Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1999. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 24, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Margaret S. Steffensen (chair), Jeffrey P. Bakken, William C. Woodson, Charles B. Harris. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 214-240) and abstract. Also available in print.

Den här studien syftar till att undersöka läsintresset och faktorer som påverkar läsningen hos elever i årskurs nio på en högstadieskola i Sverige. Studien syftar även till att ta reda på hur lärare vid samma skola arbetar med läsning av skönlitteratur och hur de definierar begreppen läsintresse och läslust. De metoder som använts är en kvantitativ metod med enkäter samt en kvalitativ metod med intervjuer av lärarna. Resultatet visar att majoriteten av eleverna inte tycker om att läsa alls och när de väl läser är det främst material från elektroniska källor så som websidor och bloggar. Alla lärare som intervjuades har märkt av elevernas minskade läsintresse och de arbetar på varierande sätt för att främja sina elevers läsintresse. / This study aims to investigate the interest of reading and which factors that affect reading among students in grade nine in a Swedish school. The study also aims at finding out how teachers at the same school work with the skill of reading. How the teachers define the terms interest of reading and pleasure of reading will also be defined. The methods used are a quantitative method through surveys as well as a qualitative method with interviews of the teachers. The results of the study show that a majority of the students do not enjoy reading at all and when they read their reading is mostly from electronic sources such as websites and blogs. The teachers who were interviewed all have noticed a decrease in the interest of reading among students and they use a variety of methods to increase the interest of reading among their students.

It is well documented that reading plays a crucial role in success at school and beyond. Studies indicate that reading not only contributes to academic performance, but also enriches vocabulary. Positive reading attitudes and the will to read are factors that determine whether or not students read at school. However, not much reading research has been conducted in Swaziland. Using Form 5 learners from four public schools, this study explores the relationships between reading ability, vocabulary, reading attitudes, habits and access and academic performance among Form 5 Swazi learners. To complement the quantitative study, classroom observations were conducted to contextualise the quantitative results. The combined findings indicate that reading correlates robustly with vocabulary development and also with academic performance. The findings suggest that the ability to read and understand text plays a dynamic role in academic success. For students to be well informed and have a rich vocabulary, schools should make reading a priority. Key words: Reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Applied Linguistics)

This study focuses on meaning construction as it occurs in the reading act. It explores and challenges the view that the reader usually uses language to construct meaning in a referential way. This study envisages that the reader who engages in a literal reading of the text may encount~r serious epistemological and ontological problems which ensue from such a narrow reading of the text. In the context of the dynamics of meaning construction, this study subsequently problematizes the notion of language vis-avis the notion of subjectivity and representation. It challenges the taken for granted assumption that meaning is pre-ordained and which has to be extracted by a sovereign and authoritative reading subject. The question of precision and correctness of grasping textual content is addressed by exploring those views which seek to go beyond Cartesian representationalism. This study therefore critically explores an alternative reading theory by examining the pioneering dialogical views of earlier theorists to include, ultimately, those subversive attempts of radical theorists. The latter group clearly seeks to subvert and even displace the dialogical reading practices of their predecessors. This study ultimately proposes the notion of a differential reading discourse. Such an integrative theory postulates an alternative theory of reading which in fact provides a more expansive, yet inclusive, framework of reading. This would entail a form of reading which would combat the mere consumption of meanings and acquiescence into ideology-building. It would be a reading framework that is more in keeping with our socio-political reality in South Africa, in which people can enjoy a far more critical and comprehensive view of themselves and of the society in which they operate. / Information Science / D.Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

The problem of this study was to examine the effect of reading preference on reading comprehension of low socioeconomic high school students. Subjects were 61 participants in the Upward Bound program at a major southwestern university; they represented urban high schools with high proportions of students of low socioeconomic status. Subjects completed cloze procedure reading passages in four categories: high preference independent level, high preference frustration level, non-expressed preference independent level, and non-expressed preference frustration level. From the results gathered, it was recommended (1) that reading ability assessments include measuring performance with high preference materials, (2) that instructional personnel ascertain and utilize student preferences as foundations for reading instruction, (3) that reading material not be withheld from students on the basis of difficulty, (4) that high preference reading materials be used in reading instruction by secondary reading and content area teachers, and (5) that school patrons be made aware of the value of free preference reading in reading skill development.

Esta dissertação teve como objetivo investigar as relações entre reconhecimento de palavras e compreensão de leitura textual e o processamento léxico. A dissertação é constituída de dois estudos. No primeiro estudo, são revisados modelos de leitura de palavras e de texto com o objetivo de examinar o papel do processamento léxico-semântico no reconhecimento visual de palavras e na compreensão de leitura textual. O paradigma de priming semântico é apresentado como uma ferramenta para a investigação da relação entre processamento léxico-semântico e ambos os componentes de leitura examinados. São apresentados os principais modelos teóricos de priming semântico, juntamente com uma revisão dos estudos empíricos que relacionam priming semântico e leitura, e algumas conclusões e perspectivas de investigação são apresentadas. No segundo estudo, foram investigadas empiricamente as relações entre processamento léxico-semântico e leitura (reconhecimento visual de palavras e compreensão de leitura textual) em uma amostra de 68 crianças, de 7 a 12 anos, de escolas particulares de Porto Alegre. O processamento léxico-semântico foi avaliado através de uma tarefa de decisão lexical no paradigma de priming semântico, enquanto as habilidades de leitura foram medidas por uma tarefa de leitura de palavras/pseudopalavras isoladas e uma tarefa de compreensão de leitura textual (resposta a questões e reconto de história). Foram investigadas correlações entre efeitos de priming semântico e desempenho em tarefas de leitura de palavras e compreensão de leitura textual e se o priming semântico prediz o desempenho dos participantes nas tarefas de leitura. Os resultados mostraram que o priming semântico se correlaciona com ambas as medidas de leitura, e que o reconhecimento de palavras medeia parcialmente a relação entre processamento léxico-semântico e compreensão de leitura textual. / The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the relationships between word recognition and reading comprehension with lexical-semantic processing. The dissertation is composed of two studies. In the first study, models of word reading and reading comprehension are reviewed in order to examine the role of lexical-semantic processing in visual word recognition and in reading comprehension. The semantic priming paradigm is presented as an instrument for the investigation of relationships between lexical-semantic processing and the components of reading examined. The main theoretical models of semantic priming are presented and a review of studies which relate semantic priming and reading is conducted, and some conclusions and perspectives for investigation are presented. In the second study, relations between lexical-semantic processing and reading (visual word recognition and reading comprehension) were investigated empirically in a sample of 68 children, aged seven to twelve years, from private schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Lexical-semantic processing was evaluated by a lexical decision task in the semantic priming paradigm and reading abilities were assessed with a word/nonword reading task and a reading comprehension task (questionnaire and story retelling). Correlations between semantic priming effects and word reading and reading comprehension were investigated, as well as if semantic priming effects predict performance on the reading task. Results showed that semantic priming correlates with both groups of reading measures, and that word reading partially mediates the relation between lexical-semantic processing and reading comprehension.

As desordens do processamento auditivo (DPA) estão intimamente relacionadas às dificuldades na linguagem oral e escrita, pois a audição é a principal via de entrada para a aquisição da linguagem oral e a aprendizagem da escrita, por sua vez, baseia-se nos padrões da oralidade. Desta forma, vários estudos já demonstraram a relação entre os DPA e as dificuldades na aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita. Entretanto, ainda existe uma lacuna a ser explorada, que consiste na investigação de como o Processamento Auditivo (PA) se relacionado com as habilidades importantes para o sucesso escolar, como é o caso da compreensão de leitura. O presente estudo tem, portanto, o objetivo de investigar a relação entre a compreensão de leitura e as habilidades de processamento auditivo em crianças. Participaram do estudo 28 crianças, de ambos os sexos, cursando 2 e 4 série do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública do Recife. Os participantes foram submetidos a uma tarefa de avaliação de nível de compreensão de leitura e as seguintes provas de PA: teste de localização sonora, memória seqüencial para sons verbais e não-verbais, fala filtrada, teste dicótico de dissílabos e escuta direcionada não-verbal. Os resultados evidenciaram que não houve diferença estatística significativa entre os níveis de compreensão de leitura das crianças da 2 série para as crianças da 4 série, havendo, no entanto, um avanço na compreensão de leitura à medida que ocorreu um avanço na idade e na escolarização. Quanto aos testes de PA realizados, só foi encontrado diferença estatística significativa entre as séries no teste dicótico de escuta direcionada não-verbal (p<.05), no qual foi avaliada a habilidade de separação binaural. É importante destacar aqui que mesmo algumas das crianças que se classificaram nos níveis mais avançados de compreensão de leitura apresentaram alteração na habilidade de separação binaural investigada neste teste. Foi verificado ainda um efeito preditivo da habilidade de separação binaural sobre a compreensão de leitura. Os resultados sugerem que a compreensão de leitura é um processo independente das habilidades de processamento auditivo e que as diferentes habilidades relacionadas ao PA podem apresentar diferentes resultados. / The disorders of the auditory processing (APD) intimate are related to the difficulties in the verbal language and writing. The hearing is the main way of entrance for the acquisition of the verbal language and the learning of the writing, in turn, is based on the standards of the orality. In such a way, some studies already had demonstrated to the relation between the DPA and the difficulties in the learning of the reading and the writing. However, still a gap exists to be explored, that it consists in the investigation of as the Auditory Processing (AP) is related with the important abilities for the pertaining to school success, as is the case of the reading comprehension. The present study it has, therefore, the objective to investigate the relation between the comprehension of reading and the abilities of auditory processing in children. 28 children had participated of the study, of both sexs, attending a course 2 and 4 series of the elementary school of a public school of Recife. The participants had been submitted to a task of evaluation of level of reading understanding and the following tests of AP: test of sonorous localization, sequential memory for verbal and non-verbal sounds, speaks filtered, dichotic test of dissyllabics and directed listening non-verbal. The results had evidenced that did not have difference significant statistics between the levels of comprehension of reading of the children of 2 series to the children oh 4 series, having, however, an advance in the comprehension of reading to the measure that occurred an advance in the age and the schooling. As to the AP tests carried was only found difference significant statistics between the series in the dichotic test of directed listening non-verbal (p<.05), in which the ability of binaural separation was evaluated. It is important to detach here that some of the children who if had classified in the levels most advanced of reading comprehension had presented alteration in the ability of investigated binaural separation in this test. It was still verified a predictive effect of the ability of binaural separation on the reading comprehension. The results suggest that the reading comprehension is an independent process of the abilities of auditory processing and that the different abilities related to the AP can present different results.

abstract: Desert Elementary is a suburban Phoenix K-5 school. The school has undergone a significant change in its approach to reading instruction due to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) instructional shift of building knowledge through content rich nonfiction. Teachers implemented this shift in their classrooms through a 16-month professional development program called Students Talking for a Change (STFAC). This qualitative action research study explored how teacher perception of reading instruction was affected by this change in instructional practice. Data collection comprised of classroom observations, teacher interviews, planning artifacts, professional development session artifacts and student work in order to determine teacher understandings about reading comprehension and perception of classroom practice. Prior to the professional development, teachers understood reading comprehension to be answering questions correctly and acquiring skills dictated by a basal reader. The texts teachers once used to teach reading lacked topical coherence. As teachers learned how to integrate content into language arts through long-term planning and sustained exposure to a topic of study, teachers changed their understanding about reading instruction. The perception was that content, discussion and multiple interpretations were central components to comprehension. Further, planning documents evolved from student packets to unit plans based on social studies, science and literature. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2017

abstract: How hard should the books be in elementary small-group reading? This study explored text difficulty for bilingual students reading below grade level in third grade. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods design, I used qualitative methods to analyze students’ engagement and discussion during small groups and single case design to evaluate students’ fluency and reading comprehension after reading and discussing texts in small groups. Six Spanish-English bilingual students, split into two groups of three, participated in twelve, 30-minute, small-group reading sessions. Students in Group 1 read approximately one year below grade level, and students in Group 2 read approximately a year and a half below grade level. In six of the twelve sessions, students read and discussed texts matched to their reading levels, and in the other six they read and discussed texts one year ahead of their reading levels. I assigned matched and difficult texts across the twelve days by blocked randomization. I analyzed video transcripts of each session to understand students’ engagement (focus of engagement, strategies, and interaction) and discussion (inferential vs. literal responses, instances of verbal participation). At the end of each session, students reread and retold the book the group had read and discussed that day to produce a fluency (words correct per minute) and comprehension (ideas correctly retold) score. Findings were complex and revealed that different levels of texts have both advantages and drawbacks. Key findings included: For fluency, half of the students benefited from matched texts. The other half read difficult texts with similar fluency to matched texts. For comprehension, text difficulty did not matter for anyone except one student, and for him it only had an effect on 3 of 12 days. Group 2 engaged much more with texts and ideas in difficult books and with pictures in matched books. Group 1 had more inferential/interpretive responses with matched texts, and Group 2 had more inferential and interpretive responses with difficult texts. Most students participated evenly regardless of the difficulty of the text under discussion. However, two students talked more when discussing matched texts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018