Mothers' Attention‐getting Utterances During Shared Book Reading: Links to Low‐income Preschoolers' Verbal Engagement,Visual Attention,and Early Literacy

This study examined associations among low‐income mothers' use of attention‐getting utterances during shared book reading, preschoolers' verbal engagement and visual attention to reading, and their early literacy skills (N = 51). Mother–child shared book reading sessions were videotaped and coded for each utterance, including attention talk, contextualized talk, de‐contextualized talk, and print talk. Preschoolers' attention during book reading was assessed using two measures: verbal engagement by using a rating scale of preschoolers' involvement in book reading discussion and visual attention by coding visual gaze. Findings indicated that mothers' attention talk was positively associated with children's verbal engagement, while maternal print talk was associated with children's visual attention. Further, low‐level maternal print talk was associated with higher early decoding scores of children when it was accompanied with high‐level maternal attention talk. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparing OECD PISA Reading in English to Other Languages: Identifying Potential Sources of Non-Invariance

The use of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) across nations, cultures, and languages has been criticized. The key criticisms point to the linguistic and cultural biases potentially underlying the design of reading comprehension tests, raising doubts about the legitimacy of comparisons across economies. Our research focused on the type and magnitude of invariance or non-invariance in the PISA Reading Comprehension test by language, culture, and economic development relative to performance of the Australian English-speaking reference group used to develop the tests. Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis based on means and covariance structure (MACS) modeling was used to establish a d_MACS effect size index for each economy for the degree of non-invariance. Only three wealthy, English-speaking countries had scalar invariance with Australia. Moderate or large effects were observed in just 31% of the comparisons. PISA index of economic, social and cultural status had a moderate inverse correlation with dMACS suggesting that socioeconomic resourcing of education played a significant role in measurement invariance, while educational practice and language factors seemed to play a further small role in non-invariance. Alternative approaches to reporting PISA results consistent with non-invariance are suggested.     

Does It Matter Whether One Takes a Test on an iPad or a Desktop Computer?

To investigate possible iPad related mode effect, we tested 403 8th graders in Indiana, Maryland, and New Jersey under three mode conditions through random assignment: a desktop computer, an iPad alone, and an iPad with an external keyboard. All students had used an iPad or computer for six months or longer. The 2-hour test included reading, math, and writing items adapted from released NAEP 8th grade tests. Overall, no significant difference was found on the reading, math, or writing section scores or section response time among the three mode conditions. Further, roughly comparable numbers of students reportedly favored testing using an iPad or a desktop computer, but using a preferred mode did not lead to significantly higher section scores. These findings suggest that there is no noticeable disadvantage associated with taking a test on an iPad than on a desktop computer for experienced users of these two studied devices.     

Encouraging prediction during production facilitates subsequent comprehension: Evidence from interleaved object naming in sentence context and sentence reading

Many studies have shown that a supportive context facilitates language comprehension. A currently influential view is that language production may support prediction in language comprehension. Experimental evidence for this, however, is relatively sparse. Here we explored whether encouraging prediction in a language production task encourages the use of predictive contexts in an interleaved comprehension task. In Experiment 1a, participants listened to the first part of a sentence and provided the final word by naming aloud a picture. The picture name was predictable or not predictable from the sentence context. Pictures were named faster when they could be predicted than when this was not the case. In Experiment 1b the same sentences, augmented by a final spill-over region, were presented in a self-paced reading task. No difference in reading times for predictive versus non-predictive sentences was found. In Experiment 2, reading and naming trials were intermixed. In the naming task, the advantage for predictable picture names was replicated. More importantly, now reading times for the spill-over region were considerable faster for predictive than for non-predictive sentences. We conjecture that these findings fit best with the notion that prediction in the service of language production encourages the use of predictive contexts in comprehension. Further research is required to identify the exact mechanisms by which production exerts its influence on comprehension.     

Explanation,updating, and accuracy

There is evidence that people update their credences partly on the basis of explanatory considerations. Philosophers have recently argued that to minimise the inaccuracy of their credences, people's updates also ought to be partly based on such considerations. However, there are many ways in which explanatory considerations can factor into updating, not all of which minimise inaccuracy. It is an open question whether in their updating, people take explanatory considerations into account in a way that philosophers would deem recommendable. To address this question, we re-analyse data from an experiment reported in Douven and Schupbach, “The role of explanatory considerations in updating” (Cognition, 2015).     

Effects of a Peer-Delivered Corrective Reading Program

The effects of a peer-delivered Corrective Reading program (CRP) (Engelmann, Hanner, & Johnson, 1989) with repeated reading on the reading performance of at-risk high school students were examined. High school peer instructors and students in need of reading remediation were randomly assigned to dyads or triads. Peer instructors presented the CRP, conducted repeated reading trials, and took rate and accuracy measures. Pre to post test data were collected on vocabulary and comprehension subtests of the Gates–MacGinitie Reading Tests, oral reading fluency (words read per minute) and accuracy, number of repeated readings on initial and final lessons, and lessons completed. Results indicated that students' performance on the standardized reading assessment increased as did their oral reading fluency. In general, the number of repeated readings decreased from the initial lesson to the final lesson. Implications for further research are discussed.     

结构因素对阅读保持影响的研究

本研究探讨文章阅读过程中结构因素对文章信息保持的影响作用。包括两个实验。实验 1探讨阅读文章结构是否清晰及主体对文章结构是否有清晰的把握对文章信息保持的影响效果。结果表明 ,阅读的文章结构越清晰 ,主体对文章结构把握能力越强 ,越能促进文章的信息保持。实验 2进一步探讨文章的结构清晰及主体对文章结构的清晰把握促进的是何种信息的保持。结果证明 ,结构清晰与否促进的是文章的主要信息的保持 ,而对文章的细节性信息促进作用不大。本研究结果表明 ,文章的结构因素对阅读保持有促进作用 ,主要是促进文章的主要信息的保持。     

高师生心理健康教育实验研究

本文采用自然教学实验的研究方法,探讨心理健康教育对高师生健康信念、健康行为和健康水平的影响,以高师９５级大学三年级学生１２６个为实验组,进行５４个课时的心理健康课程教学,并以同校同级学生１０９个对照组。采用健康信念和健康行为调查表和Ｃａｗｔｅ健康量表,对实验组和控制组被试进行调查和测试。结果表明,心理健康教育不仅明显改善了高师生的健康信念和健康行为,而且提高了他们的身心健康水平。     

PHONOLOGY IN THE LEXICAL PROCESSING OF CHINESE: PRIMING TONE NEIGHBOURS

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