DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS READING ASSESSMENT: PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION BASED ON SEM AND IRT

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of mathematics reading assessment based on structural equation model (SEM) and item response theory (IRT). The mathematics reading assessment is conducted in the form of text-reading related to real-life probability and statistics issues. The sample is 789 sixth graders from 13 primary schools in Taiwan. The latent construct of mathematics reading includes three factors which are based on the content area reading components provided by M. C. McKenna and R. D. Robinson. These three factors of mathematics reading assessment in this study are general reading comprehension, prior knowledge of mathematics, and mathematics-specific skills respectively. Firstly, the researcher develops the mathematics reading assessment and confirms the item difficulties, item discriminations, and reliability of assessment. A structural equation model (SEM) is adopted to test the factor construct of the mathematics reading assessment. According to the analysis, it shows that the item difficulties, item discriminations, and reliability are very well. The structural equation model reveals there exist three factors that conform to the assumption of content area reading components mentioned above. Secondly, this study calibrates item characteristics by the three-parameter logistic model of item response theory (IRT). Results indicate that all item fitness performs well. Items belonging to prior knowledge of mathematics have the highest item discriminations. Items of mathematics-specific skills have the highest item difficulties. This study establishes a well-structured mathematics reading assessment. Results could also provide references for instruction and assessment of mathematics reading. Finally, based on the findings of this study, some recommendations and suggestions for future researches and methodologies are also discussed.

Effective Practices for Teaching Content Area Reading

Adequate reading skills are necessary for college and career readiness and success in the work force, but many students do not have sufficient reading skills. The 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress demonstrated that fourth- and eighth-grade students had made little to no progress in reading since the previous report in 2017. Elementary level students often receive dedicated English language arts instruction during the day, but this is not always true for secondary level students . One way that educators can support students across the grade levels is by providing evidence-based reading instruction within content areas (i.e., science and social studies instruction). Researchers have investigated ways for teachers to provide high-quality content area reading instruction to support the reading comprehension and content acquisition of students in general education settings. Previous research suggests that paraphrasing and text structure instruction support readers’ identification of key ideas and the integration of those ideas across paragraphs and passages when reading content area texts. These practices align with reading comprehension theory in support of conscious text processing while reading. Teaching readers to generate main ideas during reading may improve the reading outcomes and content acquisition outcomes not only for typical readers but also for struggling readers and those identified for special education. Educators’ implementation of such practices within science and social studies instruction may improve students’ reading performance and content learning across grade levels.

PRWR: Evidence of Its Effectiveness in Teaching Academic Content-Area Reading Across English Proficiency

This factorial quasi-experimental 22 study aimed to corroborate the effect of PRWR strategy compared to Translation and Reading Aloud on students’ academic content-area reading comprehension as observed from their English proficiency. The interaction between the strategy and English proficiency was also examined. Data were obtained from a reading comprehension test, a TOEFL PBT Equivalent test, and a questionnaire on students’ perception towards the PRWR strategy. Both the reading test and the questionnaire were expert validated and tried out, whereas the TOEFL PBT Equivalent test was conducted under the auspices of an English institute. 58 sophomore students at a state university in Malang, Indonesia, served as the subjects of the study. This turned out that first; students taught by the PRWR strategy have better reading comprehension than that of by Translation and Reading Aloud. Second, students with high English proficiency taught by the PRWR strategy have better reading comprehension than that of taught by Translation and Reading Aloud. Third, there was no interaction between reading strategy and English proficiency. All in all, the employment of the PRWR strategy was highly recommended in academic content-area reading comprehension.

DEVELOPING READING MATERIALS FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BASED ON CONTENT AREA

Reading is the basic in learning every subject. The more understanding the text, the more information students can gain. However, the reading materials that the students use is not appropriate based on syllabus. Therefore, the reading materials should be developed to fulfil the syllabus and the students' needs also. Because English is included Content Area Reading, so the development of reading materials is based on content area which focus on strengthen the vocabularies, specifically the unfamiliar ones, by giving glossary and related pictures. The developed text is only focus in the first semester which is descriptive and recount text. The research was conducted at SMP Muhammadiyah 7 Medan. The data was taken from interviewing the English teacher and distributing questionnaires for 30 students in grade VIII-4. The data showed that students need materials which is related to their environment and constructed by familiar vocabularies. Based on the result of the study, conclusion and suggestion are directed to the English teacher who is teaching in that school to provide reading materials based on syllabus and students' needs regularly. Keywords: Developing, Reading Materials, Content Area