This study examines the characteristics of original and adapted story versions and compares these characteristics in order to identify similarities and differences between original and adapted story versions. The two original stories selected for study were "Charles" by Shirley Jackson and "Hearts and Hands" by O. Henry. One published adaptation of each was also selected for analysis. These adaptations were found in high interest-low vocabulary materials intended for use with less able readers. Four systems of text analysis were applied to the story versions in order to analyze both story structure and story content. Narrative analysis, adapted from Omanson's system, was used to analyze the structure of story events. Propositional analysis, adapted from the system described by Turner and Greene, was used to examine the detailed semantic content within the stories. Cohesion analysis, adapted from the ideas developed by Halliday and Hassan, was used to examine connections within the texts. Surface feature analysis was used to analyze text features occurring in the surface structures of the stories. Data consisted of the results of the application of the text analysis systems to the four story versions. Specifically, data included numbers and types of content units, i.e. central, supportive, and distracting content units; numbers and types of propositions, i.e. predication, modification, and connection propositions; numbers and types of cohesive elements, i.e. reference ties, lexical cohesion, ellipsis, substitution, and conjunction; and numbers and types of surface features, i.e. words, sentences, main clauses, subordinate clauses, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results indicated that different original stories which are written at similar readability levels according to a formula, may contain similar compositions of semantic content and surface features but may vary considerably according to story structure and coherence. In addition, adapted story versions appear to maintain story integrity; however, they may differ from the original stories in richness of detail. It was also concluded that text analysis systems do offer appropriate and reliable procedures for comparing different stories and different versions of the same story.

M.Ed. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The purpose of this project was to study how Reciprocal Teaching can best serve students in a third grade classroom for reading comprehension. A curriculum was developed to help the classroom teacher find a better way to teach reading comprehension using four important reading strategies: predicting, summarzing, clarifying and questioning. Several mediated tools were developed to enhance reading comprehension with clear explanations on how to implement Reciprocal Teaching with the current curriculum and California Standards on comprehension.

M.Ed. / Reading forms the basis of the literacy of an individual and also plays a significant part in his everyday activities. This fact forms the basis for this study. The child with a reading problem, will find it very difficult to realize his full potential. There is therefore need for concern that so many children develop reading problems during the transitional-period between the junior primary and senior primary phase in school. A large percentage of pupils in this transitional phase show significant signs of poor or insufficient rhythm which further accentuates the reading problem. As reading plays such an important part in the daily functioning of mankind, it is the absolute inalienable right of every child that a great diversity of means should be sought to rectify (or improve) this problem. To get to grips with this issue (or problem) a psychological and didactical study of literature on rhythm and reading has been followed. These phenomena were described against the background of the human environment to try and ascertain the relation between rhythm- and reading problems. In the light of the above mentioned literature study it was decided that empirical research of the problem was necessary. The aim was to ascertain whether a self-designed programme of rhythmical exercises by the writer could bring about a noticeable improvement in the reading level (word recognition, speed, reading of prose) of std. 2-pupils. In the event of such an improvement a further objective was to make specific recommendations for the incorporation of such a programme in the class-situation. An at random selection was made of 42 std. 2-pupils from 8 Afrikaans speaking schools. A reading test of three different sections, namely a formal graded reading test, a test to ascertain reading speed and an informal test for prose reading were used. Teachers were asked to identify pupils with reading problems. Further information was gleaned from the cumulative record cards of such pupils.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine if aphasic patients have significantly more correct answers for telegraphically written material when compared to normally written material. Twenty subjects from the greater Portland metropolitan area were selected to be included in this study. The ages or the subjects ranged from forty-two through sixty-five years with a mean of fifty-four years. The test material consisted of two paragraphs controlled for fourth grade grammar and vocabulary and two paragraphs controlled for sixth grade grammar and vocabulary. A normally written and a telegraphically written paragraph were used for each of the four paragraphs for a total of eight test paragraphs. The results or this study revealed no statistically significant difference for the magnitude of correct answers for the telegraphically written material; however, a significant number of subjects gave more correct answers for the telegraphic material at both the fourth and sixth grade levels. These results demonstrate that it is easier for some aphasic patients to comprehend telegraphically written material than normally written material. Therefore, telegraphically written material may be of value for patients with aphasia who are relearning to read. This type of material may also be used for recreational reading when requested by aphasic patients.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether certain Ron Davis techniques which have been applied by the Davis Dyslexia Correction Center in America the past two decades could in the short term have a significantly positive influence on the reading ability and psychological functioning of children with a reading disorder, especially regarded against the background of escalating concern about the reading ability of South African learners in general and learners with a reading disorder in particular.

No description available.

The design and implementation of a handheld scanner that can help sight-impaired or even blind users to manually scan and read text is discussed in this dissertation. A thorough investigation of all the elements involved in such a system is presented and optimal solutions are proposed. A unique velocity compensation technique based solely on optical information obtained by the scanning device is discussed and a real time segmentation technique based on topological properties (Quasi-Topological Codes) of connected segments is presented. A skew detection algorithm is discussed that can trace typed and printed text manual1y scanned with skew up to 15 degrees and can guide blind users to properly scan a document. Real time extraction of quasitopological codes for automatic text recognition and the hardware implementation is also discussed in this work. A hierarchical optical character recognition method is proposed which is based on syntactic and metric analysis of the Quasi-Topological Codes and their position in the scanned image. The proposed method can recognize characters stretched to approximately two times their original width or rotated by a few degrees. Finally, an automated iterative learning process is discussed which includes generalization of the recognition logic and dynamic adaptation of the syntactic and metric recognition rules. / Ph. D.