Bilingual Children’s Narrative Comprehension: Do Pauses during Retelling Buy Time for Understanding?

Abstract

This study extended research on bilingual children’s narrative comprehension to text processing during retelling. A cross- and monolinguistic design allowed for the investigation of the association of various aspects of narrative comprehension with two types of pause occurring during oral retelling of a story heard in one language and retold in a second or in the same language. A sample of 95 bilingual (L1 German/L2 English) fourth-graders participated in the experiment. Comprehension was predominantly accomplished during listening, as children with L1 input outperformed children with L2 input, but they did not benefit from L1 in retelling. Children’s comprehension performance and corresponding pause patterns suggested that the duration of filled pauses dedicated to gist formation indicated efficiency of comprehension: The duration decreased with increasing comprehension. The findings allowed the conclusion that longer pauses during retelling did not buy time for comprehension.     

THE VALIDITY OF THE POTENTIAL LEVEL VIA LISTENING COMPREHENSION: A CAUTIONARY NOTE

Historical background and relevant research were examined to determine whether the commonly recommended procedure of determining the reading potential level via listening comprehension is valid in the primary grades. No support was found for the unstated assumptions necessary for this procedure's validity. And three major studies conclusively revealed that use of this procedure to identify children for remedial instruction would drastically over‐refer and would include vast numbers of primary grade children progressing normally in learning to read. Based on this evidence, it was concluded that listening comprehension definitely not be used to determine the reading potential level in grades 1‐3.     

Leaders in Reading Research and Instruction

For many years researchers in psychology and education have studied differences in the way individuals perceive, organize and “make sense” of environmental stimuli. These rather stable individual differences, termed cognitive styles, appear to relate to many aspects of reading behavior. This paper explores how findings from current cognitive styles research might enlighten researchers in reading process and reading instruction. Particular attention is directed toward reading comprehension processes and instructional task variables.     

COMPARING TYPES OF COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS FOUND IN FOURTH GRADE READERS

Abstract

This article examines the implications of Dr. Dolores Durkin's recent research on Reading comprehension. The author takes the seminal findings of Dr. Durkin's study and applies these to improving classroom reading instruction.     

Can reading accuracy and comprehension be separated in the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability?

Background: The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA) (Neale, 1997) is widely used in education and research. It provides measures of reading accuracy (decoding) and comprehension, which are frequently interpreted separately. Aims: Three studies were conducted to investigate the degree to which the NARA measures could be separated. Samples: British 7‐ and 8‐year‐olds participated in Study 1 (N=114) and Study 2 (N=212). In Study 3, 16 skilled and less‐skilled comprehenders were identified from the Study 2 sample. Methods: Study 1: By investigating their contribution to silent reading comprehension, the independence of NARA decoding and comprehension scores was determined. Study 2: Decoding groups matched for listening comprehension were compared on the NARA comprehension measure, and population performance was compared across listening comprehension and NARA reading comprehension. Study 3: Comprehension groups were compared on ability to answer open‐ended and forcedchoice questions. Results: Firstly, NARA comprehension performance depended on decoding, to the extent that children with high listening comprehension ability but low decoding ability attained low NARA comprehension scores. Secondly, 32% of children who attained low NARA comprehension scores exhibited high listening comprehension. Thirdly, comprehension groups differed when assessed with open‐ended questions but not when assessed with forced‐choice questions. Conclusions: The NARA can underestimate the comprehension ability of children with weak decoding skills and children who have some difficulty with open‐ended questions. The decoding and comprehension measures of the NARA cannot be separated. These findings have important implications for the interpretation of the measures provided by the NARA, in education and research.     

RATIONALE AND RESEARCH CONCERNING PREREADING STUDY STRATEGIES WITH SECONDARY AND COLLEGE STUDENTS

Reading and content area teachers frequently teach secondary and college students to use prereading study strategies in the belief that the strategies will facilitate reading comprehension. This article, a review of the literature published from 1960 to 1981, reveals many articles extolling the use of a particular prereading activity, but failing to support the use of the strategy with research. Regardless of the prereading strategies reported in the literature, it is clear that there is a dearth of conclusive research in this area. Careful, well‐designed experiments need to be conducted to determine the degree that prereading strategies expedite comprehension.     

On the categorization of aphasic typologies: the SOAP (a test of syntactic complexity)

This paper presents a new measure of syntactic comprehension abilities in brain-damaged populations known as the SOAP (Subject-relative, Object-relative, Active, and Passive), along with data supporting its sensitivity and specificity. This assessment tool examines comprehension of sentences (matched for length) of four syntactic construction types: active, passive, subject-relative, and object-relative. Data are presented that indicate that the SOAP provides a sensitive and reliable differentiation of aphasia subgroups. The SOAP's sensitivity in differentiating broad behavioral (anterior/posterior-lesioned) groups is compared to the auditory comprehension component of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE), supporting its sensitivity differentiating between anterior- and posterior-lesioned groups. It is argued that this tool can be an important accompaniment to standard aphasia assessment batteries in more sensitively defining syntactic comprehension deficits.     

Truth and trustworthiness in research

We have recently reached a watershed in the research community’s consideration of the ethics of research. The way is now open for a more nuanced discussion than the one of the last decade in which attention to legal and quasi-legal procedures for handling misconduct dominated. The new discussion of ethical issues focused on trustworthiness takes us beyond consideration of conduct that is straightforwardly permitted, forbidden or required, to consideration of criteria for responsible behavior. This paper develops an overview of the subject of trustworthiness among researchers. It illustrates and discusses various types of betrayal and defections in research conduct, and locates these in relation to many of the situations discussed elsewhere in this issue. Beginning with the breaches of trust that constitute major wrongdoing in research (“research misconduct”), I argue that these are more often examples of negligence or recklessness than they are of “fraud.” Acts of negligence and recklessness figure not only in misconduct, narrowly defined, but in many lesser betrayals and defections that undermine trust. The presence or absence of an intentional deception is not a reliable indicator of the seriousness of some moral lapse. Such a lapse, where it does occur, may be simply a particularly poor response to perennially difficult research responsibility. Finally, I consider trust and trustworthiness among collaborating researchers and a range of intentional and unintentional behaviors that influence the character of these trust relationships. The supervisor-supervisee relationship is of particular significance because it is both a difficult area of responsibility for the supervisor and because this relationship is formative for a new researcher’s subsequent expectations and behavior. I review the history of the research community’s discussion of research ethics in the editorial for this issue ofScience and Engineering Ethics 1: 322–328.     

Assessing inference production in 5 to 7-year-olds: Benefits of using a pictorial task

IntroductionThis study focuses on the methodology used to assess children's inferential skills in a narrative comprehension context with children aged between 5 to 7 years.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to test the validity of a pictorial task based on children's literature to probe children's ability to make inferences at different times during the listening of fictional stories.MethodThe task involves selecting one of three vignettes which best illustrates what is currently happening in the story (i.e., inferential vs. literal vs. off-topic). The choices expressed here are compared to those made during a preference task performed by the same students, which consists of selecting the vignette they like the most among each series presented in the comprehension task.ResultsFirst, based on the analysis of the data collected in the comprehension task, children most often select inferential vignettes. Second, the choices expressed in the comprehension task differ from those expressed in the preference task.ConclusionThese results confirm the relevance of using children's literature associated with a pictorial task to test children's inferential skills, even with preschoolers.     

EFFECTS OF STRESSING ORAL READING ACCURACY ON COMPREHENSION

Abstract

Recently, authorities have argued that the traditional demand for accuracy in oral reading may in fact retard comprehension. This study investigates the validity of that argument. Thirty third‐grade students of average ability individually read aloud a 109‐word passage and immediately retold as much of it as they could remember. Half of the students (the high criterial group) were instructed to be very careful to pronounce individual words accurately, and half (the low criterial group) were instructed not to worry unduly about accurate pronunciation of individual words. Students’ readings and retellings were tape recorded. The dependent measures were comprehension (total propositions recalled), reading time, misses (hesitations of two or more seconds), and false alarms (words mispronounced). Results indicated significantly better comprehension (p < .05) and significantly faster reading times (p < .l) for the lower criterial group. The major implication for teaching is that overemphasizing accuracy in oral reading can actually retard comprehension. This implication and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Évaluation de la compréhension écrite de récits chez l’enfant de 7 à 10 ans : vers des profils de compreneurs

IntroductionThe aim of the study was to investigate reading comprehension skills in 7 to 10-year-old children and to present a new tool for assessing reading comprehension skills in elementary school children. Two aspects of text comprehension were assessed: literal comprehension skills and inference generation (with two subtypes of inferences, coherence inferences and knowledge-based inferences).MethodTwo narratives of varying length and complexity have been constructed and presented to 498 French-speaking children from second grade to fifth grade.ResultsThe results showed an evolution of performance with school level. Children's scores also depended on the type of comprehension skill evaluated (literal versus inferential) and difficulty of texts. Furthermore, cluster analysis yielded five profiles that clearly differ on children's ability to respond to either literal questions, coherence inferential questions, or knowledge-based inferential questions.ConclusionThe existence of different profiles of comprehenders is discussed in terms of theoretical implications. Finally, some limitations and way of improvement are presented.     

TEXT COMPREHENSION RESEARCH TO CLASSROOM APPLICATION: DEVELOPING AN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUE

Abstract

Reading comprehension skills are routinely taught and they are often learned to a point of “mastery” on criterion referenced tests; but students relatively seldom apply them effectively when they read content‐area materials. In this paper we argue that the problem can best be solved not by abandoning skill‐centered teaching but by discovering ways to help students make effective use of the skills they acquire through skill‐centered instruction. Our approach is to develop procedures for glossing expository text; that is, we are using marginal and other intratext notations‐‐gloss‐‐to direct students’ attention while they read in order to help them internalize, direct, and apply specific skills and strategies. We describe the purpose and rationale for our developmental approach and show how we are attempting to bring research implications to bear on our work.     

Knowledge and Power in Plato’s Political Thought

Abstract

Plato justifies the concentration and exercise of power for persons endowed with expertise in political governance. This article argues that this justification takes two distinctly different sets of arguments. The first is what I shall call his ‘ideal political philosophy’ described primarily in the Republic as rule by philosopher‐kings wielding absolute authority over their subjects. Their authority stems solely from their comprehension of justice, from which they make political judgements on behalf of their city‐state. I call the second set of arguments Plato’s ‘practical political philosophy’ underlying his later thought, where absolute rule by philosopher‐kings is undermined by the impure character of all political knowledge. Whereas the complete comprehension of justice sanctions the absolute political power of those with this expertise, partial knowledge of justice disallows for such a large investment of power. Plato’s practical political philosophy argues for a mixed theory of governance fusing the institutions of monarchy with democracy in the best practical city‐state. Thus, Plato comes to realize the insurmountable difficulties of his ideal political thought, preferring a more practical political philosophy instead.     

Envelope stuffing at home: A quasi confidence game

A common consumer fraud is the work‐at‐home scheme which promises substantial earnings from “stuffing envelopes” in one's home. The purposes of this research were to describe this scheme in detail and to analyze the process by which the scheme persists. Upon purchasing materials advertised in National Enquirer the researchers found that the principal plan being sold involves a pyramid: those answering ads buy materials encouraging them to advertise in order to sell the same materials. For this study, the content of the materials was analyzed in terms of the elements found in traditional confidence games. It is evident that although their sequence differs, all the elements of confidence games are present in the envelope stuffing scheme. It is argued that the scheme is a quasi confidence game, and its persistence derives at least in part from the same factors that promote traditional confidence games.     

THE MISUSES AND APPROPRIATE USES OF NORM‐REFERENCED TESTS OF READING COMPREHENSION

This article reviews four uses for norm‐referenced tests of reading comprehension: (a) as a means of placing students at the appropriate instructional level, (b) as a means of diagnosing reading difficulties, (c) as a means of documenting instructional gain, and (d) as a means of predicting future comprehension performance. It is suggested that the first three uses listed above are actually misuses of the tests. The only appropriate use is to predict future performance.     

Ethics and practices of re‐presentation: Witnessing self and other

Context: The challenge of producing ethical representational practices is of critical interest to both practitioner‐researchers and research theorists. For practitioners becoming researchers a central ethical question may be how to manage a relational presence in writing their research, in ways that acknowledge participants, the research relationship, and a researcher's own subjectivity. Focus: The article offers examples from practitioner research to illustrate and theorise how researcher subjectivity is managed through the use of witnessing practices as a representational strategy. Witnessing practices – translated into counselling research from narrative therapy – offer researchers a strategy to take up a reflexive, relational presence in research reports. Discussion: Researcher witnessing honours the contributions of research participants as well as making visible the shaping effects of the research on a researcher's life. Through witnessing self and other, and thus declaring presence, privilege and partiality, re‐presentational ethics are made transparent.     

Who is a homosexual? A critique of the heterosexual‐homosexual dimension

Abstract

The heterosexual‐homosexual distinction as a construction inhibits appreciation of the diversity of sexual experience by encouraging use of static labels to classify people's continually evolving sexual histories. Distinguishing sexual preference may expedite comprehension of sexual acts, but is counterproductive when considering whole persons. We question the need for biological explanations of homosexuality and propose that “coming out” as homosexual is a personal choice to be celebrated, not a biological abnormality. We perceive sexuality as merely one aspect of per‐sonhood. When people instead see self‐proclaimed homosexuals as “homosexuals and only homosexuals” sexual behavior overshadows other salient individual characteristics, and sexual desire becomes inseparable from personality style.     

Data Collection in a Flat World: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Mechanical Turk Samples

Mechanical Turk (MTurk), an online labor system run by Amazon.com, provides quick, easy, and inexpensive access to online research participants. As use of MTurk has grown, so have questions from behavioral researchers about its participants, reliability, and low compensation. In this article, we review recent research about MTurk and compare MTurk participants with community and student samples on a set of personality dimensions and classic decision‐making biases. Across two studies, we find many similarities between MTurk participants and traditional samples, but we also find important differences. For instance, MTurk participants are less likely to pay attention to experimental materials, reducing statistical power. They are more likely to use the Internet to find answers, even with no incentive for correct responses. MTurk participants have attitudes about money that are different from a community sample's attitudes but similar to students' attitudes. Finally, MTurk participants are less extraverted and have lower self‐esteem than other participants, presenting challenges for some research domains. Despite these differences, MTurk participants produce reliable results consistent with standard decision‐making biases: they are present biased, risk‐averse for gains, risk‐seeking for losses, show delay/expedite asymmetries, and show the certainty effect—with almost no significant differences in effect sizes from other samples. We conclude that MTurk offers a highly valuable opportunity for data collection and recommend that researchers using MTurk (1) include screening questions that gauge attention and language comprehension; (2) avoid questions with factual answers; and (3) consider how individual differences in financial and social domains may influence results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SEMANTIC INTEGRATION: A COMPARISON OF NORMAL AND DISABLED READERS

Abstract

This study examined comprehension of sets of related sentences from which inferences could be drawn. Subjects were 40 disabled and 40 normal readers (C.A. 10‐10 ‐ 11‐11) who were asked to read short paragraphs suggesting spatial relationships. After reading, they were given a recognition test containing items not previously read but which were structured in their relationship to the semantic content of the texts. Analyses of within and between group errors reveal significant differences due to sentence type and a strong tendency for both groups to “misrecognize” semantically congruent inferences. The results are discussed in light of past research on the memory capabilities of disabled readers and with respect to techniques of remediation.     

PROBLEM‐SOLVING SCHEMATA FOR TEXT TYPES: A COMPARISON OF NARRATIVE AND EXPOSITORY TEXT STRUCTURES

In this paper we argue that comprehension is a problem solving activity and that different problem solving schemata exist for different types of texts, both narrative and expository. When processing the text, the reader uses these problem solving schemata to construct meaning of the context and to satisfy personal reading goals. For instance, comprehension of a text, such as a short story, a folk tale, or even a passage from a science book, can be viewed as a problem solving activity. Bransford and Stein's (1984) IDEAL model identifies the problem solver as one who (I) identifies problems, (D) defines and represents problems, (E) explores possible strategies for solving the problem, (A) acts on those strategies, and (L) looks back and evaluates the effects of those strategies. This problem solving model aptly describes what readers as problem solvers do when comprehending a text. The reader as a problem solver identifies and defines specific reading goals. To understand the content of the passage, the reader as a problem solver uses domain‐specific knowledge about the topic, prior experience in reading that type of text to explore a multitude of strategies. While reading the text, the reader uses those strategies to construct meaning about the text. After reading a passage, the proficient reader as a problem solver evaluates what has been read and checks to see if one's reading goals have been met.