Urban Middle and High School Students Reading Attitudes and Beliefs: A Large-Sample Survey

Reading attitudes and beliefs about reading competency are thought to affect reading frequency and thus exert an indirect influence on reading achievement This study examines student attitudes and beliefs concerning recreational and academic reading among a large sample N 14 315 of urban middle and high school students grades 7 to 12 Contrary to previous findings on elementary age students the present study found that positive attitudes toward reading do not appear to decline as students get older nor does the gap in positive attitudes widen between good and poor readers Consistent with other research beliefs about reading competence were stable or rising in high school Girls were found to have more positive attitudes toward reading than boys and students with higher self-reported English reading grades had substantially higher levels of reading motivation and reading self-efficacy Implications for theories of reading attitude formation reading self-efficacy and reading instruction are discusse

Seven Myths about Literacy in the United States

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What can readers read after graded readers?

Nation (2014) concluded that most of the vocabulary one needs to read challenging texts in English can be acquired incidentally through voluminous reading. This study examines possible texts that second language (L2) readers can use to move from controlled-vocabulary materials such as graded readers, which go up through approximately the 4,000-word-family level, to more challenging texts such as newspapers, classic novels, and academic texts, at the 9,000-word-family level. An analysis of a set of popular fiction series books found that such books can provide a sufficient amount of input, with 98% vocabulary coverage, so as to serve as one possible “bridge” to more challenging texts

COMMENTARY: CAN FREE READING TAKE YOU ALL THE WAY? A RESPONSE TO COBB (2007)

Cobb (2007) argues that free reading cannot provide L2 readers with sufficient opportunities for acquiring vocabulary in order to reach an adequate level of reading comprehension of English texts. In this paper, we argue that (1) Cobb severely underestimates the amount of reading even a very modest reading habit would afford L2 readers, and therefore underestimates the impact of free reading on L2 vocabulary development; and (2) Cobb’s data show that free reading is in fact a very powerful tool in vocabulary acquisition

We don't need no stinkin' exercises: the impact of extended instruction and storybook reading on vocabulary acquisition

Reading stories to young children has a significant impact on a child's vocabulary development (Mol & Bus, 2011). Children acquire words incidentally by being read to, show growth in word knowledge even upon a single exposure to a novel world ( Carey & Barlett, 1978). In general, more exposure to an unknown world children have, the more likely they are to acquire that world, without any explicit vocabulary instruction(Robbins & Ehri, 1994). These findings are consistent with current theories of language acquisition (Krashen, 2003; Smith,2004), which hold that the development of literacy is primarily a result of language comrehension(listening and reading), not of direct instruction and "practice"

Associations of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Depressive Symptoms Over Time: Are There Differences by Education, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender?

Objective. To examine associations between changes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms and depressive symptoms adjusted for other time-varying characteristics, and to test if these associations differed by education, race/ethnicity, or gender. Methods. Data from the 1988–1998 US National Rheumatoid Arthritis Study were analyzed (n = 854). Time-varying covariates included year of the study, pain, functional ability, household work disability, parental status, marital status, employment status, and social support. The time-invariant covariates included years since diagnosis, education, race/ ethnicity, and gender. Multivariate multilevel-model analyses were used to estimate associations within people over time. Results. Patients with RA experience considerable change in depressive symptoms, pain, functional disability, and household work disability over the study period. Depressive symptoms were driven more by differences between people compared to changes within people over time. Findings show that patients experienced increases in depressive symptoms over the study period. The rate of change in depressive symptoms did not differ by education, race/ethnicity, or gender. Times of worse pain, functional disability, and household disability were associated with worse depressive symptoms. The association of functional disability and depressive symptoms was stronger for men than women. Conclusion. Increases in pain and disability were associated with worse depressive symptoms, adjusted for covariates. It is important to monitor and treat both mental and physical health symptoms. Future research efforts should focus on collecting data reflecting the educational, gender, and racial/ethnic diversity of individuals with RA

Embodied Discourses of Literacy in the Lives of Two Preservice Teachers

This study examines the emerging teacher literacy identities of Ian and A.J., two preservice teachers in a graduate teacher education program in the United States. Using a poststructural feminisms theoretical framework, the study illustrates the embodiment of literacy pedagogy discourses in relation to the literacy courses’ discourse of comprehensive literacy and the literacy biographical discourses of Ian and A.J. The results of this study indicate the need to deconstruct how the discourse of comprehensive literacy limits how we, as literacy teacher educators, position, hear and respond to our preservice teachers and suggests the need for differentiation in our teacher education literacy courses

Black race as a predictor of poor health outcomes among a national cohort of HIV/AIDS patients admitted to US hospitals: a cohort study

BACKGROUND: In general, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) population has begun to experience the benefits of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART); unfortunately, these benefits have not extended equally to Blacks in the United States, possibly due to differences in patient comorbidities and demographics. These differences include rates of hepatitis B and C infection, substance use, and socioeconomic status. To investigate the impact of these factors, we compared hospital mortality and length of stay (LOS) between Blacks and Whites with HIV/AIDS while adjusting for differences in these key characteristics. METHODS: The 1996-2006 National Hospital Discharge Surveys were used to identify HIV/AIDS patients admitted to US hospitals. Survey weights were incorporated to provide national estimates. Patients < 18 years of age, those who left against medical advice, those with an unknown discharge disposition and those with a LOS < 1 day were excluded. Patients were stratified into subgroups by race (Black or White). Two multivariable logistic regression models were constructed with race as the independent variable and outcomes (mortality and LOS > 10 days) as the dependent variables. Factors that were significantly different between Blacks and Whites at baseline via bivariable statistical tests were included as covariates. RESULTS: In the general US population, there are approximately 5 times fewer Blacks than Whites. In the present study, 1.5 million HIV/AIDS hospital discharges were identified and Blacks were 6 times more likely to be hospitalized than Whites. Notably, Blacks had higher rates of substance use (30% vs. 24%; P < 0.001), opportunistic infections (27% vs. 26%; P < 0.001) and cocaine use (13% vs. 5%; P < 0.001). Conversely, fewer Blacks were co-infected with hepatitis C virus (8% vs. 12%; P < 0.001). Hepatitis B virus was relatively infrequent (3% for both groups). Crude mortality rates were similar for both cohorts (5%); however, a greater proportion of Blacks had a LOS > 10 days (21% vs. 19%; P < 0.001). Black race, in the presence of comorbidities, was correlated with a higher odds of LOS > 10 days (OR, 95% CI = 1.20 [1.10-1.30]), but was not significantly correlated with a higher odds of mortality (OR, 95% CI = 1.07 [0.93-1.25]). CONCLUSION: Black race is a predictor of LOS > 10 days, but not mortality, among HIV/AIDS patients admitted to US hospitals. It is possible that racial disparities in hospital outcomes may be closing with time