scholarly journals Where Does an Interesting Expository Text Begin?

2020 ◽  
pp. 76-90
Author(s):  
Larisa А. Piotrovskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Expository Text ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Semantic Context ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
Probabilistic Forecasting ◽  
Actual Event ◽  
Psychological Mechanism ◽  
Communicative Context ◽  
Linguistic Means

The article provides a description of the general mechanism of text-based interest formation in expository texts. It is based on the psychological research and the linguistic analysis. The authors of textbooks use various linguistic means to increase the emotiogenicity of expository texts. The interest is activated by an incongruence between one’s prediction about an event and the actual event. So, the means of interest evocation affect the psychological mechanism of probabilistic forecasting. They also overcome the contextual predictability of expository text while deploying it. For instance, there are means aimed at overcoming the predictability of communicative context (e. g., unusual introduction) or the semantic context (e. g., contextualization, dialogizing). The analysis allows to claim that the contextual predictability of the interesting expository text is overcome not due to the message of unexpected, interesting information, but due to presentations of the speech subject that are unexpected for the addressee (e. g., challenging exposition). An interesting expository text should be coherent, because the formal, content and pragmatic coherence is the key to its successful understanding by students. Therefore, the means of interest evocation should not destroy the coherence of the completed expository text. They must be communicative and thematically relevant, otherwise the emotiogenic potential of the text will significantly decrease.

scholarly journals What makes a text interesting? Interest-evoking strategies in expository text from Russian school textbooks

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 991-1016
Author(s):  
Larisa A. Piotrovskaya ◽  
Pavel N. Trushchelev
Keyword(s):  
Expository Text ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Russian School ◽  
Expository Discourse ◽  
Discourse Strategies ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Text Content

The article provides the linguistics approach to the study of text-based interest. The purpose of the article is to identify the means and strategies used in expository texts from Russian school textbooks for the creation of text emotiveness. This characteristic of an interesting text has been repeatedly pointed out in the psychological research (Schiefele 2009). The article uses the linguistics methods of communicative and functional analysis and, in particular, the method of semantic modeling of emotive situations (Filimonova 2007). The authors intention to evoke the readers interest is the basis for forming an emotional-evoking type of expository discourse. The implementation of this intention is carried out through special discourse strategies called interest-evoking rhetorical strategies. Some of these strategies are based on the transmission of emotions as a special type of information in verbal interaction. In a text, this type of information is represented by emotiveness, that is, a component of text content through which the emotional states of participants of communication or characters are manifested. The article provides a description of four primary ways to create expository text emotiveness: 1) the usage of emotive insertions - commentaries made by the participant of communication acting as the subject who feels emotions; 2) the verbalization of the emotional scenario of interest for its projection to the reader; 3) the description of the characters emotional states; 4) the representation of abnormal situations (a disruption of normal and expected relations between components of a situation in the real world described in a text). The first two ways are related to the strategies of the text dialogization aimed at creating the dialogue form of an expository text, and the thematization of interest. The third way enhances the text vividness and the fourth increases its dynamics and unexpectedness for the reader.

Read, Understand, Learn, & Excel: Development and Testing of an Automated Reading Strategy Detection Algorithm for Postsecondary Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1257-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priya Kucheria ◽  
McKay Moore Sohlberg ◽  
Jason Prideaux ◽  
Stephen Fickas
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Expository Text ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
Human Observer ◽  
Behavioral Strategies ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Wide Range

PurposeAn important predictor of postsecondary academic success is an individual's reading comprehension skills. Postsecondary readers apply a wide range of behavioral strategies to process text for learning purposes. Currently, no tools exist to detect a reader's use of strategies. The primary aim of this study was to develop Read, Understand, Learn, & Excel, an automated tool designed to detect reading strategy use and explore its accuracy in detecting strategies when students read digital, expository text.MethodAn iterative design was used to develop the computer algorithm for detecting 9 reading strategies. Twelve undergraduate students read 2 expository texts that were equated for length and complexity. A human observer documented the strategies employed by each reader, whereas the computer used digital sequences to detect the same strategies. Data were then coded and analyzed to determine agreement between the 2 sources of strategy detection (i.e., the computer and the observer).ResultsAgreement between the computer- and human-coded strategies was 75% or higher for 6 out of the 9 strategies. Only 3 out of the 9 strategies–previewing content, evaluating amount of remaining text, and periodic review and/or iterative summarizing–had less than 60% agreement.ConclusionRead, Understand, Learn, & Excel provides proof of concept that a reader's approach to engaging with academic text can be objectively and automatically captured. Clinical implications and suggestions to improve the sensitivity of the code are discussed.Supplemental Materialhttps://doi.org/10.23641/asha.8204786

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of KWL on Reading Expository Texts Across Reading Anxiety Levels

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
Luthfi Retriansyah ◽  
Francisca Maria Ivone ◽  
Sintha Tresnadewi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Expository Text ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
High Anxiety ◽  
Reading Anxiety ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Anxiety Levels ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Reading Activities

<div align="center"><table width="645" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="439"><p class="IEEEParagraph"><strong>Abstract:</strong><strong> </strong>This quasi-experimental research tries to find out the effectiveness of KWL on student’s comprehension of expository text and also observe how effective KWL is on the reading comprehension of the students across reading anxiety level. It is found that the difference in reading comprehension between student taught by using KWL and those taught by using conventional way is significant, the reading activities offered by KWL steps were effective to facilitate students in enhancing their comprehension in reading, and thedifference between students with low reading anxiety and those with high reading anxiety taught by using KWL is significant as well.</p><p class="Abstract"><strong>Abstrak:</strong> Penelitian <em>quasi-experimenta</em>l ini bertujuan untuk melihat efektivitas dari pengunaan strategy KWL terhadap pemahaman siswa dalam memahami teks ekspositori<em> </em>dan juga untuk melihat efektivitas KWL pada pemahaman siswa dengan tingkat <em>anxiety</em> yang berbeda. Ditemukan bahwa ada perbedaan signifikan pada pemahaman membaca siswa antara siwa yang diajar mengunakan KWL dan siswa yang diajar secara konvensional, aktivitas membaca pada KWL sangat efektif dalam memfasilitasi siswa untuk meningkatkan pemahaman mereka dalam membaca, ditemukan juga perbedaan yang signifikan diantara siswa yang memiliki <em>low anxiety</em> dengan <em>high anxiety</em> ketika KWL diterapkan.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

Evaluation of Narrative and Expository Text Summaries Using Latent Semantic Analysis

2012 ◽  
pp. 531-544
Author(s):  
René Venegas
Keyword(s):  
Latent Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Expository Text ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
High Positive Correlation ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Computer Methods ◽  
Automatic Methods

In this chapter I approach three automatic methods for the evaluation of summaries from narrative and expository texts in Spanish. The task consisted of correlating the evaluation made by three raters for 373 summaries with results provided by latent semantic analysis. Scores assigned by latent semantic analysis were obtained by means of the following three methods: 1) Comparison of summaries with the source text, 2) Comparison of summaries with a summary approved by consensus, and 3) Comparison of summaries with three summaries constructed by three language teachers. The most relevant results are a) a high positive correlation between the evaluation made by the raters (r= 0.642); b) a high positive correlation between the computer methods (r= 0.810); and c) a moderate-high positive correlation between the evaluations of raters and the second and third LSA methods (r= 0.585 and 0,604), in summaries from narrative texts. Both methods did not differ significantly in statistical terms from the correlation among raters when the texts evaluated were predominantly narrative. These results allow us to assert that at least two holistic LSA-based methods are useful for assessing reading comprehension of narrative texts written in Spanish.

scholarly journals Choosing Prediction Over Explanation in Psychology: Lessons From Machine Learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1100-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tal Yarkoni ◽  
Jacob Westfall
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Controlled Experiments ◽  
Moderating Variables ◽  
Research Programs ◽  
Causal Mechanisms ◽  
Psychological Mechanism ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Predictive Research

Psychology has historically been concerned, first and foremost, with explaining the causal mechanisms that give rise to behavior. Randomized, tightly controlled experiments are enshrined as the gold standard of psychological research, and there are endless investigations of the various mediating and moderating variables that govern various behaviors. We argue that psychology’s near-total focus on explaining the causes of behavior has led much of the field to be populated by research programs that provide intricate theories of psychological mechanism but that have little (or unknown) ability to predict future behaviors with any appreciable accuracy. We propose that principles and techniques from the field of machine learning can help psychology become a more predictive science. We review some of the fundamental concepts and tools of machine learning and point out examples where these concepts have been used to conduct interesting and important psychological research that focuses on predictive research questions. We suggest that an increased focus on prediction, rather than explanation, can ultimately lead us to greater understanding of behavior.

scholarly journals Use of Conjunctions in Expository Texts by Skilled and Less Skilled Readers

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Geva ◽  
Ellen Bouchard Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Expository Text ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
Reading Levels ◽  
And Control ◽  
Average Readers ◽  
Implicit Condition ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Below Average Readers ◽  
Selection Of

The present study was designed to shed light on whether some of the problems that average and below average readers have in comprehending expository texts stem primarily from lack of familiarity with conjunctions or a tendency to ignore these markers. On the basis of Gates-MacGinitie reading comprehension scores, 93 students in grades 5 and 7 were classified into high, medium, and low reading levels. All students read short expository texts under four conjunction manipulation conditions and answered comprehension questions. The conjunction manipulations within the texts were designed for examination of the roles of analyzed linguistic knowledge and cognitive control in comprehension. Analyses indicated that all groups benefited from the highlighting of explicit conjunctions. The comprehension of interpropositional relationships by average and below average readers was enhanced when explicit conjunctions were available, relative to an implicit condition. Furthermore, the deep processing manipulation (conjunction multiple-choice cloze) actually hindered, rather than facilitated, comprehension for all students. Data on appropriate selection of conjunctions in this condition revealed less knowledge of these important cohesive indicators among average and below average readers than above average readers. Together with the comprehension findings, we conclude that average and below average readers exhibit problems with both knowledge of conjunctions and control over their use in comprehending expository text.

scholarly journals Η σχέση ακουστικής και αναγνωστικής κατανόησης σε διάφορα κειμενικά είδη σε μαθητές δημοτικού σχολείου

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Athanasios Aidinis ◽  
Evaggelia Daoula
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Expository Text ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Sixth Graders ◽  
Third Graders ◽  
Question Type ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
Authentic Texts ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Comprehension Skills

The relationship between oral and reading comprehension has been studied by a number of studies and it has been found, especially in adult research, that there are significant and high correlations between the two types of comprehension. The aim of the present study was to examine oral and reading comprehension skills in relation to text type, either narrative or not. 136 children participated in the study from third and sixth grade of primary school. For different authentic texts were used to measure comprehension, three narrative and three non narrative. On of the narrative and on of the expository texts was given to both third and sixth grade children whereas on narrative and on expository text was given only to third graders and one narrative and one expository text was given only to sixth graders. All the children were examined in two narrative and two expository texts either in oral or reading comprehension. Children had to answer into 8 questions, 2 of them required information that could be found in a part of the text, three of them required bridging inferences and three of them required elaboration inferences. Results showed that differences between oral and reading comprehension are not constant and they depend on text type and question type. Keywords: reading comprehension, oral comprehension, narrative, expository text, inferences.

scholarly journals Escritura expositiva en tres niveles de escolaridad: coherencia y dominio de recursos lingüísticos

2015 ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Soledad Concha ◽  
Soledad Aravena ◽  
Carmen Julia Coloma ◽  
Verónica Romero
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Expository Text ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Expository Texts ◽  
Expository Writing ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
9Th Grade ◽  
Text Coherence ◽  
12Th Grade ◽  
Local Coherence

ResumenEl estudio explora la capacidad de estudiantes de tres niveles de escolaridad –5° Básico,1° Medio y 4° Medio– para producir textos expositivos coherentes utilizando los recursos lingüísticos con que se construye la coherencia local en la escritura expositiva. Se trabajó con alumnos de dos colegios municipalizados de Santiago, quienes redactaron textos expositivos a partir de un ítem de respuesta abierta extensa. Sus textos fueron codificados con dos rúbricas para medir la coherencia local (CL) y los recursos lingüísticos involucrados en la coherencia local (RCL). Los resultados muestran un ascenso significativo en el desempeño para la medida RCL a lo largo de los tres niveles escolares,pero no para la medida CL.Palabras clave: Producción escrita, texto expositivo, coherencia, recursos lingüísticosAbstractThe study focused on 5th grade, 9th grade and 12th grade students’ ability to produce coherent expository texts and to use the linguistic resources with which local coherenceis achieved in expository writing. Participants belonged to two public schools in Santiago,Chile, and their expository writing was elicited with writing prompts. Products of writing were coded using two different rubrics: Local Coherence (LC) and Local Coherence Resources (LCR). Results reveal a significant improvement for the measure LCR across age groups, but not for LC.Key words: Writing, expository text, coherence, linguistic resources

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