Text comprehension

Current methods of coding recall, summarization, talk-aloud, and question-answering data are inherently unreliable and not effectively documented. If the process of coding protocol data could even be partially automated, this would be an im- portant scientific advance in the field of text comprehension. Twenty-four human subjects read and recalled each of four short texts. Half of the human recall data

Internationally, educators are concerned about effective methods to empower students with skills to equip them to function in a technological, global world. This paper reviews literature that explores the relationship between mathematical problem solving and literacy, through mathematical modelling and top-level structuring of text. The mathematical modelling problem solving process offers students an opportunity for learning mathematical skills through what

What is critical thinking? It is rather difficult to give an exact definition of this interesting phenomenon as the opinions of scholars vary. The majority of linguists consider that critical thinking is a complex
process using inquiry strategies, forming questions, and seeking answers to these questions. It implies not only fixing facts but also clearing up their reasons and results. The essence of critical thinking can be defined as taking care of one’s own thinking. Critical thinking starts as soon as the information reaches our mind and ends when we already have our own standpoint regarding this information. The
aim of this paper is to study the importance of critical thinking in text understanding. Critical reading strategies, in their way, develop critical thinking skills that are essential for a deeper and successful
perception of a text. It supports and encourages pupils and students to be more aware of reading comprehension skills, to explore how to read between lines and behind the words. Critical thinking is
independent thinking. When teaching is built on the principle of critical thinking, each pupil or student is able to formulate his/her own ideas, estimations, and convictions independently. Consequently,
thinking is critical only when it carries individual character. A pupil or a student should have enough freedom in order to think and solve different problems independently. It is true that people who are able
to think critically, always ask a set of questions formulated in a proper way, try to pick up information from different people and make proper conclusions about this or that person, thing, or phenomenon.
Critical thinking is not a child’s innate quality. Some individuals can develop it as a result of training.
In order a person to think critically, an individual has to have a rich imagination, be rather creative, and have background knowledge. All these three qualities are absolutely necessary for a good critical
thinker. Critical thinking is an attempt to see through things. It is challenging the existence and making counter-arguments. The main function of critical thinking is to enable a thinker to see the effectiveness
of an argument by exploring the reasons, assumptions, and warrants behind a particular stand. One of the most significant peculiarities of critical thinking is that it enables a person to make a claim with a
perspective to appreciate the strength of others’ arguments and helps recognize how one has reached a particular point while developing arguments. It is worth mentioning that the basic components of critical
thinking are properly formulated why and how questions to make pupils/students think profoundly and penetrate into the essence of any kind of text, which leads to its full comprehension.

Lea, O'Brien, Fish, Noveck e Braine (1990) investigaram inferências lógicas efetuadas por informantes universitários do curso de Psicologia, durante leitura, e encontraram que informantes realizam inferências da lógica proposicional de maneira espontânea e automática. Perguntou-se: ...

Resumo
A Prova de Compreensão de Texto da Bateria PROLEC (PROLEC-T), amplamente utilizada no Brasil, apresenta amostra limitada e apenas análises descritivas dos escores. Objetivos: conhecer a estrutura interna (adequação dos itens via Teoria de Resposta ao Item) e os índices de validade externa (concorrente) da referida prova. Método: estudo das respostas de 457 alunos (49,7% meninos) do 2º ao 5º ano, aleatoriamente selecionados em 77 salas de aula de oito escolas estaduais, ao PROLEC-T e a três testes de leitura. Resultados: a prova apresenta baixo nível de dificuldade e pouca variabilidade de escores, evidenciando validade interna não satisfatória. Mostra também limitações em relação à validade concorrente, uma vez que as correlações entre os seus escores e o ano escolar, a idade da criança e as notas fi nais na disciplina Língua Portuguesa foram fracas, embora tenham sido medianas com as medidas de leitura. Conclusão: Em sua forma atual, o PROLEC-T parece ser adequada apenas para uma avaliação informal de crianças com dificuldade de leitura. No entanto, caso seja reformulada, sugere-se a substituição de seus textos por histórias inéditas, em ordem crescente de dificuldade, com apenas perguntas inferenciais. Palavras-chave: Avaliação de leitura, compreensão de textos, validade instrumentos, teoria de resposta ao item.

Abstract
The Text Comprehension task (PROLEC-T) of the PROLEC Battery of Evaluation of Reading Processes, widely used in Brazil, has a limited sample and only descriptive analyses.
PURPOSE: verify the internal structure (via the Item Response Theory) and external (concurrent) validity indices of the test.
METHODS: study of 457 student's responses (49.7% boys), from 2nd to 5th year randomly selected in 77 classrooms in eight state schools, to the PROLEC-T and three reading tests.
RESULTS: PROLEC-T has a low level of difficulty and low variability of scores, indicating unsatisfactory internal validity. It also shows limitations on the concurrent validity, since the correlations were weak between its scores and the school year, age of the child and his or her final grades in Portuguese, in spite of being moderate with reading measures.
CONCLUSION: The test seems to be only suitable for an informal assessment of children with reading difficulties. However, if reformulated, it is suggested to replace the current texts for unpublished stories, increasing order of difficulty, and questions with only inferential questions.

RESUMEN

La prueba de Comprensión de textos de la Batería de Evaluación de los Procesos Lectores PROLEC (PROLEC-T), ampliamente utilizada en Brasil, tiene una muestra limitada y sólo el análisis descriptivo.
OBJETIVO: conocer la estructura interna (adaptación de las cuestiones a través de la Teoría de Respuesta al Ítem) y los índices de validez externa (concurrentes) de esa prueba.
MÉTODO: estudio de respuestas de 457 alumnos (49.7% de chicos) del 2º al 5º grado de la primaria, aleatoriamente seleccionados en 77 aulas de ocho escuelas públicas del Estado, a el PROLEC-T y tres pruebas de lectura.
RESULTADOS: La prueba tiene un conjunto de dificultad bajo y una baja variabilidad de las puntuaciones, lo que indica la validad interna no satisfactoria. También muestra limitaciones en la validad concurrente, ya que las correlaciones eran débiles con el año escolar, la edad del niño y con las notas finales en la asignatura Lengua Portuguesa, aunque hayan presentado mediana con las medidas de lectura.
CONCLUSIÓN: el establecimiento de normas para la PROLEC-T no es justificable. De esta manera, parece ser sólo adecuado para una evaluación informal de los niños con dificultades de lectura. Se sugiere la sustitución de los textos por historias inéditas, seguidas solamente de preguntas inferenciales, y orden crecente de dificultad de los textos.

Palavras-chave: Evaluación de lectura, comprensión de textos, validad de instrumentos, teoría de respuesta al ítem.

This study investigated reading skills in 41 children with autism spectrum disorder. Four components of reading skill were assessed: word recognition, nonword decoding, text reading accuracy and text comprehension. Overall, levels of word and nonword reading and text ...

The current studies aimed to find out whether a nonintentional form of mood contagion exists and which mechanisms can account for it. In these experiments participants who expected to be tested for text comprehension listened to an affectively neutral speech that was spoken in a slightly sad or happy voice. The authors found that (a) the emotional expression induced a congruent mood state in the listeners, (b) inferential accounts to emotional sharing were not easily reconciled with the findings, (c) different affective experiences emerged from intentional and nonintentional forms of emotional sharing, and (d) findings suggest that a perception-behavior link (T. L. Chartrand & J. A. Bargh, 1999) can account for these findings, because participants who were required to repeat the philosophical speech spontaneously imitated the target person's vocal expression of emotion.

According to multicomponent models (Oakhill & Cain, 2007a), text comprehension is a complex process that requires the processing of explicit (i.e., information presented in the text) and implicit information (i.e., information inferable from the text or from previous knowledge), and involves various components. This study investigated (a) preschoolers' understanding of explicit and implicit information in oral texts and (b) the role of verbal and inferential skills in the processing of explicit and implicit information. Two hundred twenty-one 4- to 6-year-olds were evaluated as to their listening text comprehension and the following components: receptive vocabulary, verbal intelligence, and inferential skills. Working memory was a control variable. Results showed that (a) explicit information was easier to process than implicit information; and (b) all the components considered, except receptive vocabulary, accounted for comprehension of both types of information, and their role was stable in the age range considered.

Scopo di questo studio è la validazione psicometrica di una batteria di approfondimento delle difficoltà nella comprensione del testo. Nell'obiettivo di arrivare ad uno strumento che richiedesse un tempo relativamente breve di applicazione, attraverso l'analisi della letteratura, sono state scelte cinque componenti del processo di comprensione del testo che fossero sia specifiche che facilmente educabili in caso di non sufficiente efficienza. Le componenti scelte sono state, vocabolario, inferenze lessicali, inferenze ...

The purpose of this research was to explore the English reading comprehension text difficulties among master level Saudi
students to support the reading comprehension of students with reading difficulties. The literature is mixed in regard to the
different difficulties students have in reading comprehension. The Research examined the specific problems faced by these
students in the literature. A survey study was conducted. 120 master level students were the participants, with reading
difficulties who participated in this study. Convenience sampling was used. The findings showed that the highest difficulties
faced by Saudi students on reading comprehension text were vocabulary, reading speed and the less difficult problems faced
by Saudi students on reading comprehension text was reading aloud by the students. However, it was recommended that
the publishers should introduce supplements or bilingual glossaries, and there should be matching text with the learning
material. Further, any planned reading aloud by the instructors for these master level students can produce good text
comprehension. Nevertheless; linguistics and lexical knowledge were also recommended for these master level students.

Las inferencias emocionales son necesarias para la comprensión de los textos narrativos que son utilizados con frecuencia en los primeros años escolares; este tipo de inferencias se relacionan con la causación psicológica de las emociones experimentadas por los personajes y con la actividad inferencial del lector acerca de emociones no mencionadas en el texto (Ortony, Clore y Collins, 1988). Los niños con TEA presentan dificultades en la comprensión de textos narrativos, principalmente en la generación de inferencias emocionales. La Teoría de la Ceguera Mental (Baron-Cohen, 2000) “sugiere que los niños que padecen el trastorno del espectro autista sufren cierto retraso en el desarrollo de una teoría de la mente. Una teoría de la mente implica la capacidad de ponerse en el lugar del otro, de imaginarse lo que piensa y lo que siente, así como de entender y prever su conducta” (Baron-Cohen, 2000). De allí la importancia de indagar acerca de las inferencias emocionales y la comprensión de textos en niños con TEA, ya que esto contribuye al desarrollo de apoyos educativos adaptados a sus necesidades además de aportar evidencia empírica útil en la explicación del espectro autista. Para esto es necesario determinar en un momento específico la correlación entre las variables: memoria de trabajo, atención sostenida y vocabulario con la comprensión de inferencias emocionales en lectores con TEA. Se plantea como hipótesis una correlación entre las diferencias individuales en los niños con TEA y la posibilidad de generar inferencias. El proyecto de investigación que da origen a esta ponencia tiene una muestra de niños entre 8 y 12 años de edad diagnosticados con TEA que presentan lenguaje funcional con o sin déficit intelectual acompañado.

Internet-based reading involves integration and evaluation of information from different sources and different formats, but also requires fluent navigation skills for adequate comprehension. The effects of linguistic (word decoding and comprehension-based print reading) and non-cognitive factors (reading frequency and self-efficacy) have extensively been studied for print reading; we know very little about their role in Internet reading, which is our focus in this study. 558 students from grades 7 to 10 performed a set of comprehension-based Internet reading tasks on a computer, while their navigation and comprehension scores were recorded. They were also assessed on print reading literacy, word decoding, Internet reading frequency and self-efficacy. Multiple regression analyses suggest that navigation skills increase proportionally with grade level and that print reading literacy and comprehension-based Internet reading share common processes. Moreover, the positive effect of navigation efficiency on Internet comprehension increases in higher grade levels. Finally, reading frequency of the Internet for informational purposes predicts Internet comprehension scores, and self-efficacy predicts more persistent and quicker navigation.

We investigated the role of global discourse organization on the comprehension of temporal order in narrative. We proposed three principles of discourse organization: (a) the immediate integration principle--- new event should be integrated immediately with old information, (b) the consistency principle---a new event should be attached to a consistent locus, and (c) the isomorphism principle---discourse structure should match event structure. Five passages varying in discourse structure were presented auditorily, and the comprehension of the underlying event order was tested. Subjects' comprehension was best in the canonical passage. The backward, flashback, and embedded passages were significantly more difficult than the canonical passages. The flashforward passage was the most difficult. The results were interpreted as showing that the immediate integration principle is a strong component of comprehension of temporal order and that the isomorphism principle contributes to tex...

[Table of Contents]
http://www.cup.es/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521833356&ss=toc
Chapt. 38.  Inferences during discourse comprehension in Korean (pp. 474-483)
- Soyoung Kim Suh, Jung-Mo Lee and Jae-Ho Lee -

Publishers: Cambridge University Press
(pp. 638) (ISBN: 978-0-521-83335-6)

Page 1. The impact of text structure and linguistic markers on the text comprehension of elderly people Mariëlle Leijten & Luuk Van Waes Department of Language and Communication, Belgium University of Antwerp Page 2. Introduction Research questions Hypotheses Method Results Discussion Further research University of Antwerp Page 3. intro | res.questions | hypotheses | method | results | discussion | further research Introduction Linguistic markers connectives and text comprehension ➢ controversial topic + average length & difficulty ...

Formative assessment has proved its potential in improving the learning outcomes of EFL learners. However, its use is quite restricted in the Algerian secondary school. Thus, instead of playing a formative role, the assessment found in the Algerian EFL classroom is of a summative nature. Accordingly, the purpose behind the current research is to shed light on the importance of formative assessment in the teaching and learning processes by highlighting its effect on text comprehension, as the latter may be an obstacle to effective language learning and academic achievement among Algerian secondary school pupils. To reach this end, the present research attempts to investigate the impact of formative assessment on pupils' text comprehension as well as their achievement and attitudes through answering the following research questions: (1) how does formative assessment develop pupils' text comprehension? (2) What changes can the experiment bring in terms of students' achievements and attitudes towards text comprehension? This research is based on a quasi-experimental design delivered to sixteen third year secondary school pupils as the latter are required to sit for the 'Baccalaureate' exam in which text comprehension is of crucial importance. A pretest, a posttest, an intervention which lasted five weeks and a questionnaire were used to find out the impact of formative assessment on the development of pupil's text comprehension. The results obtained showed a significant progress in pupils' outcomes in the four language competences: grammatical, textual, functional and sociolinguistic and namely in grammatical and textual competences. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that formative assessment should be an integral part of the teaching process.

Dias, Maria da Graça B. B., Ferreira, S. A. P., & Roazzi, A. (2010). Exercícios e estratégias aplicados em sala de aula para uma melhor compreensão de texto. In S.R.K. Guimarães, & M.R. Maluf (Orgs.), Aprendizagem da linguagem escrita: Contribuições da pesquisa (pp. 343-354). (Coleção Psicologia da Linguagem, Vol. 3). São Paulo: Vetor. ISBN 978-85-7585-357-3
O capitulo visa arguir que a compreensão de texto não é uma habilidade que se aprende apenas nas séries iniciais de escolarização e que sua responsabilidade é dos professores de todas as disciplinas. São elencadas várias estratégias e, dentre elas, destacam duas para promover a compreensão da leitura em sala de aula. Estas têm como importantes vantagens sua fácil aplicação, necessidade mínima de recursos e o fato de provocarem o posicionamento ativo do leitor diante do texto. São elas a estratégia do uso de imagem mental e a de tomar notas. São considerados os limites, vantagens e variáveis que podem interferir na eficácia do uso dessas estratégias, tais como tempo de instrução do aprendiz, relação com seu tutor e tipo de escola.