No description available.

This study investigated the effects of foreign language reading anxiety on Korean ESL learners’ reading strategy use and reading comprehension. Data were collected from forty-five Korean students who were enrolled in either ESL programs or graduate programs at UT. The students took the foreign language reading anxiety scale (FLRAS) followed by a background questionnaire. Based on their FLRAS scores, six participants who were classified as high, mid, and low anxiety were invited to an individual reading study. Various types of data were collected from a reading comprehension task, a strategy inventory for reading comprehension, the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire, and interviews. The results showed that there is a fair amount of FL reading anxiety among Korean ESL learners. Although it seems at first glance that reading in a FL is not anxietyprovoking, the result indicated that it can indeed arouse anxiety in some learners due to distinct features of FL texts including a different orthography, textual organizations, and cultural topics. In addition, the results of reading processing of six participants representing different anxiety levels indicated that anxiety can affect learners’ reading processing in terms of their strategy use and cognitive interference. The results showed that highly anxious students who were occupied with off-task thoughts tended to use more local strategies while less anxious students employed more global strategies and background knowledge strategies. Lastly, the highly anxious students showed lower reading comprehension scores than their less anxious peers, suggesting that anxiety can play a detrimental role not only in reading processing but also in comprehension. / text

Anxiety is the most reported negative emotion in the academic setting. One of the specific forms of anxiety that children can experience is reading anxiety (RA). Children who experience RA are often at risk for reading failure; likewise, children who experience reading failure are likely to experience RA. Children who excel at reading can also experience anxiety, often in the form of harm avoidance. Bibliotherapy has been shown to help to mitigate the effects of specific types of anxiety in children. The purpose of this study was to understand the anxiety of children who excel at reading and children at risk for reading failure, particularly during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighty-five first-, second-, and third-grade students in a rural school district in a western state with a range of reading achievement levels participated in the study. The Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children Second Edition (MASC 2) and Reading Anxiety Scale (RAS) were used to measure students' levels of specific forms of anxiety and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) was used to measure their reading achievement. When comparing the specific anxiety levels of different reading achievement groups, there was no significant difference between the levels or types of anxiety experience by the groups. Instead, there was an increase in all forms of anxiety regardless of reading achievement level when compared to what prior research would suggest. This rise in all levels of anxiety is correlated with the COVID-19 pandemic timeline. Future research should investigate the impact of bibliotherapy on anxiety levels across reading achievement levels.

Over the last decade, the idea of providing students with choices in their learning experience has attracted academic interest (Flowerday & Shraw, 2000; Katz & Assor, 2007; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008). Although some previous research has suggested that choice is beneficial to language learning, other research has indicated that choice has negligible (Iyengar & DeVoe, 2003) or even damaging effects (D’Ailly, 2004; Stefanou, Perencevich, DiCintio, & Turner, 2004) on language acquisition. Considerable differences in the focuses of previous research can explain the conflicting results of these choice studies (Iyengar & DeVoe, 2003; Schwartz, 2004); however, researchers agree that choice is closely associated with motivation (Stefanou et al., 2004). For instance, various motivational models, such as self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), include the concepts of choice, autonomy, and control as key elements of intrinsic motivation and performance. This study had three main purposes, the first of which was to quantitatively examine the relationships among Reading Anxiety, Autonomy, Interest, Reading Self- Efficacy, and Reading Proficiency in Japanese EFL students in a first-year pre-intermediate reading course. The second purpose was to quantitatively examine the effect of having No Choice, Option Choice, and Active Choice (Reeve, Nix, & Hamm, 2003) on Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, Reading Self-Efficacy, and reading performance over one academic year in a foreign language reading curriculum. The final purpose was to qualitatively corroborate and support the quantitative findings through a series of structured interviews based on students’ beliefs and attitudes toward the provision of choice in the reading curriculum. A quantitative quasi-experimental design supported by a qualitative phenomenological component was used during the year-long longitudinal study with 201 first-year Japanese EFL students at a private university in Japan. Nine intact classes were randomly assigned into three groups: No Choice (n = 66), Option Choice (n = 67), and Active Choice (n = 68), as defined by Reeve et al. (2003). Affective Variable Questionnaires were administered to measure the levels of Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, and Reading Self-Efficacy before, during, and after a 32-week treatment. The results of reading performance measures, including Vocabulary Definition and Vocabulary in Context quizzes, Intensive Reading tests, Extensive Reading quizzes, Timed Reading assignments, Composite TOEFL, and TOEFL Reading component scores were tracked over the academic year. The results showed low to medium Pearson correlations ranging between r = - .39 to r = .29 among Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, and Reading Self-Efficacy. In addition, a stable, significant relationship was found between Reading Self-Efficacy and Reading Proficiency, as measured by students’ TOEFL scores and TOEFL Reading Component scores at the start and end of the academic semester. Initially, no such relationship was found between Reading Anxiety, Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, and Reading Proficiency. However, by the end of the academic year, significant correlations were found among the Reading Autonomy, Reading Interest, Composite TOEFL, and TOEFL Reading component scores. The results indicated significant changes in the affective variables within each group over the academic year. Over the year, significant decreases in Reading Anxiety, and significant increases in Reading Self-Efficacy in each of the three groups were particularly salient. In addition, there were significant changes in many of the Reading Performance measures for each of the groups; however, only the Active Choice group had significant changes in all seven Reading Performance measures over the year. In terms of the effect of choice on the affective variables, students in both the Active Choice and the Option Choice groups had significantly higher Autonomy gains than students in the No Choice group over the academic year. Thus, giving students any type of choice in their reading curriculum exerted a positive effect on Reading Autonomy. With regards to the effect of choice on reading performance, mixed results were found in the reading components among the three groups. First, in the Intensive Reading and Timed Reading components, students in the Active Choice group performed significantly better than students in the Option Choice and No Choice groups. This finding indicated that when choice is given to students, it is necessary that the locus of control be with the student. With respect to Vocabulary Definitions and Vocabulary in Context components, both the Active Choice and Option Choice groups had significantly higher scores than the No Choice group. In other words, any choice was considered better than no choice. The type of choice had no effect on the Vocabulary components. In Extensive Reading, the Active Choice group significantly outperformed the No Choice group in the Extensive Reading quizzes; however, the Option Choice group was not significantly different from the other two groups. The results indicated that only autonomous choice led to greater self-determination, and increases in performance. Finally, no differences were found among the three groups in the Composite TOEFL scores and the TOEFL Reading component scores. The quantitative findings were corroborated by interviews with 18 students with a wide range of motivation and reading performance, as measured by the Affective Variables Questionnaire and the reading performance measures. The students were interviewed about the treatment process and their feelings about having choice in the reading curriculum. Common themes derived from the interview data indicated that choice affected students’ sense of Reading Autonomy. A common pattern emerged from the data indicating that students in the Active Choice group with lower levels of affect and reading performance were less comfortable making choices than students with higher levels of affect and reading performance abilities. Additionally, students in the No Choice group with higher levels of affect and reading performance were frustrated by the lack of choice in the reading course. The study contributed four unique points to the field of choice in language learning. First, choice was found to increase students’ sense of Reading Autonomy, a key component in intrinsic motivation and successful learning (Littlewood, 1999). Next, having any type of choice was found to be beneficial in Vocabulary acquisition. Moreover, only autonomous choice was found to be advantageous in the more complex tasks of Intensive Reading, Extensive Reading, and Timed Reading. Finally, the benefits of choice did not extend to performance on the Composite TOEFL and TOEFL Reading components. The testing environment and the lack of choice available in standardized testing were demotivating and contributed to a decrease in reading performance. The mixed results of this study indicate that choice is a complex phenomenon. The field of choice in education and language learning offers a wealth of teaching and research possibilities for future study. / Teaching & Learning

Son escasos los estudios enfocados en la ansiedad lingüística con respecto de las habilidades de escritura y lectura durante la formación de traductores. Asimismo, existe falta de conocimiento en la carrera de Traducción e Interpretación Profesional sobre la ansiedad lectora y escritora que se produce en los estudiantes durante el proceso de traducción en los talleres de traducción francés en la lengua extranjera. La presente investigación se centra en conocer las experiencias de ansiedad ante la lectura y escritura en francés durante el proceso de traducción en estudiantes de los cursos Traducción Directa 1 (Francés), Traducción Directa 2 (Francés) y Traducción Inversa (Francés). Para ello, se propone obtener información de los estudiantes mediante guías de grupo focal e inventarios (FLRAI y SLWAI). Se realizará la traducción de estos inventarios a partir del proceso de traducción y adaptación de la Organización Mundial de la Salud para adaptarlos al público objetivo. / There are few studies that focus on foreign language anxiety towards writing and reading skills during translator training. There is also lack of knowledge in the Professional Translation and Interpretation program regarding students’ reading and writing anxiety during the translation process in French translation workshops. This research focuses on understanding the experiences of reading and writing anxiety in French during the translation process in students of the courses French into Spanish Translation 1, French into Spanish Translation 2 and Spanish into French Translation. Therefore, we propose focus group guides and inventories such as FLRAI and SLWAI to obtain information from the students. These inventories will be translated based on the World Health Organization's process of translation and adaptation of instruments to suit the target audience. / Trabajo de investigación

No description available.

No description available.

Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning. It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, of sharing information and ideas. It is a complex interaction between the text and the reader and shaped by the reader’s prior knowledge, experiences, attitude, and language of the community. This literacy skill is very important to be successful in academic work. However, it may challenge early grade learners from Grade 1 up to 4. For instance, Ethiopia has been witnessing an escalation in early grade reading difficulties in primary schools. However, mastering reading by the end of Grade 3 is very important. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to investigate “The effect of Cognitive Foundation of Learning to Read (CFLR) on the reading skill of Grade 3 learners at 10 selected primary schools in Hawassa and Dilla towns in Ethiopia.” In order to address the research questions, the researcher employed a mixed-method approach, consisting of a quasi-experimental and qualitative research design. Quantitative data were collected by administering a reading achievement test. Questionnaires were also administered to determine the demographics of learners and teachers. Qualitative data were collected through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data were analysed by One-way Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and t-test. SPSS version-20 was used to analyse the data. Qualitative data were analysed by thematic analysis. Transcribed interviews and coded observation were classified according to similar themes; and grouped under sub-headings that had relation to the main research questions. Following this activity, interpretation of data was done. The findings of the study indicated that Grade 3 learners who attended reading instruction through CFLR in the experimental group show good performance than control groups. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that the CFLR is better than the Conventional Teaching Method (CTM). Finally, it was suggested that the results of the study are important to improve Grade 3 English reading instruction. It was also recommended that teachers should use a socially, culturally and linguistically responsive, inclusive instructional approach in teaching reading. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)