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Revisiting print exposure: Exploring differential links to vocabulary, comprehension and reading rate

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Abstract

Undergraduates (N=171) completed a revised version of the Author Recognition Test (Stanovich & West, 1989). The resulting print exposure scores were divided into two dimensions: personal reading experience (primary print knowledge – PPK) and secondary print knowledge (SPK). Both PPK and SPK were correlated with print exposure, but not with each other. PPK correlated more strongly with reading-related variables (vocabulary, comprehension and reading rate) than did SPK. Of particular importance, PPK accounted for variance in all three criterion variables after the effects of SPK had been factored out. Thus, these data support the notion that it is the act of reading over and above memory for reading-related information that furthers the development of linguistic skill.

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... A highquality, reading-accessible vocabulary enables fluid access to word meanings and their integration with text meanings. It also supports inferences (Cain & Oakhill, 1999Currie & Cain, 2015) and facilitates the learning of new words through reading (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Stanovich & Cunningham, 1992). ...
... One hypothesis concerning relations among reading systems is that reading experience (i.e., readers' cumulative encounters with texts and written material throughout their lifetime) affects reading comprehension by increasing the reader's vocabulary: More reading experience leads to more words learned and thus more support for comprehension. This causal chain is consistent with research on vocabulary growth through reading (e.g., Duff et al., 2015;Echols et al., 1996;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Nagy et al., 1985;Nation, 2017) and the results of Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) who found that 11th grade print exposure predicted 11th grade vocabulary knowledge-but not reading comprehensionwhen first-grade vocabulary knowledge was controlled. Reading experience predicted reading comprehension only when vocabulary knowledge was not controlled, suggesting that vocabulary knowledge learned through reading experiences plays a role in linking reading experience to reading comprehension skill (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997). 1 Accordingly, one aim of our studies is to provide more evidence concerning interrelationships among cognitive components of reading by examining the effect of reading experience on reading comprehension, with vocabulary knowledge as a mediator. ...
... Thus, both reading frequency and amount should contribute to a reader's overall reading experience. Variations in reading experience lead to variations in reading-relevant knowledge (familiarity with word forms, vocabulary, syntax, text conventions) that is critical for fluid reading comprehension (Duff et al., 2015;Echols et al., 1996;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Nation, 2017;Torppa et al., 2020). We should expect these reading experiences, both their amount and their quality, to be influenced by readers' motivations and engagement (e.g., Fulmer & Frijters, 2011). ...
Article
Readers have different motivations and approaches to text that covers a range of topics and difficulty levels. We introduce the concept of readers’ approaches to text to establish a link between motivational and cognitive aspects of reading comprehension. Study 1 describes the development of a self-report measure of readers’ approaches to text with a community sample. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that The Readers’ Approaches to Text Questionnaire (TReAT-Q) had four subscales: (1) intrinsic goals, (2) extrinsic goals and strategies, (3) effort at understanding, and (4) avoidance of text difficulty. Aside from avoidance of text difficulty, these factors predicted adults’ reading experience above and beyond the related, but more general, measure of need for cognition. A confirmatory factor analysis on TReAT-Q in Study 2 revealed that all subscales except effort at understanding contributed to a readers’ approaches to text latent construct for college students. A subsequent structural equation model (SEM) evaluating a cognitive model of reading comprehension showed that college students’ TReAT-Q scores predicted reading comprehension through an indirect pathway, mediated by reading experience and vocabulary knowledge. Readers who enjoy reading and deploy reading strategies to meet a desired level of understanding tend to have more reading experiences. The SEM also demonstrated the mediating role of vocabulary knowledge in text comprehension by linking reading experience and reading comprehension. Extending beyond measures of motivation, TReAT-Q incorporates the positive and negative approaches readers have to texts, which is fundamental for assessing what readers gain from their reading experiences that assists reading comprehension.
... According to the researcher, the more language knowledge students have, the more able they are to comprehend what they read. [26] shown that word information in reading has garnered a lot of attention these days in the area of L2 vocabulary and comprehension research. Similarly, despite the fact that most researchers and professionals agree that vocabulary knowledge has at least two dimensions: breadth (size) and depth (quality), the majority of study has focused on vocabulary breadth rather than vocabulary depth. ...
... The majority of scholars agree that reading makes language improvement easier [27]. This is backed by [26], who believes that the more reading students undertake, the greater their vocabulary knowledge will increase. Reading can also assist pupils improve their spelling and writing abilities [26]. ...
... This is backed by [26], who believes that the more reading students undertake, the greater their vocabulary knowledge will increase. Reading can also assist pupils improve their spelling and writing abilities [26]. Furthermore, the author says that understanding how vocabulary knowledge aids reading comprehension would be an important subject to investigate because it may provide educators with new teaching methods "However, prior researches have focused on the impact of vocabulary size in reading comprehension while disregarding the role of vocabulary depth," according to [28]. ...
... Reading has many beneficial effects on language acquisition. Martin-Chang & Gould (2008) believe that reading facilitates language development [1]. Do and Vo (2015) claimed that those with regular reading habits perform better in writing and vocabulary range speaking skills [2]. ...
... The factor behind this is that new words make learners stop for a while to read and understand their meaning; consequently, the speed and effectiveness in reading comprehension will inevitably have a negative effect [9]. On the other hand, vocabulary knowledge is a reliable predictor, which means the broader range of vocabulary the learners have, the higher their reading comprehension [1,[10][11][12][13]. Joshi and Aaron indicate that vocabulary knowledge is a strong predictor of reading ability when factoring reading speed with decoding and comprehension [14]. ...
... Joshi and Aaron indicate that vocabulary knowledge is a strong predictor of reading ability when factoring reading speed with decoding and comprehension [14]. Martin-Chang and Gould found a strong correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension, reading rate, and primary print knowledge [1]. Vocabulary knowledge is essential in reading comprehension because it has a similar background knowledge background in reading comprehension. ...
... Among the many benefits associated with leisure reading, perhaps none are more important than the advantages it affords to language and literacy. Voracious readers demonstrate superior reading and verbal abilities (e.g., Cunningham, Perry, & Stanovich, 2001;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Stanovich, West, Cunningham, Cipielewski, & Siddiqui, 1996). Therefore, it is essential to understand what motivates or deters people from reading in their spare time. ...
... Performance on the ART correlates strongly with reading experience. Those who recognize more real author names on the ART identify more authors that they themselves have read (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008) as well as report greater time spent reading (Acheson et al., 2008). In other words, although respondents may recognize authors that they have not read themselves, overall ART performance reflects print exposure accrued over the lifespan of leisure reading (Stanovich et al., 1996). ...
... The author and foil names in the ART have been revised over the years to reflect changes in an author's popularity or the frequency with which their name appears in published works (e.g., Acheson et al., 2008;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). The ART-R used in this study allows for separate measurement of exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts (Fong et al., 2013). ...
Article
Full-text available
Leisure reading is associated with several important educational and cognitive benefits, and yet fewer and fewer young adults are reading in their free time. To better study what drives leisure reading in undergraduates, we developed the Predictors of Leisure Reading (PoLR) scale. The PoLR investigates key predictors of leisure reading, namely reading motivations, obstacles, attitudes, and interests. We examined the PoLR’s ability to predict language skills in 200 undergraduates, both directly and indirectly via exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts. Language skills were measured with a diverse battery of tasks, including items from two sections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. We found that reading enjoyment predicts better verbal abilities, and this was often explained via exposure to fiction rather than nonfiction. In contrast, participants who reported reading due to extrinsic pressures typically had weaker verbal abilities, often explained by stronger associations with nonfiction. This pattern was observed across the raw correlations and in a series of path analyses. In sum, it was ‘reading enjoyment’ and ‘identifying as a reader’ that uniquely predicted better verbal abilities in our undergraduate sample. The importance of these findings is discussed in relation to fostering reading enjoyment throughout the various stages of formal education.
... The positive relationship between print exposure and individuals' reading abilities has been wellestablished in previous studies. Print exposure or out-of-school reading experience as it is commonly referred to was consistently found to be associated with learners' literacy development, including but not limited to vocabulary, reading comprehension, background knowledge, spelling and writing skill (e.g., S. Y. Chen & Fang, 2016;Cunningham & Stanovich, 1991, 1997Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Moore & Gordon, 2015;Stanovich, West, & Harrison, 1995;Zhang et al., 2018). Moreover, lexical knowledge has been reliably associated with reading development (Suggate, Schaughency, McAnally, & Reese, 2018). ...
... The quest for the impact of exposure to print on literacy development is, however, primarily based on short-term research (e.g., Acheson, Wells, & MacDonald, 2008;S. Y. Chen & Fang, 2016;Grant, Wilson, & Gottardo, 2007;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). How free reading experience can influence one's development of cognitive abilities can be more reliably substantiated with longitudinal data (Cipielewski & Stanovich, 1992). ...
... If you know the name of the website, but you DO NOT READ it, please do not check it." Scoring for the WRT was calculated similarly to previous studies, that is, taking the number of real websites chosen and subtracting the number of fake websites checked (e.g., Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Moore & Gordon, 2015;Rain & Mar, 2014;Stanovich & Cunningham, 1992;Zhang et al., 2018). Cronbach alpha value for the WRT was 0.76, suggesting a sufficient level of internal-consistency reliability of the instrument. ...
Article
Full-text available
With the fast-paced development of technology in today’s society, there has been emerging a shift from paper-based reading to digital online reading. While the benefits of exposure to print have been wellestablished in previous studies, how online reading may impact individuals’ literacy development is largely underexplored. The current study investigated if the amount of English reading experience on the Internet could predict EFL students’ lexical knowledge and reading comprehension ability. Participants were ninety-seven Vietnamese undergraduate students who were administered a website checklist and a vocabulary size test. Their reading comprehension scores were also collected as measures of their reading abilities. Descriptive statistics, hierarchical linear regression and structural equation modelling were utilized for data analysis. The results indicated that exposure to L2 online text was a significant predictor of the participants’ vocabulary size as well as their reading comprehension growth during a course of two years. Pedagogical implications are discussed.
... In the current study, a checklist instrument was developed by the author to estimate EFL learners' English reading amount on Facebook, that is, the Facebook Page Recognition Test (FPRT). Similar to recognition tests widely used in previous studies (e.g., Acheson, Wells, & MacDonald, 2008;Cipielewski & Stanovich, 1992;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Zhang et al., 2017), the FPRT included a combined list of real and fake names of Facebook pages that were randomly mixed together. ...
... With respect to the method of examining the reliability of the recognition test, previous researchers tended to have different approaches. Although Cronbach's ɑ and split-half reliability were usually used to examine the reliability of the recognition test (e.g., Cipielewski & Stanovich, 1992;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Stanovich & West, 1989), the employment of Cronbach's ɑ was also argued to be appropriate for binary data (i.e., questions containing only two options) (Raykov, Dimitrov, & Asparouhov, 2010). Indeed, the participants' decision to make a guess, though having little to do with the recognition test reliability, may reduce the Cronbach's ɑ value of the test. ...
... Overall, the exposure to English Facebook pages significantly contributed to the individual differences in reading-related skills among the Vietnamese EFL learners. The results are resonant with many previous studies on the effect of free reading experience on lexical and reading skills (e.g., Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Stanovich & Cunningham, 1992). For example, Grant, Wilson, and Gottardo (2007) investigated how the amount of recreational reading experience impacted learners with and without reading disabilities. ...
Article
Full-text available
As the most popular social networking site in the world, Facebook has sparked great interest from researchers to examine its educational affordances. While Facebook is oftentimes employed as a technology tool to facilitate language-classroom communication and collaboration, the current study examined the potential utilization of Facebook pages as a source of English reading input. A Facebook recognition test was developed utilizing the checklist-with-foils logic proposed by Stanovich and West (1989) to serve as an indicator of English-as-a-foreign-language learners' English reading experience on Facebook. Vietnamese undergraduate students were administered the Facebook Page Recognition Test, consisting of real and fake names of English Facebook pages, and a vocabulary size test. Their reading comprehension scores were also collected. Bivariate correlation and linear regression analyses were performed to examine the effect of L2 reading experience on Facebook on the learners' reading abilities. The findings indicated that the amount of English reading on Facebook could significantly explain the differences in vocabulary and reading comprehension achievements among the participants. The results suggest the potential use of Facebook pages as a source of reading input for language learners. Pedagogical implications are discussed.
... Time to read Young Adult fiction: print exposure and linguistic… This pattern was replicated with 171 undergraduate students (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). Martin-Chang and Gould noted that the classic ART could potentially be influenced by both personal reading experience and general memory ability. ...
... Nowhere is this polarization more apparent than within the teenage population (Mol & Jolles, 2014). Research has shown that where one falls on the 'leisure reading spectrum' predicts several other skills (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). For example, print exposure aligns with general knowledge, reading comprehension, vocabulary size, and spelling ability (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1 3 1991, 1997Sparks, Patton, & Murdoch, 2014). ...
... Somewhat unexpectedly, reading fiction is more strongly associated with social functioning and vocabulary than reading non-fiction (Mar, Oately, & Peterson, 2009;Mar & Rain, 2015). Within the cognitive domain, positive correlations between reading volume and reading speed have been noted in children (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988;Cipielewski & Stanovich, 1992) and adults (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008); yet, fewer observations have included adolescents. Likewise, reading volume and reading speed have not yet been studied at word level. ...
Article
Full-text available
Young Adult literature is a growing genre. This study examined print exposure within Adult fiction, and Children’s and Young Adult fiction in 90 adolescents (Mage = 16.3). Results showed that scores on an Author Recognition Test (ART) containing the names of Children’s and Young Adult fiction authors were positively correlated with adolescents’ general reading and spelling abilities and single-word reading speed. The same pattern was either weaker, or absent, with scores on an ART containing Adult authors names. Furthermore, recognizing Children’s and Young Adult authors predicted performance on the adolescents’ standardized reading and spelling measures, above and beyond recognizing adult authors. Scores on the ART containing Children’s and Young Adult authors also predicted reading speed, even after controlling for general reading and spelling abilities. These findings add to three decades of inquiry into the cognitive correlates of print exposure.
... Due to the foils, guessing results in a lower overall score, mitigating inflated scores (Allen, Cipielewski, & Stanovich, 1992;Stanovich & Cunningham, 1993). For the current study, the ART-Revised (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008) was further developed to reflect recent trends both English and French literature. The BART was created during a pilot study where newly added author names were compiled by consulting bestseller lists and literary experts (e.g., bookstore owners and employees, book club members, educators, avid readers). ...
... In other words, if our participants were reading predominantly in either English or French, or a combination of both languages, the BART was created to detect differences in exposure to print, irrespective of languages. The names of 69 contemporary bestselling authors were added to the 75 real names found on the ART-Revised (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). The BART contained 144 popular author names and 28 foils. ...
Article
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The Matthew effects suggest that children who struggle when learning to read are less likely to read for pleasure later in life compared to children who ease into reading quickly. One aspect of early literacy instruction that might hamper reading progress is learning to read simultaneously in two languages. Despite the long-lasting and widespread benefits of bilingualism, early setbacks in reading development might carry lasting effects for later reading habits. We investigated whether present-day print exposure of adults who learned to read in their first language were different from those who learned to read in two languages. Adults completed: Bilingual Author Recognition, Viewing Recognition, and English and French Word Recognition Tests. Participants who reported that reading instruction took place in their first language recognized more authors than those who learned to read in two languages. These first-language learners were also better at identifying real English words. Bilingual learners were superior at identifying real French words on the corresponding task. Lastly, both groups demonstrated similar viewing habits. The findings from this retrospective study align with the Matthew effects and suggest that a focus on first language reading instruction in Grades 1 and 2 remains correlated with print exposure 25 years later.
... We used a suite of individual difference measures to assess which component of phonology, orthography, and/or semantics modulated lexical retrieval. However, given that more skilled readers are better at reading than less skilled readers, as measured by print exposure, vocabulary size, reading comprehension, and phonological processing (e.g., Acheson et al., 2008;Burt & Fury, 2000 see review by Huettig et al., 2018;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008), it becomes more difficult to assess which component of reading (e.g., orthography, phonology and semantics) modulates lexical retrieval, also because these individual differences measures are likely to be collinear. We therefore used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to group together the individual difference tests, which exposed three latent components: phonological precision, orthographic precision, and semantic coherence. ...
... Table 5 summarises the correlations between the composite standard scores with the other individual difference measures. The correlations reflect relationships shown in previous studies, including the relationship between print exposure and vocabulary (e.g., Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008 ) and print exposure and spelling (e.g., Burt & Fury, 2000). Critically, the degree of collinearity among these various individual difference measures is relatively high (rs ⩾ .3). ...
Article
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According to the lexical quality hypothesis (Perfetti, 2007), differences in the orthographic, semantic, and phonological representations of words will affect individual reading performance. Whilst several studies have focused on orthographic precision and semantic coherence, few have considered phonological precision. The present study used a suite of individual difference measures to assess which components of lexical quality contributed to competition resolution in a masked priming experiment. The experiment measured form priming for word and pseudoword targets with dense and sparse neighbourhoods in 84 university students. Individual difference measures of language and cognitive skills were also collected and a principal component analysis was used to group these data into components. The data showed that phonological precision and NHD interacted with form priming. In participants with high phonological precision, the direction of priming for word targets with sparse neighbourhoods was facilitatory, while the direction for those with dense neighbourhoods was inhibitory. In contrast, people with low phonological precision showed the opposite pattern, but the interaction was non-significant. These results suggest that the component of phonological precision is linked to lexical competition for word recognition and that access to the mental lexicon during reading is affected by differing levels of phonological processing.
... A large body of research has confirmed the ART's usefulness as a predictor of proficiency in lexical tasks: as will become important below, most of this work involved university-level native readers of English. For example, scores on the ART have been shown to correlate positively with vocabulary size (e.g., Krashen & Kim, 1998;Lee, Krashen, & Tse, 1997;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Rodrigo, McQuillan, & Krashen, 1996;West & Stanovich, 1991), speed or accuracy of reading words, sentences or passages (e.g., Acheson, Wells, & MacDonald, 2008;Choi, Lowder, Ferreira & Henderson, 2015;Kuperman, Matsuki, & Van Dyke, 2019;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Moore & Gordon, 2015), as well as reading comprehension (Cipielewski & Stanovich, 1992;Landi, 2010). Furthermore, Unsworth & Pexman (2003) found that those who scored higher on the ART did not show regularity effects in lexical decision and phonological lexical decision tasks, suggesting they had better mental access to phonological information when reading. ...
... A large body of research has confirmed the ART's usefulness as a predictor of proficiency in lexical tasks: as will become important below, most of this work involved university-level native readers of English. For example, scores on the ART have been shown to correlate positively with vocabulary size (e.g., Krashen & Kim, 1998;Lee, Krashen, & Tse, 1997;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Rodrigo, McQuillan, & Krashen, 1996;West & Stanovich, 1991), speed or accuracy of reading words, sentences or passages (e.g., Acheson, Wells, & MacDonald, 2008;Choi, Lowder, Ferreira & Henderson, 2015;Kuperman, Matsuki, & Van Dyke, 2019;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Moore & Gordon, 2015), as well as reading comprehension (Cipielewski & Stanovich, 1992;Landi, 2010). Furthermore, Unsworth & Pexman (2003) found that those who scored higher on the ART did not show regularity effects in lexical decision and phonological lexical decision tasks, suggesting they had better mental access to phonological information when reading. ...
Article
Full-text available
Studies of reading have shown the "Matthew Effect" of exposure to print on reading skill: poor readers avoid reading and ability develops more slowly compared to peers, while good readers improve more quickly through increased exposure. Yet it is difficult to determine just how much an individual reads. The Author Recognition Test (ART, Stanovich & West, 1989) and its multilingual adaptations are often used for quantifying exposure to print and have shown high validity and reliability in proficient readers in their dominant language (L1). When studying bilingualism and second language acquisition, it is ideal to have a single test which is equally reliable for all cohorts for comparison, but it is unclear if ART is effective for speakers of English as foreign language (L2). This study assesses the reliability of ART in an English-medium university and college students with different language backgrounds. Following Moore & Gordon (2015), we use Item Response Theory (IRT) to determine how informative the test and its items are. Results showed an expected gradience in ART performance, with L1 speakers showing higher scores than L2 speakers of English, university students showing higher scores than college students, and both cohorts performing better than students in an English as a second language (ESL) university pre-admission program. IRT analyses further revealed that ART is not an informative measure for L2 speakers of English, as most L2 participants show a floor effect. Reasons for this unreliability are discussed, as are alternative measures of print exposure.
... Reading has been found to have many beneficial effects in language teaching and learning. For example, some researchers believe that reading facilitates language development (Martin-Chang and Gould, 2008). The more a person reads, the more they will develop their vocabulary knowledge and an understanding of the grammar of that particular language. ...
... writing skills (Harmer, 2007). To a very large extent, the views of Harmer (2007) and Martin-Chang and Gould (2008) on the potentials of quality reading skills at improving the other language skills in an individual is very correct. This is because reading brings the learner in contact with the everyday use of the language in both formal and informal situations. ...
Thesis
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Reports from public examination bodies reveal that students’ performance in English Language is poor. This has been traced to perceived wrong instructional strategies adopted by most teachers of the English language. Literature has suggested the adoption of explicit and generative instructional strategies that address the deficiencies. However, there is a dearth of empirical research on the effectiveness of the two strategies on summary writing among Senior Secondary School (SSS) students, particularly in Ibadan metropolis. This study, therefore, examined the effects of explicit and generative instructional strategies on students’ achievement in and attitude to summary writing in Ibadan Metropolis. The moderating effect of cognitive style and gender was equally examined. The study adopted pretest-posttest, control group quasi-experimental design with a 3x2x2 factorial matrix. Participants were 200 SSS II students from six purposively selected intact classes of six public secondary schools in Ibadan metropolis. The students were assigned to explicit instructional strategy (75), generative instructional strategy (65), and control (60) groups. Treatment lasted twelve weeks. Seven instruments were used: Summary Writing Achievement Test (r=0.81), Attitude to Summary Writing Questionnaire (r=0.78), Cognitive Style Inventory (r=0.74), Instructional Guides on Explicit, Generative, and Conventional Instructional strategies and Teachers’ Evaluation Sheet. Data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance at 0.05 level of significance and Scheffe post hoc test was also performed. Treatment had significant main effect on students’ achievement (F(2,187)= 12.21) and attitude (F(2,187) = 9.23) to summary writing. Participants in the explicit instructional strategy group obtained the highest achievement score (x = 16.82,η2 =.47) followed by the generative instructional strategy (x = 14.65,η2= .36) and control (x = 12.91,η2=.19). Also, participants in the explicit instructional strategy group obtained the highest attitude score (x = 38.87,η2=.41) followed by the generative instructional strategy (x = 37.45,η2=.35) and control (x = 32.41,η2=.22). Cognitive styles had significant main effect on students’ achievement in summary writing (F(2,187) = 66.60) and none on their attitude. Effect of global cognitive style was lower in students’ achievement (x = 11.19,η2= .35) than in analytic cognitive style (x = 19.09,η2=.47). Also, effect of global cognitive style was slightly higher in students’ attitude (x = 36.48,η2=.49) than in analytic cognitive style (x = 36.46,η2=.48). Gender had no significant main effect on students’ achievement and attitude to summary writing. Effect of gender was lower in male students’ achievement (x = 14.73,η2= .35) than in female students’ (x = 15.22,η2= .38). Also, effect of gender was slightly higher in males’ attitude (x = 36.78,η2= .41) than in females’ (x = 36.13,η2= .40). The two-way and three-way interaction effects were not significant on achievement and attitude. Explicit and generative instructional strategies improved students’ learning outcomes in summary writing. Hence, English language teachers should employ these strategies to improve secondary school students’ achievement in and attitude to summary writing. Keywords: Explicit instructional strategy, Generative instructional strategy, Achievement in summary writing, Attitude to summary writing. Word count: 460
... Performance on the ART correlates strongly with reading experience. Those who recognize more real author names on the ART identify more authors that they themselves have read (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008) as well as report greater time spent reading (Acheson et al., 2008). In other words, although respondents may recognize authors that they have not read themselves, overall ART performance reflects print exposure accrued over the lifespan of leisure reading (Stanovich et al., 1996). ...
... The author and foil names in the ART have been revised over the years to reflect changes in an author's popularity or the frequency with which their name appears in published works (e.g., Acheson et al., 2008;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). The ART-R used in this study allows for separate measurement of exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts (Fong et al., 2013). ...
Preprint
Full-text available
Leisure reading is associated with several important educational and cognitive benefits, and yet fewer and fewer young adults are reading in their free time. To better study what drives leisure reading in undergraduates, we developed the Predictors of Leisure Reading (PoLR) scale. The PoLR investigates key predictors of leisure reading, namely reading motivations, obstacles, attitudes, and interests. We examined the PoLR’s ability to predict language skills in 200 undergraduates, both directly and indirectly via exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts. Language skills were measured with a diverse battery of tasks, including items from two sections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. We found that greater intrinsic reading enjoyment predicts better verbal abilities, and this was often explained via exposure to fiction rather than nonfiction. In contrast, participants who reported reading due to extrinsic pressures typically had weaker verbal abilities, often explained by stronger associations with nonfiction. This pattern was observed across the raw correlations and in a series of path analyses. In sum, it was ‘reading enjoyment’ and ‘identifying as a reader’ that uniquely predicted better verbal abilities in our undergraduate sample. The importance of these findings are discussed in relation to fostering intrinsic reading enjoyment throughout the various stages of formal education.
... Performance on the ART correlates strongly with reading experience. Those who recognize more real author names on the ART identify more authors that they themselves have read (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008) as well as report greater time spent reading (Acheson et al., 2008). In other words, although respondents may recognize authors that they have not read themselves, overall ART performance reflects print exposure accrued over the lifespan of leisure reading (Stanovich et al., 1996). ...
... The author and foil names in the ART have been revised over the years to reflect changes in an author's popularity or the frequency with which their name appears in published works (e.g., Acheson et al., 2008;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). The ART-R used in this study allows for separate measurement of exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts (Fong et al., 2013). ...
Preprint
Full-text available
Leisure reading is associated with several important educational and cognitive benefits, and yet fewer and fewer young adults are reading in their free time. To better study what drives leisure reading in undergraduates, we developed the Predictors of Leisure Reading (PoLR) scale. The PoLR investigates key predictors of leisure reading, namely reading motivations, obstacles, attitudes, and interests. We examined the PoLR’s ability to predict language skills in 200 undergraduates, both directly and indirectly via exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts. Language skills were measured with a diverse battery of tasks, including items from two sections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. We found that greater intrinsic reading enjoyment predicts better verbal abilities, and this was often explained via exposure to fiction rather than nonfiction. In contrast, participants who reported reading due to extrinsic pressures typically had weaker verbal abilities, often explained by stronger associations with nonfiction. This pattern was observed across the raw correlations and in a series of path analyses. In sum, it was ‘reading enjoyment’ and ‘identifying as a reader’ that uniquely predicted better verbal abilities in our undergraduate sample. The importance of these findings are discussed in relation to fostering intrinsic reading enjoyment throughout the various stages of formal education.
... Checklist recognition tests are proxy measures of print exposure; the logic behind them is that, even if participants have not actually read a particular book title or author, those who recognize a relatively large number of authors or titles have more print exposure than those who recognize fewer authors or titles, because they spend more time reading, in bookstores, and so on. Current research supports these kinds of measures as indicators of participants' reading volume over time, with robust relationships to reading achievement in both children and adults (e.g., Spear-Swerling et al. 2010;Cunningham & Stanovich, 1991, 1997Mar & Rain, 2015;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Mol & Bus, 2011;Sparks et al., 2014). ...
... Similar to other studies (Mar & Rain, 2015;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008), this study supports the relevance of fiction book reading to literacy achievement in young adults. Moreover, fiction book reading may have other positive impacts as well, such as on empathy and perspective-taking (Kozak & Martin-Chang, 2019;Wolf, 2018). ...
Article
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This study examined the print exposure of teacher candidates (N = 195) in relation to their GPAs, achievement in reading and writing on the SAT, and their self-ratings of their own early (K to Grade 5) reading experiences. Participants came from undergraduate and Masters programs in varied certification areas and from two different universities. Print exposure measures included author recognition tests for both fiction and nonfiction; a questionnaire about participants’ current voluntary reading habits for books, magazines, newspapers, and digital print media; and favorite authors/books questions. Exploratory factor analysis suggested four factors underlying the different print exposure measures: (1) fiction book reading volume; (2) current magazine and newspaper reading; (3) nonfiction book reading volume and (4) current book reading habits for enjoyment. Only fiction and nonfiction book reading volume related positively to participants’ achievement, in writing as well as reading, and to their early reading experience ratings. A subgroup of participants who had taken a specific reading methods course involving structured language content, and who had positive early reading experience self-ratings, had higher performance in the course than did participants with mixed or negative self-ratings, although the two groups did not differ in overall GPA. Findings support the view that different measures of print exposure tap somewhat different aspects of print exposure, with differing relationships to varied indicators of achievement. Results also support concerns about the reading volume and print exposure of some teacher candidates.
... Because of its complexity, researchers have studied and examined many different areas of reading. Some studies looked at the effects of prior knowledge in reading comprehension (Brantmeier, 2005;Hammadou, 1991Hammadou, , 2000Johnson, 1982;Lee, 1986;Nassaji, 2003;Qian, 2002) while others have examined the effects of vocabulary knowledge (Alderson, 2000;Joshi & Aaron, 2000;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Nagy & Scott, 2000;Pressley, 2000). Knowing how prior knowledge and vocabulary knowledge help reading comprehension would be an important area to explore because it could give teachers new approaches to teaching. ...
... The development of vocabulary and background knowledge will in turn help students with their reading comprehension (Joshi & Aaron, 2002;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Qian, 2002). Therefore, it is important that the students spend time reading, not only for the enjoyment of the language, but also to gain vocabulary and background knowledge. ...
Article
There is substantial amount of technical vocabulary that new engineering students at the tertiary level are required to read and understand in their field of study. Technical vocabulary refers not to a single word but to a group of terms used to explain scientific processes and relations. This means that in the field of engineering, a scientific field, many technical terms are used. These terms may pose some difficulties to the students when reading engineering textbooks, so here seems to be a need to familiarize them with engineering terms to facilitate reading of those textbooks. In order to develop this specialist list of engineering terms, a group of 7 engineering lecturers were interviewed to find out the students’ vocabulary needs through the seven subject matter expert perspectives. In addition, a survey was carried out on a group of 318 engineering students in a tertiary institution. The survey aims to find out the needs of engineering students for a list of introductory engineering terminology. This paper will therefore present the results of the survey.
... (ART) in the twin rated questionnaire. Other researchers have used this measurement in prior studies (e.g., Harlaar et al., 2007;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). The first task measured familiarity with children's book authors. ...
... To account for memory which might have biased the ART scores (i.e., some individuals might have remembered the author by seeing a book of that author with their co-twin), we also calculated the primary print knowledge from the ART measurement. Researchers have used this measurement in previous research (e.g., Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008) and it served as the second measurement of the print exposure construct. Twins were given the following instruction: ...
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The purpose of this study was to test the directionality of influence between reading comprehension and print exposure, thereby estimating genetic and environmental effects of this relation. The sample consisted of 910 twins in fourth through ninth grades (M age = 12.33 years, SD = 1.41) from the Florida Twin Project on Reading, Behavior, and Environment. Using direction-of-causation model in a twin design, results supported a direction of influence running from reading comprehension to print exposure. This relation was underpinned by genetic and environmental factors of reading comprehension as well as print exposure. Implications for reading education are discussed.
... However, the fact that ARTs, MRTs, and TRTs are indirect methods can also be a limitation, as recognizing a book does not automatically mean that he or she has read it (Schroeder et al., 2016). This differentiation in author and title knowledge is further supported by a study of Martin-Chang and Gould (2008), who found that knowing authors through secondary sources such as conversation and knowing authors through personal reading were not correlated with each other. In addition, knowing authors by personal reading was related to further measures of reading behavior and, in comparison to the knowledge of authors by secondary sources, was more strongly related to different reading skill measures. ...
Article
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Large amounts of studies have shown that reading behavior is an important aspect for the development of students' reading skills. The construct reading behavior as examined in large-scale assessments and surveys within the field of empirical educational research is operationalized through a wide range of reading and reading-related aspects (e.g., reading time, reading frequency, print exposure, reading engagement, book genre preferences, knowledge of authors or book titles) and a broad array of measurement methods are used. The approaches to measure the same variable-namely reading behavior-differ fundamentally from each other, while at the same time, a clear concept that would help to classify the used measurement instruments and to interpret them in relation to the superordinate construct of reading behavior is missing. Therefore, the present article aims to give an overview of methods to measure reading behavior within the context of large-scale assessments and surveys, and to discuss how they were implemented. Finally, we make some suggestions on how it might be possible to relate the applied measurement approaches to each other, especially in terms of their content and theoretical relationship to the overarching construct of reading behavior.
... Thus, it is essential for learners to acquire good English reading skills in order to understand what they read. Chang and Gould (2008) asserted that reading is the essence of language development. It helps to build vocabulary and leads to lifelong learning and improvement in English language skills. ...
... Somit sollte der TRT-Mathe-K vermutlich die nächsten Jahre problemlos eingesetzt werden können. Außerdem besteht die Möglichkeit, die Liste zu modifizieren, indem Spieltitel ausgewechselt und neue Spieltitel hinzugefügt werden, wie es analog dazu bereits für schriftsprachliche Checklisten häufiger praktiziert wurde (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). Dies sollte insbesondere für Version A des TRT-Mathe-K angedacht werden. ...
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Zusammenfassung. Mathematische Aktivitäten im Familienkontext hängen mit frühen mathematischen Kompetenzen zusammen. Die Erfassung der Home Numeracy Environment (HNE) mittels Fragebögen birgt aber die Gefahr der sozial erwünschten Beantwortung. Diese Studie stellt den mathematischen Titelrekognitionstest für das Kindergartenalter (TRT-Mathe-K) vor, durch den sozial erwünschtes Antwortverhalten begrenzt wird. In einer Pilotstudie mit N = 76 Eltern wurde eine Liste von 87 mathematischen und nicht-mathematischen Kinderspielen hinsichtlich ihrer Bekanntheit abgefragt. Die Berücksichtigung der Kinderspieltitel mit einer Trennschärfe > .2 führte zur Entwicklung zweier Parallelversionen des TRT-Mathe-K. In einer Studie mit N = 193 Familien wurden Kindergartenkinder hinsichtlich nonverbaler Intelligenz, Sprachfähigkeit und früher mathematischer Kompetenzen untersucht und zum familiären Hintergrund befragt. Der TRT-Mathe-K erwies sich als ein ökonomisches, reliables und valides Messinstrument für die Nutzung von mathematischen Kinderspielen in der HNE, das signifikant mit frühen mathematischen Kompetenzen korrelierte und diese auch unter Berücksichtigung von Kontrollvariablen vorhersagen konnte.
... Future research should aim to disentangle which elements of reading experience have the strongest impact on poetry-elicited emotions by also looking at what people read in addition to how often or how systematically they read. By virtue of it being widely used for several decades, the Author Recognition Test (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Stanovich & West, 1989) would seem to be the most likely candidate for measuring which genres people read most often. However, the recently developed Reading Habits Regression Coefficients for the Relationships Between Reading Experience (i.e., the Longest Time Reading Poetry) and Emotion Intensity, as Carried by Poetry-Related Empathy, Visual Imagery, Movement Imagery, Auditory Imagery for Words, and Auditory Imagery for Sounds ...
Article
Poetry-elicited emotions have recently come into the focus of empirical aesthetics. However, little is known about the association between individual differences in reader characteristics and emotional responses to poetry, such as differences in reading experience and psychological differences. The latter can be conceptualized either as dispositional traits or as processes that occur during an act of reading, when evaluated in relation between reading experience and emotions. The present study aimed to investigate the role of reading experience in poetry-elicited emotions, as well as the involvement of empathy, imagery, and proneness to fantasize as potential moderators and mediators in this relation. First, participants completed an online survey, which assessed reading experience and traits such as empathy, visual imagery, movement imagery, auditory imagery, and proneness to fantasize. Second, a 30-min reading session was followed by an assessment of their emotional responses. Other questions asked were in regard to process measures of empathy, visual imagery, movement imagery and auditory imagery for words and for sounds. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that participants with greater reading experience, a higher level of auditory imagery control and a higher level of proneness to fantasize experienced more intense emotions while reading poetry. Furthermore, a mediation analysis revealed that empathy, visual imagery, and auditory imagery for words experienced during the reading session carry the effects of reading experience on emotion intensity. We argue that the present study is a first step in the direction of considering reader characteristics alongside text characteristics when studying poetry-elicited emotions.
... However, given that more skilled readers are better at reading than less skilled readers, as measured by print exposure, vocabulary size, reading comprehension, and phonological processing (e.g. Acheson et al., 2008;Burt & Fury, 2000; review by Huettig et al., 2018;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008), it becomes more difficult to assess which components of reading (e.g. orthography, phonology and semantics) modulates lexical retrieval, as these individual differences measures are likely to be collinear. ...
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Perfetti (2007) proposed that the quality of lexical representations affects reading. We investigated the role of lexical quality in decoding. Eighty-four adults read aloud words and pseudowords with dense and sparse neighbourhoods in a masked form-priming experiment. Individual-difference measures of language and cognitive processes were collected and entered into a principal component analysis (PCA). Compared to a non-overlapping control prime, we observed greater facilitatory form-priming for word targets with sparse neighbourhoods than those with dense neighbourhoods. A PCA component related to orthographic precision affected form-priming: people with low orthographic precision showed greater facilitation for words with sparse neighbourhoods, primed by pseudowords, than those with dense neighbourhoods. People with high orthographic precision demonstrated the converse, only when primed by words. For pseudoword reading, word primes facilitated more than pseudoword primes in people with low orthographic precision. People with high orthographic precision showed the opposite pattern.
... There is no question that the act of reading itself builds vocabulary, automaticity, reading proficiency, and general knowledge (e.g., Duff, Tomblin, & Catts, 2015;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Mano & Guerin, 2018;Mol & Bus, 2011;Sparks et al., 2014;Stanovich & Cunningham, 1993). This in turn suggests that many students who show signs of difficulty with reading might simply have a "reading volume deficit" (Allington, 2014). ...
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This study examined silent reading rates (SRRs) in relation to students’ estimated academic vocabulary grade levels (EVGLs) and comprehension accuracy (Comprehension Items Correct; compIC). Analyses were based on data from 288,934 students in grades 2-12 who completed an adaptive silent reading assessment that yielded measures of the three variables of interest. Silent reading rate was measured while students read five 150- to 300-word passages. Each student’s initial passage difficulty was aligned with their EVGL. Each passage was followed by five comprehension questions, such that in total, students could answer up to 25 comprehension items correctly. Two-level Multilevel Models (MLMs) were fitted to evaluate SRR in relation to EVGL, compIC, and their interactions. The final MLM included the random intercept and three random slopes for the two level-1 predictors (school-mean-centered EVGL as the focal predictor and school-mean-centered compIC as the moderator) and their interactions. Results indicated that: (a) the fixed effect of higher EVGL on SRR was positive and significant, (b) the fixed effect of higher compIC on SRR was negative and significant, and (c) there was a significant interaction indicating that the relationship between school-mean-centered EVGL and SRR grew stronger as school-mean-centered compIC increased. These results suggest that vocabulary knowledge and SRR increase in concert among students with good comprehension, whereas SRRs measured in the absence of good comprehension are less meaningful and may indicate inadequate skills or insufficient motivation to fully comprehend what is being read.
... Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;McCarron & Kuperman, 2021;Moore & Gordon, 2015). ...
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Background Previous studies show that students improve communication skills throughout post‐secondary study proportionately to first‐year ability, yet important questions remain. How does post‐secondary affect the development of reading comprehension and related skills? How does this development vary between L1 and L2 speakers, and how much change occurs each year? Methods We administered a cross‐sectional battery of tests of reading proficiency to undergraduate university students in all years of study. The tests included measures of reading comprehension and multiple component skills: vocabulary, spelling, print exposure, reading habits and motivation. Results Results show that year of study confers a direct effect on component skills of reading. Skill trajectories of L1 and L2 students vary widely – across all skills tested, L1 students in Year 4+ show an average advantage of 12.60 percentile points compared with those in Year 1, whereas the average advantage of L2 students in Year 4+ over Year 1 peers is 29.20 percentile points. No difference between L1 and L2 readers, or between years of study, was observed in reading comprehension. Conclusions Post‐secondary education confers sizable benefits to all examined component skills of English reading, especially in L2 students. While L2 students in Year 1 are disadvantaged in most skills, L2 students in Year 4+ close the performance gap with L1 speakers on all skills. This suggests an ‘anti‐Matthew’ effect, with most benefits seen in the initially underperforming population. These findings quantify the effectiveness of university itself and also its differential impact on students with different language backgrounds. The apparent dissociation between a change in component skills of reading and stability in reading comprehension scores remains puzzling: we outline avenues for further investigation of this issue.
... Lee and Rethinasamy (2017) noted that vocabulary knowledge was an effective and strong predictor of reading comprehension. Martin-Chang and Gould (2008) found that a relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Vocabulary knowledge is necessary in reading comprehension. ...
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The present study is an attempt to explore the relationship between the breadth (the number of words known) and the depth of vocabulary knowledge (the richness of word knowledge) (the richness of word knowledge), and reading comprehension of EFL learners in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Furthermore, it tries to find the effect of language proficiency level of learners on the breadth and the depth of lexical vocabulary and reading comprehension of Saudi EFL learners. The participants of the study were seventy-five intermediate and advanced level majoring in English Translation at Qassim University in KSA. The level of language proficiency of participants had been checked through an OPT by the department in advance. To collect the relevant data, two tests measuring breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge were administered to all participants. They also received a reading comprehension test in which they were asked to read the passages and answer some multiple-choice questions. The findings obtained from the analysis of the data indicated that there is a significant relationship between breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge and Saudi advanced/intermediate EFL learner’s reading comprehension performance totally. The results further revealed that both dimensions of vocabulary knowledge are positively correlated, that is, those learners who had large vocabulary size had a deeper knowledge of the words, too. The results further showed that language proficiency level of learners have an effect on Saudi EFL learners’ reading performance and vocabulary knowledge. These results confirm the importance and the value of developing students‟ breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in EFL classrooms.
... Reading has many beneficial effects in language acquisition. Some researchers believe that reading facilitates language development (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). Reading comprehension is defined as ''the ability to interact with a text to construct meaning or to convey the author's message through employing an integrated process that involves cognitive and Downloaded from mjltm.org at 8:42 +0330 on Wednesday October 6th 2021 meta cognitive strategies (Badr El Deen (2011, p.11) ''. ...
... Reading comprehension forms a basic building block in language learning even in first language (L1) primary education because it is the most distinctive feature of literacy. In teaching English as a foreign language, reading is also capitalized as it is considered the basic skill in language development (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008) more than other skills. The importance of reading as an essential skill in second or foreign language (L2) learning rises from the L2 teachers' assumption that teaching and learning the L2 depends mainly on the development of the reading skills (Hedgcock & Farris, 2009). ...
... These new names were taken from the lists of Pulitzer, Booker, and PEN prizes between 2001 and 2012. We used 65 foil names that were used by Martin-Chang and Gould (2008). Our participants were instructed to avoid guessing as they would be penalised for incorrect responses. ...
Article
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English spelling provides multiple cues to word meaning, and these cues are readily exploited by skilled readers. In two crowdsourcing studies, we tested skilled readers’ sensitivity to a large number of morphological as well as nonmorphological orthographic cues by asking them to classify nonwords as adjectives or nouns. We observed a substantial variability across individuals and orthographic cues. In this paper, we discuss some sources of this variation. Specifically, we found consistent correlations between readers’ sensitivity to cues and their performance on language tasks (reading, spelling, and author recognition tests) suggesting that reading experience is critical for assimilating spelling-to-meaning regularity from written language. Further, we identified characteristics that may be important for the learning and exploitation of orthographic cues that are related to the nature of their function and use in context.
... Links between young adults' print exposure and their reading comprehension have also been established (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008). ...
Thesis
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For most adults, understanding the meaning of words and sentences seems like an easy task. However, misinterpretations are common. More than 80% of common English words have more than one meaning – even the word “abstract” is ambiguous. The pervasiveness of ambiguity means that selecting appropriate word meanings is a fundamental skill for readers. But what happens when the language processing system selects the wrong meaning? Sentences like “The plant had been difficult to build” lead readers down a metaphorical “garden path” in interpretation: because they are likely to initially select the meaning of “plant” that first comes to mind (“botanical organism”), readers need to initiate appropriate reinterpretation processes once they realise that this meaning is not compatible with “build”. This thesis addresses two gaps in the literature on the recovery from such misinterpretations: Are the processing costs that comprehenders experience when they need to reinterpret a sentence consistent across a) tasks or stimulus presentation formats with different processing demands, and b) individuals? Results from the present thesis revealed that readers initiated reinterpretation procedures at an earlier point during processing when an explicit task required them to understand the sentence in detail (Chapter 4). Additionally, reinterpretation costs to brain responses were found to be exaggerated in a visual word-by-word presentation format compared with listening or whole-sentence reading (Chapter 5). Individual differences investigations showed that readers with greater vocabulary knowledge tended to be more sensitive to errors in processing, and able to adapt their reading behaviour on-line (Chapters 2 and 3). These findings support theories that view language experience and the development of robust knowledge structures as central to language processing, and highlight the importance for both theorists and experimentalists to carefully consider the influence of task-related and format-related processing demands on processing behaviour and comprehension.
... Although having very good reading skills they sometimes fail in understanding the gist. Studies by Joshi and Aaron (2000), Martin-Chang, and Gould (2008) have shown that "reading comprehension is strongly related to vocabulary knowledge. Vocabulary is the fundament of reading comprehension". ...
Article
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Effective reading comprehension is closely related to vocabulary acquisition of the words, as without it reading would be daunting. This paper recommends the importance of morphological awareness of an effective reading comprehension and illustrates the methods of them to students. Our objective is to show learning whole words, without morphological awareness of them is less effective way, which is also, takes more time and effort than necessary. Firstly, learners should be taught the patterns of word formation with the use of affixes. Secondly, students should be aware of morphological structure in order to decode individual complex words and to extend vocabulary and finally, they can form new words themselves with the help of their morphological awareness. Overall, the using of morphological knowledge in reading process is effective way understanding the meaning of the content immediately and it can be helpful key of increasing reading speed.
... Scores on the ART are correlated with orthographic processing (Stanovich & West, 1989), vocabulary (Beech, 2002;Lewellen, Goldinger, Pisoni, & Greene, 1993;Stanovich, West, & Harrison, 1995), speed of word recognition (Chateau & Jared, 2000;Sears, Campbell, & Lupker, 2006), reading comprehension (Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008;Stanovich & Cunningham, 1992, and standardized tests of verbal ability (Acheson, Wells, & MacDonald, 2008;Hall, Chiarello, & Edmonson, 1996;Lewellen et al., 1993;Stanovich et al., 1995). The amount of variance in individual reading ability that ART accounts for within an age group increases with level of schooling from elementary school through middle school, high school, and even to students at selective colleges. ...
Article
A large-scale eye-tracking study examined individual variability in measures of word recognition during reading among 546 college students, focusing on two established individual-differences measures: the Author Recognition Test (ART) and Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN). ART and RAN were only slightly correlated, suggesting that the two tasks reflect independent cognitive abilities in this large sample of participants. Further, individual variability in ART and RAN scores were related to distinct facets of word-recognition processes. Higher ART scores were associated with increased skipping rates, shorter gaze duration, and reduced effects of word frequency on gaze duration, suggesting that this measure reflects efficiency of basic processes of word recognition during reading. In contrast, faster times on RAN were associated with enhanced foveal-on-parafoveal effects, fewer first-pass regressions, and shorter second-pass reading times, suggesting that this measure reflects efficient coordination of perceptual-motor and attentional processing during reading. These results demonstrate that ART and RAN tasks make independent contributions to predicting variability in word-recognition processes during reading.
... -Vocabulary knowledge (Dixon, LeFevre, & Twilley, 1988) -Rapid naming of letters or numbers (Arnell, Joanisse, Klein, Busseri, & Tannock, 2009;Kasperski, Shany, & Katzir, 2016;Kirby, Georgiou, Martinussen, & Parrila, 2010;Savage, & Frederickson, 2005) -Letter, name, and word matching (Stroud, 1945) -Short-term memory span (Naveh-Benjamin & Ayres, 1986) -Working memory span (Baddeley, Logie, Nimmo-Smith, & Brereton,1985;Perfetti, 1985) -Metacognitive knowledge (knowing when your text understanding is good enough for your reading goal; Jones, Conradi, & Amendum, 2016;Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) -Number of book authors known (Choi, Lowder, Ferreira, & Henderson, 2015;Martin-Chang & Gould, 2008) -Amount of reading relative to peers (Choi et al., 2015) -Auditory word recognition (Breznitz & Berman, 2003) -Speech rate (Bosshardt & Fransen, 1996) -Spoken text comprehension (Hirai, 1999) -Visual acuity (Aberson and Bouwhuis, 1997) ...
Article
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Based on the analysis of 190 studies (18,573 participants), we estimate that the average silent reading rate for adults in English is 238 words per minute (wpm) for non-fiction and 260 wpm for fiction. The difference can be predicted by taking into account the length of the words, with longer words in non-fiction than in fiction. The estimates are lower than the numbers often cited in scientific and popular writings. The reasons for the overestimates are reviewed. The average oral reading rate (based on 77 studies and 5,965 participants) is 183 wpm. Reading rates are lower for children, old adults, and readers with English as second language. The reading rates are in line with maximum listening speed and do not require the assumption of reading-specific language processing. Within each group/task there are reliable individual differences, which are not yet fully understood. For silent reading of English non-fiction most adults fall in the range of 175 to 300 wpm; for fiction the range is 200 to 320 wpm. Reading rates in other languages can be predicted reasonably well by taking into account the number of words these languages require to convey the same message as in English.
Article
In language learning, vocabulary knowledge is considered as a dominant factor, either as a second or a foreign language. Vocabulary knowledge is justified as a crucial site to overall language acquisition process. There are a lot of unknown words that language learners encounter while they are reading are probably the very basic and fundamental reasons. In this notion, the learner may have difficulties in comprehending the text they are reading. Language learner and educators alike know that many of the reading comprehension breakdowns that experienced by students involve word recognition and lexical access course. Hence, this paper is an attempt to extend knowledge of vocabulary and its relationship with reading comprehension. Through the review of various views in vocabulary role and reading comprehension, intended to broaden knowledge of vocabulary and its relationship with reading comprehension.
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Reading comprehension is undoubtedly a fundamental skill, serving as a precursor to academic success, professional achievement, and lifelong learning as it enables language learners to acquire new knowledge and expand their worldview (Frey, Fisher, & Lapp, 2012) [11]. It is also considered the cornerstone of enhancing other productive skills, including speaking and writing skills, by facilitating the acquisition of vocabulary, syntax, and critical thinking abilities, all of which are crucial to effective communication and written expression. However, a significant number of learners encounter formidable challenges in comprehending written texts. This study endeavors to investigate the reading comprehension difficulties of English majored sophomores at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) as well as identify the factors behind them using a mixed-method approach. The research participants consisted of 186 sophomores, using a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that the bulk of the participants have difficulties in reading comprehension, particularly with regard to certain aspects such as vocabulary, background knowledge, grammatical structures, and reading strategies. The study also uncovers several contributory factors that impede reading comprehension, mainly a lack of reading habits and a shortage of interest and motivation for reading.
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The aim of this study is to explore the factors that affect the reading performance of Grade 3 pupils. This study was administered in a classroom with a total of 76 respondents using a researcher-made survey questionnaire that underwent a validity and reliability test. The result determined the level of reading performance of Grade 3 pupils from the data given by the advisers, which is remarked as "reader without comprehension." Moreover, this study determined the level of practice of the factors presented, the significant difference between paired factors, and the factors that best predict reading performance. Among the factors presented, this study revealed that vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, teacher, and parental involvement best predict the reading performance of Grade 3 pupils at Boston Central Elementary School.
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This study examines the correlation between students’ vocabulary mastery and their reading ability. The purpose of the research is to know whether the correlation is evident between students' vocabulary mastery and their reading ability at the second semester of eight grade of SMPN 4 Pare in the academic year of 2020/2021. The researcher used a quantitative approach through correlational research. The researcher used correlational research design by vocabulary and reading tests to the second year students of SMPN 4 Pare. The researcher used a test that consists of 57 items as an instrument of this study. There were 34 students of the second year students of SMPN 4 Pare participating in this study. The study reveals that there is a strong significant correlation between students’ vocabulary mastery and their reading ability at r=.8769, p<.005. This study demonstrates that the vocabulary mastery is important for reading ability as vocabulary will enhance reading comprehension. Pedagogical implication of this study is discussed.
Article
Reading confers significant benefits to children in both social and academic domains. However, the number of children who read for pleasure is decreasing and has been shown to drop significantly between the ages of 8 and 9. Despite the rising popularity of audiobooks and podcasts, research on children’s listening to spoken stories remains in its infancy. Thus, the present study explores how children engage with these realtively novel media. Fifty-two parents of children aged 8–13 years completed an online survey that asked about their children’s listening habits. Results showed that 74% of children listen to spoken stories, with the vast majority (92.5%) listening at least 1–2 times per week. While the survey revealed children are engaging with both podcasts and audiobooks, being read aloud to continues to be the most popular format for story listening in this age group (77.4% of listeners). Across platforms, the genre most frequently listened to was fantasy stories (84.9%; more detailed descriptions of popular themes and sub-themes are described in text). In sum, access to technology is becoming an increasingly important part of children’s lives. The data described here provide a timely perspective and a basis for informed studies of listening engagement in children.
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As critical reading is a process of active reader involvement, learners interact with the author’s exposition and potentially construct conceptual understanding of its content, a process for which Thinking Maps® is a potential catalyst. This study examines the potential effect of an instructional program based on Thinking Maps® on Jordanian EFL tenth-grade students’ critical reading skills. It further probes the perceived effectiveness of Thinking Maps® in developing their critical reading skills. Both quantitative and qualitative data were sought by means of a pre-/post-test and a semi-structured interview. The findings reveal statistically significant differences in the students’ critical reading skills in favor of the experimental group. The qualitative analysis of the interview reveals that the participants perceived Thinking Maps® as highly effective. Some implications and recommendations for EFL practitioners and future researchers are put forth.
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People communicate each other in uttering any meaningful way with vocabulary. The knowledge of vocabulary and the ability to access that knowledge efficiently are recognized as important factors in reading and listening comprehension and speaking and writing fluency. Thus, vocabulary knowledge helps students with language comprehension. The purpose of this study has been to determine the measuring Khmer vocabulary size for each grade in basic education.Quantitative method was adopted to gather primary data from two newspapers issued for a weekand ninebooks of folktales. Descriptive statistics were then used to investigate the frequencies of words that were used in the one-week issue of the two daily newspapers and in a set of nice Khmer folktale story books. The results indicated that the mean of grand total of sources as themean of the number of titles was (M = 45 and S.D =15) while the mean of non-repeated words was almost (M=3000 and S.D = 500) and the mean of repeated words was closely (M=20000 and S.D = 5000) using a whole article per day or an entire book. Furthermore, the result showed that each grade in basic education was approximately for 1,000 new words based on the frequency usagedividing into six different categorical word frequencies.The results of this study are helpful for curriculum developers and publishers to create a wordlist of Khmer vocabulary for basic education.
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Learning vocabulary is one of the most difficult obstacles that learners experience though learning a second or foreign language. The importance of vocabulary in language usage has been noted, and learners with inadequate vocabulary skills have had difficulty acquiring second and foreign languages. Consequently, when learning vocabulary in a second or foreign language, students must be taught vocabulary learning techniques. This paper seeks to determine whether previous studies undertaken in Jordan follow the current pattern of research in vocabulary learning strategies and reading comprehension. Furthermore, the study will assist students in developing their potential when they learn about the importance of ELL techniques during their university experience.
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This study ascertained the common reading problems that negatively impact reading of students with learning difficulties and investigated the reading strategies that special education teachers utilize to improve reading skills of their students. A survey questionnaire was used to determine the common reading problems encountered by the teachers in their reading classes and what reading strategies was employed in order to address such difficulties. Significant results of the study included the top three problems that adversely influence reading of students with learning difficulties include - issues with background knowledge, issues with vocabulary and trouble with fluency. Accordingly, the commonly used reading strategies by Special Education teachers were graphic organizer, questioning and peer-assisted strategy. Albeit, various strategies have been demonstrated as effective intervention for improving students’ reading, teachers should not depend on one single strategy in teaching their students. Results revealed that although teachers use several reading comprehension strategies that have been approved as effective by research, they modify some of these strategies based on the students’ needs and abilities.
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The current study investigated how a contextual list signal influences comprehenders’ inference generation of upcoming discourse relations and whether individual differences in working memory capacity and linguistic experience influence the generation of these inferences. Participants were asked to complete two-sentence stories, the first sentence of which contained an expression of quantity (a few, multiple). Several individual-difference measures were calculated to explore whether individual characteristics can explain the sensitivity to the contextual list signal. The results revealed that participants were sensitive to a contextual list signal (i.e., they provided list continuations), and this sensitivity was modulated by the participants’ linguistic experience, as measured by an author recognition test. The results showed no evidence that working memory affected participants’ responses. These results extend prior research by showing that contextual signals influence participants’ coherence-relation-inference generation. Further, the results of the current study emphasize the importance of individual reader characteristics when it comes to coherence-relation inferences.
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Despite the far-reaching advantages associated with leisure reading, it is an activity that fewer adolescents are choosing to pursue. The present study used a retrospective correlational approach to investigate shared storybook reading in childhood and current print exposure in 45 parent-adolescent dyads. Parents and adolescents completed a Retrospective Title Recognition Test, identifying storybook titles from a backdated list (books published before 2007) containing both real titles and foils. Adolescents also completed Activity Preference and Reading Enjoyment/Frequency questionnaires to assess reading habits as well as an Author Recognition Test to assess current print exposure. In addition, they were asked to name their favorite childhood storybook and favorite current author to investigate whether these two abilities were linked to print exposure. Vocabulary, reading, and spelling skills were also measured. A hierarchical multiple regression demonstrated that adolescents' Retrospective Title Recognition Test scores accounted for unique variance in their Author Recognition Test scores, above and beyond literacy skills. Mediational analyses demonstrated that print exposure contributed to word reading and spelling scores. Our findings highlight the impact of parents' shared storybook reading with children. Here, early reading experiences related to later reading preferences, which in turn, were associated with literacy skills in adolescence.
Thesis
In this thesis, two studies are presented which examine reading development and proficiency in post-secondary education. The first study examines the utility of a common method for determining print exposure, the Author Recognition Test (ART), in populations less frequently examined—namely, college students (as opposed to university students), and individuals whose first language is not English. Item Response Theory analysis shows that ART is not informative for these populations, which suggests that the development of a novel test of print exposure for comparing different populations is necessary. The second study quantifies the impact of each year of post-secondary study on reading development, and the differential effects between native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers of English. Findings show that each year of study itself is not a significant predictor of change, but rather improvement is explained by advancement in component skills of reading which develop over the course of the degree. Additionally, contrary to previous studies indicative of the Matthew Effect in college literacy development—which suggest that students improve by the end of their degree as a function of their ability at the beginning—this study demonstrates that L2 students generally benefit more from post-secondary education when compared to L1 peers, who start with a significant advantage. In this way, L2 students with sufficient mastery of component skills of reading emerge from post-secondary education with skills comparable to those of native English-speaking colleagues.
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Reading narrative literature is discussed as an influencing factor on the development of social-cognitive skills. Transportability, which is the tendency to immerse into narrative worlds, has been proposed as a moderator within this relationship, with high-transportable individuals being assumed to profit more from narratives. The current study examines (1) whether a relationship exists between different dimensions of empathy and narrative reading in an adolescent sample, (2) whether this relationship remains intact when gender, age, IQ, trait openness to experiences, and real-life social network are statistically controlled, and (3) whether transportability moderates the relationship between narrative reading and empathy. The sample included 282 German adolescents (Grades 9-10, age 13-18 years) who completed questionnaires and IQ test. Results revealed significant relationships between different dimensions of empathy (empathic concern, perspective taking, personal distress, and fantasy) and narrative reading. However, after including the control variables in the model, the relationships-except for fantasy-were no longer significant. Only for empathic concern, transportability emerged as a moderator but in an unexpected direction, showing a closer relationship between reading and empathic concern for low-transportable students. Finally, our results indicated that transportability might be better conceptualized as a mediator between narrative reading and empathy.
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In this study, the relationship between the word knowledge level of the seventh grade students and their reading comprehension skills was investigated. Relational (correlational) research method was used in the study. The study group of the study consisted of 355 7th grade students who were studying at secondary schools in Malatya in 2015-2016 academic year. The data to be used in the research were obtained through “Personal Information Form” which contained the information about the participants, reading texts, “Word Knowledge Test”, “Word Knowledge Level Rubric” and “Reading Comprehension Achievement Test”. The obtained data were coded and analysed using field related package programs. In the study; data analysis methods such as correlation analysis, regression analysis, MANOVA, ANOVA, independent sample t-test and dependent sample t-test were used. In addition, eta-square (η²) coefficient of correlation was used to determine the effect size when there was a significant difference between groups. As a result of the study, there was a high level and meaningful relationship between the word knowledge and reading comprehension (r =,77). In addition, there was a moderate and significant relationship between the level of word knowledge and reading comprehension of narrative texts (r =,67) and there was a high level and meaningful relationship between informative texts and reading comprehension (r =,73). It was found out that the word knowledge predicted the achievement of reading comprehension, the achievement of narrative texts reading comprehension and theviii achievement of informative texts reading comprehension significantly. According to these results, word knowledge expressed almost 60% of the total variance in reading comprehension; about 46% of the total variance in narrative text reading comprehension, and about 53% of the total variance in informative text reading comprehension. It was determined that students‟ word knowledge level and reading comprehension significantly differs from gender, socioeconomic status, pre-school (kindergarten) education status , mother‟s education level, father‟s education level, book reading frequency and general grade average. Female students‟ word knowledge and reading comprehension scores were higher than male students‟ word knowledge scores. As socioeconomic levels of students increased, word and reading comprehension achievement scores increased. Word knowledge and reading comprehension achievement scores of the students had a preschool education were found to be higher than those who did not receive pre-school education. As the level of education of the mother or father increased the students‟ word knowledge and reading comprehension achievement scores increased. Students who read books every day were found to have higher word scores than students who read books once/several times a month. It was found that students who read books every day had higher success scores than students who read books once/a few times a week. As the general grade average of the students increased, the word knowledge and the reading comprehension achievement scores increased; when the general grade average decreased, the word knowledge and reading comprehension achievement scores decreased. It was determined that students‟ narrative texts reading comprehension achievement scores were higher than informative text reading comprehension achievement scores. It was also found out that the students recognised the words in the narrative texts better than the words in the informative texts, recognised the words used as nouns better than the words used as verbs, recognised the words in the real meaning better than the words in the metaphorical meaning and recognised the words of foreign origin better than the words of Turkish origin. Keywords: reading comprehension, word knowledge, informative, narrative, 7th grade
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Phonological processing skills have been shown to account for some, but not all, of the variance in the word recognition ability of both children and adults. In two studies with adult subjects in the United States, the authors investigated whether orthographic processing ability--the ability to form, store, and access orthographic representations--can account for some of the additional variance in word recognition and spelling skill. A new measure of individual differences in exposure to print--the Author Recognition Test--was developed and validated in the two studies. This measure was designed to be relatively free of a confound that has plagued most print exposure indicators used in studies of adults: the tendency of respondents to give socially desirable answers. The Author Recognition Test was shown to be a remarkably robust and independent predictor of word processing ability. In Study 2, subjects' performance on this measure was shown to predict variance in orthographic processing independent of phonological factors. The results of the two studies were supportive of the idea that there are individual differences in reading and spelling caused by variation in orthographic processing skills. Moreover, these orthographic processing skills appear to be linked to print exposure, and thus to be environmentally mediated, rather than being simply indirect products of differences in phonological processing ability. Both studies demonstrate the potential usefulness of the Author Recognition Test as an indicator of print exposure in research on the cognitive consequences of literacy. /// [French] Les recherches antérieures ont montré que certaines habiletés de traitement phonologique comptent pour une partie de la variance dans la reconnaissance de mots aussi bien par les adultes que par les enfants. Deux expériences ont été menées auprès d'adultes américains pour voir dans quelle mesure le traitement orthographique peut compter pour une partie de variance supplémentaire dans la reconnaissance de mots et l'épellation. Une nouvelle mesure du degré d'exposition à l'écrit a été développée et validée dans les deux expériences: Le test de reconnaissance d'auteurs (ART). Cette mesure a été développée pour contourner le problème posé par les méthodes habituellement utilisées dans les recherches auprès d'adultes, qui font qu'ils ont tendance à répondre en conformité avec ce qu'ils jugent socialement acceptable. Le test de reconnaissance d'auteurs s'est révélé un prédicteur extrêmement robuste et indépendant de l'habileté à traiter des mots. Dans la seconde expérience, les résultats des sujets à cette mesure ont permis de prédire une partie importante de la variance pour le traitement orthographique indépendamment des facteurs phonologiques. Les résultats aux deux expériences appuient l'idée qu'une partie des différences individuelles en lecture et en épellation est due aux habiletés de traitement orthographique. De plus, ces habiletés de traitement orthographique apparaissent liées au degré d'exposition à l'écrit ce qui permet de poser comme hypothèse que l'acquisition de ces habiletés est conditionnée par l'environnement et n'est pas uniquement le produit des différences individuelles dans les habiletés de traitement phonologique. Les deux expériences ont confirmé l'utilité du test de reconnaissance d'auteurs comme mesure du degré d'exposition à l'écrit dans les recherches sur les conséquences cognitives de la littéracie. /// [Spanish] Las habilidades de procesamiento fonológico han explicado algunas, pero no todas, las variaciones en la habilidad para reconocer palabras tanto en niños como en adultos. En dos experimentos con sujetos adultos en los Estados Unidos, los autores investigaron si la habilidad de procesamiento ortográfico puede explicar la varianza adicional en el reconocimiento de palabras y su habilidad ortográfica. Una nueva medida de diferencias individuales en la exposición a materiales impresos--La prueba de reconocimiento de autores (ART)--fue desarrollada y validada en dos experimentos. Esta medida fue diseñada para estar relativamente libre de un problema que han sufrido la mayoría de los indicadores de exposición a materiales impresos que se usan en estudios de adultos--la tendencia de los sujetos a dar respuestas que ellos piensan son las que se esperan de ellos; las socialmente deseables. La prueba de reconocimiento de autores demostró ser un predictor notablemente robusto e independiente para predecir la habilidad de procesar palabras. En el Experimento 2, el desempeño de los sujetos en esta medida demostró que podía predecir la variabilidad en el procesamiento ortográfico, de manera independiente de los factores fonológicos. Los resultados de dos experimentos apoyan la idea de que hay diferencias individuales en lectura y ortografía causadas por la variación en las habilidades del procesamiento ortográfico. Además, estas habilidades de procesamiento ortográfico parecen estar relacionadas con la exposición a materiales impresos, y de esta manera estar mediados ambientalmente más bien, que ser simplemente productos indirectos de diferencias en la habilidad del procesamiento fonológico. Ambos estudios demostraron la ayuda potencial que la prueba de reconocimiento de autores tiene como un indicador de exposición a materiales impresos en la investigación de las consecuencias cognitivas del alfabetismo. /// [German] In der Vergangenheit war gezeigt worden, daß die Fähigkeiten der phonologischen Verarbeitung nur für einen Teil des Unterschieds in der Fähigkeit des Worterkennens zwischen Kindern und Erwachsenen zuständig waren. In zwei Experimenten, die mit Erwachsenen in den Vereinigten Staaten durchgeführt wurden, untersuchten die Verfasser, ob die Fähigkeit der orthographischen Verarbeitung für einen Teil des weiteren Unterschieds im Worterkennen und in der Rechtschreibkenntnis verantwortlich zeichnen kann. Für das Messen individueller Unterschiede bei der Wahrnehmung gedruckter Texte wurde ein neuer Maßstab aufgestellt und in zwei Experimenten bestätigt: der Test über Erkennen des Verfassers (ART). Dieser Maßstab wurde so aufgestellt, daß er relativ frei von einem Durcheinander ist, das die meisten Studien mit Erwachsenen, in denen Anzeigen über das Wahrnehmen gedruckter Texte untersucht wurden, negativ beeinflußte: die Neigung seitens der Teilnehmer, Antworten zu geben, die sie gesellschaftlich für erwünscht heilten. Es stellte sich heraus, daß der Verfassererkennungstest eine bemerkenswert beständige und unabhängige Voraussage der Wortverarbeitungsfähigkeiten leistete. Im zweiten Experiment zeigte sich, daß die Leistungen der Teilnehmer bei diesem Maßstab Unterschiede in der orthographischen Verarbeitung, die von phonologischen Faktoren unabhängig war, voraussagte. Die Resultate beider Experimente unterstützen die Vorstellung, daß beim Lesen und Buchstabieren individuelle Unterschiede bestehen, die durch Verschiedenheiten in den Fertigkeiten der orthographischen Verarbeitung hervorgerufen werden. Zusätzlich scheinen diese Fertigkeiten in der orthographischen Verarbeitung mit einer Wahrnehmung gedruckter Texte in Verbindung zu stehen und deshalb durch die Umgebung vermittelt zu sein--und nicht etwa einfach nur Nebenprodukte der Unterschiede in der Fertigkeit der phonologischen Verarbeitung zu sein. Beide Studien bewiesen die potentielle Nützlichkeit des Verfassererkennungstests als Textwahrnehmungsmaßstab in der Forschung über kognitive Auswirkungen in der Beherrschung der Schriftsprache.
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The relation of print exposure, measured by a revised version of A. E. Cunningham and K. E. Stanovich's (1990) Title Recognition Test (TRT), to word reading and reading comprehension was examined in disabled and nondisabled readers, Grades 5–9. In disabled readers, the TRT was a significant predictor of word reading when phonological skill was accounted for but not when orthographic ability was added to the regression equation, suggesting that the TRT overlaps considerably with orthographic skill. The TRT significantly predicted nondisabled readers' word reading after both phonological and orthographic skills were accounted for. The TRT contributed significantly to reading comprehension once variance was partialed from higher order reading processes for disabled readers only. The TRT's power to predict comprehension may be ascribed to the effects of print exposure on automaticity of word recognition, knowledge, or familiarization with text structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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This study examined the influence of print exposure on syllogistic reasoning and knowledge of mental-state verbs. One hundred thirty-three college students completed measures of reading comprehension, knowledge of mental-state verbs, syllogistic reasoning, and print exposure. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the print-exposure measure accounted for significant unique variance in performance on a measure of knowledge or- mental-state verbs, even after years of college completed, grade point average, and reading comprehension were statistically controlled. Print exposure proved to be a less robust predictor of performance on a syllogistic reasoning task when examined with a parallel series of analyses. These findings suggest that even the variation in literacy activity found among college students is associated with the ability to interpret texts by enhancing the ability to deal with subtle distinctions among mental-state terms. However, the view that print exposure fosters decontextualized reasoning, as typified in syllogistic reasoning, received only very modest support from this study.
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This study assessed the construct validity of a recently introduced measure of children's exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test (TRT). In samples of 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-grade children, the TRT demonstrated significant correlations with spelling, vocabulary, verbal fluency, word knowledge, and general information. Most important, it accounted for variance in these criterion variables when differences in both general ability and phonological coding ability were controlled. Although correlational, the latter result suggests that print exposure is an independent contributor to the development of verbal abilities. Studies of the cognitive consequences of differing amounts of print exposure could be facilitated by the use of this easily administered indicator. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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In a study of 3rd- and 4th-grade children it was established that orthographic processing ability can account for variance in word recognition skill after the variance due to phonological processing has been partialed out. This independent orthographic variance was related to performance on a new measure of individual differences in exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test, that has a very brief administration time. Additionally, some of the orthographic processing variance linked to word recognition ability was not shared with either phonological processing measures or with print exposure. The results of the study were supportive of the idea that there are individual differences in word recognition ability caused by variation in orthographic processing abilities that are in part determined by print exposure differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children participated in a 2-year longitudinal study to determine the predictive validity of the Title Recognition Test (TRT) and the Author Recognition Test (ART), 2 checklist measures of individual differences in exposure to print. Multiple regression analyses confirmed the ability of the TRT to predict growth in receptive vocabulary, general information, spelling, sight vocabulary, verbal fluency, and reading comprehension even after controlling for age, recognition memory, and previous performance in the same cognitive competency area. The ART was found to be a less robust predictor. Although correlational, our results suggest that print exposure may be an independent contributor to cognitive growth in the verbal domain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Stanovich, Cunningham, and West examine how literacy proficiency varies as a function of the amount of reading that people do. Many studies have investigated the antecedents of literacy, for example, instructional approaches and family variables, that lead to differences among people in reading achievement. Few have investigated the consequences of differences in the volume of reading among individuals. Stanovich and colleagues describe their research program focused on how the amount of reading that people do influences their cognition and knowledge. Their main finding is that the more a person reads, controlling for many other factors, the more he or she knows about a great many things. Stanovich and colleagues use these data to advance arguments about the importance of reading, the goals of reading instruction, the influence of reading on information processing, and the nature of cognition itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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In a study of 268 college students, measures of exposure to print predicted individual differences in knowledge in a variety of domains even after individual differences on 4 indicators of general ability (high school GPA, Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices, Nelson-Denny Reading Test—Comprehension subtest, and a mathematics ability test) had been statistically controlled. Although correlational, results suggest that print exposure is an independent contributor to the acquisition of content knowledge. The data challenge the view that knowledge acquisition is determined only by the efficiency of cognitive components that encode and store information. Instead, the results indicate that differences in exposure to information, particularly written sources of information, is a significant contributor to differences in knowledge across individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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[suggest that] individual differences in home and family environment are hypothesized to play a large role in children's cognitive growth / delineates the relation between 1st-grade literacy environment and the development of children's orthographic and phonological skills / followed a group of 1st-grade children, and 10 yrs later, assessed their level of reading volume as well as their verbal intelligence, reading comprehension and general knowledge / observe the widening achievement disparities and the relative contribution of print exposure in explaining these differences an analytic logic for tracking the specific effects of print exposure / assessing print exposure / can orthographic processing ability account for unique variance in word recognition / can variance in orthographic processing ability be linked to print exposure differences that are independent of phonological processing skill / a longitudinal investigation of print exposure and the development of cognitive skills [print exposure as a predictor of 10 yrs of cognitive growth, 1st-grade cognitive skills as predictors of subsequent print exposure, print exposure as a predictor of knowledge and vocabulary] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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One hundred thirty-three college students (mean age = 19.1 years) and 49 older individuals (mean age = 79.9 years) completed 2 general knowledge tasks, a vocabulary task, a working memory task, a syllogistic reasoning task, and several measures of exposure to print. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that when measures of exposure to print were used as control variables, the positive relationships between age and vocabulary, and age and declarative knowledge, were eliminated. Within each of the age groups, exposure to print was a significant predictor of vocabulary and declarative knowledge even after differences in working memory, general ability, and educational level were controlled. These results support the theory of fluid-crystallized intelligence and suggest a more prominent role for exposure to print in theories of individual differences in knowledge acquisition and maintenance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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A FRAMEWORK for conceptualizing the development of individual differences in reading ability is presented that synthesizes a great deal of the research literature. The framework places special emphasis on the effects of reading on cognitive development and on "bootstrapping" relationships involving reading. Of key importance are the concepts of reciprocal relationships-situations where the causal connection between reading ability and the efficiency of a cognitive process is bidirectional-and organism-environment correlation-the fact that differentially advantaged organisms are exposed to nonrandom distributions of environmental quality. Hypotheses are advanced to explain how these mechanisms operate to create rich-getricher and poor-get-poorer patterns of reading achievement. The framework is used to explicate some persisting problems in the literature on reading disability and to conceptualize remediation efforts in reading.
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This study examines the longitudinal relations among early literacy experiences at home and children's kindergarten literacy skills, Grade 1 word reading and spelling skills, and Grade 4 reading comprehension, fluency, spelling, and reading for plea-sure. Ninety French-speaking children were tested at the end of kindergarten and Grade 1, and 65 were followed until the end of Grade 4. Parents reported in kinder-garten that storybook reading occurred frequently and that they sometimes taught their child to read words. The results of hierarchical regression analyses that con-trolled for parent education as well as concurrent and longitudinal relations among literacy behaviors reveal that parent teaching about literacy in kindergarten directly predicted kindergarten alphabet knowledge and Grade 4 reading fluency, whereas storybook exposure directly predicted kindergarten vocabulary and the frequency with which children reported reading for pleasure in Grade 4. Moreover, storybook exposure predicted Grade 4 reading comprehension indirectly. These findings extend the Home Literacy Model proposed by Sénéchal and LeFevre (2002). Powerful prescriptions for social policy require that models of reading acquisition be as comprehensive and accurate as possible. If the societal goal is to ensure that children quickly become able to read and understand texts fluently, then models of reading should include precise descriptions of the teaching methods that optimize learning, precise descriptions of the components that allow children to read flu-ently, and precise descriptions of the preparatory experiences and resources that SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF READING, 10(1), 59–87 Copyright © 2006, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
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First-grade children completed a battery of tasks that included standardized measures of word recognition and spelling, measures of phonological and orthographic processing skill, and a short indicator of exposure to print via home literacy experiences. Phonological and orthographic processing skill were separable components of variance in word recognition. Orthographic processing ability accounted for variance in word recognition ability even after the variance in three phonological processing measures had been partialed. Additionally, variance in orthographic processing ability not explained by phonological abilities was reliably linked to differences in print exposure. The print exposure measure was not, however, linked to the measures of phonological processing. This finding was unexpected but it is consistent with some previous research. The theoretical implications of this result are discussed.
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Most studies of the cognitive consequences of literacy have attempted to compare the performance of literate individuals with that of illiterate individuals. We argue that it is not absolutely necessary to examine illiterates in order to study the cognitive consequences of reading experience because there is enormous variation in exposure to print even within a generally literate society. In the present study, we tested several methods of assessing differential exposure to print and demonstrated that all have significant correlations with measures of vocabulary, cultural knowledge, spelling ability, and verbal fluency. Several indicators of print exposure predicted variance in these knowledge domains even when general ability and reading-comprehension skill were statistically controlled. Our results, although correlational, suggest that print exposure is an independent contributor to the development of certain verbal skills.
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A group of 1st-graders who were administered a battery of reading tasks in a previous study were followed up as 11th graders. Ten years later, they were administered measures of exposure to print, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and general knowledge. First-grade reading ability was a strong predictor of all of the 11th-grade outcomes and remained so even when measures of cognitive ability were partialed out. First-grade reading ability (as well as 3rd- and 5th-grade ability) was reliably linked to exposure to print, as assessed in the 11th grade, even after 11th-grade reading comprehension ability was partialed out, indicating that the rapid acquisition of reading ability might well help develop the lifetime habit of reading, irrespective of the ultimate level of reading comprehension ability that the individual attains. Finally, individual differences in exposure to print were found to predict differences in the growth in reading comprehension ability throughout the elementary grades and thereafter.
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SOLITARY INDIVIDUALS waiting for flights in an airport departure lounge were classified as either readers (engaged in recreational reading for 10 consecutive minutes) or nonreaders by an experimenter unobtrusively observing their behavior. Of the 217 subjects, 111 were classified as readers and 106 as nonreaders. Individuals classified as readers scored higher on several recognition checklist measures of print exposure that can be administered in a matter of minutes. Individuals judged to be high in print exposure-on the basis of either an inference from their airport behavior or an inference from their responses on the checklist measures-displayed more extensive vocabularies and cultural knowledge than did individuals low in print exposure. Although engagement in literacy activities was correlated with both age and education, exposure to print was a substantial predictor of vocabulary and cultural knowledge even after differences in age and education were controlled. The results, taken in conjunction with the outcomes of several related studies, suggest a more prominent role for exposure to print in theories of individual differences in cognitive development.
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Provides simple but accurate methods for comparing correlation coefficients between a dependent variable and a set of independent variables. The methods are simple extensions of O. J. Dunn and V. A. Clark's (1969) work using the Fisher z transformation and include a test and confidence interval for comparing 2 correlated correlations, a test for heterogeneity, and a test and confidence interval for a contrast among k (>2) correlated correlations. Also briefly discussed is why the traditional Hotelling's t test for comparing correlations is generally not appropriate in practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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63 5th-grade children completed daily-activity diaries indicating how they spent their nonschool time for 15 days. From these diaries, estimates of the minutes per day that were spent in various activities were derived. The estimate of book-reading time from the activity diary correlated with new measures of individual differences in exposure to print that use a checklist-with-foils logic and that have very brief administration times. Both diary-estimated and checklist-estimated book reading predicted a variety of verbal outcome measures, but estimates of television watching did not. Multiple regression and factor analysis confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of a construct argued to be best conceived of as nonschool print exposure that appears to be measured as well by the checklist tasks as by the activity-diary method. In contrast, certain types of questionnaire methods of assessing reading habits and attitudes appear to assess the extent of general positive attitudes toward reading rather than the degree of print exposure itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Author and book title recognition tests have been used extensively in reading-related research with both children and adults. The present paper reports the development of a book title and author recognition test and data from a UK sample of adults. Higher scores were obtained on the Author test than on the Title test. It is suggested that the tests are suitable for use with the United Kingdom adult population.
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Previous research on whether exposure to print could account for individual differences in growth in children's reading comprehension has produced conflicting results (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990). We conducted a longitudinal study of growth in reading ability employing two new indicators of print exposure that use a checklist-with-foils logic and that have very brief administration times. We found that individual differences in third- to fifth-grade growth in reading were significantly related to these indicators of print exposure. It appears that the extent to which individuals engage in literacy activities is a significant contributor to developed reading ability. Further studies of the cognitive consequences of literacy could be facilitated by the use of the easily administered indicators of print exposure that we examined in this study.
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Running title: Growth in reading Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-38) Performed pursuant to contract no. 400-81-0030 of the National Institute of Education
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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Southern California, 1992. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-37).
The role of inadequate print exposure as a determinate of reading comprehension problems Reading comprehension disabilities: Processes and intervention Knowledge growth and maintenance across the life span: The role of print exposure
  • K E Stanovich
  • R F West
  • A E Cunningham
  • J Cipielewski
  • S Siddiqui
Stanovich, K.E., West, R.F., Cunningham, A.E., Cipielewski, J. & Siddiqui, S. (1996). The role of inadequate print exposure as a determinate of reading comprehension problems. In C. Cornoldi & J. Oakhill (Eds.), Reading comprehension disabilities: Processes and intervention. (pp. 15–82). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Stanovich, K.E., West, R.F. & Harrison, M.R. (1995). Knowledge growth and maintenance across the life span: The role of print exposure. Developmental Psychology, 31, 811–826.
Literacy experiences and the shaping of cognition Global prospects for education: Development, culture and schooling Exposure to print and orthographic processing
  • K E Stanovich
  • A E Cunningham
  • R F West
  • K E Stanovich
  • R F West
Stanovich, K.E., Cunningham, A.E. & West, R.F. (1998). Literacy experiences and the shaping of cognition. In S. Paris & H. Wellman (Eds.), Global prospects for education: Development, culture and schooling. (pp. 253–288). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Stanovich, K.E. & West, R.F. (1989). Exposure to print and orthographic processing. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 402–433.
Tracking the unique effects of print exposure in children
  • Cunningham
Testing the home literacy model
  • Senechal