Word Reading Efficiency,Text Reading Fluency,and Reading Comprehension Among Chinese Learners of English

This study examined the relationship among word reading efficiency, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension for adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Data from 185 adult Chinese EFL learners preparing to take the Test-of-English-as-a-Foreign-Language? (TOEFL®) were analyzed in this study. The participants completed a computer-based test battery of word reading efficiency and text reading fluency in addition to TOEFL iBT (Internet-Based Test) reading comprehension. The findings showed a stronger relationship between text oral reading fluency and reading comprehension than between word reading efficiency and reading comprehension. The authors recommended that attention be paid to text oral reading fluency in adult EFL reading research and instruction.     

汉语儿童英语口语词汇与阅读学习的关系

以120名四、五年级小学儿童为被试,探讨汉语儿童英语口语词汇与阅读学习的关系,并检验了英语语音意识在其中的中介作用。结果表明:(1)汉语儿童的英语口语词汇与阅读学习之间存在密切关系。控制一般认知能力和母语口语词汇的影响后,英语口语词汇对阅读学习仍具有显著的预测作用。其中,英语口语词汇产生对于英语单词认读的预测作用更重要,英语口语词汇理解则对英语单词理解的预测作用更重要。(2)英语口语词汇产生既可以直接作用于英语单词认读、理解和假词拼读,也部分通过英语语音意识的中介间接作用于英语阅读;英语口语词汇理解对英语单词理解也具有直接作用,并部分地通过英语语音意识的中介发挥间接作用     

The Contributions of Oral and Silent Reading Fluency to Reading Comprehension

Silent reading fluency has received limited attention in the school-based literatures across the past decade. We fill this gap by examining both oral and silent reading fluency and their relation to overall abilities in reading comprehension in fourth-grade students. Lower-level reading skills (word reading, rapid automatic naming) and vocabulary were included in structural equation models in order to determine their impact on reading fluency and comprehension. Results suggested that oral and silent reading fluency represent separate constructs, but only oral reading fluency contributed to reading comprehension. Vocabulary was found to contribute uniquely to comprehension even after controlling for reading fluency.     

Phonological Awareness and Beginning Reading in Spanish-Speaking ESL First Graders: Research into Practice

In the first study, 30 Spanish-speaking English-as-a-second language (ESL) first graders whose families were Latino immigrants and who received all their school instruction in English completed an assessment battery with both Spanish and English measures of phonological awareness, Verbal IQ (VIQ), oral language proficiency, and single-word reading (real words and pseudowords); they also named English alphabet letters. Phonological awareness in Spanish predicted (a) phonological awareness in English and (b) English word reading; thus, phonological awareness may transfer across first and second languages and across oral and written language. English VIQ and oral language proficiency predicted both English and Spanish word reading, but Spanish VIQ and oral language proficiency did not predict English word reading. In the second study, the 4 males and the 4 females with the lowest reading achievement participated in an instructional design experiment in which empirically supported instructional components for teaching beginning reading to monlingual English speakers were included. These components were phonological awareness training (in both Spanish and English), explicit instruction in alphabetic principle (in English), and repeated reading of engaging English text with comprehension monitoring (in English). Both individual students and the group as a whole increased in real-word reading and pseudoword reading beyond the level expected on the basis of their Spanish or English VIQ or oral proficiency. Implications of this research for school psychology practice are discussed, especially the importance of early reading intervention and progress monitoring for Spanish-speaking ESL first graders.     

Investigating word class effects in first and second languages

According to Zyzik in 2009, only a few recent studies have investigated similarities in use of words in comprehension of first languages (L1) and second languages (L2). Furtner, Rauthmann, and Sachse showed a rank order of word classes by frequency of eye-gaze regression when reading other difficult words: nouns, adjectives, closed-class words, verbs. The hypothesis was that a L1-L2 word-class similarity effect between German (L1) and English (L2) would occur, and this was tested with jumbled word reading of English text (wherein letters within words Shave been jumbled) and eye-tracking by 141 participants. Analyses of regressive fixations from one word class to others showed that nouns were regressed most often and there was a rank order of importance among the word classes apparently used to enhance comprehension of other difficult words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, dosed-class words). Thus, previous findings for L1 were largely replicated. Findings are discussed regarding language acquisition.     

Getting ready for reading: A follow‐up study of inner city second language learners at the end of Key Stage 1

Background: A previous study (Stuart, 1999) showed that early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching improved reading and spelling ability in inner‐city schoolchildren in Key Stage 1, most of whom were learning English as a second language. Aims: The present study, a follow‐up of these children at the end of Key Stage 1, addresses four main questions: (1) Are these improvements maintained to the end of Key Stage 1? (2) Are different patterns of cognitive process evident in the word recognition skills of phonics trained versus untrained children? (3) Do the phonics trained children now also show a significant advantage in reading comprehension? (4) Are there differences in amount of reading, in self‐concept as readers and in oral vocabulary development between phonics trained and untrained children? Relationships between reading and spelling ages and Key Stage 1 SATs levels are also explored. Sample: Data are reported from 101 seven‐year‐olds (85 of whom were second language learners) remaining from the original 112 children reported on previously. Method: Children were tested on four standardized tests of reading, spelling and vocabulary, and on a further six experimental tests of phoneme segmentation, grapheme‐phoneme correspondence knowledge, regular, exception and nonword reading, author recognition and reading self‐concept. Results: Lasting influences of early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching on phoneme awareness, grapheme‐phoneme correspondence knowledge, word reading and spelling were found. Part of the previously untrained group had now received structured phonics teaching, and were therefore treated as a third (late trained) group. Early and late‐trained groups showed similar levels of attainment and similar cognitive processing patterns, which were different from the untrained group. However, there were no influences of training on reading comprehension, self‐concept or oral vocabulary. Conclusions: Early phoneme awareness and phonics training efficiently accelerates the word recognition and spelling skills of first and second language learners alike. However, this is not sufficient to bootstrap the development of language comprehension in the second language learners. Further research is needed into the kinds of language teaching that will best develop their oral and written language comprehension.     

Reading,syntactic, orthographic,and working memory skills of bilingual Arabic-English speaking Canadian children

This study assessed the reading, language, and memory skills of 56 bilingual Arab-Canadian children age's 9-14. English was their main instructional language, and Arabic was the language spoken at home. All children attended a Heritage Language Program in Toronto where they were taught to read and write Arabic. The children were administered word and pseudo-word reading, language, and working memory tests in English and Arabic. The majority of the children showed at least adequate proficiency in both languages. There was a significant relationship between the acquisition of word and pseudo-word reading working memory, and syntactic awareness skills in the two languages. The poor readers in Arabic had lower scores on all linguistic tasks, except the visual task. There were no significant differences between bilingual English Arabic children and monolingual English-speaking children on the reading, language, and memory tasks. However, bilingual English Arabic children who had reading problems in English had higher scores on English pseudo-word reading and spelling tasks than monolingual English-speaking children with reading disabilities, probably because of positive transfer from the regular nature of Arabic orthography. In this case, bilingualism does not appear to have negative consequences for the development of language reading skills in both languages—Arabic and English—despite the different nature of the two orthographies.     

第二语言阅读“熔断”假说的认知心理证据:在线篇章处理的范式

本研究以认知心理学的结构建造理论为实验框架,模拟学习者母语及外语在线篇章处理的过程,从而获取第二语言阅读"熔断"假说以及"门槛"效应的认知心理证据。英语水平差别显著的高低两组共60名被试参加了英、汉语故事理解加工实验,考察他们如何对故事的人物角色进行持续跟踪,以厘清故事内的"因果链"。结果发现:(1)高水平组成功地把他们的母语故事理解加工能力迁移到第二语言的故事理解加工,而低水平组则迁移失败;(2)理解加工能力的迁移与被试心理表征建构能力以及抑制机制的效率紧密关联,高水平组被试能有效地利用抑制机制来管理他们第二语言的结构建造过程,从而建立对故事的连贯心理表征,而低水平组则不能。在分析上述结果的基础上,文章提出第二语言阅读"熔断"假说的认知心理证据就是第二语言心理表征建构与抑制机制的作用问题;要成功地进行第二语言篇章理解,读者必须要使其二语潜在的能力(如词汇效率等)发展到某个点上,使得与抑制(结构建造的关键)相关的许多无意识的决定过程能够高度自动化。     

A Longitudinal Study of English as Foreign Language Learning: L1 Predictors in Italian Students

The present paper reports findings from a longitudinal study examining the development of English as foreign language learning in a sample of 86 Italian students tested at Grade 6 (mean age 11:3) and Grade 8 (mean age 13:3) . Two measures were examined: one relating to sustained learning ( i.e., English learning attainment), and one to short period development,(i.e., change in English proficiency). Different pattern of predictors were identified among L1 reading (speed and comprehension) and mathematics skills. The main findings indicated that calculation components of mathematics skills and reading comprehension predicted English learning attainments at Grade 8, whilst L1 reading speed at Grade 6 strongly predicted changes in English learning proficiency. The theoretical and empirical implications of the results are discussed in the specificity of a learning direction from a transparent L1 to a non‐transparent L2. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examining the Effects of Skill Level and Reading Modality on Reading Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of reading skill and reading modality (oral versus silent) on reading comprehension. A normative sample of sixth-grade students (N = 74) read texts aloud and silently and then answered questions about what they read. Skill in word reading fluency was assessed by the Test of Word Reading Efficiency, Second Edition (Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 2012), and students were identified as either normal or at-risk readers based on those scores. A 2 (reading skill) X 2 (reading modality) mixed factorial ANOVA was conducted. Results revealed that both normal and at-risk readers demonstrated better comprehension of text read orally as compared to text read silently. The middle school curriculum requires independent silent reading, yet students may enter middle school without the literacy skills they need to be successful. These findings suggest that students transitioning to middle school may benefit from additional pedagogical support in silent reading comprehension.     

朗读流畅性在儿童阅读发展中的预测作用

本研究对八个班的二年级汉语儿童进行了长达一年的追踪,深入探索了朗读流畅性在儿童阅读发展中的作用。结果发现,篇章朗读流畅性与学生的多项言语和阅读能力正相关;在控制了年龄、瑞文推理、汉字识别和口语词汇量之后,只在三年级时发现了篇章朗读流畅性对同时期的阅读理解有独特解释作用,但未能在二年级时找到类似的横断证据;但在排除了自回归效应和其他变量的作用之后,二年级时的朗读流畅性对一年后的阅读理解具有独特的预测作用。这表明朗读流畅性在汉语儿童阅读能力发展中具有重要预测作用,今后的理论研究和教学实践都应对此给予足够重视。     

Relationship between levels of oral and written language in beginning readers

The validity of a test battery, organized by a theoretical framework of levels of language processing and production, was evaluated at the end of kindergarten and theend of first grade. At the end of kindergarten two levels of oral language, phonemic and lexical, and at the end of first grade three levels of oral language, phonemic, lexical, and text, were correlated with word decoding and reading comprehension. At the end of first grade, the combination of phonemic and lexical skills accounted for more variance in both word decoding and reading comprehension than either phonemic or lexical skills alone. The strength of the relationship between specific levels of oral language and specific component reading skills changed after formal reading instruction was introduced. Functional relationships were found between improvement in phonemic skills or lexical skills and improvement in word decoding. Partial correlations between two levels of oral language with a third partialed out (receptive or expressive task requirements held constant) provided evidence for three semiindependent levels of oral language—phonemic, lexical, and text. Because the battery has concurrent and construct validity, school psychologists can use it to monitor beginning readers in order to prevent reading disabilities due to subtle language dysfunctions.     

Influence of oral language and phonological awareness on children's bilingual reading

The purpose of this study was to assess the roles of oral language and phonological awareness on reading performance in grade 3 bilingual students. Several hierarchical models assessed the best predictors of third grade English and Spanish word attack, word identification and reading comprehension. Predictor variables were measures of phonological awareness, expressive vocabulary, receptive vocabulary, and syntax in both English and Spanish. The results showed that within language contributions of expressive vocabulary and syntax best predicted literacy when compared to phonological awareness measures.     

The role of simultaneous and successive processing in EFL reading

This study examines the relationship between simultaneous and successive processing (the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive processing [PASS] theory processes) and reading skills in English as a foreign language (EFL). A group of 81 children were administered two batteries of tests. One was used to measure EFL reading skills, while the other one assessed simultaneous and successive processing. We hypothesised (a) cognitive processes to predict reading ability, as well as (b) the presence of a significant relationship between (c) simultaneous processing and reading comprehension and (d) successive processing and letter and word decoding. The findings confirmed that the anticipated relationships between these domains exist and are of moderate effect size. The research has helped to contribute to the understanding of how simultaneous and successive processing can affect EFL reading skills both on the level of basic word and letter decoding and reading comprehension.     

学龄早期词语阅读习得对阅读理解能力的预测作用：初始水平和发展速率的贡献

本研究测查了183名儿童在一年级期间（学年初,学年中,学年末）的词语阅读能力（词语解码,阅读流畅性）及一年级末和二年级末的阅读理解能力,采用分层线性模型估计每名儿童在一年级期间词语阅读能力的初始水平和发展速率,以考察二者对阅读理解能力的独立预测作用。结果表明,词语识别的初始水平和增长速率都能独立预测一年级末和二年级末的阅读理解能力,阅读流畅性的初始水平和增长速率只能独立预测二年级末的阅读理解能力,但可以预测阅读理解能力在一年级到二年级的增长。     

中文读写能力及其相关因素的结构模型

运用问卷调查法考查了中文儿童读写能力及其相关因素之间的关系.通过验证性因素分析对量表的信度和效度指标进行了分析,发现量表具有较好的项目信度和结构效度.结构模型分析发现阅读听写能力影响书面语意义理解和书写技能,而书面语意义理解和书写技能对书面表达有显著影响.家庭阅读背景影响儿童的口语能力和阅读听写能力,口语能力影响意义理解和阅读听写能力,基本知觉加工影响口语能力和阅读听写,动作技能影响书写技能.上述结果表明中文字词识别、书写技能和意义理解水平都影响书面表达,即段落产生能力.而口语能力、家庭阅读背景、基本知觉加工和动作技能分别对读写能力的不同侧面产生影响.本研究还分析了模型的年龄和性别特点.     

The Effects of Two Different Reading Acceleration Training Programs on Improving Reading Skills of Second Graders

It has been well established that poor reading skills in the first grades of primary school can lead to poor reading skills in all coming years. A reading acceleration program (RAP) known to improve reading skills in adults and children with and without reading difficulties (RD) was tested for its effect on children in second grade with standard reading skills. The influence of the RAP on improving all reading skills—decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension—was examined. Seventy-nine children in second grade were divided into two study groups and one control group. Each study group received a training program that emphasizes reading skills: decoding, fluency, and comprehension were trained at the levels of words and sentences in Version A and at the levels of words and paragraphs in Version B. Both programs significantly improved reading skills compared with the control group that was not trained: Group A improved word fluency whereas Group B improved accuracy measures (word, pseudo-word, and text). Both training groups showed significantly greater improvement over time than the control group on reading comprehension. We conclude that a RAP training that combines words, sentences, and paragraphs is the most effective for improving reading skills.     

小学一年级阅读流畅性对二、三年级阅读理解的预测

采用追踪研究考察了124名小学一年级儿童的阅读流畅性对其二、三年级阅读理解的影响。结果发现,在控制了性别、家庭社会经济地位、推理能力、汉字识别、口语词汇及多种阅读相关认知技能之后,儿童一年级时的字词流畅性可以预期其二、三年级时的阅读理解水平,句子流畅性对二年级时阅读理解的变异有独特解释作用,但对三年级时阅读理解的变异没有显著的解释作用。相对于句子流畅性,字词流畅性在小学低年级阶段对阅读理解的贡献更大。     

The Development of Narrative Comprehension and Its Relation to Other Early Reading Skills

The first goal of this study was to examine young children's developing narrative comprehension abilities using theory-based, authentic measures of comprehension processes. The second goal was to examine the relations among young children's comprehension abilities and other early reading skills. Children ages 4 and 6 listened to or watched two authentic narratives. We measured their comprehension of these narratives as well as vocabulary and skills associated with word decoding. The results revealed that even the younger children were sensitive to the underlying structure of the narratives and that this sensitivity increased with age. Measures of narrative comprehension were not consistently correlated with skills associated with word decoding, such as phonological awareness. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical models of comprehension and of reading development. Practical implications of the findings are also explored.     

Oral language and code-related precursors to reading: evidence from a longitudinal structural model

This study examined code-related and oral language precursors to reading in a longitudinal study of 626 children from preschool through 4th grade. Code-related precursors, including print concepts and phonological awareness, and oral language were assessed in preschool and kindergarten. Reading accuracy and reading comprehension skills were examined in 1st through 4th grades. Results demonstrated that (a) the relationship between code-related precursors and oral language is strong during preschool; (b) there is a high degree of continuity over time of both code-related and oral language abilities; (c) during early elementary school, reading ability is predominantly determined by the level of print knowledge and phonological awareness a child brings from kindergarten; and (d) in later elementary school, reading accuracy and reading comprehension appear to be 2 separate abilities that are influenced by different sets of skills.