Phonologic Mediation Is Fundamental to Reading: Evidence from Beginning Readers

Three tasks were employed to investigate the role of assembled phonology in beginning readers. In two proofreading tasks, children had more trouble finding pseudohomophone misspellings (stimuli with phonology identical to that of a word) than control misspellings (stimuli that do not share their phonology with a word). In a lexical-decision task, they had more trouble deciding that pseudohomophone misspellings were non-words than deciding that control misspellings were non-words. Finally, in a semantic-categorization task, children had more trouble rejecting pseudohomophone misspellings as a member of a designated category than rejecting control misspellings. Differences between more and less advanced readers occurred, but they need not be attributed to differential use of phonology in word recognition. Instead, they were explained in terms of a difference between reader groups in spelling-verification efficiency. The results of the present studies on beginning reading parallel studies on skilled reading by Van Orden et al. (1992). The main conclusion was that assembled phonology plays an important role in word recognition in beginning readers.     

The Effects of Fast Start Reading: A Fluency-BasedHome Involvement Reading Program,On the Reading Achievement of Beginning Readers

This study tested the effects of a fluency-based home reading program called Fast Start. Thirty beginning first-grade students, representing a wide range of early reading abilities, were randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions for a period of 11 weeks.

Parents and students in the experimental group received Fast Start training, weekly materials packets, and weekly telephone support. Control group parents and students received the parent involvement opportunities typical for their family and classroom. Significant effects for those students most at-risk in reading (as measured by pretest) were found on measures of Letter/Word recognition and reading fluency. Verbal and written survey information collected from the experimental group indicated generally positive perceptions of the program by parents.     

An Examination of the Simple View of Reading Among Beginning Readers in Malay

This study examines the simple view of reading from the perspective of a language other than English, the Malay language. The aims of the study were to determine (a) the contributions of decoding and listening comprehension to reading comprehension in Malay; (b) which model, the multiplicative model or the additive model, of the simple view of reading contributes more toward the variance in reading comprehension; and (c) whether adding the speed of processing factor to the multiplicative model improves its power to predict reading comprehension among beginning readers in Malay. A sample of 117 beginning first-year readers attending Malaysian schools were assessed on a battery of reading and reading-related skills measures after 6 months of initial instruction in reading. Results indicated that reading comprehension was largely explained by the decoding component, with listening comprehension adding only a small amount to the variance accounted for. The additive model consisting of the summation of decoding and listening comprehension was found to be a better predictor of reading comprehension in Malay. Results also showed that speed of processing did not account for unique variance in reading comprehension. We propose that listening comprehension did not contribute substantially to the variance because it is artefactually reduced as a result of the level of text typically read by beginning readers.     

The Development of Graphophonological-Semantic Cognitive Flexibility and Its Contribution to Reading Comprehension in Beginning Readers

Reading-specific and general color-shape cognitive flexibility were assessed in 68 first and second graders to examine: 1) the development of graphophonological-semantic cognitive flexibility (the ability to process concurrently phonological and semantic aspects of print) in comparison to color-shape cognitive flexibility, 2) the contribution of reading experience to graphophonological-semantic flexibility, and 3) the unique contribution of graphophonological-semantic flexibility to reading comprehension. Second graders scored significantly higher than first graders on both cognitive flexibility tasks; the general flexibility task was easier for all children than the graphophonological-semantic flexibility task; reading experience contributed uniquely to children's graphophonological-semantic flexibility; and graphophonological-semantic flexibility contributed significant, unique variance to children's reading comprehension, consistent with Cartwright's (2002 Cartwright , K. B. ( 2002 ). Cognitive development and reading: The relation of reading-specific multiple classification skill to reading comprehension in elementary school children . Journal of Educational Psychology , 94 , 56 – 63 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) work with second- to fourth-grade students and adults (2007 Cartwright , K. B. ( 2007 ). The contribution of graphophonological-semantic flexibility to reading comprehension in college students: Implications for a less simple view of reading . Journal of Literacy Research , 39 , 173 – 193 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).     

Empathy: From Mind Reading to the Reading of a Distant Text

In the psychoanalytic literature empathy is commonly discussed as a form of “mind reading”, which is deeply associated with the capacity to mirror the other’s mental state. In this paper, I propose an alternative perspective on empathy as the process of reading a distant text. This perspective is illustrated through a Talmudic story and by weaving a thread between Bakhtin, Bion and Lacan. The paper concludes by pointing to the danger of empathy as a hidden form of projective identification that provides the reader with a false sense of control rather than with negative capability for otherness.     

Text Comprehension Training for Disabled Readers: An Evaluation of Reciprocal Teaching and Text Analysis Training Programs

Forty-six reading disabled adolescents were randomly assigned to one of three 25-hr instructional programs. Two programs provided training in expository text comprehension, and a third offered training in academic problem solving and organizational and study skills (an alternative treatment control). One reading comprehension program was designed to remediate a deficient knowledge base, forcing disabled readers to elaborate and further process new text knowledge, focusing on both specific informational content in a text and knowledge of text structure per se. The second program was patterned after the Palincsar and Brown (1984) reciprocal teaching techniques and focused on training four text comprehension strategies used by skilled comprehenders. Both the “knowledge-base” and the “strategy” training approaches were associated with significant improvement in disabled readers' comprehension skills, although training effects did not generalize across all aspects of reading comprehension performance. Strategy-trained readers applied the trained strategies with equal success on instructed and uninstructed text materials, providing strong evidence of transfer of learning. Knowledge-base readers also demonstrated successful transfer of specifically trained procedures (semantic mapping, text analysis) to unfamiliar text. In both programs, the best outcomes were obtained when specific strategies and operations were targeted for training.     

Multiple Science Text Processing: Building Comprehension Skills for College Student Readers

The goal of this investigation was to determine which reading instruction improves multiple science text comprehension for college student readers. The authors first identified the cognitive processing strategies that are predictive of multiple science text comprehension (Study 1) and then used what they learned to experimentally test the effectiveness of explicit pre-reading instructions (Study 2). Study 1 showed that self-explaining was positively related to comprehension tasks. Study 2 showed that explicitly instructing participants to self-explain while reading multiple science texts enhanced comprehension test performance. These results showed that self-explanation during reading is a successful strategy for enhancing multiple science text comprehension.     

Making Reading More Difficult: A Degraded Text Microworld for Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies

We present an empirical study that investigated seventh-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade students’ understanding of the infinity of numbers in an interval. The participants (n = 549) were asked how many (i.e., a finite or infinite number of numbers) and what type of numbers (i.e., decimals, fractions, or any type) lie between two rational numbers. The results showed that the idea of discreteness (i.e., that fractions and decimals had “successors” like natural numbers) was robust in all age groups; that students tended to believe that the intermediate numbers must be of the same type as the interval endpoints (i.e., only decimals between decimals and fractions between fractions); and that the type of interval endpoints (natural numbers, decimals, or fractions) influenced students’ judgments of the number of intermediate numbers in those intervals. We interpret these findings within the framework theory approach to conceptual change.     

Reading Comprehension: Effects of Individualized,Integrated Language Arts as a Reading Approach with Struggling Readers

This study examined the effects of individualized, integrated language arts as a reading approach on struggling readers' comprehension scores obtained from oral narrative, silent narrative, and silent expository passages at three levels: below-grade, on-grade, and above-grade levels. Students (N = 93) in grades four through eight, who were reading below grade level, participated in the study. Treatment group students (n = 51) received individualized, integrated language arts as a reading approach once a week in place of basal reading instruction. Comparison group students (n = 42) received basal reading instruction for the duration of the study. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze posttest Analytical Reading Inventory (ARI) comprehension scores. Several statistically significant (p < .001) differences in comprehension performance were found for on-grade-level scores and for above-grade-level scores, but few differences were found between treatment and comparison groups on below-grade-level scores. All statistically significant differences favored students in the treatment group. The findings of the study strongly suggest that the use of individualized, integrated language arts as a method for teaching reading is an effective approach for improving the reading comprehension performance of struggling readers.     

Evaluating The Effectiveness of a State-Mandated Benchmark Reading Assessment: mCLASS Reading 3D (Text Reading and Comprehension)

We examined which of two instruments (Text Reading and Comprehension inventory [TRC] or a traditional informal reading inventory [IRI]) provides the more valid assessment of a primary-grade student's reading instructional level. The TRC is currently the required, benchmark reading assessment for students in grades K–3 in the state of North Carolina. The TRC and IRI were administered to 196 students in grades 1–3. Results showed that the TRC, when compared to the IRI, (a) underestimated students’ reading instructional level, and (b) took three times as long to administer. Suggestions for improving the instrument are offered.     

Concurrent and Predictive Validity of Reading Retell as a Brief Measure of Reading Comprehension for Narrative Text

Concurrent and predictive validity between the Retell Reading Rubric (RRR), Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), an adaptation of the DIBELS Retell Fluency (RTF-A), and a state assessment emphasizing reading comprehension were examined across students in grades 3 and 5. Results showed the RRR to have moderate and statistically significant relationships to the ORF, RTF-A, and the state assessment for grade 3, but weaker relationships for grade 5. For grade 3, the RRR accounted for a small significant proportion of variance beyond ORF in predicting outcomes on the state assessment for third grade, but no statistically significant contribution for grade 5.     

从书籍到文本--文献学比较史刍议

以往严格制订的我们的研究方法将能够在东方学领域得到应用。不论是研读叙利亚、亚美尼亚、科普特抑或阿拉伯手稿 ,都同研读希腊、拉丁手稿没有任何差别。古典文献学家们制订的规则适用于对弗塔霍泰菩箴言录和卡吉门尼训诫录的研究……———阿方斯·戴恩 :《手稿》 ,巴黎 ,美文出版社 ,1 975。     

Effect of the Reread-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend Intervention on the Reading Achievement of Middle and High School Readers Who are Deaf

Two studies were conducted to determine if the Reread-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend (RAAC) repeated reading fluency intervention is effective in improving the reading achievement of deaf middle school and high school students. Participants included six middle school students and eight high school students. We found consistently good comprehension during the interventions sessions and consistent improvement in ability to read fluently increasingly more difficult passages in both studies. We also found statistical and practical significance for pre- and post-tests on the Woodcock-Johnson for reading comprehension for the high school students but not for the middle school students and no statistical significance for reading fluency in either study.     

An Infertility Primer for Family Therapists: II. Working with Couples Who Struggle with Infertility

The distress of infertility and its medical treatments are profound, and the effects reverberate in each partner, the couple dyad, and the couple's relationships with family, friends, and medical systems. Yet family therapists, like others in our society, are often uninformed or misinformed about the experience of infertility. While the legacies of infertility may be painful and enduring, they often remain unspoken, and hence may be overlooked in standard interviews. This article describes the experiences of couples struggling with infertility, most of whom have sought medical intervention, and it provides treatment interventions for guiding couples through this difficult and often uncharted terrain. Case vignettes derived from 2 years of this clinical research study are included.     

Reading Notes on the Beginning Phase of the Treatment of a Religious Patient

Abstract

Mark Somerstein's (2006) presentation of his deliberations regarding the dual focus of clinical and religious dimensions of a self-limiting male Roman Catholic patient are critically assessed. Somerstein, of Jewish faith, struggles to find a parallel avenue that would enable both his own faith and the patient's faith to be brought into the treatment process without unduly overloading the clinical dialogue. The present writer examines the implications of driving a sharp dichotomy between “religious” and “clinical” dimensions, insisting that the tendency to divide the two results from listening to religious material and metaphors at face value. At the deepest level, referred to as the latent theology, this split disappears. The author offers recommendations about the conditions that are required in order for countertransference in such cases to be effectively linked to the inner dynamics of the patient.     

Metacomprehension and Negation: Assessing Readers’ Awareness of the Difficulty of Negated Text

The present research explored the awareness that readers have of the difficulty of negative text and the impact that awareness has on their comprehension of that text. Participants read narrative and expository paragraphs, rated their comprehension, and answered a comprehension question. The present research established detrimental effects of negation, as well as demonstrated the readers’ awareness of the difficulty of expository, negative text. However, there were no consistencies in the relationship between readers’ metacomprehension judgments and their actual comprehension performance, suggesting that readers may be unable to use their metacomprehension effectively to adjust their reading strategies when processing negation during reading.