Teaching Community College Students Strategies for Learning Unknown Words as They Read Expository Text

An experiment was conducted to investigate methods that enable college students to learn the meaning of unknown words as they read discipline-specific academic text. Forty-one college students read specific passages aloud during three sessions. Participants were randomly assigned to three vocabulary learning interventions or a control condition. The interventions involved applying context, morphemic, and syntactic strategies; applying definitions; or applying both strategies and definitions to determine word meanings. Word learning and comprehension were measured during the interventions and in a transfer task to assess treatment effects on independent text reading. Results revealed that students in all three intervention groups outperformed controls in learning words and comprehending passages. However, the treatment groups did not differ from controls on the transfer task. Teaching both strategies and definitions was especially effective for learning unknown words and comprehending text containing those words

The effects of direct instruction and interspersal rehearsal on sight word acquisition

Twenty three K5 emergent readers participated in a study comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of two instructional methods for teaching sight words, drill and practice (DR) and intersepersal rehearsal (IS). Each participant, regardless of treatment group, was assigned six sight words per week, for a period of six weeks. The six participants receiving IS treatments were assigned three known words, which were interspersed with three unknown words. The ten Participants in the DR condition were assigned six unknown words. Six students, who did not receive treatment, served as the control group. During instructional treatments, words were presented on 3x5 notecards and read by the researcher for modeling. Participants then repeat the word. After a correct repetition, a new word was presented. Words in both treatment conditions were presented three times. Following the third trial with teacher modeling, cards were mixed and presented again without modeling. If participants read the word inaccurately, or did not respond within the three second time limit, error correction was provided by an additional modeled reading of the word. Dolch and Fry sight word assessments were used to assess student knowledge before and after instructional treatments. Additionally, weekly probes were administered to track student growth throughout the study. Results indicated growth occurred in each group, but IS participants demonstrated the greatest, statistically significant increase in sight word knowledge

Electronic Dictionaries and Transducers for Automatic Processing of the Albanian Language

International audienceWe intend on developing electronic dictionaries and Finite State Transducers for the automatic processing of the Albanian Language. We describe some peculiarities of this language and we explain how FST and generally speaking NooJ's graphs enable to treat them. We point out agglutinated words, mixed words or ‘XY' words that are not (or cannot be) listed into dictionaries and we use FST for their dynamic treatment. We take into consideration the problem of unknown words in a lately reformed language and the evolving of features in the dictionaries

The Effects of Known Versus Unknown Criteria on Journal Writing Performance of Elementary Students Using an Independent Group Contingency

An independent group contingency was implemented in order to investigate the effects of known and unknown criteria on journal writing performance. Students from two fourth-grade classrooms participated in the study. Each day, participants were provided a story starter and asked to write for 5 minutes. Participants were informed that they would be rewarded if they met a daily criterion for number of words written. During the known criterion condition, participants knew the reward criterion prior to the assignment. During the unknown criterion condition, participants were not allowed to know the criterion until after the journal writing activity was completed. Results showed increases in average words written when the treatment conditions were introduced. However, no consistent differences were found between the known and unknown conditions. Discussion includes limitations of the current study and directions for future researchers

Castle man disease: a case report and review of the literature

The Castleman disease (CD) is a rare disease of unknown etiology, characterized histologically by angiofollicular lymphoid hyperplasia. It comes in two forms, unicentric and multicentric. We report a case of Castleman disease in a 58 year old man, who had consulted for chronic cervical lymphadenopathy. This case was a multicenteric and rapidly fatal despite aggressive treatment with corticosteroids, and chemotherapyKey words: Angiofollicularlymphoid hyperplasia, cervical tumefaction, angiomatous, lymphoid, hamartoma, lymphom

Changes in neural patterns in persons with aphasia following theory-based generative naming treatment

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University N.B.: page 167 appears to be missing from this dissertation. It is unclear whether this is a page numbering error on the author's part, or content is actually missing.Aphasia is a language disorder that affects approximately 1 million Americans. Word-finding deficits are characteristic of aphasia and are often targeted in therapy. Generalization from trained to untrained items in word-finding therapy is becoming increasingly important in the development of more cost- and time-effective rehabilitation techniques. However, much remains unknown regarding the neural mechanisms underlying generalization. Thus, this dissertation systematically examined the neural mechanisms underlying successful word-finding treatment, paying particular attention to generalization. Experiment 1 explored the neural correlates of abstract and concrete word processing in three persons with aphasia and three age-matched controls. Experiment 2 examined behavioral outcomes of a theoretically based word generation treatment in 12 persons with aphasia in terms of direct training and generalization effects when abstract words in a particular context-category are trained. Experiment 3 examined neuroplastic changes in activation and functional connectivity associated with behavioral direct training and generalization effects of treatment in 10 persons with aphasia when abstract words are trained. Consistent with current theories of abstract and concrete word processmg, Experiment 1 showed that abstract and concrete words elicited different activation patterns m persons with aphasia, similar to neurologically healthy adults. Experiment 2 showed that training abstract words in a generative naming treatment is not only efficacious, but also efficient because it promotes generalization to concrete words in the same context-category for a majority of participants. Finally, Experiment 3 showed that direct training effects coincided with increased activation and functional connectivity for regions involved in abstract word processing and generalization effects coincided with increased activation and functional connectivity for regions involved in concrete word processing. Inferior frontal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus appear to be important for both direct training and generalization effects of treatment. These results suggest that this treatment is promoting reorganization of function to regions that normally process abstract and concrete words and that direct training and generalization may be subserved by similar neural mechanisms, supporting the notion that the generalization seen behaviorally is a true effect of treatment. The results help inform our understanding of the connection between neuroplasticity and behavioral improvement in treatment in aphasia

Enhancing the sight word vocabulary of young adult students with mental retardation using signing

The purpose of the study was to determine if sign language increased the rate in which students learn to read new vocabulary words. A single subject, multiple treatment research design was implemented for use with this study. All of the Saxon Phonics 1 sight words were pre-tested to develop a list of 40 words that were unknown to both participants. These forty sight vocabulary words were then randomly separated into two groups of twenty. The first group of twenty was taught using only the Saxon Phonics 1 program, while the second group of twenty was taught using sign language of the twenty words along with the Saxon Phonics program. A daily checklist was kept to determine sight word vocabulary growth. The researcher hypothesized students would demonstrate a greater increase in their sight word vocabulary when the words were taught using sign language along with their Saxon Phonics program versus when the sight words were taught using the Saxon Phonics program without signs. Results were presented in graphic form. Analysis was based upon a visual inspection of the graphs for magnitude and direction of the learning curve. Visual inspection of the graphs indicated that, while one student began with lower results using signs, eventually both students learned the sight words faster when signing was included in the teaching. The researcher also noted that the students were excited about participating during sign training and talked about how much fun it was to learn the signs for the words

DIAZOALKYLIDENEAMINE-1,2,3-TRIAZOLE RING- CHAIN TAUTOMERISM IN 1,2-TRIAZOLO[1,5-c] PYRIMIDINES

Triazolopyrimidines have been synthesized and the unknown diazoalkylidine amine ring-chain tautomerism demonstrated for this ring system. Acetamidine-hydrochloride reacted readily with diethylacetonedicarboxylate in ethanolic sodium ethoxide to give pyrimidinone (8). Treatment of the pyrimidinone with toluene-p-sulponyl azide in trimethylamine gave diazo-compound which cyclised readily when heated under reflux in dimethylsulphoxide for 24 hours to afford the expected 1,2,3-triazolo[1,5-c]pyrimidinone (11) in a good yield. Also described is the condensation of diethylacetonedicarboxylate with a triazole in acetic acid to give another product acetoxybenzyl pyrimidinone (17). Key words: Triazolopyrimidines, Acetamidine HCl, toluene-p-sulponyl azide, ring-chain tautomeris

A Critical Review on HIV/AIDS and Wound Care

Wound infections in AIDS patients increase discomfort, prolong hospital stay, render an additional burden upon an already debilitated patient and weaken the immune system further. Treatment must relate to the aetiology of the wound and take into account the patients underlying health problems. The treatment of wounds in HIV-AIDS patients is not different from the standard treatment. There are wound -related criteria for selecting the appropriate types of dressing. The best dressing for postoperative wound healing by secondary intention is unknown. Continuing wound evaluation and the appraisal of what dressing is useful for the type of wound and stage of healing is the basis of optimum wound care Optimum wound care, emotional support; health education will enhance both the emotional and physical wellbeing of the HIV-AIDS patient.Key words: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), wound infection, delayed wound healing, optimum wound care, dressing types, nutrition, and pain contro