No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to compare first- and second-language text comprehension across passage types. / Results indicate that there was no main effect for language when the total texts were compared. In contrast, a large difference was found for the type of passage read. Significantly higher recall and inferencing were found on the passages for which subjects had prior knowledge, regardless of the language of presentation. Although global comprehension measures did not reveal differences in text processing, more detailed paragraph-level analyses indicated that text processing differences were present. / Total reading times indicated that there was a large effect for the language in which the passage was read, with significantly longer reading times recorded for passages read in the second language. / These findings were interpreted as an indication that second-language reading comprehension capacity is underestimated. The findings also suggest that the type of passage read influences text comprehension more than the language in which it is read.

This study evaluates beginner readers on three aspects of metalinguistic awareness as measured by Metalinguistic Awareness Interview Schedule (Dreher & Zenge, 1990), the understanding of reading as a meaning-gathering process; the ability to isolate language segments (sentences, words and letters); knowledge of terms used in reading instruction, as well as some basic concepts about print, as measured by the adapted Concepts About Print test (Clay, 1979). Individual interviews were conducted with a socioculturally diverse group of first grade pupils attending two schools on the Upper South Coast of KwaZulu Natal. Whilst considering the performance of the group as a whole, attention was also given to the three different language culture subgroups, and to second language learners who represented 40% of the sample. Consistent with earlier research carried out in other countries the results of this study confirmed that many of these beginner readers had only demonstrated a partial acquisition of metalinguistic abilities and a limited understanding of concepts about print as assessed by the two measurements. These confusions were described and their implications for teaching practice discussed. At the end of the subjects' grade one year a follow-up procedure was conducted to examine academic achievement in various aspects of English, and in Mathematics. In addition, readiness for grade two was also considered. These results indicated that much of the earlier confusion as demonstrated on the two measurement instruments had been resolved through instruction and mediation in the classroom. The implications of the findings, the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further research are discussed. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

This research explores the possibility of transforming teaching/learning practices within the English (primary language) classroom at secondary school level by using a Critical Literacy approach to classroom practice using the South African short story. It acknowledges the limitations associated with the current classroom practice as regards English primary language at most former House of Delegates' schools (HOD) where the researcher is employed as a teacher. This practice is informed largely by a Cultural Heritage approach to the teaching of text and therefore sets out to examine Critical Literacy as an alternative and, arguably a more relevant set of literacy practices. To enable this, an overview of Critical Literacy is presented. In this literacy approach poststructuralist insights are used to investigate relations of power that underpin texts. The study is theoretically located as poststructural and argues that texts have ideological purposes and investigates how the subject is constructed through the discourses that are conveyed by the language (semiotics) of texts. Further the research examines how the current classroom practice at former HOD schools incorporates the use of commercial study guides, which inscribe a simplistic and often crude version of the Cultural Heritage approach, which teacher-colleagues refer to as the 'content-thematic' approach to the teaching of texts. As three South African short stories (part of the repertoire of prescribed literature for in matriculation English in the province KwaZulu-Natal) are selected to explore how poststructuralist insights can be deployed within a Critical Literacy framework, the research first contextualises them in terms of their postcolonial framework, narrative structure and the discourses that underpin them. The postcolonial framework directs attention to the postcolonial discourses that underwrite these three stories. The narratives and discourses inscribed thereby engage with the effects of colonial practices and powers within a Southern African context. By drawing on insights derived from narrative theory, the research undertakes a critical discourse analysis of three short stories which incorporates a focus on the construction of the narratives of the short stories and the reader or subject positioning they intend. In this way the critical analysis of three short stories examines which readings and subjectivities are privileged through these discourses and which are marginalised by the text. In conclusion this research argues for the inclusion of a Critical Literacy approach to classroom practice within the outcomes based national curriculum for education, also known as Curriculum 2005 (Department of Education, 2002). It argues that the curriculum provides a space for the undertaking of a critical approach to textual practice in a more rigorous and concerted manner. It is proposed that Critical Literacy is an integral aspect of a progressive educational initiative - one that is consonant with the goals of a society undergoing political, social and economic transformation and with social justice. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, 2003.

This thesis examined if a combination of variables would yield a higher recall for printed news than previously recorded. Some subjects, after reading a printed news story were exposed to rehearsal (a discussion), a cue (aided recall), a combination of both, and neither variable. It was hypothesized that subjects exposed to a combination of rehearsal an a cue would record the highest net recall, or hypermnesia effect, over subsequent testing and that subjects exposed to either one would record higher net recall than those exposed to neither variable.Subjects exposed to rehearsal and/or a cue did not record a higher net recall, gross recall, or correctly recalled details for the printed news story than those who were not exposed. However, rehearsal and a cue were found to have a significant effect on the amount of errors made by subjects: those exposed to a cue made significantly less errors on the recall test. Suggestions for future research include increasing rehearsal time and using a stronger episodic cue than employed in this study. / Department of Journalism

This study researched the question as to whether reading goals and organizational signals interact to affect comprehension. Organizational signals are literary instruments that make the topic structure more salient and increase the recall for the majority of the topics in a text. Readers have specific goals that they wish to accomplish during reading. Participants read one of two texts, which contained one of three levels of signals: no signals, half signals, and full signals. The participants were assigned a specific goal from one of two main categories of goals: reading for school or reading for pleasure. Significant Text and Goal differences were found, but there was no effect of headings. Participants with the school goal recalled more than did the participants with the pleasure goal. It appears that reading goals do have an effect on the processing characteristics that people use while reading, which affects the amount recalled. / Department of Psychological Science

The constructionist theory has emerged as a leading perspective in the field of reading inferences and makes the assumption that readers cannot generate inferences when text is inconsiderate or lacking coherence. The generalization inference has been documented as allowing the reader to condense multiple, consecutive propositions into a singular macroproposition. Research has shown that the genre of a text can affect the perception and the set of processes used by the reader to comprehend text. In the present study, participants read ten short narratives, eight of which contained generalization inference lexical decision tasks with genre and coherence of text manipulated. Participants were shown to be no more likely to draw the generalization inference from incoherent text when primed by genre, but were shown to be capable of drawing the generalization inference from incoherent text. These results do not support the constructionist hypothesis and suggest that further research is needed. / Department of Psychological Science

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Department of Psychological Science

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between language development and reading ccmprehension found among thirty-three learning disabled students (LD) and thirty-three students in programs supported by Chapter 1 funds. These sixty-six subjects were in grades three through five in eleven elementary schools in Anderson Community Schools, Anderson, Indiana.The relationships between the language features of syntax and semantics, the language systems of listening and speaking and the levels of reading comprehension were assessed with the Test of Language Development - Intermediate (TOLD-I) and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, Level B Form 1. The .05 level of significance was set for acceptance of sixteen null hypotheses.The multivariate analysis of variance, used to determine if an overall difference existed between the groups on the assessment measure, indicated that such a difference did not exist. The two-way analysis of variance between the dependent variables of reading comprehension extended scaled scores and the TOLD-I quotient scores for the LD and Chapter 1 students did not yield significant differences. The Pearson product-moment correlation yielded statistical significance but low correlation coefficients (below .40) for the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (comprehension subtest) extended scaled scores and the TOLD-I quotients of Speaking, Semantics, Syntax, and Spoken language. All sixteen null hypothese were not rejected.