Search results for "READING"

Discriminatory Brain Processes of Native and Foreign Language in Children with and without Reading Difficulties

2022

The association between impaired speech perception and reading difficulty has been well established in native language processing, as can be observed from brain activity. However, there has been scarce investigation of whether this association extends to brain activity during foreign language processing. The relationship between reading skills and neuronal speech representation of foreign language remains unclear. In the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) with high-density EEG to investigate this question. Eleven- to 13-year-old children typically developed (CTR) or with reading difficulties (RD) were tested via a passive auditory oddball paradigm containing native (Finn…

Show, Don't Tell : Visualising Finnish Word Formation in a Browser-Based Reading Assistant

2020

This paper presents the NiinMikaOli?! reading assistant for Finnish. The focus is upon the simplified presentation and visualisation of a wide range of word-level linguistic phenomena of the Finnish language in a unified form so as to benefit language learners. The system is available as a browser extension, intended to be used in-context, with authentic texts, in order to encourage free reading in language learners. peerReviewed

Teaching a skill or using a tool? : Studying Finnish EFL teachers’ beliefs about the teaching of reading and writing

2016

How teachers construct their beliefs about foreign language (FL) teaching in shifting educational contexts is an important, yet little known area. This study addresses this issue through a discourse analysis of research interviews conducted with 16 Finnish English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers about their views of teaching reading and writing. It identifies four different subject positions: ‘unaccountable’, ‘old-time’, ‘modern’ and ‘authentic’. The study shows that the participating teachers’ beliefs are contradictory and that although the teachers are aware of more recent discourses of language teaching, they find it difficult to link these with their teaching practice. peerReviewed

The Influence of Instructional Practices on Reading Motivation in Finland

2018

Although the differences between individuals in language and literacy skills and motivation to read start before entering school, teachers and their instructional practices play an important role in the development of reading skills and the various aspects of motivation, especially children’s interest in reading. Interest in reading has been reported to contribute to the reading activity and to the amount of reading which, in turn, promote students’ reading performance. It has been assumed that children’s previous success with learning the basics of reading has provided them with positive feedback about the learning situation, thereby strengthening their interest in reading. Teachers and th…

The Developmental Dynamics between Interest, Self-concept of Ability, and Academic Performance

2014

Abstract. Only a few studies have examined the direction of associations between academic achievement, interest, and sel f-concept of ability simultaneously by using longitudinal data over several school years. To exam ine the cross-lagged relationships between students’ interest, self-concept of ability, and performance in mathematics and reading, longitudinal data from Grade 1 to Grade 7 of comprehensive school was gathered from 216 students. The results showed that, in both reading and math, performance predicted students’ subsequent self-concept of ability. Some evidence was also found that math performance predicts subsequent interest in mathematics, and that self- concept of math abil…

Ajelehtiva lukija Aperitiffin avoimessa kaupungissa.

2018

The feasibility of working memory tablet tasks in predicting scholastic skills in classroom settings

2019

Cognitive assessment in natural group settings facilitates data collection but poses threats to the validity. In this study, tablet‐based working memory (WM) tasks, the counting span, and reading span were used in predicting 12‐year‐old children's (N = 837) scholastic skills and fluid intelligence in a classroom with environmental noise. WM tasks had excellent internal consistency, correlated with scholastic skills, and accounted for more of the variance in cognitive performance (grade point average, fluid intelligence, scholastic skills) compared with individually administered (n = 190) digit span task. Furthermore, the multilevel analysis revealed that compared with the classrooms with no…

Task-oriented reading efficiency : interplay of general cognitive ability, task demands, strategies and reading fluency

2022

AbstractThe associations among readers’ cognitive skills (general cognitive ability, reading skills, and attentional functioning), task demands (easy versus difficult questions), and process measures (total fixation time on relevant and irrelevant paragraphs) was investigated to explain task-oriented reading accuracy and efficiency (number of scores in a given time unit). Structural equation modeling was applied to a large dataset collected with sixth-grade students, which included samples of dysfluent readers and those with attention difficulties. The results are in line with previous findings regarding the dominant role of general cognitive ability in the accuracy of task-oriented reading…

The precursors of double dissociation between reading and spelling in a transparent orthography.

2016

Research and clinical practitioners have mixed views whether reading and spelling difficulties should be combined or seen as separate. This study examined the following: (a) if double dissociation between reading and spelling can be identified in a transparent orthography (Finnish) and (b) the cognitive and noncognitive precursors of this phenomenon. Finnish-speaking children (n = 1963) were assessed on reading fluency and spelling in grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. Dissociation groups in reading and spelling were formed based on stable difficulties in grades 1–4. The groups were compared in kindergarten phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, letter knowledge, home literacy environment, a…

Cognitive predictors of counting skills

2018

Rote counting skills have found to be a strong predictor of later arithmetic and reading fluency. However, knowledge of the underlying cognitive factors influencing counting skill is very limited. Present study examined to what extent language skills (phonology, vocabulary, and morphology), nonverbal reasoning skills, and memory at the age of five could explain counting skill at the beginning of first grade. Gender, parents’ education level and child’s persistence were included as control variables. The question was examined in a longitudinal sample (N = 101) with a structural equation model. Results showed that language skills together with memory, nonverbal reasoning skills and parent’s e…