ArticlePDF Available

Reading for Understanding:: Toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension

Authors:
A preview of the PDF is not available
... As Snow (2002) states reading is the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language (p. 11). ...
... Therefore, a reader must have knowledge ability to understand the text which is based on specific tasks given in the textbook. To put in other words, the readers must be engaged in different tasks to comprehend the text (Snow, 2002). ...
Article
The research attempts to find out the relation to reading and writing skill from grade 9 textbook. There are four basic skills i.e. listening, speaking, reading, and writing which are strongly prescribed in the textbook. Here, the researcher has tried to explore the two major skills, namely reading and writing and their relation while practicing in the textbook. This research uses descriptive qualitative research. The data source of this research is English textbook entitled ‘English 9’. The text has allotted marks for each skill in the syllabus. The reading text of grade 9 comprises 40% marks while writing comprises 35% of total marks. There are ten outcomes that are supposed to be achieved by students under the reading section. This number is equal in the writing section as well. By this, the course has adopted the sequential approach to reading and writing instruction, i.e. reading leading to writing. However, most of the contents given in the reading section do not collaborate with the writing part. There are ample examples where the students feel difficulties while producing the writing part given in the textbook. The collected data was interpreted using a descriptive approach. It was found that most of the tasks given in the textbook in relation to reading and writing are in segregated form. This idea of segregation is quite different from what the modern scholar say about skills of language learning.
... In the reading process, which is still being discovered as a very complex structure, words, vocabulary are deciphered, reading comprehension is associated with concepts such as oral speech, reading motivation, and meaning is continuously extracted from written texts (McShane, 2005). Reading, which is considered as a critical skill for academic success (Snow, 2002), reaches its ultimate goal with reading comprehension. Understanding the text we read includes skills such as discovering valuable information and relationships in the text, evaluating, criticising and questioning the information in accordance with the purpose (Rojas Rojas et al., 2019). ...
Article
Full-text available
Although the positive effects of the use of technology for students with learning disabilities (LD) have been reported, there is a lack of both theory and practice in terms of integrating technology with the appropriate strategy in accordance with the student, content and purpose. Both teaching materials developed with qualified strategies and the active involvement of the target audience in the process are a need to design effective and sustainable learning materials and processes for LD. This study involved both the production of a material with the common views of stakeholders related to LD (individuals diagnosed with LD, special education teachers, academics working on LD) and the examination of the effectiveness of this material. The focus of the study is primarily on the fact that human being is a social being and learning, language and reading are social phenomena. In this context, within the framework of social constructivist perspective, an e-book design based on context based teaching (CBT) strategy and its effectiveness on reading performance were analysed. The study involved a two-stage process. In the first phase, design-based research was conducted and a CBT-supported e-book (DIJIKIT) was developed. In the second stage, DIJIKIT and an e-book were compared in an adapted alternating implementation design. The participants of the study in the CBT process consisted of researchers, three special education teachers, academicians and two primary school students diagnosed with learning disabilities. In each cycle of the DBR, the participants provided feedback on the material. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, video recordings and a researcher's diary were used as data collection tools in the DBR. As a result of the DBR, DIJIKIT design and content features were determined. In the experimental process, DIJIKIT was used by three primary school students diagnosed with learning disabilities. In the experimental process, efficacy (the informal reading invetory), reliability (treatment integrity, interobserver agreement) and social validity (social validity forms) data were collected. The reading comprehension performances and reading levels of all three students increased. Social validity data supported the experimental process data and clearly demonstrated the need for effective instructional technologies for both parents and teachers. The study offers practical implications and recommendations for future researchers in terms of exemplary design features and greater visibility of the relationship between instructional technologies and special education.
Article
Full-text available
A good knowledge of connectives like moreover and therefore is crucial for reading comprehension and academic success, yet not all connectives, especially infrequent connectives mostly used in writing, are well mastered even by adults. The main goal of this paper is to assess the possibility to improve the ability to use connectives in discourse during the transitional teenage years. To do so, we examined whether 228 native French-speaking teenagers and 60 adults improved their performance with eight infrequent (prototypical and non-prototypical) connectives in a sentence-completion task after active or passive training. The results revealed that training had only a limited effect on the ability to use both types of connectives, while the degree of exposure to print was an important predictor of individual variations. These findings suggest that connectives' mastery depends more on exposure to extensive written input that allows to internalize their procedural meaning over time rather than on one-time explicit activation of the mapping between their form and function.
Article
Full-text available
This paper focuses on the English reading comprehension abilities of 200 candidates who applied at SBBU University in Pakistan through entrance test. Using a quantitative research approach, the study examines students' reading comprehension exam results to determine performance patterns across literal, inferential, and critical comprehension categories. The results show that Business Administration students outperformed Social Sciences students, with the latter encountering considerable difficulty in higher-order comprehension skills. While female applicants outperformed males somewhat, both genders faced difficulty with inferential and critical reading. The findings underscore the importance of tailored preparatory programs to improve reading competency, particularly advanced comprehension skills, resulting in higher academic outcomes for prospective students.
Preprint
Full-text available
Short-reading comprehension questions help students understand text structure but lack effective feedback. Students struggle to identify and correct errors, while manual feedback creation is labor-intensive. This highlights the need for automated feedback linking responses to a scoring rubric for deeper comprehension. Despite advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP), research has focused on automatic grading, with limited work on feedback generation. To address this, we propose a system that generates feedback for student responses. Our contributions are twofold. First, we introduce the first system for feedback on short-answer reading comprehension. These answers are derived from the text, requiring structural understanding. We propose an "answer diagnosis graph," integrating the text's logical structure with feedback templates. Using this graph and NLP techniques, we estimate students' comprehension and generate targeted feedback. Second, we evaluate our feedback through an experiment with Japanese high school students (n=39). They answered two 70-80 word questions and were divided into two groups with minimal academic differences. One received a model answer, the other system-generated feedback. Both re-answered the questions, and we compared score changes. A questionnaire assessed perceptions and motivation. Results showed no significant score improvement between groups, but system-generated feedback helped students identify errors and key points in the text. It also significantly increased motivation. However, further refinement is needed to enhance text structure understanding.
Article
Estudos empíricos sobre a cognição sugerem que a metacognição pode estar relacionada com a compreensão leitora. O presente trabalho investigou a existência de relações entre a metacognição e a compreensão leitora, a partir de uma revisão sistemática da literatura de estudos empíricos publicados entre 2017 e 2024, e disponíveis nas bases de dados da Web of Science, Embase, Eric e SciELO. Os dados analisados permitiram identificar o papel que alguns componentes específicos da metacognição, como detecção e reparo de inconsistências e estratégias globais de metacognição, têm sobre a compreensão leitora. Discute-se possíveis contribuições desses resultados tanto para práticas pedagógicas nas séries iniciais, quanto a possibilidade de uso no planejamento e implementação de políticas públicas voltadas à superação do analfabetismo funcional.
Article
Full-text available
This research study was aimed at improving students’ reading comprehension by using interaction-based activities of grade VIII B students at SMPN 1 Kramatwatu in the academic year of 2020/2021. The actions were conducted based on the curriculum and in line with the course grid and lesson plan developed before conducting the interaction0based activities. This research was action research. It consisted of two cycles, which was conducted for three meetings in the first cycle and second cycle. The subjects of this research study were 36 students of grade VIII B at SMPN 1 Kramatwatu. The data were qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were collected through observation, interviews with the students, the English teacher and the research collaborator, and documentation the teaching and learning process. The data were in the forms of field notes, interview transcripts, vignettes, and photographs. While the quantitative data were obtained from tests (pre-test and post-test). The validity of the data was obtained by applying democratic validity, outcome validity, process validity, catalytic validity, and dialogic validity. Time triangulation, theoretical triangulation, and investigator triangulation were also applied to check the trustworthiness of the data. The interaction-based activities were used in each stage to improve the interaction between the students and the teacher. The actions conducting during this research study involved implementing the interaction-based activities, training the students to use reading techniques and strategies, teaching grammatical points, using power point presentations, pictures, and handout, and motivating the students through stories and giving rewards. The research study outcomes show that the students’ reading comprehension improved through the interaction-based activities. There were also improvements in their involvement, confidence and motivation. In terms of reading the texts, the students used some reading techniques and strategies, such as scanning, skimming, and guessing. In terms of students’ behavior, the students also improved their confidence to participate actively in the classroom. The students did not worry of making mistakes in using the English language. The students were active in the discussion activity and giving feedback to each other and helping each other in the classroom activities. The students were enthusiastically in learning reading. Moreover, the students could answer the comprehension tasks well. Furthermore, the students’ reading comprehension were measured quantitatively by comparing mean score of Cycle I and Cycle II. The result revealed that the students’ reading comprehension improved.
Article
Full-text available
This research is aimed at improving the eighth grade students’ reading comprehension ability using diagrammatic flowchart at SMPN 3 Kramatwatu in the academic year of 2018/2019. This action research was conducted in two cycles. The researcher worked collaboratively with the English teacher and the eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Kramatwatu. The data of this study were qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were obtained through observation in the teaching and learning process during the implementation of the actions, interviews with the students and the English teacher about the implemented actions, and discussion with the English teacher as the collaborator. The qualitative data were in the forms of field notes and interview transcripts. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were collected through the pre-test and post-test. Therefore, the data were in the form of students’ reading scores in the pre-test and post-test. The results show that there are some improvements on the students’ reading comprehension ability. They make a good improvement in some aspects of reading skills such as guessing, and predicting. The improvement is also shown by the students’ positive behaviors toward the implementation of the diagrammatic flowchart related to their participation in the class and their interest in joining the activities. They are more active than before in every activity. They are active to participate in making prediction and guessing meaning. They are interested in reading the English texts and completing the tasks. The findings are supported by the result of the paired-samples t-test. On average, there is an improvement on students’ reading comprehension which is shown by the level of significant of the paired samples t-test 0,000, which means that there is a significant improvement of the students’ reading comprehension ability after the researcher implementing the diagrammatic flowchart.
Article
Full-text available
Multiple cognitive processes are required to understand what is read—the goal of reading. The objective of this study is to analyse and synthesize the evidence presented in literature regarding the relationships between reading fluency and executive functions in reading comprehension. To this end, a systematic review of studies published between 2019 and 2023 was conducted using a metasearch engine. Six articles that met the inclusion criteria were found. The results indicate that there is no consensus on the definition of reading fluency or the instruments used to measure it. The findings on how reading fluency and executive functions are related to reading comprehension are inconclusive. Nevertheless, the evidence analysed suggests that both reading fluency and executive functions are relevant variables in reading comprehension, making it essential to continue investigating these relationships. The study proposes future research lines aimed at clarifying the processes involved in reading comprehension and their interconnections. R E S U M E N Múltiples procesos cognitivos son requeridos para comprender lo que se lee -fin de la lectura-. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar y sintetizar las evidencias arrojadas por la literatura acerca de las relaciones entre la fluidez lectora y las funciones ejecutivas en la comprensión lectora. Con este propósito, se realizó una revisión sistemática de estudios publicados entre 2019 y 2023 a través de un metabuscador. Se encontraron seis artículos que cumplieron con los criterios de inclusión. Los resultados indican que la definición de fluidez lectora y los instrumentos utilizados para medirla no cuentan con consenso. Los hallazgos sobre el modo en que la fluidez lectora y las funciones ejecutivas se relacionan en la comprensión lectora no son concluyentes. Aun así, las evidencias analizadas sugieren que tanto la fluidez lectora como las funciones ejecutivas resultan variables relevantes en la comprensión lectora, por lo que es fundamental continuar indagando estas relaciones. El estudio propone líneas futuras de investigación que permitan aclarar los procesos involucrados en la comprensión lectora y sus interconexiones. R E S U M O São necessários múltiplos processos cognitivos para compreender o que é lido - o objetivo da leitura. O objetivo deste estudo é analisar e sintetizar as evidências apresentadas na literatura a respeito das relações entre fluência de leitura e funções executivas na compreensão leitora. Para tal, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática de estudos publicados entre 2019 e 2023, utilizando um motor de meta-busca. Foram encontrados seis artigos que atenderam aos critérios de inclusão. Os resultados indicam que não há consenso sobre a definição de fluência de leitura ou sobre os instrumentos utilizados para medi-la. As conclusões sobre a forma como a fluência de leitura e as funções executivas estão relacionadas com a compreensão da leitura são inconclusivas. No entanto, a evidência analisada sugere que tanto a fluência de leitura como as funções executivas são variáveis relevantes na compreensão da leitura, tornando essencial continuar a investigar estas relações. O estudo propõe linhas de investigação futuras que visam clarificar os processos envolvidos na compreensão da leitura e as suas interligações.
Article
Full-text available
This article, written for a general audience, focuses on the importance of keeping adolescents' interests and needs foremost in mind when designing literacy instruction at the middle and high school level. It is a slightly revised version of a position paper that the Board of Directors of the National Reading Conference (NRC) commissioned this past year to underscore the need to continue literacy instruction beyond the elementary grades. Posted originally to NRC's web page (http://nrc.oakland.edu), the paper argues that adolescent literacy instruction, if it is to be effective, must address issues of self-efficacy and student engagement with a variety of texts (e.g., textbooks, hypermedia texts, digital texts) in diverse settings. It must also attend to the literacy demands of subject area classes, to struggling readers, to issues of critical literacy, and to participatory instructional approaches that actively engage adolescents in their own learning.
Article
Full-text available
This article focuses on a particular educational context, the school, and how characteristics of the structure and organization of high schools influence students' academic development. The emphasis is on a type of quantitative inquiry called school effects research. It describes a methodology that is most appropriate for conducting studies of school effects in particular and educational contexts in general: hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Two previously published studies are used as heuristic examples of school effects studies conducted with HLM methods. Both studies use large and nationally representative longitudinal data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to explore school effects on learning and its social distribution by student socioeconomic status. Study 1 focuses on the effects of high school size on learning. Study 2 focuses on how teachers' attitudes, taken as a collective property of the social organization of schools, influence both learning and its social distribution. Implications for both policy and research are discussed.
Article
Full-text available
Keeping important text ideas in focus and scaffolding children's responses and ideas are keys to successful read-alouds.
Article
Full-text available
The goal of many recent intervention studies has been to examine the conditions that must be in place for all children to acquire adequate reading skills. Although the ultimate goal of reading instruction is to help children acquire the skills necessary to comprehend text, an important subgoal for early reading instruction is to teach children to identify words accurately on the printed page. Five recent studies of methods to prevent reading difficulties were examined in light of the goal that every child should acquire adequate word reading skills during early elementary school. It was estimated that our best current methods, if applied broadly, would leave anywhere from 2% to 6% of children with inadequate word reading skills in the first and second grades. Several broad characteristics of these "treatment resisters" are identified, and the implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
Article
Full-text available
This 3-part article represents an effort to confront 3 large lacunae in the research on reading fluency: definition, component structure, and theory-based intervention. The 1st section describes several historical approaches to fluency and the components of fluent reading that are implicit in these approaches. We then present our own developmental- and component-based definition of reading fluency. In the 2nd section we discuss how different types of current fluency interventions correspond to particular components in fluency's structure and to particular phases of its development. The last section presents an overview of an experimental fluency program that attempts to address multiple components in the development of fluent reading. Finally, we argue that increased exploration of the issues surrounding fluency and comprehension will contribute to our understanding of both reading development and dyslexia subtypes.
Article
Full-text available
Effects of instructional context on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation have been examined with a variety of studies. This quasi experiment compared students receiving an instructional intervention designed to increase intrinsic motivation with students receiving traditional instruction. Concept-oriented reading instruction (CORI) integrated reading and language arts with science inquiry. It emphasized learning goals, real-world interaction (hands-on science activities), competence support (strategy instruction), autonomy support (self-directed learning), and collaboration. Traditional classrooms had the same content objectives and comparable teachers but different pedagogy. Children in CORI classrooms scored higher on motivation than did children in traditional classrooms, with effect sizes of 1.94 for curiosity and 1.71 for strategy use. Grade-level differences were found for recognition and competition. The results show that classroom contexts can be constructed to influence motivational outcomes positively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Full-text available
We review the body of research on reading comprehension for students with learning disabilities. First, we describe the factors that lead to the comprehension difficulties of these students. Next we describe our procedures for reviewing the literature on effective instructional methods for this population. Next we review the body of studies involving instructional methods for improving the comprehension of narrative text. This is followed by the research on techniques for improving the comprehension of expository text. We conclude with a discussion of ongoing issues in the field—in particular, (a) the increased use of socially mediated instruction, (b) the need to teach multiple strategies to students to improve comprehension, and (c) controversies in how important it is to explicitly teach specific strategies versus merely providing flexible frameworks to structure dialogue on texts read.
Article
Research has helped practice get to this possibility. Having built on earlier work, research today is well beyond simple notions of texts, readers, and contexts. Researchers today who study response from a sociocultural frame take for granted the complexities of the reader-text transaction that is embedded in multiple worlds. Teachers, too, recognize the care with which this transaction must be negotiated in the classroom-itself a conflicted cultural world. What teachers say and do, the texts they choose and how they choose them, and the tasks they set for their students all affect this transaction. While teachers can help students develop specific tools to use as they read and respond in a particular classroom, the cultural tools that students bring to the classroom remain varied, sometimes closely aligned to those sanctioned by the teacher, sometimes in opposition. By creating opportunities for students to read and respond in the company of others, teachers foster their students' ability to make sense of text worlds and lived worlds. By encouraging 8-year-olds to make connections between their own experiences and experiences of characters in the books they read, or giving 16-year-olds the tools they need to explore how they and the characters they are reading about are constituted by their cultures, teachers make it possible for students to use their responses to school-sanctioned text to construct and critique their worlds.
Article
Fifty-five children from multilingual backgrounds being educated in English were studied longitudinally over a two-year period, with measures taken of their phonological skill, vocabulary and letter knowledge. Phonological segmentation ability and letter knowledge proved significant predictors of both concurrent and later reading achievement a year later, irrespective of the children's native language. In contrast, rhyming measures were not significant predictors of reading skill. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical notions about the structure of phonological awareness and its impact on early reading development.