The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of pictures on the literal reading comprehension of average second graders. The study attempted to discover whether or not there were differences in comprehension when second graders read in three alternate reading conditions: text without pictures (T), text with pictures (TP), and a page of text alternating with a picture page (TAP). The study also attempted to discover whether possible differences in comprehension were more significant for either average or above-average readers.In order to measure differences in amount of comprehension in the three reading conditions, the researcher constructed an instrument consisting of three comparable passages, pictures corresponding to the passages, and ten questions covering the content of each passage. Each subject was asked to read three different passages in three different reading conditions. The ten questions were asked after each of the passages was read. The scores from the comprehension questions became the raw data of the study.The data were analyzed in a 3X3X2 Factorial Analysis of Variance. The factors were reading condition with three levels (T. TP, and TAP), three orders of presentation of the passages, and reading ability with two levels (average and above-average readers).Results indicated that all subjects comprehended equal amounts of content in the three reading conditions (F=.34 at .71 probability). Further, both average and above-average readers were equally unaffected by the presence of pictures in their reading materials (F=.17 at .84 probability).An implication of the study is that teachers should clarify their reason for using pictures in beginning reading instruction. Although pictures may prove to be helpful in fulfilling various affective instructional purposes such as building interest in reading, the pictures do not seem to be a valid method of increasing literal reading comprehension.

This study compared the effects of two comprehension monitoring strategies on the reading comprehension awareness in expository text read by third and fifth grade students. A secondary purpose was to determine if the comprehension monitoring strategies influenced reading comprehension achievement. The effects of gender were also studied. The participants were 51 third grade students and 57 fifth grade students from six intact classrooms in four elementary schools in a midwestern school district.One third and one fifth grade classroom was randomly assigned to each of the two experimental groups and the one control group. During a 4-week intervention, one experimental group was taught the comprehension monitoring strategy K-W-L; the other the comprehension monitoring strategy Predicting/Evaluating. The control group read the same expository text as the experimental groups during sustained silent reading for the 4-week period with no instruction in a comprehension monitoring strategy. A metacognitive instrument and a standardized norm-referenced test were used as pretest (covariate) and posttest (dependent variable) measures. Two separate analyses of covariance were used to address the four research questions. The following results were suggested.1. Third grade males with no strategy instruction outperformed third grade males with strategy instruction in reading comprehension awareness.2. Fifth graders outperformed third graders in reading comprehension awareness regardless of gender and regardless of strategy taught for comprehension monitoring.3. Females outperformed males in reading comprehension awareness regardless of grade level and regardless of strategy taught for comprehension monitoring.4. Third and fifth graders achieved equally well in reading achievement whether or not they received instruction and practice using a comprehension monitoring strategy.5. Males and females achieved equally well in reading achievement whether or not they received instruction and practice using a comprehension monitoring strategy.6. Third graders outperformed fifth graders in reading achievement regardless of gender and regardless of strategy taught for comprehension monitoring. / Department of Elementary Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of written prequestioning on the reading comprehension of fifth grade students. The sample for this study consisted of 144 fifth grade students randomly selected from six elementary schools in Muncie, Indiana. These students ranged in reading ability from 3.0 to 9.0 on the reading subtest of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.The 144 students were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Half of the students (question-read-question group) received questions to guide their reading prior to each of the reading selections, while the other half (read-question group) did not. The two groups were equated on the basis of (1) levels of reading ability and (2) on the basis of sex.The reading material used in this study consisted of three reading passages. Each of the passages was approximately 1025 words in length. The passages were judged to be at the fourth, fifth, and sixth grade reading levels. Twenty multiple choice questions over each of the reading passages were constructed. The questions were classified as recall, inference or evaluative types of comprehension questions according to Barrett's taxonomy. The reliability coefficients (KR-20) for the three tests were .73 for the fourth grade questions, .74 for the fifth grade questions, and .76 for the sixth grade questions.Seven indices of comprehension were used with the reading materials. These seven indices were measures of: (1) total of all the materials, (2) the recall questions, (3) the inference questions, (4) the evaluative questions, (5) the fourth grade reading level materials, (6) the fifth grade reading level materials, and (7) the sixth grade reading level materials. Mean scores for the seven indices of comprehension were computed for the total sample, male, female, high reading ability students, average reading ability students, and low reading ability students. Comparisons of these mean scores were obtained by the utilization of the statistical technique of analysis of variance.Twenty-one null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of confidence to ascertain the effect of prequestioning on the reading comprehension of the students taking part in the study.No significant differences were found among any of the mean scores of the seven indices of comprehension for the total sample, male, female, high reading ability students, average reading ability students, or low reading ability students. Nor were any interactions found between the two groups and the factors of sex, reading ability, and question type.It was concluded from the results of the analysis of data that the prequestioning technique utilized in this study had no significant effect on the reading comprehension of the fifth grade students.

Since the early 1980s, attitudes toward literature in English language teaching (ELT) have undergone two major changes. First, after a long period in which literature was essentially excluded from ELT, it began to be seen in a more favourable light. Second, literature began to be viewed more as a tool in ELT, rather than as the end towards which ELT students should be led. These changes in attitude have led to a surge of interest in literature in ELT, particularly in the context of Communicative language teaching (CLT). This study examines, in several ways, the nature and the extent of this renewed interest in literature. The study explores the evolution of these changes, and puts them in perspective by creating various classifications for current types of approaches to literature in ELT and CLT. It also investigates the degree to which interest in literature in ELT has moved from research and scholarship to actual practice among teachers. In addition, it attempts to extend literature's applications in CLT by experimenting with the use of literature in a domain of CLT generally regarded as unsuited to literature-based teaching: English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The study also offers a series of proposals through which further integration of literature and CLT can take place.

The premise of the Simple View of Reading is that reading comprehension is the product of two components – decoding and language comprehension. Each component is necessary but not sufficient. To support teachers in identifying end-of-second-grade students who may have difficulties in one or both of the components, parallel listening comprehension and reading comprehension screening measures were developed and investigated in two preliminary pilot studies and one large-scale administration. The first pilot study, conducted with 41 end-of-second-grade students, established administration times for the listening comprehension screening (LCS) and the reading comprehension screening (RCS) and confirmed the appropriateness of the 75 items on each of the measures. The second pilot study, conducted with 12 end-of-second- grade students with varying reading levels, demonstrated that the LCS and RCS could differentiate readers with good comprehension from readers with poor comprehension. The large-scale administration, conducted with 699 end-of-second-grade students, aided in the development of shorter final versions of the LCS and RCS and provided data to determine the score reliability and validity of the final versions of the measures, each of which had 42 items. Item response theory (IRT) was used to identify the most apposite and discriminating items for use on the final versions of the LCS and RCS. Score reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) on the final LCS was estimated to be .89 and was estimated to be .93 on the final RCS. Various sources provided content and criterion-related validity evidence. In particular, criterion-related validity evidence included strong correlations with the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests and strong sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive indices. Construct validity evidence included group differentiation and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), all of which supported a single underlying construct on the LCS and a single underlying construct on the RCS. In a subset of 214 end-of-second-grade students from the larger study, partial correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses supported the discriminant validity of the LCS and RCS as measures of comprehension. The listening and reading comprehension screening measures will assist second-grade teachers in identifying student learning needs that cannot be identified with reading-only comprehension tests.

No description available.

This research aimed at understanding the reading practices of two groups of international postgraduate students across three semesters. The research was underpinned by a conceptual framework incorporating metacognitive concepts with framing theory. The methodology involved individual interviews using academic text and pair think-alouds followed by retrospective interviews using general-interest texts. The interviews and pair think-alouds took place at an Australian university with Thai and IndianBangladeshi postgraduate students and at university campuses in Thailand and India. The data selected from the interviews and pair think-alouds revealed significant changes in reading practices between first and third semester at an Australian university and the participants' awareness of these changes. The participants' reflections also provided some explanation for the differences in their cognitive and metacognitive strategy use. The research study was important because, at the postgraduate level, students are faced with complex text interpretation processes. International students, in addition, have to make a significant cultural/study shift; not only do they have to become accustomed to the reading of academic texts using discipline-specific patterns but often have to adjust to different conventions used by authors from cultural backgrounds other than their own. Little is known, in particular, about Thai and Indianmangladeshi postgraduate students' reading experiences in their own countries or how their reading practices change during study at an Australian university. The research findings suggest a dynamic, multi-dimensional, developmental framework for conceptualising international postgraduate students' reading practices in first semester at an Australian university, and the changes in reading practices and the educational and socio-cultural influences on these changes by third semester; the findings, in addition, can inform the debate on literacy levels in the cross-cultural academic environment and can contribute to discussions on such pedagogical issues as reforming of curricular structure, the internationalisation of curricula and the development of more culturally sensitive supervisory frameworks.

Thesis (M.A.)--Missouri State University, 2008. / "May 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-62). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.