Computational Models of Reading

This book describes computational models of reading, or models that simulate and explain the mental processes that support the reading of text. The book provides introductory chapters on both reading research and computer models. The central chapters of the book then review what has been learned about reading from empirical research on four core reading processes: word identification, sentence processing, discourse representation, and how these three processes are coordinated with visual processing, attention, and eye-movement control. These central chapters also review an influential sample of computer models that have been developed to explain these key empirical findings, as well as comparative analyses of those models. The final chapter attempts to integrate this empirical and theoretical work by both describing a new comprehensive model of reading, Über-Reader, and reporting several simulations to illustrate how the model accounts for many of the basic phenomena related to reading.

A Conceptual Replication Study of the Enhanced Core Reading Instruction MTSS-Reading Model

States are increasingly recommending that districts and schools use multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) to improve reading outcomes for all students. States have also suggested MTSS is a viable service delivery model in response to new state legislation to screen, identify, and treat students with word-level reading disability (i.e., dyslexia). One model of MTSS that utilizes Enhanced Core Reading Instruction (ECRI MTSS), has demonstrated significant increases in students’ early acquisition of foundational reading skills (Smith et al., 2016). The purpose of this study was to conduct a conceptual replication of the Smith’s (2016) original impact study. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial, 44 schools were randomly assigned to the ECRI MTSS treatment or a business-as-usual (BAU) MTSS control condition. Across conditions, 754 students were assigned to receive Tier 2 intervention in addition to Tier 1 instruction. Impact data indicate moderate to strong effects on student decoding, word reading, and fluency skills for students in the ECRI MTSS schools. Results suggest that schools can use ECRI MTSS to improve foundational reading skills for struggling early readers, including students with or at risk for word-level reading disabilities (i.e., dyslexia).

Time for Reading Instruction: How Much Time Should Schools and Teachers Devote to Reading Instruction in Grades K-2?

Although research has indicated that time allotted for instruction in reading is associated with reading achievement, no studies have examined what is the appropriate or optimal time that should be given to reading instruction in the primary grades (grades K-2). Given the understanding that it is the teachers themselves who would have the best sense of the appropriate time for reading instruction and its various components. Results of the survey indicate that teachers feel that 178-198 minutes be devoted to the general literacy curriculum, while 62-71 minutes be devoted to the core reading curriculum per day. We note that the allocation of time to the major components of reading instruction (word study, fluency, and comprehension) varied considerably. In follow-up survey inquiries, a significant number of teachers manifest difficulties in actually meeting their own recommendations for time appropriation for reading instruction. Among the factors that keep teachers from meeting their recommendations for instructional time are special events that disrupt and disturb the time given for instruction. Recommendations for making time for literacy instruction for effective and efficient are considered.

Searching for specific sentence meaning in context: the conceptual relation between participants

abstractWe argue that the interpretation of transitive aspectual-verb sentences like “Sue finishes the book” results from an evaluation of the degree of asymmetry in control power between the participants in the sentence. Control asymmetry is proposed as one conceptual constraint on sentence meaning precisification. An evaluation of ‘high control asymmetry’ for the relation between “Sue” and “book” yields an agentive/actor-undergoer interpretation (Sue is doing something involving the book). An evaluation of ‘low control asymmetry’ yields a constitutive/part–whole interpretation (Sue’s story is the last one in the book). Which reading emerges depends on the comprehender’s control-asymmetry evaluation based on contextual cues or, in the absence of explicit context, based on conventionalized control asymmetry expectations given the participants’ denotations. Results show that semantically under-specified aspectual-verb sentences such as “Sue finishes/begins/continues the book” (i) receive multiple readings in a control-asymmetry neutral context, (ii) are judged as less acceptable than their control asymmetry-biased counterparts, and (iii) clearly evidence the constitutive reading as part of their core reading. These findings are consistent with a real-time linguistic meaning composition system that systematically draws from context guided by lexically driven semantic demands and that presents the structure of these demands as a cognitively viable metric of complexity.

Impact evaluation of Literacy Boost Project Model on reading skills of early grade students in Ethiopia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of Literacy Boost Project Model implemented by World Vision on reading skills of early grade students in Ethiopia. It intended to examine whether the intervention contributed to improving students’ achievement in reading comprehension. Design/methodology/approach Difference in difference with propensity score matching impact estimation model was used in the study. Baseline and end line data collected by World Vision Ethiopia in four districts in Oromia region, where the project had been operational, were used for the research. A total of 1,418 students (685 control and 733 intervention) were selected using random sampling technique and assessed based on the core reading skill components. Findings The result of the analysis indicated significant improvement in the core reading skills of treated students. The ultimate outcome of reading comprehension skill from the previous evaluation was found inflated. Variables related to the home literacy environment and community activities were found significantly impacting the students reading achievement. Research limitations/implications Policies and strategies intended to improve the quality of education, particularly the reading skills of early grade students, in the study area and scaling up the literacy boost project to areas with similar context, thus should give due attention to the variables related to the home literacy environment and community activities. Originality/value This study is important in providing valuable information on early grade education quality improvement interventions, especially to development practitioners and policymakers to make informed decisions regarding education sector reform and development in the study area.

Can the Relationship Between Rapid Automatized Naming and Word Reading Be Explained by a Catastrophe? Empirical Evidence From Students With and Without Reading Difficulties

The purpose of the present study was to explain the moderating role of rapid automatized naming (RAN) in word reading with a cusp catastrophe model. We hypothesized that increases in RAN performance speed beyond a critical point would be associated with the disruption in word reading, consistent with a “generic shutdown” hypothesis. Participants were 587 elementary schoolchildren (Grades 2–4), among whom 87 had reading comprehension difficulties per the IQ-achievement discrepancy criterion. Data were analyzed via a cusp catastrophe model derived from the nonlinear dynamics systems theory. Results indicated that for children with reading comprehension difficulties, as naming speed falls below a critical level, the association between core reading processes (word recognition and decoding) becomes chaotic and unpredictable. However, after the significant common variance attributed to motivation, emotional, and internalizing symptoms measures from RAN scores was partialed out, its role as a bifurcation variable was no longer evident. Taken together, these findings suggest that RAN represents a salient cognitive measure that may be associated with psychoemotional processes that are, at least in part, responsible for unpredictable and chaotic word reading behavior among children with reading comprehension deficits.