Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 73-85) Also available in print.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

"Much learning today is based on how well people read. Some retardation among high school students is caused by poor reading habits. Realizing that reading ability is one of the major problems of education, the author decided to perform an experiment in the field of reading. The basis of the experiment was to determine the possibility of using certain materials already present in the Port St. Joe High School and certain methods of instruction for improving reading rate without loss of comprehension. The methods of instruction were designed by the author who was also the experimenter. The materials and methods that were used in the program were designed to decrease the number and time of eye fixations in reading lines on a printed page. Ability to cover a wider span in one eye fixation and decrease the number of eye fixations in reading a printed line is directly related to increased reading rate"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1952." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Marian Black, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 21).

The purpose of this experiment was to study the effect of audio feedback from an electromyograph on reading speed and comprehension. The subject reduced as much audio feedback, and thus laryngeal tension, as possible, thus permitting more efficient reading. After baseline, the subject received twelve half-hour practice sessions, six ten-minute testing sessions on easy, or light, material and six ten-minute testing sessions on difficult material. A post-test without feedback was given after training and a follow-up test, without feedback, was given. This method of training permits a higher rate of reading speed, while allowing the subject to process complex information and maintain a constant level of recall.

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.

(in English): This thesis is conceived as a metareview of research on differences in perception, understanding and retention of text on various display media. It summarizes the results of the most interesting and most relevant research on this topic conducted since the 80s to the present. Even though it is difficult to summarize the results of individual studies, mainly because of differences in research methodology and differently chosen tested samples, we can say that the main finding of this metareview is that display technologies that are available these days have no negative effect on eye fatigue, reading speed, perception, understanding or retention of text. Theoretical part of this thesis is followed by practical part that consists of three short experiments performed on a small sample of participants. First of those experiments studies differences in reading comprehension and retention among high school students, second experiment focuses on differences in reading speed on different media and subjective evaluation of eye fatigue, and the third experiment is an online form about subjective preferences of study materials among learners.