bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The effect of pictures on the reading processes of less able readers: a miscue analysis approach
Authors: Beveridge M. , Griffiths V.
Published: November 2005

The impact of illustrations on the reading performance of children with reading difficulties has been examined. Nineteen children from the first year of three comprehensive schools each read illustrated and unillustrated fictional passages at three levels of difficulty. The reading performance was assessed using miscue analysis, Goodman and Burke (1972) and a two‐way analysis of variance was applied to analyse the results.

Reading performance was assessed in the area of: total errors, time taken to read the passages, comprehension, grammatical relationships and errors excluding omissions and insertions. The results suggested that, in the majority of these aspects of the reading process, there was a statistically significant interaction between illustration and difficulty levels. At the lower level of difficulty, reading performance in the illustrated conditions was superior to that in the unillustrated conditions. At the higher level of difficulty the reverse trend was apparent.
Rasch scaling and reading tests
Authors: Pumfrey Peter D.
Published: November 2005

The aim of this paper is to sensitise research workers and other test users to an ongoing controversy concerning the relative merits of conventional test theory and Rasch scaling in the construction of reading tests.

Supporters of Rasch scaling readily acknowledge its limitations in mapping the complexities of human reading behaviours. Despite this, the technique's practical and theoretical advantages in certain aspects of reading are seen as outweighing the acknowledged limitations. Currently an increasing number of test constructors and publishers are adopting Rasch procedures in developing reading tests. This does not mean that the approach is educationally valid. A great deal of further research is required.
An investigation into the relation between word recognition skills, reading comprehension and spelling skills in the first two years of primary school
Authors: Mommers M.J.C.
Published: November 2005

During the past five years a comprehensive research project called ‘The prevention of reading difficulties’ has been designed and carried out in the Netherlands. This project included a longitudinal study to investigate the development of various sub‐skills in word recognition, reading comprehension and spelling over a period of three years.

Two samples, including 12 schools each, were drawn at random. The data have been analysed by means of the general LISREL‐model. The results of the two groups largely agree with each other. With respect to the reading prerequisites two factors are found, a general factor and an auditory factor. The influence of the general factor appears clearly stronger than the other one.

After 3 to 4 months of formal reading instruction, decoding speed and spelling turn out to be distinguishable factors. The influence of spelling on decoding skills supports the view that at this initial stage accuracy in the analysis and blending of words is a prerequisite to learning to decode quickly. It may be concluded that after eight months of reading instruction decoding skills, reading comprehension and spelling are clearly distinguishable factors. Decoding skills influence reading comprehension. However, the path coefficients are not so high as to be able to attribute differences in reading comprehension almost completely to differences in decoding skills.

The distinctive character of the three factors of decoding, comprehension and spelling is revealed much more clearly than in cross‐sectional research. These results correspond with the assumption that cross‐sectionally found causal effects often decrease or disappear all together in favour of ‘memory effects’ in longitudinal research.
Evaluating an individualised reading programme
Authors: Kagan Dona M.
Published: November 2005

A study was conducted as part of an attempt to evaluate an individualised reading program in which elementary school teachers prepared written prescriptions for students, targeting specific deficiencies for remediation. Teachers were free to prescribe any combination of seventy different instructional materials, including worksheets, tapes, computer software, or basal readers. Subjects were 37 teachers and 104 students for whom a total of 569 prescriptions were written over a three‐month period. Regression analyses were used to examine relationships between teachers’cognitive styles and the numbers and kinds of materials they selected for students. Regression was also used to identify significant predictors of positive reading attitudes among students. Teachers who tended to be more affectively (as opposed to analytically) oriented tended to use more instructional materials, perhaps because they appreciated the flexibility it afforded them. Among students, preferences for independent modes of learning were significant predictors of positive reading attitudes. Parental reading habits and the total number of materials prescribed were also positively related to reading attitude.
Measuring ESL readers’ ability to apply reasoning in reading: a validity study of the TOEFL reading comprehension subtest
Authors: Perkins Kyle
Published: November 2005

This paper reports the results of an attempt to measure English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ability to apply reasoning in reading. The elicitation instrument was an experimental test which was developed from a model of reading comprehension based upon cognitive activities which Piaget referred to as concrete operations. The experimental test delineated Piaget's concrete operations in prose text and set them against difficulty criteria. The experimental test which measured the ability to apply reasoning in reading and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) were administered to a pool of adult ESL subjects. The results indicated that the TOEFL reading comprehension subtest does not measure the ability to apply reasoning in reading; thus, its validity as a measure of reading is in doubt. Significant effects were also shown for the paragraph types and the item types in the experimental test. The items based on the classification paragraphs were significantly more difficult than the items based on the serial paragraphs. In like manner, the items based on the multiplication paragraphs were significantly more difficult than the items based on the addition paragraphs. And finally, the intension questions which concerned the properties of a class were significantly more difficult than the extension questions which dealt with the members of classes.

The results of this study indicate a need for further, increased attention to the measurement of reading to solve problems in ESL reading assessment and to the effects of the different structural organizations of ideas (e.g., addition, classification, multiplication, and series) and the interrelations of ideas on the comprehension process. The motivation for this line of research derives from the pragmatic interest of those researchers concerned with the communicative aspects of a text and the manner in which authors organize their ideas. Current research is beginning to explain the complex interaction between text structure and the reader's processing of such structure which further explicates the comprehension process.
Reading, spelling and two types of irregularity in word recognition
Authors: Schlapp Ursula , Underwood Geoffrey
Published: November 2005

How do good and poor readers, and good and poor spellers, vary in their decisions about words which have varying spelling‐to‐sound correspondences? This experiment isolates the effects of visual and phonological characteristics of words with schoolchildren of varying reading and spelling ability, aged between 9 and 11.5 years. Three groups of children were tested: good readers and good spellers, good readers who were poor spellers, and children who were both poor readers and poor spellers. The difference between‘good’and‘poor’was about two years according to the standardised tests which were used. The children performed a lexical decision task, deciding whether each letter‐string was a word or not. Response times to three types of words were compared: standard regular words (e.g. SLOT, SPADE), words with common orthography but irregular spelling‐to‐sound relationships (e.g. HAVE, FEVER), and words with unusual orthography as well as irregular spelling‐to‐sound relationships (e.g. BISCUIT, ANSWER).

The performance of good readers but not of poor readers was impaired on the words which were phonologically irregular (compared with regular words). Poor spellers were worse again on the dually irregular words, although not significantly, while the good spellers performed almost as well on these words as on the regular words. These results have a number of implications: that the regularity effect is phonologically and not orthographically mediated, that good readers use a predominantly phonological strategy in lexical decision while poor readers do not, and that for the best readers/spellers as tested here the orthographically and phonologically irregular words have some sort of special status which allows them to gain fast and accurate responses.
Developmental arrest at the logographic stage: impaired literacy functions in Klinefelter's XXXY syndrome
Authors: Seymour Philip H.K. , Evans Henryka M.
Published: November 2005

We report an analysis of reading and spelling processes in a case of developmental disability associated with a genetic anomaly (Klinefelter XXXY syndrome). The results are interpreted within the framework of a model of reading and spelling development (Frith, 1985). An almost complete absence of alphabetic functions was noted. Reading appeared to be based on a ‘logographic lexicon’ (Seymour & Elder, 1986), and spelling on a letter sequence generator which was modifiable by access to a limited store of word images.
Reading disabilities in modern Japanese children
Authors: Hirose Takehiko , Hatta Takeshi
Published: November 2005

ABSTRACE

Since Makita's report (1968), it has been believed that reading disabilities in Japan are extremely rare. However, this argument does not correspond with teachers’observations in elementary schools in Japan. This study tried to re‐examine the incidence and characteristics of reading disabilities in Japan. Standardized reading ability and intelligence tests were conducted for 5th grade elementary school children of various districts. It was found that 18.7% of children have one year delay, and 10.9% of children have two or more years delay. This shows that Makita's claim of rarity of incidence of reading disabilities in Japan is incorrect.
Differences in reading strategies among 7 to 8 year old children
Authors: Pumfrey P. D. , Fletcher J.
Published: November 2005

In the theoretical context of compensatory processing, the research studied the syntactic, semantic and grapho‐phonic miscues made by groups of first year Junior school pupils of high, average and low reading attainments.

60 children aged between 7.5 and 8.5 years of age were asked to read aloud passages from the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability. All miscues were recorded and scored. Analyses of variance were then performed on these scores at two levels of text complexity. Reading attainment and sex were used as independent variables to test specified hypotheses related to miscue quality.

The high reading attainment group typically made better quality syntactic, semantic and grapho‐phonic miscues at the lower level of text complexity. Passage complexity affected the ability of some children to make effective use of syntactic and semantic cues. As text complexity increased, the miscue quality of high and above average reading attainment groups deteriorated. Higher scores on a word recognition reading test were significantly related to effective use of grapho‐phonic miscues, but not to the use of syntactic and semantic cues, in reading material from more demanding texts.

Limitations in the methodology used and suggestions for future work are discussed.
Cohesion and coherence in theory and reading research
Authors: Fulcher Glenn
Published: November 2005

What is the relationship between cohesion and coherence? Researchers in the field of Applied Linguistics have traditionally attempted to list and define the cohesive devices in English which provide the basis for coherent text. Schema theoreticians, on the other hand, have argued that coherence is primary, that readers look for coherence given their existing schemata and extra‐linguistic knowledge of the world and only then do they recognise cohesion.

This paper looks at these two approaches in the light of the conflict which has grown up around the relationship between the concepts of cohesion and coherence and suggests that the positions taken are the result of a theoretically different starting point. If the researcher is primarily interested in linguistic analysis then she will begin with cohesion whereas, if human psychology in the reading process is the main focus then it will be more natural to look at coherence. However, it seems to be at least intuitively obvious that both the text itself and the reader have a part to play in the reading process, that reading is simultaneously data‐driven and concept‐driven.

It is suggested that these two approaches would benefit from being a part of a larger theory of the reading process. In this context the work of Ruqaiya Hasan is reviewed as the most thorough attempt to provide a theory of text which accounts for both cohesion and coherence. Secondly, data are presented which suggest that a theory which integrates cohesion and coherence is necessary. Two studies are reported: an informal classroom experiment on the influence of pronominal reference on comprehension and an analysis of the results of a test designed to examine the relationships between theoretical constructs hypothesised to constitute (at least part of) the superordinate term “reading comprehension”.
Extensive reading as a means of input to L2 learning
Authors: Tudor Ian , Hafiz Fateh
Published: November 2005

A group of ESL learners (n = 16) in the UK were given a 3‐month extensive reading programme involving graded readers to test the hypothesis that input of this nature could effect an improvement in their L2 competence. Comparison of pre‐and post‐treatment tests in reading and writing indicated that subjects had improved significantly in both skills, though particularly in writing. A subsequent more detailed analysis of one of the writing tests (an essay) showed post‐treatment gains in number of words written and accuracy of expression. However, subjects' vocabulary base remained relatively unchanged and they used a generally more simple syntax. The experimental treatment thus appears to have encouraged a simpler but more correct form of expression in the L2. These results may relate to the linguistic models provided by the simplified language used in the graded readers. Extensive reading is suggested to have a potential in L2 development terms, teough the effect obtained from any given reading programme may be significantly related to the linguistic form of the material used.
Reading and listening at three school stages: cloze tests and their response analysis
Authors: Mulholland Helen , Neville Mary
Published: November 2005

This paper reports the results of cloze tests in the reading and listening modes together with a computer analysis of responses to the tests. The subjects were groups of Scottish school children at the ages of 8‐9, 11‐12 and 13–14 years sampled over the whole country as part of a national survey of English language; the cloze tests were only a small part of the whole testing programme which also contained three other major reading tests. Approximately 400 subjects took cloze tests in each mode at each age. The test material was the same throughout for all stages tested. Two tests, each containing one narrative and one expository text were used.

The mode of presentation did not significantly affect the types of cloze responses offered nor the total scores of the tests at any stage. However, results indicated better performance for older subjects when they read, and for the youngest group when they listened to, expository though not narrative passages. The comparisons of the results for the three different school stages showed continuing interdependence of reading and listening ability through the ages tested.

The different cloze response patterns for the two types of text (in either mode) as well as the only moderate correlation between the texts, indicated that success in comprehending narratives may not necessarily transfer to comprehending information.
The effect of syntactic simplification on reading EST texts as L1 and L2
Authors: Ulijn Jan M. , Strother Judith B.
Published: November 2005

There has been a considerable suggestion in the literature that syntactic adaptation of a text would simplify it. This empirical study determined that the complexity of the syntax does not significantly affect the level of reading comprehension. While a complete conceptual and lexical analysis may be necessary for reading comprehension, a thorough syntactic analysis is not. This should be true for both expert and novice readers in a particular professional field, herein computer science.

Using American (L1 or E1, English as a native language) and Dutch (L2 or E2, English as a second, nonnative language) computer science and humanities majors reading in EST (English for Science and Technology), it was found that there were no significant differences between subgroups reading an authentic (in original, unadapted form) computer science text and those reading a syntactically adapted text either in comprehension or in time across the four groups of subjects. These results indicate that syntactic simplification of an EST text is not a real simplification. Hence, technical writers and EST teachers might give priority to other more conceptual ways of rewriting texts.
A case for the use of single‐subject methodology in reading research
Authors: McCormick Sandra
Published: November 2005

The purpose of this article is to provide information about single case experimental research methodologies and to delineate a rationale for their use in certain types of reading research. The following facets are treated: history of single subject research; individual data analysis; repeated and frequent measurement of variables; baseline measurement; internal and external validity; and designs.
Reading, phonological skills and short‐term memory: interactive tributaries of development
Authors: Ellis Nick
Published: November 2005

Short‐term memory, phonological processing and reading are associated abilities, but the causal relationships between them are yet to be determined. A longitudinal study of 40 children as they develop from 5 to 7 years old is analysed to investigate the interactive development of these skills. In children who have not yet begun to read it appears that phonological skills promote the acquisition of letter knowledge and that these two abilities, together with visual STM, lead the development of reading. The pattern changes once reading acquisition begins. LISREL analyses demonstrate that reading now promotes further growth of phonological skills and auditory STM, and these phonological skills in turn lead to the development of visual STM. The acquisition of reading makes relevant active phonological processing in short‐term memory and thus stimulates the development of these skills.
Effects of independent word practice with segmented and whole‐word sound feedback in disabled readers
Authors: van Daal Victor H.P. , Reitsma Pieter
Published: November 2005

Reading‐disabled children seem to have considerable difficulties in acquiring phonological recoding skills, which are considered to be very important in becoming a proficient reader. It is hypothesized that speech feedback may support the development of phonological recoding skills. The aim of the present study is to investigate the use of speech feedback during independent word reading and its effects on the remediation of reading skill. Three different conditions for independent practice were employed. For 17 subjects high‐quality digitized speech was available on call. When speech feedback was requested either whole‐word sound was provided (n = 8) or segmented‐word sound was presented (n = 9). A control group (n=14) did not receive speech feedback at all. In a posttest both practised and nonpractised words were presented. Both help call behaviour during practice and changes in reading rate and accuracy from pretest to posttest were analyzed. It was found that speech feedback requests were not dependent on word difficulty. More calls for whole‐word sound were made than for segmented‐word sound, while latency times for whole‐word sound requests were shorter than for segmented‐word sound requests. Both forms of speech feedback were equally effective in reading practice words which were initially read incorrectly. However, there was a tendency for the learning effect on nonpractised initially hard‐to‐read words to be largest when segmented‐word sound had been available. It is concluded that, whenever the goal of reading instruction is to memorize particular words, whole‐word sound as well as segmented‐word sound can be used. However, when more productive skills are aimed at, the most promising way of giving support is to present segmented‐word sound, although only a nonsignificant tendency for transfer was found in the present study.
Spelling errors and phonemic segmentation ability: the nature of the relationship
Authors: Holligan Christopher , Johnston Rhona S.
Published: November 2005

Poor spellers/readers and younger normal children of similar spelling and reading ability carried out phonemic segmentation and spelling tasks. The poor spellers were impaired relative to controls in their ability to detect the odd word out where the middle or final phoneme of the word differed from that of the other items in the list. For example, in the series ‘dot',‘cot',‘pot','bat', the word ‘bat’ differs from the other items in terms of its middle vowel. Spelling errors were classified as being ‘pre‐phonetic',‘phonetic', or ‘transitional’ in character, according to Morris and Perney's (1984) developmental scheme.‘Transitional’ errors indicate a knowledge of English orthography, and are relatively easy for the reader to decode phonetically, for example, green −>‘grene', whereas ‘phonetic’ errors indicate a level of phonetic awareness which is not matched by an ability to represent the word according to the conventions of English spelling, for example green −>‘gren'. Poor spellers were found to make significantly fewer ‘transitional’ errors than controls, there being a non‐significant tendency for them to make more ‘pre‐phonetic’ and ‘phonetic’ errors. It was found that performance on the odd word out task correlated significantly with the occurrence of ‘transitional’ errors, there being no such relationship with ‘phonetic’ errors.
Reading improvement with tinted lenses: a report of two cases
Authors: Hannell Glynis , Gole Glen A. , Dibden; Shirley N. , Rooney Kevin F. , Pidgeon Kenneth J.
Published: November 2005

There have been numerous anecdotal reports of an improvement in reading in dyslexic children fitted with tinted spectacle lenses. Few of these cases have been subjected to any sort of scientific scrutiny. We report the findings in two dyslexic brothers each of whom showed a marked improvement in reading facility when reading print material either through a semi‐transparent tinted plastic sheet (overlay) or through tinted spectacle lenses. Other observed effects of the tinted overlays and/or tinted lenses were improved visual acuity, improved figure/ground perception and reduction in apparent distortions and fragmentation of print. Such improvements were noted in either one or both of the boys. A speculative explanation for this effect is that the lenses act by altering the transmission of impulses along the primary visual pathway.
Can imagery training help children who have comprehension problems?
Authors: Oakhill Jane , Patel Sima
Published: November 2005

An experiment is reported that explored whether training in mental imagery would improve text comprehension in 9‐year‐old children. Two groups of children were compared: good and poor comprehenders. The groups were matched on a test of vocabulary and decoding, but differed on a comprehension test. The results showed that a three‐session programme of training in imagery benefited the poor, but not the good, comprehenders, by comparison with a control group who merely answered questions about the same passages. The results are discussed in relation to possible causes of children's comprehension difficulties.
The role of prior knowledge in inferential processing
Authors: Fincher‐Kiefer Rebecca
Published: November 2005

The present research tested how domain‐related knowledge influences inference generation during text comprehension. Two types of inference were examined, those that maintained referential coherence, referred to as local inferences, and those that were anticipatory in nature, referred to as global inferences. Three groups of subjects, each with differing degrees of domain knowledge, read a domain‐related text that included both types of inference. It was found that all knowledge groups processed sentences involved in local inferences similarly, presumably because establishing text coherence is essential to comprehension. However, knowledge differences emerged in the processing of the sentences involved in global inferences. The results of two experiments suggested that individuals with prior knowledge used their knowledge actively to generate global inferences during reading. It was argued that this anticipatory inferential process guides the construction of a mental model of a text, built partly with explicit information and partly with existing knowledge.
The effect of processing depth on ESL reading comprehension
Authors: Perkins Kyle , Brutten Sheila R.
Published: November 2005

This study investigated the effect of depth of processing on second‐language reading comprehension. It was hypothesized that questions which entailed shallow cognitive processing would be easier to answer than questions which entailed deeper cognitive processing. Three of the four research hypotheses were confirmed. Previous training (or lack of it) may account for why one of the predictions was not confirmed. This paper concludes with a cautionary note about the types of reading performance teachers can expect, and the recognition of open‐ended testing techniques in secondlanguage reading assessment.
Reading in a foreign language: how does L2 lexical knowledge interact with the reader's general academic ability'
Authors: Laufer Batia
Published: November 2005

Reading in a foreign language is believed to be both a reading problem and an L2 problem. It is still unclear, however, how the two factors interact in determining the reading results in L2. The study investigates how L2 reading is affected by L2 proficiency as reflected in the learners’ lexical level on the one hand and by hidher general academic ability (including the reading ability in Ll) on the other hand. Sixty four EFL learners took part in the study. For each subject, three scores were compared: vocabulary size in L2, general academic ability, and L2 reading. The results show that 1, with vocabulary size of fewer than 3000 word families (5000 lexical items), no amount of general ability will make the learner read well; 2, with vocabulary size of 5000 word families (8000 lexical items), reading in L2 will be satisfactory whatever the general ability; 3, with vocabulary size of 3000–4000 word families (about 5000–6500 lexical items), L2 reading may or may not be influenced by general ability. Practical implications of the results are suggested.
The structure and development of the paired reading technique
Authors: Topping K.J. , Lindsay G.A.
Published: November 2005

This paper defines the Paired Reading technique and comments upon minor variations. The historical antecedents for the technique in the international literature are reviewed and the technique is considered in the context of relevant background theory and empirical research. The main strands of theory regarding how and why Paired Reading works are reviewed in the light of summary data on process and reading style changes during PR projects.

It is concluded that the effects of Paired Reading are mediated by a number of different factors, and the technique should therefore be widely philosophically acceptable.
Practical literacy of young adults: educational antecedents and influences
Authors: Weinstein Thomas , Walberg Herbert J.
Published: November 2005

To assess the relative influences of education, social environment, and current activities on the practical literacy of young adults in the United States, data were drawn from the 1985 National Assessment of Educational Progress survey of 3,618 21–25 year olds. Oral and written examinations provided reliable measures of comprehension of written language, documentary and writing skills, pictorial and chart understanding, and numeracy; oral and some additional writing skills were assessed with single‐item rating scales. A multidimensional model of literacy distinguished 20 early background characteristics of education, home, and family from 16 literacy‐promoting current adult activities—all of which were coded into scales from respondent reports. Regression and canonical analyses showed that both early experience and current activities powerfully influence young‐adult literacy.‘Matthew effects,’ however, show early environmental advantages yield subsequent advantages that lead to wide disparities in adult literacy skills.
What's the title? A case study of questioning in reading
Authors: van der Meij Hans
Published: November 2005

Qu'est‐ce que c'est que le titre?

On a observé des paires d'enfants de 4° d 6° année lors de la lecture d'un texte. Les enfants ont pose des questions sur le texte et ont posé ces questions pendant une discussion en classe sur ce texte. Ces observations ont été raealisées dans le but de découvrir les relations entre ce que les enfants demandent, la façon dont ils le demandent et en quoi le contexte affecte le questionnement.

En moyenne, les enfants ont posé environ douze questions pour des textes de 400 à 600 mots. A peu près soixante pour cent de ces questions étaient des questions simples portant sur une seule ligne du texte. Une question typique est:‘Quel était le nom du père de Ivik?'. Pour produire une question de ce type il fallait surtout trouver la phrase exacte dans le texte. Par conséquent, la formulation était facile et conduisait presque toujours à une question fermée (par exemple, une question oui/non). Environ vingt pour cent des questions demandaient aux enfants B partager une expérience. Ces questions ouvertes invitaient les autres enfants de la classe àéchanger des idées sur des événements ou des sentiments décrits dans le texte.

Les questions ont été posées pour la discussion et cette relation a affecté fortement le questionnement qui a eu lieu. On n'a pas trouvé, par exemple, de véritables questions de recherche d'informations (compte non tenu des questions relatives à une expérience). Dans le contexte actuel, de telles questions n'étaient évidemment pas de très bonnes questions pour une discussion en classe sur un texte. Par contre, des questions simples, explicites dans le texte, de type fermé, aident bien les enfants a contrôler les interactions question‐réponse et, par conséquent, ces questions sont abondantes. Peut‐être le meilleur exemple de la façon dont le contexte a affecté les questions est‐il ce bijou ‘Aimez‐vous la famine?’ pour lequel seules les réponses oui ou non étaient permises.

Si les enseignants veulent que les enfants posent plus de bonnes questions en lecture, une recherche comme celle‐ci suggère qu'ils devraient stimuler les habiletés à questionner des enfants et créer un contexte favorable. Le contexte devrait amener les enfants à poser des questions dont ils aimeraient vraiment connaître les reponses. A l'heure actuelle la plupart des écoles sont des lieux où on exerce les enfants à passer maîtres pour répondre aux questions et à rester novices pour les poser.
A case study of an implementation of the ‘new literacy’ paradigm
Authors: Botel Morton , Ripley Patricia M. , Barnes Lisa A.
Published: November 2005

Within this article, the authors discuss a research project which entailed using teacher journals as a source of program development, assessment and change. Over the course of one year, teachers from the West Deptford school system voluntarily participated in a professional development program entitled the PENN Literacy Network. This training program was led by a member of the West Deptford school district, and its aim was to promote new ways of integrating reading, writing and talking into language arts classrooms and across the curriculum. During the course of this training year, teachers were asked to keep journals detailing their experiences and understanding of the critical experiences which they were presented with, and these journals were responded to by the facilitator of the course and were read by researchers associated with the PENN Literacy Network in order to answer questions and identify emergent themes.

This paper addresses some findings, analysis and interpretation of the qualitative evaluation research project which grew out of a university/school district collaboration. It describes the Pennsylvania Framework and the critical learning experiences associated with this Framework and details, using journal citations, teachers’ reactions to the changes taking place within their classrooms and their teaching philosophies as they adapt such critical experiences to their own daily practice. The changes which occur in the program due to teacher feedback and concerns are discussed.

Throughout this case study, the authors seek to answer the following questions:‘In what ways have teachers who participated in the professional development program utilized the concepts and practices of the new literacy effort in their classrooms?’ and ‘How do these teachers feel about these changes?’ They believe that using such questions to analyze the journals helps to provide validation data supporting the assumption that the PENN Literacy Network does facilitate change and this data helps the facilitator of the course, the organizers of the Network and the university researchers to integrate teacher voices into the program itself. In addition, teachers are able to use the journals to experiment and learn while sharing their thoughts and feelings with their colleagues as a form of teacher research.
Reading comprehension and information processing strategies
Authors: Sahu Shantilata , Kar Abantika
Published: November 2005

The present study investigated the relationship between the reading comprehension and information processing strategies of relatively fluent oral readers of Oriya orthography. The study was necessary, because Oriya orthography has some significant differences from English orthography and these differences could bear implications for the reading strategies and processes. Hence, it was envisaged that findings in the field of reading research using English orthography may not hold good for the readers of Oriya orthography.

One hundred students of grade V were taken as subjects in the present study. Reading comprehension tasks simultaneous and successive information processing tasks and a nonverbal measure of intelligence were administered to all the subjects.

Results show that good comprehenders were relatively more intelligent than the poor comprehenders. So far as their performance on simultaneous and successive information processing strategies were concerned good cornprehenders were better off on both types of coding tasks and these differences were found to be statistically significant even after the effect of intelligence was partialled out. However, no differential proficiency on either of these coding strategies was observed neither for the good nor for the poor comprehender group.
Reading habits of university ESL students at different levels of English proficiency and education
Authors: Mokhtari Kouider , Sheorey Ravi
Published: November 2005

This paper describes a research study which examined the degree to which the levels of English proficiency (high vs. low) and education (graduate vs. undergraduate) of students for whom English is a second language (ESL) were associated with differences in their reading behavior patterns. Subjects completed a survey which elicited information about several aspects of their reading behavior patterns including the type of materials read, the amount of time devoted to each type of reading, perceptions of their own reading ability, weaknesses, and needed improvements in reading. The results revealed that many of the mean scores obtained differed significantly, a fact indicating that the subjects’ levels of education and English proficiency were indeed associated with their reading behavior patterns. The paper concludes with a discussion of the instructional implications of the findings.
L2‐reading in the content areas: text comprehension in secondary education in the Netherlands
Authors: Hacquebord Hilde
Published: November 2005

In the Netherlands, as in other Western European countries, many minority children are unsuccessful in their school careers. Their lack of achievement is associated with language and literacy problems. In secondary education they are faced with the task of text comprehension in the content areas, which is a reading task and a learning task at the same time.

This study will report on the assessment of text comprehension in relation to vocabulary, grammar, non‐verbal IQ and background knowledge about topics used in the text‐comprehension test. Turkish and Dutch pupils took these tests during the first three years of their secondary schooling. In order to relate students’ different reading styles to their linguistic background (L1 or L2), three different subtests of text comprehension were used, each referring to a certain discourse level.

It was found that the L2‐readers tend towards a top‐down approach of reading, which implies a stronger reliance on conceptual guidance than in L1‐reading. With respect to the childen's reading development there was a significant increase in their scores for Word Knowledge and Non Verbal IQ, but there was no progress in the scores for Text Comprehension. Especially, Turkish pupils in the lowest type of the Dutch secondary‐school system showed no progress at all.
Pause, Prompt and Praise: The need for more research
Authors: Goyen Judith D. , McClelland David J.
Published: November 2005

The purpose of the study was to evaluate Pause, Prompt and Praise as a cross‐age peer‐tutoring procedure in the primary school. The 18 tutees and 18 tutors were all poor readers, the tutees being selected from Year 4 and the tutors from Year 6. The tutor‐tutee pairs were randomly divided into three treatments: (a) tutors trained to use the Pause, Prompt and Praise procedure; (b) tutors not given any explicit training; and (c) a control group of Year 4 and Year 6 students not involved in any peer‐tutoring experience. Results varied according to the method of analysis used. Subjective interpretation of gain scores seemed to suggest that Pause, Prompt and Praise was the most effective treatment for both tutees and tutors, while the ANOVA of gain scores suggested that it was the tutoring experience that was effective, not Pause, Prompt and Praise. The more rigorous ANCOVA, on the other hand, suggested that neither tutoring condition was effective for either the tutees or tutors. The use of gain scores in previous evaluations of Pause, Prompt and Praise was questioned.
The first and second reading Standard Assessment Tasks at Key Stage 1: a comparison based on a five‐school study
Authors: Davies Julie , Brember Ivy , Pumfrey Peter
Published: November 2005

This paper assesses the value that can be put on the reading (National Curriculum En 2) Standard Assessment Task scores as indicators of what children are achieving in reading and whether reading standards are rising. The results of a cross‐sectional study of a sample of all the Year 2 children (171 in 1991; 171 in 1992) from five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) are presented. Pupils’ scores on The Primary Reading Test (PRT) (France, 1981) and the reading Standard Assessment Task score elicited by them in the previous half term are compared. Results show an improvement in the attainment level of children in 1992 compared to those in 1991 on Standard Assessment Tasks with a higher percentage achieving Level 3 and fewer on Level 1. However, examination of the means for each year group indicates that the mean PRT score for each Standard Assessment Task level is significantly lower in 1992 than 1991. Conclusions, based on such a small study, are tentative. However, it would seem that there is a need to view apparently rising standards, as measured solely by the Standard Assessment Task results, with a degree of caution.
Which cognitive abilities at age four are the best predictors of reading ability at age seven?
Authors: Grogan S.C.
Published: November 2005

A longitudinal study investigated the relationship between cognitive abilities at age four and reading at age seven. Reading ability was significantly positively correlated with knowledge of grapheme‐phoneme correspondence, visual memory, auditory sequential memory, and Draw‐a‐man scores (intelligence). Once age (20ro) and intelligence (12%) were partialled out, auditory sequential memory scores at age four accounted for 13% of the variance in reading scores with visual sequential memory scores predicting a further 5%. Implications of results are discussed.
The ability to label the letters of the alphabet at school entry: a discussion on its value
Authors: Riley Jeni L.
Published: November 2005

The article discusses the main findings of a research project into the development of reading in the first year of school. The research questions were addressed by: 1) assessing the range of literacy development exhibited by 191 children on entry to school; 2) identifying the entry skills that most reliably predict success in reading by the end of the first year of school; and 3) considering the extent to which reception teachers facilitate a mastery of literacy by both capitalising on, and teaching to, each pupil's prior knowledge.

The findings from the data related to the first two research questions are the focus of this paper. The analyses showed that the ability to identify and label the letters of the alphabet and to write one's own name at school entry were the most powerful predictors of successful reading by the end of the year. Understandings of the conventions of print, although weaker, still had a positive relationship with reading, both at school entry and at the end of the reception year.

An explanation of these findings is offered.
A preliminary study of the effect of computer‐assisted practice on reading attainment
Authors: Davidson Johan , Elcock Jonathan , Noyes Peter
Published: November 2005

A computer system which gives prerecorded speech prompts on request was developed and a study was carried out to evaluate its effectiveness in enhancing the reading attainment of young children. Sixty children aged 61 to 84 months were tested on three measures of sight vocabulary (BAS Word Recognition, Frequently Occurring Words, words from the books read) before and after the intervention period of one month, during which 30 of the children had access to the system. The intervention group made significantly higher gains on the tests than the control group. The amount of practice undertaken by subjects was highly positively correlated with their gains. The amount of help which they requested showed no relationship to the gains. These results suggest that some effective practice in reading can be given by a computer.
Coordination and Motivation in Flat Hierarchies: The Impact of the Adjudication Culture
Authors: Chakraborty Rabindra Nath , Mohr Ernst
Published: November 2005

This paper considers a variation of the partnership game with imperfect public information, in which teams are semi‐autonomous. The only hierarchical intervention in teamwork is when a superior is called in by a team member to adjudicate alleged cases of free‐riding or unjustified lateral punishment (flat hierarchy) according to publicly known adjudicative rules (adjudication culture), using for statistical inference a publicly known organizational norm for teamwork cooperation. It is shown that it is advantageous to set a non‐elitist organizational teamwork norm. Furthermore, fairness in adjudication is valuable for economic reasons alone.
Privatization Policy in an International Oligopoly
Authors: Norbäck Pehr‐Johan , Persson Lars
Published: November 2005

This paper studies privatization policy in an international oligopoly. The argument that equal treatment of foreign investors will be detrimental to domestic welfare by shifting profits from domestic to foreign firms is shown to be less relevant in privatization auctions than for greenfield FDI. This is because such profit shifts are paid for in part by foreign firms in the bidding competition for the privatized firm in the auction. It is also shown that small local equity requirements are likely to be beneficial, but large ones are counterproductive, preventing welfare‐enhancing foreign acquisitions.
Quantifying the Impact of ICT Capital on Output Growth: A Heterogeneous Dynamic Panel Approach
Authors: O'Mahony Mary , Vecchi Michela
Published: November 2005

Using industry data for the United States and the United Kingdom, we provide new evidence on the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) capital on real output growth. The traditional industry panel data analysis fails to find a positive contribution. We argue that this is due to heterogeneity across industries, particularly in the time dimension. Pooling the data for the two countries and using a dynamic panel data estimation method yield a positive and significant effect of ICT on output growth. Individual country estimates suggest a strong impact in the United States, while results are less conclusive in the United Kingdom.
Achieving health or achieving wellbeing?
Authors: Schickler Pam
Published: November 2005

This article argues that achieving health and achieving wellbeing are different. The use of phenomenological and narrative approaches helped to elicit the meanings, nature and dimensions of wellbeing for ‘lay’ people, and also how wellbeing was maintained, lost and recovered. It indicates that the term ‘wellbeing’ has a much wider meaning than ‘health’. The two terms are interrelated, but the former has many more domains, health generally applying to the physical and sometimes to mental domains. The role of professionals in helping and hindering the attainment of wellbeing is examined. Prevention of ill‐health may well be the province of those who work in the health services, but promotion of health and wellbeing is much wider. Those in the health service and those in social services, education and other professions should be aware of what wellbeing is, and how they affect it, for both themselves and their clients.