‘When most I wink, then’ – what? Assessing the comprehension of literary texts in university students of English as a second language

This article introduces a test for literary text comprehension in university students of English as a second language. Poetry is especially suited for our purpose since it frequently shows features that offer challenges to comprehension in a limited space. An example is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 43, on which our test is based: it is suited for assessing not only if a text has been understood but also the ability of respondents to reflect on their own comprehension skills. We show that the test’s psychometric properties are satisfactory, and we demonstrate its validity by analysing relevant external indicators. Thus, we can show a direct link between general reading experience and text comprehension as tested: the more students read, the better do they perform. The collaboration of literary studies with psychometrics moreover allows for a statistically valid identification of specific challenges to comprehension and thus advance our knowledge of what readers find difficult. This will be of interest not only in a hermeneutic and linguistic perspective but also with a view to addressing those difficulties in an educational context. For example, asking someone whether they have understood an utterance (in this case: a line of poetry) does not elicit reliable answers. Being able to say how one has established the meaning of a line seems to be a more reliable indicator of actually having understood it.

Reading and Listening Comprehension in Individuals With Down Syndrome and Word Reading–Matched Typically Developing Children

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the reading comprehension and listening comprehension performance of English-speaking children with Down syndrome (DS) compared with word reading–matched typically developing (TD) children. Method: Participants included 19 individuals with DS ( M age = 17;2 [years;months], range: 11;1–22;9) and 19 word reading–matched TD children ( M age = 7;2, range: 6;6–8;1). Participants completed three norm-referenced measures of reading comprehension and three norm-referenced measures of listening comprehension. Dependent variables were raw scores on each measure, with the exception of scaled scores on one reading comprehension measure. Results: Independent-samples t tests with Bonferroni-adjusted alpha levels of .008 revealed a significant between-groups difference for two of three reading comprehension measures. The mean raw scores were lower for the DS group than the TD group, with large effect sizes. Independent-samples t tests with Bonferroni-adjusted alpha levels of .008 revealed a significant between-groups difference for three of three listening comprehension measures. The mean raw scores on the three measures were lower for the DS group than the TD group, with large effect sizes. Conclusions: The DS group, despite being matched on word reading to the TD group, demonstrated reduced reading comprehension skills as compared with the TD group. Thus, as individuals with DS acquire word reading skills, it appears that they are unable to translate word reading success to achieve reading comprehension at the expected level (i.e., as indexed by typical readers). The between-groups differences in listening comprehension suggest that deficits in listening comprehension likely are a barrier to reading comprehension proficiency for children with DS. Listening comprehension may be a malleable factor that can be targeted to improve reading comprehension outcomes for individuals with DS.

ENGLISH FOR OTHER LANGUAGES: A NEEDS ANALYSIS OF FUTURE POLYGLOTS AT A FRENCH UNIVERSITY

This paper presents the results of a needs analysis of second year undergraduates, majoring in various foreign languages (except for English) at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, France. As part of their studies, students can take one semester of English during their second or third year. While needs analyses are an integral part of ESP research, the needs of students in certain disciplines, particularly the Liberal Arts, are not often referenced. Using questionnaires and interviews with current students, past students, and discipline instructors, this study attempts to partially fill that gap. Results show that while current students mostly use oral and written comprehension skills presently, they feel expression skills will become important in the future. Responses from former students and discipline instructors seem to support these results, with some key distinctions. Implications for teaching and future research are discussed.

The Level of Reading Comprehension Skills of Students with Learning Disabilities in Jordan

The study aimed to measure the level of reading comprehension skills of students with learning difficulties in the Kasbah of As-Salt, and the study used the descriptive method on a sample of (54) male and female students chosen randomly. The reading comprehension scale was developed and prepared by Al-Mahalla and Al-Ramamneh (2019), and the results indicated that the level of reading comprehension was at an intermediate level and in all its three dimensions (literal, deductive, and creative). And the existence of statistically significant differences in the level of reading comprehension due to the variable of gender in favor of males, and there are also statistically significant differences in the level of overall reading comprehension due to the variable of the educational level of parents and in favor of holders of a bachelor's degree. Received: 23 September 2021 / Accepted: 1 December 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

The Effectiveness of Differentiated Teaching Strategy in Developing Reading Comprehension Skills of Fourth Grade Students in the United Arab Emirates

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the differentiated teaching strategy in developing reading comprehension skills of fourth grade students in the United Arab Emirates. The study sample consisted of (49) male and female students, who were randomly distributed into an experimental group (23 students), and a control group (26 students). The experimental group was taught using the Differentiated Teaching strategy, and the control group was taught using the traditional method. To conduct the study and answer its questions, the researchers used the quasi-experimental approach and constructed a reading comprehension test. After the completion of the study, the post-test of reading comprehension skills was implemented; scores of the two groups were obtained; and the data were analyzed using the appropriate statistical methods. The results revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the post-test at the four levels (literal, deductive, critical, and creative) and reading skills in general between the scores of the two study groups in favor of the experimental group. This indicates that the Differentiated Teaching strategy had a positive impact on developing students' reading comprehension skills. In light of the results, a number of recommendations were drafted and presented.

TĒCIYA TOṬAKKAPPAḶḶIKAḶIL TAMIḺAI IRAṆṬĀM MOḺIYĀKA KAṞKUM MĀṆAVARKAḶIṈ VĀCIPPU MAṞṞUM EḺUTTUT TIṞAṈ AṬAIVUNILAI [READING AND WRITING SKILLS PERFORMANCE LEVEL OF STUDENTS LEARNING TAMIL AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN NATIONAL PRIMARY SCHOOL]

The objective of this study is to identify the Tamil reading and writing skills achievement of non- native students who learn Tamil as their second language in the first year of national primary schools. This is a qualitative research which used purposive sampling. The data for the study has been collected as statistics through the questionnaire and analyzed. The results show that the basic Tamil reading and writing skills are in satisfactory level while writing comprehension and reading comprehension skills are at a low level of achievement. The data obtained through this study will create awareness among teachers who teach Tamil as a second language regarding the Tamil reading and written skills achievement of their students and will encourage them to adopt suitable learning teaching approach for their students to achieve the best attainment in these skills.

A Study of Noun Phrase Awareness at the Eighth Graders of Two Islamic Junior High Schools in Makassar

Syntactic awareness has been linked to reading comprehension skills. In Junior high schools, syntactic awareness of noun phrases can be very important for the students in the Indonesian context because it can improve their reading comprehension. However, teaching noun phrases for the students can be challenging due to the grammar difference. The junior high school student’s noun phrase awareness was measured using a developed test. It consists of 28 questions with seven noun categories. The reliability test was conducted using KR-20 and the result was .90. The study indicated the average score of the students was 69.07 (fair). Of the seven noun phrases category, nominal possessors and conjoined noun phrases were good, prenominal possessors, multiple genitive constructs, alienable and inalienable possessions, and ad-positional phrases were fair, and nonreferential generative was weak. Referring to the result of the research, it is suggested to improve the student’s noun phrase awareness to enhance their reading comprehension.