Search results for "reading"
showing 10 items of 1521 documents
Influence of Background Knowledge and Language Proficiency on Comprehension of Domain-Specific Texts by University Students
2019
This paper presents the results of a quantitative study that explores two factors contributing to reading comprehension of domain specific texts, namely level of language proficiency and background knowledge. Overall, 32 students participated in the study by taking two custom-designed reading comprehension tests. The test scores were further analyzed using SPSS statistical software. The results of statistical tests revealed the differences between study groups as well as the effects of compensation. More precisely, the most proficient group scored higher on almost all tests and completed the tests more quickly than the remaining groups. The statistical tools used to test the data showed th…
Teaching strategies to create visual representations of key ideas in content area text materials: A longterm intervention inserted in school curricul…
1995
This paper describes a long-term research in which middle-grade school children were taught how to represent visually text key ideas through idea-mapping techniques. It consists of three studies, one for each year of our research. Children were at sixth grade when the instruction began, and they were at eighth grade when it finished. Another group of children from a different public school served as control group. Instruction was very close to the real school conditions: instructors were ordinary teachers, instruction was inserted in the content area curriculum, and ordinary textbooks were regularly employed, though combined with specially elaborated materials. Results were positive in the …
Levels of comprehension of scientific prose: the role of text variables
1998
Abstract This research investigates the role played on shallow and deep levels of comprehension by textual changes that are aimed at: (a) improving the relationships within text ideas, and (b) producing better links between text ideas and the reader's knowledge. Four versions of a long physics passage were elaborated combining both kinds of textual changes. Four groups of tenth graders were each given one of the four versions. Different measures representative of these levels of comprehension were taken: getting main ideas, recall, and problem solving. The results indicated that: (a) main idea performance was affected by improving the relationships within text ideas, (b) both textual change…
Attention Switching and Multimedia Learning: The Impact of Executive Resources on the Integrative Comprehension of Texts and Pictures
2014
The ability to flexibly allocate attention to goal-relevant information is pivotal for the completion of high-level cognitive processes. For instance, in comprehending illustrated texts, the reader permanently has to switch the attentional focus between the text and the corresponding picture in order to extract relevant information from both sources. Thus, the hypothesis was tested that individuals with a lower switching capacity exhibit a decreased performance in tasks that require the flexible switch of attention between two external representations. Participants read an illustrated text and answered questions that either required the extraction of information from the text alone or from …
Reading Comprehension and Working Memory's Executive Processes: An Intervention Study in Primary School Students
2013
ABSTRA C T Reading comprehension is a highly demanding task that involves the simultaneous process of extracting and constructing meaning in which working memory’s executive processes play a crucial role. In this article, a training program on working memory’s executive processes to improve reading comprehension is presented and empirically tested in two experiments with third-grade primary school students. Experiment 1 showed a greater gain after training the experimental group in contrast to the control group in reading comprehension and intelligence. In experiment 2, we focused on the training processes and compared training results of high and low pretest reading comprehension groups. R…
Encouraging and verifying critical thinking skills through the reading process
2017
La competenza di lettura è un punto di partenza imprescindibile per migliorare abilità di analisi, valutazione, sintesi, interessate pure nella promozione della competenza digitale. Questo lavoro si propone di accertare la validità di un percorso formativo incentrato sull’uso di strategie di lettura per lo sviluppo del pensiero critico. Ci si chiede soprattutto se e come leggere testi usando il formato elettronico favorisca nello studente attività di interpretazione, formulazione di giudizi ed espressione di idee originali. Nella prima parte del lavoro è presentato l’oggetto di studio. Nella seconda parte è descritta la metodologia di ricerca, che mette in pratica le risultanze scientifiche…
Comprensió de la lectura en alumnes d'ensenyament secundari
2006
Aquest treball es planteja per conèixer més de primera mà la comprensió i assimilació de textos escrits, en alumnes de l'actual ensenyament secundari. La mostra emprada va ser de 28 alumnes entre 14 i 20 anys, de 3r d'ESO i COU majoritàriament, de l'Institut d'Ensenyament Secundari «Alameda de Osuna» de Madrid. Els resultats obtinguts en aquest estudi indiquen que, en els lectors de menor edat els processos de lectura són més simples i en alguns casos incomplets, mentre que els lectors de major edat fan una lectura que implica processos cognitius més complexos, adequats i profunds.
The impact of learning difficulties and socioemotional and behavioural problems on transition to postsecondary education or work life in Finland: a f…
2016
AbstractLearning difficulties have been found to dilute the possibilities that young adults have in their educational careers. However, during the last few decades, education has become increasingly important for employment and overall life satisfaction. In the present study, we were interested in the effects of mathematical and reading difficulties and socioemotional and behavioural problems (measured at age 16) on three educational situations at age 21: delayed graduation from upper secondary education, short educational trajectory and not being engaged in education, employment or training (NEET). The participants (N = 597; 304 females, 293 males) were one age cohort of ninth graders in g…
GAMIT - A Fading-Gaussian Activation Model of Interval-Timing: Unifying Prospective and Retrospective Time Estimation
2014
Two recent findings constitute a serious challenge for all existing models of interval timing. First, Hass and Hermann (2012) have shown that only variance-based processes will lead to the scalar growth of error that is characteristic of human time judgments. Secondly, a major meta-review of over one hundred studies of participants’ judgments of interval duration (Block et al., 2010) reveals a striking interaction between the way in which temporal judgments are queried (i.e., retrospectively or prospectively) and cognitive load. For retrospective time judgments, estimates under high cognitive load are longer than under low cognitive load. For prospective judgments, the reverse pattern holds…
Location of navigation menus in websites: an experimental study with Arabic users
2015
Published online: 31 October 2015 While Arabic users represent by far the fastest growing language population on the Internet, research about how the peculiarities of Arabic language may shape users’ web interactions is still scarce. The preferences of Arabic users for menu location in websites have been studied. Two competing arguments have been proposed regarding the best location of menus in websites: conventional design (navigation menu should be placed on that side where users expect it based on previous experience) and reading direction (navigation menu should be placed on that side where readers are used to start off reading, so that the navigation menu is likely to be attended first…