THE CONTRIBUTION OF SHORT-TERM MEMORY, WORKING MEMORY AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS TO THE LINGUISTIC ACHIEVEMENT OF GREEK MIDDLE SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN: IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIVE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

The present study delved into the involvement of Greek-speaking middle primary school children’s mnemonic recourses and demographic features in their performance in language tests. One hundred and seventy-six students aged 8.50-12.05 (mean age = 10.11 years) participated. The native language of the sample differed from English, in which most investigations have been conducted. Children’s verbal short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) capacity were assessed with a simple verbal retention measure (straight digit recall) and a task requiring parallel storage and processing of verbal information (backward digit recall), respectively. Pupils’ vocabulary knowledge was estimated through an assignment of expressive vocabulary. Children were also administered a reading fluency and a reading comprehension task. Pearson’s r and Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients showed that students’ verbal STM and WM significantly correlated with their reading fluency and text comprehension, accordingly. In addition, by employing simple linear regression analysis, increase in participants’ age was found to predict their extended reading fluency, while one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of independent samples revealed that vocabulary knowledge varied, being subject to pupils’ school grade. Lastly, independent samples t-test demonstrated no substantial difference in reading fluency between the two genders of children. Current findings are discussed in relation to participants’ age growth, their cumulating linguistic experience and the historical properties of the Greek language, indicating the need for further research that takes into account the unique and multifaceted nature of readers’ profile and outlining a few connotations for literacy instruction.  Article visualizations

Reading Comprehension and Behavior in Children Using E-books vs. Printed Books

The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence that personalized, gamified, and PDF electronic reading practices have on the attitudes which fifth-grade students possess toward e-reading experiences, as well as how these stances affect the students' motivation and reading comprehension while they are learning English as a second/foreign language (EFL). For the purpose of the study, there were a total of 84 fifth-grade kids from public schools in Greece, who participated. These students were split up into three different experimental groups and a control one. Participants in the experimental groups read throughout the treatment period according to a preset schedule using one of three diverse electronic reading formats (PDF, gamified, or customized), whilst participants in the control group read utilizing a paper guided reading plan. The participants' experiences playing video games online were analyzed via a technique called the quasi-experimental approach. According to the findings of the research, the experimental group and the control group did not significantly vary from one another in terms of their levels of reading comprehension. On the other hand, in comparison to the participants in the control group, those who took part in the experiments reported having more favorable sentiments regarding their electronic reading experiences and were more inspired to read. As indicated from the research findings, kids may experience an increase in their desire to read when they use electronic gadgets. This study has implications for educators and policymakers as they consider incorporating digital reading practices into their teaching methods, particularly when it comes to improving students' motivation to read