Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [101-115]).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [101-115]). Also available in print.

The current study builds upon previous UK EAL research by i. sampling EAL children who do not struggle with reading comprehension and ii. investigating participants’ semantic ability at the word, sentence and discourse levels. Four groups of 9-10 year old children were recruited: EAL Average Readers; EL1 Average Readers; EAL Above Average Readers; EL1 Above Average Readers. At the word level, EL1 participants significantly outperformed EAL participants on 2 out of 6 vocabulary measures administered (TOWK Expressive Vocabulary and Multiple Contexts). The results of an idiom comprehension measure (ICM) showed that EAL and EL1 participants did not differ in their ability to engage in semantic analysis or in inference from context (semantic ability at the sentence and at the discourse levels respectively). The EL1 Above Average group alone were able to use prior experience with English language idioms to their advantage when answering the ICM. For the EAL participants, relationships between performance on the TOWK Expressive Vocabulary and Multiple Contexts and on the ICM are stronger than for the EL1 participants. The relationships between performance on the ICM and on a measure of reading comprehension are also stronger for EAL than for EL1 participants. These results suggest the following: i. it is important to develop the vocabulary abilities of EAL children, as the relationships between word-level semantic skills and sentence/discourse level semantic skills are stronger for EAL children than for their EL1 peers; ii. the relationships between the knowledge and skills measured by the ICM (i.e. prior knowledge of English language idioms; semantic analysis; inference from context) and reading comprehension are stronger for EAL than for EL1 children, suggesting the importance of a comprehensive approach to the semantic development of EAL children.

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xii, 79 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Results of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported the need for improving reading comprehension, especially in the upper elementary and middle school grades. Because the field of vocabulary research evidenced the strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, the National Reading Panel (2000) recommended the inclusion of direct vocabulary instruction as a necessary component in a comprehensive reading program. The field of vocabulary research, however, lacks consensus on which strategies result in the most gains in vocabulary development and reading comprehension. In this study, vocabulary development of students who learned word meanings through socially mediated strategies was contrasted with students who learned word meanings using contextually driven strategies. A total of 14 teachers of fifth grade students were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. The intervention group taught the socially mediated strategies of semantic mapping and the Frayer model. The teachers in the comparison group taught contextual and morphemic analysis, both contextually driven strategies. The effects of these two types of vocabulary instruction were measured using three tests, two proximal researcher developed vocabulary assessments and the more distal Gates MacGinitie vocabulary assessment. Results of this study revealed that while students in both groups made significant gains as measured by the more proximal measures, students taught through contextually driven strategies gained the most. On the distal measure only the students taught socially mediated strategies improved their performance. This study adds to the field by confirming three prior findings. Direct vocabulary instruction improved students' vocabulary development. Instruction in contextually driven strategies improved students' vocabulary learning when the dependent measure assessed knowledge of taught words. Instruction in socially mediated strategies improved students' vocabulary development when the dependent measure assessed unknown words. / Adviser: Gerald Tindal

This study investigated the effectiveness of two methods of instruction, Teacher-Based Instruction (TBI) versus Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), in improving undergraduate Arab learners' English reading ability in the three aspects of speed, comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. The Experimental Pre-test/Post-test Treatment Group Design was implemented in both experiments carried out in this study. Two samples of 100 and 150 students for Experiments I & II, respectively, were randomly chosen from two higher education institutions in the Arab world. Each sample was divided into two groups depending on learners' pre-instruction preferences for TBI or CALL methods. After eight weeks of instruction using one method, the students of the two groups exchanged instructional methods for another period of eight weeks. In both cases the learners attended three 90- minute reading lectures per week. Quantitative and qualitative data analysis showed that CALL was significantly more effective than TBI for improving the learners' reading ability in the three aspects targeted. Results showed that CALL was more effective due to different reasons: learners were more motivated to read and they enjoyed reading; CALL made learners' reading progress visible to them through immediate feedback; it fostered learner autonomy and their desire to be in control of the program and it offered the learners a large number of different reading activities to work on. Learners' suggestions for improving CALL were mainly related to increasing the time they can use CALL programs in learning to read. Findings of the study should encourage higher education institutions especially in the Arab world to take considerable steps towards utilising computers in instruction. Even at school level this utilisation should be considered, but further research should be carried out with learners at different age levels and in different regions in the Arab world.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a context approach to learning reading vocabulary with the effectiveness of the context approach accompanied by illustrations. Subjects were 152 fourth graders from 19 reading classes in 8 elementary schools. Materials included illustrated and nonillustrated vocabulary cards, a researcher-made multiple-choice instrument, and a widely used achievement test, which was used to identify the subjects as good or poor readers. The researcher made instrument was administered as a pretest during the first week of the study. Forty-eight vocabulary words were taught during the second through fifth weeks. The instrument was given again as a posttest during week six and as a delayed posttest during week twelve. Results were analyzed with the analysis of covariance procedure.

Data are presented in seven chapters that address the reciprocal relationship between oral vocabulary and reading development. Chapter 2 explores exception word reading in poor comprehenders longitudinally, finding deficits that are pervasive over a period of two years. The results support the hypothesis that weak oral vocabulary skills are causally related to poor exception word reading in this group. In Chapter 3, orthographic and semantic skills in poor comprehenders are investigated in a word learning paradigm. This chapter provides evidence that poor comprehenders have more difficulty learning and retaining semantic information than orthographic information. A similar paradigm is described in Chapter 4 to investigate predictors of orthographic and semantic learning. In a large group of typically developing readers, this demonstrates that decoding is the strongest predictor of orthographic learning while existing oral vocabulary knowledge is the strongest predictor of semantic learning. In Chapters 5 and 6 orthographic and semantic skills in poor comprehenders and children with dyslexia are compared using standard off-line tasks (Chapter 5) and an online word learning experiment (Chapter 6). These chapters indicate similarities as well as differences in the reading and language profiles of these groups. Chapter 7 adopts a different approach by using a word learning study to investigate the benefit of teaching new oral vocabulary in the presence of orthography.

The aim of this study was to investigate reading difficulties as barriers to learning experienced by learners entering the intermediate phase. The researcher conducted an in-depth literature study and by means of a qualitative research approach, empirical data were collected through individual interviews, observations and document studies. The findings revealed a number of common themes on the impact of reading difficulties and the factors that may cause these difficulties. The research findings revealed that in order to prevent reading difficulties as barriers to learning, the essential components for reading development must be acquired effectively, the role of the teacher and the parent are crucial and the early identification and remediation of reading difficulties is paramount. Resulting from the findings in the empirical investigation and in correlation with the findings from literature, the researcher made recommendations regarding strategies to reduce reading difficulties. / Education / M.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

(in English) This thesis discusses the methodology of teaching reading comprehension and using text in the process of teaching Czech for foreigners. It is aimed at developing an approach to teaching reading skills in language classes on the basis of contemporary literature on the subject and in offering structured exercises for utililizing this approach. The theoretical section of this thesis offers a complex analysis of the topic, approaches to evaluating text and developing reading competence in the process of teaching. The practical chapter Cvičení a aktivity (Exercises and Activities) illustrates, through example exercises and activities, how to teach particular aspects of reading competence on the basis of types of reading and reading strategies described in the theoretical and methodological framework of the thesis.