The Effects of Reading Cognitive Strategies, Topic Familiarity and Textual Difficulty on Chinese Reading Comprehension

This paper aimed at investigating the frequencies of reading strategies employed by Vietnamese non-English major students while taking a reading comprehension test at Kien Giang University. Data was collected through a questionnaire delivered to 117 sophomores who majored in Economics, Accounting and Construction at Kien Giang University. The results from the descriptive statistics showed that Vietnamese non-English majors were medium strategy users. Of the three types of reading strategies, cognitive strategies were the most frequently used, followed by metacognitive and support reading strategies. Out of 27 reading strategies, students reportedly used item number 14 “I read the text again for better understanding.” at the highest frequency while rating item number 2 “I determined what the type of the text is.” the least frequency.

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The Contributions of Language Skills and Comprehension Monitoring to Chinese Reading Comprehension: A Longitudinal Investigation

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.625555 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Aiping Zhao ◽

Ying Guo ◽

Shuyan Sun ◽

Mark H. C. Lai ◽

Allison Breit ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Reading Skills ◽

Language Skills ◽

Orthographic Knowledge ◽

Comprehension Monitoring ◽

Chinese Reading ◽

Syntactic Knowledge ◽

Comprehension Skills ◽

Grade 3 ◽

Reading Comprehension Skills

This study examined how vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, and orthographic knowledge are related to comprehension monitoring and whether comprehension monitoring mediates the relations between these language skills and reading comprehension. Eighty-nine Chinese children were assessed on their vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, orthographic knowledge, and comprehension monitoring in Grade 1. Their reading comprehension skills were assessed in Grade 1 and Grade 3. Results showed that in Grade 1, comprehension monitoring mediated the relations between vocabulary and syntactic knowledge and reading comprehension. For Grade 3 reading comprehension, syntactic knowledge in Grade 1 was the only significant predictor. These findings indicate that multiple language skills make direct and indirect contributions via comprehension monitoring to Chinese reading comprehension, and the relations would change as children’s reading skills develop.

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The Effect of Topic Familiarity on Improving EFL Saudi Female Students` Reading Comprehension: تأثير النص المألوف لقطع القراءة في تطوير فهم الطالبات السعوديات الدارسات للغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية

المجلة العربية للعلوم ونشر الأبحاث مجلة العلوم التربوية والنفسية ◽

10.26389/ajsrp.b020620 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (7) ◽

Author(s):

Afaf Ayed Alrowaithy

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Female Students ◽

Topic Familiarity ◽

Arithmetic Average ◽

Paired Samples ◽

Assessment Design ◽

Efl Students ◽

Potential Impact ◽

Saudi Female Students

This study investigates the effect of topic familiarity on the reading comprehension performance of Saudi EFL students. Forty EFL Saudi female students on second year high school performed two tests: familiar versus unfamiliar topics in a multiple-choice format reading comprehension test each have 10 points with four texts two familiar and two unfamiliar texts. Quantitative analysis was undertaken in this study as a T test applied for both paired samples. The descriptive statistics shows that the arithmetic averages the students` performance on familiar topic larger than the arithmetic average on unfamiliar topic. The analytical statistics that identified the differences between both arithmetic averages shows that the differences among the students' performance on familiar and unfamiliar topic were large and have statistical significance in favor of their performance on familiar topic. Further replication of similar studies is necessary to determine the potential impact of topic familiarity on reading instructions and assessment design.

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Explicit Instruction of Memory vs Cognitive Strategies and Reading Comprehension: An Empirical Study with IELTS Candidates

Studies in English Language Teaching ◽

10.22158/selt.v5n2p134 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 134

Author(s):

Jahanbakhsh Nikoopour ◽

Roozbeh Kargar ◽

Nadimeh Esfandiari

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

English Language ◽

Cognitive Strategies ◽

Control Group ◽

Moderator Variable ◽

Male And Female ◽

Memory Strategies ◽

Significant Difference ◽

English Language Institute ◽

The Impact

<p><em>Research in reading comprehension associates the assumption that readers’ attributes may influence reading comprehension; different readers may process the same text in different ways, depending on their purposes, motivation, attitudes, interests, background knowledge, and the strategies they use. The present study attempted to investigate the impact of teaching cognitive and memory strategies on male and female IELTS candidates’ reading comprehension. To carry out the study, the researcher selected a sample of 88 male and female EFL learners, who attended IELTS preparation classes in Afarinesh English Language Institute regularly. The participants were randomly assigned into three groups; namely, two experimental groups and a control group. Eight memory and cognitive strategies were taught explicitly in the two experimental groups respectively during the treatment, whereas the current usual techniques were being used in the control group. The results showed that the experimental groups outperformed the control group in reading comprehension. The difference between the mean scores of the two experimental groups was not statistically significant. That is, instructing cognitive and memory strategies have had somehow similar impact on the IELTS candidates’ reading comprehension. Finally, the participants’ gender as a moderator variable did not make a significant difference in their reading comprehension.</em></p>

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“Google and me together can read anything.” Online reading strategies to develop hypertext comprehension in ESL readers

Dil ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi ◽

10.52462/jlls.62 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 896-914

Author(s):

Kshema Jose

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Reading Strategies ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Strategy Training ◽

Online Reading ◽

Esl Teachers ◽

Topic Familiarity ◽

Online Reading Comprehension ◽

Online Texts

If we are to build in our students, literacy skills relevant for the 21st century, reading classrooms need to take into account the changing nature of texts that our students are required to read in real-world contexts (Alexander & The Disciplined Reading and Learning Research Laboratory, 2012). This paper exhorts ESL teachers to use online texts or hypertexts, in addition to print textbooks, in the reading classroom. The use of hypertexts can increase the literacy participation of students by making reading authentic, and ensuring literacy skills they acquire more meaningful and productive (Coiro, Killi, & Castek, 2017). In the reading classroom where this research was located, it was observed that readers who scored low on reading comprehension tests based on print texts demonstrated higher levels of comprehension while performing on tests based on hypertexts. The study was conducted to identify the reading strategies used by these readers. It was found that ESL readers were able to overcome deficits in their prior knowledge (topic familiarity) and/or language proficiency by using specific reading and navigating strategies. This paper proposes that strategy training in the use of newer reading and navigating strategies might help develop online reading comprehension expertise and build independent reading habits in ESL readers.

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Electronic Strategies to Improve Chinese Reading Skills

Handbook of Research on E-Learning Methodologies for Language Acquisition ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-994-6.ch015 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 237-252 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jing Wang

Keyword(s):

Reading Comprehension ◽

Reading Skills ◽

Reading Process ◽

Chinese Reading ◽

Vocabulary Retention ◽

Intermediate Students ◽

Good Practices ◽

Study Results ◽

Intermediate Learners

This chapter introduces a series of studies carried out with intermediate learners of Chinese regarding the reading of authentic e-materials with hyperlinked dictionaries. The study results indicate that it is practical to let intermediate students read authentic e-materials when aided by hyperlinked dictionaries, which can improve reading comprehension and vocabulary retention. Guided by the findings from these studies, good practices on how to use authentic e-materials and hyperlinked dictionaries to improve reading skills for intermediate students are introduced. It is recommended that in order to achieve optimal results when using technology, instructors need to employ systematic strategies to support and guide students in the reading process.

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