When students solve mathematics tasks, the tasks are commonly given as written text, usually consisting of natural language, mathematical notation and different types of images. This is one reason why reading and interpreting such texts are important parts of being mathematically proficient, at least within the school context. The ability utilized when dealing with aspects of mathematical text is denoted in this thesis as a mathematical reading ability; this ability is useful when reading mathematical language, for example, in task text. There is, however, a lack of knowledge of what characterizes this mathematical language, what students need to learn regarding the mathematical language, and exactly which mathematical language that tests should preferably assess. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge of aspects of difficulty related to textual features in mathematics tasks. In particular, one aim is to distinguish between a difficulty that has to do with a mathematical ability and another that has not. Different types of text analyses are utilized to capture textural features that might be demanding for the students when reading and solving mathematics tasks. Aspects regarding vocabulary are investigated both in a literature review and in a study where corpora are used to analyse word commonness. Other textual analyses focus on textual features that concern mathematical notation and images, besides natural language. Statistical methods are used to analyse potential relations between the textual features of interest and both task difficulty and task demand on reading ability. The results from the research review are sparse regarding difficult vocabulary, since few of the reviewed studies analyses word aspects separately. Several of the analysed textual features are related to aspects of difficulty. The results show that tasks with more words that are uncommon both in a mathematical context and in an everyday context, may favour students with good reading ability rather than students with good mathematical ability. Another textual feature that is likely to be demanding for students, is if the task texts contains many meaning relations, for example, when several words refer to the same or similar object. These results have implications for the school practice both regarding textual features that are important from an educational perspective and regarding the construction of tests. The research does also contribute to an understanding of what characterizes a mathematical language.

A research report submitted to the faculty of education of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Educational Psychology. Johannesburg 1991 / This study of the performance of a sample of average readers on a bax t any of psycholinguistic tests, was conducted in order to provide norms fat' these tests. The sample was drawn from two private schools in Johannesburg and was selected on the basis of age~appropriate performance on the Schonell Graded Word Reading Test. Scores on the Psycholinguistic Tests were expected to conform to predictions of an Information Processing Model which identifies two reading strategies: a direct strategy for reading, which depends on the recognition of the visual appearance of the whole word; and a second indirect or phonological strategy, which is dependent on the use of grapheme-phoneme correspondence. This functional model of adult language processing has been applied in the present study to the development of reading abi Ii ties in children. Research has shown that children use dual routes in reading as well, and that I while younger readers are more dependent on the indirect or phonological route, more proficient older readers rely predominantly on the lexical or direct route. It was expected therefore that different reading strategies would be used for different word types at different ages. As the means for the tests supplied by this study conform to p~edictions of the Dual Processing Model and support the pr oposition of developmental changes in reading strategies, these means may be used as an indication of normal processing strategies in children, thereby permitting the identification of deviant reading strategies in children of different ages. / MT2017

Many different versions of the original Token Test (De Renzi and Vignolo, 1962) have been available to speech language pathologists as a language assessment tool with various populations. The most recently adapted version of the Token Test is the Token Test for Children developed by DiSimoni (1978) as a measure to detect subtle receptive language abilities in children. The purpose of this study was to determine ii a significant difference existed between reading disabled and normal readers on syntactic and memory abilities on the Token Test for Children and if a difference existed between reading disabled students in grades 3 - 6 and dyslexic adolescents in grades 7 - 12 from the Whitehouse (1983) study.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of using different teaching strategies to promote elementary students¡¦ reading comprehension and metacognition. A nonequivalent pretest-posttest design was conducted in this study. Three fifth grade classes from Kaohsiung City were assigned to two experimental groups and one comparison group. The first experimental group students were taught by Direct Instruction; the second experimental group were taught by Reciprocal Teaching; and the comparison group students studied the same topic and content without any other extra teaching strategy. The extra teaching strategies were contiguously conducted for 12 weeks for a total of 24 classes on both experimental group student classes; furthermore, 2 sessions of teaching instruction were added. The investigator first conducted the Chinese Llanguage bility Test to determinine the experimental group students¡¦ reading ability. In addition, two reading comprehension instruments were used to assess the students¡¦ progress during pre-and-post teaching span. The researcher conducted multiple variance of analysis (MANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for statiscal analyses. Finally, the main findings are as follows: (1) The experimental group students¡¦ reading comprehension ability was significantly different from the comparison group students¡¦; whereas there was non-significant difference between two experimental group students. (2) The experimental group students who were introduced to Reciprocal Teaching significsantly improved on their metacognition. (3) There were significantly interactions between different teaching strategies and students¡¦ reading abilities, it was found that students with moderate reading comprehension ability made significant improvement under the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy. (4) Among the 4 different reading comprehension methods taught, students use questionaiere methods the most. This research focuses on the effects of different teaching methods on the performance of the reading ability among elementary students and can provide as a reference for future studies.

The current study is the first to demonstrate that structural deficits in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) of the human brain may play a role in reading ability. Recent imaging work has indicated that the ACC is activated by tasks involving modulation of the fronto-temporal networks during language processing tasks and may be involved in anticipatory reactions and response preparation during reading. This study investigated the relationship between ACC volumetric measurements and reading ability in a sample of 68 individuals nested within 24 families with and without reading disorders. This sample allowed for examination of the effect of the volume of the ACC on reading, while controlling for normally occurring fluctuations in the size of the ACC due to heredity and shared environment. Forty-five linear models were conducted in SPSS on all 68 participants using the brain measurements (ACC, ACC with Paracingulate (PaC), and Putamen, separately) as well as control variables (gender, FSIQ, family membership) as predictors of the outcomes variables related to reading achievement (GORT Passage, rate, and accuracy) and reading processes (CTOPP phonological awareness and rapid naming). The use of family membership as a random effect predictor together with the specific brain volume as a predictor allowed for the effect of family on reading outcomes to be accounted for while, explicitly accounting for any relationships that may exist between family and brain volume. Additional sets of measurements, with PaC, were included in the final analyses to address the inconsistent inclusion of this tertiary structure in earlier research. Finally, a control region (putamen) was included to rule out whole brain effects and improve the specificity of the findings. The most significant findings were that the results varied systematically with inclusion or exclusion of the PaC. Measurements including the PaC were statistically significant for reading achievement for the left side of the ACC as expected. However, for the ACC volume without PaC, it was the right side that was related to reading measures. Neither set of measurements of the ACC were predictive of group membership. The current study supported a role for the ACC in reading and suggests a standardized method for inclusion of the PaC in the volumetric analysis of the ACC. / text

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

No description available.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the achievement levels and expressed attitudes and feelings, five years later in 1972, of a group of students who learned to read in grade one in 1966-1967, using i.t.a. in comparison to a group who learned to read using T.O.Four areas of achievement, namely Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, and Mathematics were tested by use of selected sub-sections of the California Achievement Test. A questionnaire was developed to determine the attitudes and feelings of students toward first grade reading experiences and their present attitudes and feelings toward reading in 1972.A Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test administered during the first grade was used as the entry level for the analysis of co-variance. Analysis of variance and covariance were the statistical techniques used to determine the differences between the groups that might be attributed to sex, method, or sex by method interaction.The student sample for the study consisted of 143 pupils from the Marion Community Schools, located in Marion, Indiana. The method of instruction of 67 of the pupils hadbeen i.t.a. in first grade while 76 pupils in the same schools had instruction with T.U. materials. The students have been exposed to various materials in the five years since their initial learning experiences, with random grouping of those who were initially presented i.t.a. or T.O.Data were analyzed to test the null hypotheses:There are no differences in levels of achievement of pupils who learned to read using i.t.a. and those using T.O. on either of the four dependent measures attributable to the following,1. sex2. method3. sex by method. interactionThe computed F ratios were not significant between sexes, methods, or sex by method interaction for reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, and mathematics, therefore the null hypotheses could not be rejected, for these areas of achievement.There are no differences in levels of achievement of pupils who learned to read using i.t.a. and those using T.O. on either of the four dependent measures with the entry level as a co-variant attributable to the following,1. sex2. method3. sex by method interactionThe computed F ratios were not significant between methods or sex by method interaction for reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, and mathematics when the entry level was used as a co-variant. The computed F ratios were not significant between sexes for reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, and mathematics when the entry level was used as a co-variant. The computed F ratio was significant between sex for spelling when the entry level was used as a co-variant. The co-variant, entry level, was significant. The null hypotheses could not be rejected for differences between methods or sex by method interaction for reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, spelling, and mathematics when the entry level was used as a co-variant. The null hypotheses could not be rejected for differences between sexes for reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, and mathematics with the entry level as a co-variant. The null hypotheses for differences between sexes must be rejected for spelling with the entry level as a co-variant because significant differences were found.Data were analyzed to test the null hypotheses:There is no difference in attitude toward beginning reading learning as revealed by a questionnaire between pupils in the group who learned to read using i.t.a. and those using T.O. for,1. the total group2. the boys3. the girlsOnly slight differences were found in the responses to the part of the questionnaire concerning reading attitudes and feelings about learning to read. Therefore the null hypotheses could not be rejected.Data were analyzed to test the null hypotheses: There is no difference in attitude toward reading as revealed by a questionnaire between pupils in the group who learned to read using i.t.a. and those using T.O. for, 1. the total group2. the boys3. the girlsNo consistent differences in attitudes and feelings were revealed in answers to the part of the questionnaire concerning attitudes and feelings about reading at the present time (1972). Therefore the null hypotheses could not be rejected.For the pupils in this study it seems tenable to conclude that little difference exists in the achievement levels of reading, spelling, and mathematics between the group of students who learned to read using i.t.a. and the group who learned to read using T.O. after five years of study beyond the initial reading learning experiences.Likewise, little difference exists in the expressed attitudes and feelings of these groups.Spelling achievement levels were significantly different between sexes with the entry level as a co-variant. Girls then scored higher than boys regardless of the method.The entry level, a first grade intelligence test score, was significant for each area of achievement. Therefore it seems tenable to conclude that intelligence, as measured by this instrument, played an important part in the achievement of both groups. Students scoring higher on the intellectual measure also scored higher on achievement tests regardless of the method and students scoring poorer on the intellectual measure also scored poorer on the achievement test regardless of the method.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of written prequestioning on the reading comprehension scores of fifth graders in Orleans County, Vermont. To evaluate the effect of prequestions, the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress - Reading, Form 4A was adapted into two different forms, one with questions and/or incomplete statements before and after the passages of the test and one with only questions and/or incomplete statements at the end of each passage. The questions and/or incomplete statements placed before the passages were the same questions and/or incomplete statements placed at the end of passages on both forms.