Changing Perspectives on Context

The purpose of this article is to show how older, largely context-free models of reading and its instruction became changed into a multidimensional, context-dependent orientation toward written language and the reading process. This change was influenced by an identical trend in linguistics, which also shifted from an over-reliance upon isolated pieces of language to a stufy of naturalistic, connective texts (Kintsch, 1974). The article concludes with suggestions for using a variety of contextual strategies to increase reading comprehension

Serial position and rated importance in the recall of text

Includes bibliographiesSupported in part by the National Institute of Education under contract no. HEW-NIE-C-400-76-011

Improving K-12 ELL Students\u27 Comprehension of Academic Text

Successful acquisition of academic English is dependent upon a multitude of cognitive, linguistic, and educational variables, all based on the socio-cultural perspectives and powers that regulate what occurs in the classroom. The function and meaning of academic texts may be lost on the student with limited knowledge and experience with academic social contexts. The teacher must work within the confines of societal and educational boundaries. The provision of experience, motivation, and opportunities for interaction is highly beneficial, in addition to explicitly teaching vocabulary and learning strategies. A functional linguistics approach, delivered through Readers\u27 Workshop, based on the work of Aguirre-Munoz et al., 2006, is described

TinkRBooks : tinkerable story elements for emergent literacy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 92-102).Printed words are an abstract representation of concepts. Today parents teach children how to read by demonstrating how text is related to imagery. I present textual tinkerability, an idea for demonstrating reading by using multisensory gestures to expose and alter the text-graphic relationship within the story. Tinkerability allows readers to physically express words as they read, giving them some degree of control over the narrative. Two interactive storybooks called TinkRBooks demonstrate how tinkerability supports parent-child emergent literacy. Design guidelines were developed to showcase how tinkerability can be used for creating educationally meaningful interactivity. TinkRBooks allows parents to gesturally modify and discuss how text relates to concepts within a narrative. TinkRBooks allows children to actively explore the abstract relationship between printed words and their meanings, even before this relationship is properly understood. This ability to explore textual representation changes the way parents read to their children during emergent literacy. When using a TinkRBook, parents spend more time talking, discussing more comprehensive ideas with their children and provoking more meta dialogue than with regular books. TinkRBook also encourages children to drive their reading inquiry, by actively demonstrating the concepts relating to vocabulary schema within the narrative. The result is a new story sharing experience that benefits both parents and children by allowing them to understand how the choice of words impacts the story experience.by Angela Chang.Ph.D

The Role of Passage Topic Knowledge in Typical and Poor Comprehenders\u27 Recall

This dissertation examines the role of topic knowledge (TK) in comprehension among typical readers and those with Specifically Poor Comprehension (SPC), i.e., those who demonstrate deficits in understanding what they read despite adequate decoding. Previous studies of poor comprehension have focused on weaknesses in specific skills, such as word decoding and inferencing ability, but this dissertation examined a different factor: whether deficits in availability and use of TK underlie poor comprehension. It is well known that TK tends to facilitate comprehension among typical readers, but its interaction with working memory and word decoding is unclear, particularly among participants with deficits in these skills. Across several passages, we found that SPCs do in fact have less TK to assist their interpretation of a text. However, we found no evidence that deficits in working memory or word decoding ability make it difficult for children to benefit from their TK when they have it. Instead, children across the skill spectrum are able to draw upon TK to assist their interpretation of a passage. Because TK is difficult to assess and studies vary in methodology, another goal of this dissertation was to compare two methods for measuring it. Both approaches score responses to a concept question to assess TK, but in the first, a human rater assigns a score whereas in the second, a computer algorithm, Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA; Landauer & Dumais, 1997) assigns a score. We found similar results across both methods of assessing TK, suggesting that a continuous measure is not appreciably more sensitive to variations in knowledge than discrete human ratings. This study contributes to our understanding of how best to measure TK, the factors that moderate its relationship with recall, and its role in poor comprehension. The findings suggest that teaching practices that focus on expanding TK are likely to improve comprehension across readers with a variety of abilities

Factors affecting reading comprehension in primary pupils

This thesis addresses the problem of 8-11 year old pupils who, although appearing to read text fluently, frequently misunderstand it. This problem was studied through Scottish school-based research using classroom materials and subjects from natural class groups. Data were collected from language assignments in daily work programmes, with response material in either written or illustrated form. Nine feasibility studies and a main study involving eighty subjects were carried out. The effects of five variables, text, presentation mode, age, ability and geographic location, on the totals and types of miscomprehensions displayed by the subjects in directed and free-recall comprehension tasks were calculated. 'Errors' are considered to be divergences from the author's supposed meaning. It is found that the collected errors are not random but may be classified into groups. Ten types of error were identified as regularly occurring and the category system developed was validated by teachers and others involved in the field of education. The effects of the five variables on the numbers and categories of error collected and the interactions between these variables were subjected to statistical analysis. Text and presentation mode are found to be the factors having most effect on the quantity and type of error produced. This finding is at variance with the generally accepted assumption that age, ability and possibly environment are determinants of potential pupil achievement. Miscomprehensions are discovered to be widely distributed across the ability range but they may be concealed by pupils in their pursuit of acceptable responses. The progress expected with increasing age is not always evident. The value of the category system as a teaching tool in comprehension development across the curriculum and pupil age range is assessed and suggestions given for its use. Implications of the findings for pupil assessment procedures and classroom practice are also discussed

Teaching conditionals using new technologies and game-based learning

Treball Final de Màster Universitari en Professor/a d'Educació Secundària Obligatòria i Batxillerat, Formació Professional i Ensenyaments d'Idiomes. Codi SAP419. Curs: 2020/2021Despite the emergence of new teaching methodologies, English is still taught in a traditional way in most high schools (Al-Mekhlafi and Nagaratnam, 2011). Moreover, the importance of using new technologies in the classroom has increased significantly since the last decades although most educative institutions still are reluctant to introducing them (Naqvi, 2018). Taking into account these assumptions and the situation observed during the internship, this present paper seeks to test the feasibility of GBL, combining digital and non-digital games. To do so, it has been devised a four-session didactic unit DU to learn the first and second conditionals in a class of 4th ESO with 25 students. Students’ improvement has been measured with a pre-test and a post-test while their experience has been reported through a satisfaction questionnaire. Results reveal that most students have acquired the structure of the first conditional, but few benefits have been noticed regarding the second conditional performance. Nevertheless, students are also able to discern between the two types of conditionals. On the other hand, the satisfaction survey indicates that their experience has been enriching. Finally, we conclude the project by providing some limitations and directions for further research

An evaluation of the procedures used to assess and remediate the perceived writing difficulties of undergraduate students in the Faculty of Education at Edith Cowan University

The standards of written literacy of teacher-education students at Edith Cowan University are perceived by many staff to be inadequate. The Faculty of Education\u27s response to this perceived inadequacy is to carry out a mandatory skills-based remedial writing programme for students whose literacy competencies are judged to be deficient, The instrument used to assess the students\u27 literacy competencies is the English Skills Assessment test. The students\u27 performances in the various skills which the test purports to measure, also determine the area in which they are given remedial instruction if the results of the test suggest this is necessary. However, many Faculty of Education staff are concerned that there are important conceptual, structural, and organisational inadequacies in students\u27 writing which are not identified by the English Skills Assessment test and, therefore, are not attended to in remediation programmes based on the results generated by this test. This study was an evaluation of the remedial literacy programme conducted by the Faculty of Education at Edith Cowan University. The programme was evaluated from two perspectives (a) a theoretical perspective and (b) a practical perspective. Firstly, the study evaluated the procedures used by the Faculty of Education to diagnose and remediate writing difficulties among its first year student intake by comparing the assumptions underlying those procedures to the assumptions underlying a contemporary perspective of writing and the teaching of writing. This comparison revealed that not only were many of the procedures used by the Faculty ineffectual, but also some of the procedures used had the potential to inhibit the literacy development of its students. Secondly, the study investigated whether the English Skills Assessment test was able to identify (a) all the areas in which students experienced difficulties inwriting and (b) the students who were likely to experience the difficulties. The performances of 426 first year primary and secondary teacher education students attending the Mount Lawley Campus of the Edith Cowan University in the English Skills Assessment test were compared with their performances in a research-essay assignment, carried out as a normal part of their course work. The results of this aspect of the study reinforce the findings of an earlier study (Holbrook & Bourke, 1989) which reported that the English Skills Assessment test neither identified all the areas in which tertiary level students experience difficulty in their real writing nor the students likely to experience difficulties, This study shows that Holbrook and Bourke\u27s findings, which related to narrative text, also applied when students wrote expository text. These results challenge the validity of the Faculty\u27s use of the English Skills Assessment test as a means of identifying students with writing problems and show that any remedial writing programme based solely on the areas identified by the test will have a limited impact on the development of students\u27 written literacy. In addition to the data originally sought for this study, other information came to light which showed the limitations of the way in which the Faculty conceptualises students\u27 literacy needs. The emphasis of this programme is diagnosis and remediation. This conceptualisation has produced a literacy unit which is peripheral to the mainstream academic programme and which teaches the surface features of language in decontextualised, skills-based lessons. As a consequence, the unit: (a) is accorded marginal status by lecturers and students alike, ( b ) bears little relationship to what is happening in other units of the course, and (c) contributes little, if anything, to students\u27 literacy development. It is clear from the findings of this study that the Faculty of Educator\u27s remedial literacy programme contains serious flaws which cannot be rectified by attempting to modify the existing programme, The study concludes by recommending that the Faculty of Education should abandon its existing programme, along with its remedial emphasis, and institute a new programme designed to cater for the literacy needs of all its students. That is, all incoming students should be required to undertake a foundation unit which outlines the Faculty of Education\u27s requirements and expectations of students, and teaches them the structures and processes (reading, writing, and thinking) required for successful learning in Bachelor of Arts (Education) courses