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.     

Socratic Ironies: Reading Hadot,Reading Kierkegaard

This paper examines the seemingly unlikely rapport between the ‘Christian existentialist’, radically Protestant thinker, Søren Kierkegaard and French classicist and historian of philosophy, Pierre Hadot, famous for advocating a return to the ancient pagan sense of philosophy as a way of life. Despite decisive differences we stress in our concluding remarks, we argue that the conception of philosophy in Hadot as a way of life shares decisive features with Kierkegaard’s understanding of the true ‘religious’ life: as something demanding existential engagement from its proponent, as well as the learning or recitation of accepted doctrines. The mediating figure between the two authors, the paper agrees with Irina (2012), is Socrates and his famous irony. In order to appreciate Kierkegaard’s rapport with Hadot, then (and in contrast to Gregor, who has also treated the two figures) we first of all consider Hadot’s treatment of the enigmatic ‘old wise man’ who remains central to Kierkegaard’s entire authorship. (Part 1) However, to highlight Hadot’s Socratic proximity to Kierkegaard (in contrast to Irina), we set up Hadot’s Socrates against the contrasting portrait readers can find in John M. Cooper’s recent work on Socrates and philosophy as a way of life. Part II of the essay turns back from Hadot’s and Kierkegaard’s Socrates towards Hadot’s own work, and argues—again moving beyond both Gregor and Irina’s works on Hadot and Kierkegaard—that the shape of Hadot’s ‘authorship’, including his remarkably classical style, can be understood by way of Kierkegaard’s notion of indirect communication. In our concluding remarks, in the spirit of Kierkegaard, we pinpoint the fundamental difference between the two thinkers, arguing that for Hadot in contrast to Kierkegaard, a stress on existential commitment in no way speaks against the philosophical defence of a form of rational universalism. Reading Hadot via Kierkegaard allows us to appreciate Hadot’s novelty as attempting to ‘squaring the circle’ between an emphasis on subjectivity and, as it were, the subjective dimensions of philosophers’ pursuit of rational universality.     

Uneven Profiles: Language Minority Learners' Word Reading, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension Skills

English reading comprehension skill development was examined in a group of 87 native Spanish-speakers developing English literacy skills, followed from fourth through fifth grade. Specifically, the effects of Spanish (L1) and English (L2) oral language and word reading skills on reading comprehension were investigated. The participants showed average word reading skills and below average comprehension skills, influenced by low oral language skills. Structural equation modeling confirmed that L2 oral language skills had a large, significant effect on L2 reading comprehension, whereas students' word-level reading skills, whether in L1 or L2, were not significantly related to English reading comprehension in three of four models fitted. The results converge with findings from studies with monolinguals demonstrating the influence of oral language on reading comprehension outcomes, and extend these findings by showing that, for language minority learners, L2 oral language exerts a stronger influence than word reading in models of L2 reading.     

Eye Movements, Cognitive Processes, and Reading

Itisveryclearthateyemovementdatahavebeenextremelyinfluentialinshapingwhatamodelofskilledreadingshouldbelike[1,2].Eyemovementdatahavealsoyieldedvaluableinsightsconcerningthemostappropriatewaystoteachreading[3,4].Giv鄄enthatmyownresearchhasinvolvedtheuseofeyemovementdataformanyyears,Iamoftenaskedwhatthemostsignificantfindingsthathaveemergedfromourlab.Inthisarticle,IwillfocusonwhatIviewtobethemostimportantfindingsanddevelopmentsfromtheresearchthatwehavedoneoverthisextended30yearperiod.Becauseou…     

Reading Irigaray,Dancing

My essay incorporates Irigaray's notion of the sensible transcendental, a dynamic attempt to reconstitute the body/mind dualism which founds Western thought, into a reading of the practice of European concert dance. I contend that Irigaray's efforts toward articulating a language of the body as active agent have much to offer (feminist) analyses of dance practice, and develop this claim through a reading which reflects philosophically on the changing nature of my own dance activity.     

Reading, hearing, understanding]

The relationship between reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and two indicators of intelligence (verbal reasoning, speed of information processing) is analyzed on the basis of a hierarchical monistic model. Two tests (reading comprehension, listening comprehension) were administered to 221 4th graders in classroom context at two sessions. Order of administration was balanced. Additionally, verbal reasoning and speed of information processing were assessed, marks in German were collected. On the whole, performance in listening comprehension exceeds reading comprehension as expected for children at that age. In spite of this mean difference a high correlation between the variables was found. In accordance with theory, the relationship between reading and listening comprehension is stronger when the influence of reading specific abilities is lower and reading material is less complex. Listening comprehension appears to be of more relevance to the prediction of reading comprehension than verbal intelligence, speed of information processing, and marks in German, even when listening comprehension is introduced as the last predictor in multiple regression analysis. It is suggested to emphasize the role of listening comprehension in the assessment and prognosis of reading disabilities.     

A Comparison of Reading Rates,Comprehension, and Stamina in Oral and Silent Reading of Fourth-Grade Students

This study examined the relationships between silent and oral reading fluency and comprehension. Findings indicated that fourth grade students had consistent levels of comprehension in both reading modes. Students of all reading levels showed a similar pattern across the segments of a text set in both oral and silent reading—a gradual increase in rate from texts one through three, a drop-off on text four, and the fastest speed on text five. A portion of the sample engaged in abnormally rapid silent reading relative to their oral reading rates coupled with low comprehension. Implications for instruction are discussed.     

Effects of Tier I Differentiation and Reading Intervention on Reading Fluency,Comprehension, and High Stakes Measures

This quasi-experimental study examined differences in student reading outcomes. Participants were third grade non-struggling readers. Intervention classrooms included core curriculum instruction plus evidence-based reading comprehension instruction and differentiated repeated readings. Comparison classrooms provided core curriculum instruction only. Significant group mean differences were found on four fluency-related measures, but not for three other measures. Non-significant mean score differences had moderate effect sizes in the direction of improved reading outcomes for the intervention group, including a statewide high stakes test (Hedges g = .41). Results suggest that the addition of evidence-based differentiated reading instruction is beneficial for Tier I.     

Summer Reading: Predicting Adolescent Word Learning from Aptitude,Time Spent Reading,and Text Type

Mostly low-income African American and Hispanic teens (N = 192) were tested in (a) passage comprehension, (b) vocabulary ability, (c) cloze task performance, and (d) listening comprehension in the spring and vocabulary in the fall. Students were surveyed about reading (a) narrative, (b) expository, (c) teen culture, and (d) online texts. Interaction terms created by the product of cloze task scores with the time and frequency of student narrative and expository reading were both significant predictors of fall vocabulary. Online reading was popular but did not predict vocabulary gains. Teen culture reading predicted vocabulary loss. Text type and student profiles both play a role in predicting fall vocabulary scores from summer reading.     

Reading homographs: orthographic, phonologic, and semantic dynamics

Reading processes were compared across 3 word types: homographs (separate pronunciations and meanings, such as lead), homonyms (singular pronunciations but separate meanings, such as spring), and control words (e.g., clock). In Experiment 1, naming reaction times were significantly slower to homographs than to all other words. Experiments 2 and 3 used an association judgment task, with referent words related to the dominant or subordinate meanings of homonyms and homographs. In Experiment 2, homonyms and homographs were presented 1st, followed by disambiguating associates. In Experiment 3, presentation order was reversed. For homographs, performance costs always occurred for subordinate meanings. For homonyms, these costs vanished when context was provided by the preceding associates. The data underscore the priority of phonologic information in word meaning access and suggest that low- and high-level constraints combine to shape word perception.     

阅读疗法:概念、机理及运用中应把握的几个问题

阅读疗法是指人们通过默读或朗读书面文本或电子文本,提高人的心理素质的一种心理治疗方法,它具有治疗、预防、发展三种功能.阅读通过从外界摄入"负熵",提高人的认知能力,使人获得高峰体验,改变人的气质多种途径来实现其心理治疗上的目的.运用好阅读疗法,必须注意把握好阅读材料、时机、方法、习惯等几个环节.     

语音意识、快速命名与中文阅读

本研究考察了语音意识、快速命名与中文阅读的关系．一系列回归分析发现．语音意识对中文读字、中文默字和快速阅读理解的解释量大于快速命名。快速命名先进入方程时对一分钟读字有更大的解释量。控制发音速度对一分钟读字的影响后,快速命名和语音意识对一分钟读字的解释量减小。这些结果说明．与语音意识相比,快速命名对中文阅读有独立的、微弱的影响。文章讨论了语音意识和快速命名与中文阅读的关系,并根据实验结果分析了快速命名的认知结构。