Thesis (M.A. (English Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / Reading achievement in South Africa is generally cited as one of the lowest in the world. Whereas general reading challenges and lower reading proficiencies have been adequately expressed in the literature, very little is said about the information-processing strategies between learners who juggle between two distal language systems. In order to fill in this void, this study sought to investigate strategies used in processing-processing strategies among 7th graders when reading both English and Sepedi texts in rural Limpopo and to examine the anaphoric interpretation in Sepedi and English texts, to assess the application of inferencing reading strategies in Sepedi and English text, to determine the role of working memory (recall) in processing texts, to examine the differential comprehension levels in two Sepedi dialect; and also to ascertain recall achievement relationship between these languages. Based on data deduced from self-developed equivalent tests for recall, inference and anaphoric resolution among a research population of 150 (n=150) seventh graders from three geographically dispersed schools in Limpopo Province, both descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse central tendencies, measures of dispersion, and mean differences. The results of the study show a relatively low reading achievement in both languages, with the majority of the participants scoring below 50%. However, there was a differential performance, with statistically significant differences in favour of the Sepedi text. These results thus challenge the commonly held assumption that readers developed higher proficiency in English than they did in African languages (see Pretorius and Mampuru, 2007; Pretorius and Currin, 2010). Moreover, the results showed no statistically significant differences between the schools and Sepedi dialects used in the communities around the schools. In the end, implications for threshold hypothesis and suggestions for bi-literate development, emphasising reading achievement in the home language are offered for adaptations in comparable contexts.

ABSTRACT LINKS AND DISCONNECTS BETWEEN THIRD GRADE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS, KNOWLEDGE, AND PRACTICES REGARDING NONFICTION READING COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION FOR STRUGGLING READERS by Nicole P. Maxwell In the current era of accountability, U. S. teachers face strict demands from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to ensure that all students’ reading achievement meets the requirements of their respective grade levels (Coburn, Pearson, & Woulfin, 2011). These demands are especially stressful when teachers have students who struggle with reading. Regrettably, many students grapple with reading difficulties, particularly with comprehending fiction and nonfiction texts (Allington, 2011). The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and understandings three third grade teachers held concerning nonfiction reading comprehension instruction for struggling readers and how these beliefs and knowledge influenced their pedagogical practices. This qualitative, interpretive case study examined their beliefs using the theoretical lenses of epistemology (Crotty, 2007; Cunningham & Fitzgerald, 1996; Dillon, O’Brien, & Heilman, 2004; Magrini, 2009), social constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978), transactional theory of reading (Rosenblatt, 1994), and the sociocognitive interactive model of reading (Ruddell & Unrau, 2004). The following research questions guided this inquiry: (1) How do third grade teachers support struggling readers when navigating nonfiction texts? (2) What are these third grade teachers’ beliefs and understandings about struggling readers? (3) How do these beliefs influence the third grade teachers’ pedagogical practices with struggling readers? Data collection lasted for five months and involved interviews, classroom observations, teacher debriefs, and the collection of artifacts, including DeFord’s (1985) Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP). Data analysis was conducted using the constant comparative approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The findings in this study revealed links and disconnects between the accommodations teachers believed their struggling readers needed and what they actually provided their struggling readers. These teachers faced pressures of time constraints and a focus on testing, which affected their pedagogical practices. Furthermore, they demonstrated a reliance on content area textbooks and dissatisfaction with the accessibility of nonfiction materials. These findings highlight the need for pre-service and in-service teachers to have access to quality nonfiction materials to use in the classroom and instruction on how to provide nonfiction comprehension instruction to their struggling readers.

Zugl.: Diss.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-71).

The problem of this study was to investigate how good and poor comprehenders utilize passage structure and task instructions to acquire information from a prose passage. To give a more detailed picture of what type of information processing occurred during reading, both verbatim and paraphrase items were used to assess comprehension.There were two strong but nonsignificant patterns in the data for task instructions. Poor readers were sensitive to both attribute and relation instructions. Good readers, however, were not affected by attribute instructions, but were sensitive to relation instructions. The results for good readers tentatively suggest that they encode attributes as a natural part of reading, but only encode relationships when they are specifically instructed to do so. Based on these results, three observations were made. First, good readers appear not to be easily affected by text organization, but poor readers may be aided in comprehension by slight improvements in the organization of the text. Second, all students need more assistance and practice in drawing inferences from the text. Third, written instructions may be a weak aid for increasing the comprehension of poor readers and may help good readers attend to information they would normally miss.

A presente dissertaÃÃo investiga a compreensÃo leitora de estudantes do 3Â ano, ensino mÃdio da rede estadual do CearÃ, focalizando especificamente a classificaÃÃo da compreensÃo com base nos cinco nÃveis de compreensÃo leitora de Barret (1968): compreensÃo literal, reorganizaÃÃo, inferencial, crÃtico e apreciaÃÃo. Nossa investigaÃÃo, no entanto, avaliou somente os nÃveis inferencial e crÃtico. Para cumprir os objetivos da proposta do trabalho, foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliogrÃfica na qual todo o referencial teÃrico faz parte da LinguÃstica textual, alÃm de buscar apoio em aspectos cognitivos, sobretudo no que diz respeito aos modelos de leitura, apoiados pela teoria dos esquemas. O corpus analisado foi composto das respostas a dois questionÃrios de compreensÃo, com oito questÃes cada, fornecidas por vinte e cinco informantes de uma mesma turma do 3Â ano do ensino mÃdio. Partimos do pressuposto de que existem nÃveis de compreensÃo diferenciados, a exemplo da taxonomia de Barret. ApÃs a anÃlise do corpus, foi constatado que os informantes compreenderam bem os textos, uma vez que responderam adequadamente a maior parte das respostas. Outra conclusÃo foi a de que todos os informantes alcanÃaram os nÃveis de compreensÃo inferencial e crÃtico, mesmo que algumas respostas pudessem ter sido mais completas. O que se vislumbrou nas anÃlises dos dados foi a presenÃa, mesmo que incipiente, de algum indÃcio de construÃÃo de inferÃncia, atravÃs da presenÃa de informaÃÃo nÃo presente no texto, bem como indÃcios de reflexÃo crÃtica revelados atravÃs de um juÃzo de verdade ou de valor. Embora nÃo tenhamos localizado tais indÃcios em todas as respostas, houve incidÃncia em todos os informantes / This thesis investigates the reading comprehension of 3Â year in the middle school students in the network state of CearÃ, specifically focusing on the classification of the understanding on the levels of understanding of reader Barret (1968), which lists five levels, the literal comprehension, reorganization, inferential, and critical appraisal. Our research, however, assessed only the inferential and critical levels. To meet the objectives of the proposed work, a literature search was performed on a theoretical framework that is part of Textual Linguistic, and seek support in cognitive aspects, particularly with regard to models of reading, supported by theory of schemes. The corpus analysis was composed of two questionnaires of comprehension, each with eight questions, answered by twenty-five informants from the same class of the 3rd year of high school. Assuming that there are different levels of understanding, such as the taxonomy of Barret. After analyzing the corpus, it was found that the informants understood the texts well, since it responded appropriately to most of the answers. Another conclusion was that all informants have achieved the levels of understanding inferential and critical, even if some answers could have been more complete. What is envisioned in the analysis of data was the presence, even incipient, some indication of the construction of inference, through the presence of information not present in the text, as well as evidence of critical thinking shown by a judge of truth or value. Although we have not found such evidence in all the answers, find them in some, but in all informants

Forskning visar att medier är en central del i samhället eftersom information och underhållning medieras. Barn möter ofta olika typer av texter genom olika medier på fritiden och i skolan. Om elever får koppla sina tidigare erfarenheter till ny information, befästs deras kunskaper på en djupare nivå. Eftersom läsförståelse är en central del i undervisningen bör därför medier integreras i undervisningen. Även Skolverket menar att elevers tidigare erfarenheter ska vara en del av undervisningen. Litteraturstudiens syfte är att utveckla kunskap om hur undervisning i grundskolans tidigare år kan stärka elevers utveckling i läsförståelse med hjälp av olika medier, vilket har lett fram till följande frågeställningar: Hur påverkar medier elevers utveckling av läsförståelse? Hur kan lärare använda medier för att bidra till en utvecklad läsförståelse? Undersökningsmaterialet består av nationellt och internationellt material bestående av sju artiklar, fyra doktorsavhandlingar, en licentiatavhandling samt en antologi. Materialet berör litteraturstudiens syfte och frågeställningar och är vetenskapligt granskade. Av den första frågeställningen har det framkommit att elevers läsförståelse påverkas i relation till medier och motivation. Resultatet visade att elever som hade medier integrerat i undervisning där de läste och tolkade multimodala texter fick en djupare förståelse av texters innehåll och budskap. Genom den andra frågeställningen har det framkommit att medier och elevers tidigare erfarenheter är något som sällan integreras i undervisningen, på grund av avsaknad erfarenhet hos lärare. Resultatet visade även att lärare som undervisar om läsförståelsestrategier explicit med hjälp av medier bidrar till att elever utvecklar sin läsförståelse. / Research shows that media is a central part of society because information and entertainment are mediated. Children often meet different types of texts through different media in their free time and at school. If students can connect their past experiences to new information, their skills are consolidated on a deeper level. Because reading comprehension is a central part of the teaching, media should therefore be integrated into the teaching. The Swedish National Agency of Education also believes that pupils' previous experiences should be part of the teaching. The purpose of the literature study is to develop knowledge about how teaching in primary school's previous years can strengthen students' development in reading comprehension using various media, which has led to the following issues: How does media influence pupils' development of reading comprehension? How can teachers use media to contribute to a developed reading comprehension? The study material consists of national and international material consisting of seven articles, four doctoral dissertations, a licentiate dissertation and anthology. The material concerns the purpose and the issues of the literature study and is scientifically reviewed. From the first question it has been found that pupils' reading comprehension is influenced in relation to media and motivation. The result showed that students who had media integrated in teaching where they read and interpreted multimodal texts gained a deeper understanding of texts content and messages. Through the second issue, it has been found that media and pupils' previous experiences are something that rarely integrates into teaching, due to lack of experience in teachers. The result also showed that teachers who teach explicitly through reading media strategies contribute to students developing their reading comprehension.

The effects of timed readings on recall and comprehension in a child with Asperger's syndrome were examined by employing a multiple-baseline design across two books with reversals. Recall timings consisted of the student's free-say compilation of what she just read. Comprehension tests consisted of the participant's answers to predetermined questions after her recall period. No consequences or feedback was given during any of the conditions. Results indicate that, initially, as the time required to read decreased, the number of unrelated words during the recall period for the two books also decreased. Related words were not as affected. Scores on comprehension tests were high. There was, however, little correspondence between the participant's recall words and the main ideas answered correctly in the comprehension test.

Previous studies show that explicit teaching of reading comprehension strategies is beneficial forpupils’ reading comprehension in EFL. However, there appears to be a lack of studies about the topic in a Swedishcontext. This study investigates how teachers in years 4-6 in one elementary school in Sweden work towardsimproving their pupils’ reading comprehension in EFL. Further, the study explores what perspectives the teachershave on teaching reading comprehension strategies in EFL. The four participating teachers all have a teacher’sdegree and experience with teaching EFL in years 4-6. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteachers and complemented with classrooms observations with two of the interviewed teachers. The results suggestthat the teachers believe teaching reading comprehension strategies in EFL is important. Further, the results indicatethat the participating teachers work with reading comprehension strategies that according to previous studies arebeneficial for pupils’ reading comprehension. In addition, the teachers described working with similar strategiesand teaching methods in the Swedish subject. Therefore, comparative studies between the Swedish subjectand EFL to further investigate if the same reading comprehension strategies are beneficial inboth subjects is recommended. / <p>Engelska</p>

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly experience reading difficulties, especially in reading comprehension. Children with ASD also commonly experience deficits in cognitive processes, including attention, executive functions, inferencing, among other cognitive abilities. In particular, there is evidence that attention and EF abilities are important for reading proficiency and that such deficits in ASD may contribute to reading difficulties in this population, although this area is understudied. The Integrated Model of Reading Comprehension (IMREC) conceptualizes comprehension as the product (i.e., a coherent mental representation of text in the reader’s mind) of automatic (e.g., the availability of recently processed information in working memory) and strategic (e.g., effort for predicting and monitoring text for meaning) processes. As such, it outlines cognitive contributors to reading comprehension, thus making it potentially valuable in the conceptualization of reading comprehension in ASD. The aim of the current study was to investigate underlying cognitive components associated with reading comprehension in children with ASD, as informed by the IMREC model. A systematic review of the association between cognitive variables and reading comprehension in individuals with ASD was conducted. The review included articles published between 2000 and 2020. 1,430 articles were initially screened, and 22 articles met study inclusion criteria and were included in the final review. Results indicated that working memory, intelligence, and verbal memory are important for reading comprehension in ASD, though there is much research to be done in the area, especially around factors such as inference and attention allocation. Future research should utilize more clearly defined samples, theoretically-based cognitive variables, and theoretically-based study design. / Graduate