Intelligent Approach to Automatic Query Formation from Plain Text using Artificial Intelligence

Man have always been, inherently, curious creatures. They ask questions in order to satiate their insatiable curiosity. For example, kids ask questions to learn more from their teachers, teachers ask questions to assist themselves to evaluate student performance, and we all ask questions in our daily lives. Numerous learning exchanges, ranging from one-on-one tutoring sessions to thorough exams, as well as real-life debates, rely heavily on questions. One notable fact is that, due to their inconsistency in particular contexts, humans are often inept at asking appropriate questions. It has been discovered that most people have difficulty identifying their own knowledge gaps. This becomes our primary motivator for automating question generation in the hopes that the benefits of an automated Question Generation (QG) system will help humans achieve their useful inquiry needs. QG and Information Extraction (IE) have become two major issues for language processing communities, and QG has recently become an important component of learning environments, systems, and information seeking systems, among other applications. The Text-to-Question generation job has piqued the interest of the Natural Language Processing (NLP), Natural Language Generation (NLG), Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), and Information Retrieval (IR) groups as a possible option for the shared task. A text is submitted to a QG system in the Text-to-Question generation task. Its purpose would be to create a series of questions for which the text has answers (such as a word, a set of words, a single sentence, a text, a set of texts, a stretch of conversational dialogue, an inadequate query, and so on)

Collaboration scripts - a conceptual analysis

This article presents a conceptual analysis of collaboration scripts used in face-to-face and computer-mediated collaborative learning. Collaboration scripts are scaffolds that aim to improve collaboration through structuring the interactive processes between two or more learning partners. Collaboration scripts consist of at least five components: (a) learning objectives, (b) type of activities, (c) sequencing, (d) role distribution, and (e) type of representation. These components serve as a basis for comparing prototypical collaboration script approaches for face-to-face vs. computer-mediated learning. As our analysis reveals, collaboration scripts for face-to-face learning often focus on supporting collaborators in engaging in activities that are specifically related to individual knowledge acquisition. Scripts for computer-mediated collaboration are typically concerned with facilitating communicative-coordinative processes that occur among group members. The two lines of research can be consolidated to facilitate the design of collaboration scripts, which both support participation and coordination, as well as induce learning activities closely related to individual knowledge acquisition and metacognition. In addition, research on collaboration scripts needs to consider the learners’ internal collaboration scripts as a further determinant of collaboration behavior. The article closes with the presentation of a conceptual framework incorporating both external and internal collaboration scripts

Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum

The field of specialization known as the science of learning is not, in fact, one field. Science of learning is a term that serves as an umbrella for many lines of research, theory, and application. A term with an even wider reach is Learning Sciences (Sawyer, 2006). The present book represents a sliver, albeit a substantial one, of the scholarship on the science of learning and its application in educational settings (Science of Instruction, Mayer 2011). Although much, but not all, of what is presented in this book is focused on learning in college and university settings, teachers of all academic levels may find the recommendations made by chapter authors of service. The overarching theme of this book is on the interplay between the science of learning, the science of instruction, and the science of assessment (Mayer, 2011). The science of learning is a systematic and empirical approach to understanding how people learn. More formally, Mayer (2011) defined the science of learning as the “scientific study of how people learn” (p. 3). The science of instruction (Mayer 2011), informed in part by the science of learning, is also on display throughout the book. Mayer defined the science of instruction as the “scientific study of how to help people learn” (p. 3). Finally, the assessment of student learning (e.g., learning, remembering, transferring knowledge) during and after instruction helps us determine the effectiveness of our instructional methods. Mayer defined the science of assessment as the “scientific study of how to determine what people know” (p.3). Most of the research and applications presented in this book are completed within a science of learning framework. Researchers first conducted research to understand how people learn in certain controlled contexts (i.e., in the laboratory) and then they, or others, began to consider how these understandings could be applied in educational settings. Work on the cognitive load theory of learning, which is discussed in depth in several chapters of this book (e.g., Chew; Lee and Kalyuga; Mayer; Renkl), provides an excellent example that documents how science of learning has led to valuable work on the science of instruction. Most of the work described in this book is based on theory and research in cognitive psychology. We might have selected other topics (and, thus, other authors) that have their research base in behavior analysis, computational modeling and computer science, neuroscience, etc. We made the selections we did because the work of our authors ties together nicely and seemed to us to have direct applicability in academic settings

The effects of reciprocal teaching upon year 6 students\u27 reading comprehension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Reciprocal Teaching on the reading comprehension of Year 6 students. Forty-one Year 6 students from two metropolitan primary schools took part in the study. An experimental pre-test - post-test control group design was used. Subjects were matched according to the results of the Test of Reading Comprehension (TORCH) used as a pre-test. Matched pair-mates were randomly allocated to either treatment or control groups. After 14 sessions of training in Reciprocal Teaching, results of an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with teachers nested in groups, showed no statistically significant differences in reading comprehension between the treatment and control groups. Some naive comprehenders (students who appear to lack knowledge about the purposes and strategies of reading), however, showed improvements when their data were analysed individually

Benefits of using reading strategies in elementary bilingual classrooms

This quantitative study focused on the benefits of reading strategies used by second grade students. What strategies they can use to comprehend tasks, what textual cues they attend, how to make sense of what they read, and what they do when they do not understand a word. In this study, a questionnaire was given to the students. The questionnaire had a list of reading strategies in which students chose the strategy they felt more comfortable to use whenever they needed in order to comprehend a text. The data collected was analyzed and served its purpose of helping one reach the conclusion that reading strategies are beneficial for these students

Using Systematic Prompt Fading to Program a Self-Questioning Strategy with Elementary Students with Disabilities

Standardized assessments are focused on integrating knowledge from multiple sources and developing composed written responses. This requires the students to be able to read and comprehend on grade level, within the various subject areas (reading, math, science, and social studies), which are skills students with disabilities struggle to do. The purpose of the study was to use a systematic prompt fading procedure as a vehicle to program a self-questioning strategy for students with disabilities. The intervention package occurred in seven phases: baseline, embedded questions training, embedded questions independent practice, self-questioning training, self-questioning independent practice, self-questioning fading, and maintenance. A systematic prompt fading strategy was utilized to teach the self-questioning strategy. Generalization effects of the comprehension strategy on novel texts were measured at each intervention stage. Maintenance probes were administered one week after the self-questioning condition has been concluded. A multiple baseline across participants experimental design was used. Participants were one third and two fourth grade students from a public elementary school in a southeastern parish in Louisiana who have been identified as having reading comprehension deficits. Results across participants demonstrated at gradual, but consistent increase in reading comprehension and question generation