Reading Comprehension in Both Spanish and English as a Foreign Language by High School Spanish Students

Several studies have highlighted that reading comprehension is determined by different linguistic skills: semantics, syntax, and morphology, in addition to one’s own competence in reading fluency (accuracy, speed, and prosody). On the other hand, according to the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis, linguistic skills developed in one’s own native language (L1) facilitate the development of these skills in a second one (L2). In this study, we wanted to explore the linguistic abilities that determine reading comprehension in Spanish (L1) and in English (L2) in Secondary Education students. To do this, 73 Secondary Education Students (1st and 3rd year) participated in this study. The students carried out a battery of tasks in English and Spanish, all of them related to reading comprehension (expository text) and different linguistic skills, which included syntactic awareness tasks, synonymy judgment tasks (vocabulary), and morphological awareness tasks. The results indicated a positive correlation between linguistic competencies in both languages (indicating a transfer effect between languages), which were determined by school year, with a lower performance in the 1st year than in the 3rd year. Moreover, we found more skills with correlations in English reading comprehension than in Spanish. Finally, reading comprehension in L1 was mainly explained English reading comprehension, while English reading comprehension was predicted by grade, and syntactic awareness, as well as Spanish reading comprehension. This could be explained by the different levels of exposure to L1 and L2 of sample subjects, as the linguistic variables have different influences on the reading comprehension of both languages.

Immediate recall as a secondary text: Referential parameters, pragmatics and propositions

Since the process of recalling combines comprehension and speech production, it is viewed as an extremely complex though understudied linguo-cognitive phenomenon. Recalls as secondary texts or text derivatives are also considered to be a good material to explore cognitive aspects of secondary texts production, information conversion procedures and types of transformations of primary texts. The notion of secondary texts also implies multiplicity, as an original text may be retranslated into numerous secondary texts different in quality and degree of completeness. The purpose of the study is to model the propositional secondary retold texts and to identify the specifics of the recipients interpretation of the main event in the text. It is aimed at discriminating the differences between the primary expository text and its 134 immediate recalls produced by 15-year old native Russian speakers. In order to reveal the specifics of the propositional content of a primary expository text and its recalls, their recipients used the following methodological operations: the description and interpretation of the semantic roles of the first and second arguments aligned to predicates on the basis of the verbs semantic properties; the employment of the psycholinguistic model of the utterances generation; the characteristic of memory as a complex of cognitive and mnemic processes; the definition of cognitive-semantic discourse structures; and the understanding of a proposition as a stable component of an utterance independent of the surface grammar. The comparison of the original text and its recalls with the use of innovative denotative maps enabled us to define successful and unsuccessful expression of propositional structures and the main idea of the original text. The classification of texts includes four groups based on the number of the reproduced propositions and types (weak or successful) of the reflection of the primary text denotative card. The authors designed and successfully implemented an innovative 11 stage-algorithm of revealing patterns of a printed text comprehension and its immediate recalls including the primary visual perception of the text, its primary interpretation, reading, encoding, reflection, preparation for an oral presentation, desobjectivation (distribution of semantic roles), interpretation, reflection, oral implementation and text. The work fills in certain gaps in the research, such as the specifics of immediate recalls production, identification of changes in propositional structures of immediate recalls, and expanding the corpus of semantic roles similar to Frame Net. The findings can be successfully applied in natural language processing and linguistic didactics.

The Effectiveness of the Numbered Head Together (NHT) Learning Model in the Exposition Text Writing Skills of MA Darul Istiqamah Lappae Kabupaten Sinjai

This study aims to (1) describe the skills of writing expository text by applying the Numbered Head Together (NHT) learning model to the tenth-grade students of MA Darul Istiqamah Lappa'e, Sinjai Regency. (2) prove the effectiveness of the Numbered Head Together (NHT) learning model on learning to write expository texts. This study uses an experimental research design, the type of experiment used is a true experiment. This study uses the form of a written test in learning to write an exposition text. Sampling was carried out using a total sampling technique with a total of 70 students. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics using SPSS version 25. The results of the research data analysis showed that the application of the NHT (Numbered Head Together) learning model was more effective than the conventional learning model in learning to write Indonesian exposition texts. It is evident from the results of t count > t table or 2,369 > 1,995 so it can be concluded that the hypothesis test H1 is accepted and H0 is rejected, namely the NHT model is effectively used in learning to write exposition texts. In addition, it can be proven by the average value of the experimental class is 78.4 while the average value of the control class is 76.0. This shows that the application of the Numbered Head Together (NHT) model is more effective in learning to write Indonesian exposition texts.

Examining EFL learners’ source text use in summary writing

To avoid plagiarism, students have to learn the appropriate and effective ways of source text use, such as paraphrasing, summarizing, and citation. However, few studies have investigated how learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) employ copy and paraphrase as source text use strategies in completing writing tasks involving reading material, and how characteristics of the reading material, such as genre, affect such use. This article reports an empirical study that attempted to address the issue. Eighty students from an undergraduate program of a Chinese university wrote summaries for a narrative text and an expository text. Their drafts and the source texts are compared to identify instances of retention of strings of words from sources. Analysis of the summary scripts showed that participants heavily relied on the source texts when writing summaries. The expository text elicited a larger proportion of words than the narrative text in total text borrowed, and the former also led the participants to stronger reliance on its surface structure than the latter. The less proficient group used Exact Copy more but Paraphrase less than the more proficient group. Higher level of source use – Major Paraphrase and Maximal Paraphrase – seems to be immune to changes in terms of genre of source text and language proficiency. Implications of these findings are discussed with reference to the teaching, learning, and assessing appropriate source text use of university level EFL learners.

Comparison of Translation Techniques by Google Translate and U-Dictionary: How Differently Does Both Machine Translation Tools Perform in Translating?

Better translation produced by computation linguistics should be evaluated through linguistics theory. This research aims to describe translation techniques between Google Translate and U-Dictionary. The study used a qualitative research method with a descriptive design. This design was used to describe the occurrences of translation techniques in both translation machine, with the researchers serving as an instrument to compare translation techniques which is produced on machine. The data are from expository text entitled “Importance of Good Manners in Every Day Life”. The total data are 122 words/phrases which are pairs of translations, English as source language and Indonesia as target language. The result shows that Google Translate apply five of Molina & Albir’s (2002) eighteen translation techniques, while U-dictionary apply seven techniques. Google Translate dominantly apply literal translation techniques (86,8%) followed by reduction translation techniques (4,9%). U-dictionary also dominantly apply literal translation techniques (75,4%), but follows with the variation translation techniques (13,1%). This study showed that both machines produced different target texts for the same source language due to different applications of techniques, with U-dictionary proven to apply more variety of translation techniques than Google Translate. The researcher hopes this study can be used as an evaluation for improving the performance of machine translations.

Improving Reading Comprehension for Adolescents With Language and Learning Disorders

The present case study illustrates the use of explicit text structure intervention for expository reading comprehension with three adolescents with language learning disabilities (LLD). We investigated whether it was feasible to provide direct instruction on the identification of signal words that denote compare–contrast relations between concepts, the purpose and nature of expository text structures, and the use of graphic organizers to assist in retell of target passages and compare/contrast text comprehension. The intervention was effective in improving participants’ text structure identification, signal word recognition, and comprehension of compare–contrast text. This preliminary case study demonstrates that a short-term text structure intervention is feasible and can benefit adolescents with LLD who struggle with expository reading comprehension. Implications for clinical and educational services and future directions for research are provided.

Modalizatory jako wielowymiarowe zagadnienie w nauce języka szwedzkiego

Sentence adverbials build a multidimensional constituent in many languages, i.e. they can, among others, modify the meaning of the entire sentence, emphasize a particular element in it, or build the coherence in texts. Due to the multifaced character of this linguistic phenomenon the acquisition of it in foreign language learners can be a complex process. The learner is not only faced with a variety of different words and phrases that can be used in order to deliver a complementary information in the text, but also, depending on the structural requirements of the specific language, has to learn to put this constituent in the correct place in the sentence. In present paper the use of sentence adverbials in Polish learners od Swedish will be presented. The data considered in the analysis comprises two types of texts: a summary of an expository text and a narrative. The results show that foreign language learners at the intermediate stage of the language use a broad repertoire of sentence adverbials and place them in appropriate contexts. In narratives modal expressions predominate, while in summaries connectives and intensifiers are used more often. The learners can place sentence adverbials correctly in the sentence, especially in main clauses. However, the word order in dependent clauses when other sentence adverbials occur, except for sentences with the negation inte, is still under development.

Text Structure Strategy for Expository Reading Comprehension: Case Study With an Adolescent With Noonan Syndrome

Purpose This article describes the implementation of a text structure strategy approach to reading comprehension intervention to improve comprehension of expository texts for an adolescent with Noonan Syndrome and a history of developmental language disorder and reading disability. Method The text structure intervention program was created for a feasibility study with adolescents who have language and literacy disorders. In the present case study, we investigated whether it was possible to improve expository text comprehension in a client with Noonan Syndrome and a history of significant needs in literacy. The text structure program leveraged the participant's progressive knowledge and awareness of specific text structures and structure signal words for improved comprehension of compare-contrast texts. The participant attended 60-min sessions twice weekly for three weeks at a university clinic. Results The participant demonstrated an increase in signal word identification as well as compare-contrast text comprehension. Conclusions This preliminary case study demonstrates that a short-term, explicit text structure strategy intervention is feasible for treatment of reading comprehension difficulties. This study also provides support for future text structure research with adolescent language and literacy deficits secondary to medical complexities.