Written retellings of narrative and expository texts: A case study of elementary primary grade delayed male readers

This study examined how four second grade delayed readers, who were delayed in various stages of reading and writing, read and wrote about narrative and expository paired-topic texts. This study was based on the assumption that: (a) elementary primary grade children could read and write about narrative and expository texts; (b) delayed readers are children who can learn to read, even though they are below grade level, if they are given the opportunity; and, (c) written retellings could be used to assess students\u27 understanding of texts and are one method of bringing the reading-writing relationship together; A case study research approach was used to examine and describe the experience of the four delayed readers, and the phenomenon of their selections and readings and written retellings of narrative and expository texts. The participants\u27 written retellings of the paired-topic narrative and expository texts were analyzed for textual patterns and assigned a richness score. The examination of the written retellings of the paired-topic texts was used to determine the quality of their writing and their stylistic features as compared to the original texts they read and wrote about. It also determined whether elementary primary grade delayed readers could write about narrative and expository texts demonstrating their comprehension of the text; Conclusions drawn from the study, and discussed in the final chapter, suggest that: (a) the four elementary primary grade delayed readers were capable of demonstrating preference for narrative or expository text and supplying relatively high-quality explanations for why they chose one over the other; (b) the four elementary primary grade delayed readers were successful in reconstructing the linguistic structural patterns of the original narrative and expository reading texts in their own writing, therefore confirming that the text they read does have an affect on their writing; (c) the written reconstructions of the original narrative and expository texts reflect the comprehension of the elementary primary grade delayed readers and their ability to read and write about narrative and expository texts; and, (d) the four elementary primary grade delayed readers each were able to compare and contrast similarities and dissimilarities between the narrative and expository original reading texts

The Use and Abuse of Mutual Fund Expenses

Prior research shows that mutual fund investors are often aware of up-front charges like sales loads, but they are less mindful of annual operating expenses, even though both types of fees lower overall performance. This study documents the historical trend and recent abuse of annual mutual fund expenses. As the industry becomes more adept at segmenting customers by level of investment sophistication, we claim that load mutual fund companies take advantage of this ability and charge higher expenses to their target customer: the less-knowledgeable investor. No-load fund companies, which tend to attract the more sophisticated investor, offer lower expenses. For example, over 2000–2004 the average annual expense ratio of load equity funds was 50 basis points higher than no-load equity funds. We show evidence of this widening cost disparity since the early 1990s among new and existing equity, bond, and index funds. We also document a growing abuse of sales distribution or 12b-1 fees among funds that are closed to new investors, almost all of which are load funds. Thus, load fund investors are more susceptible to paying higher expenses and receiving lower returns over time. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 200712b-1 fees, asset management fees, expense ratios, mutual funds, sales loads,

New evidence on the relation between the enterprise multiple and average share returns. Journal of financial and quantitative analysis

ABSTRACT Practitioners increasingly use the enterprise multiple as a valuation measure. The enterprise multiple is (equity value + debt + preferred stock -cash)/ (EBITDA). We document that the enterprise multiple is a strong determinant of stock returns. Following Fama and French (1993) and Chen, Novy-Marx, and Zhang (2010), we create an enterprise multiple factor that generates a return premium of 5.28% per year. We interpret the enterprise multiple as a proxy for the discount rate. Firms with low enterprise multiple values appear to have higher discount rates and higher subsequent stock returns than firms with high enterprise multiple values