Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color

PubMed Central

Colizoli, Olympia; Murre, Jaap M. J.; Rouw, Romke

2014-01-01

Synesthesia is a rare condition in which a stimulus from one modality automatically and consistently triggers unusual sensations in the same and/or other modalities. A relatively common and well-studied type is grapheme-color synesthesia, defined as the consistent experience of color when viewing, hearing and thinking about letters, words and numbers. We describe our method for investigating to what extent synesthetic associations between letters and colors can be learned by reading in color in nonsynesthetes. Reading in color is a special method for training associations in the sense that the associations are learned implicitly while the reader reads text as he or she normally would and it does not require explicit computer-directed training methods. In this protocol, participants are given specially prepared books to read in which four high-frequency letters are paired with four high-frequency colors. Participants receive unique sets of letter-color pairs based on their pre-existing preferences for colored letters. A modified Stroop task is administered before and after reading in order to test for learned letter-color associations and changes in brain activation. In addition to objective testing, a reading experience questionnaire is administered that is designed to probe for differences in subjective experience. A subset of questions may predict how well an individual learned the associations from reading in color. Importantly, we are not claiming that this method will cause each individual to develop grapheme-color synesthesia, only that it is possible for certain individuals to form letter-color associations by reading in color and these associations are similar in some aspects to those seen in developmental grapheme-color synesthetes. The method is quite flexible and can be used to investigate different aspects and outcomes of training synesthetic associations, including learning-induced changes in brain function and structure. PMID:24638033

Correlation, necessity, and sufficiency: Common errors in the scientific reasoning of undergraduate students for interpreting experiments.

PubMed

Coleman, Aaron B; Lam, Diane P; Soowal, Lara N

2015-01-01

Gaining an understanding of how science works is central to an undergraduate education in biology and biochemistry. The reasoning required to design or interpret experiments that ask specific questions does not come naturally, and is an essential part of the science process skills that must be learned for an understanding of how scientists conduct research. Gaps in these reasoning skills make it difficult for students to become proficient in reading primary scientific literature. In this study, we assessed the ability of students in an upper-division biochemistry laboratory class to use the concepts of correlation, necessity, and sufficiency in interpreting experiments presented in a format and context that is similar to what they would encounter when reading a journal article. The students were assessed before and after completion of a laboratory module where necessary vs. sufficient reasoning was used to design and interpret experiments. The assessment identified two types of errors that were commonly committed by students when interpreting experimental data. When presented with an experiment that only establishes a correlation between a potential intermediate and a known effect, students frequently interpreted the intermediate as being sufficient (causative) for the effect. Also, when presented with an experiment that tests only necessity for an intermediate, they frequently made unsupported conclusions about sufficiency, and vice versa. Completion of the laboratory module and instruction in necessary vs. sufficient reasoning showed some promise for addressing these common errors. © 2015 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

The Experiences in Processing Policies and Contracts by Adult ESL Readers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abiog, Evalyn B.

2017-01-01

The present study describes the experiences of adult English as a Second Language (ESL) readers in processing legal texts prior to entering a financial agreement. A preliminary survey was conducted to determine the commonly read policies and contracts of adult ESL reader-consumers, which revealed those of banks and life-insurance companies; hence,…

Energy Efficient Approach in RFID Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahdin, Hairulnizam; Abawajy, Jemal; Salwani Yaacob, Siti

2016-11-01

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is among the key technology of Internet of Things (IOT). It is a sensor device that can monitor, identify, locate and tracking physical objects via its tag. The energy in RFID is commonly being used unwisely because they do repeated readings on the same tag as long it resides in the reader vicinity. Repeated readings are unnecessary because it only generate duplicate data that does not contain new information. The reading process need to be schedule accordingly to minimize the chances of repeated readings to save the energy. This will reduce operational cost and can prolong the tag's battery lifetime that cannot be replaced. In this paper, we propose an approach named SELECT to minimize energy spent during reading processes. Experiments conducted shows that proposed algorithm contribute towards significant energy savings in RFID compared to other approaches.

47 CFR 73.57 - Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Remote reading antenna and common point... RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES AM Broadcast Stations § 73.57 Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters. Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters may be used without further authority...

47 CFR 73.57 - Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Remote reading antenna and common point... RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES AM Broadcast Stations § 73.57 Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters. Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters may be used without further authority...

47 CFR 73.57 - Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Remote reading antenna and common point... RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES AM Broadcast Stations § 73.57 Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters. Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters may be used without further authority...

47 CFR 73.57 - Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Remote reading antenna and common point... RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES AM Broadcast Stations § 73.57 Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters. Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters may be used without further authority...

Individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing: an eye movement study of sentence reading

PubMed Central

Columbus, Georgie; Sheikh, Naveed A.; Côté-Lecaldare, Marilena; Häuser, Katja; Baum, Shari R.; Titone, Debra

2015-01-01

Metaphors are common elements of language that allow us to creatively stretch the limits of word meaning. However, metaphors vary in their degree of novelty, which determines whether people must create new meanings on-line or retrieve previously known metaphorical meanings from memory. Such variations affect the degree to which general cognitive capacities such as executive control are required for successful comprehension. We investigated whether individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing using eye movement measures of reading. Thirty-nine participants read sentences including metaphors or idioms, another form of figurative language that is more likely to rely on meaning retrieval. They also completed the AX-CPT, a domain-general executive control task. In Experiment 1, we examined sentences containing metaphorical or literal uses of verbs, presented with or without prior context. In Experiment 2, we examined sentences containing idioms or literal phrases for the same participants to determine whether the link to executive control was qualitatively similar or different to Experiment 1. When metaphors were low familiar, all people read verbs used as metaphors more slowly than verbs used literally (this difference was smaller for high familiar metaphors). Executive control capacity modulated this pattern in that high executive control readers spent more time reading verbs when a prior context forced a particular interpretation (metaphorical or literal), and they had faster total metaphor reading times when there was a prior context. Interestingly, executive control did not relate to idiom processing for the same readers. Here, all readers had faster total reading times for high familiar idioms than literal phrases. Thus, executive control relates to metaphor but not idiom processing for these readers, and for the particular metaphor and idiom reading manipulations presented. PMID:25628557

Individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing: an eye movement study of sentence reading.

PubMed

Columbus, Georgie; Sheikh, Naveed A; Côté-Lecaldare, Marilena; Häuser, Katja; Baum, Shari R; Titone, Debra

2014-01-01

Metaphors are common elements of language that allow us to creatively stretch the limits of word meaning. However, metaphors vary in their degree of novelty, which determines whether people must create new meanings on-line or retrieve previously known metaphorical meanings from memory. Such variations affect the degree to which general cognitive capacities such as executive control are required for successful comprehension. We investigated whether individual differences in executive control relate to metaphor processing using eye movement measures of reading. Thirty-nine participants read sentences including metaphors or idioms, another form of figurative language that is more likely to rely on meaning retrieval. They also completed the AX-CPT, a domain-general executive control task. In Experiment 1, we examined sentences containing metaphorical or literal uses of verbs, presented with or without prior context. In Experiment 2, we examined sentences containing idioms or literal phrases for the same participants to determine whether the link to executive control was qualitatively similar or different to Experiment 1. When metaphors were low familiar, all people read verbs used as metaphors more slowly than verbs used literally (this difference was smaller for high familiar metaphors). Executive control capacity modulated this pattern in that high executive control readers spent more time reading verbs when a prior context forced a particular interpretation (metaphorical or literal), and they had faster total metaphor reading times when there was a prior context. Interestingly, executive control did not relate to idiom processing for the same readers. Here, all readers had faster total reading times for high familiar idioms than literal phrases. Thus, executive control relates to metaphor but not idiom processing for these readers, and for the particular metaphor and idiom reading manipulations presented.

A Cross-Sectional Survey Study About the Most Common Solitary and Social Flow Activities to Extend the Concept of Optimal Experience

PubMed Central

Magyaródi, Tímea; Oláh, Attila

2015-01-01

Previous assumptions note that the most powerful experiences of engagement are shared with others. Therefore, in the framework of positive psychology, to expand the dynamic interactionism-related flow theory, we have attempted to conduct an exploratory study about flow to reveal the most common activities that can trigger this experience during solitary or social situations. The study involved 1,709 adult participants from Hungary (Age: M = 26.95, SD = 11.23). They read descriptions about optimal experience in solitary and social situations and were asked to identify the activity from their life that is most typically followed by the described experiences. The social context was supplemented by other flow-related questions for a deeper understanding and to contribute to the research. According to the results the most typical solitary flow activities are found to be work, sports, creative activities and reading. The most common flow-inducing social activities are work and sports. The choice of the most frequent flow-inducing activities in both solitary and interpersonal situations is dependent on the gender of the respondent, and various demographical factors can influence the frequency of flow experiences in different contexts. Analysis reveal that optimal experience during a social interaction is determined by the perceived level of challenges, the perceived level of cooperation, the immediateness and clarity of the feedback, and the level of the skill. Our study may contribute to the broadening purpose of positive psychology as it focuses on the interpersonal level in relation to flow experience, which, in turn, may also support a higher level of well-being. PMID:27247682

Cortical thickness abnormalities associated with dyslexia, independent of remediation status.

PubMed

Ma, Yizhou; Koyama, Maki S; Milham, Michael P; Castellanos, F Xavier; Quinn, Brian T; Pardoe, Heath; Wang, Xiuyuan; Kuzniecky, Ruben; Devinsky, Orrin; Thesen, Thomas; Blackmon, Karen

2015-01-01

Abnormalities in cortical structure are commonly observed in children with dyslexia in key regions of the "reading network." Whether alteration in cortical features reflects pathology inherent to dyslexia or environmental influence (e.g., impoverished reading experience) remains unclear. To address this question, we compared MRI-derived metrics of cortical thickness (CT), surface area (SA), gray matter volume (GMV), and their lateralization across three different groups of children with a historical diagnosis of dyslexia, who varied in current reading level. We compared three dyslexia subgroups with: (1) persistent reading and spelling impairment; (2) remediated reading impairment (normal reading scores), and (3) remediated reading and spelling impairments (normal reading and spelling scores); and a control group of (4) typically developing children. All groups were matched for age, gender, handedness, and IQ. We hypothesized that the dyslexia group would show cortical abnormalities in regions of the reading network relative to controls, irrespective of remediation status. Such a finding would support that cortical abnormalities are inherent to dyslexia and are not a consequence of abnormal reading experience. Results revealed increased CT of the left fusiform gyrus in the dyslexia group relative to controls. Similarly, the dyslexia group showed CT increase of the right superior temporal gyrus, extending into the planum temporale, which resulted in a rightward CT asymmetry on lateralization indices. There were no group differences in SA, GMV, or their lateralization. These findings held true regardless of remediation status. Each reading level group showed the same "double hit" of atypically increased left fusiform CT and rightward superior temporal CT asymmetry. Thus, findings provide evidence that a developmental history of dyslexia is associated with CT abnormalities, independent of remediation status.

Cortical thickness abnormalities associated with dyslexia, independent of remediation status

PubMed Central

Ma, Yizhou; Koyama, Maki S.; Milham, Michael P.; Castellanos, F. Xavier; Quinn, Brian T.; Pardoe, Heath; Wang, Xiuyuan; Kuzniecky, Ruben; Devinsky, Orrin; Thesen, Thomas; Blackmon, Karen

2014-01-01

Abnormalities in cortical structure are commonly observed in children with dyslexia in key regions of the “reading network.” Whether alteration in cortical features reflects pathology inherent to dyslexia or environmental influence (e.g., impoverished reading experience) remains unclear. To address this question, we compared MRI-derived metrics of cortical thickness (CT), surface area (SA), gray matter volume (GMV), and their lateralization across three different groups of children with a historical diagnosis of dyslexia, who varied in current reading level. We compared three dyslexia subgroups with: (1) persistent reading and spelling impairment; (2) remediated reading impairment (normal reading scores), and (3) remediated reading and spelling impairments (normal reading and spelling scores); and a control group of (4) typically developing children. All groups were matched for age, gender, handedness, and IQ. We hypothesized that the dyslexia group would show cortical abnormalities in regions of the reading network relative to controls, irrespective of remediation status. Such a finding would support that cortical abnormalities are inherent to dyslexia and are not a consequence of abnormal reading experience. Results revealed increased CT of the left fusiform gyrus in the dyslexia group relative to controls. Similarly, the dyslexia group showed CT increase of the right superior temporal gyrus, extending into the planum temporale, which resulted in a rightward CT asymmetry on lateralization indices. There were no group differences in SA, GMV, or their lateralization. These findings held true regardless of remediation status. Each reading level group showed the same “double hit” of atypically increased left fusiform CT and rightward superior temporal CT asymmetry. Thus, findings provide evidence that a developmental history of dyslexia is associated with CT abnormalities, independent of remediation status. PMID:25610779

Multiple Regions of a Cortical Network Commonly Encode the Meaning of Words in Multiple Grammatical Positions of Read Sentences.

PubMed

Anderson, Andrew James; Lalor, Edmund C; Lin, Feng; Binder, Jeffrey R; Fernandino, Leonardo; Humphries, Colin J; Conant, Lisa L; Raizada, Rajeev D S; Grimm, Scott; Wang, Xixi

2018-05-16

Deciphering how sentence meaning is represented in the brain remains a major challenge to science. Semantically related neural activity has recently been shown to arise concurrently in distributed brain regions as successive words in a sentence are read. However, what semantic content is represented by different regions, what is common across them, and how this relates to words in different grammatical positions of sentences is weakly understood. To address these questions, we apply a semantic model of word meaning to interpret brain activation patterns elicited in sentence reading. The model is based on human ratings of 65 sensory/motor/emotional and cognitive features of experience with words (and their referents). Through a process of mapping functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging activation back into model space we test: which brain regions semantically encode content words in different grammatical positions (e.g., subject/verb/object); and what semantic features are encoded by different regions. In left temporal, inferior parietal, and inferior/superior frontal regions we detect the semantic encoding of words in all grammatical positions tested and reveal multiple common components of semantic representation. This suggests that sentence comprehension involves a common core representation of multiple words' meaning being encoded in a network of regions distributed across the brain.

RNA-seq Data: Challenges in and Recommendations for Experimental Design and Analysis.

PubMed

Williams, Alexander G; Thomas, Sean; Wyman, Stacia K; Holloway, Alisha K

2014-10-01

RNA-seq is widely used to determine differential expression of genes or transcripts as well as identify novel transcripts, identify allele-specific expression, and precisely measure translation of transcripts. Thoughtful experimental design and choice of analysis tools are critical to ensure high-quality data and interpretable results. Important considerations for experimental design include number of replicates, whether to collect paired-end or single-end reads, sequence length, and sequencing depth. Common analysis steps in all RNA-seq experiments include quality control, read alignment, assigning reads to genes or transcripts, and estimating gene or transcript abundance. Our aims are two-fold: to make recommendations for common components of experimental design and assess tool capabilities for each of these steps. We also test tools designed to detect differential expression, since this is the most widespread application of RNA-seq. We hope that these analyses will help guide those who are new to RNA-seq and will generate discussion about remaining needs for tool improvement and development. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Improving Vocabulary Acquisition through Direct and Indirect Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glowacki, Deborah; Lanucha, Cheryl; Pietrus, Debra

Students who lag behind in vocabulary commonly experience academic failure. A student's vocabulary knowledge directly impacts reading comprehension. To improve comprehension, students need exposure to a variety of literature and opportunities for meaningful practice of vocabulary they encounter daily. Vocabulary is developed through a variety of…

Text-speak processing impairs tactile location.

PubMed

Head, James; Helton, William; Russell, Paul; Neumann, Ewald

2012-09-01

Dual task experiments have highlighted that driving while having a conversation on a cell phone can have negative impacts on driving (Strayer & Drews, 2007). It has also been noted that this negative impact is greater when reading a text-message (Lee, 2007). Commonly used in text-messaging are shortening devices collectively known as text-speak (e.g.,Ys I wll ttyl 2nite, Yes I will talk to you later tonight). To the authors' knowledge, there has been no investigation into the potential negative impacts of reading text-speak on concurrent performance on other tasks. Forty participants read a correctly spelled story and a story presented in text-speak while concurrently monitoring for a vibration around their waist. Slower reaction times and fewer correct vibration detections occurred while reading text-speak than while reading a correctly spelled story. The results suggest that reading text-speak imposes greater cognitive load than reading correctly spelled text. These findings suggest that the negative impact of text messaging on driving may be compounded by the messages being in text-speak, instead of orthographically correct text. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mimewrighting: Preparing Students for the Real World of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shope, R. E.

2013-12-01

READING, WRITING, & ENACTING SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL LITERATURE: Mimewrighting applies the art of mime as an interpretive springboard to integrate conceptual understanding across all content areas. Mimewrighting guides students to read and express complex ideas in carefully crafted movement integrations, mediating experience, so that students obtain an intuitive grasp of difficult and abstract ideas. THE PROBLEM: Reading science writing presents obstacles for middle and high school students, to the point that many students are turned OFF to science altogether. A typical science abstract, written for colleagues, is as densely packed with concept-laden words as a black hole is densely packed with matter- and just as mysterious. What reads to a science colleague as a richly crafted paragraph, from which a myriad of elegantly interrelated concepts can unfold to point to the significance and context of the study at hand, reads as jabberwocky nonsense to the uninitiated student. So, how do we turn such kids (and teachers) back ON to the inquiry-driven desire to seek out challenging and educative experiences? How do we step up to the national challenge to prepare ALL students adequately for the REAL-WORLD demands of science, technology, engineering, math, (STEM) and communications? How do we help kids read, write, and understand scientific and technical literature? AN UNCONVENTIONAL ANSWER: Mimewrighting applies the classic art of mime to unpack the meaning of science writing. We help students view the text as sequences of action, scenarios that can be enacted theatrically for understanding. HOW DOES IT WORK? READ ALOUD, MIME ALONG: It's as simple as read aloud and mime along. And as complex, in that it requires taking the time to acknowledge each concept packed into the passage. Three opening sentences might involve twenty minutes of mimewrighting activity to ensure that students apprehend the patterns, perceive the relationships, and comprehend the dynamics of such a passage-a well-invested quantum of energized activity. Students select a passage of interest and read it aloud. With coaching from science-savvy teachers and coaches, students act out the scientific and technical content-and move toward conceptual understanding of the actual phenomenon. Enacting a dynamical model requires the cognitive and physical awareness of the concepts involved. The mimed experience provides comprehensible input that can connect to math, language, and higher-level thinking skills. Following a mime scenario enactment, the teacher and students can refer to the shared experience as a common source to draw upon in discussion. The mimed action becomes a common reference point of shared prior experience. Modifying and manipulating the mimed model can also effect conceptual change. The power of dramatic reenactment through mimewrighting helps make abstract science and nature of science concepts become lively, tangible, and accessible to inquiry discussion. RESULTS: In this way, we re-inspire interest in science learning by engaging students to construct science scenarios that are designed for the incremental increase in challenge for the students. Students can now risk entering the black hole of scientific and technical writing--and emerge with all faculties intact!

Identification of letters in the predesignated target paradigm: a word superiority effect for the common word the.

PubMed

Peterzell, D H; Sinclair, G P; Healy, A F; Bourne, L E

1990-01-01

The size of the perceptual unit used in reading was addressed using the predesignated target paradigm. Sixteen subjects viewed the following stimuli in random order: the words tee, the, tie, and toe; the nonwords eet, eht, eit, and eot; and the letters e, h, i, and o. Subjects fixated on the location of the center letter and identified the letter as e, h, i, or o, alternatives which were known to them at the onset. A word superiority effect was obtained for the common word the but not for the less common words tee, tie, and toe. The word superiority effect was attributable to bias rather than discriminability: Subjects exhibited a bias to perceive the words in this experiment as the (i.e., there was a bias to perceive h in the t e stimulus presentations). These results suggest that the common word the is processed in reading units that are larger than the letter, and that the system is biased to perceive common rather than uncommon words in data-limited conditions.

'They all supported me but I felt like I suddenly didn't belong anymore': an exploration of perceived disadvantages to online support seeking.

PubMed

Malik, Sumaira; Coulson, Neil S

2010-09-01

In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the number of online support communities dedicated to issues surrounding infertility. The aim of this study was to focus on investigating the perceived disadvantages of online infertility support communities from the perspective of those who access and participate in them. A total of 295 participants completed an online questionnaire about their use of online support communities. Responses were analysed using inductive content analysis. Since the majority of respondents were women, the results of the study largely reflect the experiences of the female population. Over half of the sample (57.9%) reported experiencing disadvantages to online support. Content analysis revealed that the most commonly cited disadvantages were reading about negative experiences (10.9%), reading about other peoples pregnancies (8.8%), inaccurate information (7.8%) and its addictive (5.8%). These results suggest that there are many perceived disadvantages to online infertility support communities. While some of these disadvantages reflect fears commonly cited in the literature, there are also unique disadvantages associated with the experience of infertility and its treatment. The study highlights a number of important areas in which health professionals and community moderators could intervene to better support and improve the online experiences of patients experiencing infertility.

Working on Memories of Abuse....

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horsman, Jenny

1994-01-01

Through working with a woman abused as a child, a teacher concluded that the violence of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse is common among many adults who read and write poorly. Their experiences should be acknowledged in literacy programs that encourage people to develop skills with which to tell their stories. (SK)

Bringing Stories to Life: Integrating Literature and Math Manipulatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Lotta C.; Rumsey, Chepina

2018-01-01

This Teaching Tip describes the use of children's literature to help second-grade students meet Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and for Mathematics. During a shared reading experience, students used manipulatives to represent plot and characters while demonstrating mathematical reasoning. The article offers instructional…

Children's Emergent Literacy: From Research to Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lancy, David F., Ed.

Noting that renaming common folk practices as "emergent literacy" practices legitimizes these unacknowledged ways of learning to read and write, this book highlights the importance of out-of-school literacy experiences and the value of real literature and real writing. It stresses a reciprocal relationship between basic research on the…

Education for Democracy at the University Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knoester, Matthew; Gichiru, Wangari P.

2014-01-01

The University of Evansville, like many universities, requires a seminar for all incoming first-year students to prepare students for college-level writing, along with the reading and discussion of challenging texts. Often, these courses share particular books to allow in-coming students to share a "common experience." This article…

Pre-Service Teachers' Use of Multicultural Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Salika A.

2017-01-01

This qualitative study examines how pre-service teachers in urban elementary classrooms develop student literacy with multicultural literature. By evaluating the action research reports of three pre-service teacher candidates, the authors determine how reading experiences with texts align to Bloom's Taxonomy and expectations for Common Core State…

The Limited Benefits of Rereading Educational Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callender, Aimee A.; McDaniel, Mark A.

2009-01-01

Though rereading is a study method commonly used by students, theoretical disagreement exists regarding whether rereading a text significantly enhances the representation and retention of the text's contents. In four experiments, we evaluated the effectiveness of rereading relative to a single reading in a context paralleling that faced by…

From reads to genes to pathways: differential expression analysis of RNA-Seq experiments using Rsubread and the edgeR quasi-likelihood pipeline.

PubMed

Chen, Yunshun; Lun, Aaron T L; Smyth, Gordon K

2016-01-01

In recent years, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has become a very widely used technology for profiling gene expression. One of the most common aims of RNA-seq profiling is to identify genes or molecular pathways that are differentially expressed (DE) between two or more biological conditions. This article demonstrates a computational workflow for the detection of DE genes and pathways from RNA-seq data by providing a complete analysis of an RNA-seq experiment profiling epithelial cell subsets in the mouse mammary gland. The workflow uses R software packages from the open-source Bioconductor project and covers all steps of the analysis pipeline, including alignment of read sequences, data exploration, differential expression analysis, visualization and pathway analysis. Read alignment and count quantification is conducted using the Rsubread package and the statistical analyses are performed using the edgeR package. The differential expression analysis uses the quasi-likelihood functionality of edgeR.

Beach Books: 2011-2012. What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read outside Class?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thorne, Ashley

2011-01-01

What books do colleges and universities assign as common reading? What themes do the books contain? Are they old books or recent ones? What kinds of colleges and universities have common reading programs? What does a typical common reading program look like? What does all this tell us about the state of American higher education today? To find…

Associations between Preschool Language and First Grade Reading Outcomes in Bilingual Children

PubMed Central

Davison, Megan Dunn; Hammer, Carol; Lawrence, Frank R.

2011-01-01

It is well established that monolingual preschoolers’ oral language development (vocabulary and oral comprehension) contributes to their later reading abilities; however, less is known about this relationship in bilingual populations where children are developing knowledge of two languages. It may be that children’s abilities in one language do not contribute to their reading abilities in their other language or that children’s experiences with either language assist them in developing a common underlying proficiency that they draw upon when learning to read. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among bilingual children’s receptive language development and reading outcomes in first grade. Eighty-one bilingual children who were attending Head Start participated in the study. Growth curve models were used to examine the relationship between children’s language abilities during two years in Head Start and reading outcomes at the end of first grade. Children’s growth in both English and Spanish receptive vocabulary and oral comprehension predicted their English and Spanish reading abilities at the end of first grade within languages. Associations were also observed between languages with growth in English receptive language predicting Spanish reading comprehension and growth in Spanish receptive language predicting English reading comprehension. PMID:21477813

Reading the Newspaper as a Social Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Segall, Avner; Schmidt, Sander

2006-01-01

In today's culture, some of the most commonly shared experiences involve the mass media. The media--film, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, music, advertising, and software industries--have become primary avenues through which most come to know about the world, both near and far. They help frame the world, elevating certain issues, and the…

Differentiating through Literature Circles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helgeson, John

2017-01-01

This article begins with an example of a typical middle-school experience with literature circles. Students read a common text and come prepared to share and discuss the text based on individual roles they are assigned. Teachers are using this practice to address the complexity levels of texts in order to help students develop the skills they need…

The Story Project: An Online Site for Reading and Sharing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Padgett Wheeler, Sally

This paper describes an online publishing site at Georgia Perimeter College called "The Story Project." The Web site contains more than 60 stories written by faculty members, students, administrators, staff, family, and friends, and serves to encourage student writing, create a community of writers, celebrate common and diverse past experiences,…

Libraries as Content Producers: How Library Publishing Services Address the Reading Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tracy, Daniel G.

2017-01-01

This study establishes baseline information about the ways library publishing services integrate user studies of their readers, as well as common barriers to doing so. The Library Publishing Coalition defines library publishing as "the set of activities led by college and university libraries to support the creation, dissemination, and…

Meals without Squeals: Child Care Feeding Guide and Cookbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berman, Christine; Fromer, Jacki

Simple, straightforward information on child nutrition and growth is offered in this child care feeding guide and cookbook. The book contains clear, easy-to-read menus and recipes, provides solutions to common feeding problems, and shows ways to offer children positive learning experiences with food. Chapter 1 gives an overview to important issues…

An Examination of the Basic Reading Skills of Incarcerated Males

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shippen, Margaret E.; Houchins, David E.; Crites, Steven A.; Derzis, Nicholas C.; Patterson, Dashaunda

2010-01-01

One of the most common characteristics prison inmates typically share is unsuccessful educational experiences including dropping out of school, repeating grades, and not gaining basic literacy skills. The most recent National Assessment of Adult Prison Literacy Survey (NAAPLS) by the U.S. Department of Education indicates that large disparities in…

Neurobiology of Dyslexia

PubMed Central

Norton, Elizabeth S.; Beach, Sara D.; Gabrieli, John D. E.

2014-01-01

Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disabilities, yet its brain basis and core causes are not yet fully understood. Neuroimaging methods, including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and electrophysiology, have significantly contributed to knowledge about the neurobiology of dyslexia. Recent studies have discovered brain differences prior to formal instruction that likely encourage or discourage learning to read effectively, distinguished between brain differences that likely reflect the etiology of dyslexia versus brain differences that are the consequences of variation in reading experience, and identified distinct neural networks associated with specific psychological factors that are associated with dyslexia. PMID:25290881

47 CFR 73.57 - Remote reading antenna and common point ammeters.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... remote leads to the indicating instruments. (2) Inductive coupling to radio frequency current sensing... 47 Telecommunication 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Remote reading antenna and common point... RADIO SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES AM Broadcast Stations § 73.57 Remote reading antenna and common...

Beach Books: 2014-2016. What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read outside Class?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Randall, David

2016-01-01

Hundreds of American colleges and universities continue to assign a summer reading to entering freshmen--typically one book, which the students are asked to read outside their courses. Many institutions embed the common reading in a larger program of campus activities: typically, they invite the common reading author to help open the academic year…

Health Sciences Library Support of a University Common Reading Program: A Case Study.

PubMed

Delwiche, Frances A

2017-01-01

Common reading programs have become increasingly popular on college and university campuses as a means for increasing student engagement, retention, and success. This article describes the characteristics, goals, and benefits of common reading programs and provides examples from the literature of academic library involvement in them. Finally, an example is provided of how one academic health sciences library participated in its institution's First-Year Summer Reading program.

Is testing a more effective learning strategy than note-taking?

PubMed

Rummer, Ralf; Schweppe, Judith; Gerst, Kathleen; Wagner, Simon

2017-09-01

The testing effect is both robust and generalizable. However, most of the underlying studies compare testing to a rather ineffective control condition: massed repeated reading. This article therefore compares testing with note-taking, which has been shown to be more effective than repeated reading. Experiment 1 is based on a 3 × 3 between-participants design with the factors learning condition (repeated reading vs. repeated testing vs. repeated note-taking) and final test delay (5 min vs. 1 week vs. 2 weeks). It shows that in the immediate condition, learning performance is best after note-taking. After 1 week, both the note-taking and the testing groups outperform the rereading group, and after 2 weeks, testing is superior to both note-taking and rereading. Since repeated notetaking may not be the most effective (and common) operationalization of note-taking, Experiment 2 contrasts repeated testing with 2 other note-taking conditions: note-taking plus note-reading and note-taking plus testing (with only a 2-week final test delay). Both conditions that include a testing phase result in better long-term learning than note-taking plus note-reading. In summary, our findings indicate that-in the long run-testing is a powerful learning tool both in isolation and in combination with note-taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Experience of Time Passage:. Phenomenology, Psychophysics, and Biophysical Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wackermann, Jiří

2005-10-01

The experience of time's passing appears, from the 1st person perspective, to be a primordial subjective experience, seemingly inaccessible to the 3rd person accounts of time perception (psychophysics, cognitive psychology). In our analysis of the `dual klepsydra' model of reproduction of temporal durations, time passage occurs as a cognitive construct, based upon more elementary (`proto-cognitive') function of the psychophysical organism. This conclusion contradicts the common concepts of `subjective' or `psychological' time as readings of an `internal clock'. Our study shows how phenomenological, experimental and modelling approaches can be fruitfully combined.

Commonalities and Differences in Word Identification Skills among Learners of English as a Second Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Min; Koda, Keiko

2005-01-01

This study examined word identification skills among Chinese and Korean college students learning to read English as a second language in a naming experiment and an auditory category judgment task. Both groups demonstrated faster and more accurate naming performance on high-frequency words than low-frequency words and on regular words than…

Commonalities and Differences in Word Identification Skills among Learners of English as a Second Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Min; Koda, Keiko

2007-01-01

This study examined word identification skills between two groups of college students with different first language (L1) backgrounds (Chinese and Korean) learning to read English as a second language (ESL). Word identification skills were tested in a naming experiment and an auditory category judgment task. Both groups of ESL learners demonstrated…

A Person Stands on a Balance in an Elevator: What Happens When the Elevator Starts to Fall?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balukovic, Jasmina; Slisko, Josip; Cruz, Adrián Corona

2018-01-01

Physics textbook authors commonly introduce the concept of weightlessness (apparent or real) through a "thought experiment" in which a person weighs herself or himself in an elevator. When the elevator falls freely, the spring balance should show zero weight. There is an unresolved controversy about how this "zero reading"…

A Literacy Based Intervention to Increase the Pretend Play of Young Children with Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greeley-Bennett, Catherine

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a literacy-based intervention on the conventional pretend play skills of preschool children who are visually impaired. The intervention involved experience books, real objects, story-reading, and role-play, which are common strategies used to teach children with visual impairments. A…

Dyscalculia Defined. NetNews. Volume 5, Number 4

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LDA of Minnesota, 2005

2005-01-01

The focus of this issue of "NetNews" is dyscalculia, or math disability. Most of the attention over the years has been on reading and writing difficulties, thus leading to the belief that math difficulties are not very common or serious. However, it has been estimated that about 6% of school-age children experience significant math difficulties.…

Improving Early-Grade Literacy in East Africa: Experimental Evidence from Kenya and Uganda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lucas, Adrienne M.; McEwan, Patrick J.; Ngware, Moses; Oketch, Moses

2014-01-01

Primary school enrollments have increased rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa, spurring concerns about low levels of learning. We analyze field experiments in Kenya and Uganda that assessed whether the Reading to Learn intervention, implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation in both countries, improved early-grade literacy as measured by common assessments.…

Academic Instruction and Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hagaman, Jessica L.

2012-01-01

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are known to experience academic deficits across core subject areas such as reading and mathematics. Until recently, less attention had been paid to the academic deficits of students with EBD. This was due, in part, to a common belief that academic deficits could not be addressed until problem…

Reading Researchers in Search of Common Ground: The Expert Study Revisited. 2nd Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flippo, Rona F., Ed.

2011-01-01

In "Reading Researchers in Search of Common Ground, Second Edition", Rona F. Flippo revisits her study, in which she set out to find common ground among experts in the much-fragmented field of reading research. The original edition, featuring contributions from participants in the study, commentary from additional distinguished literacy scholars…

Gendered Citizenship and the Individualization of Environmental Responsibility: Evaluating a Campus Common Reading Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Emily Huddart; Boyd, Amanda

2018-01-01

Campus common reading programs are intended to stimulate critical thinking and dialogue across disciplines yet scarce evidence exists to evaluate the success of such programs. We assess the extent to which engagement in an environmentally-themed common reading program is related to (1) concern for waste-related issues, (2) beliefs that addressing…

Annual Research Review: The nature and classification of reading disorders – a commentary on proposals for DSM-5

PubMed Central

Snowling, Margaret J; Hulme, Charles

2012-01-01

This article reviews our understanding of reading disorders in children and relates it to current proposals for their classification in DSM-5. There are two different, commonly occurring, forms of reading disorder in children which arise from different underlying language difficulties. Dyslexia (as defined in DSM-5), or decoding difficulty, refers to children who have difficulty in mastering the relationships between the spelling patterns of words and their pronunciations. These children typically read aloud inaccurately and slowly, and experience additional problems with spelling. Dyslexia appears to arise principally from a weakness in phonological (speech sound) skills, and there is good evidence that it can be ameliorated by systematic phonic teaching combined with phonological awareness training. The other major form of reading difficulty is reading comprehension impairment. These children read aloud accurately and fluently, but have difficulty understanding what they have read. Reading comprehension impairment appears to arise from weaknesses in a range of oral language skills including poor vocabulary knowledge, weak grammatical skills and difficulties in oral language comprehension. We suggest that the omission of reading comprehension impairment from DSM-5 is a serious one that should be remedied. Both dyslexia and reading comprehension impairment are dimensional in nature, and show strong continuities with other disorders of language. We argue that recognizing the continuities between reading and language disorders has important implications for assessment and treatment, and we note that the high rates of comorbidity between reading disorders and other seemingly disparate disorders (including ADHD and motor disorders) raises important challenges for understanding these disorders. PMID:22141434

Mobility aid for blind figure skaters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acerbi, A.; Graffigna, J. P.; Polimeni, G.; Fernández, H. H.

2007-11-01

This work is developed within the scope of rehabilitation technology to enable blind and visually impaired persons read non-Braille material commonly available in digital form to normal-vision readers. This approach, therefore, tries to broaden the reaching capacity for these persons and, thus, allow for better inclusion in social, work, educative and even leisure activities. Specifically, it is devised for reading any kind of text in digital form --books, files, documents, Internet information and exchanges, etc.-- that can be loaded in a PC to be later read on the devised Braille reading line. It consists of a string-like platform of electrodes that simulate, through tactile electrostimulation, the letter characters displayed in Braille fashion. Finger-tip feeling from these electric discharges is caused by stimulating the skin nerve receptors underneath the tip. These electric discharges produce a similar effect as when reading embossed-type characters of traditional Braille-relief paper material. After design and development, experiences were made with blind persons, with fairly satisfactory results. At present, further work is under way in order to improve the system.

Experience with a tuberculosis antigen test in Rhodesia.

PubMed

Cookson, J B; Cruickshank, J G; Ellis, B P

1977-10-01

Experience with a new serological method for the diagnosis of tuberculosis is reported in a predominantly black population. We have found that in only 69% of 167 patients was there agreement between serology and the presence or absence of tuberculosis. Both false positive and false negative results were common. Of 47 healthy controls, 80% were positive. These results are less satisfactory than previous studies but differences in the reading of the results seems an unlikely explanation. Differences in the populations studied may be an important factor.

Listening to Quackery: Reading John Wesley's Primitive Physic in an Age of Health Care Reform.

PubMed

Skinner, Daniel; Schneider, Adam

2016-11-25

This article uses a reading of John Wesley's Primitive Physic, or An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases (1747) to resist the common rejection-often as "quackery"-of Wesley's treatments for common maladies. We engage Wesley not because he was right but because his approach offers useful moments of pause in light of contemporary medical epistemology. Wesley's recommendations were primarily oriented towards the categories of personal responsibility and capability, but he also sought to empower individuals-especially the poor-with the knowledge to safely and affordably treat maladies of their own. We leverage Primitive Physic to rethink contemporary medical knowledge production, especially as sanctioned by randomized clinical trials and legitimate views of experience and contemporary institutions such as the AMA. Ultimately, we suggest that the medical humanities has a key role to play in mining the discarded and dismissed for what they can tell scholars about medical knowledge.

Choice of Reference Sequence and Assembler for Alignment of Listeria monocytogenes Short-Read Sequence Data Greatly Influences Rates of Error in SNP Analyses

PubMed Central

Pightling, Arthur W.; Petronella, Nicholas; Pagotto, Franco

2014-01-01

The wide availability of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and an abundance of open-source software have made detection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in bacterial genomes an increasingly accessible and effective tool for comparative analyses. Thus, ensuring that real nucleotide differences between genomes (i.e., true SNPs) are detected at high rates and that the influences of errors (such as false positive SNPs, ambiguously called sites, and gaps) are mitigated is of utmost importance. The choices researchers make regarding the generation and analysis of WGS data can greatly influence the accuracy of short-read sequence alignments and, therefore, the efficacy of such experiments. We studied the effects of some of these choices, including: i) depth of sequencing coverage, ii) choice of reference-guided short-read sequence assembler, iii) choice of reference genome, and iv) whether to perform read-quality filtering and trimming, on our ability to detect true SNPs and on the frequencies of errors. We performed benchmarking experiments, during which we assembled simulated and real Listeria monocytogenes strain 08-5578 short-read sequence datasets of varying quality with four commonly used assemblers (BWA, MOSAIK, Novoalign, and SMALT), using reference genomes of varying genetic distances, and with or without read pre-processing (i.e., quality filtering and trimming). We found that assemblies of at least 50-fold coverage provided the most accurate results. In addition, MOSAIK yielded the fewest errors when reads were aligned to a nearly identical reference genome, while using SMALT to align reads against a reference sequence that is ∼0.82% distant from 08-5578 at the nucleotide level resulted in the detection of the greatest numbers of true SNPs and the fewest errors. Finally, we show that whether read pre-processing improves SNP detection depends upon the choice of reference sequence and assembler. In total, this study demonstrates that researchers should test a variety of conditions to achieve optimal results. PMID:25144537

The XBabelPhish MAGE-ML and XML translator.

PubMed

Maier, Don; Wymore, Farrell; Sherlock, Gavin; Ball, Catherine A

2008-01-18

MAGE-ML has been promoted as a standard format for describing microarray experiments and the data they produce. Two characteristics of the MAGE-ML format compromise its use as a universal standard: First, MAGE-ML files are exceptionally large - too large to be easily read by most people, and often too large to be read by most software programs. Second, the MAGE-ML standard permits many ways of representing the same information. As a result, different producers of MAGE-ML create different documents describing the same experiment and its data. Recognizing all the variants is an unwieldy software engineering task, resulting in software packages that can read and process MAGE-ML from some, but not all producers. This Tower of MAGE-ML Babel bars the unencumbered exchange of microarray experiment descriptions couched in MAGE-ML. We have developed XBabelPhish - an XQuery-based technology for translating one MAGE-ML variant into another. XBabelPhish's use is not restricted to translating MAGE-ML documents. It can transform XML files independent of their DTD, XML schema, or semantic content. Moreover, it is designed to work on very large (> 200 Mb.) files, which are common in the world of MAGE-ML. XBabelPhish provides a way to inter-translate MAGE-ML variants for improved interchange of microarray experiment information. More generally, it can be used to transform most XML files, including very large ones that exceed the capacity of most XML tools.

Musical Experience, Sensorineural Auditory Processing, and Reading Subskills in Adults.

PubMed

Tichko, Parker; Skoe, Erika

2018-04-27

Developmental research suggests that sensorineural auditory processing, reading subskills (e.g., phonological awareness and rapid naming), and musical experience are related during early periods of reading development. Interestingly, recent work suggests that these relations may extend into adulthood, with indices of sensorineural auditory processing relating to global reading ability. However, it is largely unknown whether sensorineural auditory processing relates to specific reading subskills, such as phonological awareness and rapid naming, as well as musical experience in mature readers. To address this question, we recorded electrophysiological responses to a repeating click (auditory stimulus) in a sample of adult readers. We then investigated relations between electrophysiological responses to sound, reading subskills, and musical experience in this same set of adult readers. Analyses suggest that sensorineural auditory processing, reading subskills, and musical experience are related in adulthood, with faster neural conduction times and greater musical experience associated with stronger rapid-naming skills. These results are similar to the developmental findings that suggest reading subskills are related to sensorineural auditory processing and musical experience in children.

Does a single session of reading literary fiction prime enhanced mentalising performance? Four replication experiments of Kidd and Castano (2013).

PubMed

Samur, Dalya; Tops, Mattie; Koole, Sander L

2018-02-01

Prior experiments indicated that reading literary fiction improves mentalising performance relative to reading popular fiction, non-fiction, or not reading. However, the experiments had relatively small sample sizes and hence low statistical power. To address this limitation, the present authors conducted four high-powered replication experiments (combined N = 1006) testing the causal impact of reading literary fiction on mentalising. Relative to the original research, the present experiments used the same literary texts in the reading manipulation; the same mentalising task; and the same kind of participant samples. Moreover, one experiment was pre-registered as a direct replication. In none of the experiments did reading literary fiction have any effect on mentalising relative to control conditions. The results replicate earlier findings that familiarity with fiction is positively correlated with mentalising. Taken together, the present findings call into question whether a single session of reading fiction leads to immediate improvements in mentalising.

Evidence for a Simplicity Principle: Teaching Common Complex Grapheme-to-Phonemes Improves Reading and Motivation in At-Risk Readers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Victoria; Savage, Robert S.

2014-01-01

This study examines the effects of teaching common complex grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) on reading and reading motivation for at-risk readers using a randomised control trial design with taught intervention and control conditions. One reading programme taught children complex GPCs ordered by their frequency of occurrence in…

The Relationship between Balancing Reactions and Reaction Lifetimes: A Consideration of the Potassium-Argon Radiometric Method for Dating Minerals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, William A.

2005-01-01

A detailed examination of a commonly accepted practice in geology offers an example of how to stimulate critical thinking, teaches students how to read reactions, and challenges students to formulate better experiments for determining mineral ages more accurately. A demonstration of a Potassium-Argon radiometric method for dating minerals is…

Re-Reading Student Texts: Intertextuality and Constructions of Self and Other in the Contact Zone

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Karen

2006-01-01

This article examines a student poem about a common gendered experience in Guanajuato, Mexico, which was written by a student in a creative writing group the author led during a one-semester study abroad program she directs for CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange). The article posits Guanajuato as a contact zone where Mexican…

Reducing Sex Differences in Children's Empathy for Animals through a Training Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angantyr, Malin; Hansen, Eric M.; Eklund, Jakob Håkansson; Malm, Kerstin

2016-01-01

Humane education programs designed to increase children's empathy for animals are becoming more common. A quasi-experiment tested the effectiveness of one such program by comparing 80 children who had completed the program with a control group of 57 children who had not. The children read a story involving an injured dog and rated the degree of…

Examining the genetic and environmental associations among spelling, reading fluency, reading comprehension and a high stakes reading test in a combined sample of third and fourth grade students

PubMed Central

Little, Callie W.

2015-01-01

The present study is an examination of the genetic and environmental effects on the associations among reading fluency, spelling and earlier reading comprehension on a later reading comprehension outcome (FCAT) in a combined sample of 3rd and 4th grade students using data from the 2011-2012 school year of the Florida Twin project on Reading (Taylor et al., 2013). A genetically sensitive model was applied to the data with results indicating a common genetic component among all four measures, along with shared and non-shared environmental influences common between reading fluency, spelling and FCAT. PMID:26770052

Effect of Common Visual Dysfunctions on Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McPartland, Brian P.

1985-01-01

Six common visual dysfunctions are briefly explained and their relationships to reading noted: (1) ametropia, refractive error; (2) inaccurate saccades, the small jumping eye movements used in reading; (3) inefficient binocularity/fusion; (4) insufficient convergence/divergence; (5) heterophoria, imbalance in extra-ocular muscles; and (6)…

Identification and correction of systematic error in high-throughput sequence data

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background A feature common to all DNA sequencing technologies is the presence of base-call errors in the sequenced reads. The implications of such errors are application specific, ranging from minor informatics nuisances to major problems affecting biological inferences. Recently developed "next-gen" sequencing technologies have greatly reduced the cost of sequencing, but have been shown to be more error prone than previous technologies. Both position specific (depending on the location in the read) and sequence specific (depending on the sequence in the read) errors have been identified in Illumina and Life Technology sequencing platforms. We describe a new type of systematic error that manifests as statistically unlikely accumulations of errors at specific genome (or transcriptome) locations. Results We characterize and describe systematic errors using overlapping paired reads from high-coverage data. We show that such errors occur in approximately 1 in 1000 base pairs, and that they are highly replicable across experiments. We identify motifs that are frequent at systematic error sites, and describe a classifier that distinguishes heterozygous sites from systematic error. Our classifier is designed to accommodate data from experiments in which the allele frequencies at heterozygous sites are not necessarily 0.5 (such as in the case of RNA-Seq), and can be used with single-end datasets. Conclusions Systematic errors can easily be mistaken for heterozygous sites in individuals, or for SNPs in population analyses. Systematic errors are particularly problematic in low coverage experiments, or in estimates of allele-specific expression from RNA-Seq data. Our characterization of systematic error has allowed us to develop a program, called SysCall, for identifying and correcting such errors. We conclude that correction of systematic errors is important to consider in the design and interpretation of high-throughput sequencing experiments. PMID:22099972

Musical Experience, Sensorineural Auditory Processing, and Reading Subskills in Adults

PubMed Central

Tichko, Parker; Skoe, Erika

2018-01-01

Developmental research suggests that sensorineural auditory processing, reading subskills (e.g., phonological awareness and rapid naming), and musical experience are related during early periods of reading development. Interestingly, recent work suggests that these relations may extend into adulthood, with indices of sensorineural auditory processing relating to global reading ability. However, it is largely unknown whether sensorineural auditory processing relates to specific reading subskills, such as phonological awareness and rapid naming, as well as musical experience in mature readers. To address this question, we recorded electrophysiological responses to a repeating click (auditory stimulus) in a sample of adult readers. We then investigated relations between electrophysiological responses to sound, reading subskills, and musical experience in this same set of adult readers. Analyses suggest that sensorineural auditory processing, reading subskills, and musical experience are related in adulthood, with faster neural conduction times and greater musical experience associated with stronger rapid-naming skills. These results are similar to the developmental findings that suggest reading subskills are related to sensorineural auditory processing and musical experience in children. PMID:29702572

Annual research review: the nature and classification of reading disorders--a commentary on proposals for DSM-5.

PubMed

Snowling, Margaret J; Hulme, Charles

2012-05-01

This article reviews our understanding of reading disorders in children and relates it to current proposals for their classification in DSM-5. There are two different, commonly occurring, forms of reading disorder in children which arise from different underlying language difficulties. Dyslexia (as defined in DSM-5), or decoding difficulty, refers to children who have difficulty in mastering the relationships between the spelling patterns of words and their pronunciations. These children typically read aloud inaccurately and slowly, and experience additional problems with spelling. Dyslexia appears to arise principally from a weakness in phonological (speech sound) skills, and there is good evidence that it can be ameliorated by systematic phonic teaching combined with phonological awareness training. The other major form of reading difficulty is reading comprehension impairment. These children read aloud accurately and fluently, but have difficulty understanding what they have read. Reading comprehension impairment appears to arise from weaknesses in a range of oral language skills including poor vocabulary knowledge, weak grammatical skills and difficulties in oral language comprehension. We suggest that the omission of reading comprehension impairment from DSM-5 is a serious one that should be remedied. Both dyslexia and reading comprehension impairment are dimensional in nature, and show strong continuities with other disorders of language. We argue that recognizing the continuities between reading and language disorders has important implications for assessment and treatment, and we note that the high rates of comorbidity between reading disorders and other seemingly disparate disorders (including ADHD and motor disorders) raises important challenges for understanding these disorders. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2011 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Scaffolding Reading Experiences: Designs for Student Success. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graves, Michael; Graves, Bonnie

This book offers practical examples, updated listings of quality children's literature, and new activities to promote successful reading experiences for K-8 learners. The book contains practical information on prereading, during reading, and postreading activities, along with ideas for incorporating scaffolding reading experiences into the…

Beginning Reading: Are We Doing Only Half the Job?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willems, Arnold L.

1979-01-01

Current theories about teaching children to read overemphasize use of the left brain hemisphere. Children with a right-hemisphere dominance are likely to experience difficulties unless reading experiences are planned which capitalize on right-brain characteristics: divergent thinking and creative activities, hands-on experiences, and free reading.…

How Reading Volume Affects Both Reading Fluency and Reading Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allington, Richard L.

2014-01-01

Long overlooked, reading volume is actually central to the development of reading proficiencies, especially in the development of fluent reading proficiency. Generally no one in schools monitors the actual volume of reading that children engage in. We know that the commonly used commercial core reading programs provide only material that requires…

The Effect Structured Participation Experiences Have on Pre-Service Teachers' Preparedness to Teach Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brannon, Diana; Fiene, Judy

2013-01-01

Many pre-service teachers express a lack of confidence and preparedness to face the challenges of teaching reading in today's classrooms. The current study looks at whether Structured Participation Experiences (SPE) in reading increase pre-service teachers' preparedness to teach reading compared to more traditional unstructured field experiences.…

Student Reading Growth Illuminates the Common Core Text-Complexity Standard: Raising Both Bars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williamson, Gary L.; Fitzgerald, Jill; Stenner, Jackson A.

2014-01-01

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) establish a challenging text-complexity standard for all high school graduates to read at college and workplace text-complexity levels. We argue that implementation of the CCSS standard requires concurrent examination of historical student reading-growth trends. An example of a historical student average…

Slicing and Dicing the ELA Common Core Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goatley, Virginia

2012-01-01

The English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (ELA CCSS) come at a time when many reading teachers, literacy coaches, and classroom teachers seek more extensive literacy practices than the policy mandates of No Child Left Behind and Reading First. These initiatives placed requirements for instruction in core aspects of reading at the…

A Library Media Specialist's Response to Reading First

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plewa, Susan

2006-01-01

In this article, the author presents anecdotal scenarios which reflect some important moments in the teaching and learning of reading. In the first scenario, a student recognized fluent reading and named it, illustrating the power of a common vocabulary. The second scenario addressed the importance of common visual supports in the school…

Beach Books: 2016-2017. What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read outside Class?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Randall, David

2017-01-01

"Beach Books 2016-17," which covers 348 colleges and universities, continues the National Association of Scholars' long-running record of providing the most comprehensive information about colleges and universities that assign common readings to incoming freshmen. Although there are several databases of common reading assignments, Beach…

Reading habits and attitude toward medical humanities of basic science students in a medical college in Western Nepal.

PubMed

Shankar, P Ravi; Dubey, Arun K; Mishra, P; Upadhyay, Dinesh K

2008-01-01

The Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal, admits students from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and other countries to the undergraduate medical course. The present study sought to describe and explore reading habits of medical students during the first three semesters and obtain their views regarding inclusion of medical humanities in the course. The authors introduced a voluntary module in medical humanities to the fifth- and sixth-semester students. Gender, semester, and nationality of respondents were noted. Commonly read noncourse books (fiction and nonfiction) were noted. Student attitudes toward medical humanities were studied using a set of nine statements. A total of 165 of the 220 students (75%) participated. Indians followed by Nepalese were the most common nationalities. Romantic fiction and biography were most commonly read. The Alchemist and The Da Vinci Code were commonly read books. Students were in favor of inclusion of medical humanities in the curriculum. The median total score was 30 (maximum possible score = 45). Students read widely beyond their course. The possibility of introducing medical humanities in the curriculum should be explored.

RSEQtools: a modular framework to analyze RNA-Seq data using compact, anonymized data summaries.

PubMed

Habegger, Lukas; Sboner, Andrea; Gianoulis, Tara A; Rozowsky, Joel; Agarwal, Ashish; Snyder, Michael; Gerstein, Mark

2011-01-15

The advent of next-generation sequencing for functional genomics has given rise to quantities of sequence information that are often so large that they are difficult to handle. Moreover, sequence reads from a specific individual can contain sufficient information to potentially identify and genetically characterize that person, raising privacy concerns. In order to address these issues, we have developed the Mapped Read Format (MRF), a compact data summary format for both short and long read alignments that enables the anonymization of confidential sequence information, while allowing one to still carry out many functional genomics studies. We have developed a suite of tools (RSEQtools) that use this format for the analysis of RNA-Seq experiments. These tools consist of a set of modules that perform common tasks such as calculating gene expression values, generating signal tracks of mapped reads and segmenting that signal into actively transcribed regions. Moreover, the tools can readily be used to build customizable RNA-Seq workflows. In addition to the anonymization afforded by MRF, this format also facilitates the decoupling of the alignment of reads from downstream analyses. RSEQtools is implemented in C and the source code is available at http://rseqtools.gersteinlab.org/.

Developmental rearrangement of cyanobacterial nif genes: nucleotide sequence, open reading frames, and cytochrome P-450 homology of the Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 nifD element.

PubMed Central

Lammers, P J; McLaughlin, S; Papin, S; Trujillo-Provencio, C; Ryncarz, A J

1990-01-01

An 11-kbp DNA element of unknown function interrupts the nifD gene in vegetative cells of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. In developing heterocysts the nifD element excises from the chromosome via site-specific recombination between short repeat sequences that flank the element. The nucleotide sequence of the nifH-proximal half of the element was determined to elucidate the genetic potential of the element. Four open reading frames with the same relative orientation as the nifD element-encoded xisA gene were identified in the sequenced region. Each of the open reading frames was preceded by a reasonable ribosome-binding site and had biased codon utilization preferences consistent with low levels of expression. Open reading frame 3 was highly homologous with three cytochrome P-450 omega-hydroxylase proteins and showed regional homology to functionally significant domains common to the cytochrome P-450 superfamily. The sequence encoding open reading frame 2 was the most highly conserved portion of the sequenced region based on heterologous hybridization experiments with three genera of heterocystous cyanobacteria. Images PMID:2123860

A Pear Tried to Kiss Me: A Language Experience Approach to Reading Readiness in Kindergarten.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Barbara; Johnson, Marilyn

Information is given in this booklet on how to implement a language experience approach to reading readiness instruction in the kindergarten based on the experiences of teachers in the Burrillville Reading Observes Necessary Communication Objectives and Skills (BRONCOS) project, a Right to Read program in Burrillville, Rhode Island. An…

Nurturing a lexical legacy: reading experience is critical for the development of word reading skill

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nation, Kate

2017-12-01

The scientific study of reading has taught us much about the beginnings of reading in childhood, with clear evidence that the gateway to reading opens when children are able to decode, or `sound out' written words. Similarly, there is a large evidence base charting the cognitive processes that characterise skilled word recognition in adults. Less understood is how children develop word reading expertise. Once basic reading skills are in place, what factors are critical for children to move from novice to expert? This paper outlines the role of reading experience in this transition. Encountering individual words in text provides opportunities for children to refine their knowledge about how spelling represents spoken language. Alongside this, however, reading experience provides much more than repeated exposure to individual words in isolation. According to the lexical legacy perspective, outlined in this paper, experiencing words in diverse and meaningful language environments is critical for the development of word reading skill. At its heart is the idea that reading provides exposure to words in many different contexts, episodes and experiences which, over time, sum to a rich and nuanced database about their lexical history within an individual's experience. These rich and diverse encounters bring about local variation at the word level: a lexical legacy that is measurable during word reading behaviour, even in skilled adults.

The Effect of Four Different Approaches to Parent-Child Reading on Young Chinese Children's Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Feng

2016-01-01

Forty families with four- to five-year-old Chinese children were chosen as experiment participants and equally divided into four groups for an eight-week parent-child reading experiment in different reading modes. (1) Groups A, B, and C read one of three kinds of Chinese-English audio bilingual picture books respectively: touch reading books,…

The Effects of Conditioned Reinforcement for Reading on Reading Comprehension for 5th Graders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cumiskey Moore, Colleen

2017-01-01

In three experiments, I tested the effects of the conditioned reinforcement for reading (R+Reading) on reading comprehension with 5th graders. In Experiment 1, I conducted a series of statistical analyses with data from 18 participants for one year. I administered 4 pre/post measurements for reading repertoires which included: 1) state-wide…

The Reading Grade Level of Common Measures in Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jensen, Scott A.; Fabiano, Gregory A.; Lopez-Williams, Andy; Chacko, Anil

2006-01-01

The purpose of this article is to provide easily accessible readability information for 49 parent- and 35 child- and adolescent-report measures commonly used by clinicians and researchers. There is a great deal of variability in reading ability required across measures. The majority of parent-report measures (65%) required reading ability above…

Phoneme Segmenting Alignment with the Common Core Foundational Skills Standard Two: Grades K-1. Technical Report #1227

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sáez, Leilani; Irvin, P. Shawn; Alonzo, Julie; Tindal, Gerald

2012-01-01

In 2006, the easyCBM reading assessment system was developed to support the progress monitoring of phoneme segmenting, letter names and sounds recognition, word reading, passage reading fluency, and comprehension skill development in elementary schools. More recently, the Common Core Standards in English Language Arts have been introduced as a…

Common Types of Reading Problems and How to Help Children Who Have Them

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spear-Swerling, Louise

2016-01-01

Patterns of reading difficulty provide an educationally useful way to think about different kinds of reading problems, whether those problems are mainly experiential in nature (e.g., those common among English learners) or associated with disabilities (e.g., those typical of children with dyslexia). This article reviews research on three common…

Processing changes across reading encounters.

PubMed

Levy, B A; Newell, S; Snyder, J; Timmins, K

1986-10-01

Five experiments examined changes in the processing of a text across reading encounters. Experiment 1 showed that reading speed increased systematically across encounters, with no loss in the extensiveness of analyses of the printed text, as indicated by the ability to detect nonword errors embedded within that passage. Experiment 2 replicated this improved reading fluency with experience and showed that it occurred even with typescript changes across trials, thus indicating that a primed visual operations explanation cannot account for the effect. The third and fourth experiments then extended the study of the familiarity effect to higher level processing, as indicated by the detection of word errors. Familiarity facilitated the detection of these violations at the syntactic-semantic levels. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that these higher level violations continued to be well detected over a series of reading encounters with the same text. The results indicate that prior experience improves reading speed, with no attenuation of analysis of the printed words or of the passage's message.

When Translation Makes the Difference: Sentence Processing in Reading and Translation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macizo, Pedro; Bajo, M. Teresa

2004-01-01

In two experiments we compared normal reading and reading for translation of object relative sentences presented word-by-word. In Experiment 1, professional translators were asked either to read and repeat Spanish sentences, or to read and translate them into English. In addition, we manipulated the availability of pragmatic information given in…

Comprehending product warning information: age-related effects and the roles of memory, inferencing, and knowledge.

PubMed

Hancock, Holly E; Fisk, Arthur D; Rogers, Wendy A

2005-01-01

Two experiments were conducted to determine if age affects comprehension for explicit and implied warning information and, if so, to reveal the nature of such effects. Experiment 1 measured younger (18-23 years) and older (65-75 years) adults' comprehension for real-world warnings via a verification test presented immediately after reading the warnings or after a delay. In Experiment 2, younger (18-22 years) and older (64-76 years) participants also read fabricated warnings that were inconsistent with real-world knowledge. In both experiments, older adults frequently failed to infer the correct hazard and safety information. The older adults also had trouble understanding warning information even when it was explicitly stated (when no inferences were required), especially when memory demands were high and product-specific knowledge could not be used. That many of the older adults did not understand commonly used product warnings indicates that the wording on many household products is not conducive to being understood by everyone who uses them. Actual or potential applications of this research include the recommendation that designers of product labels, warnings, and instructions should consider minimizing memory load and maximizing opportunities for knowledge application when designing consumer warnings.

The experience of reading.

PubMed

Moore, Alan Tonnies; Schwitzgebel, Eric

2018-05-03

What do people consciously experience when they read? There has been almost no rigorous research on this question, and opinions diverge radically among both philosophers and psychologists. We describe three studies of the phenomenology of reading and its relationship to memory of textual detail and general cognitive abilities. We find three main results. First, there is substantial variability in reports about reading experience, both within and between participants. Second, reported reading experience varies with passage type: passages with dialogue prompted increased reports of inner speech, while passages with vivid visual detail prompted increased reports of visual imagery. Third, reports of visual imagery experiences, inner speech experiences, and experiences of conscious visual perception of the words on the page were at best weakly related to general cognitive abilities and memory of visual and auditory details. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dyslexie font does not benefit reading in children with or without dyslexia.

PubMed

Kuster, Sanne M; van Weerdenburg, Marjolijn; Gompel, Marjolein; Bosman, Anna M T

2018-04-01

In two experiments, the claim was tested that the font "Dyslexie", specifically designed for people with dyslexia, eases reading performance of children with (and without) dyslexia. Three questions were investigated. (1) Does the Dyslexie font lead to faster and/or more accurate reading? (2) Do children have a preference for the Dyslexie font? And, (3) is font preference related to reading performance? In Experiment 1, children with dyslexia (n = 170) did not read text written in Dyslexie font faster or more accurately than in Arial font. The majority preferred reading in Arial and preference was not related to reading performance. In Experiment 2, children with (n = 102) and without dyslexia (n = 45) read word lists in three different font types (Dyslexie, Arial, Times New Roman). Words written in Dyslexie font were not read faster or more accurately. Moreover, participants showed a preference for the fonts Arial and Times New Roman rather than Dyslexie, and again, preference was not related to reading performance. These experiments clearly justify the conclusion that the Dyslexie font neither benefits nor impedes the reading process of children with and without dyslexia.

The dynamic effect of reading direction habit on spatial asymmetry of image perception.

PubMed

Afsari, Zaeinab; Ossandón, José P; König, Peter

2016-09-01

Exploration of images after stimulus onset is initially biased to the left. Here, we studied the causes of such an asymmetry and investigated effects of reading habits, text primes, and priming by systematically biased eye movements on this spatial bias in visual exploration. Bilinguals first read text primes with right-to-left (RTL) or left-to-right (LTR) reading directions and subsequently explored natural images. In Experiment 1, native RTL speakers showed a leftward free-viewing shift after reading LTR primes but a weaker rightward bias after reading RTL primes. This demonstrates that reading direction dynamically influences the spatial bias. However, native LTR speakers who learned an RTL language late in life showed a leftward bias after reading either LTR or RTL primes, which suggests the role of habit formation in the production of the spatial bias. In Experiment 2, LTR bilinguals showed a slightly enhanced leftward bias after reading LTR text primes in their second language. This might contribute to the differences of native RTL and LTR speakers observed in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, LTR bilinguals read normal (LTR, habitual reading) and mirrored left-to-right (mLTR, nonhabitual reading) texts. We observed a strong leftward bias in both cases, indicating that the bias direction is influenced by habitual reading direction and is not secondary to the actual reading direction. This is confirmed in Experiment 4, in which LTR participants were asked to follow RTL and LTR moving dots in prior image presentation and showed no change in the normal spatial bias. In conclusion, the horizontal bias is a dynamic property and is modulated by habitual reading direction.

Testing the item-order account of design effects using the production effect.

PubMed

Jonker, Tanya R; Levene, Merrick; Macleod, Colin M

2014-03-01

A number of memory phenomena evident in recall in within-subject, mixed-lists designs are reduced or eliminated in between-subject, pure-list designs. The item-order account (McDaniel & Bugg, 2008) proposes that differential retention of order information might underlie this pattern. According to this account, order information may be encoded when a common form of processing is used alone in a list (e.g., reading), but not when an unusual form of processing is used (e.g., generation) or when a common form and an unusual form are mixed within a list. The production effect--better memory for words said aloud than for words read silently--shows this same design-contingent pattern. In 2 experiments, we investigated whether differential order retention might underlie the production effect. Consistent with the item-order account, we found that retention of order information was better in pure silent lists than in either pure aloud lists or mixed lists, as measured using an order reconstruction test. Moreover, in Experiment 2, order was better preserved in free recall of pure silent lists than of either pure aloud or mixed lists. Thus, production joins the set of tasks identified by McDaniel and Bugg (2008), and our findings suggest a role for order processing in explaining the production effect.

Brain basis of cognitive resilience: Prefrontal cortex predicts better reading comprehension in relation to decoding

PubMed Central

Patael, Smadar Z.; Farris, Emily A.; Black, Jessica M.; Hancock, Roeland; Gabrieli, John D. E.; Cutting, Laurie E.; Hoeft, Fumiko

2018-01-01

Objective The ultimate goal of reading is to understand written text. To accomplish this, children must first master decoding, the ability to translate printed words into sounds. Although decoding and reading comprehension are highly interdependent, some children struggle to decode but comprehend well, whereas others with good decoding skills fail to comprehend. The neural basis underlying individual differences in this discrepancy between decoding and comprehension abilities is virtually unknown. Methods We investigated the neural basis underlying reading discrepancy, defined as the difference between reading comprehension and decoding skills, in a three-part study: 1) The neuroanatomical basis of reading discrepancy in a cross-sectional sample of school-age children with a wide range of reading abilities (Experiment-1; n = 55); 2) Whether a discrepancy-related neural signature is present in beginning readers and predictive of future discrepancy (Experiment-2; n = 43); and 3) Whether discrepancy-related regions are part of a domain-general or a language specialized network, utilizing the 1000 Functional Connectome data and large-scale reverse inference from Neurosynth.org (Experiment-3). Results Results converged onto the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), as related to having discrepantly higher reading comprehension relative to decoding ability. Increased gray matter volume (GMV) was associated with greater discrepancy (Experiment-1). Region-of-interest (ROI) analyses based on the left DLPFC cluster identified in Experiment-1 revealed that regional GMV within this ROI in beginning readers predicted discrepancy three years later (Experiment-2). This region was associated with the fronto-parietal network that is considered fundamental for working memory and cognitive control (Experiment-3). Interpretation Processes related to the prefrontal cortex might be linked to reading discrepancy. The findings may be important for understanding cognitive resilience, which we operationalize as those individuals with greater higher-order reading skills such as reading comprehension compared to lower-order reading skills such as decoding skills. Our study provides insights into reading development, existing theories of reading, and cognitive processes that are potentially significant to a wide range of reading disorders. PMID:29902208

Action and perception in literacy: A common-code for spelling and reading.

PubMed

Houghton, George

2018-01-01

There is strong evidence that reading and spelling in alphabetical scripts depend on a shared representation (common-coding). However, computational models usually treat the two skills separately, producing a wide variety of proposals as to how the identity and position of letters is represented. This article treats reading and spelling in terms of the common-coding hypothesis for perception-action coupling. Empirical evidence for common representations in spelling-reading is reviewed. A novel version of the Start-End Competitive Queuing (SE-CQ) spelling model is introduced, and tested against the distribution of positional errors in Letter Position Dysgraphia, data from intralist intrusion errors in spelling to dictation, and dysgraphia because of nonperipheral neglect. It is argued that no other current model is equally capable of explaining this range of data. To pursue the common-coding hypothesis, the representation used in SE-CQ is applied, without modification, to the coding of letter identity and position for reading and lexical access, and a lexical matching rule for the representation is proposed (Start End Position Code model, SE-PC). Simulations show the model's compatibility with benchmark findings from form priming, its ability to account for positional effects in letter identification priming and the positional distribution of perseverative intrusion errors. The model supports the view that spelling and reading use a common orthographic description, providing a well-defined account of the major features of this representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Lived Experiences of Six First-Grade Teachers Using Reading Mastery Plus Curriculum in High Poverty Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elias, Elizabeth I.

2009-01-01

Purpose and Method of Study. The purpose of this study is to examine the lived experiences of six first-grade teachers using Reading Mastery Plus in schools participating in the Reading First Grant. This study will also describe the teachers' experiences of working in a school participating in the Reading First Grant. First-grade teachers were…

Online Social Engagement by Cancer Patients: A Clinic-Based Patient Survey

PubMed Central

Wallner, Lauren

2016-01-01

Background The Internet is commonly used as a source of health information, but little is known about the Internet practices specific to cancer patients. Objective To understand cancer patients’ use of the Internet as an informational resource and for social support. Methods The researchers conducted a survey of 1282 patients at a comprehensive cancer center to assess frequency of Internet access and online behaviors. Results Of the cancer patients surveyed, 1096 (85.49%) had Internet access; of those with Internet access, 953 (86.95%) reported going online at least weekly, and 747 (68.16%) reported daily online activity. Grouping Internet users by their level of online social engagement revealed that out of 1096 users, 331 (30.20%) had not sought out social connections online, 227 (20.71%) had read about experiences from other cancer patients, 410 (37.41%) had also written about their personal experiences, and 128 (11.68%) had participated in a formal online group for cancer patients. Increased online social engagement was associated with an increased perception that the Internet was useful for social support. Conclusions Internet use among cancer patients was common, and most patients reported that they found useful information about their cancer diagnosis online. Cancer patients who actively posted or shared content perceived more social support from the Internet than those who used the Internet solely as an informational resource or to read about other cancer patients’ experiences. Physicians have a great opportunity to direct users to quality health information on the Web. PMID:28410186

Reading Perspective: Can It Improve Middle School Students' Comprehension of Informational Text?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramsay, Crystal M.; Sperling, Rayne A.

2015-01-01

In 2 experiments the authors investigated whether assigning a perspective to middle school students prior to reading a long informational text would improve their reading comprehension. Pretest-posttest control group designs were employed in both experiments, in Experiment 1 (n = 146 fifth- and sixth-grade students) and in Experiment 2 (n = 83…

Flying to Neverland: How readers tacitly judge norms during comprehension.

PubMed

Foy, Jeffrey E; Gerrig, Richard J

2014-11-01

As readers gain experience with specific narrative worlds, they accumulate information that allows them to experience events as normal or unusual within those worlds. In this article, we contrast two accounts for how readers access information about specific narrative worlds to make tacit judgments of normalcy. We conducted two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants read stories about an ordinary character (e.g., a police officer in Boston) or a familiar fantastic character (e.g., Superman). Each story described a realistic event (e.g., the character being killed by bullets) or a fantastic event (e.g., bullets bouncing off the character's chest). Participants were faster to read events that were consistent with their prior knowledge about the story world. In Experiments 2a and 2b, participants read stories about familiar fantastic characters, unfamiliar fantastic characters (e.g., a Kryptonian named Dev-em), and unfamiliar ordinary characters. In Experiment 2a, participants were equally fast to read about the familiar and unfamiliar fantastic characters experiencing fantastic events, both of which were read faster than the unfamiliar ordinary characters sentences. In Experiment 2b, participants were fastest to read about unfamiliar ordinary characters experiencing realistic events and were equally slow for familiar and unfamiliar fantastic characters. Our experiments provide evidence that readers routinely use inductive reasoning to go beyond their prior knowledge when reading fictional narratives, affecting whether they experience events as normal or unusual.

Mind wandering and reading comprehension: examining the roles of working memory capacity, interest, motivation, and topic experience.

PubMed

Unsworth, Nash; McMillan, Brittany D

2013-05-01

Individual differences in mind wandering and reading comprehension were examined in the current study. In particular, individual differences in mind wandering, working memory capacity, interest in the current topic, motivation to do well on the task, and topic experience and their relations with reading comprehension were examined in the current study. Using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling it was found that variation in mind wandering while reading was influenced by working memory capacity, topic interest, and motivation. Furthermore, these same factors, along with topic experience, influenced individual differences in reading comprehension. Importantly, several factors had direct effects on reading comprehension (and mind wandering), while the relation between reading comprehension (and mind wandering) and other factors occurred via indirect effects. These results suggest that both domain-general and domain-specific factors contribute to mind wandering while reading and to reading comprehension.

CCC CGA is a weak translational recoding site in Escherichia coli.

PubMed

Shu, Ping; Dai, Huacheng; Mandecki, Wlodek; Goldman, Emanuel

2004-12-08

Previously published experiments had indicated unexpected expression of a control vector in which a beta-galactosidase reporter was in the +1 reading frame relative to the translation start. This control vector contained the codon pair CCC CGA in the zero reading frame, raising the possibility that ribosomes rephased on this sequence, with peptidyl-tRNA(Pro) pairing with CCC in the +1 frame. This putative rephasing might also be exacerbated by the rare CGA Arg codon in the second position due to increased vacancy of the ribosomal A-site. To test this hypothesis, a series of site-directed mutants was constructed, including mutations in both the first and second codons of this codon pair. The results show that interrupting the continuous run of C residues with synonymous codon changes essentially abolishes the frameshift. Further, changing the rare Arg codon to a common Arg codon also reduces the frequency of the frameshift. These results provide strong support for the hypothesis that CCC CGA in the zero frame is indeed a weak translational frameshift site in Escherichia coli, with a 1-2% efficiency. Because the vector sequence also contains another CCC triplet in the +1 reading frame starting within the next codon after the CGA, our data also support possible contribution to expression of a +7 nucleotide ribosome hop into the same +1 reading frame. We also confirm here a previous report that CCC UGA is a translational frameshift site, in these experiments, with about 5% efficiency.

What Are the Underlying Skills of Silent Reading Acquisition? A Developmental Study from Kindergarten to the 2nd Grade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bar-Kochva, Irit

2013-01-01

Research on reading acquisition and on the processes underlying it usually examined reading orally, while silent reading, which is the more common mode of reading, has been rather neglected. As accumulated data suggests that these two modes of reading only partially overlap, our understanding of the natural mode of reading may still be limited.…

Reducing the Impact of Stereotypical Knowledge during Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lassonde, Karla A.

2015-01-01

Four experiments were designed to assess the presence and impact of stereotypical knowledge through an implicit measure of reading comprehension. In Experiments 1 and 3, participants read passages about protagonists in scenarios in which stereotypical knowledge was likely to become activated in memory. Following the descriptions, reading times for…

Reading Disability and Hemispheric Interaction on a Lexical Decision Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutherford, Barbara J.

2006-01-01

The assumptions tested were that the relative contribution of each hemisphere to reading alters with experience and that experience increases suppression of the simultaneous use of identical strategies by the non-dominant hemisphere. Males that were reading disabled and phonologically impaired, reading disabled and phonologically normal, or with…

The African American Presence in Reading Intervention Experiments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindo, Endia J.

2006-01-01

This study examined what proportion of reading intervention experiments published in a sample of prominent, peer-reviewed education research journals evaluated the impact of the reading intervention on African American students. The last 10 years of articles from the "Reading Research Quarterly" and the "Journal of Educational Psychology" and all…

Research, Policy, and Practice in Early Childhood Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saracho, Olivia N.

2017-01-01

Young children are able to read before they experience formal reading instruction. They have unique backgrounds, experiences, and capabilities. As a result, young children need to have reading and writing experiences that are of interest to them and are developmentally appropriate for them, which also include the primary grades. This review…

L'enseignement de la musique et de la langue seconde: pistes d'integration et consequences sur les apprentissages (The Teaching of Music and Second Language: Paths for Integration and Consequences for Instruction).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowe, Anne S.

1998-01-01

An experiment in a grade 2 French immersion program compared performance of a group-taught music lessons totally integrated into classroom instruction and a group not given music instruction. Pre- and post-tests of tonal-rhythmic patterns and form that have commonalities with pronunciation, oral grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension found…

The Transfer of Reading Skills From First to Second Language: The Report of an Experiment with Spanish Speakers Learning English.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deemer, Holly Beth

Certain aspects of the reading process have suggested that second language reading skills are determined to some extent by native language reading skills. Some of this research is reviewed here and an experiment is described in which the reading skills in Spanish and English of three groups of Spanish speakers learning English are compared.…

Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind.

PubMed

Kidd, David Comer; Castano, Emanuele

2013-10-18

Understanding others' mental states is a crucial skill that enables the complex social relationships that characterize human societies. Yet little research has investigated what fosters this skill, which is known as Theory of Mind (ToM), in adults. We present five experiments showing that reading literary fiction led to better performance on tests of affective ToM (experiments 1 to 5) and cognitive ToM (experiments 4 and 5) compared with reading nonfiction (experiments 1), popular fiction (experiments 2 to 5), or nothing at all (experiments 2 and 5). Specifically, these results show that reading literary fiction temporarily enhances ToM. More broadly, they suggest that ToM may be influenced by engagement with works of art.

Parafoveal processing in silent and oral reading: Reading mode influences the relative weighting of phonological and semantic information in Chinese.

PubMed

Pan, Jinger; Laubrock, Jochen; Yan, Ming

2016-08-01

We examined how reading mode (i.e., silent vs. oral reading) influences parafoveal semantic and phonological processing during the reading of Chinese sentences, using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm. In silent reading, we found in 2 experiments that reading times on target words were shortened with semantic previews in early and late processing, whereas phonological preview effects mainly occurred in gaze duration or second-pass reading. In contrast, results showed that phonological preview information is obtained early on in oral reading. Strikingly, in oral reading, we observed a semantic preview cost on the target word in Experiment 1 and a decrease in the effect size of preview benefit from first- to second-pass measures in Experiment 2, which we hypothesize to result from increased preview duration. Taken together, our results indicate that parafoveal semantic information can be obtained irrespective of reading mode, whereas readers more efficiently process parafoveal phonological information in oral reading. We discuss implications for notions of information processing priority and saccade generation during silent and oral reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Preschool Phonological and Morphological Awareness As Longitudinal Predictors of Early Reading and Spelling Development in Greek.

PubMed

Diamanti, Vassiliki; Mouzaki, Angeliki; Ralli, Asimina; Antoniou, Faye; Papaioannou, Sofia; Protopapas, Athanassios

2017-01-01

Different language skills are considered fundamental for successful reading and spelling acquisition. Extensive evidence has highlighted the central role of phonological awareness in early literacy experiences. However, many orthographic systems also require the contribution of morphological awareness. The goal of this study was to examine the morphological and phonological awareness skills of preschool children as longitudinal predictors of reading and spelling ability by the end of first grade, controlling for the effects of receptive and expressive vocabulary skills. At Time 1 preschool children from kindergartens in the Greek regions of Attika, Crete, Macedonia, and Thessaly were assessed on tasks tapping receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness (syllable and phoneme), and morphological awareness (inflectional and derivational). Tasks were administered through an Android application for mobile devices (tablets) featuring automatic application of ceiling rules. At Time 2 one year later the same children attending first grade were assessed on measures of word and pseudoword reading, text reading fluency, text reading comprehension, and spelling. Complete data from 104 children are available. Hierarchical linear regression and commonality analyses were conducted for each outcome variable. Reading accuracy for both words and pseudowords was predicted not only by phonological awareness, as expected, but also by morphological awareness, suggesting that understanding the functional role of word parts supports the developing phonology-orthography mappings. However, only phonological awareness predicted text reading fluency at this age. Longitudinal prediction of reading comprehension by both receptive vocabulary and morphological awareness was already evident at this age, as expected. Finally, spelling was predicted by preschool phonological awareness, as expected, as well as by morphological awareness, the contribution of which is expected to increase due to the spelling demands of Greek inflectional and derivational suffixes introduced at later grades.

Review of Adverse Events Associated With False Glucose Readings Measured by GDH-PQQ–Based Glucose Test Strips in the Presence of Interfering Sugars

PubMed Central

Frias, Juan P.; Lim, Christine G.; Ellison, John M.; Montandon, Carol M.

2010-01-01

OBJECTIVE To assess the implications of falsely elevated glucose readings measured with glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinolinequinone (GDH-PQQ) test strips. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a review of the Food and Drug Administration's Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience database and medical literature for adverse events (AEs) associated with falsely elevated glucose readings with GDH-PQQ test strips in the presence of interfering sugars. RESULTS Eighty-two reports were identified: 16 (20%) were associated with death, 46 (56%) with severe hypoglycemia, and 12 (15%) with nonsevere hypoglycemia. In eight reports (10%), the AE was not described. Forty-two events (51%) occurred in the U.S. Although most events occurred in hospitalized patients, at least 14 (17%) occurred in outpatients. Agents most commonly associated with AEs were icodextrin-containing peritoneal dialysate and maltose-containing intravenous immune globulin. CONCLUSIONS GDH-PQQ test strips pose a safety risk to insulin-using patients treated with agents containing or metabolized to interfering sugars. PMID:20351227

The Role of Reading Time Complexity and Reading Speed in Text Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallot, Sebastian; O'Brien, Beth A.; Haussmann, Anna; Kloos, Heidi; Lyby, Marlene S.

2014-01-01

Reading speed is commonly used as an index of reading fluency. However, reading speed is not a consistent predictor of text comprehension, when speed and comprehension are measured on the same text within the same reader. This might be due to the somewhat ambiguous nature of reading speed, which is sometimes regarded as a feature of the reading…

The Reading Experiences and Beliefs of Secondary Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daisey, Peggy

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe secondary pre-service teachers' past reading experiences, present attitudes and beliefs about reading, their attitudes and beliefs about a required content area literacy course, and their predicted use of reading in future instruction. Secondary pre-service teachers (N = 124) of diverse subject areas…

Eye movements and the perceptual span during first- and second-language sentence reading in bilingual older adults.

PubMed

Whitford, Veronica; Titone, Debra

2016-02-01

This study addressed a central yet previously unexplored issue in the psychological science of aging, namely, whether the advantages of healthy aging (e.g., greater lifelong experience with language) or disadvantages (e.g., decreases in cognitive and sensory processing) drive L1 and L2 reading performance in bilingual older adults. To this end, we used a gaze-contingent moving window paradigm to examine both global aspects of reading fluency (e.g., reading rates, number of regressions) and the perceptual span (i.e., allocation of visual attention into the parafovea) in bilingual older adults during L1 and L2 sentence reading, as a function of individual differences in current L2 experience. Across the L1 and L2, older adults exhibited reduced reading fluency (e.g., slower reading rates, more regressions), but a similar perceptual span compared with matched younger adults. Also similar to matched younger adults, older adults' reading fluency was lower for L2 reading than for L1 reading as a function of current L2 experience. Specifically, greater current L2 experience increased L2 reading fluency, but decreased L1 reading fluency (for global reading measures only). Taken together, the dissociation between intact perceptual span and impaired global reading measures suggests that older adults may prioritize parafoveal processing despite age-related encoding difficulties. Consistent with this interpretation, post hoc analyses revealed that older adults with higher versus lower executive control were more likely to adopt this strategy. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Questioning and reading goals: information-seeking questions asked on scientific texts read under different task conditions.

PubMed

Ishiwa, Koto; Sanjosé, Vicente; Otero, José

2013-09-01

A number of studies report that few questions are asked in classrooms and that many of them are shallow questions. This study investigates the way in which reading goals determine questioning on scientific texts. Reading goals were manipulated through two different tasks: reading for understanding versus reading to solve a problem. A total of 183 university students. In the first and third questioning experiments, the participants read two short texts. Students in one condition were instructed to understand the texts, whereas in the alternative condition they had to read texts to solve a problem. Students were instructed to write down any questions they might have about the texts. The questions were categorized according to the type of underlying obstacle: associative, explanatory, or predictive. The second experiment used a think-aloud methodology to identify the mental representations generated by the students. The two questioning experiments show that the questions asked depend on the reading goals. Significantly more explanation questions were asked in the understanding condition than in the problem-solving condition. Also, the two conditions were found to have a different influence on the generation of association and explanation questions. Very few prediction questions were asked in either condition. The think-aloud experiment revealed that the mental representations attempted by readers under the two conditions were indeed different. In conclusion, the experiments showed that, given a certain textual input, readers' questions depend on the reading goals associated with tasks. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

Technology-enhanced shared reading with deaf and hard-of-hearing children: the role of a fluent signing narrator.

PubMed

Mueller, Vannesa; Hurtig, Richard

2010-01-01

Early shared reading experiences have been shown to benefit normally hearing children. It has been hypothesized that hearing parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children may be uncomfortable or may lack adequate skills to engage in shared reading activities. A factor that may contribute to the widely cited reading difficulties seen in the majority of deaf children is a lack of early linguistic and literacy exposure that come from early shared reading experiences with an adult who is competent in the language of the child. A single-subject-design research study is described, which uses technology along with parent training in an attempt to enhance the shared reading experiences in this population of children. The results indicate that our technology-enhanced shared reading led to a greater time spent in shared reading activities and sign vocabulary acquisition. In addition, analysis of the shared reading has identified the specific aspects of the technology and the components of the parent training that were used most often.

An analysis of reading and spelling abilities of children using AAC: Understanding a continuum of competence.

PubMed

Dahlgren Sandberg, Annika; Smith, Martine; Larsson, Maria

2010-09-01

The over-representation of reading and spelling difficulties in children with complex communication needs has been well documented. However, most of the studies reported have indicated that at least some children using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) can achieve and demonstrate effective literacy skills, highlighting the heterogeneity of this group. This paper presents findings from a cross-linguistic study of 14 Swedish and 14 Irish children with cerebral palsy who use AAC, outlining their performance on a range of phonological awareness, reading, and spelling tasks developed for the purposes of the study. All participants were referred to the study as functioning in the average range of intellectual ability. Of the 28 participants, eight were classified as good readers, on the basis of their success on tasks involving connected text; while 10 presented with single-word reading skills; and 10 were categorized as non-readers. This paper explores the similarities and differences within and across these groups, in terms of associated skills and experiences. While analyses of group data suggests some common abilities and difficulties, exploration of individual profiles highlights the heterogeneity of the participants' profiles, suggesting a need for detailed individual assessment and interventions.

Benchmark eye movement effects during natural reading in autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Howard, Philippa L; Liversedge, Simon P; Benson, Valerie

2017-01-01

In 2 experiments, eye tracking methodology was used to assess on-line lexical, syntactic and semantic processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In Experiment 1, lexical identification was examined by manipulating the frequency of target words. Both typically developed (TD) and ASD readers showed normal frequency effects, suggesting that the processes TD and ASD readers engage in to identify words are comparable. In Experiment 2, syntactic parsing and semantic interpretation requiring the on-line use of world knowledge were examined, by having participants read garden path sentences containing an ambiguous prepositional phrase. Both groups showed normal garden path effects when reading low-attached sentences and the time course of reading disruption was comparable between groups. This suggests that not only do ASD readers hold similar syntactic preferences to TD readers, but also that they use world knowledge on-line during reading. Together, these experiments demonstrate that the initial construction of sentence interpretation appears to be intact in ASD. However, the finding that ASD readers skip target words less often in Experiment 2, and take longer to read sentences during second pass for both experiments, suggests that they adopt a more cautious reading strategy and take longer to evaluate their sentence interpretation prior to making a manual response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The Public Library and the Reading Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Usherwood, Bob; Toyne, Jackie

Data from a research project on the value and impact of public library book reading have provided insights into the role of the public library in the reading experience. The principle of equity of access was seen as crucial, in that it provided everyone with the opportunity to encounter reading material. Respondents also compared the buying and…

The Electric Company; Television and Reading, 1971-1980: A Mid-Experiment Appraisal.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooney, Joan Ganz

"The Electric Company" was created by the Children's Television Workshop as an experiment to teach reading to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade children having difficulty learning to read. Solidly based on research in the teaching of reading, the curriculum emphasizes decoding skills. The production process included several phases: (1) assembling…

Eye Movement Monitoring in the Study of Silent Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConkie, George W.

Eye movement monitoring is useful both in the control of experiments on reading and as a source of data. Experiments using eye monitoring techniques have helped develop the following conclusions about the reading process: the region of text read during a fixation is quite small and asymmetric to the right of the center of vision, successive…

Promoting Active Participation in Book Reading for Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Preliminary Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fleury, Veronica P.; Miramontez, Shane Herriott; Hudson, Roxanne F.; Schwartz, Ilene S.

2014-01-01

A common literacy practice in early childhood classrooms is reading aloud to children. Little is known, however, about the quality of engagement in shared reading activities for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Dialogic reading is one method of shared reading in which adults encourage children to actively participate in the…

Comprehending Text versus Reading Words in Young Readers with Varying Reading Ability: Distinct Patterns of Functional Connectivity from Common Processing Hubs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aboud, Katherine S.; Bailey, Stephen K.; Petrill, Stephen A.; Cutting, Laurie E.

2016-01-01

Skilled reading depends on recognizing words efficiently in isolation ("word-level processing"; "WL") and extracting meaning from text ("discourse-level processing"; "DL"); deficiencies in either result in poor reading. FMRI has revealed consistent overlapping networks in word and passage reading, as well as…

Specificity and Overlap in Skills Underpinning Reading and Arithmetical Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Daal, Victor; van der Leij, Aryan; Ader, Herman

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine unique and common causes of problems in reading and arithmetic fluency. 13- to 14-year-old students were placed into one of five groups: reading disabled (RD, n = 16), arithmetic disabled (AD, n = 34), reading and arithmetic disabled (RAD, n = 17), reading, arithmetic, and listening comprehension disabled…

Read Naturally [R]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report. Updated

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2013

2013-01-01

The “Read Naturally[R]” program is a supplemental reading program that aims to improve reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension of elementary and middle school students using a combination of texts, audio CDs, and computer software. The program uses one of four products that share a common fluency-building strategy: “Read Naturally[R] Masters…

Pseudo-Synesthesia through Reading Books with Colored Letters

PubMed Central

Colizoli, Olympia; Murre, Jaap M. J.; Rouw, Romke

2012-01-01

Background Synesthesia is a phenomenon where a stimulus produces consistent extraordinary subjective experiences. A relatively common type of synesthesia involves perception of color when viewing letters (e.g. the letter ‘a’ always appears as light blue). In this study, we examine whether traits typically regarded as markers of synesthesia can be acquired by simply reading in color. Methodology/Principal Findings Non-synesthetes were given specially prepared colored books to read. A modified Stroop task was administered before and after reading. A perceptual crowding task was administered after reading. Reading one book (>49,000 words) was sufficient to induce effects regarded as behavioral markers for synesthesia. The results of the Stroop tasks indicate that it is possible to learn letter-color associations through reading in color (F(1, 14) = 5.85, p = .030). Furthermore, Stroop effects correlated with subjective reports about experiencing letters in color (r(13) = 0.51, p = .05). The frequency of viewing letters is related to the level of association as seen by the difference in the Stroop effect size between upper- and lower-case letters (t(14) = 2.79, p = .014) and in a subgroup of participants whose Stroop effects increased as they continued to read in color. Readers did not show significant performance advantages on the crowding task compared to controls. Acknowledging the many differences between trainees and synesthetes, results suggest that it may be possible to acquire a subset of synesthetic behavioral traits in adulthood through training. Conclusion/Significance To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of acquiring letter-color associations through reading in color. Reading in color appears to be a promising avenue in which we may explore the differences and similarities between synesthetes and non-synesthetes. Additionally, reading in color is a plausible method for a long-term ‘synesthetic’ training program. PMID:22761905

Assessment of the Apple iPad as a low-vision reading aid.

PubMed

Morrice, E; Johnson, A P; Marinier, J-A; Wittich, W

2017-06-01

PurposeLow-vision clients frequently report having problems with reading. Using magnification, reading performance (as measured by reading speed) can be improved by up to 200%. Current magnification aids can be expensive or bulky; therefore, we explored if the Apple iPad offers comparable performance in improving reading speeds, in comparison with a closed-circuit television (CCTV) video magnifier, or other magnification devices.MethodsWe recruited 100 participants between the ages of 24-97 years, with low vision who were literate and cognitively capable, of whom 57 had age-related macular degeneration. To assess reading, participants read standardized iReST texts and were tested for comprehension. We compared reading speed on the Apple iPad (10 inch) with that of the CCTV, home magnification devices, and baseline measures.ResultsAll assistive devices improved reading rates in comparison to baseline (P<0.001, Hedge's g>1), however, there was no difference in improvement across devices (P>0.05, Hedge's g<0.1). When experience was taken into account, those with iPad experience read, on average, 30 words per minute faster than first time iPad users, whereas CCTV experience did not influence reading speed.ConclusionsIn our sample, the Apple iPad was as effective as currently used technologies for improving reading rates. Moreover, exposure to, and experience with the Apple iPad might increase reading speed with that device. A larger sample size, however, is needed to do subgroup analysis on who would optimally benefit from each type of magnification device.

Assessment of the Apple iPad as a low-vision reading aid

PubMed Central

Morrice, E; Johnson, A P; Marinier, J-A; Wittich, W

2017-01-01

Purpose Low-vision clients frequently report having problems with reading. Using magnification, reading performance (as measured by reading speed) can be improved by up to 200%. Current magnification aids can be expensive or bulky; therefore, we explored if the Apple iPad offers comparable performance in improving reading speeds, in comparison with a closed-circuit television (CCTV) video magnifier, or other magnification devices. Methods We recruited 100 participants between the ages of 24–97 years, with low vision who were literate and cognitively capable, of whom 57 had age-related macular degeneration. To assess reading, participants read standardized iReST texts and were tested for comprehension. We compared reading speed on the Apple iPad (10 inch) with that of the CCTV, home magnification devices, and baseline measures. Results All assistive devices improved reading rates in comparison to baseline (P<0.001, Hedge’s g>1), however, there was no difference in improvement across devices (P>0.05, Hedge’s g<0.1). When experience was taken into account, those with iPad experience read, on average, 30 words per minute faster than first time iPad users, whereas CCTV experience did not influence reading speed. Conclusions In our sample, the Apple iPad was as effective as currently used technologies for improving reading rates. Moreover, exposure to, and experience with the Apple iPad might increase reading speed with that device. A larger sample size, however, is needed to do subgroup analysis on who would optimally benefit from each type of magnification device. PMID:28157222

Engaging Young Readers with Text through Shared Reading Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Honchell, Barbara; Schulz, Melissa

2012-01-01

This article explores Shared Reading as an instructional approach that mimics home reading experiences in a group setting for young children. The article includes information about how to use enlarged text as the teacher provides experiences with books that first focus on the meaning and enjoyment of the story and then shifts to how print works…

Long-Term Experience with Chinese Language Shapes the Fusiform Asymmetry of English Reading

PubMed Central

Mei, Leilei; Xue, Gui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Chen, Chuansheng; Wei, Miao; He, Qinghua; Dong, Qi

2015-01-01

Previous studies have suggested differential engagement of the bilateral fusiform gyrus in the processing of Chinese and English. The present study tested the possibility that long-term experience with Chinese language affects the fusiform laterality of English reading by comparing three samples: Chinese speakers, English speakers with Chinese experience, and English speakers without Chinese experience. We found that, when reading words in their respective native language, Chinese and English speakers without Chinese experience differed in functional laterality of the posterior fusiform region (right laterality for Chinese speakers, but left laterality for English speakers). More importantly, compared with English speakers without Chinese experience, English speakers with Chinese experience showed more recruitment of the right posterior fusiform cortex for English words and pseudowords, which is similar to how Chinese speakers processed Chinese. These results suggest that long-term experience with Chinese shapes the fusiform laterality of English reading and have important implications for our understanding of the cross-language influences in terms of neural organization and of the functions of different fusiform subregions in reading. PMID:25598049

Read with a Beat: Developing Literacy through Music and Song (Teaching Reading).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolb, Gayla R.

1996-01-01

Argues that the singing-reading connective helps children learn to read and fosters a love for reading. Discusses integrating music with reading and notes various activities designed to extend the singing-reading experience, involving book concepts, sight vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency. (SR)

Reading Strategies in Spanish Developmental Dyslexics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suarez-Coalla, Paz; Cuetos, Fernando

2012-01-01

Cross-linguistic studies suggest that the orthographic system determines the reading performance of dyslexic children. In opaque orthographies, the fundamental feature of developmental dyslexia is difficulty in reading accuracy, whereas slower reading speed is more common in transparent orthographies. The aim of the current study was to examine…

Metacognition and Reading: Comparing Three Forms of Metacognition in Normally Developing Readers and Readers with Dyslexia.

PubMed

Furnes, Bjarte; Norman, Elisabeth

2015-08-01

Metacognition refers to 'cognition about cognition' and includes metacognitive knowledge, strategies and experiences (Efklides, 2008; Flavell, 1979). Research on reading has shown that better readers demonstrate more metacognitive knowledge than poor readers (Baker & Beall, 2009), and that reading ability improves through strategy instruction (Gersten, Fuchs, Williams, & Baker, 2001). The current study is the first to specifically compare the three forms of metacognition in dyslexic (N = 22) versus normally developing readers (N = 22). Participants read two factual texts, with learning outcome measured by a memory task. Metacognitive knowledge and skills were assessed by self-report. Metacognitive experiences were measured by predictions of performance and judgments of learning. Individuals with dyslexia showed insight into their reading problems, but less general knowledge of how to approach text reading. They more often reported lack of available reading strategies, but groups did not differ in the use of deep and surface strategies. Learning outcome and mean ratings of predictions of performance and judgments of learning were lower in dyslexic readers, but not the accuracy with which metacognitive experiences predicted learning. Overall, the results indicate that dyslexic reading and spelling problems are not generally associated with lower levels of metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive strategies or sensitivity to metacognitive experiences in reading situations. 2015 The Authors. Dyslexia Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Productive extension of semantic memory in school-aged children: Relations with reading comprehension and deployment of cognitive resources.

PubMed

Bauer, Patricia J; Blue, Shala N; Xu, Aoxiang; Esposito, Alena G

2016-07-01

We investigated 7- to 10-year-old children's productive extension of semantic memory through self-generation of new factual knowledge derived through integration of separate yet related facts learned through instruction or through reading. In Experiment 1, an experimenter read the to-be-integrated facts. Children successfully learned and integrated the information and used it to further extend their semantic knowledge, as evidenced by high levels of correct responses in open-ended and forced-choice testing. In Experiment 2, on half of the trials, the to-be-integrated facts were read by an experimenter (as in Experiment 1) and on half of the trials, children read the facts themselves. Self-generation performance was high in both conditions (experimenter- and self-read); in both conditions, self-generation of new semantic knowledge was related to an independent measure of children's reading comprehension. In Experiment 3, the way children deployed cognitive resources during reading was predictive of their subsequent recall of newly learned information derived through integration. These findings indicate self-generation of new semantic knowledge through integration in school-age children as well as relations between this productive means of extension of semantic memory and cognitive processes engaged during reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Productive Extension of Semantic Memory in School-aged Children: Relations with Reading Comprehension and Deployment of Cognitive Resources

PubMed Central

Bauer, Patricia J.; Blue, Shala N.; Xu, Aoxiang; Esposito, Alena G.

2016-01-01

We investigated 7- to 10-year-old children’s productive extension of semantic memory through self-generation of new factual knowledge derived through integration of separate yet related facts learned through instruction or through reading. In Experiment 1, an experimenter read the to-be-integrated facts. Children successfully learned and integrated the information and used it to further extend their semantic knowledge, as evidenced by high levels of correct responses in open-ended and forced-choice testing. In Experiment 2, on half of the trials, the to-be-integrated facts were read by an experimenter (as in Experiment 1) and on half of the trials, children read the facts themselves. Self-generation performance was high in both conditions (experimenter- and self-read); in both conditions, self-generation of new semantic knowledge was related to an independent measure of children’s reading comprehension. In Experiment 3, the way children deployed cognitive resources during reading was predictive of their subsequent recall of newly learned information derived through integration. These findings indicate self-generation of new semantic knowledge through integration in school-age children as well as relations between this productive means of extension of semantic memory and cognitive processes engaged during reading. PMID:27253263

The attentional blink is related to phonemic decoding, but not sight-word recognition, in typically reading adults.

PubMed

Tyson-Parry, Maree M; Sailah, Jessica; Boyes, Mark E; Badcock, Nicholas A

2015-10-01

This research investigated the relationship between the attentional blink (AB) and reading in typical adults. The AB is a deficit in the processing of the second of two rapidly presented targets when it occurs in close temporal proximity to the first target. Specifically, this experiment examined whether the AB was related to both phonological and sight-word reading abilities, and whether the relationship was mediated by accuracy on a single-target rapid serial visual processing task (single-target accuracy). Undergraduate university students completed a battery of tests measuring reading ability, non-verbal intelligence, and rapid automatised naming, in addition to rapid serial visual presentation tasks in which they were required to identify either two (AB task) or one (single target task) target/s (outlined shapes: circle, square, diamond, cross, and triangle) in a stream of random-dot distractors. The duration of the AB was related to phonological reading (n=41, β=-0.43): participants who exhibited longer ABs had poorer phonemic decoding skills. The AB was not related to sight-word reading. Single-target accuracy did not mediate the relationship between the AB and reading, but was significantly related to AB depth (non-linear fit, R(2)=.50): depth reflects the maximal cost in T2 reporting accuracy in the AB. The differential relationship between the AB and phonological versus sight-word reading implicates common resources used for phonemic decoding and target consolidation, which may be involved in cognitive control. The relationship between single-target accuracy and the AB is discussed in terms of cognitive preparation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Readability of the Most Commonly Accessed Arthroscopy-Related Online Patient Education Materials.

PubMed

Akinleye, Sheriff D; Krochak, Ryan; Richardson, Nicholas; Garofolo, Garret; Culbertson, Maya Deza; Erez, Orry

2018-04-01

To assess the readability and comprehension of written text by the most commonly visited websites containing patient education materials on common conditions that can be treated arthroscopically. We examined 50 websites, assessed independently by 2 orthopaedic surgery residents (S.A. and G.G.), with educational materials on 5 common conditions treated by arthroscopic surgeons: anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, meniscus tear, hip labral tear, shoulder labral tear, and rotator cuff tear. Following a Google search for each condition, we analyzed the 10 most visited websites for each disorder using a widely used and validated tool for assessing the reading levels of written materials (Flesch-Kincaid formula). The average grade reading level of the 50 websites studied was 9.90 with a reading ease of 52.14 ("fairly difficult, high school"). Only 26% of the websites were at or below the national average of an eighth-grade reading level. Of the 5 conditions treated by arthroscopic surgery, ACL tear had the highest average grade reading level at 10.73 ± 1.54, whereas meniscus tear had the lowest at 9.31 ± 1.81. Every condition in this study had an average readability at or above the ninth-grade reading level. The most frequently accessed materials for patients with injuries requiring arthroscopic surgery exceeds the readability recommendations of the American Medical Association and National Institutes of Health, as well as the average reading ability of US adults. Given the fact that these are the most commonly visited websites by the lay public, there needs to be a greater emphasis on tailoring written information to the literacy levels of the patient population. This study emphasizes the discrepancy between the recommended versus the measured reading levels of online patient education materials related to conditions treated by arthroscopic surgeons. The subject matter of these conditions is inherently complex; thus, relying solely on text to inform patients increases the likelihood that the reading level of the material exceeds that of the majority of the lay public. Copyright © 2017 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How Comics Made Me Love Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silberkleit, Nancy

2014-01-01

The co-CEO of Archie Comics, a former elementary school art teacher, knows from personal experience that comics should be a tool in a teacher's toolbox. Comics can hook students on the love of reading. The author shares her experience of not enjoying to read, and even struggling with reading, to becoming the co-CEO of Archie Comics, which has…

"I Don't Know What It Is to Be Able to Read": How Students with Dyslexia Experience Their Reading Impairment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wennas Brante, Eva

2013-01-01

Better understanding of the diverse reading abilities of people with dyslexia is necessary for the design of more effective learning situations, which are vital both to students with dyslexia and to their teachers. Seven individuals with dyslexia currently or formerly in higher education were interviewed about their reading experiences to learn…

The Advantage of Word-Based Processing in Chinese Reading: Evidence from Eye Movements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Xingshan; Gu, Junjuan; Liu, Pingping; Rayner, Keith

2013-01-01

In 2 experiments, we tested the prediction that reading is more efficient when characters belonging to a word are presented simultaneously than when they are not in Chinese reading using a novel variation of the moving window paradigm (McConkie & Rayner, 1975). In Experiment 1, we found that reading was slowed down when Chinese readers could…

The Empirical Investigation of Perspective-Based Reading

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Basili, Victor R.; Green, Scott; Laitenberger, Oliver; Shull, Forrest; Sorumgard, Sivert; Zelkowitz, Marvin V.

1995-01-01

We consider reading techniques a fundamental means of achieving high quality software. Due to lack of research in this area, we are experimenting with the application and comparison of various reading techniques. This paper deals with our experiences with Perspective Based Reading (PBR) a particular reading technique for requirement documents. The goal of PBR is to provide operation scenarios where members of a review team read a document from a particular perspective (eg., tester, developer, user). Our assumption is that the combination of different perspective provides better coverage of the document than the same number of readers using their usual technique. To test the efficacy of PBR, we conducted two runs of a controlled experiment in the environment of NASA GSFC Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL), using developers from the environment. The subjects read two types of documents, one generic in nature and the other from the NASA Domain, using two reading techniques, PBR and their usual technique. The results from these experiment as well as the experimental design, are presented and analyzed. When there is a statistically significant distinction, PBR performs better than the subjects' usual technique. However, PBR appears to be more effective on the generic documents than on the NASA documents.

The Sixth Pillar of Reading Instruction: Knowledge Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cervetti, Gina N.; Hiebert, Elfrieda H.

2015-01-01

The National Reading Panel (NRP) identified five pillars, or essential components, of reading instruction that lead to the highest chance of reading success--phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. A decade after the NRP's report, the majority of US states adopted the Common Core State Standards/English Language Arts…

Improve Reading with Complex Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy

2015-01-01

The Common Core State Standards have cast a renewed light on reading instruction, presenting teachers with the new requirements to teach close reading of complex texts. Teachers and administrators should consider a number of essential features of close reading: They are short, complex texts; rich discussions based on worthy questions; revisiting…

Genes for Reading and Spelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bates, Timothy C.

2006-01-01

This article reviews research on the behavioral and molecular genetics of reading and, where available, spelling. Recent research is summarized, suggesting that reading and spelling appear to share a common genetic basis, and that dyslexia lies on a genetic continuum with normal variance in reading skill. Research also suggests that while many of…

Incremental and Predictive Utility of Formative Assessment Methods of Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcotte, Amanda M.; Hintze, John M.

2009-01-01

Formative assessment measures are commonly used in schools to assess reading and to design instruction accordingly. The purpose of this research was to investigate the incremental and concurrent validity of formative assessment measures of reading comprehension. It was hypothesized that formative measures of reading comprehension would contribute…

Monitoring Reading Behavior: Criteria for Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, William R.

Effective use of the informal reading inventory (IRI) depends upon the criteria used in determining the functional reading levels and more specifically the word recognition criteria employed in describing acceptable limits of oral reading behavior. The author of this paper looks at the diverse sets of criteria commonly used, the problems…

Experience and Sentence Processing: Statistical Learning and Relative Clause Comprehension

PubMed Central

Wells, Justine B.; Christiansen, Morten H.; Race, David S.; Acheson, Daniel J.; MacDonald, Maryellen C.

2009-01-01

Many explanations of the difficulties associated with interpreting object relative clauses appeal to the demands that object relatives make on working memory. MacDonald and Christiansen (2002) pointed to variations in reading experience as a source of differences, arguing that the unique word order of object relatives makes their processing more difficult and more sensitive to the effects of previous experience than the processing of subject relatives. This hypothesis was tested in a large-scale study manipulating reading experiences of adults over several weeks. The group receiving relative clause experience increased reading speeds for object relatives more than for subject relatives, whereas a control experience group did not. The reading time data were compared to performance of a computational model given different amounts of experience. The results support claims for experience-based individual differences and an important role for statistical learning in sentence comprehension processes. PMID:18922516

Twenty Minutes a Day Keeps Illiteracy Away.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walsh, Cynthia

One of the most common worries children's parents have is how well their children are learning to read. Introducing children to the joys of reading depends not only on the teachers, but on the parents. The most effective way parents can teach children how to read and to love reading is to read to them and, later, with them. Jim Trelease, author of…

Effectiveness and Efficiency of Reading Error Correction Procedures on the Reading Accuracy, Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension of Fourth Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, Jennifer N.

2013-01-01

As education law evolves, educators are faced with difficult decisions regarding curriculum, prevention programs, and intervention strategies to use with their students. The use of evidence-based strategies for all academic skill areas, including reading, has become increasingly common in schools. Twenty-four 4th grade students participated in an…

Using Eye-Tracking to Measure Lexical Inferences and Its Effects on Reading Rate during EFL Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolgunsöz, Emrah

2016-01-01

Inferring unknown word meanings by using contextual clues is a common strategy employed by EFL learners during reading. This study aims to (a) investigate the effect of familiarity on lexical inferences in EFL reading; (b) examine inference efficiency among EFL readers with different levels of vocabulary knowledge and reading proficiency; and (c)…

Fast word reading in pure alexia: "fast, yet serial".

PubMed

Bormann, Tobias; Wolfer, Sascha; Hachmann, Wibke; Neubauer, Claudia; Konieczny, Lars

2015-01-01

Pure alexia is a severe impairment of word reading in which individuals process letters serially with a pronounced length effect. Yet, there is considerable variation in the performance of alexic readers with generally very slow, but also occasionally fast responses, an observation addressed rarely in previous reports. It has been suggested that "fast" responses in pure alexia reflect residual parallel letter processing or that they may even be subserved by an independent reading system. Four experiments assessed fast and slow reading in a participant (DN) with pure alexia. Two behavioral experiments investigated frequency, neighborhood, and length effects in forced fast reading. Two further experiments measured eye movements when DN was forced to read quickly, or could respond faster because words were easier to process. Taken together, there was little support for the proposal that "qualitatively different" mechanisms or reading strategies underlie both types of responses in DN. Instead, fast responses are argued to be generated by the same serial-reading strategy.

Readability of the Most Commonly Accessed Online Patient Education Materials Pertaining to Pathology of the Hand.

PubMed

Akinleye, Sheriff D; Garofolo-Gonzalez, Garret; Montuori, Michael; Culbertson, Maya Deza; Hashem, Jennifer; Edelstein, David Marc

2017-08-01

The American Medical Association (AMA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommend that patient education materials be written at no higher than a sixth-grade reading level. We examined 100 online educational materials for the 10 hand conditions most commonly treated by hand surgeons, as reported by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. The listed conditions were carpal tunnel syndrome, basal joint arthritis of the thumb, de Quervain syndrome, Dupuytren's contracture, ganglion cysts, hand fractures, trigger finger, extensor tendon injuries, flexor tendon injuries, and mallet finger. Following a Google search for each condition, we analyzed the 10 most visited websites for each disorder utilizing the Flesch-Kincaid formula. The average grade reading level of the 100 websites studied was 9.49 with a reading ease of 53.03 ("fairly difficult high school"). Only 29% of the websites were at or below the national average of an eighth-grade reading level. Carpal tunnel syndrome had the highest average grade reading level at 10.32 (standard deviation: 1.52), whereas hand fractures had the lowest at 8.14 (2.03). Every hand condition in this study had an average readability at or above the ninth-grade reading level. The most frequently accessed materials for common maladies of the hand exceed both the readability limits recommended by the AMA and NIH, and the average reading ability of most US adults. Therefore, the most commonly accessed websites pertaining to hand pathology may not be comprehended by the audience for which it is intended.

Literature and Learning to Read. Proceedings of the Annual Reading Conference of the Curriculum Research and Development Center, Indiana State Univ. (2nd, Terre Haute, June 21-22, 1972).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Indiana State Univ., Terre Haute. Curriculum Research and Development Center.

The papers for this proceeding reveal a variety of techniques and ideas for enhancing reading through literature. Lyman C. Hunt in "Literature and Learning to Read" discusses beginning reading instruction and some mistakes teachers commonly make, and reminds teachers that the primary objective should be to encourage reading and help the student…

Constructing high complexity synthetic libraries of long ORFs using in vitro selection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cho, G.; Keefe, A. D.; Liu, R.; Wilson, D. S.; Szostak, J. W.

2000-01-01

We present a method that can significantly increase the complexity of protein libraries used for in vitro or in vivo protein selection experiments. Protein libraries are often encoded by chemically synthesized DNA, in which part of the open reading frame is randomized. There are, however, major obstacles associated with the chemical synthesis of long open reading frames, especially those containing random segments. Insertions and deletions that occur during chemical synthesis cause frameshifts, and stop codons in the random region will cause premature termination. These problems can together greatly reduce the number of full-length synthetic genes in the library. We describe a strategy in which smaller segments of the synthetic open reading frame are selected in vitro using mRNA display for the absence of frameshifts and stop codons. These smaller segments are then ligated together to form combinatorial libraries of long uninterrupted open reading frames. This process can increase the number of full-length open reading frames in libraries by up to two orders of magnitude, resulting in protein libraries with complexities of greater than 10(13). We have used this methodology to generate three types of displayed protein library: a completely random sequence library, a library of concatemerized oligopeptide cassettes with a propensity for forming amphipathic alpha-helical or beta-strand structures, and a library based on one of the most common enzymatic scaffolds, the alpha/beta (TIM) barrel. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Nursing students' reading and English aptitudes and their relationship to discipline-specific formal writing ability: a descriptive correlational study.

PubMed

Newton, Sarah; Moore, Gary

2010-01-01

Formal writing assignments are commonly used in nursing education to develop students' critical thinking skills, as well as to enhance their communication abilities. However, writing apprehension is a common phenomenon among nursing students. It has been suggested that reading and English aptitudes are related to formal writing ability, yet neither the reading nor the English aptitudes of undergraduate nursing students have been described in the literature, and the relationships that reading and English aptitude have with formal writing ability have not been explored. The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to describe writing apprehension and to assess the relationships among reading and English aptitude and discipline-specific formal writing ability among undergraduate nursing students. The study sample consisted of 146 sophomores from one baccalaureate nursing program. The results indicated that both reading and English aptitude were related to students' formal writing ability.

Exploring how symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are related to reading and mathematics performance: general genes, general environments.

PubMed

Hart, Sara A; Petrill, Stephen A; Willcutt, Erik; Thompson, Lee A; Schatschneider, Christopher; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Cutting, Laurie E

2010-11-01

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tend to perform more poorly on tests of reading and mathematical performance than their typical peers. Quantitative genetic analyses allow for a better understanding of the etiology of ADHD and reading and mathematics outcomes, by examining their common and unique genetic and environmental influences. Analyses were conducted on a sample 271 pairs of 10-year-old monozygotic and dizygotic twins drawn from the Western Reserve Reading and Mathematics Project. In general, the results suggested that the associations among ADHD symptoms, reading outcomes, and math outcomes were influenced by both general genetic and general shared-environment factors. The analyses also suggested significant independent genetic effects for ADHD symptoms. The results imply that differing etiological factors underlie the relationships among ADHD and reading and mathematics performance. It appears that both genetic and common family or school environments link ADHD with academic performance.

The dual reading of general conditionals: The influence of abstract versus concrete contexts.

PubMed

Wang, Moyun; Yao, Xinyun

2018-04-01

A current main issue on conditionals is whether the meaning of general conditionals (e.g., If a card is red, then it is round) is deterministic (exceptionless) or probabilistic (exception-tolerating). In order to resolve the issue, two experiments examined the influence of conditional contexts (with vs. without frequency information of truth table cases) on the reading of general conditionals. Experiment 1 examined the direct reading of general conditionals in the possibility judgment task. Experiment 2 examined the indirect reading of general conditionals in the truth judgment task. It was found that both the direct and indirect reading of general conditionals exhibited the duality: the predominant deterministic semantic reading of conditionals without frequency information, and the predominant probabilistic pragmatic reading of conditionals with frequency information. The context of general conditionals determined the predominant reading of general conditionals. There were obvious individual differences in reading general conditionals with frequency information. The meaning of general conditionals is relative, depending on conditional contexts. The reading of general conditionals is flexible and complex so that no simple deterministic and probabilistic accounts are able to explain it. The present findings are beyond the extant deterministic and probabilistic accounts of conditionals.

Examining the Reading Level of Internet Medical Information for Common Internal Medicine Diagnoses.

PubMed

Hutchinson, Nora; Baird, Grayson L; Garg, Megha

2016-06-01

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommend that health materials be written at a grade 6-7 reading level, which has generally not been achieved in online reading materials. Up to the present time, there have not been any assessments focused on the reading level of online educational materials across the most popular consumer Web sites for common internal medicine diagnoses. In this study, we examined the readability of open-access online health information for 9 common internal medicine diagnoses. Nine of the most frequently encountered inpatient and ambulatory internal medicine diagnoses were selected for analysis. In November and December 2014, these diagnoses were used as search terms in Google, and the top 5 Web sites across all diagnoses and a diagnosis-specific site were analyzed across 5 validated reading indices. On average, the lowest reading grade-level content was provided by the NIH (10.7), followed by WebMD (10.9), Mayo Clinic (11.3), and diagnosis-specific Web sites (11.5). Conversely, Wikipedia provided content that required the highest grade-level readability (14.6). The diagnoses with the lowest reading grade levels were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (10.8), followed by diabetes (10.9), congestive heart failure (11.7), osteoporosis (11.7) and hypertension (11.7). Depression had the highest grade-level readability (13.8). Despite recommendations for patient health information to be written at a grade 6-7 reading level, our examination of online educational materials pertaining to 9 common internal medicine diagnoses revealed reading levels significantly above the NIH recommendation. This was seen across both diagnosis-specific and general Web sites. There is a need to improve the readability of online educational materials made available to patients. These improvements have the potential to greatly enhance patient awareness, engagement, and physician-patient communication. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Ideals into Reality: Some Examples.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Capuzzi, Dave; And Others

Examples of innovations in college and adult reading reading programs in five states are described. At Maricopa Technical College (Arizona) adult students have access to a special reading program emphasizing the language experience approach, capitalizing on students' life experiences and oral language facility. Otero Junior College (Colorado)…

A description of the verbal behavior of students during two reading instruction methods

PubMed Central

Daly, Patricia M.

1987-01-01

The responses of students during two reading methods, the language experience approach and two Mastery Learning programs, were analyzed using verbal operants. A description of student responding was generated for these methods. The purpose of the study was to answer the questions: What are the major controlling variables determining student reading behavior during the language experience approach and two Mastery Learning programs, and how do these controlling variables change across story reading sessions and across stories in the first method? Student responses by verbal operant were compared for both reading methods. Findings indicated higher frequencies of textual operants occurred in responses during the Mastery Learning programs. A greater reliance on intraverbal control was evident in responses during the language experience approach. It is suggested that students who can generate strong intraverbal responses and who may have visual discrimination problems during early reading instruction may benefit from use of the language experience approach at this stage. ImagesFigure 2Figure 3 PMID:22477535

The Empirical Investigation of Perspective-Based Reading

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Basili, Victor R.; Green, Scott; Laitenberger, Oliver; Shull, Forrest; Sorumgard, Sivert; Zelkowitz, Marvin V.

1996-01-01

We consider reading techniques a fundamental means of achieving high quality software. Due to the lack of research in this area, we are experimenting with the application and comparison of various reading techniques. This paper deals with our experiences with Perspective-Based Reading (PBR), a particular reading technique for requirements documents. The goal of PBR is to provide operational scenarios where members of a review team read a document from a particular perspective (e.g., tester, developer, user). Our assumption is that the combination of different perspectives provides better coverage of the document than the same number of readers using their usual technique.

"Just like EKGs!" Should EEGs undergo a confirmatory interpretation by a clinical neurophysiologist?

PubMed

Benbadis, Selim R

2013-01-01

The misdiagnosis of epilepsy is common and has serious consequences. A major contributor to the misdiagnosis of epilepsy is the tendency to overread normal EEGs as abnormal. In fact, the wrong diagnosis of seizures is sometimes based solely on the "abnormal" EEG. Reasons for the common overinterpretation of normal EEGs are mostly related to the lack of standards or mandatory training in EEG, and the erroneous assumption that all neurologists are trained to read EEGs. The most common overread pattern consists of benign, nonspecific, sharply contoured temporal transients. In particular, there is a common misconception that "phase reversals" are indicative of abnormality. Potential solutions include defining and ensuring EEG competency of neurologists who read EEGs, and perhaps providing a confirmatory reading by an electroencephalographer, as is done for EKGs.

Computerized Presentation of Text: Effects on Children's Reading of Informational Material. Special Issue on Reading Comprehension ? Part II

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Matthew A.; Symons, Sonya E.

2006-01-01

This study examined whether children's reading rate, comprehension, and recall are affected by computer presentation of text. Participants were 60 grade five students, who each read two expository texts, one in a traditional print format and the other from a computer monitor, which used a common scrolling text interface. After reading each text,…

A Comparison of Deaf and Hearing Children's Reading Comprehension Profiles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kyle, Fiona E.; Cain, Kate

2015-01-01

Purpose: Although deaf children typically exhibit severe delays in reading achievement, there is a paucity of research looking at their text-level comprehension skills. We present a comparison of deaf and normally hearing readers' profiles on a commonly used reading comprehension assessment: the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability II. Methods:…

Common Core, Commonplaces, and Community in Teaching Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roskos, Kathleen; Neuman, Susan B.

2013-01-01

Joseph Schwab, a curriculum theorist, described four commonplaces, or universals, of teaching: content, students, milieu and teachers. This article considers how the Reading Standards of the ELA-CCSS are shaping these commonplaces in the teaching of reading. The organization of the Reading Standards, for example, focuses on two broad grade bands,…

Encouraging Students to Read Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Mary D.

2005-01-01

It is generally agreed that the ability to read mathematics is an important skill--one that few of our students possess. A number of people have published some suggestions for helping students learn to read their mathematics textbooks. What these have in common is suggestions for getting students more active while reading. Using these resources as…

Reading for Meaning in Dyslexic and Young Children: Distinct Neural Pathways but Common Endpoints

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schulz, Enrico; Maurer, Urs; van der Mark, Sanne; Bucher, Kerstin; Brem, Silvia; Martin, Ernst; Brandeis, Daniel

2009-01-01

Developmental dyslexia is a highly prevalent and specific disorder of reading acquisition characterised by impaired reading fluency and comprehension. We have previously identified fMRI- and ERP-based neural markers of impaired sentence reading in dyslexia that indicated both deviant basic word processing and deviant semantic incongruency…

Hobbies and Hobby-Related Reading: Exploring Preferences, Practices, and Instructional Possibilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffman, Amy R.; Boraks, Nancy E.; Bauer, David

2000-01-01

Considers the relationship between hobbies and hobby-related reading to evaluate a common instructional assumption about using hobbies as a basis for recommending reading. Supports: (1) the potential for recommending authentic, non-traditional hobby-related reading materials in home and instructional settings; and (2) the potential for tapping the…

Perceived Challenges to Integrating Reading Strategies in Content Areas: A Single Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pezzolla, Karen

2017-01-01

An alarming percentage of middle and high school students find themselves unable to read their textbooks at grade level proficiency; lacking the necessary skills to access and process information, and read critically. The Common Core State Standards require students to apply reading strategies across the curriculum, therefore requiring teachers to…

Subcortical processing of speech regularities underlies reading and music aptitude in children.

PubMed

Strait, Dana L; Hornickel, Jane; Kraus, Nina

2011-10-17

Neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities supports fundamental human behaviors such as hearing in noise and reading. Although the failure to encode acoustic regularities in ongoing speech has been associated with language and literacy deficits, how auditory expertise, such as the expertise that is associated with musical skill, relates to the brainstem processing of speech regularities is unknown. An association between musical skill and neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities would not be surprising given the importance of repetition and regularity in music. Here, we aimed to define relationships between the subcortical processing of speech regularities, music aptitude, and reading abilities in children with and without reading impairment. We hypothesized that, in combination with auditory cognitive abilities, neural sensitivity to regularities in ongoing speech provides a common biological mechanism underlying the development of music and reading abilities. We assessed auditory working memory and attention, music aptitude, reading ability, and neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities in 42 school-aged children with a wide range of reading ability. Neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities was assessed by recording brainstem responses to the same speech sound presented in predictable and variable speech streams. Through correlation analyses and structural equation modeling, we reveal that music aptitude and literacy both relate to the extent of subcortical adaptation to regularities in ongoing speech as well as with auditory working memory and attention. Relationships between music and speech processing are specifically driven by performance on a musical rhythm task, underscoring the importance of rhythmic regularity for both language and music. These data indicate common brain mechanisms underlying reading and music abilities that relate to how the nervous system responds to regularities in auditory input. Definition of common biological underpinnings for music and reading supports the usefulness of music for promoting child literacy, with the potential to improve reading remediation.

Increases in Perspective Embedding Increase Reading Time Even with Typical Text Presentation: Implications for the Reading of Literature

PubMed Central

Whalen, D. H.; Zunshine, Lisa; Holquist, Michael

2015-01-01

Reading fiction is a major component of intellectual life, yet it has proven difficult to study experimentally. One aspect of literature that has recently come to light is perspective embedding (“she thought I left” embedding her perspective on “I left”), which seems to be a defining feature of fiction. Previous work (Whalen et al., 2012) has shown that increasing levels of embedment affects the time that it takes readers to read and understand short vignettes in a moving window paradigm. With increasing levels of embedment from 1 to 5, reading times in a moving window paradigm rose almost linearly. However, level 0 was as slow as 3–4. Accuracy on probe questions was relatively constant until dropping at the fifth level. Here, we assessed this effect in a more ecologically valid (“typical”) reading paradigm, in which the entire vignette was visible at once, either for as long as desired (Experiment 1) or a fixed time (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, reading times followed a pattern similar to that of the previous experiment, with some differences in absolute speed. Accuracy matched previous results: fairly consistent accuracy until a decline at level 5, indicating that both presentation methods allowed understanding. In Experiment 2, accuracy was somewhat reduced, perhaps because participants were less successful at allocating their attention than they were during the earlier experiment; however, the pattern was the same. It seems that literature does not, on average, use easiest reading level but rather uses a middle ground that challenges the reader, but not too much. PMID:26635684

METHODOLOGICAL NOTES: Integrating magnetism into semiconductor electronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakharchenya, Boris P.; Korenev, Vladimir L.

2005-06-01

The view of a ferromagnetic-semiconducting hybrid structure as a single tunable system is presented. Based on an analysis of existing experiments it is shown that, contrary to a 'common sense', a nonmagnetic semiconductor is capable of playing an important role in controlling ferromagnetism. Magnetic properties of a hybrid (the hysteresis loop and the spatial orientation of magnetization) can be tuned both optically and electrically by utilizing semiconductor—making the hybrid an electronic-write-in and electronic-read-out elementary storage unit.

Short reads from honey bee (Apis sp.) sequencing projects reflect microbial associate diversity

PubMed Central

Hurst, Gregory D.D.

2017-01-01

High throughput (or ‘next generation’) sequencing has transformed most areas of biological research and is now a standard method that underpins empirical study of organismal biology, and (through comparison of genomes), reveals patterns of evolution. For projects focused on animals, these sequencing methods do not discriminate between the primary target of sequencing (the animal genome) and ‘contaminating’ material, such as associated microbes. A common first step is to filter out these contaminants to allow better assembly of the animal genome or transcriptome. Here, we aimed to assess if these ‘contaminations’ provide information with regard to biologically important microorganisms associated with the individual. To achieve this, we examined whether the short read data from Apis retrieved elements of its well established microbiome. To this end, we screened almost 1,000 short read libraries of honey bee (Apis sp.) DNA sequencing project for the presence of microbial sequences, and find sequences from known honey bee microbial associates in at least 11% of them. Further to this, we screened ∼500 Apis RNA sequencing libraries for evidence of viral infections, which were found to be present in about half of them. We then used the data to reconstruct draft genomes of three Apis associated bacteria, as well as several viral strains de novo. We conclude that ‘contamination’ in short read sequencing libraries can provide useful genomic information on microbial taxa known to be associated with the target organisms, and may even lead to the discovery of novel associations. Finally, we demonstrate that RNAseq samples from experiments commonly carry uneven viral loads across libraries. We note variation in viral presence and load may be a confounding feature of differential gene expression analyses, and as such it should be incorporated as a random factor in analyses. PMID:28717593

Short reads from honey bee (Apis sp.) sequencing projects reflect microbial associate diversity.

PubMed

Gerth, Michael; Hurst, Gregory D D

2017-01-01

High throughput (or 'next generation') sequencing has transformed most areas of biological research and is now a standard method that underpins empirical study of organismal biology, and (through comparison of genomes), reveals patterns of evolution. For projects focused on animals, these sequencing methods do not discriminate between the primary target of sequencing (the animal genome) and 'contaminating' material, such as associated microbes. A common first step is to filter out these contaminants to allow better assembly of the animal genome or transcriptome. Here, we aimed to assess if these 'contaminations' provide information with regard to biologically important microorganisms associated with the individual. To achieve this, we examined whether the short read data from Apis retrieved elements of its well established microbiome. To this end, we screened almost 1,000 short read libraries of honey bee ( Apis sp.) DNA sequencing project for the presence of microbial sequences, and find sequences from known honey bee microbial associates in at least 11% of them. Further to this, we screened ∼500 Apis RNA sequencing libraries for evidence of viral infections, which were found to be present in about half of them. We then used the data to reconstruct draft genomes of three Apis associated bacteria, as well as several viral strains de novo . We conclude that 'contamination' in short read sequencing libraries can provide useful genomic information on microbial taxa known to be associated with the target organisms, and may even lead to the discovery of novel associations. Finally, we demonstrate that RNAseq samples from experiments commonly carry uneven viral loads across libraries. We note variation in viral presence and load may be a confounding feature of differential gene expression analyses, and as such it should be incorporated as a random factor in analyses.

Using Smartphones to Supplement Classroom Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bromley, Karen

2013-01-01

Supplementing classroom reading with smartphones can develop better vocabulary knowledge, comprehension, technology skills, and writing. This article connects smartphones to reading complex, informational text and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The author suggests that smartphones motivate, scaffold comprehension, and invite…

What makes African American health disparities newsworthy? An experiment among journalists about story framing.

PubMed

Hinnant, Amanda; Oh, Hyun Jee; Caburnay, Charlene A; Kreuter, Matthew W

2011-12-01

News stories reporting race-specific health information commonly emphasize disparities between racial groups. But recent research suggests this focus on disparities has unintended effects on African American audiences, generating negative emotions and less interest in preventive behaviors (Nicholson RA, Kreuter MW, Lapka C et al. Unintended effects of emphasizing disparities in cancer communication to African-Americans. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008; 17: 2946-52). They found that black adults are more interested in cancer screening after reading about the progress African Americans have made in fighting cancer than after reading stories emphasizing disparities between blacks and whites. This study builds on past findings by (i) examining how health journalists judge the newsworthiness of stories that report race-specific health information by emphasizing disparities versus progress and (ii) determining whether these judgments can be changed by informing journalists of audience reactions to disparity versus progress framing. In a double-blind-randomized experiment, 175 health journalists read either a disparity- or progress-framed story on colon cancer, preceded by either an inoculation about audience effects of such framing or an unrelated (i.e. control) information stimuli. Journalists rated the disparity-frame story more favorably than the progress-frame story in every category of news values. However, the inoculation significantly increased positive reactions to the progress-frame story. Informing journalists of audience reactions to race-specific health information could influence how health news stories are framed.

Contextual diversity facilitates learning new words in the classroom.

PubMed

Rosa, Eva; Tapia, José Luis; Perea, Manuel

2017-01-01

In the field of word recognition and reading, it is commonly assumed that frequently repeated words create more accessible memory traces than infrequently repeated words, thus capturing the word-frequency effect. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that a seemingly related factor, contextual diversity (defined as the number of different contexts [e.g., films] in which a word appears), is a better predictor than word-frequency in word recognition and sentence reading experiments. Recent research has shown that contextual diversity plays an important role when learning new words in a laboratory setting with adult readers. In the current experiment, we directly manipulated contextual diversity in a very ecological scenario: at school, when Grade 3 children were learning words in the classroom. The new words appeared in different contexts/topics (high-contextual diversity) or only in one of them (low-contextual diversity). Results showed that words encountered in different contexts were learned and remembered more effectively than those presented in redundant contexts. We discuss the practical (educational [e.g., curriculum design]) and theoretical (models of word recognition) implications of these findings.

Contextual diversity facilitates learning new words in the classroom

PubMed Central

Tapia, José Luis; Perea, Manuel

2017-01-01

In the field of word recognition and reading, it is commonly assumed that frequently repeated words create more accessible memory traces than infrequently repeated words, thus capturing the word-frequency effect. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that a seemingly related factor, contextual diversity (defined as the number of different contexts [e.g., films] in which a word appears), is a better predictor than word-frequency in word recognition and sentence reading experiments. Recent research has shown that contextual diversity plays an important role when learning new words in a laboratory setting with adult readers. In the current experiment, we directly manipulated contextual diversity in a very ecological scenario: at school, when Grade 3 children were learning words in the classroom. The new words appeared in different contexts/topics (high-contextual diversity) or only in one of them (low-contextual diversity). Results showed that words encountered in different contexts were learned and remembered more effectively than those presented in redundant contexts. We discuss the practical (educational [e.g., curriculum design]) and theoretical (models of word recognition) implications of these findings. PMID:28586354

Teaching Reading Fluency to Struggling Readers: Method, Materials, and Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasinski, Timothy; Homan, Susan; Biggs, Marie

2009-01-01

Reading fluency has been identified as a key component in reading and in learning to read. Moreover, a significantly large number of students who experience difficulty in reading manifest difficulties in reading fluency that appear to contribute to their overall struggles in reading. In this article we explore the nature of effective instruction…

Guiding Children's Reading through Experiences. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gans, Roma

This discussion of methods, experiences, and theory provides educators and parents with an approach to learning to read that emphasizes learning to think and becoming a functional reader who can enjoy using this skill throughout life. Included are simple, inexpensive suggestions for improving reading, such as more attention to regular school…

Understanding Student Attitudes toward Bible Reading: A Philippine Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baring, Rito V.

2008-01-01

Reflecting from the Philippine experience, this article explores an emerging picture that characterizes contemporary Bible reading attitudes of college students. Six new attitude factor definitions are developed following the development of the Bible Reading (BR) attitude scale for college students constructed by this author in a separate study.…

The Time Course of Incremental Word Processing during Chinese Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Junyi; Ma, Guojie; Li, Xingshan; Taft, Marcus

2018-01-01

In the current study, we report two eye movement experiments investigating how Chinese readers process incremental words during reading. These are words where some of the component characters constitute another word (an embedded word). In two experiments, eye movements were monitored while the participants read sentences with incremental words…

Increasing Secondary Reading Comprehension and Reading Proficiency across Content Areas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zimmerman, Marty

2011-01-01

This action research developed as a response to the researcher's experience with struggling and alliterate readers across all content areas in secondary schools. The researcher witnessed the negative impact of a depressed economy and depressed reading proficiency pervasive among students based on classroom experience and standardized testing. The…

Effect of Reading Ability and Internet Experience on Keyword-Based Image Search

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lei, Pei-Lan; Lin, Sunny S. J.; Sun, Chuen-Tsai

2013-01-01

Image searches are now crucial for obtaining information, constructing knowledge, and building successful educational outcomes. We investigated how reading ability and Internet experience influence keyword-based image search behaviors and performance. We categorized 58 junior-high-school students into four groups of high/low reading ability and…

Learners with Dyslexia: Exploring Their Experiences with Different Online Reading Affordances

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Chwen Jen; Keong, Melissa Wei Yin; Teh, Chee Siong; Chuah, Kee Man

2015-01-01

To date, empirically derived guidelines for designing accessible online learning environments for learners with dyslexia are still scarce. This study aims to explore the learning experience of learners with dyslexia when reading passages using different online reading affordances to derive some guidelines for dyslexia-friendly online text. The…

Augmented Reality Game-Based Learning: Enriching Students' Experience during Reading Comprehension Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tobar-Muñoz, Hendrys; Baldiris, Silvia; Fabregat, Ramon

2017-01-01

Program for International Student Assessment results indicate that while reading comprehension needs to be promoted, teachers are struggling to find ways to motivate students to do reading comprehension activities and although technology-enhanced learning approaches are entering the classroom, researchers are still experimenting with them to…

The impact of salient advertisements on reading and attention on web pages.

PubMed

Simola, Jaana; Kuisma, Jarmo; Oörni, Anssi; Uusitalo, Liisa; Hyönä, Jukka

2011-06-01

Human vision is sensitive to salient features such as motion. Therefore, animation and onset of advertisements on Websites may attract visual attention and disrupt reading. We conducted three eye tracking experiments with authentic Web pages to assess whether (a) ads are efficiently ignored, (b) ads attract overt visual attention and disrupt reading, or (c) ads are covertly attended with distraction showing up indirectly in the reading performance. The Web pages contained an ad above a central text and another ad to the right of the text. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3A the task was to read for comprehension. Experiment 1 examined whether the degree of animation affects attention toward the ads. The results showed that ads were overtly attended during reading and that the dwell times on ads were the longest when the ad above was static and the other ad was animated. In Experiments 2 and 3, the ads appeared abruptly after a random time interval. The results showed that attention (i.e., the time when the eyes first entered an ad) was related to the ad onset time. This happened especially for the ad to the right, indicating that ads appearing close to the text region capture overt attention. In Experiment 3B the participants browsed the Web pages according to their own interest. The study demonstrated that salient ads attract overt visual attention and disrupt reading, but during free browsing, ads were viewed more frequently and for longer time than during reading.

AF family shares experience with child's autism > U.S. Air Force >

Science.gov Websites

Reading List 2017 CSAF Reading List 2016 CSAF Reading List 2015 CSAF Reading List 2014 CSAF Reading List 2013 CSAF Reading List 2012 CSAF Reading List 2011 CSAF Reading List 2010 CSAF Reading List 2009 CSAF Reading List 2008 CSAF Reading List 2007 CSAF Reading List 2006 CSAF Reading List 50 Years of the CMSAF

The Effects of Teacher Read-Alouds and Student Silent Reading on Predominantly Bilingual High School Seniors' Learning and Retention of Social Studies Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reed, Deborah K.; Swanson, Elizabeth; Petscher, Yaacov; Vaughn, Sharon

2014-01-01

Teacher read-alouds (TRA) are common in middle and high school content area classes. Because the practice of reading the textbook out loud to students is often used out of concern about students' ability to understand and learn from text when reading silently (SR), this randomized controlled trial was designed to experimentally manipulate text…

A Quiet Voice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schrader, Teri

2009-01-01

The Common Principles have been at the very center of the author's professional practice. When she first read Ted Sizer's writing and learned about the Coalition of Essential Schools, she felt as though he was talking directly to her. Not only did every word of the then nine Common Principles make sense, but after reading Sizer's work, her own…

Exploring Teachers' Read-Aloud Book Selections: What Drives the Decision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, Rachael L.

2017-01-01

Reading aloud is a common classroom practice that has many cognitive and affective benefits for students. Early childhood teachers conduct read-aloud events in classrooms across the country on a daily basis. A read-aloud event could not occur without the intentional selection of a book. This exploratory, sequential mixed method study explored the…

Miscue Analysis of Oral Reading among Less Proficient Readers in Primary Schools in Brunei Darussalam

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamid, Juliana Bte Haji Abdul; Abosi, Okechukwu

2011-01-01

Reading disability is the most common disability. At least one in five children has significant challenges learning to read. This study focused on the oral reading performance of 30 Year-Three students. The students were identified as less proficient readers from two randomly selected primary schools in Brunei Darussalam. The oral reading…

The Development of the easyCBM CCSS Reading Assessments: Grade 3. Technical Report #1221

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alonzo, Julie; Park, Bitnara Jasmine; Tindal, Gerald

2012-01-01

In this technical report, we document the development and piloting of easyCBM reading measures aligned to the Common Core State Standards, designed for use in screening students at risk for reading difficulty and monitoring their progress as they develop reading skills. The measures, which assess students' ability to respond to…

Teaching Reading in Russian, Volume 1. Instructional Materials for the Less Commonly Taught Languages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Yonkers, NY.

These reading comprehension exercises, based on authentic Russian texts, are aimed at developing reading strategies in lower-level students of Russian. The exercises are designed for students reading at the Novice and Intermediate levels as determined by the American Counsel on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Educational Testing…

The Use of Learning Journals to Foster Textbook Reading in the Community College Psychology Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bartolomeo-Maida, Maria

2016-01-01

Across disciplines, faculty members face a common challenge of finding methods to get their students to complete assigned course readings. It becomes an even larger task to develop strategies whereby students are also engaging in deep reading that promotes critical thinking. Reading positively impacts students on a number of variables, and when…

Relationships of French and English Morphophonemic Orthographies to Word Reading, Spelling, and Reading Comprehension during Early and Middle Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abbott, Robert D.; Fayol, Michel; Zorman, Michel; Casalis, Séverine; Nagy, William; Berninger, Virginia W.

2016-01-01

Two longitudinal studies of word reading, spelling, and reading comprehension identified commonalities and differences in morphophonemic orthographies--French (Study 1, n = 1,313) or English (Study 2, n = 114) in early childhood (Grade 2)and middle childhood (Grade 5). For French and English, statistically significant concurrent relationships…

Reading in Multiple Orthographies: Differences and Similarities in Reading in Spanish and English for English Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodwin, Amanda P.; August, Diane; Calderon, Margarita

2015-01-01

The current study unites multiple theories (i.e., the orthographic depth hypothesis and linguistic grain size theory, the simple view of reading, and the common underlying proficiency model) to explore differences in how 113 fourth-grade Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) approached reading in their native language of Spanish, which is…

A Daily Diary Study of Reading Motivation inside and outside of School: A Dynamic Approach to Motivation to Read

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neugebauer, Sabina Rak

2013-01-01

Qualitative literacy motivation research increasingly documents students' divergent motivations to read in and outside of the school setting. However, commonly used assessments of literacy motivation do not measure the contribution of in-school and outside-school settings to students' motivation to read. Consequently, quantitative research has not…

The Reading Span Test and Its Predictive Power for Reading Comprehension Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Naomi P.; Miyake, Akira

2004-01-01

This study had two major goals: to test the effect of administration method on the criterion validity of a commonly used working memory span test, the reading span task, and to examine the relationship between processing and storage in this task. With respect to the first goal, although experimenter- and participant-administered reading span tasks…

The Genetic and Environmental Etiologies of the Relations between Cognitive Skills and Components of Reading Ability

PubMed Central

Christopher, Micaela E.; Keenan, Janice M.; Hulslander, Jacqueline; DeFries, John C.; Miyake, Akira; Wadsworth, Sally J.; Willcutt, Erik; Pennington, Bruce; Olson, Richard K.

2016-01-01

While previous research has shown cognitive skills to be important predictors of reading ability in children, the respective roles for genetic and environmental influences on these relations is an open question. The present study explored the genetic and environmental etiologies underlying the relations between selected executive functions and cognitive abilities (working memory, inhibition, processing speed, and naming speed) with three components of reading ability (word reading, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension). Twin pairs drawn from the Colorado Front Range (n = 676; 224 monozygotic pairs; 452 dizygotic pairs) between the ages of eight and 16 (M = 11.11) were assessed on multiple measures of each cognitive and reading-related skill. Each cognitive and reading-related skill was modeled as a latent variable, and behavioral genetic analyses estimated the portions of phenotypic variance on each latent variable due to genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences. The covariance between the cognitive skills and reading-related skills was driven primarily by genetic influences. The cognitive skills also shared large amounts of genetic variance, as did the reading-related skills. The common cognitive genetic variance was highly correlated with the common reading genetic variance, suggesting that genetic influences involved in general cognitive processing are also important for reading ability. Skill-specific genetic variance in working memory and processing speed also predicted components of reading ability. Taken together, the present study supports a genetic association between children’s cognitive ability and reading ability. PMID:26974208

Is a "Phoenician" reading style superior to a "Chinese" reading style? Evidence from fourth graders.

PubMed

Bowey, Judith A

2008-07-01

This study compared normally achieving fourth-grade "Phoenician" readers, who identify nonwords significantly more accurately than they do exception words, with "Chinese" readers, who show the reverse pattern. Phoenician readers scored lower than Chinese readers on word identification, exception word reading, orthographic choice, spelling, reading comprehension, and verbal ability. When compared with normally achieving children who read nonwords and exception words equally well, Chinese readers scored as well as these children on word identification, regular word reading, orthographic choice, spelling, reading comprehension, phonological sensitivity, and verbal ability and scored better on exception word reading. Chinese readers also used rhyme-based analogies to read nonwords derived from high-frequency exception words just as often as did these children. As predicted, Phoenician and Chinese readers adopted somewhat different strategies in reading ambiguous nonwords constructed by analogy to high-frequency exception words. Phoenician readers were more likely than Chinese readers to read ambiguous monosyllabic nonwords via context-free grapheme-phoneme correspondences and were less likely to read disyllabic nonwords by analogy to high-frequency analogues. Although the Chinese reading style was more common than the Phoenician style in normally achieving fourth graders, there were similar numbers of poor readers with phonological dyslexia (identifying nonwords significantly more accurately than exception words) and surface dyslexia (showing the reverse pattern), although surface dyslexia was more common in the severely disabled readers. However, few of the poor readers showed pure patterns of phonological or surface dyslexia.

Teaching Reading and the At Risk Pupil.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ediger, Marlow

At risk students need to experience a reading curriculum which offers success in learning to read; appropriate sequence of reading activities; feedback regarding what has been accomplished in reading; rewards for doing well when comparing past with present achievement records; intrinsic motivation in wanting to read; help and guidance to achieve…

Influence of Reading Comprehension Strategy Information on Children's Self-Efficacy and Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schunk, Dale H.; Rice, Jo Mary

Two experiments investigated the effects of sources of strategy information on children's acquisition and transfer of reading outcomes and strategy use. Children with reading skill deficiencies received comprehension instruction on main ideas. In the first experiment, the final sample comprised 33 students (21 fourth graders, 12 fifth gaders)…

On Non-English Majors' Strategy Training in English Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Xiaoling

2017-01-01

This paper reviewed the literature of the previous research and questionnaire survey on reading strategy. Based on theories of psycholinguistics, a five-week experiment was carried out in order to probe into the effectiveness of strategy training. The experiment was designed to answer the following question: Can reading comprehension be improved…

12 Texts That Facilitate Authentic Reading Strategies for Novice, Experimenting, and Proficient Readers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, K. Dara

2017-01-01

The current climate of reading instruction calls for fluency strategies that stress automaticity, accuracy, and prosody, within the scope of prescribed reading programs that compromise teacher autonomy, with texts that are often irrelevant to the students' experiences. Consequently, accuracy and speed are developed, but deep comprehension is…

Context-Sensitive Rules and Word Naming in Italian Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barca, Laura; Ellis, Andrew W.; Burani, Cristina

2007-01-01

The present study examines the role of orthographic complexity on Italian children's word reading. Two experiments are reported in which elementary school children (3rd and 5th graders) read aloud words containing simple or contextual letter-sound conversion rules. In Experiment 1, both groups of participants read words containing contextual rules…

A Developmental Examination of Basic Perceptual Processes in Reading. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lefton, Lester A.

This report summarizes four groups of experiments examining the nature of basic perceptual processes in reading. The first group examined the relationship of English orthography to reading, specifically the transfer of information from the icon to short-term memory. The second group of experiments examined the use of peripheral information…

Linguistic Complexity and Information Structure in Korean: Evidence from Eye-Tracking during Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Yoonhyoung; Lee, Hanjung; Gordon, Peter C.

2007-01-01

The nature of the memory processes that support language comprehension and the manner in which information packaging influences online sentence processing were investigated in three experiments that used eye-tracking during reading to measure the ease of understanding complex sentences in Korean. All three experiments examined reading of embedded…

Reading and listening in people with aphasia: effects of syntactic complexity.

PubMed

DeDe, Gayle

2013-11-01

The purpose of this study was to compare online effects of syntactic complexity in written and spoken sentence comprehension in people with aphasia (PWA) and adults with no brain damage (NBD). The participants in Experiment 1 were NBD older and younger adults (n = 20 per group). The participants in Experiment 2 were 10 PWA. In both experiments, the participants read and listened to sentences in self-paced reading and listening tasks. The experimental materials consisted of object cleft sentences (e.g., It was the girl who the boy hugged.) and subject cleft sentences (e.g., It was the boy who hugged the girl.). The predicted effects of syntactic complexity were observed in both Experiments 1 and 2: Reading and listening times were longer for the verb in sentences with object compared to subject relative clauses. The NBD controls showed exaggerated effects of syntactic complexity in reading compared to listening. The PWA did not show different modality effects from the NBD participants. Although effects of syntactic complexity were somewhat exaggerated in reading compared with listening, both the PWA and the NBD controls showed similar effects in both modalities.

Reading: The Human Touch.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roswell, Florence G.

1978-01-01

Reading programs must be reassessed, and fragmented, isolated, and repetitive exercises must be eliminated. The goal of any reading program is to get the child to experience the joys of reading and learning. (Author/WI)

A de Bruijn graph approach to the quantification of closely-related genomes in a microbial community.

PubMed

Wang, Mingjie; Ye, Yuzhen; Tang, Haixu

2012-06-01

The wide applications of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies in metagenomics have raised many computational challenges. One of the essential problems in metagenomics is to estimate the taxonomic composition of a microbial community, which can be approached by mapping shotgun reads acquired from the community to previously characterized microbial genomes followed by quantity profiling of these species based on the number of mapped reads. This procedure, however, is not as trivial as it appears at first glance. A shotgun metagenomic dataset often contains DNA sequences from many closely-related microbial species (e.g., within the same genus) or strains (e.g., within the same species), thus it is often difficult to determine which species/strain a specific read is sampled from when it can be mapped to a common region shared by multiple genomes at high similarity. Furthermore, high genomic variations are observed among individual genomes within the same species, which are difficult to be differentiated from the inter-species variations during reads mapping. To address these issues, a commonly used approach is to quantify taxonomic distribution only at the genus level, based on the reads mapped to all species belonging to the same genus; alternatively, reads are mapped to a set of representative genomes, each selected to represent a different genus. Here, we introduce a novel approach to the quantity estimation of closely-related species within the same genus by mapping the reads to their genomes represented by a de Bruijn graph, in which the common genomic regions among them are collapsed. Using simulated and real metagenomic datasets, we show the de Bruijn graph approach has several advantages over existing methods, including (1) it avoids redundant mapping of shotgun reads to multiple copies of the common regions in different genomes, and (2) it leads to more accurate quantification for the closely-related species (and even for strains within the same species).

Children Can Love Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zibart, Rosemary

1980-01-01

Describes the Reading Is Fundamental Program (RIF), whose reading motivation concept is simple: young people who get the opportunity to freely choose and to own books may begin to experience reading as a pleasurable activity. (Author/LLS)

Personalizing Reading Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cathcart, Maureen

1973-01-01

Examines the relative merits of the language experience approach, the basal reader approach, and the individualized reading approach for beginning reading instruction, concluding that individualized reading has the advantage of fitting the needs of the student. (RB)

Speech perception and reading: two parallel modes of understanding language and implications for acquiring literacy naturally.

PubMed

Massaro, Dominic W

2012-01-01

I review 2 seminal research reports published in this journal during its second decade more than a century ago. Given psychology's subdisciplines, they would not normally be reviewed together because one involves reading and the other speech perception. The small amount of interaction between these domains might have limited research and theoretical progress. In fact, the 2 early research reports revealed common processes involved in these 2 forms of language processing. Their illustration of the role of Wundt's apperceptive process in reading and speech perception anticipated descriptions of contemporary theories of pattern recognition, such as the fuzzy logical model of perception. Based on the commonalities between reading and listening, one can question why they have been viewed so differently. It is commonly believed that learning to read requires formal instruction and schooling, whereas spoken language is acquired from birth onward through natural interactions with people who talk. Most researchers and educators believe that spoken language is acquired naturally from birth onward and even prenatally. Learning to read, on the other hand, is not possible until the child has acquired spoken language, reaches school age, and receives formal instruction. If an appropriate form of written text is made available early in a child's life, however, the current hypothesis is that reading will also be learned inductively and emerge naturally, with no significant negative consequences. If this proposal is true, it should soon be possible to create an interactive system, Technology Assisted Reading Acquisition, to allow children to acquire literacy naturally.

Author’s response: A universal approach to modeling visual word recognition and reading: not only possible, but also inevitable.

PubMed

Frost, Ram

2012-10-01

I have argued that orthographic processing cannot be understood and modeled without considering the manner in which orthographic structure represents phonological, semantic, and morphological information in a given writing system. A reading theory, therefore, must be a theory of the interaction of the reader with his/her linguistic environment. This outlines a novel approach to studying and modeling visual word recognition, an approach that focuses on the common cognitive principles involved in processing printed words across different writing systems. These claims were challenged by several commentaries that contested the merits of my general theoretical agenda, the relevance of the evolution of writing systems, and the plausibility of finding commonalities in reading across orthographies. Other commentaries extended the scope of the debate by bringing into the discussion additional perspectives. My response addresses all these issues. By considering the constraints of neurobiology on modeling reading, developmental data, and a large scope of cross-linguistic evidence, I argue that front-end implementations of orthographic processing that do not stem from a comprehensive theory of the complex information conveyed by writing systems do not present a viable approach for understanding reading. The common principles by which writing systems have evolved to represent orthographic, phonological, and semantic information in a language reveal the critical distributional characteristics of orthographic structure that govern reading behavior. Models of reading should thus be learning models, primarily constrained by cross-linguistic developmental evidence that describes how the statistical properties of writing systems shape the characteristics of orthographic processing. When this approach is adopted, a universal model of reading is possible.

A New Look at Reading in the Social Studies. Perspectives in Reading No. 12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preston, Ralph C., Ed.

Five papers given at the International Reading Association conference held in conjunction with a National Council for the Social Studies conference in 1968 are presented in this work. Although each paper is addressed to a different subtopic, there is the common theme of the role that reading can play in social studies instruction. The subtopics…

Follow the Reader: An Effective Strategy to Support Students Reading More Complex Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klvacek, Michelle L.; Monroe, Eula Ewing; Wilcox, Brad; Hall-Kenyon, Kendra M.; Morrison, Timothy G.

2017-01-01

This article describes how one second-grade teacher implemented Follow the Reader, her term for dyad reading. Common Core expects students to read increasingly complex texts. Teachers can implement dyad reading with this end in mind. It is a modified version of the neurological impress method in which a lead reader and an assisted reader sit side…

The Development of SAH Reading Passage Compendium: A Tool for the Assessment of Reading Performance Related to Visual Function

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Ai-Hong; Buari, Noor Halilah; Jufri, Shauqiah

2017-01-01

Passages with continuous sentences are commonly used for the assessment of reading performance related to visual function, and rehabilitation in optometric practices. Passages created in native languages are crucial for a reliable interpretation in a real scenario. This study aimed to report the development of SAH Reading Passage Compendium…

Accommodating Remedial Readers in the General Education Setting: Is Listening-while-Reading Sufficient to Improve Factual and Inferential Comprehension?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitt, Ara J.; Hale, Andrea D.; McCallum, Elizabeth; Mauck, Brittany

2011-01-01

Word reading accommodations are commonly applied in the general education setting in an attempt to improve student comprehension and learning of curriculum content. This study examined the effects of listening-while-reading (LWR) and silent reading (SR) using text-to-speech assistive technology on the comprehension of 25 middle-school remedial…

The Effects of Repetitive Reading and PQRS Strategy in the Development of Reading Skill

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ulu, Hacer; Akyol, Hayati

2016-01-01

Problem Statements: It is a fact that there are individual differences in education and it would be wrong to expect every individual to learn at the same speed. Certain individuals have difficulty in some subjects such as reading, writing and mathematics, yet the most common such problem is difficulty in reading. Particularly, the students who…

A Comparison of Reading Response Methods to Increase Student Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Cheryl J.; Zane, Thomas

2016-01-01

It is common in college courses to test students on the required readings for that course. With a rise in online education it is often the case that students are required to provide evidence of reading the material. However, there is little empirical research stating the best written means to assess that students read the materials. This study…

Reading Fluency beyond English: Investigations into Reading Fluency in Turkish Elementary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yildirim, Kasim; Rasinski, Timothy

2014-01-01

Reading fluency is one of the underlying factors of successful language curricula and it is also one of the defining characteristics of good readers. A lack of fluency is a common characteristic of struggling readers. There is a growing body of research that demonstrates proficiency in reading fluency is important for success in learning to read…

The contribution of phonological knowledge, memory, and language background to reading comprehension in deaf populations

PubMed Central

Hirshorn, Elizabeth A.; Dye, Matthew W. G.; Hauser, Peter; Supalla, Ted R.; Bavelier, Daphne

2015-01-01

While reading is challenging for many deaf individuals, some become proficient readers. Little is known about the component processes that support reading comprehension in these individuals. Speech-based phonological knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of reading comprehension in hearing individuals, yet its role in deaf readers is controversial. This could reflect the highly varied language backgrounds among deaf readers as well as the difficulty of disentangling the relative contribution of phonological versus orthographic knowledge of spoken language, in our case ‘English,’ in this population. Here we assessed the impact of language experience on reading comprehension in deaf readers by recruiting oral deaf individuals, who use spoken English as their primary mode of communication, and deaf native signers of American Sign Language. First, to address the contribution of spoken English phonological knowledge in deaf readers, we present novel tasks that evaluate phonological versus orthographic knowledge. Second, the impact of this knowledge, as well as memory measures that rely differentially on phonological (serial recall) and semantic (free recall) processing, on reading comprehension was evaluated. The best predictor of reading comprehension differed as a function of language experience, with free recall being a better predictor in deaf native signers than in oral deaf. In contrast, the measures of English phonological knowledge, independent of orthographic knowledge, best predicted reading comprehension in oral deaf individuals. These results suggest successful reading strategies differ across deaf readers as a function of their language experience, and highlight a possible alternative route to literacy in deaf native signers. Highlights: 1. Deaf individuals vary in their orthographic and phonological knowledge of English as a function of their language experience. 2. Reading comprehension was best predicted by different factors in oral deaf and deaf native signers. 3. Free recall memory (primacy effect) better predicted reading comprehension in deaf native signers as compared to oral deaf or hearing individuals. 4. Language experience should be taken into account when considering cognitive processes that mediate reading in deaf individuals. PMID:26379566

Exploring How Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Are Related to Reading and Mathematics Performance: General Genes, General Environments

PubMed Central

Hart, Sara A.; Petrill, Stephen A.; Willcutt, Erik; Thompson, Lee A.; Schatschneider, Christopher; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Cutting, Laurie E.

2013-01-01

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tend to perform more poorly on tests of reading and mathematical performance than their typical peers. Quantitative genetic analyses allow for a better understanding of the etiology of ADHD and reading and mathematics outcomes, by examining their common and unique genetic and environmental influences. Analyses were conducted on a sample 271 pairs of 10-year-old monozygotic and dizygotic twins drawn from the Western Reserve Reading and Mathematics Project. In general, the results suggested that the associations among ADHD symptoms, reading outcomes, and math outcomes were influenced by both general genetic and general shared-environment factors. The analyses also suggested significant independent genetic effects for ADHD symptoms. The results imply that differing etiological factors underlie the relationships among ADHD and reading and mathematics performance. It appears that both genetic and common family or school environments link ADHD with academic performance. PMID:20966487

Acquired dyslexia in a Turkish-English speaker.

PubMed

Raman, Ilhan; Weekes, Brendan S

2005-06-01

The Turkish script is characterised by completely transparent bidirectional mappings between orthography and phonology. To date, there has been no reported evidence of acquired dyslexia in Turkish speakers leading to the naïve view that reading and writing problems in Turkish are probably rare. We examined the extent to which phonological impairment and orthographic transparency influence reading disorders in a native Turkish speaker. BRB is a bilingual Turkish-English speaker with deep dysphasia accompanied by acquired dyslexia in both languages. The main findings are an effect of imageability on reading in Turkish coincident with surface dyslexia in English and preserved nonword reading. BRB's acquired dyslexia suggests that damage to phonological representations might have a consequence for learning to read in Turkish. We argue that BRB's acquired dyslexia has a common locus in chronic underactivation of phonological representations in Turkish and English. Despite a common locus, reading problems manifest themselves differently according to properties of the script and the type of task.

HIA: a genome mapper using hybrid index-based sequence alignment.

PubMed

Choi, Jongpill; Park, Kiejung; Cho, Seong Beom; Chung, Myungguen

2015-01-01

A number of alignment tools have been developed to align sequencing reads to the human reference genome. The scale of information from next-generation sequencing (NGS) experiments, however, is increasing rapidly. Recent studies based on NGS technology have routinely produced exome or whole-genome sequences from several hundreds or thousands of samples. To accommodate the increasing need of analyzing very large NGS data sets, it is necessary to develop faster, more sensitive and accurate mapping tools. HIA uses two indices, a hash table index and a suffix array index. The hash table performs direct lookup of a q-gram, and the suffix array performs very fast lookup of variable-length strings by exploiting binary search. We observed that combining hash table and suffix array (hybrid index) is much faster than the suffix array method for finding a substring in the reference sequence. Here, we defined the matching region (MR) is a longest common substring between a reference and a read. And, we also defined the candidate alignment regions (CARs) as a list of MRs that is close to each other. The hybrid index is used to find candidate alignment regions (CARs) between a reference and a read. We found that aligning only the unmatched regions in the CAR is much faster than aligning the whole CAR. In benchmark analysis, HIA outperformed in mapping speed compared with the other aligners, without significant loss of mapping accuracy. Our experiments show that the hybrid of hash table and suffix array is useful in terms of speed for mapping NGS sequencing reads to the human reference genome sequence. In conclusion, our tool is appropriate for aligning massive data sets generated by NGS sequencing.

Reading, Learning, and Growing: An Examination of the Benefits of Common Book Programs for First-Year Students' Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soria, Krista M.

2015-01-01

Despite the continued growth of common book reading programs on college and university campuses, little is known about the benefits of such programs on first-year students' development. Using a multi-institutional survey of undergraduates attending six large, public universities (n = 1,237), the present study examined relationships between…

Reader Identity and the Common Core: Agency and Identity in Leveled Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abodeeb-Gentile, Theresa; Zawilinski, Lisa

2013-01-01

This article moves beyond the common core and leveled literacy instruction to demonstrate how diverse learners in one fourth grade classroom, challenged teacher authority in an effort to position themselves as capable readers. In doing so, they implored the teachers to consider the social context of reading as an essential component to the ways in…

Literacy and FLES. Connecting to the Common Core Learning Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martino, Al; Barnett, Harriet

2013-01-01

At present, Whole Language (WL) teachers DO teach reading as a part of their curriculum. However, the new common core learning standards set the stage for Foreign Language in Elementary Schools (FLES) teachers to take a more active role, if not lead the way in developing important reading skills in children. Although this new challenge may at…

Effects of aging, word frequency, and text stimulus quality on reading across the adult lifespan: Evidence from eye movements.

PubMed

Warrington, Kayleigh L; McGowan, Victoria A; Paterson, Kevin B; White, Sarah J

2018-04-19

Reductions in stimulus quality may disrupt the reading performance of older adults more when compared with young adults because of sensory declines that begin early in middle age. However, few studies have investigated adult age differences in the effects of stimulus quality on reading, and none have examined how this affects lexical processing and eye movement control. Accordingly, we report two experiments that examine the effects of reduced stimulus quality on the eye movements of young (18-24 years), middle-aged (41-51 years), and older (65+ years) adult readers. In Experiment 1, participants read sentences that contained a high- or low-frequency critical word and that were presented normally or with contrast reduced so that words appeared faint. Experiment 2 further investigated effects of reduced stimulus quality using a gaze-contingent technique to present upcoming text normally or with contrast reduced. Typical patterns of age-related reading difficulty (e.g., slower reading, more regressions) were observed in both experiments. In addition, eye movements were disrupted more for older than younger adults when all text (Experiment 1) or just upcoming text (Experiment 2) appeared faint. Moreover, there was an interaction between stimulus quality and word frequency (Experiment 1), such that readers fixated faint low-frequency words for disproportionately longer. Crucially, this effect was similar across all age groups. Thus, although older readers suffer more from reduced stimulus quality, this additional difficulty primarily affects their visual processing of text. These findings have important implications for understanding the role of stimulus quality on reading behavior across the lifespan. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Active Reading Procedures for Moderating the Effects of Poor Highlighting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gier, Vicki S.; Herring, Daniel; Hudnell, Jason; Montoya, Jodi; Kreiner, David S.

2010-01-01

We investigated two active reading techniques intended to eliminate the negative effect on reading comprehension of preexisting, inappropriate highlighting. College students read passages in three highlighting conditions: no highlighting, appropriate highlighting, and inappropriate highlighting. In Experiment 1, 30 students read the passages while…

Help with Teaching Reading Comprehension: Comprehension Instructional Frameworks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liang, Lauren Aimonette; Dole, Janice A.

2006-01-01

This article presents five instructional frameworks demonstrated by research as being effective in teaching reading comprehension: (1) The Scaffolded Reading Experience (SRE); (2) Questioning the Author (QtA); (3) Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR); (4) Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS); and (5) Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction…

Open Oncology Notes: A Qualitative Study of Oncology Patients' Experiences Reading Their Cancer Care Notes.

PubMed

Kayastha, Neha; Pollak, Kathryn I; LeBlanc, Thomas W

2018-04-01

Electronic medical records increasingly allow patients access to clinician notes. Although most believe that open notes benefits patients, some suggest negative consequences. Little is known about the experiences of patients with cancer reading their medical notes; thus we aimed to describe this qualitatively. We interviewed 20 adults with metastatic or incurable cancer receiving cancer treatment. The semistructured qualitative interviews included four segments: assessing their overall experience reading notes, discussing how notes affected their cancer care experiences, reading a real note with the interviewer, and making suggestions for improvement. We used a constant comparison approach to analyze these qualitative data. We found four themes. Patients reported that notes resulted in the following: (1) increased comprehension; (2) ameliorated uncertainty, relieved anxiety, and facilitated control; (3) increased trust; and (4) for a subset of patients, increased anxiety. Patients described increased comprehension because notes refreshed their memory and clarified their understanding of visits. This helped mitigate the unfamiliarity of cancer, addressing uncertainty and relieving anxiety. Notes facilitated control, empowering patients to ask clinicians more questions. The transparency of notes also increased trust in clinicians. For a subset of patients, however, notes were emotionally difficult to read and raised concerns. Patients identified medical jargon and repetition in notes as areas for improvement. Most patients thought that reading notes improved their care experiences. A small subset of patients experienced increased distress. As reading notes becomes a routine part of the patient experience, physicians might want to elicit and address concerns that arise from notes, thereby further engaging patients in their care.

Preschoolers Explore Interactive Storybook Apps: The Effect on Word Recognition and Story Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zipke, Marcy

2017-01-01

Two experiments explored the effects of reading digital storybooks on tablet computers with 25 preschoolers, aged 4-5. In the first experiment, the students' word recognition scores were found to increase significantly more when students explored a digital storybook and employed the read-aloud function than when they were read to from a comparable…

Mind Wandering and Reading Comprehension: Examining the Roles of Working Memory Capacity, Interest, Motivation, and Topic Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unsworth, Nash; McMillan, Brittany D.

2013-01-01

Individual differences in mind wandering and reading comprehension were examined in the current study. In particular, individual differences in mind wandering, working memory capacity, interest in the current topic, motivation to do well on the task, and topic experience and their relations with reading comprehension were examined in the current…

Five Years of "The Electric Company"; Television and Reading 1971-76.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooney, Joan Ganz

"The Electric Company" was created by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) as an experiment in using television to teach reading skills to children in grades 2-4 who were having difficulty learning to read in school. With more than 500 shows completed and four seasons behind it, the series continues to be an experiment. The methods…

The Development of Reading Accuracy and Reading Rate during Treatment of Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tijms, Jurgen

2007-01-01

Two experiments were conducted to provide a window on the processes by which the accuracy and rate of reading develop during psycholinguistic treatment for dyslexia. In experiment 1,140 children with dyslexia followed a treatment method that presented them with a learning system that clarifies the basic elements and operations by which one's…

Eye Movement Behaviour during Reading of Japanese Sentences: Effects of Word Length and Visual Complexity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Sarah J.; Hirotani, Masako; Liversedge, Simon P.

2012-01-01

Two experiments are presented that examine how the visual characteristics of Japanese words influence eye movement behaviour during reading. In Experiment 1, reading behaviour was compared for words comprising either one or two kanji characters. The one-character words were significantly less likely to be fixated on first-pass, and had…

Guiding Readers in the Middle Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, Denise N.; Williams, Jeffrey L.; Clark, Barbara; Hatteberg, Scott; Hauptman, Gayle Marek; Kozel, Claudia; Paris, Joe

2013-01-01

Guided reading is an instructional practice commonly used in primary and intermediate grades (Ford & Opitz, 2008; Fountas & Pinnell, 2001). It is used less in middle grades settings (Allen, 2000) where "one size-fits-all instruction" prevails (Allington, 2012). While teachers can read about the principles of guided reading in…

Reading/Writing Connections: A Case Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braun, Carl

An addition to the "wholeness of language" debate, this document is divided into two sections. The first reviews theories regarding the reading writing relationship, suggesting that an awareness of the interdependencies and commonalities among various forms of communication may provide insights leading to students learning to read like…

Reading Fluency and College Readiness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasinski, Timothy V.; Chang, Shu-Ching; Edmondson, Elizabeth; Nageldinger, James; Nigh, Jennifer; Remark, Linda; Kenney, Kristen Srsen; Walsh-Moorman, Elizabeth; Yildirim, Kasim; Nichols, William Dee; Paige, David D.; Rupley, William H.

2017-01-01

The Common Core State Standards suggest that an appropriate goal for secondary education is college and career readiness. Previous research has identified reading fluency as a critical component for proficient reading. One component of fluency is word recognition accuracy and automaticity. The present study attempted to determine the word…

Cognitive levels of performance account for hemispheric lateralisation effects in dyslexic and normally reading children.

PubMed

Heim, Stefan; Grande, Marion; Meffert, Elisabeth; Eickhoff, Simon B; Schreiber, Helen; Kukolja, Juraj; Shah, Nadim Jon; Huber, Walter; Amunts, Katrin

2010-12-01

Recent theories of developmental dyslexia explain reading deficits in terms of deficient phonological awareness, attention, visual and auditory processing, or automaticity. Since dyslexia has a neurobiological basis, the question arises how the reader's proficiency in these cognitive variables affects the brain regions involved in visual word recognition. This question was addressed in two fMRI experiments with 19 normally reading children (Experiment 1) and 19 children with dyslexia (Experiment 2). First, reading-specific brain activation was assessed by contrasting the BOLD signal for reading aloud words vs. overtly naming pictures of real objects. Next, ANCOVAs with brain activation during reading the individuals' scores for all five cognitive variables assessed outside the scanner as covariates were performed. Whereas the normal readers' brain activation during reading showed co-variation effects predominantly in the right hemisphere, the reverse pattern was observed for the dyslexics. In particular, middle frontal gyrus, inferior parietal cortex, and precuneus showed contralateral effects for controls as compared to dyslexics. In line with earlier findings in the literature, these data hint at a global change in hemispheric asymmetry during cognitive processing in dyslexic readers, which, in turn, might affect reading proficiency. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reading in French-Speaking Adults with Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Jennifer; Cole, Pascale; Leuwers, Christel; Casalis, Severine; Zorman, Michel; Sprenger-Charolles, Liliane

2010-01-01

This study investigated the reading and reading-related skills of 15 French-speaking adults with dyslexia, whose performance was compared with that of chronological-age controls (CA) and reading-level controls (RL). Experiment 1 assessed the efficiency of their phonological reading-related skills (phonemic awareness, phonological short-term…

Reading Engagement in Science: Elementary Students' Read-Aloud Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliveira, Alandeom W.

2015-01-01

This study examines student reading engagement with children's science books in elementary classrooms. "Reading engagement" in science is conceived in terms of a Transmission-Transaction continuum. When centered on transmission, science reading entails passive reception of a textually encoded scientific message. By contrast, when science…

Up or down? Reading direction influences vertical counting direction in the horizontal plane - a cross-cultural comparison.

PubMed

Göbel, Silke M

2015-01-01

Most adults and children in cultures where reading text progresses from left to right also count objects from the left to the right side of space. The reverse is found in cultures with a right-to-left reading direction. The current set of experiments investigated whether vertical counting in the horizontal plane is also influenced by reading direction. Participants were either from a left-to-right reading culture (UK) or from a mixed (left-to-right and top-to-bottom) reading culture (Hong Kong). In Experiment 1, native English-speaking children and adults and native Cantonese-speaking children and adults performed three object counting tasks. Objects were presented flat on a table in a horizontal, vertical, and square display. Independent of culture, the horizontal array was mostly counted from left to right. While the majority of English-speaking children counted the vertical display from bottom to top, the majority of the Cantonese-speaking children as well as both Cantonese- and English-speaking adults counted the vertical display from top to bottom. This pattern was replicated in the counting pattern for squares: all groups except the English-speaking children started counting with the top left coin. In Experiment 2, Cantonese-speaking adults counted a square array of objects after they read a text presented to them either in left-to-right or in top-to-bottom reading direction. Most Cantonese-speaking adults started counting the array by moving horizontally from left to right. However, significantly more Cantonese-speaking adults started counting with a top-to-bottom movement after reading the text presented in a top-to-bottom reading direction than in a left-to-right reading direction. Our results show clearly that vertical counting in the horizontal plane is influenced by longstanding as well as more recent experience of reading direction.

Automaticity in reading and the Stroop task: testing the limits of involuntary word processing.

PubMed

Brown, Tracy L; Joneleit, Kelly; Robinson, Cathy S; Brown, Carli Rose

2002-01-01

We investigated the parameters of involuntary word reading in the Stroop task in 7 experiments. Experiments 1-4 varied response modality and the presence of congruent word trials in a test of the claim that presenting a Stroop color word with only one letter in the target color eliminates the Stroop effect. Experiments 5 and 6 addressed the roles of spatial attention and orthographic processing as possible mechanisms behind the reduction of Stroop effects with the single-letter format. Experiment 7 investigated the limits of involuntary reading under optimal conditions for selective processing of rectangular color patch targets. We found that the single-letter format reduced but never eliminated Stroop effects, spatial attention but not orthographic processing plays a role in the effect of the single-letter format, and word reading is not completely prevented even with austere presentation conditions. We conclude with a defense of the involuntariness criterion for automaticity in the Stroop task, particularly when word reading is viewed in the context of a skilled performance.

Assessment of Reading Comprehension, Panel 5; Conference on Studies in Reading (Washington, D.C., August 1974).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Marshall S., Ed.

The aim of the panel on reading comprehension, sponsored by the National Institute of Education Conference on Studies in Reading, was to determine the influence of intellectual factors, general experiences with the world, knowledge specific to the particular reading task, and general decoding skills to successful reading performance. In addition,…

Reading for Writing: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Reading Interventions on Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Steve; Liu, Xinghua; Bartlett, Brendan; Ng, Clarence; Harris, Karen R.; Aitken, Angelique; Barkel, Ashley; Kavanaugh, Colin; Talukdar, Joy

2018-01-01

This meta-analysis examined if students' writing performance is improved by reading interventions in studies (k = 54 experiments; 5,018 students) where students were taught how to read and studies (k = 36 investigations; 3,060 students) where students' interaction with words or text was increased through reading or observing others read. Studies…

Parafoveal Processing in Silent and Oral Reading: Reading Mode Influences the Relative Weighting of Phonological and Semantic Information in Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pan, Jinger; Laubrock, Jochen; Yan, Ming

2016-01-01

We examined how reading mode (i.e., silent vs. oral reading) influences parafoveal semantic and phonological processing during the reading of Chinese sentences, using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm. In silent reading, we found in 2 experiments that reading times on target words were shortened with semantic previews in early and late…

Reaction Time and Accuracy in Erroneous vs Correct Responses among Dyslexic and Regular Readers: From Letters to Sentences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Breznitz, Zvia

2011-01-01

Speed of processing (SOP) is a crucial factor in fluent reading and is measured using reading rate. This measure is commonly used to examine correct reading patterns, yet in the present study it is employed to determine whether differences in SOP exist for correct and incorrect reading. One of the characteristics of dyslexia is slow and inaccurate…

Natural brain-information interfaces: Recommending information by relevance inferred from human brain signals

PubMed Central

Eugster, Manuel J. A.; Ruotsalo, Tuukka; Spapé, Michiel M.; Barral, Oswald; Ravaja, Niklas; Jacucci, Giulio; Kaski, Samuel

2016-01-01

Finding relevant information from large document collections such as the World Wide Web is a common task in our daily lives. Estimation of a user’s interest or search intention is necessary to recommend and retrieve relevant information from these collections. We introduce a brain-information interface used for recommending information by relevance inferred directly from brain signals. In experiments, participants were asked to read Wikipedia documents about a selection of topics while their EEG was recorded. Based on the prediction of word relevance, the individual’s search intent was modeled and successfully used for retrieving new relevant documents from the whole English Wikipedia corpus. The results show that the users’ interests toward digital content can be modeled from the brain signals evoked by reading. The introduced brain-relevance paradigm enables the recommendation of information without any explicit user interaction and may be applied across diverse information-intensive applications. PMID:27929077

Natural brain-information interfaces: Recommending information by relevance inferred from human brain signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eugster, Manuel J. A.; Ruotsalo, Tuukka; Spapé, Michiel M.; Barral, Oswald; Ravaja, Niklas; Jacucci, Giulio; Kaski, Samuel

2016-12-01

Finding relevant information from large document collections such as the World Wide Web is a common task in our daily lives. Estimation of a user’s interest or search intention is necessary to recommend and retrieve relevant information from these collections. We introduce a brain-information interface used for recommending information by relevance inferred directly from brain signals. In experiments, participants were asked to read Wikipedia documents about a selection of topics while their EEG was recorded. Based on the prediction of word relevance, the individual’s search intent was modeled and successfully used for retrieving new relevant documents from the whole English Wikipedia corpus. The results show that the users’ interests toward digital content can be modeled from the brain signals evoked by reading. The introduced brain-relevance paradigm enables the recommendation of information without any explicit user interaction and may be applied across diverse information-intensive applications.

DIEGO: detection of differential alternative splicing using Aitchison's geometry.

PubMed

Doose, Gero; Bernhart, Stephan H; Wagener, Rabea; Hoffmann, Steve

2018-03-15

Alternative splicing is a biological process of fundamental importance in most eukaryotes. It plays a pivotal role in cell differentiation and gene regulation and has been associated with a number of different diseases. The widespread availability of RNA-Sequencing capacities allows an ever closer investigation of differentially expressed isoforms. However, most tools for differential alternative splicing (DAS) analysis do not take split reads, i.e. the most direct evidence for a splice event, into account. Here, we present DIEGO, a compositional data analysis method able to detect DAS between two sets of RNA-Seq samples based on split reads. The python tool DIEGO works without isoform annotations and is fast enough to analyze large experiments while being robust and accurate. We provide python and perl parsers for common formats. The software is available at: www.bioinf.uni-leipzig.de/Software/DIEGO. steve@bioinf.uni-leipzig.de. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Subcortical processing of speech regularities underlies reading and music aptitude in children

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities supports fundamental human behaviors such as hearing in noise and reading. Although the failure to encode acoustic regularities in ongoing speech has been associated with language and literacy deficits, how auditory expertise, such as the expertise that is associated with musical skill, relates to the brainstem processing of speech regularities is unknown. An association between musical skill and neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities would not be surprising given the importance of repetition and regularity in music. Here, we aimed to define relationships between the subcortical processing of speech regularities, music aptitude, and reading abilities in children with and without reading impairment. We hypothesized that, in combination with auditory cognitive abilities, neural sensitivity to regularities in ongoing speech provides a common biological mechanism underlying the development of music and reading abilities. Methods We assessed auditory working memory and attention, music aptitude, reading ability, and neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities in 42 school-aged children with a wide range of reading ability. Neural sensitivity to acoustic regularities was assessed by recording brainstem responses to the same speech sound presented in predictable and variable speech streams. Results Through correlation analyses and structural equation modeling, we reveal that music aptitude and literacy both relate to the extent of subcortical adaptation to regularities in ongoing speech as well as with auditory working memory and attention. Relationships between music and speech processing are specifically driven by performance on a musical rhythm task, underscoring the importance of rhythmic regularity for both language and music. Conclusions These data indicate common brain mechanisms underlying reading and music abilities that relate to how the nervous system responds to regularities in auditory input. Definition of common biological underpinnings for music and reading supports the usefulness of music for promoting child literacy, with the potential to improve reading remediation. PMID:22005291

Oh, and We Do Reading Too

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babicki, Laurie; Luke, Sally

2007-01-01

In this article, the authors describe the Reading Buddies program. In this program, children of varied ages experience cooperation and mutual respect, have fun together, and share themselves with others. When Reading Buddies meet, reading and learning to read are the activities, yet another real benefit appears to be the enhancement of the…

Complex Text or Frustration-Level Text: Using Shared Reading to Bridge the Difference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stahl, Katherine A. Dougherty

2012-01-01

Challenging texts can be made accessible to students by increasing the level of instructional scaffolding. This article describes evidence-based models of shared reading that support reading development across the elementary years. Shared Reading Experience (Holdaway, 1982), Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (Stahl & Heubach, 2005),…

Alignment with the Common Core State Standards: easyCBM K-3 Word Reading. Technical Report #1303

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sáez, Leilani; Irvin, P. Shawn; Alonzo, Julie; Tindal, Gerald

2013-01-01

Five hundred and seventeen words from the easyCBM Word Reading assessment (n = 57 kindergarten, 117 first grade, 172 second grade, and 171 third grade) were examined by 15 teachers for their correspondence with the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts. In particular, the degree of correspondence between Standard 3 ("Phonics…

Learning to Read from a Social Practice View: Ethnography, Schooling and Adult Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Street, Brian

2016-01-01

This paper looks at some issues around "learning to read" from the viewpoint of a social practice concept of literacy for both child and adult literacy. This calls for an ethnographic approach that, although increasingly common in the field of adult literacy, is less common in the policy and practice of schooling; there, a more…

Informational Text and the Common Core: A Content Analysis of Three Basal Reading Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walters, Barbara A.

2013-01-01

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) will have a significant impact on what teachers teach and what primary students are supposed to be able to do (Bomer & Maloch, 2011). By the end of fourth grade, reading instruction should be evenly balanced between literary text and informational text (NGA Center and CCSSO,…

Rethinking Literacy: Reading in the Common-Core Era

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Week, 2012

2012-01-01

The Common Core State Standards aren't exactly new; it's been two years since most states adopted them. But it took those two years for the standards to trickle down from abstraction to daily practice, from a sheaf of papers in a state capital into a lesson plan on a teacher's desk. Now they're reshaping reading instruction in significant ways.…

Analysis of Textual Features of a New Reading Comprehension Assessment: MOCCA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seipel, Ben; Biancarosa, Gina; Carlson, Sarah; Davison, Mark

2015-01-01

Previous research has established two types of struggling readers: those who struggle with lower-level reading skills and those who struggle with higher-level reading skills (Cain & Oakhill, 2006; Perfetti, 2007). The latter group is commonly termed "poor comprehenders": readers who exhibit poor comprehension compared to peers with…

Brain-Behavior Relationships in Reading Acquisition Are Modulated by Socioeconomic Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noble, Kimberly G.; Wolmetz, Michael E.; Ochs, Lisa G.; Farah, Martha J.; McCandliss, Bruce D.

2006-01-01

Functional neuroimaging may provide insights into the achievement gap in reading skill commonly observed across socioeconomic status (SES). Brain activation during reading tasks is known to be associated with individual differences in children's phonological language skills. By selecting children of equivalent phonological skill, yet diverse…

Expanded Transparency and Enhanced Reading in the First-Year Literature Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Natalie Mera

2016-01-01

Required first-year English courses present instructors with a challenge common in the humanities: How do we motivate students to engage in active reading rather than passively scroll down online guides? Introductory literature courses aim to develop students' critical thinking through close reading, analysis, and argumentation--skills demanding…

High School Students and "Read Across America"?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Julieta Dias; Hill, Ann

2004-01-01

Although more commonly associated with elementary school rather than high school students, "Read Across America" celebrations can cater to any age group and generate enthusiasm for reading long after the festivities have ended. In this article, the authors, library media specialists at Washington Township High School in Sewell, New Jersey, share …

Short-Form Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Beth; Hedwall, Melissa; Dirks, Andrew; Stretch, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

Reading provides a unique window into the history and nature of science and the norms of scientific communication and supports students in developing critical-reading skills in engaging ways. Effective use of reading promotes a spirit of inquiry and an understanding of science concepts while also addressing expectations of the Common Core State…

Correlates of Early Reading Comprehension Skills: A Componential Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babayigit, Selma; Stainthorp, Rhona

2014-01-01

This study had three main aims. First, we examined to what extent listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammatical skills and verbal short-term memory (VSTM) assessed prior to formal reading instruction explained individual differences in early reading comprehension levels. Second, we examined to what extent the three common component skills,…

A Longitudinal Twin Study on the Association between ADHD Symptoms and Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greven, Corina U.; Rijsdijk, Fruhling V.; Asherson, Philip; Plomin, Robert

2012-01-01

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading disability commonly co-occur because of shared genetic risk factors. However, the stability and change of these genetic influences and the predictive relationships underlying this association longitudinally remain unclear. Methods: ADHD symptoms and reading were assessed as…

Holistic processing of words modulated by reading experience.

PubMed

Wong, Alan C-N; Bukach, Cindy M; Yuen, Crystal; Yang, Lizhuang; Leung, Shirley; Greenspon, Emma

2011-01-01

Perceptual expertise has been studied intensively with faces and object categories involving detailed individuation. A common finding is that experience in fulfilling the task demand of fine, subordinate-level discrimination between highly similar instances is associated with the development of holistic processing. This study examines whether holistic processing is also engaged by expert word recognition, which is thought to involve coarser, basic-level processing that is more part-based. We adopted a paradigm widely used for faces--the composite task, and found clear evidence of holistic processing for English words. A second experiment further showed that holistic processing for words was sensitive to the amount of experience with the language concerned (native vs. second-language readers) and with the specific stimuli (words vs. pseudowords). The adoption of a paradigm from the face perception literature to the study of expert word perception is important for further comparison between perceptual expertise with words and face-like expertise.

Transportations of space, time and self: the role of reading groups in managing mental distress in the community.

PubMed

Shipman, Judith; McGrath, Laura

2016-10-01

The practice of reading and discussing literature in groups is long established, stretching back into classical antiquity. Although benefits of therapeutic reading groups have been highlighted, research into participants' perceptions of these groups has been limited. To explore the experiences of those attending therapeutic reading groups, considering the role of both the group, and the literature itself, in participants' ongoing experiences of distress. Eleven participants were recruited from two reading groups in the South-East of England. One focus group was run, and eight individuals self-selected for individual interviews. The data were analysed together using a thematic analysis drawing on dialogical theories. Participants described the group as an anchor, which enabled them to use fiction to facilitate the discussion of difficult emotional topics, without referring directly to personal experience. Two aspects of this process are explored in detail: the use of narratives as transportation, helping to mitigate the intensity of distress; and using fiction to explore possibilities, alternative selves and lives. For those who are interested and able, reading groups offer a relatively de-stigmatised route to exploring and mediating experiences of distress. Implications in the present UK funding environment are discussed.

Polysemy in Sentence Comprehension: Effects of Meaning Dominance

PubMed Central

Foraker, Stephani; Murphy, Gregory L.

2012-01-01

Words like church are polysemous, having two related senses (a building and an organization). Three experiments investigated how polysemous senses are represented and processed during sentence comprehension. On one view, readers retrieve an underspecified, core meaning, which is later specified more fully with contextual information. On another view, readers retrieve one or more specific senses. In a reading task, context that was neutral or biased towards a particular sense preceded a polysemous word. Disambiguating material consistent with only one sense followed, in a second sentence (Experiment 1) or the same sentence (Experiments 2 & 3). Reading the disambiguating material was faster when it was consistent with that context, and dominant senses were committed to more strongly than subordinate senses. Critically, following neutral context, the continuation was read more quickly when it selected the dominant sense, and the degree of sense dominance partially explained the reading time advantage. Similarity of the senses also affected reading times. Across experiments, we found that sense selection may not be completed immediately following a polysemous word but is completed at a sentence boundary. Overall, the results suggest that readers select an individual sense when reading a polysemous word, rather than a core meaning. PMID:23185103

Cognitive Abilities Underlying Reading Accuracy, Fluency and Spelling Acquisition in Korean Hangul Learners from Grades 1 to 4: A Cross-Sectional Study.

PubMed

Park, Hyun-Rin; Uno, Akira

2015-08-01

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the cognitive abilities that predict reading and spelling performance in Korean children in Grades 1 to 4, depending on expertise and reading experience. As a result, visual cognition, phonological awareness, naming speed and receptive vocabulary significantly predicted reading accuracy in children in Grades 1 and 2, whereas visual cognition, phonological awareness and rapid naming speed did not predict reading accuracy in children in higher grades. For reading, fluency, phonological awareness, rapid naming speed and receptive vocabulary were crucial abilities in children in Grades 1 to 3, whereas phonological awareness was not a significant predictor in children in Grade 4. In spelling, reading ability and receptive vocabulary were the most important abilities for accurate Hangul spelling. The results suggested that the degree of cognitive abilities required for reading and spelling changed depending on expertise and reading experience. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Production improves memory equivalently following elaborative vs non-elaborative processing.

PubMed

Forrin, Noah D; Jonker, Tanya R; MacLeod, Colin M

2014-01-01

Words that are read aloud are better remembered than those read silently. Recent research has suggested that, rather than reflecting a benefit for produced items, this production effect may reflect a cost to reading silently in a list containing both aloud and silent items (Bodner, Taikh, & Fawcett, 2013). This cost is argued to occur because silent items are lazily read, receiving less attention than aloud items which require an overt response. We examined the possible role of lazy reading in the production effect by testing whether the effect would be reduced under elaborative encoding, which precludes lazy reading of silent items. Contrary to a lazy reading account, we found that production benefited generated words as much as read words (Experiment 1) and deeply imagined words as much as shallowly imagined words (Experiment 2). We conclude that production stands out as equally distinct-and consequently as equally memorable-regardless of whether it accompanies deep or shallow processing, evidence that is inconsistent with a lazy reading account.

Life experience of sixth-grade students in analog domains of sixth-grade science textbooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagamon, Barbara J.

This study was conducted to determine if analog domains in sixth grade science textbooks were common to the life experience of sixth grade students and if experience differed according to moderating variables. The researcher reviewed three sixth grade general science textbooks and selected analogies that were unsupported by extended text, photos, or diagrams. Analogies were limited to ones which were unsupported because the intent was to identify students who were ready by virtue of life experience to confront analogies unaided by contextual clues. The researcher designed the Life Experiences in Analog Domains (LEAD) Questionnaire to survey students in 50 analog domains. Subjects of the study were 331 sixth grade students from an urban school district. Thirty were tested with the instrument one year later. Data on age, gender, ethnicity and income were analyzed for variance. Standardized achievement test scores were correlated to the LEAD Questionnaire. Results revealed sharp contrasts of experience by analog domain. Experience in analog domains was indicated 52% of the time overall. There were significant differences in the experience of students grouped by moderating variables. Younger students reported more experience than older students. The higher income group reported more experience than the lower income group. Caucasian students reported more experience overall than African American students. Chi-square tests revealed that differences in scores by ethnicity were not controlled by income. of three skills, reading comprehension, mathematics, and science, reading comprehension was most closely correlated to questionnaire score. Results suggest that many of the sixth grade students in the study may be without experience in analog domains when they encounter analogies in a textbook. Assuming subsequent implementations of the Questionnaire confirm these results, teachers should survey life experience of students and help them develop experiences that complement their science text. Textbook authors should explain all but the simplest analogies.

Narrative event boundaries, reading times, and expectation.

PubMed

Pettijohn, Kyle A; Radvansky, Gabriel A

2016-10-01

During text comprehension, readers create mental representations of the described events, called situation models. When new information is encountered, these models must be updated or new ones created. Consistent with the event indexing model, previous studies have shown that when readers encounter an event shift, reading times often increase. However, such increases are not consistently observed. This paper addresses this inconsistency by examining the extent to which reading-time differences observed at event shifts reflect an unexpectedness in the narrative rather than processes involved in model updating. In two reassessments of prior work, event shifts known to increase reading time were rated as less expected, and expectedness ratings significantly predicted reading time. In three new experiments, participants read stories in which an event shift was or was not foreshadowed, thereby influencing expectedness of the shift. Experiment 1 revealed that readers do not expect event shifts, but foreshadowing eliminates this. Experiment 2 showed that foreshadowing does not affect identification of event shifts. Finally, Experiment 3 found that, although reading times increased when an event shift was not foreshadowed, they were not different from controls when it was. Moreover, responses to memory probes were slower following an event shift regardless of foreshadowing, suggesting that situation model updating had taken place. Overall, the results support the idea that previously observed reading time increases at event shifts reflect, at least in part, a reader's unexpected encounter with a shift rather than an increase in processing effort required to update a situation model.

What makes African American health disparities newsworthy? An experiment among journalists about story framing

PubMed Central

Hinnant, Amanda; Oh, Hyun Jee; Caburnay, Charlene A.; Kreuter, Matthew W.

2011-01-01

News stories reporting race-specific health information commonly emphasize disparities between racial groups. But recent research suggests this focus on disparities has unintended effects on African American audiences, generating negative emotions and less interest in preventive behaviors (Nicholson RA, Kreuter MW, Lapka C et al. Unintended effects of emphasizing disparities in cancer communication to African-Americans. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008; 17: 2946–52). They found that black adults are more interested in cancer screening after reading about the progress African Americans have made in fighting cancer than after reading stories emphasizing disparities between blacks and whites. This study builds on past findings by (i) examining how health journalists judge the newsworthiness of stories that report race-specific health information by emphasizing disparities versus progress and (ii) determining whether these judgments can be changed by informing journalists of audience reactions to disparity versus progress framing. In a double-blind-randomized experiment, 175 health journalists read either a disparity- or progress-framed story on colon cancer, preceded by either an inoculation about audience effects of such framing or an unrelated (i.e. control) information stimuli. Journalists rated the disparity-frame story more favorably than the progress-frame story in every category of news values. However, the inoculation significantly increased positive reactions to the progress-frame story. Informing journalists of audience reactions to race-specific health information could influence how health news stories are framed. PMID:21911844

Orthographic Structure and Reading Experience Affect the Transfer from Iconic to Short Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lefton, Lester A.; Spragins, Anne B.

1974-01-01

The basic hypothesis of these experiments was that the processing strategy for the transfer of alphabetic material from iconic storage to short-term memory involves a sequential left-to-right factor that develops with increases in experience with reading. (Author)

Evaluating a Brief Measure of Reading Comprehension for Narrative and Expository Text: The Convergent and Predictive Validity of the Reading Retell Rubric

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Lisa B.

2012-01-01

Reading comprehension is a critical aspect of the reading process. Children who experience significant problems in reading comprehension are at risk for long-term academic and social problems. High-quality measures are needed for early, efficient, and effective identification of children in need of remediation in reading comprehension. Substantial…

L2 Reading in Thailand: Vocational College Students' Application of Reading Strategies to Their Reading of English Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kasemsap, Bharani; Lee, Hugo Yu-Hsiu

2015-01-01

This study aims to explore the application of reading strategies to the reading of English texts by Thai vocational college students. Data were collected via questionnaire surveys, think-aloud experiments and semi-structured interviews. The research results reveal different typologies of reading strategies adopted by lower and higher level English…

Direct speech quotations promote low relative-clause attachment in silent reading of English.

PubMed

Yao, Bo; Scheepers, Christoph

2018-07-01

The implicit prosody hypothesis (Fodor, 1998, 2002) proposes that silent reading coincides with a default, implicit form of prosody to facilitate sentence processing. Recent research demonstrated that a more vivid form of implicit prosody is mentally simulated during silent reading of direct speech quotations (e.g., Mary said, "This dress is beautiful"), with neural and behavioural consequences (e.g., Yao, Belin, & Scheepers, 2011; Yao & Scheepers, 2011). Here, we explored the relation between 'default' and 'simulated' implicit prosody in the context of relative-clause (RC) attachment in English. Apart from confirming a general low RC-attachment preference in both production (Experiment 1) and comprehension (Experiments 2 and 3), we found that during written sentence completion (Experiment 1) or when reading silently (Experiment 2), the low RC-attachment preference was reliably enhanced when the critical sentences were embedded in direct speech quotations as compared to indirect speech or narrative sentences. However, when reading aloud (Experiment 3), direct speech did not enhance the general low RC-attachment preference. The results from Experiments 1 and 2 suggest a quantitative boost to implicit prosody (via auditory perceptual simulation) during silent production/comprehension of direct speech. By contrast, when reading aloud (Experiment 3), prosody becomes equally salient across conditions due to its explicit nature; indirect speech and narrative sentences thus become as susceptible to prosody-induced syntactic biases as direct speech. The present findings suggest a shared cognitive basis between default implicit prosody and simulated implicit prosody, providing a new platform for studying the effects of implicit prosody on sentence processing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using Peer-Mediated Repeated Readings as a Fluency-Building Activity for Urban Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yurick, Amanda L.; Robinson, Porsha D.; Cartledge, Gwendolyn; Lo, Ya-yu; Evans, Trisha L.

2006-01-01

We conducted three experiments examining the effects of peer-mediated repeated readings on students' oral reading fluency and comprehension. Each repeated reading session consisted of students reading in pairs, alternating paragraphs, for 10 minutes. Students used a scripted correction procedure when errors occurred. Students then participated in…

Experiments with an ESOL Reading Laboratory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahrens, Patricia

The reading laboratory has been developed to supplement intensive reading work for adult foreign students developing English-as-a-second-language skills at the American Language Institute. The laboratory is designed to suggest to students that there is a variety of reading tasks and a variety of reading strategies related to the tasks, to offer…

Are Learning Disabled Students "Test-Wise?": An Inquiry into Reading Comprehension Test Items.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scruggs, Thomas E.; Lifson, Steve

The ability to correctly answer reading comprehension test items, without having read the accompanying reading passage, was compared for third grade learning disabled students and their peers from a regular classroom. In the first experiment, fourteen multiple choice items were selected from the Stanford Achievement Test. No reading passages were…

Claremont Reading Conference. Thirty-Fourth Yearbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglass, Malcolm P., Ed.

This collection of 19 articles included in the 34th Yearbook of the Claremont Reading Conference focuses on the theme "Reading and School Life," with specific emphasis on how the quality of school experiences affects the reader and the development of the reading process. The permanent conference theme is "Reading is the Process of Making…

Reading?...Pah! (I Got It!): Innovative Reading Techniques for Successful Deaf Readers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schimmel, Connie (Ruth) S.; Edwards, Sandra G.; Prickett, Hugh T.

1999-01-01

A reading program utilizing five components (a shortcut to phonemic awareness, Adapted Dolch words, Bridge lists and the Bridging process, reading comprehension, and American Sign Language development/language experience stories) resulted in dramatic gains in the reading levels of 48 elementary students at a residential school for the deaf.…

Electronic versus Traditional Storybooks: Relative Influence on Preschool Children's Engagement and Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moody, Amelia K; Justice, Laura M; Cabell, Sonia Q

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine children's reading engagement and communicative initiations when they were read storybooks in varying media and reading manners, with a focus on understanding the way electronic storybooks (e-storybooks) may affect young children's shared reading experiences. The reading behaviors of 25 preschool-aged…

Investigating the link between the radiological experience and the allocation of an 'equivocal finding'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rawashdeh, Mohammad A.; Vidotti, Camila; Lee, Warwick; Lewis, Sarah J.; Mello-Thoms, Claudia; Reed, Warren M.; Tapia, Kriscia; Brennan, Patrick C.

2016-03-01

Rationale and Objectives: This study will investigate the link between radiologists' experience in reporting mammograms, their caseloads and the decision to give a classification of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) category `3' (indeterminate or equivocal finding). Methods: A test set of 60 mammograms comprising of 20 abnormal and 40 normal cases were shown to 92 radiologists. Each radiologist was asked to identify and localize abnormalities and provide a RANZCR assessment category. Details were obtained from each reader regarding their experience, qualifications and breast reading activities. `Equivocal fractions' were calculated by dividing the number of `equivocal findings' given by each radiologist in the abnormal and normal cases by the total number of cases analyzed: 20 and 40 respectively. The `equivocal fractions' for each of the groups (normal vs abnormal) were calculated and independently correlated with age, number of years since qualification as a radiologist, number of years reading mammograms, number of mammograms read per year, number of hours reading mammograms per week and number of mammograms read over lifetime (the number of years reading mammograms multiplied by the number of mammograms read per year). The non-parametric Spearman test was used. Results: Statistically negative correlations were noted between `equivocal fractions' for the following groups: • For abnormal cases: hours per week (r= -0.38 P= 0.0001) • For normal cases: total number of mammograms read per year (r= -0.29, P= 0.006); number of mammograms read over lifetime (r= -0.21, P= 0.049)); hours reading mammograms per week (r= - 0.20, P= 0.05). Conclusion: Radiologists with greater reading experience assign fewer RANZCR category 3 or equivocal classifications. The findings have implications for screening program efficacy and recall rates. This work is still in progress and further data will be presented at the conference.

Facilitating text reading in posterior cortical atrophy.

PubMed

Yong, Keir X X; Rajdev, Kishan; Shakespeare, Timothy J; Leff, Alexander P; Crutch, Sebastian J

2015-07-28

We report (1) the quantitative investigation of text reading in posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), and (2) the effects of 2 novel software-based reading aids that result in dramatic improvements in the reading ability of patients with PCA. Reading performance, eye movements, and fixations were assessed in patients with PCA and typical Alzheimer disease and in healthy controls (experiment 1). Two reading aids (single- and double-word) were evaluated based on the notion that reducing the spatial and oculomotor demands of text reading might support reading in PCA (experiment 2). Mean reading accuracy in patients with PCA was significantly worse (57%) compared with both patients with typical Alzheimer disease (98%) and healthy controls (99%); spatial aspects of passages were the primary determinants of text reading ability in PCA. Both aids led to considerable gains in reading accuracy (PCA mean reading accuracy: single-word reading aid = 96%; individual patient improvement range: 6%-270%) and self-rated measures of reading. Data suggest a greater efficiency of fixations and eye movements under the single-word reading aid in patients with PCA. These findings demonstrate how neurologic characterization of a neurodegenerative syndrome (PCA) and detailed cognitive analysis of an important everyday skill (reading) can combine to yield aids capable of supporting important everyday functional abilities. This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with PCA, 2 software-based reading aids (single-word and double-word) improve reading accuracy. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

Facilitating text reading in posterior cortical atrophy

PubMed Central

Rajdev, Kishan; Shakespeare, Timothy J.; Leff, Alexander P.; Crutch, Sebastian J.

2015-01-01

Objective: We report (1) the quantitative investigation of text reading in posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), and (2) the effects of 2 novel software-based reading aids that result in dramatic improvements in the reading ability of patients with PCA. Methods: Reading performance, eye movements, and fixations were assessed in patients with PCA and typical Alzheimer disease and in healthy controls (experiment 1). Two reading aids (single- and double-word) were evaluated based on the notion that reducing the spatial and oculomotor demands of text reading might support reading in PCA (experiment 2). Results: Mean reading accuracy in patients with PCA was significantly worse (57%) compared with both patients with typical Alzheimer disease (98%) and healthy controls (99%); spatial aspects of passages were the primary determinants of text reading ability in PCA. Both aids led to considerable gains in reading accuracy (PCA mean reading accuracy: single-word reading aid = 96%; individual patient improvement range: 6%–270%) and self-rated measures of reading. Data suggest a greater efficiency of fixations and eye movements under the single-word reading aid in patients with PCA. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate how neurologic characterization of a neurodegenerative syndrome (PCA) and detailed cognitive analysis of an important everyday skill (reading) can combine to yield aids capable of supporting important everyday functional abilities. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with PCA, 2 software-based reading aids (single-word and double-word) improve reading accuracy. PMID:26138948

The English Common Reader: A Social History of the Mass Reading Public, 1800-1900. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altick, Richard D.

"The English Common Reader" was the first comprehensive and systematic exploration of how the ordinary Englishman became a reader. A social history as well as a history of the English reading public, the book has become a classic. This updated edition has a new preface and an extensive new bibliography. The book is divided into two broad…

Parallel and Serial Reading Processes in Children's Word and Nonword Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van den Boer, Madelon; de Jong, Peter F.

2015-01-01

Fluent reading is characterized by rapid and accurate identification of words. It is commonly accepted that such identification relies on the availability of orthographic knowledge. However, whether this orthographic knowledge should be seen as an accumulation of word-specific knowledge in a lexicon acquired through decoding or as a well-developed…

How to Analyze Interpersonal and Individual Effects in Peer-Tutored Reading Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Müller, Bettina; Richter, Tobias; Križan, Ana; Hecht, Teresa; Ennemoser, Marco

2016-01-01

Reading strategy interventions relying upon peer tutoring are a common way to foster poor readers' comprehension skills. Those interventions are based on the assumption that tutees benefit from the (higher) reading skills of their tutors. However, this interpersonal effect has not yet been tested explicitly because the effectiveness of peer…

Common Themes in Teaching Reading for Understanding: Lessons from Three Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldman, Susan R.; Snow, Catherine; Vaughn, Sharon

2016-01-01

This article reflects a metaview of the work of the three research projects funded through the Institute for Education Sciences under the Reading for Understanding competition that addressed middle-grade through high school readers (grades 4-12). All three projects shared the assumption that instruction is necessary for successful reading to learn…

Scaffolded Silent Reading (ScSR): Advocating a Policy for Adolescents' Independent Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Karen P.

2013-01-01

Structured independent reading among students is often a vital missing component in many school districts' literacy curriculum. The nationwide implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) requires districts to re-think their literacy curriculum and what instruction might entail in order for students to demonstrate proficiency in…

Is There a Common Linkage among Reading Comprehension, Visual Attention, and Magnocellular Processing?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solan, Harold A.; Shelley-Tremblay, John F.; Hansen, Peter C.; Larson, Steven

2007-01-01

The authors examined the relationships between reading comprehension, visual attention, and magnocellular processing in 42 Grade 7 students. The goal was to quantify the sensitivity of visual attention and magnocellular visual processing as concomitants of poor reading comprehension in the absence of either vision therapy or cognitive…

Whole-Language High Jinks: How to Tell When "Scientifically-Based Reading Instruction" Isn't

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moats, Louisa

2007-01-01

In this practitioners' guide, a recognized reading expert explains how educators, parents, and concerned citizens can spot ineffective reading programs that may hide under the "scientifically-based" banner. Although the term "whole language" is not commonly used today, programs based on its premises remain popular. These…

"The Caterpillar": A Novel Reading Passage for Assessment of Motor Speech Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patel, Rupal; Connaghan, Kathryn; Franco, Diana; Edsall, Erika; Forgit, Dory; Olsen, Laura; Ramage, Lianna; Tyler, Emily; Russell, Scott

2013-01-01

Purpose: A review of the salient characteristics of motor speech disorders and common assessment protocols revealed the need for a novel reading passage tailored specifically to differentiate between and among the dysarthrias (DYSs) and apraxia of speech (AOS). Method: "The Caterpillar" passage was designed to provide a contemporary, easily read,…

What's in your next-generation sequence data? An exploration of unmapped DNA and RNA sequence reads from the bovine reference individual

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

BACKGROUND: Next-generation sequencing projects commonly commence by aligning reads to a reference genome assembly. While improvements in alignment algorithms and computational hardware have greatly enhanced the efficiency and accuracy of alignments, a significant percentage of reads often remain u...

The Importance of Reading in Earnest: Non-Fiction for Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Job, Jennifer; Coleman, Mary Ruth

2016-01-01

Until recently, reading instruction for early grades has focused on fiction. However, the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards both emphasize the reading of nonfiction texts to gain specific skill sets for analyzing information. Research has shown that gifted students and children with culturally/linguistically…

Number Reading in Pure Alexia--A Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starrfelt, Randi; Behrmann, Marlene

2011-01-01

It is commonly assumed that number reading can be intact in patients with pure alexia, and that this dissociation between letter/word recognition and number reading strongly constrains theories of visual word processing. A truly selective deficit in letter/word processing would strongly support the hypothesis that there is a specialized system or…

Openness to Experience and Night-Sky Watching Interest as Predictors of Reading for Pleasure: Path Analysis of a Mediation Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, William E.

2010-01-01

The relation between reading for pleasure, night-sky watching interest, and openness to experience were examined in a sample of 129 college students. Results of a path analysis examining a mediation model indicated that the influence of night-sky interest on reading for pleasure was not mediated by the broad personality domain openness to…

The Seuss Boost: Rhyme Helps Children Retain Words from Shared Storybook Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Read, Kirsten; Macauley, Megan; Furay, Erin

2014-01-01

This study examines the potential benefits of rhyme on young children's word retention during shared reading. In two experiments, 2- to 4-year-old children heard their parent read either a rhymed or non-rhymed version of the same animal story, and were then tested on how many animal names they subsequently recognized from the story in Experiment 1…

How Adults in Developmental Reading Courses Describe Their Educational Life Experiences: A Phenomenological Case Study Examining Whether Experiences Influence Reading Attitudes and Decision-Making Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reece Armour, Ashley

2017-01-01

The purpose of this phenomenological case study is to explore the reading attitudes and decision-making skills of college freshmen enrolled in remedial language arts courses. The theoretical framework guiding this study is qualitative phenomenology explained by Baxter and Jack (2008). This specific type of research "provides tools for…

A Randomized Experiment of a Mixed-Methods Literacy Intervention for Struggling Readers in Grades 4-6: Effects on Word Reading Efficiency, Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary, and Oral Reading Fluency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, James S.; Samson, Jennifer F.; Fitzgerald, Robert; Hartry, Ardice

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the causal effects of READ 180, a mixed-methods literacy intervention, on measures of word reading efficiency, reading comprehension and vocabulary, and oral reading fluency and (2) to examine whether print exposure among children in the experimental condition explained variance in posttest reading…

Reading Begins at Home.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butler, Dorothy

1982-01-01

If, ideally, reading begins at home, with children listening eagerly to interesting stories, then this experience must be duplicated in the classroom for reluctant readers. Listening to good stories can motivate students to develop reading skills. Activities of the Reading Center (Auckland, New Zealand) are described. (PP)

Exploring the Online Reading Comprehension Strategies Used by Sixth-Grade Skilled Readers to Search for and Locate Information on the Internet

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coiro, Julie; Dobler, Elizabeth

2007-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the nature of reading comprehension processes while reading on the Internet. Eleven sixth-grade students with the highest combination of standardized reading scores, reading report card grades, and Internet reading experiences were selected from a population of 150 sixth graders in three…

The Non-Fiction Reading Habits of Young Successful Boy Readers: Forming Connections between Masculinity and Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Susannah

2004-01-01

The reading experiences of six young successful boy readers were studied over a two-year period. In this article, their non-fiction reading is analysed and ways in which the boys make positive connections between masculinity and reading are identified. The boys' non-fiction reading centres on typical boy interest areas and hobbies (for example,…

Listening to Students: Modification of a Reading Program Based on the Sources of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aydin, Belgin; Kuru Gonen, Ipek

2012-01-01

This paper is concerned with the modifications implemented in a second year foreign language (FL) reading program with respect to the problems students experience while reading in FL. This research draws on the sources of FL reading anxiety identified in the first year reading program with a motivation to re-design the second year program to help…

Musical Experience, Auditory Perception and Reading-Related Skills in Children

PubMed Central

Banai, Karen; Ahissar, Merav

2013-01-01

Background The relationships between auditory processing and reading-related skills remain poorly understood despite intensive research. Here we focus on the potential role of musical experience as a confounding factor. Specifically we ask whether the pattern of correlations between auditory and reading related skills differ between children with different amounts of musical experience. Methodology/Principal Findings Third grade children with various degrees of musical experience were tested on a battery of auditory processing and reading related tasks. Very poor auditory thresholds and poor memory skills were abundant only among children with no musical education. In this population, indices of auditory processing (frequency and interval discrimination thresholds) were significantly correlated with and accounted for up to 13% of the variance in reading related skills. Among children with more than one year of musical training, auditory processing indices were better, yet reading related skills were not correlated with them. A potential interpretation for the reduction in the correlations might be that auditory and reading-related skills improve at different rates as a function of musical training. Conclusions/Significance Participants’ previous musical training, which is typically ignored in studies assessing the relations between auditory and reading related skills, should be considered. Very poor auditory and memory skills are rare among children with even a short period of musical training, suggesting musical training could have an impact on both. The lack of correlation in the musically trained population suggests that a short period of musical training does not enhance reading related skills of individuals with within-normal auditory processing skills. Further studies are required to determine whether the associations between musical training, auditory processing and memory are indeed causal or whether children with poor auditory and memory skills are less likely to study music and if so, why this is the case. PMID:24086654

Black deaf individuals' reading skills: influence of ASL, culture, family characteristics, reading experience, and education.

PubMed

Myers, Candace; Clark, M Diane; Musyoka, Millicent M; Anderson, Melissa L; Gilbert, Gizelle L; Agyen, Selina; Hauser, Peter C

2010-01-01

Previous research on the reading abilities of Deaf individuals from various cultural groups suggests that Black Deaf and Hispanic Deaf individuals lag behind their White Deaf peers. The present study compared the reading skills of Black Deaf and White Deaf individuals, investigating the influence of American Sign Language (ASL), culture, family characteristics, reading experience, and education. (The descriptor Black is used throughout the present article, as Black Deaf individuals prefer this term to African American. For purposes of parallel construction, the term White is used instead of European American.) It was found that Black Deaf study participants scored lower on measures of both reading and ASL. These findings provide implications for possible interventions at the primary, secondary, and college levels of education.

Get the Story Straight: Contextual Repetition Promotes Word Learning from Storybooks

PubMed Central

Horst, Jessica S.; Parsons, Kelly L.; Bryan, Natasha M.

2011-01-01

Although shared storybook reading is a common activity believed to improve the language skills of preschool children, how children learn new vocabulary from such experiences has been largely neglected in the literature. The current study systematically explores the effects of repeatedly reading the same storybooks on both young children's fast and slow mapping abilities. Specially created storybooks were read to 3-year-old children three times during the course of 1 week. Each of the nine storybooks contained two novel name–object pairs. At each session, children either heard three different stories with the same two novel name–object pairs or the same story three times. Importantly, all children heard each novel name the same number of times. Both immediate recall and retention were tested with a four-alternative forced-choice task with pictures of the novel objects. Children who heard the same stories repeatedly were very accurate on both the immediate recall and retention tasks. In contrast, children who heard different stories were only accurate on immediate recall during the last two sessions and failed to learn any of the new words. Overall, then, we found a dramatic increase in children's ability to both recall and retain novel name–object associations encountered during shared storybook reading when they heard the same stories multiple times in succession. Results are discussed in terms of contextual cueing effects observed in other cognitive domains. PMID:21713179

A Low Salinity Mystery in a Turbidity Current Measured During the Monterey Coordinated Canyon Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, J.; Wang, Z.; Wang, C.; Li, J.; Gwiazda, R.; Paull, C. K.; Maier, K. L.

2016-12-01

Conductivity-Temperature (CT) sensors are one of the most common instruments in oceanographic research that record water conductivity and temperature, two most important parameters of ocean waters from which salinity is computed. When used in super-high turbid water or flows (e.g. turbidity currents or slurries), however, the working principle of CT sensors suggests possibility of bias in conductivity measurements. In this study, a series of lab experiments were conducted to investigate how the presence of high-concentrated sediment particles influences the conductivity readings from an inductive CT sensor. The results provided evidence to challenge a long-held notion that the reduced conductivity often seen inside turbidity currents is an indication of fresh water presence.

Mental juggling: when does multitasking impair reading comprehension?

PubMed

Cho, Kit W; Altarriba, Jeanette; Popiel, Maximilian

2015-01-01

The present study investigated the conditions under which multitasking impairs reading comprehension. Participants read prose passages (the primary task), some of which required them to perform a secondary task. In Experiment 1, we compared two different types of secondary tasks (answering trivia questions and solving math problems). Reading comprehension was assessed using a multiple-choice test that measured both factual and conceptual knowledge. The results showed no observable detrimental effects associated with multitasking. In Experiment 2, the secondary task was a cognitive load task that required participants to remember a string of numbers while reading the passages. Performance on the reading comprehension test was lower in the cognitive load conditions relative to the no-load condition. The present study delineates the conditions under which multitasking can impair or have no effect on reading comprehension. These results further our understanding of our capacity to multitask and have practical implications in our technologically advanced society in which multitasking has become commonplace.

Spatial distance effects on incremental semantic interpretation of abstract sentences: evidence from eye tracking.

PubMed

Guerra, Ernesto; Knoeferle, Pia

2014-12-01

A large body of evidence has shown that visual context information can rapidly modulate language comprehension for concrete sentences and when it is mediated by a referential or a lexical-semantic link. What has not yet been examined is whether visual context can also modulate comprehension of abstract sentences incrementally when it is neither referenced by, nor lexically associated with, the sentence. Three eye-tracking reading experiments examined the effects of spatial distance between words (Experiment 1) and objects (Experiment 2 and 3) on participants' reading times for sentences that convey similarity or difference between two abstract nouns (e.g., 'Peace and war are certainly different...'). Before reading the sentence, participants inspected a visual context with two playing cards that moved either far apart or close together. In Experiment 1, the cards turned and showed the first two nouns of the sentence (e.g., 'peace', 'war'). In Experiments 2 and 3, they turned but remained blank. Participants' reading times at the adjective (Experiment 1: first-pass reading time; Experiment 2: total times) and at the second noun phrase (Experiment 3: first-pass times) were faster for sentences that expressed similarity when the preceding words/objects were close together (vs. far apart) and for sentences that expressed dissimilarity when the preceding words/objects were far apart (vs. close together). Thus, spatial distance between words or entirely unrelated objects can rapidly and incrementally modulate the semantic interpretation of abstract sentences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Parafoveal preview during reading: Effects of sentence position

PubMed Central

White, Sarah J.; Warren, Tessa; Reichle, Erik D.

2011-01-01

Two experiments examined parafoveal preview for words located in the middle of sentences and at sentence boundaries. Parafoveal processing was shown to occur for words at sentence-initial, mid-sentence, and sentence-final positions. Both Experiments 1 and 2 showed reduced effects of preview on regressions out for sentence-initial words. In addition, Experiment 2 showed reduced preview effects on first-pass reading times for sentence-initial words. These effects of sentence position on preview could result from reduced parafoveal processing for sentence-initial words, or other processes specific to word reading at sentence boundaries. In addition to the effects of preview, the experiments also demonstrate variability in the effects of sentence wrap-up on different reading measures, indicating that the presence and time course of wrap-up effects may be modulated by text-specific factors. We also report simulations of Experiment 2 using version 10 of E-Z Reader (Reichle, Warren, & McConnell, 2009), designed to explore the possible mechanisms underlying parafoveal preview at sentence boundaries. PMID:21500948

Effects of Task Relevance Instructions and Topic Beliefs on Reading Processes and Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bohn-Gettler, Catherine M.; McCrudden, Matthew T.

2018-01-01

This study investigated the effects of task relevance instructions and topic beliefs on reading processes and memory for belief-related text. Undergraduates received task instructions (focus on arguments for vs. against) before reading a dual-position text. In Experiment 1 (n = 88), a reading time methodology showed no differences in reading time…

The Effects of Computer Usage on Computer Screen Reading Rate.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clausing, Carolyn S.; Schmitt, Dorren Rafael

This study investigated the differences in the reading rate of eighth grade students on a cloze reading exercise involving the reading of text from a computer monitor. Several different modes of presentation were used in order to determine the effect of prior experience with computers on the students' reading rate. Subjects were 240 eighth grade…

Standards of Coherence in Second Language Reading: Sentence Connectivity and Reading Proficiency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nahatame, Shingo

2017-01-01

Standards of coherence are one of the major factors that influence reading comprehension. This study investigated the standards of coherence that second language (L2) learners employ when reading. In a pair of experiments, Japanese learners of English read two-sentence texts with varying causal and semantic relatedness between sentences and then…

Multimodal Children's E-Books Help Young Learners in Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, Hani

2013-01-01

Many children struggle with reading and are seldom engaged in this process when teachers assign them to read. Young learners may lack motivation to read an dislike this activity because they have had frequently have unpleasant experiences with reading. If educators fail to provide support for struggling readers, these pupils will likely experience…

Reading Nonfiction Text on an iPad in a Secondary Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cardullo, Victoria; Zygouris-Coe, Vassiliki I.; Wilson, Nance S.

2017-01-01

The intent of this research was to investigate the experiences of eighth grade readers as they read nonfiction text on an iPad for academic purposes. We investigated reading strategies that students use to support their reading as well as what role iPad features played in the reading process. New literacies, metacognition and transactional…

Click, Clack, Moo: Designing Effective Reading Instruction for Children in Preschool and Early Primary Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barclay, Kathy

2009-01-01

As teachers have struggled to implement scientifically based instructional practices in reading, some researchers have begun to focus on ways to "boost the value of reading aloud to young children". Such studies seek ways to promote oral language as well as comprehension and vocabulary through read-aloud experiences. Interactive read-alouds…

Integrating Art and Reading--Learning to Read through the Arts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, Bernadette C.

1982-01-01

The New York City Board of Education's Title I program, "Learning to Read through the Arts," teaches skills in reading through involvement in the arts, builds self-confidence, improves self-image, and adds to the experiences of the participating children. If children are able to read material and apply the information thus acquired to…

Learning Reading Strategies with Online Discussion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, I-Fang; Ko, Hwa-Wei; Wu, Sheng-Yi

2014-01-01

Teachers experience difficulty demonstrating prediction strategies and leading discussions in traditional classrooms. It is also unclear whether online discussion can contribute to reading comprehension. The purpose of this study is to create an online reading system to investigate whether learners can acquire reading strategies and enhance their…

Initial Reading through Computer Animation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geoffrion, Leo D.; Bergeron, R. Daniel

The Computer Animated Reading Instruction System (CARIS) was developed to introduce reading to children with varied sensory, cognitive, and physical handicaps. CARIS employs an exploratory learning approach which encourages children to experiment with the reading and writing of words and sentences. Brief computer-animated cartoons provide the…

Teaching Students to "Cook": Promoting Writing in the First Year Experience Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eberly, Charlene; Trand, Patsy A. Self

2010-01-01

This paper is a continuation of a previous article, "Teaching Students to "Cook": Promoting Reading in the First Year Experience Course," The Learning Assistance Review 14 (2), on the importance of teaching critical thinking through the foundational skills of analytical reading and writing within the First Year Experience (FYE)…

The AP Calculus Exam Reading Experience: Implications for Teacher Classroom Practice and Student Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corcoran, Mimi

2017-01-01

This dissertation explores the views and experiences of high school calculus teachers and college mathematics professors on the professional development which occurs at the annual national AP Calculus exam grading. This professional development experience comes in several forms: the exam briefing sessions, the actual reading of the exams, the…

Speed Listening: Exploring an Analogue of Speed Reading. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, William P.

To determine whether the impressive rates for speed reading (e.g., 500 words per minute) can be approximated in speed listening, two experiments compared the comprehension level of material heard at a normal speaking rate with that heard at accelerated rates. In the first experiment, the major demonstration experiment, three groups of college…

Factors Predicting READ 180 18-Week Grades among Middle School Students: The Role of Self-Efficacy, Ethnicity, Reading and Language Skills and Socioeconomic Indicators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Rhonda M.

2014-01-01

Middle school students who struggle in reading are likely to also experience difficulty in their other subjects in school. A variety of reading intervention programs exist for schools to utilize to increase reading comprehension. The Scholastic READ 180 program is used as part of this study. This small, focused study of 160 students examined the…

Reading apps for children: Readability from the design perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammed, Wasan Abdulwahab; Husni, Husniza

2017-10-01

Electronic reading for young children opens new avenues especially with the advance of modern reading devices. The readability of mobile learning applications has received extensive attention by the designers and developers. The reason for such concern is due to its importance in determining usability related issues especially in the design context for children. In many cases, children find it difficult to interact with mobile reading apps. This is because apps for reading and for entertainment require different features. As such, this study sets out three objectives: 1) to evaluate five reading apps for young children from design perspectives; 2) to examine the readability for current existing mobile apps for reading and 3) to propose and evaluate mobile apps UI guideline for readability. Readability indices, observation and interview were conducted on 6 - 8 years old students. The obtained result showed that certain reading apps provide better reading experience for children than others. Some of the reasons are mostly related to the design characteristics embedded within the app. In addition, the use of animation was found to stimulate children reading experience as it is believed to offer the interactivity elements to gain their interest and willingness to read. These findings are believed to provide the recommendations and insights for designers of reading apps for children.

Reading skill and structural brain development

PubMed Central

Houston, S.M.; Lebel, C.; Katzir, T.; Manis, F.R.; Kan, E.; Rodriguez, G.R.; Sowell, E.R.

2014-01-01

Reading is a learned skill that is likely influenced by both brain maturation and experience. Functional imaging studies have identified brain regions important for skilled reading, but the structural brain changes that co-occur with reading acquisition remain largely unknown. We investigated maturational volume changes in brain reading regions and their association with performance on reading measures. Sixteen typically developing children (5-15 years old, 8 male, mean age of sample=10.06 ±3.29) received two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, (mean inter-scan interval =2.19 years), and were administered a battery of cognitive measures. Volume changes between time points in five bilateral cortical regions of interest were measured, and assessed for relationships to three measures of reading. Better baseline performances on measures of word reading, fluency and rapid naming, independent of age and total cortical gray matter volume change, were associated with volume decrease in the left inferior parietal cortex. Better baseline performance on a rapid naming measure was associated with volume decrease in the left inferior frontal region. These results suggest that children who are better readers, and who perhaps read more than less skilled readers, exhibit different development trajectories in brain reading regions. Understanding relationships between reading performance, reading experience and brain maturation trajectories may help with the development and evaluation of targeted interventions. PMID:24407200

Reading Development in Young Children: Genetic and Environmental Influences

PubMed Central

Logan, Jessica A. R.; Hart, Sara A.; Cutting, Laurie; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Schatschneider, Chris; Petrill, Stephen

2013-01-01

The development of reading skills in typical students is commonly described as a rapid growth across early grades of active reading education, with a slowing down of growth as active instruction tapers. This study examined the extent to which genetics and environments influence these growth rates. Participants were 371 twin pairs, aged approximately 6 through 12, from the Western Reserve Reading Project. Development of word-level reading, reading comprehension, and rapid naming was examined using genetically sensitive latent quadratic growth curve modeling. Results confirmed the developmental trajectory described in the phenotypic literature. Furthermore, the same shared environmental influences were related to early reading skills and subsequent growth, but genetic influences on these factors were unique. PMID:23574275

The Influence of Resistance Training Experience on the Between-Day Reliability of Commonly Used Strength Measures in Male Youth Athletes.

PubMed

Weakley, Jonathon J S; Till, Kevin; Darrall-Jones, Joshua; Roe, Gregory A B; Phibbs, Padraic J; Read, Dale B; Jones, Ben L

2017-07-01

Weakley, JJS, Till, K, Darrall-Jones, J, Roe, GAB, Phibbs, PJ, Read, DB, and Jones, BL. The influence of resistance training experience on the between-day reliability of commonly used strength measures in male youth athletes. J Strength Cond Res 31(7): 2005-2010, 2017-The purpose of this study was to determine the between-day reliability of commonly used strength measures in male youth athletes while considering resistance training experience. Data were collected on 25 male athletes over 2 testing sessions, with 72 hours rest between, for the 3 repetition maximum (3RM) front squat, chin-up, and bench press. Subjects were initially categorized by resistance training experience (inexperienced; 6-12 months, experienced; >2 years). The assessment of the between-day reliability (coefficient of variation [CV%]) showed that the front squat (experienced: 2.90%; inexperienced: 1.90%), chin-up (experienced: 1.70%; inexperienced: 1.90%), and bench press (experienced: 4.50%; inexperienced: 2.40%) were all reliable measures of strength in both groups. Comparison between groups for the error of measurement for each exercise showed trivial differences. When both groups were combined, the CV% for the front squat, bench press, and chin-up were 2.50, 1.80, and 3.70%, respectively. This study provides scientists and practitioners with the between-day reliability reference data to determine real and practical changes for strength in male youth athletes with different resistance training experience. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that 3RM front squat, chin-up, and bench press are reliable exercises to quantify strength in male youth athletes.

Read-Alouds with Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Robin

Regardless of a child's experience with or exposure to books when he or she enters elementary school, teachers can greatly extend a child's literacy development through interactive classroom read-alouds. Reading a story aloud presents endless opportunities for related activities such as classroom discussions, role plays, shared readings, group…

Working Memory in Children with Learning Disabilities in Reading versus Spelling: Searching for Overlapping and Specific Cognitive Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brandenburg, Janin; Klesczewski, Julia; Fischbach, Anne; Schuchardt, Kirsten; Büttner, Gerhard; Hasselhorn, Marcus

2015-01-01

In transparent orthographies like German, isolated learning disabilities in either reading or spelling are common and occur as often as a combined reading and spelling disability. However, most issues surrounding the cognitive causes of these isolated or combined literacy difficulties are yet unresolved. Recently, working memory dysfunctions have…

Using Reading Quizzes in STEM Classes--The What, Why, and How

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodges, Linda C.; Anderson, Eric C.; Carpenter, Tara S.; Cui, Lili; Gierasch, Tiffany Malinky; Leupen, Sarah; Nanes, Kalman M.; Wagner, Cynthia R.

2015-01-01

Many active learning pedagogies depend on students' preparing for class in advance. One common method for holding students accountable for this preparation is the use of reading quizzes. When used thoughtfully, reading quizzes can also actually promote student learning through the testing effect. In this article we describe why and how we use…

Close Reading of Literary Nonfiction: The Three-Column Journal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConn, Matthew

2018-01-01

The Common Core State Standards have placed more emphasis on the close reading of all texts, and have made a point of increasing the use of nonfiction in secondary English classrooms. In this article, the author describes an approach for implementing close reading of literary nonfiction. The approach comes from a small-scale classroom-based…

Group Writing: How Writing Teaches Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell-Rush, Peggy

2006-01-01

What do Slinky toys, sign language, clipboards, golf pencils, and a house icon have in common? They all are a part of the author's writing and reading program, which teaches children how to write, and then read what they have written. This book includes: effective strategies that address multiple learning styles; a ready-to-use form for ongoing…

Switch-On Reading: Evaluation Report and Executive Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorard, Stephen; See, Beng Huat; Siddiqui, Nadia

2014-01-01

Switch-on Reading is an intensive 10-week literacy intervention. It is delivered on a one to one basis by staff, most commonly teaching assistants, who have been trained in the approach. The purpose of Switch-on is to achieve functional literacy for as many pupils as possible, and so to close the reading achievement gap for vulnerable children…

Promoting the Reading Culture Towards Human Capital and Global Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olasehinde, M. O.; Akanmode, O. A.; Alaiyemola, A. T.; Babatunde, O. T.

2015-01-01

It is commonly agreed that a country cannot be fully developed without large-scale investment in her educational scheme since the breakthrough of a country is directly proportional to her educational level. Since the acquisition of effective reading skills has a positive effect on all school subjects, then reading is sine-qua-non for human capital…

Is More Screening Better? The Relationship between Frequent Screening, Accurate Decisions, and Reading Proficiency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

VanDerHeyden, Amanda M.; Burns, Matthew K.; Bonifay, Wesley

2018-01-01

Screening is necessary to detect risk and prevent reading failure. Yet the amount of screening that commonly occurs in U.S. schools may undermine its value, creating more error in decision making and lost instructional opportunity. This 2-year longitudinal study examined the decision accuracy associated with collecting concurrent reading screening…

Comparison of Meaning and Graphophonemic Feedback Strategies for Guided Reading Instruction of Children with Language Delays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kouri, Theresa A.; Selle, Carrie A.; Riley, Sarah A.

2006-01-01

Purpose: Guided reading is a common practice recommended for children in the early stages of literacy development. While experts agree that oral reading facilitates literacy skills, controversy exists concerning which corrective feedback strategies are most effective. The purpose of this study was to compare feedback procedures stemming from 2…

Survey of Poetry Reading Strategy as the Modern Tool to Identify Poetry Reading Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebrahimi, Shirin Shafiei; Zainal, Zaidah

2016-01-01

This study examines common strategies that English as a Foreign language (EFL) students employ when reading English poetry. To identify the strategies, a survey was designed for data collection from TESL students. The result shows that students significantly tend to use the strategies that require their creativity to construct new ideas in the…

Quantitative Measurement of Text Difficulty: What's the Use?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunningham, James W.; Mesmer, Heidi Anne

2014-01-01

Common Core Reading Standard 10 not only prescribes the difficulty of texts students should become able to read, but also the difficulty diet of texts schools should ask their students to read across the school year. The use of quantitative text-assessment tools in the implementation of this standard warrants an examination into the validity of…

Vocabulary Recycling in Children's Authentic Reading Materials: A Corpus-Based Investigation of Narrow Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardner, Dee

2008-01-01

Fourteen collections of children's reading materials were used to investigate the claim that collections of authentic texts with a common theme, or written by one author, afford readers with more repeated exposures to new words than unrelated materials. The collections, distinguished by relative thematic tightness, authorship (1 vs. 4 authors),…

Optimal Line Length in Reading--A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nanavati, Anuj A.; Bias, Randolph G.

2005-01-01

One of the most important, and most studied, aspects of human perception is the act of reading. Reading has received much attention from researchers, both from a human information processing (HIP) approach and as a common, practical act that needs to be optimized, especially in the realm of human-computer interaction (HCI). One of the text …

Principal Leadership and Reading Specialist Role Understanding in the Era of Test-Based Accountability Policies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prezyna, Dolores Marie; Garrison, Mark J.; Lockte, Hilary A.; Gold, Carol P.

2017-01-01

This study investigates how the role of the reading specialist (RS) is defined and communicated by principals, and examines to what degree a common understanding of this role exists among teachers, building administrators and reading specialists. The principal's responsibility in defining and communicating role, and the effect these efforts have…

The Role of Sustained Attention and Display Medium in Reading Comprehension among Adolescents with ADHD and without It

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stern, Pnina; Shalev, Lilach

2013-01-01

Difficulties in reading comprehension are common in children and adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The current study aimed at investigating the relation between sustained attention and reading comprehension among adolescents with and without ADHD. Another goal was to examine the impact of two manipulations of the…

Contributions of Academic Language, Perspective Taking, and Complex Reasoning to Deep Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaRusso, Maria; Kim, Ha Yeon; Selman, Robert; Uccelli, Paola; Dawson, Theo; Jones, Stephanie; Donovan, Suzanne; Snow, Catherine

2016-01-01

"Deep reading comprehension" refers to the process required to succeed at tasks defined by the Common Core State Literacy Standards, as well as to achieve proficiency on the more challenging reading tasks in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) framework. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that three…

Media Type Influences Preschooler's Literacy Development: E-Book versus Printed Book Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kozminsky, Ely; Asher-Sadon, Revital

2013-01-01

Traditionally, children's books are in a printed format and shared book reading is done with an adult. In recent years, interactive E-books have become a common medium for children's books and shared book reading is diminishing. This study compared the contribution of book format to the development of literacy in kindergarten children. We…

Is What's Hot in Reading What Should Be Important for Reading Instruction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rasinski, Timothy

2016-01-01

For years one of the most anticipated events in reading instruction has been Jack Cassidy and his colleagues' annual publication of the "What's Hot, What's Not" survey. In their present study, using longitudinal data from the What's Hot survey, Cassidy, Ortlieb, and Grote-Garcia (2016) make the case that because the Common Core Standards…

Using Experience Language (LEA Variation) to Teach an Autistic-Like Child with a Visual Disorder to Read (and Write and Talk).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Terry R.

The author, a university professor, describes his experiences in teaching language to his autistic-like son who also has visual impairments. "Experience Language," an adaptation of Language Experience Approach (LEA) is described, and its contributions to the child's reading, writing, and talking are noted. Suggestions are made on the importance of…

Debiasing affective forecasting errors with targeted, but not representative, experience narratives.

PubMed

Shaffer, Victoria A; Focella, Elizabeth S; Scherer, Laura D; Zikmund-Fisher, Brian J

2016-10-01

To determine whether representative experience narratives (describing a range of possible experiences) or targeted experience narratives (targeting the direction of forecasting bias) can reduce affective forecasting errors, or errors in predictions of experiences. In Study 1, participants (N=366) were surveyed about their experiences with 10 common medical events. Those who had never experienced the event provided ratings of predicted discomfort and those who had experienced the event provided ratings of actual discomfort. Participants making predictions were randomly assigned to either the representative experience narrative condition or the control condition in which they made predictions without reading narratives. In Study 2, participants (N=196) were again surveyed about their experiences with these 10 medical events, but participants making predictions were randomly assigned to either the targeted experience narrative condition or the control condition. Affective forecasting errors were observed in both studies. These forecasting errors were reduced with the use of targeted experience narratives (Study 2) but not representative experience narratives (Study 1). Targeted, but not representative, narratives improved the accuracy of predicted discomfort. Public collections of patient experiences should favor stories that target affective forecasting biases over stories representing the range of possible experiences. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interruptions disrupt reading comprehension.

PubMed

Foroughi, Cyrus K; Werner, Nicole E; Barragán, Daniela; Boehm-Davis, Deborah A

2015-06-01

Previous research suggests that being interrupted while reading a text does not disrupt the later recognition or recall of information from that text. This research is used as support for Ericsson and Kintsch's (1995) long-term working memory (LT-WM) theory, which posits that disruptions while reading (e.g., interruptions) do not impair subsequent text comprehension. However, to fully comprehend a text, individuals may need to do more than recognize or recall information that has been presented in the text at a later time. Reading comprehension often requires individuals to connect and synthesize information across a text (e.g., successfully identifying complex topics such as themes and tones) and not just make a familiarity-based decision (i.e., recognition). The goal for this study was to determine whether interruptions while reading disrupt reading comprehension when the questions assessing comprehension require participants to connect and synthesize information across the passage. In Experiment 1, interruptions disrupted reading comprehension. In Experiment 2, interruptions disrupted reading comprehension but not recognition of information from the text. In Experiment 3, the addition of a 15-s time-out prior to the interruption successfully removed these negative effects. These data suggest that the time it takes to process the information needed to successfully comprehend text when reading is greater than that required for recognition. Any interference (e.g., an interruption) that occurs during the comprehension process may disrupt reading comprehension. This evidence supports the need for transient activation of information in working memory for successful text comprehension and does not support LT-WM theory. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Learning to Read and the Preschool Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Lorraine

2012-01-01

You have young preschool children. You think ahead to when they will begin school, and wonder what you might do to make it easy for your children to learn to read. This article offers some hints for parents and caregivers about learning to read: (1) Reading can begin at birth; (2) When reading aloud to an infant, make the experience a warm, loving…

Writing to Read: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Writing and Writing Instruction on Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Steve; Hebert, Michael

2011-01-01

Reading is critical to students' success in and out of school. One potential means for improving students' reading is writing. In this meta-analysis of true and quasi-experiments, Graham and Herbert present evidence that writing about material read improves students' comprehension of it; that teaching students how to write improves their reading…

An investigation into the origin of anatomical differences in dyslexia.

PubMed

Krafnick, Anthony J; Flowers, D Lynn; Luetje, Megan M; Napoliello, Eileen M; Eden, Guinevere F

2014-01-15

Studies have converged in their findings of relatively less gray matter volume (GMV) in developmental dyslexia in bilateral temporoparietal and left occipitotemporal cortical regions. However, the interpretation of these results has been difficult. The reported neuroanatomical differences in dyslexia may be causal to the reading problems, following from, for example, neural migration errors that occurred during early human development and before learning to read. Alternatively, less GMV may represent the consequence of an impoverished reading experience, akin to the experience-dependent GMV differences attributed to illiterate compared with literate adults. Most likely, a combination of these factors is driving these observations. Here we attempt to disambiguate these influences by using a reading level-matched design, where dyslexic children were contrasted not only with age-matched controls, but also with younger controls who read at the same level as the dyslexics. Consistent with previous reports, dyslexics showed less GMV in multiple left and right hemisphere regions, including left superior temporal sulcus when compared with age-matched controls. However, not all of these differences emerged when dyslexics were compared with controls matched on reading abilities, with only right precentral gyrus GMV surviving this second analysis. When similar analyses were performed for white matter volume, no regions emerged from both comparisons. These results indicate that the GMV differences in dyslexia reported here and in prior studies are in large part the outcome of experience (e.g., disordered reading experience) compared with controls, with only a fraction of the differences being driven by dyslexia per se.

The Effect of Online Chapter Quizzes on Exam Performance in an Undergraduate Social Psychology Course

PubMed Central

Johnson, Bethany C.; Kiviniemi, Marc T.

2009-01-01

Assigned textbook readings are a common requirement in undergraduate courses, but students often do not complete reading assignments or do not do so until immediately before an exam. This may have detrimental effects on learning and course performance. Regularly scheduled quizzes on reading material may increase completion of reading assignments and therefore course performance. This study examined the effectiveness of compulsory, mastery-based, weekly reading quizzes as a means of improving exam and course performance. Completion of reading quizzes was related to both better exam and course performance. The discussion includes recommendations for the use of quizzes in undergraduate courses. PMID:20046908

Reading Improvement Program, Title I Evaluation, 1974-1975.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Logan, Juanita

This report contains an evaluation of the reading improvement program in the primary grades in Cleveland, Ohio, which attempts to provide specialized reading instruction and support for disadvantaged pupils at a time deemed critical in their school experience. The project utilizes the services of a reading consultant, master teachers, and…

The Role of Reading in Fostering Transcultural Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koda, Keiko

2010-01-01

This response was constructed based on the author's experience as a language program coordinator and her expertise in second language (L2) reading development. Because "transcultural competence," as defined in the MLA Report (2007), shares much of its underlying capacities with "reading ability," in principle, reading instruction could play a…

Second Language Reading Research: Problems and Possibilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koda, Keiko

1994-01-01

First-language (L1) reading theories are examined from second- language (L2) perspectives to identify significant research voids related to L2 problems. Unique aspects of L2 reading are considered and three distinct areas are discussed: consequences of prior reading experience, effects of cross-linguistic processing, and compensatory devices for…

Expository Text and Middle School Students: Some Lessons Learned.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Street, Chris

2002-01-01

Presents the "Structured Reading Lesson" as one simple way to structure reading activities so that the before, during, and after phases of the reading experience are all touched upon. Considers how reading strategies that students have developed to comprehend fictional narratives do not always help them with textbooks. Presents…

Writing Activities for Developing Reading Comprehension.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karlin, Robert; Karlin, Andrea R.

As both draw upon language and experience, and both deal with meaning, writing and reading can be learned concurrently. Writing activities having a positive effect on reading skills include notetaking and sentence combining exercises. A more productive way of improving reading comprehension through writing is to have students base their writing on…

The Efficacy of Shared Reading with Teens.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hicks, Karen; Wadlington, Beth

An instructional strategy adapted the Big Book reading experience to the adolescent student to increase enthusiasm for reading, vocabulary development, and sound word attack and comprehension strategies. Criteria for choosing books to read aloud with teenagers include: (1) select well written books; (2) select books that reflect students'…

The Great Debate in Reading Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ediger, Marlow

2012-01-01

The reading curriculum receives more attention than any other academic discipline. It is true that individuals engage in much reading in school subjects such as word problems in mathematics as well as reading numerals and symbols, science content in doing experiments and demonstrations, social studies with its emphasis upon diverse social science…

Life beyond the Basal.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grey, Jeanne; Carbone, Carole

1987-01-01

Reading is a tool for learning. The goal for the teaching of reading must be to produce lovers of reading. A holistic approach should replace exclusive dependence on basal readers. Effective methods are the following: (1) language experience approach; (2) word banks; (3) pattern books; (4) sustained silent reading; and (5) directed…

Nonword Reading across Orthographies: How Flexible Is the Choice of Reading Units?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goswami, Usha; Ziegler, Johannes C.; Dalton, Louise; Schnieder, Wolfgang

2003-01-01

Used cross-language blocking experiments to test the hypothesis that children learning to read inconsistent orthographies would show considerable flexibility in making use of spelling-sound correspondences at different unit sizes, whereas children learning to read consistent orthographies should mainly employ small-size grapheme-phoneme…

Relationships among Cortical Thickness, Reading Skill, and Print Exposure in Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldman, Jason G.; Manis, Frank R.

2013-01-01

This study investigated relationships among cortical thickness in the left-hemisphere reading network, and reading skill and experience in adult nonimpaired readers. Given the relationship between print exposure and reading, it is possible that print exposure is related to cortical structure. The pattern of correlations indicated that individuals…

What All Reading Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedora, Pledger

2014-01-01

When students experience reading difficulties--or even before they do--teachers can use specialized knowledge to help them achieve success. This overview of the International Dyslexia Association's "Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading" describes those reading and literacy standards and provides resources for teacher…

Reading comprehension and reading related abilities in adolescents with reading disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Ghelani, Karen; Sidhu, Robindra; Jain, Umesh; Tannock, Rosemary

2004-11-01

Reading comprehension is a very complex task that requires different cognitive processes and reading abilities over the life span. There are fewer studies of reading comprehension relative to investigations of word reading abilities. Reading comprehension difficulties, however, have been identified in two common and frequently overlapping childhood disorders: reading disability (RD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The nature of reading comprehension difficulties in these groups remains unclear. The performance of four groups of adolescents (RD, ADHD, comorbid ADHD and RD, and normal controls) was compared on reading comprehension tasks as well as on reading rate and accuracy tasks. Adolescents with RD showed difficulties across most reading tasks, although their comprehension scores were average. Adolescents with ADHD exhibited adequate single word reading abilities. Subtle difficulties were observed, however, on measures of text reading rate and accuracy as well as on silent reading comprehension, but scores remained in the average range. The comorbid group demonstrated similar difficulties to the RD group on word reading accuracy and on reading rate but experienced problems on only silent reading comprehension. Implications for reading interventions are outlined, as well as the clinical relevance for diagnosis.

How Important Is Passage Dependence in Reading Comprehension?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanna, Gerald S.; Oaster, Thomas R.

1978-01-01

A higher than expected correlation between "passages in" and "passages out" scores on reading comprehension tests indicated that the practical importance of passage dependence is probably not as great as has been commonly believed. (Editor)

Improving text comprehension strategies in upper primary school children: a design experiment.

PubMed

De Corte, E; Verschaffel, L; Van De Ven, A

2001-12-01

With respect to the acquisition of competence in reading, new standards for primary education stress more than before the importance of learning and teaching cognitive and metacognitive strategies that facilitate text comprehension. Therefore, there is a need to design a research-based instructional approach to strategic reading comprehension. The design experiment aimed at developing, implementing and evaluating a research-based, but also practically applicable learning environment for enhancing skilled strategy use in upper primary school children when reading a text. Four text comprehension strategies (activating prior knowledge, clarifying difficult words, making a schematic representation of the text, and formulating the main idea) and a metacognitive strategy (regulating one's own reading process) were trained through a variety of highly interactive instructional techniques, namely modelling, whole class discussion, and small group work in the format of reciprocal teaching. Participants in the study were four experimental 5th grade classes (79 children) and eight comparable control classes (149 pupils). The effects of the learning environment were measured using a pretest-post-test-retention design. Multilevel hierarchical linear regression models were used to analyse the quantitative data of a Reading Strategy Test, a standardised Reading Comprehension Test, a Reading Attitude Scale, a Transfer Test and an interview about strategy use during reading. The data of the Reading Strategy Test, the Transfer Test and the interviews about strategy use showed that the experimental group out-performed the control group in terms of the strategy adoption and application during text reading. Whilst the experimental group also scored higher on the Reading Comprehension Test than the control group, the difference was not significant. This design experiment shows that it is possible to foster pupils' use and transfer of strategic reading comprehension skills in regular classrooms by immersing them in a powerful learning environment. But this intervention does not automatically result in improvement of performance on a standardised reading comprehension test.

Attention and Gaze Control in Picture Naming, Word Reading, and Word Categorizing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roelofs, Ardi

2007-01-01

The trigger for shifting gaze between stimuli requiring vocal and manual responses was examined. Participants were presented with picture-word stimuli and left- or right-pointing arrows. They vocally named the picture (Experiment 1), read the word (Experiment 2), or categorized the word (Experiment 3) and shifted their gaze to the arrow to…

The time-course of recovery from interruption during reading: eye movement evidence for the role of interruption lag and spatial memory.

PubMed

Cane, James E; Cauchard, Fabrice; Weger, Ulrich W

2012-01-01

Two experiments examined how interruptions impact reading and how interruption lags and the reader's spatial memory affect the recovery from such interruptions. Participants read paragraphs of text and were interrupted unpredictably by a spoken news story while their eye movements were monitored. Time made available for consolidation prior to responding to the interruption did not aid reading resumption. However, providing readers with a visual cue that indicated the interruption location did aid task resumption substantially in Experiment 2. Taken together, the findings show that the recovery from interruptions during reading draws on spatial memory resources and can be aided by processes that support spatial memory. Practical implications are discussed.

MSiReader: an open-source interface to view and analyze high resolving power MS imaging files on Matlab platform.

PubMed

Robichaud, Guillaume; Garrard, Kenneth P; Barry, Jeremy A; Muddiman, David C

2013-05-01

During the past decade, the field of mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has greatly evolved, to a point where it has now been fully integrated by most vendors as an optional or dedicated platform that can be purchased with their instruments. However, the technology is not mature and multiple research groups in both academia and industry are still very actively studying the fundamentals of imaging techniques, adapting the technology to new ionization sources, and developing new applications. As a result, there important varieties of data file formats used to store mass spectrometry imaging data and, concurrent to the development of MSi, collaborative efforts have been undertaken to introduce common imaging data file formats. However, few free software packages to read and analyze files of these different formats are readily available. We introduce here MSiReader, a free open source application to read and analyze high resolution MSI data from the most common MSi data formats. The application is built on the Matlab platform (Mathworks, Natick, MA, USA) and includes a large selection of data analysis tools and features. People who are unfamiliar with the Matlab language will have little difficult navigating the user-friendly interface, and users with Matlab programming experience can adapt and customize MSiReader for their own needs.

On the Power and the Systematic Biases of the Detection of Chromosomal Inversions by Paired-End Genome Sequencing

PubMed Central

Lucas Lledó, José Ignacio; Cáceres, Mario

2013-01-01

One of the most used techniques to study structural variation at a genome level is paired-end mapping (PEM). PEM has the advantage of being able to detect balanced events, such as inversions and translocations. However, inversions are still quite difficult to predict reliably, especially from high-throughput sequencing data. We simulated realistic PEM experiments with different combinations of read and library fragment lengths, including sequencing errors and meaningful base-qualities, to quantify and track down the origin of false positives and negatives along sequencing, mapping, and downstream analysis. We show that PEM is very appropriate to detect a wide range of inversions, even with low coverage data. However, % of inversions located between segmental duplications are expected to go undetected by the most common sequencing strategies. In general, longer DNA libraries improve the detectability of inversions far better than increments of the coverage depth or the read length. Finally, we review the performance of three algorithms to detect inversions —SVDetect, GRIAL, and VariationHunter—, identify common pitfalls, and reveal important differences in their breakpoint precisions. These results stress the importance of the sequencing strategy for the detection of structural variants, especially inversions, and offer guidelines for the design of future genome sequencing projects. PMID:23637806

MSiReader: An Open-Source Interface to View and Analyze High Resolving Power MS Imaging Files on Matlab Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robichaud, Guillaume; Garrard, Kenneth P.; Barry, Jeremy A.; Muddiman, David C.

2013-05-01

During the past decade, the field of mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has greatly evolved, to a point where it has now been fully integrated by most vendors as an optional or dedicated platform that can be purchased with their instruments. However, the technology is not mature and multiple research groups in both academia and industry are still very actively studying the fundamentals of imaging techniques, adapting the technology to new ionization sources, and developing new applications. As a result, there important varieties of data file formats used to store mass spectrometry imaging data and, concurrent to the development of MSi, collaborative efforts have been undertaken to introduce common imaging data file formats. However, few free software packages to read and analyze files of these different formats are readily available. We introduce here MSiReader, a free open source application to read and analyze high resolution MSI data from the most common MSi data formats. The application is built on the Matlab platform (Mathworks, Natick, MA, USA) and includes a large selection of data analysis tools and features. People who are unfamiliar with the Matlab language will have little difficult navigating the user-friendly interface, and users with Matlab programming experience can adapt and customize MSiReader for their own needs.

Do morphemes matter when reading compound words with transposed letters? Evidence from eye-tracking and event-related potentials

DOE PAGES

Stites, Mallory C.; Federmeier, Kara D.; Christianson, Kiel

2016-08-06

We investigate the online processing consequences of encountering compound words with transposed letters (TLs), in order to determine if cross-morpheme TLs are more disruptive to reading than those within a single morpheme, as would be predicted by accounts of obligatory morpho-orthopgrahic decomposition. Two measures of online processing, eye movements and event-related potentials (ERPs), were collected in separate experiments. Participants read sentences containing correctly spelled compound words (cupcake), or compounds with TLs occurring either across morphemes (cucpake) or within one morpheme (cupacke). Results showed that between- and within-morpheme transpositions produced equal processing costs in both measures, in the form of longermore » reading times (Experiment 1) and a late posterior positivity (Experiment 2) that did not differ between conditions. Our findings converge to suggest that within- and between-morpheme TLs are equally disruptive to recognition, providing evidence against obligatory morpho-orthographic processing and in favour of whole-word access of English compound words during sentence reading.« less

Contextual modulation of reading rate for direct versus indirect speech quotations.

PubMed

Yao, Bo; Scheepers, Christoph

2011-12-01

In human communication, direct speech (e.g., Mary said: "I'm hungry") is perceived to be more vivid than indirect speech (e.g., Mary said [that] she was hungry). However, the processing consequences of this distinction are largely unclear. In two experiments, participants were asked to either orally (Experiment 1) or silently (Experiment 2, eye-tracking) read written stories that contained either a direct speech or an indirect speech quotation. The context preceding those quotations described a situation that implied either a fast-speaking or a slow-speaking quoted protagonist. It was found that this context manipulation affected reading rates (in both oral and silent reading) for direct speech quotations, but not for indirect speech quotations. This suggests that readers are more likely to engage in perceptual simulations of the reported speech act when reading direct speech as opposed to meaning-equivalent indirect speech quotations, as part of a more vivid representation of the former. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Do Morphemes Matter when Reading Compound Words with Transposed Letters? Evidence from Eye-Tracking and Event-Related Potentials

PubMed Central

Stites, Mallory C.; Federmeier, Kara D.; Christianson, Kiel

2017-01-01

The current study investigates the online processing consequences of encountering compound words with transposed letters (TLs), to determine if TLs that cross morpheme boundaries are more disruptive to reading than those within a single morpheme, as would be predicted by accounts of obligatory morpho-orthopgrahic decomposition. Two measures of online processing, eye movements and event-related potentials (ERPs), were collected in separate experiments. Participants read sentences containing correctly spelled compound words (cupcake), or compounds with TLs occurring either across morpheme boundaries (cucpake) or within one morpheme (cupacke). Results showed that between- and within-morpheme transpositions produced equal processing costs in both measures, in the form of longer reading times (Experiment 1) and a late posterior positivity (Experiment 2) that did not differ between conditions. Findings converge to suggest that within- and between-morpheme TLs are equally disruptive to recognition, providing evidence against obligatory morpho-orthographic processing and in favor of whole-word access of English compound words during sentence reading. PMID:28791313

Do morphemes matter when reading compound words with transposed letters? Evidence from eye-tracking and event-related potentials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stites, Mallory C.; Federmeier, Kara D.; Christianson, Kiel

We investigate the online processing consequences of encountering compound words with transposed letters (TLs), in order to determine if cross-morpheme TLs are more disruptive to reading than those within a single morpheme, as would be predicted by accounts of obligatory morpho-orthopgrahic decomposition. Two measures of online processing, eye movements and event-related potentials (ERPs), were collected in separate experiments. Participants read sentences containing correctly spelled compound words (cupcake), or compounds with TLs occurring either across morphemes (cucpake) or within one morpheme (cupacke). Results showed that between- and within-morpheme transpositions produced equal processing costs in both measures, in the form of longermore » reading times (Experiment 1) and a late posterior positivity (Experiment 2) that did not differ between conditions. Our findings converge to suggest that within- and between-morpheme TLs are equally disruptive to recognition, providing evidence against obligatory morpho-orthographic processing and in favour of whole-word access of English compound words during sentence reading.« less

How reading differs from object naming at the neuronal level.

PubMed

Price, C J; McCrory, E; Noppeney, U; Mechelli, A; Moore, C J; Biggio, N; Devlin, J T

2006-01-15

This paper uses whole brain functional neuroimaging in neurologically normal participants to explore how reading aloud differs from object naming in terms of neuronal implementation. In the first experiment, we directly compared brain activation during reading aloud and object naming. This revealed greater activation for reading in bilateral premotor, left posterior superior temporal and precuneus regions. In a second experiment, we segregated the object-naming system into object recognition and speech production areas by factorially manipulating the presence or absence of objects (pictures of objects or their meaningless scrambled counterparts) with the presence or absence of speech production (vocal vs. finger press responses). This demonstrated that the areas associated with speech production (object naming and repetitively saying "OK" to meaningless scrambled pictures) corresponded exactly to the areas where responses were higher for reading aloud than object naming in Experiment 1. Collectively the results suggest that, relative to object naming, reading increases the demands on shared speech production processes. At a cognitive level, enhanced activation for reading in speech production areas may reflect the multiple and competing phonological codes that are generated from the sublexical parts of written words. At a neuronal level, it may reflect differences in the speed with which different areas are activated and integrate with one another.

Supplemental Information for Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy: New Research on Text Complexity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Council of Chief State School Officers, 2017

2017-01-01

Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards (hereafter CCSS) contains a review of the research stressing the importance of being able to read complex text for success in college and career. The research shows that while the complexity of reading demands for college, career, and citizenship have held steady or risen over the past half century,…

E-Text and E-Books Are Changing the Literacy Landscape

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalton, Bridget

2014-01-01

The digital world is expanding the reading palette, offering readers--especially readers who struggle with printed text--new possibilities for to engage in reading via e-text and e-books. This expanded view of text is consistent with the Common Core's vision of a successful 21st century learner who is able to critically read and communicate…

Annual Research Review: The Nature and Classification of Reading Disorders--A Commentary on Proposals for DSM-5

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snowling, Margaret J.; Hulme, Charles

2012-01-01

This article reviews our understanding of reading disorders in children and relates it to current proposals for their classification in DSM-5. There are two different, commonly occurring, forms of reading disorder in children which arise from different underlying language difficulties. Dyslexia (as defined in DSM-5), or decoding difficulty, refers…

The Effect of Embedding the Restricted Interests of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Text on Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Brittany

2017-01-01

Reading comprehension deficits are common for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the rise in prevalence of this disorder has resulted in an increased demand for evidence-based strategies for teaching reading comprehension to this population. Research has found an increase in desired behaviors when a restricted interest (RI) or…

Reading in the Crawl Space: A Study of an Urban School's Literacy-Focused Community of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Francois, Chantal

2013-01-01

Background/Context: The pressure to understand "what works" to advance adolescents' reading development has increased as the Common Core State Standards' call for youth to grapple with a range of complex texts. While we have learned more about promising reading programs and interventions for adolescent students in schools, few…

The Effect of a Specialized Dyslexia Font, Opendyslexic, on Reading Rate and Accuracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wery, Jessica J.; Diliberto, Jennifer A.

2017-01-01

A single-subject alternating treatment design was used to investigate the extent to which a specialized dyslexia font, OpenDyslexic, impacted reading rate or accuracy compared to two commonly used fonts when used with elementary students identified as having dyslexia. OpenDyslexic was compared to Arial and Times New Roman in three reading tasks:…

Processing and Memory of Central versus Peripheral Information as a Function of Reading Goals: Evidence from Eye-Movements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeari, Menahem; van den Broek, Paul; Oudega, Marja

2015-01-01

The present study examined the effect of reading goals on the processing and memory of central and peripheral textual information. Using eye-tracking methodology, we compared the effect of four common reading goals--entertainment, presentation, studying for a close-ended (multiple-choice) questions test, and studying for an open-ended questions…

On Reading and Not Reading Today: A Commentary on L. Borusiak's Article

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dubin, Boris

2012-01-01

In this commentary, the author stresses that reading habits in Russia have changed since the Soviet era, and the more intellectual journals and magazines in particular have lost their importance. Audiences for books and magazines have fragmented, and there are fewer sources of commonly shared information and ideas than was true a few decades ago.…

Reading in Asian Languages: Making Sense of Written Texts in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Kenneth S., Ed.; Wang, Shaomei, Ed.; Iventosch, Mieko, Ed.; Goodman, Yetta M., Ed.

2011-01-01

"Reading in Asian Languages" is rich with information about how literacy works in the non-alphabetic writing systems (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) used by hundreds of millions of people and refutes the common Western belief that such systems are hard to learn or to use. The contributors share a comprehensive view of reading as construction…

An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Foreign Language Reading Anxiety and Reading Strategy Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çapan, Seyit Ahmet; Pektas, Rumeysa

2013-01-01

Anxiety is a psychological factor commonly associated with such feelings as fear, apprehension and uneasiness. It is an individual's affective reaction to a perceived or a real threat (MacIntyre, 1995). Foreign language reading anxiety (FLRA) refers to one's negative attitudes which may, to some extent, account for the inhibition that s/he suffers…

AN EXPERIMENT ON THE EFFECT OF MOTIVATIONAL APPEAL VS. TECHNIQUES UPON READING RATE IMPROVEMENT IN A GROUP OF COLLEGE STUDENTS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MAXWELL, MARTHA J.; MUELLER, ARTHUR C.

A STUDY OF THE READING HABITS AND ABILITIES OF 132 PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE (1) IF READING SPEED COULD BE INCREASED WITHOUT CHANGE IN COMPREHENSION AND (2) WHETHER INFORMATION ABOUT SOME OF THE BASIC TECHNIQUES OF READING STRESSED IN TYPICAL READING COURSES COULD ELICIT CHANGES IN STANDARDIZED…

A Formative Study Investigating the Acquisition of Early Reading Skills among High School English Language Learners Beginning to Read English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Athene Cooper

2012-01-01

A formative design experiment methodology was employed to investigate the acquisition of early reading skills for high school English language learners (ELLs) beginning to read English. A fundamental challenge facing high school ELLs entering schools in the United States for the first time is learning how to read. While there is considerable…

Description and measurement of concentration problems in depressed patients.

PubMed

Watts, F N; Sharrock, R

1985-05-01

Depressed patients commonly complain of concentration problems, yet these have seldom been the focus of systematic investigation. A structured interview about concentration problems was administered to a group of relatively severely depressed patients. Problems in reading and watching television were the most common, and were highly correlated with each other. Direct report of the number of concentration lapses on a reading task was the most generally satisfactory task-performance correlate of complaints of reading/TV concentration problems. Evidence both from this task and from the interview suggests that depressive concentration problems may often be due to 'mind-wandering'. The correlations with concentration problems with the severity and endogeneity of depression and with state anxiety were generally similar.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Küchemann, Stefan; Mahn, Carsten; Samwer, Konrad

The investigation of short time dynamics using X-ray scattering techniques is commonly limited either by the read out frequency of the detector or by a low intensity. In this paper, we present a chopper system, which can increase the temporal resolution of 2D X-ray detectors by a factor of 13. This technique only applies to amorphous or polycrystalline samples due to their circular diffraction patterns. Using the chopper, we successfully increased the temporal resolution up to 5.1 ms during synchrotron experiments. For the construction, we provide a mathematical formalism, which, in principle, allows an even higher increase of the temporalmore » resolution.« less

Eye Movements Reveal the Influence of Event Structure on Reading Behavior.

PubMed

Swets, Benjamin; Kurby, Christopher A

2016-03-01

When we read narrative texts such as novels and newspaper articles, we segment information presented in such texts into discrete events, with distinct boundaries between those events. But do our eyes reflect this event structure while reading? This study examines whether eye movements during the reading of discourse reveal how readers respond online to event structure. Participants read narrative passages as we monitored their eye movements. Several measures revealed that event structure predicted eye movements. In two experiments, we found that both early and overall reading times were longer for event boundaries. We also found that regressive saccades were more likely to land on event boundaries, but that readers were less likely to regress out of an event boundary. Experiment 2 also demonstrated that tracking event structure carries a working memory load. Eye movements provide a rich set of online data to test the cognitive reality of event segmentation during reading. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

How Do We Motivate Reading Comprehension?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shanahan, Timothy

1982-01-01

Considers the nature of motivation and its place in the development of reading comprehension. Uses A. Maslow's hierarchy of motivation as a heuristic for examining the motivational quality of several teaching methods commonly proposed for comprehension instruction. (FL)

Literacy as a leisure activity: free-time preferences of older children and young adolescents.

PubMed

Nippold, Marilyn A; Duthie, Jill K; Larsen, Jennifer

2005-04-01

Literacy plays an important role in the development of language in school-age children and adolescents. For example, by reading a variety of books, magazines, and newspapers, students gain exposure to complex vocabulary, and reading becomes a prime opportunity for learning new words. Despite the importance of reading for lexical development, little is known about the pleasure reading habits of today's youth. The first goal of this investigation was to examine the preferences of older children and young adolescents with respect to reading as a leisure-time activity and its relationship to other free-time options that are likely to compete for their attention. The second goal was to examine the amount of time that young people spend reading for pleasure each day and the types of materials they most enjoy reading. The third goal was to determine if preferences for free-time activities and reading materials would evince age- and gender-related differences during the period of development from late childhood through early adolescence (ages 11-15 years). The findings could serve as a reference point for understanding what is reasonable to expect of students during this age range. The participants were 100 sixth graders (mean age = 11;7 [years; months]) and 100 ninth graders (mean age = 14;8) attending public schools in western Oregon. Each group contained an equal number of boys and girls, all of whom spoke English as their primary language and were considered to be typical achievers. All participants completed a survey concerning their preferred free-time activities and reading materials. They also reported the average amount of time they spent reading for pleasure each day. The most popular free-time activities were listening to music/going to concerts, watching television or videos, playing sports, and playing computer or video games. Least preferred activities were cooking, running or walking, writing, and arts and crafts. Reading was moderately popular. The most popular reading materials were magazines, novels, and comics; least popular were plays, technical books, and newspapers. Interest in pleasure reading declined during this age range (11-15 years), and boys were more likely than girls to report that they spent no time reading for pleasure. Given the importance of reading to lexical development in school-age children and adolescents, reading should be promoted as a leisure activity during these years. School-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs), in their role as language consultants, can benefit from understanding the pleasure-reading patterns of today's youth. It is especially important for SLPs to monitor these patterns in students who have language disorders, as it is common for these young people to experience deficits in reading and in lexical development. Fortunately, much can be done in school settings to encourage strong literacy habits in all students if SLPs work collaboratively with teachers, principals, psychologists, librarians, parents, and students. Suggestions are offered for ways to encourage young people to spend more time reading for pleasure.

Comprehension of Health-related Written Materials by Older Adults

PubMed Central

Liu, Chiung-ju; Kemper, Susan; Bovaird, James A.

2008-01-01

This study examined how Flesch Reading Ease and text cohesion affect older adults' comprehension of common health texts. All older adults benefited when high Flesh Reading Ease was combined with high cohesion. Older adults with small working memories had more difficulty understanding texts high in Flesch Reading Ease. Additionally, older adults with low verbal ability or older than 77 years of age had difficulty understanding texts high in text cohesion but low in Flesch Reading Ease. These results imply that writers must increase Flesch Reading Ease without disrupting text cohesion to ensure comprehension of health-related texts. PMID:19543546

Engaging David in the Reading Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nierstheimer, Susan L.

2002-01-01

Describes the experiences of an undergraduate student in a reading methods course during her practicum of tutoring a young child with reading difficulties. Discusses how she finally found a motivational tool that repeatedly engaged the child--tape recording the child as he read a predictable book and playing the tape back for the child to listen…

Cognitive Process in Second Language Reading: Transfer of L1 Reading Skills and Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koda, Keiko

1988-01-01

Experiments with skilled readers (N=83) from four native-language orthographic backgrounds examined the effects of: (1) blocked visual or auditory information on lexical decision-making; and (2) heterographic homophones on reading comprehension. Native and second language transfer does occur in second language reading, and orthographic structure…

Readings and Experiences of Multimodality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leander, Kevin M.; Aziz, Seemi; Botzakis, Stergios; Ehret, Christian; Landry, David; Rowsell, Jennifer

2017-01-01

Our understanding of reading--including reading multimodal texts--is always constrained or opened up by what we consider to be a text, what aspects of a reader's embodied activity we focus on, and how we draw a boundary around a reading event. This article brings together five literacy researchers who respond to a human-scale graphic novel,…

Relations of Perceived Parent and Friend Support for Recreational Reading with Children's Reading Motivations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klauda, Susan Lutz; Wigfield, Allan

2012-01-01

This study examined elementary school students' perceived support for recreational reading from their mothers, fathers, and friends. Participants, including 130 fourth graders and 172 fifth graders, completed the researcher-developed Reading Support Survey, which assesses how often children experience and how greatly they enjoy multiple types of…

Scaffolding Experiences in Reading Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ediger, Marlow

This paper discusses the importance of scaffolding and other techniques in teaching reading. It details numerous ways to employ scaffolding, such as the following: a teacher may read aloud new passages while students follow along; a teacher may print new words on the chalkboard before students read a passage which uses the words; and teachers may…

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority's Reading Improvement Program for Minorities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marable, June Morehead

This document discusses the founding and establishment of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority's reading experience pilot project. The efforts of this project were aligned with those of Right to Read and Reading Is Fundamental (RIF). Because of the response from parents and children, plans are being made to increase present operations within the next…

Does a Content Area Reading Course Change Preservice Teachers' Attitudes?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Patricia M.

Over the last two decades a growing number of states have required a content area reading class for secondary education. Preservice teachers in secondary education who are required to enroll in content area reading courses often have little teaching experience and may enter the courses with misconceptions about content area reading. Since…

The Effect of Reading Upon Pupil Dilation. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carver, Ronald P.

The question of whether pupil diameter indicates information processing load during reading was investigated in three experiments involving 24 college students reading passages of varying difficulty. A TV camera and monitor, together with a video-recorder, were used to measure the diameter of the pupil under a reading condition and under three…

Educational Factors and Experiences in English Language Learner Reading Fluency Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weber, Christina J. T.

2013-01-01

Reading fluency has been an area of struggle for students. Certain populations of students, such as English language learners (ELLs), have struggled even more so, affecting their overall achievement. Interventions have been implemented and studied regarding the reading fluency of ELLs, yet reading fluency has continued to be problematic in this…

Toward an Interactive Analogy Model of Reading Development: Decoding Vowel Graphemes in Beginning Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goswami, Usha

1993-01-01

Three experiments on vowel decoding involving primary school children partially tested an interactive model of reading acquisition. The model suggests that children begin learning to read by establishing orthographic recognition units for words that have phonological underpinning that is initially at the onset-rime level but that becomes…

Instant Read on Reading, in Palms of Their Hands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Lynn

2007-01-01

This article discusses teachers' use of hand-held computers in a rural New Mexico district to assess student's reading progress. With the help of a federal Reading First grant, the district began using the DIBELS assessments across its elementary schools along with the mCLASS: DIBELS assessment and reporting system. The district's experience helps…

Taken out of Context: Differential Processing in Contextual and Isolated Word Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin-Chang, Sandra; Levesque, Kyle

2013-01-01

Three experiments are reported that investigate the cognitive processes underlying contextual and isolated word reading. In Phase 1, undergraduate participants were exposed to 75 target words under three conditions. The participants generated 25 words from definitions, read 25 words in context and read 25 in isolation. In Phase 2, volunteers…

Wait…This Counts as Reading?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dempsey, Allison

2015-01-01

Many sixth grade students think they are telling the truth when they complain, "Reading is boring." However, they don't realize what sort of activities encompass reading. As a teacher with a few years of experience, I am finding new ways to engage reluctant readers and show them reading can take many different forms. In this essay, I…

Once upon a Time: Parent-Child Dialogue and Storybook Reading in the Electronic Era

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parish-Morris, Julia; Mahajan, Neha; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Collins, Molly Fuller

2013-01-01

Early experiences with books predict later reading success, and an interactive shared reading style called "dialogic reading" is especially beneficial to emergent literacy. Electronic console (EC) books, CD-rom books, and e-book apps are designed to teach preschoolers preliteracy skills, but research has yet to systematically explore the…

Creating New Opportunities for Lesson Study in an Online Reading Clinic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharma, Sue Ann; Pang, Sangho

2015-01-01

Multimedia expands the opportunity for graduate teachers to develop a community of learners in an online reading clinic as they reflect and collaborate on a variety of reading and writing experiences during an online lesson study of a comprehensive corrective reading lesson. This qualitative method study explores (a) the pedagogical shifts of…

Reading on Paper and Screen among Senior Adults: Cognitive Map and Technophobia

PubMed Central

Hou, Jinghui; Wu, Yijie; Harrell, Erin

2017-01-01

While the senior population has been increasingly engaged with reading on mobile technologies, research that specifically documents the impact of technologies on reading for this age group has still been lacking. The present study investigated how different reading media (screen versus paper) might result in different reading outcomes among older adults due to both cognitive and psychological factors. Using a laboratory experiment with 81participants aged 57 to 85, our results supported past research and showed the influence of cognitive map formation on readers’ feelings of fatigue. We contributed empirical evidence to the contention that reading on a screen could match that of reading from paper if the presentation of the text on screen resemble that of the print. Our findings also suggested that individual levels of technophobia was an important barrier to older adults’ effective use of mobile technologies for reading. In the post hoc analyses, we further showed that technophobia was correlated with technology experience, certain personality traits, and age. The present study highlights the importance of providing tailored support that helps older adults overcome psychological obstacles in using technologies. PMID:29312073

The d-Prime directive: Assessing costs and benefits in recognition by dissociating mixed-list false alarm rates.

PubMed

Forrin, Noah D; Groot, Brianna; MacLeod, Colin M

2016-07-01

It can be difficult to judge the effectiveness of encoding techniques in a within-subject design. Consider the production effect-the finding that words read aloud are better remembered than words read silently. In the absence of a baseline, a within-subject production effect in a mixed study list could reflect a benefit of reading aloud, a cost of reading silently, or both. To help interpret within-subject data, memory researchers have compared within-subject and between-subjects designs, with the between-subjects (i.e., pure list) conditions serving as baselines against which the within-subject (i.e., mixed-list) conditions are compared. In the present article, the authors highlight a shortcoming of using this comparison to assess costs and benefits in recognition. Unlike between-subjects experiments where separate false alarm rates are obtained for each condition, the typical within-subject experiment yields a collapsed false alarm rate, which, the authors argue, can potentially bias calculations of memory discrimination (d'). Across 3 experiments that used production as the encoding manipulation, they used a typical mixed-list versus pure-list design (Experiment 1) and then made modifications to this design (Experiments 2 and 3) that yielded separate mixed-list false alarm rates. The results of the latter 2 experiments demonstrated that words that are read aloud in a mixed list have an overall memorial benefit over words that are read aloud in a pure list-both in terms of increased hits and reduced false alarms. The authors frame these results in terms of the distinctiveness heuristic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Word reading and translation in bilinguals: the impact of formal and informal translation expertise

PubMed Central

García, Adolfo M.; Ibáñez, Agustín; Huepe, David; Houck, Alexander L.; Michon, Maëva; Lezama, Carlos G.; Chadha, Sumeer; Rivera-Rei, Álvaro

2014-01-01

Studies on bilingual word reading and translation have examined the effects of lexical variables (e.g., concreteness, cognate status) by comparing groups of non-translators with varying levels of L2 proficiency. However, little attention has been paid to another relevant factor: translation expertise (TI). To explore this issue, we administered word reading and translation tasks to two groups of non-translators possessing different levels of informal TI (Experiment 1), and to three groups of bilinguals possessing different levels of translation training (Experiment 2). Reaction-time recordings showed that in all groups reading was faster than translation and unaffected by concreteness and cognate effects. Conversely, in both experiments, all groups translated concrete and cognate words faster than abstract and non-cognate words, respectively. Notably, an advantage of backward over forward translation was observed only for low-proficiency non-translators (in Experiment 1). Also, in Experiment 2, the modifications induced by translation expertise were more marked in the early than in the late stages of training and practice. The results suggest that TI contributes to modulating inter-equivalent connections in bilingual memory. PMID:25429279

Incremental comprehension of pitch relationships in written music: Evidence from eye movements.

PubMed

Hadley, Lauren V; Sturt, Patrick; Eerola, Tuomas; Pickering, Martin J

2017-03-17

To investigate how proficient pianists comprehend pitch relationships in written music when they first encounter it we conducted two experiments in which proficient pianists' eyes were tracked while they read and played single-line melodies. In Experiment 1, participants played at their own speed; in Experiment 2 they played with an external metronome. The melodies were either congruent or anomalous, with the anomaly involving one bar being shifted in pitch to alter the implied harmonic structure (e.g., non-resolution of a dominant). In both experiments, anomaly led to rapid disruption in participants' eye-movements in terms of regressions from the target bar, indicating that pianists process written pitch relationships online. This is particularly striking because in musical sight-reading eye movement behaviour is constrained by the concurrent performance. Both experiments also showed that anomaly induced pupil dilation. Together these results indicate that proficient pianists rapidly integrate the music that they read into the prior context, and that anomalies in terms of pitch relationships lead to processing difficulty. These findings parallel those of text reading, suggesting that structural processing involves similar constraints across domains.

Testing for dual brain processing routes in reading: a direct contrast of chinese character and pinyin reading using FMRI.

PubMed

Chen, Yiping; Fu, Shimin; Iversen, Susan D; Smith, Steve M; Matthews, Paul M

2002-10-01

Chinese offers a unique tool for testing the effects of word form on language processing during reading. The processes of letter-mediated grapheme-to-phoneme translation and phonemic assembly (assembled phonology) critical for reading and spelling in any alphabetic orthography are largely absent when reading nonalphabetic Chinese characters. In contrast, script-to-sound translation based on the script as a whole (addressed phonology) is absent when reading the Chinese alphabetic sound symbols known as pinyin, for which the script-to-sound translation is based exclusively on assembled phonology. The present study aims to contrast patterns of brain activity associated with the different cognitive mechanisms needed for reading the two scripts. fMRI was used with a block design involving a phonological and lexical task in which subjects were asked to decide whether visually presented, paired Chinese characters or pinyin "sounded like" a word. Results demonstrate that reading Chinese characters and pinyin activate a common brain network including the inferior frontal, middle, and inferior temporal gyri, the inferior and superior parietal lobules, and the extrastriate areas. However, some regions show relatively greater activation for either pinyin or Chinese reading. Reading pinyin led to a greater activation in the inferior parietal cortex bilaterally, the precuneus, and the anterior middle temporal gyrus. In contrast, activation in the left fusiform gyrus, the bilateral cuneus, the posterior middle temporal, the right inferior frontal gyrus, and the bilateral superior frontal gyrus were greater for nonalphabetic Chinese reading. We conclude that both alphabetic and nonalphabetic scripts activate a common brain network for reading. Overall, there are no differences in terms of hemispheric specialization between alphabetic and nonalphabetic scripts. However, differences in language surface form appear to determine relative activation in other regions. Some of these regions (e.g., the inferior parietal cortex for pinyin and fusiform gyrus for Chinese characters) are candidate regions for specialized processes associated with reading via predominantly assembled (pinyin) or addressed (Chinese character) procedures.

Teaching a Student to Read through a Screen: Using SKYPE to Facilitate a Field Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunther, Jeanne

2016-01-01

The Distance Clinical Connecting Candidates and Children (DC4) is an innovative new model for providing a clinical experience in a reading methods course. Pre-service teachers used this model to implement assessments and lessons via SKYPE with local elementary students. I designed this model to provide a clinical experience when faced with…

Punctuation and Implicit Prosody in Silent Reading: An ERP Study Investigating English Garden-Path Sentences.

PubMed

Drury, John E; Baum, Shari R; Valeriote, Hope; Steinhauer, Karsten

2016-01-01

This study presents the first two ERP reading studies of comma-induced effects of covert (implicit) prosody on syntactic parsing decisions in English. The first experiment used a balanced 2 × 2 design in which the presence/absence of commas determined plausibility (e.g., John, said Mary, was the nicest boy at the party vs. John said Mary was the nicest boy at the party ). The second reading experiment replicated a previous auditory study investigating the role of overt prosodic boundaries in closure ambiguities (Pauker et al., 2011). In both experiments, commas reliably elicited CPS components and generally played a dominant role in determining parsing decisions in the face of input ambiguity. The combined set of findings provides further evidence supporting the claim that mechanisms subserving speech processing play an active role during silent reading.

Does the Relation between Rapid Automatized Naming and Reading Depend on Age or on Reading Level? A Behavioral and ERP Study

PubMed Central

Cohen, Marjolaine; Mahé, G.; Laganaro, Marina; Zesiger, Pascal

2018-01-01

Reading predictors evolve through age: phonological awareness is the best predictor of reading abilities at the beginning of reading acquisition while Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) becomes the best reading predictor in more experienced readers (around 9–10 years old). Those developmental changes in the relationship between RAN and reading have so far been explained in term of participants' age. However, it should be noted that in the previous experiments age always co-vary with participants reading level. It is thus not clear whether RAN-reading relationship is developmental in nature or related to the reading system itself. This study investigates whether the behavioral changes in the relationship between RAN and reading and their electrophysiological correlates are related to the chronological age or to the reading level of the participants. Thirty two French-speaking children aged 7–10 years took part to the experiment: they were divided into groups contrasted on age but with similar reading levels and the other way round. Participants performed two reading tasks and four RAN tasks. EEG/ERP was recorded during discrete letter and picture RAN. Behavioral results revealed that alphanumeric RAN is more sensitive to age variations than reading level differences. The inverse profile was revealed for picture RAN, which discriminate poor and good readers among typically developed children within the same age-group. ERPs of both letter and picture RAN differed across age groups whereas only for the picture RAN ERPs differed across reading levels. Taken together, these results suggest that picture RAN is a particularly good indicator of reading level variance independently of age. PMID:29520226

Poor readers' retrieval mechanism: efficient access is not dependent on reading skill

PubMed Central

Johns, Clinton L.; Matsuki, Kazunaga; Van Dyke, Julie A.

2015-01-01

A substantial body of evidence points to a cue-based direct-access retrieval mechanism as a crucial component of skilled adult reading. We report two experiments aimed at examining whether poor readers are able to make use of the same retrieval mechanism. This is significant in light of findings that poor readers have difficulty retrieving linguistic information (e.g., Perfetti, 1985). Our experiments are based on a previous demonstration of direct-access retrieval in language processing, presented in McElree et al. (2003). Experiment 1 replicates the original result using an auditory implementation of the Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff (SAT) method. This finding represents a significant methodological advance, as it opens up the possibility of exploring retrieval speeds in non-reading populations. Experiment 2 provides evidence that poor readers do use a direct-access retrieval mechanism during listening comprehension, despite overall poorer accuracy and slower retrieval speeds relative to skilled readers. The findings are discussed with respect to hypotheses about the source of poor reading comprehension. PMID:26528212

Specific problems in visual cognition of dyslexic readers: Face discrimination deficits predict dyslexia over and above discrimination of scrambled faces and novel objects.

PubMed

Sigurdardottir, Heida Maria; Fridriksdottir, Liv Elisabet; Gudjonsdottir, Sigridur; Kristjánsson, Árni

2018-06-01

Evidence of interdependencies of face and word processing mechanisms suggest possible links between reading problems and abnormal face processing. In two experiments we assessed such high-level visual deficits in people with a history of reading problems. Experiment 1 showed that people who were worse at face matching had greater reading problems. In experiment 2, matched dyslexic and typical readers were tested, and difficulties with face matching were consistently found to predict dyslexia over and above both novel-object matching as well as matching noise patterns that shared low-level visual properties with faces. Furthermore, ADHD measures could not account for face matching problems. We speculate that reading difficulties in dyslexia are partially caused by specific deficits in high-level visual processing, in particular for visual object categories such as faces and words with which people have extensive experience. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Word boundaries affect visual attention in Chinese reading.

PubMed

Li, Xingshan; Ma, Guojie

2012-01-01

In two experiments, we explored attention deployment during the reading of Chinese words using a probe detection task. In both experiments, Chinese readers saw four simplified Chinese characters briefly, and then a probe was presented at one of the character positions. The four characters constituted either one word or two words of two characters each. Reaction time was shorter when the probe was at the character 2 position than the character 3 position in the two-word condition, but not in the one-word condition. In Experiment 2, there were more trials and the materials were more carefully controlled, and the results replicated that of Experiment 1. These results suggest that word boundary information affects attentional deployment in Chinese reading.

Elementary Teachers' Past Experiences: A Narrative Study of the Past Personal and Professional Experiences of Elementary Teachers Who Use Science to Teach Math and Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acre, Andrea M.

2014-01-01

This qualitative study investigated the experiences of four elementary teachers who have elected to use science to teach math and reading/language arts in an attempt to identify what motivates them to do so. Identifying what experiences have motivated these teachers to go against the gain and teach elementary science in this current era of…

Test anxiety and a high-stakes standardized reading comprehension test: A behavioral genetics perspective.

PubMed

Wood, Sarah G; Hart, Sara A; Little, Callie W; Phillips, Beth M

2016-07-01

Past research suggests that reading comprehension test performance does not rely solely on targeted cognitive processes such as word reading, but also on other non-target aspects such as test anxiety. Using a genetically sensitive design, we sought to understand the genetic and environmental etiology of the association between test anxiety and reading comprehension as measured by a high-stakes test. Mirroring the behavioral literature of test anxiety, three different dimensions of test anxiety were examined in relation to reading comprehension, namely intrusive thoughts, autonomic reactions, and off-task behaviors. Participants included 426 sets of twins from the Florida Twin Project on Reading. The results indicated test anxiety was negatively associated with reading comprehension test performance, specifically through common shared environmental influences. The significant contribution of test anxiety to reading comprehension on a high-stakes test supports the notion that non-targeted factors may be interfering with accurately assessing students' reading abilities.

The Effect of Reading from Screen on the 5th Grade Elementary Students' Level of Reading Comprehension on Informative and Narrative Type of Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aydemir, Zeynep; Öztürk, Ergün; Horzum, M. Baris

2013-01-01

Digital medias that become popular through the development of technology have given a different functionality to read write experiences. The new conceptions such as reading from screen, e-literacy, digital text etc. have gained currency. The aim of the research was determined as the effect of reading from screen upon the levels of reading…

Teaching Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ricketts, Mary

1980-01-01

Described are five approaches to teaching reading: Language Experience, Modified Alphabet, Linguistic, Programmed, and Basal. It is suggested that a good teacher, well trained, certified in his or her profession, an active participant in professional organizations, can teach reading successfully using almost any approach. (KC)

How does reading direction modulate perceptual asymmetry effects?

PubMed

Chung, Harry K S; Liu, Joyce Y W; Hsiao, Janet H

2017-08-01

Left-side bias effects refer to a bias towards the left side of the stimulus/space in perceptual/visuospatial judgments, and are argued to reflect dominance of right hemisphere processing. It remains unclear whether reading direction can also account for the bias effect. Previous studies comparing readers of languages read from left to right with those read from right to left (e.g., French vs. Hebrew) have obtained inconsistent results. As a language that can be read from left to right or from right to left, Chinese provides a unique opportunity for a within-culture examination of reading direction effects. Chinese participants performed a perceptual judgment task (with both face and Chinese character stimuli; Experiment 1) and two visuospatial attention tasks (the greyscales and line bisection tasks; Experiment 2) once before and once after a reading task, in which they read Chinese passages either from left to right or from right to left for about 20 min. After reading from right to left, participants showed significantly reduced left-side bias in Chinese character perceptual judgments but not in the other three tasks. This effect suggests that the role of reading direction on different forms of left-side bias may differ, and its modulation may be stimulus-specific.

Semantic Processing Persists despite Anomalous Syntactic Category: ERP Evidence from Chinese Passive Sentences.

PubMed

Yang, Yang; Wu, Fuyun; Zhou, Xiaolin

2015-01-01

The syntax-first model and the parallel/interactive models make different predictions regarding whether syntactic category processing has a temporal and functional primacy over semantic processing. To further resolve this issue, an event-related potential experiment was conducted on 24 Chinese speakers reading Chinese passive sentences with the passive marker BEI (NP1 + BEI + NP2 + Verb). This construction was selected because it is the most-commonly used Chinese passive and very much resembles German passives, upon which the syntax-first hypothesis was primarily based. We manipulated semantic consistency (consistent vs. inconsistent) and syntactic category (noun vs. verb) of the critical verb, yielding four conditions: CORRECT (correct sentences), SEMANTIC (semantic anomaly), SYNTACTIC (syntactic category anomaly), and COMBINED (combined anomalies). Results showed both N400 and P600 effects for sentences with semantic anomaly, with syntactic category anomaly, or with combined anomalies. Converging with recent findings of Chinese ERP studies on various constructions, our study provides further evidence that syntactic category processing does not precede semantic processing in reading Chinese.

Making psycholinguistics musical: Self-paced reading time evidence for shared processing of linguistic and musical syntax

PubMed Central

Robert Slevc, L.; Rosenberg, Jason C.; Patel, Aniruddh D.

2009-01-01

Linguistic processing–especially syntactic processing–is often considered a hallmark of human cognition, thus the domain-specificity or domain-generality of syntactic processing has attracted considerable debate. These experiments address this issue by simultaneously manipulating syntactic processing demands in language and music. Participants performed self-paced reading of garden-path sentences in which structurally unexpected words cause temporary syntactic processing difficulty. A musical chord accompanied each sentence segment, with the resulting sequence forming a coherent chord progression. When structurally unexpected words were paired with harmonically unexpected chords, participants showed substantially enhanced garden-path effects. No such interaction was observed when the critical words violated semantic expectancy, nor when the critical chords violated timbral expectancy. These results support a prediction of the shared syntactic integration resource hypothesis (SSIRH, Patel, 2003), which suggests that music and language draw on a common pool of limited processing resources for integrating incoming elements into syntactic structures. PMID:19293110

The 1-min Screening Test for Reading Problems in College Students: Psychometric Properties of the 1-min TIL.

PubMed

Fernandes, Tânia; Araújo, Susana; Sucena, Ana; Reis, Alexandra; Castro, São Luís

2017-02-01

Reading is a central cognitive domain, but little research has been devoted to standardized tests for adults. We, thus, examined the psychometric properties of the 1-min version of Teste de Idade de Leitura (Reading Age Test; 1-min TIL), the Portuguese version of Lobrot L3 test, in three experiments with college students: typical readers in Experiment 1A and B, dyslexic readers and chronological age controls in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1A, test-retest reliability and convergent validity were evaluated in 185 students. Reliability was >.70, and phonological decoding underpinned 1-min TIL. In Experiment 1B, internal consistency was assessed by presenting two 45-s versions of the test to 19 students, and performance in these versions was significantly associated (r = .78). In Experiment 2, construct validity, criterion validity and clinical utility of 1-min TIL were investigated. A multiple regression analysis corroborated construct validity; both phonological decoding and listening comprehension were reliable predictors of 1-min TIL scores. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristics analyses revealed the high accuracy of this test in distinguishing dyslexic from typical readers. Therefore, the 1-min TIL, which assesses reading comprehension and potential reading difficulties in college students, has the necessary psychometric properties to become a useful screening instrument in neuropsychological assessment and research. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reading in the brain of children and adults: a meta-analysis of 40 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies.

PubMed

Martin, Anna; Schurz, Matthias; Kronbichler, Martin; Richlan, Fabio

2015-05-01

We used quantitative, coordinate-based meta-analysis to objectively synthesize age-related commonalities and differences in brain activation patterns reported in 40 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of reading in children and adults. Twenty fMRI studies with adults (age means: 23-34 years) were matched to 20 studies with children (age means: 7-12 years). The separate meta-analyses of these two sets showed a pattern of reading-related brain activation common to children and adults in left ventral occipito-temporal (OT), inferior frontal, and posterior parietal regions. The direct statistical comparison between the two meta-analytic maps of children and adults revealed higher convergence in studies with children in left superior temporal and bilateral supplementary motor regions. In contrast, higher convergence in studies with adults was identified in bilateral posterior OT/cerebellar and left dorsal precentral regions. The results are discussed in relation to current neuroanatomical models of reading and tentative functional interpretations of reading-related activation clusters in children and adults are provided. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Correlation Study of Adult English as a Second Language (ESL) and Adult Basic Education (ABE) Reading Tests. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garreton, Rodrigo; Terdy, Dennis

In a study prompted by the need to standardize the reporting of educational progress of adult language minority students in Illinois, a commonly used adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) reading test was compared with two frequently used Adult Basic Education (ABE) reading tests. The testing instruments used were the ELSA (English Language…

A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation of "Time to Read", a Volunteer Tutoring Program for 8- to 9-Year-Olds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Sarah; Connolly, Paul

2013-01-01

Tutoring is commonly employed to prevent early reading failure, and evidence suggests that it can have a positive effect. This article presents findings from a large-scale ("n" = 734) randomized controlled trial evaluation of the effect of "Time to Read"--a volunteer tutoring program aimed at children aged 8 to 9 years--on…

"I Would Study Harder if I Was a Girl": Gendered Narratives of Low-Achieving Male and High-Achieving Female EFL Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Hangyan; Luk, Jasmine

2014-01-01

Informed by a social and critical turn of reading practices and a poststructuralist paradigm of gender, this study delved into the commonly held belief that reading and language learning is a feminine domain, and examined the connection between the construction of gendered subjectivities and English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) reading practices…

Treatment for Alexia with Agraphia Following Left Ventral Occipito-Temporal Damage: Strengthening Orthographic Representations Common to Reading and Spelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Esther S.; Rising, Kindle; Rapcsak, Steven Z.; Beeson, Pélagie M.

2015-01-01

Purpose: Damage to left ventral occipito-temporal cortex can give rise to written language impairment characterized by pure alexia/letter-by-letter (LBL) reading, as well as surface alexia and agraphia. The purpose of this study was to examine the therapeutic effects of a combined treatment approach to address concurrent LBL reading with surface…

Beach Books: 2013-2014. What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read Outside Class?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thorne, Ashley; Turscak, Marilee; Wood, Peter

2014-01-01

Assigning a summer reading to entering freshmen is a growing trend at hundreds of American colleges and universities. Colleges typically pick one book and ask students to read it outside their courses. Many invite the author to help kick off the year by speaking on campus at convocation. Most colleges see the key purpose of a common reading…

CATTS (Computer Assisted Teacher Training System) Technology in Analyzing Observational Data from Public School Classrooms: A Study of Interactive Tactics and Decisions of Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, William W.

Prompting of reading errors is a common pattern of teaching behavior occurring in reading groups. Teachers' tactics in responding to pupil errors during oral reading in public school classrooms were analyzed with the assistance of the technology of the Computer Assisted Teacher Training System (CATTS) to formulate hypotheses about teacher decision…

Academic Text Features and Reading in English as a Second Language

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-08-29

students rely on a number of compensatory reading strategies. Commonly cited strategies include reading assisted by an English dictionary , asking peers for...Armbruster (1985), while concerned with monolingual students, offer informative suggestions that can be extended to breach this gap. They outline...attention to text information is positively affected by signaling devices among monolingual subjects. Goldman (1988) has reported that ESL college stujoi

Effects of Systematic and Strategic Analogy-Based Phonics on Grade 2 Students' Word Reading and Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Thomas G.

2005-01-01

Fifteen regular grade 2 teachers used a set of 150 written lessons that were designed to develop, over the course of a school year, low and normally achieving students' ability to decode by analogy (i.e., to read unknown words using known words). The lessons provided (1) a planned sequence for teaching phonic elements including common spelling…

Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: the serial nature of recall and the effect of test expectancy.

PubMed

Bhatarah, Parveen; Ward, Geoff; Tan, Lydia

2008-01-01

In two experiments, we examined the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall (ISR), using a within-subjects (Experiment 1) and a between-subjects (Experiment 2) design. In both experiments, participants read aloud lists of eight words and were precued or postcued to respond using free recall or ISR. The serial position curves were U-shaped for free recall and showed extended primacy effects with little or no recency for ISR, and there was little or no difference between recall for the precued and the postcued conditions. Critically, analyses of the output order showed that although the participants started their recall from different list positions in the two tasks, the degree to which subsequent recall was serial in a forward order was strikingly similar. We argue that recalling in a serial forward order is a general characteristic of memory and that performance on ISR and free recall is underpinned by common memory mechanisms.

Attention and perceptual implicit memory: effects of selective versus divided attention and number of visual objects.

PubMed

Mulligan, Neil W

2002-08-01

Extant research presents conflicting results on whether manipulations of attention during encoding affect perceptual priming. Two suggested mediating factors are type of manipulation (selective vs divided) and whether attention is manipulated across multiple objects or within a single object. Words printed in different colors (Experiment 1) or flanked by colored blocks (Experiment 2) were presented at encoding. In the full-attention condition, participants always read the word, in the unattended condition they always identified the color, and in the divided-attention conditions, participants attended to both word identity and color. Perceptual priming was assessed with perceptual identification and explicit memory with recognition. Relative to the full-attention condition, attending to color always reduced priming. Dividing attention between word identity and color, however, only disrupted priming when these attributes were presented as multiple objects (Experiment 2) but not when they were dimensions of a common object (Experiment 1). On the explicit test, manipulations of attention always affected recognition accuracy.

Orthographic and Phonological Form Interference during Silent Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Iya Khelm; Witzel, Naoko; Witzel, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

This study reports 2 eye-tracking experiments investigating form interference during sentence-level silent reading. The items involved reduced and unreduced relative clauses (RCs) with words that were orthographically and phonologically similar "(injection-infection"; O+P+, Experiment 1) as well as with words that were orthographically…

A Case Study Investigating Secondary Science Teachers' Perceptions of Science Literacy Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blackmon, Phyllis Ann

This project study addressed the lack of inclusion of discipline literacy pedagogy in secondary classrooms in a rural school district in eastern North Carolina. Discipline literacy practices are recommended in the Common Core Standards for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. The district had implemented content area reading strategies across content areas, yet no significant progress in secondary students' reading abilities had been demonstrated in statewide or national assessments. The conceptual framework that drove this study was disciplinary literacy, founded by the literacy research of Shanahan, Shanahan, and Zygouris-Coe. Within a qualitative case study method, this investigation of 8 secondary science teachers' experiences teaching literacy during content instruction focused on practices of embedding science-specific reading strategies into lessons and factors that influence teachers' decisions to participate in professional development to advance their learning of discipline-specific literacy methods. Data were collected and triangulated using a focus group and 8 individual interviews. Data from both methods were analyzed into codes and categories that developed into emergent themes. Findings from the focus group and individual interviews revealed that the science teachers possessed limited knowledge of science-specific reading strategies; used random, general literacy practices; and had completed inadequate professional development on science-related topics. Positive change may occur if district leaders support teachers in expanding their knowledge and application of discipline literacy strategies through participation in discipline literacy-focused professional development. The study may provide educators and researchers a deeper understanding of disciplinary literacy and increase research on the topic.

Underlying skills of oral and silent reading.

PubMed

van den Boer, Madelon; van Bergen, Elsje; de Jong, Peter F

2014-12-01

Many studies have examined reading and reading development. The majority of these studies, however, focused on oral reading rather than on the more dominant silent reading mode. Similarly, it is common practice to assess oral reading abilities rather than silent reading abilities in schools and in diagnosis of reading impairments. More important, insights gained through examinations of oral reading tend to be generalized to silent reading. In the current study, we examined whether such generalizations are justified. We directly compared oral and silent reading fluency by examining whether these reading modes relate to the same underlying skills. In total, 132 fourth graders read words, sentences, and text orally, and 123 classmates read the same material silently. As underlying skills, we considered phonological awareness, rapid naming, and visual attention span. All skills correlated significantly with both reading modes. Phonological awareness contributed equally to oral and silent reading. Rapid naming, however, correlated more strongly with oral reading than with silent reading. Visual attention span correlated equally strongly with both reading modes but showed a significant unique contribution only to silent reading. In short, we showed that oral and silent reading indeed are fairly similar reading modes, based on the relations with reading-related cognitive skills. However, we also found differences that warrant caution in generalizing findings across reading modes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Applications and Interventions to Improve Basic Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gove, Amber, Ed.; Wetterberg, Anna, Ed.

2011-01-01

This book highlights the experience of Liberia in both assessing and improving reading in primary schools. As a result of an Early Grade Reading Assessment, the Ministry of Education and partners, including the United States Agency for International Development, came together to identify and develop strategies for improving reading in schools.…

Eye Position and Word Identification during Reading. Technical Report No. 333.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConkie, George W.; Hogaboam, Thomas W.

To investigate the relationship between the location of the words being read and the location of the eyes in the text, three experiments were conducted using the Disappearing Text Technique with college students. This was done by occasionally removing the text during reading and having the reader report the last word that had been read.…

Getting Students to Read: Anticipation Guides as Tools to Encourage Engagement with Academic Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaback, Suzanne

2012-01-01

Supporting the reading development of college students is the responsibility of all professors. As experts in the field, with experience navigating and interpreting readings in a particular discipline, professors are obligated to think of themselves as master artisans apprenticing their students to the craft of reading. Texts in all subject areas…

UAE University Male Students' Interests Impact on Reading and Writing Performance and Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al Murshidi, Ghadah

2014-01-01

The study examined the impact of the conjunction of structured journal writing and reading for pleasure on students' reading and writing skills. Forty male students from UAE University participated in the study. The participants are of different academic abilities, majors and nationalities. Many of them have little experience with reading for…

The Poet, the Child and the Blackbird: Aesthetic Reading and Spiritual Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, David I.

2004-01-01

This article explores the potential and limitations of Louise Rosenblatt's account of aesthetic reading as a basis for understanding the relationship between literary experience and spiritual development. It does so by examining a particular act of reading involving a poem by Ernst Jandl in the light of Rosenblatt's account of "aesthetic reading"…

Word Reading Strategy Development of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Victoria

2012-01-01

Siegler's (1996) overlapping waves model of strategy development applied to reading posits that children use multiple strategies to read words from the earliest stage of reading development, that these strategies coexist over a long period of time, and that experience results in gradual change in the strategies children use and the…

Using Multilevel Modeling for Change to Assess Early Children's Reading Growth over Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xing; O'Connell, Ann A.

2008-01-01

Childhood is the crucial period for early children's reading ability building. Former research (Hanson & Farrell, 1995) found that early reading experience had a positive and long-term effect on reading competence for high school seniors in the future. Therefore, it is of great importance for researchers to understand children's initial reading…

How Motivation is Learned: A Neurological Explanation. Preconvention Institute 7; Brain Functions in Reading and Reading Disability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, John A. R.

If motivation to read fails to develop, reading failure is the outcome. All of us have very delicately balanced neural systems for integrating incoming sensory inputs, evaluating their significance in the light of past experience, and storing the learning for future use. Autistic and hyperkinetic children apparently have unbalanced neurological…

Recognition and Recall Performance Both Benefit from the Production Effect with Content-Specific Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rumbaugh, Christopher M.; Landau, Joshua D.

2018-01-01

Two experiments assessed how reading aloud versus reading silently would benefit recognition and recall performance of content-specific vocabulary (i.e., the production effect). Participants studied 30 terms from an American history curriculum by reading half of the vocabulary aloud, while the remaining words were read silently. After a brief…

The Impact of Reading Purposes on Text Processing Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Ruiqi

2011-01-01

Readers' reading purpose is of great significance to their use of text processing strategies, their achievement in recall and reading comprehension in L1 reading research. To test its role in EFL learning, the author conducted an experiment to 18 EFL Chinese learners of English. Think-aloud and written recall methods were adopted and the result…

Reading, Readin', and Skimming: Preadolescent Girls Navigate the Sociocultural Landscapes of Books and Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graff, Jennifer M.

2010-01-01

This article shares the voices of preadolescent girls as they participated in an eight-month book selection study which enabled them to be active agents in their book and reading experiences. The girls, school-identified as struggling readers and self-identified as resistant readers, complicate current notions of reading, as influenced by…

Vocabulary Development: How Deaf Individuals Can Learn to Use the Information Given.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Freyd, Pamela

To determine if people analyze words in online reading, an experiment was conducted with 12 congenitally deaf, second generation sign language users with a reading level of 6.64 on a standardized reading achievement test. The hearing controls included seventh and eighth grade students who were matched for reading level. Both groups were split in…

Black Deaf Individuals' Reading Skills: Influence of ASL, Culture, Family Characteristics, Reading Experience, and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Candace; Clark, M. Diane; Musyoka, Millicent M.; Anderson, Melissa L.; Gilbert, Gizelle L.; Agyen, Selina; Hauser, Peter C.

2010-01-01

Previous research on the reading abilities of Deaf individuals from various cultural groups suggests that Black Deaf and Hispanic Deaf individuals lag behind their White Deaf peers. The present study compared the reading skills of Black Deaf and White Deaf individuals, investigating the influence of American Sign Language (ASL), culture, family…

Reading with a Purpose: Communicative Reading Tasks for the Foreign Language Classroom. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knutson, Elizabeth M.

In describing reading proficiency--the relative difficulty or ease that an individual reader experiences reading a particular text--researchers have recognized the importance of both text- and reader-based factors. This digest focuses on the factor of purpose, as determined by the reader or the instructional context. Having a purpose means having…

Lectura y Vida: Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura (Reading and Life: Latin American Reading Magazine). 1996.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lectura y Vida: Revista Latinoamericana de Lectura, 1996

1996-01-01

The four 1996 issues of the journal, written entirely in Spanish and intended for reading teachers, include articles on these topics: design of the school and classroom environment for reading; a university experiment in cooperative learning and learning strategies; use of portfolios for evaluation of student work; evaluation of reading…

Increasing Teacher Mathematical Talk during Shared Book Reading in the Preschool Classroom: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hojnoski, Robin; Polignano, Joy; Columba, Helen Lynn

2016-01-01

Research Findings: Shared book reading provides opportunities for adults to engage in literacy-related interactions with children in meaningful ways. Research has examined various dimensions of adult and child behavior during shared book-reading interactions with some focus on how book type affects the reading experience. Little research, however,…

Reading Disabilities and PASS Reading Enhancement Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahapatra, Shamita

2016-01-01

Children experience difficulties in reading either because they fail to decode the words and thus are unable to comprehend the text or simply fail to comprehend the text even if they are able to decode the words and read them out. Failure in word decoding results from a failure in phonological coding of written information, whereas reading…

MetaMap: An atlas of metatranscriptomic reads in human disease-related RNA-seq data.

PubMed

Simon, L M; Karg, S; Westermann, A J; Engel, M; Elbehery, A H A; Hense, B; Heinig, M; Deng, L; Theis, F J

2018-06-12

With the advent of the age of big data in bioinformatics, large volumes of data and high performance computing power enable researchers to perform re-analyses of publicly available datasets at an unprecedented scale. Ever more studies imply the microbiome in both normal human physiology and a wide range of diseases. RNA sequencing technology (RNA-seq) is commonly used to infer global eukaryotic gene expression patterns under defined conditions, including human disease-related contexts, but its generic nature also enables the detection of microbial and viral transcripts. We developed a bioinformatic pipeline to screen existing human RNA-seq datasets for the presence of microbial and viral reads by re-inspecting the non-human-mapping read fraction. We validated this approach by recapitulating outcomes from 6 independent controlled infection experiments of cell line models and comparison with an alternative metatranscriptomic mapping strategy. We then applied the pipeline to close to 150 terabytes of publicly available raw RNA-seq data from >17,000 samples from >400 studies relevant to human disease using state-of-the-art high performance computing systems. The resulting data of this large-scale re-analysis are made available in the presented MetaMap resource. Our results demonstrate that common human RNA-seq data, including those archived in public repositories, might contain valuable information to correlate microbial and viral detection patterns with diverse diseases. The presented MetaMap database thus provides a rich resource for hypothesis generation towards the role of the microbiome in human disease. Additionally, codes to process new datasets and perform statistical analyses are made available at https://github.com/theislab/MetaMap.

A Read-Aloud for English Classrooms (Read It Aloud).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Judy S.; Cantrell, R. Jeffrey

1996-01-01

Presents a read-aloud from Lois Lowry's novel "Anastasia Krupnik" showing how Anastasia's first experience writing a poem helped form negative attitudes. Discusses the selections and offers suggestions for teaching poetry and for integrating poetry in other classrooms. (SR)

G-CNV: A GPU-Based Tool for Preparing Data to Detect CNVs with Read-Depth Methods.

PubMed

Manconi, Andrea; Manca, Emanuele; Moscatelli, Marco; Gnocchi, Matteo; Orro, Alessandro; Armano, Giuliano; Milanesi, Luciano

2015-01-01

Copy number variations (CNVs) are the most prevalent types of structural variations (SVs) in the human genome and are involved in a wide range of common human diseases. Different computational methods have been devised to detect this type of SVs and to study how they are implicated in human diseases. Recently, computational methods based on high-throughput sequencing (HTS) are increasingly used. The majority of these methods focus on mapping short-read sequences generated from a donor against a reference genome to detect signatures distinctive of CNVs. In particular, read-depth based methods detect CNVs by analyzing genomic regions with significantly different read-depth from the other ones. The pipeline analysis of these methods consists of four main stages: (i) data preparation, (ii) data normalization, (iii) CNV regions identification, and (iv) copy number estimation. However, available tools do not support most of the operations required at the first two stages of this pipeline. Typically, they start the analysis by building the read-depth signal from pre-processed alignments. Therefore, third-party tools must be used to perform most of the preliminary operations required to build the read-depth signal. These data-intensive operations can be efficiently parallelized on graphics processing units (GPUs). In this article, we present G-CNV, a GPU-based tool devised to perform the common operations required at the first two stages of the analysis pipeline. G-CNV is able to filter low-quality read sequences, to mask low-quality nucleotides, to remove adapter sequences, to remove duplicated read sequences, to map the short-reads, to resolve multiple mapping ambiguities, to build the read-depth signal, and to normalize it. G-CNV can be efficiently used as a third-party tool able to prepare data for the subsequent read-depth signal generation and analysis. Moreover, it can also be integrated in CNV detection tools to generate read-depth signals.

Gamma-oscillations modulated by picture naming and word reading: Intracranial recording in epileptic patients

PubMed Central

Wu, Helen C.; Nagasawa, Tetsuro; Brown, Erik C.; Juhasz, Csaba; Rothermel, Robert; Hoechstetter, Karsten; Shah, Aashit; Mittal, Sandeep; Fuerst, Darren; Sood, Sandeep; Asano, Eishi

2011-01-01

Objective We measured cortical gamma-oscillations in response to visual-language tasks consisting of picture naming and word reading in an effort to better understand human visual-language pathways. Methods We studied six patients with focal epilepsy who underwent extraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) recording. Patients were asked to overtly name images presented sequentially in the picture naming task and to overtly read written words in the reading task. Results Both tasks commonly elicited gamma-augmentation (maximally at 80–100 Hz) on ECoG in the occipital, inferior-occipital-temporal and inferior-Rolandic areas, bilaterally. Picture naming, compared to reading task, elicited greater gamma-augmentation in portions of pre-motor areas as well as occipital and inferior-occipital-temporal areas, bilaterally. In contrast, word reading elicited greater gamma-augmentation in portions of bilateral occipital, left occipital-temporal and left superior-posterior-parietal areas. Gamma-attenuation was elicited by both tasks in portions of posterior cingulate and ventral premotor-prefrontal areas bilaterally. The number of letters in a presented word was positively correlated to the degree of gamma-augmentation in the medial occipital areas. Conclusions Gamma-augmentation measured on ECoG identified cortical areas commonly and differentially involved in picture naming and reading tasks. Longer words may activate the primary visual cortex for the more peripheral field. Significance The present study increases our understanding of the visual-language pathways. PMID:21498109

Die another day: the obstacles facing fat people in accessing quality healthcare.

PubMed

Pausé, Cat

2014-01-01

In this issue of Narrative Inquiries in Bioethics, fat individuals share their healthcare experiences. Through reading the narratives, it becomes clear that access to proper healthcare is often blocked for fat patients by a variety of things, including shame and fat stigma. From physical spaces in which they do not fit, to doctors who diagnose all of their problems as 'fat', similar themes are echoed across the stories. And common are the refrains for better treatment, less shame, and access to evidenced based care from educated providers. In this manuscript, I highlight common themes from the stories and integrate them with themes from the literature. I allow the two dissenting narratives to suggest other ways of thinking about fatness and well-being. And I conclude by suggesting ways to provide better access to quality healthcare for fat individuals.

Multiplexing of ChIP-Seq Samples in an Optimized Experimental Condition Has Minimal Impact on Peak Detection.

PubMed

Kacmarczyk, Thadeous J; Bourque, Caitlin; Zhang, Xihui; Jiang, Yanwen; Houvras, Yariv; Alonso, Alicia; Betel, Doron

2015-01-01

Multiplexing samples in sequencing experiments is a common approach to maximize information yield while minimizing cost. In most cases the number of samples that are multiplexed is determined by financial consideration or experimental convenience, with limited understanding on the effects on the experimental results. Here we set to examine the impact of multiplexing ChIP-seq experiments on the ability to identify a specific epigenetic modification. We performed peak detection analyses to determine the effects of multiplexing. These include false discovery rates, size, position and statistical significance of peak detection, and changes in gene annotation. We found that, for histone marker H3K4me3, one can multiplex up to 8 samples (7 IP + 1 input) at ~21 million single-end reads each and still detect over 90% of all peaks found when using a full lane for sample (~181 million reads). Furthermore, there are no variations introduced by indexing or lane batch effects and importantly there is no significant reduction in the number of genes with neighboring H3K4me3 peaks. We conclude that, for a well characterized antibody and, therefore, model IP condition, multiplexing 8 samples per lane is sufficient to capture most of the biological signal.

Study/experimental/research design: much more than statistics.

PubMed

Knight, Kenneth L

2010-01-01

The purpose of study, experimental, or research design in scientific manuscripts has changed significantly over the years. It has evolved from an explanation of the design of the experiment (ie, data gathering or acquisition) to an explanation of the statistical analysis. This practice makes "Methods" sections hard to read and understand. To clarify the difference between study design and statistical analysis, to show the advantages of a properly written study design on article comprehension, and to encourage authors to correctly describe study designs. The role of study design is explored from the introduction of the concept by Fisher through modern-day scientists and the AMA Manual of Style. At one time, when experiments were simpler, the study design and statistical design were identical or very similar. With the complex research that is common today, which often includes manipulating variables to create new variables and the multiple (and different) analyses of a single data set, data collection is very different than statistical design. Thus, both a study design and a statistical design are necessary. Scientific manuscripts will be much easier to read and comprehend. A proper experimental design serves as a road map to the study methods, helping readers to understand more clearly how the data were obtained and, therefore, assisting them in properly analyzing the results.

Multiplexing of ChIP-Seq Samples in an Optimized Experimental Condition Has Minimal Impact on Peak Detection

PubMed Central

Kacmarczyk, Thadeous J.; Bourque, Caitlin; Zhang, Xihui; Jiang, Yanwen; Houvras, Yariv; Alonso, Alicia; Betel, Doron

2015-01-01

Multiplexing samples in sequencing experiments is a common approach to maximize information yield while minimizing cost. In most cases the number of samples that are multiplexed is determined by financial consideration or experimental convenience, with limited understanding on the effects on the experimental results. Here we set to examine the impact of multiplexing ChIP-seq experiments on the ability to identify a specific epigenetic modification. We performed peak detection analyses to determine the effects of multiplexing. These include false discovery rates, size, position and statistical significance of peak detection, and changes in gene annotation. We found that, for histone marker H3K4me3, one can multiplex up to 8 samples (7 IP + 1 input) at ~21 million single-end reads each and still detect over 90% of all peaks found when using a full lane for sample (~181 million reads). Furthermore, there are no variations introduced by indexing or lane batch effects and importantly there is no significant reduction in the number of genes with neighboring H3K4me3 peaks. We conclude that, for a well characterized antibody and, therefore, model IP condition, multiplexing 8 samples per lane is sufficient to capture most of the biological signal. PMID:26066343

Masked Priming Is Abstract in the Left and Right Visual Fields

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowers, Jeffrey S.; Turner, Emma L.

2005-01-01

Two experiments assessed masked priming for words presented to the left and right visual fields in a lexical decision task. In both Experiments, the same magnitude and pattern of priming was obtained for visually similar ("kiss"-"KISS") and dissimilar ("read"-"READ") prime-target pairs. These findings…

Effects of Strategy Instructions on Learning from Text and Pictures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leopold, Claudia; Doerner, Marcel; Leutner, Detlev; Dutke, Stephan

2015-01-01

In two experiments, we compared effects of instructions that encourage learners to create referential connections between words and pictures with instructions that distract learners from creating referential connections. In Experiment 1, students read a scientific text under four conditions. In the text-picture condition, students read the…

A Paired-Associates Analysis of Reading Acquisition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muller, Douglas G.

A major objective of this study was to seek the relationship of principles derived from traditional paired-associates transfer experiments as applied to the reading task. In this experiment 10 subjects from upper-division education courses, all volunteers, received various types of preliminary training with letter stimuli; then all subjects…

Semantics Does Not Need a Processing License from Syntax in Reading Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Yaxu; Yu, Jing; Boland, Julie E.

2010-01-01

Two event-related brain potential experiments were conducted to investigate whether there is a functional primacy of syntactic structure building over semantic processes during Chinese sentence reading. In both experiments, we found that semantic interpretation proceeded despite the impossibility of a well-formed syntactic analysis. In Experiment…

Adventures in Ecological Reading, Language Arts (Experimental); 5365.02.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mary, Charlotta B.

Presented is a reading-discussion, activities-experiences course with group and individual projects and experiments especially recommended for students interested in ecology and/or related sciences. Special emphasis is placed on Marine Science. Several texts, including Rachel Carson's "The Edge of the Sea,""The Sea Around Us,"…

Priming Lexical Stress in Reading Italian Aloud

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sulpizio, Simone; Job, Remo; Burani, Cristina

2012-01-01

Two experiments using a lexical priming paradigm investigated how stress information is processed in reading Italian words. In both experiments, prime and target words either shared the stress pattern or they had different stress patterns. We expected that lexical activation of the prime would favour the assignment of congruent stress to the…

Processing Relative Clauses in Supportive Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedorenko, Evelina; Piantadosi, Steve; Gibson, Edward

2012-01-01

Results from two self-paced reading experiments in English are reported in which subject- and object-extracted relative clauses (SRCs and ORCs, respectively) were presented in contexts that support both types of relative clauses (RCs). Object-extracted versions were read more slowly than subject-extracted versions across both experiments. These…

Reading While Listening: A Linear Model of Selective Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Maryanne

1977-01-01

Two experiments are described. One measured performance of subjects on pairs of concurrent verbal tasks, monitoring sentences for certain items while reading. Secondary task performance combined with a primary task is proportional to its performance in isolation. The second experiment checked certain results of the first. (CHK)

Early Literacy Storytimes @ Your Library[R]: Partnering with Caregivers for Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghoting, Saroj Nadkarni; Martin-Diaz, Pamela

2005-01-01

Research confirms that reading success starts with young children enjoying library storytimes! Preschoolers' earliest experiences with books and reading are important; parent/caregiver knowledge can build on those experiences, according to research from the National Institute of Child Health & Development, conducted with PLA and ALSC, the…