scholarly journals Reading for Meaning: What Influences Paragraph Understanding in Aphasia?

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1S) ◽  
pp. 423-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Webster ◽  
Julie Morris ◽  
David Howard ◽  
Maria Garraffa
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Matched Control ◽  
Reading Speed ◽  
Reading Difficulties ◽  
Propositional Content ◽  
Reading Impairment ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
Comprehension Accuracy

Purpose The current study investigated the effect of text variables including length, readability, propositional content, and type of information on the reading comprehension of people with aphasia. Method The performance of 75 people with aphasia was compared with 87 healthy, age-matched control participants. Reading comprehension was considered in terms of both accuracy in responding to questions tapping comprehension and reading time. Participants with aphasia (PWA) were divided into 2 groups (no reading impairment [PWA:NRI] and reading impairment [PWA:RI]) depending on whether their performance fell within the 5th percentile of control participants. Results As groups, both PWA:NRI and PWA:RI differed significantly from control participants in terms of reading time and comprehension accuracy. PWA:NRI and PWA:RI differed from each other in terms of accuracy but not reading time. There was no significant effect of readability or propositional density on comprehension accuracy or reading time for any of the groups. There was a significant effect of length on reading time but not on comprehension accuracy. All groups found main ideas easier than details, stated information easier than inferred, and had particular difficulty with questions that required integration of information across paragraphs (gist). Conclusions Both accuracy of comprehension and reading speed need to be considered when characterizing reading difficulties in people with aphasia.

Characteristics of developmental dyslexia in a regular writing system

1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Wimmer
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Matched Control ◽  
Reading Speed ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Reading Difficulties ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Naming Speed ◽  
Level Control ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
And Function

AbstractThe present study assessed reading difficulties and cognitive impairments of German-speaking dyslexic children at grade levels 2, 3, and 4. It was found that German dyslexic children suffered from a pervasive speed deficit for all types of reading tasks, including text, high frequency words, and pseudowords, but at the same time showed generally rather high reading accuracy. For pseudowords, reading refusals or word responses were absent, and the majority of errors was close to the target pronunciation. Reading speed seemed to be most impaired for pseudowords and function words that did not allow the children to take a short-cut from phonemically mediated word processing. The discussion offers a developmental framework for the interpretation of these reading difficulties. For the cognitive tasks, dyslexic children did not differ from age-matched control children on the pseudoword repetition task or the digit span task, indicating that auditory perception and memory were not impaired. On phonological awareness tasks (rhyme oddity detection, vowel substitution, and pseudoword spelling), dyslexic children scored lower than age-matched control children, but not lower than younger reading-level control children. The performance of the dyslexic children on the phonemic segmentation tasks (pseudoword spelling and vowel substitution) was high in absolute terms. In contrast, marked differences between dyslexic and age-matched controls were found on rapid naming tasks: dyslexic grade 4 children showed lower numeral-naming speed than reading-level grade 2 children. Numeral-naming speed turned out to be the most important predictor of reading speed differences. These findings are discussed in relation to the phonological impairment explanation of dyslexia and to recent alternative explanations that posit an underlying impairment in automatizing skills which demand the fast execution of low-level cognitive processes.

scholarly journals Testing young foreign language learners’ reading comprehension: Exploring the effects of working memory, grade level, and reading task

2021 ◽  
pp. 026553222199148
Author(s):  
Tineke Brunfaut ◽  
Judit Kormos ◽  
Marije Michel ◽  
Michael Ratajczak
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Reading Test ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Young Learners ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Comprehension Accuracy

Extensive research has demonstrated the impact of working memory (WM) on first language (L1) reading comprehension across age groups (Peng et al., 2018), and on foreign language (FL) reading comprehension of adults and older adolescents (Linck et al., 2014). Comparatively little is known about the effect of WM on young FL readers’ comprehension, and even less within testing contexts. Young FL readers are still developing their L1 reading skills and general cognitive skills (e.g., attentional regulation abilities). Completing FL reading tests might be particularly taxing on their WM, and differences in WM capacity – as well as other learner and task characteristics – might create construct-irrelevant variance in test performance. In this study we investigate the effects of WM, grade level, and reading task on young learners’ FL reading test performances. Ninety-four young English language learners (Grades 6–7) in Hungary completed the TOEFL® Junior™ Comprehensive’s reading test and a WM test battery. Our mixed-effects model predicted significantly higher comprehension accuracy among learners with higher WM capacity, and among learners in Grade 7 compared to learners in Grade 6. Reading task differences were not associated with significant comprehension accuracy differences. We discuss the implications of our findings for testing young learners’ FL reading comprehension.

scholarly journals Experimental Research on English Reading Behavior Based on E-Prime System

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhu Feng
Keyword(s):  
Reading Time ◽  
Reading Speed ◽  
Generation System ◽  
Chinese College Students ◽  
English Reading ◽  
Detection Technology ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Prime System ◽  
Adverbial Clauses ◽  
Reading Teaching

Guided by the framework of structural construction and based on the E-Prime experimental generation system, the reading time method and detection technology are used to investigate the differences of reading comprehension between conditional adverbial clauses which presented by two ways — preposition and postposition among native Chinese college students. It is found that there are significant differences in reading time and understanding between the preposition and postposition of conditional adverbial clauses in English reading. The results show that both at the sentence level and at the text level, the postposition structure is more difficult to characterize than the preposition structure, which affects the reading speed and the accuracy of understanding. The study aims to improve English reading teaching.

scholarly journals Using Eye-Tracking Measures to Predict Reading Comprehension

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Caroline Meziere ◽  
Lili Yu ◽  
Erik Reichle ◽  
Titus von der Malsburg ◽  
Genevieve McArthur
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Reading Speed ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Comprehension Tests ◽  
Reading Comprehension Tests

Research on reading comprehension assessments suggests that they measure overlapping but not identical cognitive skills. In this paper, we examined the potential of eye-tracking as a tool for assessing reading comprehension. We administered three widely-used reading comprehension tests with varying task demands to 79 typical adult readers while monitoring their eye movements. In the York Assessment for Reading Comprehension (YARC), participants were given passages of text to read silently, followed by comprehension questions. In the Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT-5), participants were given passages of text to read aloud, followed by comprehension questions. In the sentence comprehension subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT-4), participants were given sentences with a missing word to read silently, and had to provide the missing word (i.e., a cloze task). Results from linear models predicting comprehension scores from eye-tracking measures yielded different patterns of results between the three tests. Models with eye-tracking measures always explained significantly more variance compared to baseline models with only reading speed, with R-squared 4 times higher for the YARC, 3 times for the GORT, and 1.3 times for the WRAT. Importantly, despite some similarities between the tests, no common good predictor of comprehension could be identified across the tests. Overall, the results suggest that reading comprehension tests do not measure the same cognitive skills to the same extent, and that participants adapted their reading strategies to the tests’ varying task demands. Finally, this study suggests that eye-tracking may provide a useful alternative for measuring reading comprehension.

The effects of two assistive technologies on reading comprehension accuracy and rate

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 220-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ara J. Schmitt ◽  
Elizabeth McCallum ◽  
Renee O. Hawkins ◽  
Emily Stephenson ◽  
Kenneth Vicencio
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Comprehension Accuracy

scholarly journals An Analysis of Students’ Reading Comprehension in Narrative Text at Second Grade At SMAN 1 Talamau

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-41
Author(s):  
Yessy Marzona ◽  
Muhammad Ikhsan
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
General Structure ◽  
Narrative Text ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
Main Ideas

This research was conducted based on the problems found during the teaching and learning process in class IX IPS 1 of SMAN 1 Talamau, specifically about students' understanding of narrative text. The problem found is that students cannot determine the main ideas and topics in narrative text, understand the meaning of words, understand implied information, and understand the general structure and features of language in narrative texts.This research is included in quantitative descriptive research. The population in this study were students of class IX SMAN 1 Talamau, amounting to 159 people, divided into 4 classes. While this sample is class X8 of SMAN 8 Padang. The instrument used was an objective test. Data from students' objective tests are analyzed based on indicators and then interpreted and become research findings.Based on the results of the study showed that students of class IX IPS 1 SMAN 1 Talamau: 1. The ability to write students in determining the main ideas and topics in the narrative text showed at the intermediate level of 14 people out of 23 students (60,875%). 2. The ability to understand the meaning of words in the narrative text shows at the intermediate level that is 15 people out of 23 students (65.22%). 3. The ability to understand the information implicit in the narrative text shows that at the intermediate level, there are 14 out of 23 students (60.87%). 4. The ability to understand the general structure and language features of narrative texts shows that at the intermediate level, there are 16 students out of 23 students (69.57).From the results of the above research, it can be concluded that students still experience many difficulties in understanding a text, especially in narrative texts in accordance with applicable rules. Furthermore, based on the results of this study teachers are expected to be able to provide better teaching techniques and students can do more exercises to improve students' reading comprehension abilities.

Identifying predictors of reading speed and reading comprehension in Bosnian

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Haris Memisevic ◽  
Admira Dedic ◽  
Inga Biscevic ◽  
Selmir Hadzic ◽  
Arnela Pasalic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Reading Speed

Further Experiments in Language Translation

1972 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Wallace Sinaiko ◽  
George R. Klare
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Air Force ◽  
Computational Linguistics ◽  
Reading Speed ◽  
Language Translation ◽  
Student Pilots ◽  
Cloze Procedure ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Comprehension Tests

Abstract Application of computational linguistics, i.e., language translation by computer, has been proposed as a means of producing readable translations of technical English-to-Vietnamese. This report is about an experimental study of the readability of translations that could be used for training or equipment maintenance. The experiments involved assessing the readability of Vietnamese that had been translated from English by three methods: (1) expert human translators, (2) un-edited translation by computer, and (3) edited computer translation. English was a control condition. Readers included two groups of student pilots : 168 in the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) and 88 in the USAF. Material that was translated consisted of three 500-word passages sampled from a standard Air Force text, Instrument Flying. Readability was measured by : (1) reading comprehension tests, (2) cloze procedure, and (3) clarity ratings. Time to complete each of these tasks was also measured. Major conclusions of the study are : (1) expert human translators produce more readable translations of technical English-to-Vietnamese than is done by computer; (2) Vietnamese readers, trained in English, show the highest comprehension when dealing with that language; (3) comprehension loss becomes relatively greater, as more and more difficult material is read, for computer-based translations than for human translations; (4) method of translation does not affect reading speed.

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