Effect of Acrophobia upon Reading Ability as Measured by Reading Comprehension and Eye-Movements in Reading

Author(s):  
Arthur B. Warren ◽  
Vernon Jones
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Noor Hanim Rahmat ◽  
Mazlen Arepin ◽  
Suraiya Sulaiman

This study investigates students' fear in academic reading as well as the influence of perceived difficulties in their reading comprehension. The paper aims to study the level of anxiety as experienced by undergaduate students in academic reading. Data from 25 respondents were analyzed quantitatively using Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) developed by Saito, Horwitz, and Garza (1999). Te objectives of the study are to examine the influence of students' fear and perceived difficulties in academic reading. The findings of this study reveal that factors such as background and culture, general reading ability, vocabulary, grammar as well as teaching method can make readers fear reading. The results of this study bear interesting implications towards the teaching and learning of academic reading in English as a Second Language.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly M. Martinez ◽  
LaTasha R Holden ◽  
Sara Ann Hart ◽  
Jeanette Taylor

Non-cognitive factors have gained attention in recent years as potential intervention targets for academic achievement improvement in students. Two notable facets, intelligence mindset and grit, have been of particular interest. Both have been shown to consistently improve educational outcomes, although little work has focused on reading ability. We used a correlational and twin method design to preliminary test if mindset and grit could be potential intervention targets to increase reading ability. As such, we examined the relation between both grit and mindset on current, future, and change in reading comprehension ability in a twin sample. We used data from 422 twin pairs (171 monozygotic pairs, 251 dizygotic pairs) drawn from the Florida Twin Project on Reading, Behavior and Environment (Taylor et al., 2019). Twins were on average 13 years old when the questionnaire and first reading ability measure were collected, and on average 15 years old when the second reading ability measure was collected. Weak and moderate positive correlations were found between both mindset and grit with each reading ability score and neither were significantly related to change in reading ability. Twin modeling suggested little to no common genetic or environmental influences between mindset and grit to reading ability. In total, our results do not lend support to the notion of mindset or grit being a mechanism of change for reading ability.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patsy Nomvete ◽  
Susan R. Easterbrooks

The components involved in adolescent reading are complex and not clearly understood in struggling readers. Phrase reading, a language skill associated with prosodic understanding of syntactic phrases, has received little attention. We studied 70 adolescent readers including delayed readers to answer the following questions: (a) Do phrase-reading ability, syntactic awareness, passage-reading rate, and reading comprehension have a positive, significant correlation; (b) Do language-related variables (i.e., phrasing ability, syntactic awareness) account for more of the variance in comprehension than passage-reading rate; (c) Does phrase-reading ability, as measured by phrase-level prosody, provide a mechanism for, or at least partially mediate, how passage-reading rate and syntactic awareness affect reading comprehension? Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression and mediation regression. All answers were affirmative suggesting that researchers studying adolescent struggling readers should investigate prosodic phrasing-reading ability as a tool for improving reading comprehension.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
Moslem Fatollahi

<p>Sight translation is the oral translation of a written text and is a mixture of translation and interpreting. Sight translation is a widely-used activity in translation training programs. Yet, this mode of translation has rarely been applied as a reading instruction technique in Iranian EFL instruction context in spite of the growing interest in using sight translation in language teaching and learning. This study aims at investigating the effect of sight translation on the reading comprehension ability of Iranian undergraduate EFL students. This is a quasi-experimental study involving treatment. To this end, four reading comprehension classes involving 70 learners were divided into two groups, with the experimental one receiving reading instruction with sight translation exercises and the control group receiving reading instruction without sight translation exercises. The posttest results revealed that the experimental group performing sight translation exercises in classroom outperformed the control group who had not engaged in sight translation. This study has implications for ELT instructors and learners in an Iranian context as they can use sight translation exercises as an effective technique for improving the reading comprehension ability of their learners.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Sam Roberto Andre Hasian Lumbantobing ◽  
Hilman Pardede ◽  
Herman Herman

This research is a study of improving students’ ability in reading comprehension. The aim was to find out whether the use of Herringbone technique would bring a significant difference in teaching reading comprehension through Recount text, compared with the result before the students being treated. The study was conducted in the tenth grade students of SMA N 4 Pematangsiantar. The research method used was the experimental design, where the Experimental group was the PMIA 3 class, and the PMIA 2 class as the control class. Both of the classes had 34 students in each of it. The data were obtained through pre-test, treatment and post test. The pre-test was held to know the students’ basic ability or score before treatment was given. Meanwhile, the post test was held to know the students’ achievement and significant effect after the students were taught using Herringbone technique. Finding of the research showed that both groups had a significant improvement in their reading ability after being treated and passed the KKM. The Control group, which the pre-test score was 60, made an improvement shown in their post-test score in amount of 70,44. The experimental group, the group which the researcher treated the Herringbone technique to them, had a higher improvement than the control group. The average score of pre-test in this group was about 54,41 where then being improved up to 78,97. The score of t-test (3,981) was higher than t-table (1,668) at the level of significance 5% for two tailed test, so Null Hypothesis is rejected and Alternative Hypothesis is accepted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-162
Author(s):  
Sri Mulyani

Abstract: The purpose of this study namely, to determine the ability to read students'understanding using Cooperative Integrated Reading learning, while the method used in this studyis descriptive qualitative. The techniques for collecting data are collecting answer sheets whichinclude: 1) finding the main idea (main idea or theme) in the discourse / text, 2) restating thecontents of the discourse/text that has been read, and 3) developing the main idea / main idea orpictures. After conducting the research, the following results were obtained. The reading ability ofstudents, before using Cooperative Integrated Reading learning in the R2A class, was 2403 or 68%(bad), and after using Cooperative Integrated Reading learning, the students' abilities changed,namely 2.403 or 80% 9good), and the ability to read comprehension of students in class R2Bbefore using Cooperative Integrated Reading learning, namely 2.162 or 72% (low). After usingCooperative Integrated Reading, there was a change, namely 2,425 or 81% (baik). So, it is clearthat the ability to read students' understanding using Cooperative Integrated Reading learning isable to provide progress properly and precisely.Key Words: Reading Comprehension, Cooperative Integrated Reading, learning


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Reifinger

This study investigated correlates that might explain variance in beginning sight-singing achievement, including tonal discrimination, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and academic ability. Both curriculum-based and standardized tests were used, including the Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation, Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. Sight-singing ability of second-grade students ( N = 170) was individually assessed for pitch accuracy only using four-note tonal patterns following a 16-week instructional period and again 8 weeks later following a period of no practice. A factor analysis explained 62% of the variance across 13 variables, revealing correlated factors of Music Ability, Reading Ability, and Academic Ability. Regression analyses with individual variables as predictors indicated that significant variance in sight-singing achievement beyond that explained by pitch matching ability could be explained by reading comprehension ability. Similar results were found with both sight-singing tests. Findings are discussed in relation to Patel’s shared syntactic integration resource hypothesis and the need to advocate for music education programs.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document