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Compared to research on English as a First Language (EL1) reading comprehension, there is a dearth of studies investigating English as a Second Language (ESL) reading comprehension. This dissertation reports findings from two studies which examined the cognitive processes underlying English reading comprehension in Chinese ESL students. Two-hundred and forty six Grade 8 students in an English immersion program in a junior middle school in China were administered a battery of reading-related and reading comprehension tests. The first study investigated the cognitive predictors of English reading comprehension in these students. It tested whether the Simple View of Reading model (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) applied to Chinese ESL students and whether the effects of breadth and depth of vocabulary contributed to different levels of reading comprehension. The results showed that the Simple View of Reading model did not predict Chinese English-immersion students’ reading comprehension well. Vocabulary as well as inference and strategy added further variance to the general understanding of text. Vocabulary breadth and depth explained unique variance in reading comprehension, with vocabulary breadth contributing more to general understanding of text and vocabulary depth to deep processing of text. The second study explored characteristics of reading comprehension difficulties among Chinese English-immersion students. Three groups of comprehenders matched on age, nonverbal intelligence, and word reading speed were identified from the 246 Grade 8 Chinese English-immersion students: 33 unexpected poor comprehenders, 28 expected average comprehenders, and 30 unexpected good comprehenders. The three groups differed in vocabulary and higher-level processes. Vocabulary breadth and depth distinguished between the unexpected poor comprehenders and the expected average comprehenders. Inference, strategy, listening comprehension, summary writing, and morphological awareness distinguished between the expected average comprehenders and the unexpected good comprehenders. The findings suggest that vocabulary is the main source of reading comprehension difficulties in these unexpected poor comprehenders. The advantage of the unexpected good comprehenders group was primarily due to discourse comprehension and strategic processes, and is only possible with high language proficiency. Taken together, both vocabulary and higher-level skills are essential to successful reading comprehension in Chinese English-immersion students. The higher-level skills can be used more efficiently to help these students’ reading comprehension when they have acquired adequate vocabulary knowledge. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-19 11:58:53.81

För att ta del av information i dagens samhälle krävs förmågan att förstå texters innehåll. Läsförståelse undervisas genom didaktiska strategier i skolan för att elever ska förstå och tolka texter. Trots att elever enligt läroplanen ska få strategier för läsförståelsen har forskning visat att lärare har låga kunskaper om strategier för elevers läsförståelse. Följden kan bli att elever inte förstår texters innehåll när de inte får strategier de kan behöva för läsförståelsen. Syftet med den systematiska litteraturstudien var att undersöka vilka metoder som forskningen framhåller som relevanta för elevers läsförståelse i årskurs tre till sju. Litteraturstudiens slutsats belyste att strategierna att ställa frågor, att förutspå, att klargöra, att sammanfatta samt att visualisera medverkade till elevers läsförståelse. När eleverna bearbetade texter med hjälp av strategierna möjliggjordes ett samspel mellan eleven och texten vilket bidrog till ett meningsskapande och en fördjupad förståelse. En intressant implikation för vidare studier hade varit att genomföra en undersökning där syftet hade kunnat vara att undersöka hur verksamma lärare bedriver undervisning i läsförståelse. Tidigare forskning har visat att lärare förutsätter att läskunniga elever förstår texters innehåll vilket inte kan tas för givet, då lärare måste arbeta aktivt med elevernas läsförståelse.

Magister Educationis - MEd / Reading is one of the components of literacy that plays a crucial role in accessing knowledge. It develops the children’s mind and stimulates their understanding of the reading content and enables them to function and communicate effectively in society. Research conducted in the field of literacy suggests that there is a literacy crisis (especially in reading), around the world. Recent research indicates that South African Foundation Phase learners perform poorly in reading comprehension. Considering poor literacy results observed in South Africa, it is important to explore reading as a socio-cultural and cognitive practice and to identify the factors that contribute towards adequate acquisition of reading comprehension skills in the Foundation Phase. Thus the focus of this study is on reading comprehension in isiXhosa Home Language which is used as the main language of learning and teaching from Grade R - 3. I have used a qualitative approach as an underpinning research methodological framework for this study. Data was collected by means of interviews and classroom observations from two selected Grade three classrooms in one primary school in the Western Cape. The findings of this study illustrate the significance of learners’ prior knowledge and the use of adequate resources to enhance learners’ reading comprehension. The study concludes that reading comprehension is a cognitive process that demands innovative teaching approaches that will facilitate meaningful learning across the curriculum.

There is a dearth of measures which evaluate reading comprehension in people with traumatic brain injuries returning to secondary level education. Existing standardized assessments do not accurately measure constructs of high level reading comprehension. Correct information unit (CIU) analysis can be a valuable tool for measuring reading comprehension in these more demanding contexts. However, the measure requires a significant amount of time to administer and score, leading practicing clinicians to use other measures. This exploratory project sought to fill the gap by increasing the clinical feasibility of CIU analysis. Researchers implemented a human-in-the-loop automation of CIU scoring. A within rater comparison across three raters design was utilized to evaluate if the automation provided an increase in efficiency versus by hand scoring. Findings indicate a trend of increased efficiency across raters which was not statistically significant. This thesis supports further studies to continue development of the automated application of CIU analysis.

Researchers and educators agree that reading comprehension and interest in reading are strong predictors of future success in academics. I studied the effects of establishing interest for reading (i.e. increased reinforcement value for reading) and reading achievement with 4th grade students. In Experiment I, I tested the correlations between a measure of reinforcement value for reading level (determined by a 20-min, 10s whole interval probe session) and reading achievement tests of 30 fourth-grade students. The reading achievement tests measured passage comprehension, literary comprehension, informational comprehension, and vocabulary. I found significant correlations between reinforcement value for reading and all reading achievement measures. In Experiment II, using a pre- and postintervention design with a multiple probe logic, I tested the effects of establishing a level of interest in reading (CR+ for reading) through a 4-step, peer-collaborative procedure on reading achievement outcomes for 6 fourth grade students. The 4-step procedure included 1) shared reading period, 2) vocabulary task 3) independent reading period, and 4) a comprehension drawing task. The establishment of CR+ for reading in all 6 participants resulted in grade-level increases from 0.8-4.1 in WJ-IV passage comprehension, -0.4- 2.3 in WJ-IV vocabulary, and 0.2-2.3 in Gray Silent Reading Tests (GSRT). In Experiment III, I conducted a component analysis to test the significance of the independent and shared reading component of the 4-step peer-collaborative procedure. Using a simultaneous treatment design with a built-in crossover, I studied the effects a Collaborative Independent Reading Treatment (CIR) and Collaborative Shared Reading Treatment (CSR) on establishing CR+ for Reading and the overall effect it had on reading achievement. The 4-step peer-collaborative procedure was the same except students were either exposed to only shared or independent reading and not the other. Participants were yoked into dyads across treatment conditions and completed intervention with a partner in the same treatment condition. Participants in the CIR treatment met CR+ for reading in 1 phase while participants in the CSR treatment did not meet CR+ for reading in 1 phase. The establishment of CR+ for reading in the CIR treatment group resulted in grade-level increases from 1.2 to 3.4 in the WJ-IV passage comprehension, 0.4 to 4.5 in the WJ-IV vocabulary, and -1.2 to 4.3 in the GSRT. Without the establishment of CR+ for reading in the CSR treatment group, grade-level increases for WJ-IV passage comprehension was -1 to 2.1, WJ-IV vocabulary was -0.9 to 0, and GSRT was -0.3 to 1.5). I conducted a crossover treatment where participants in the CSR treatment group underwent the CIR treatment procedure. All 4 participants acquired CR+ for reading in 1 phase of the intervention and increases were 0.6 to 2.2 for WJ-IV passage comprehension, 0.8 to 4.3 for WJ-IV vocabulary, and -0.5 to 2.7 for GSRT. The CIR treatment procedure was more effective in, not only establishing reinforcement value for reading, but also in increasing reading achievement in a very short amount of time.

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