Finding Middle Ground in Second Language Reading: Pedagogic Modifications That Increase Comprehensibility and Vocabulary Acquisition While Preserving Authentic Text Features

O’Donnell, Michael

doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00928.x

Cited by 24 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…As occurred here, it can be speculated that this benefit is related to readers' need to know the meaning of the text word(s) in order to understand the storyline. Readers' greater attentiveness to the Ap glosses, and indeed to the text itself, was also noted in O'Donnell (), at which time 190 participating L2 readers read these same three texts. In that study, participants' text comprehension and incidental vocabulary acquisition were measured immediately after reading.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Second Language Learners' Use of Marginal Glosses

O’Donnell

2012

Foreign Language Annals

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The use of marginal reading glosses by 18 second language (L2) learners is examined through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of audiotaped think‐aloud protocols. How these readers interact with the glosses is identified and divided into five categories or gloss interactions. Examples from each are presented. The primary research question investigated is the following: In print medium, how do intermediate‐level readers of L2 Spanish interact with and apply marginal glosses? More specifically, as identified through think‐aloud oral expression, how is readers' comprehension positively or negatively influenced by marginal gloss use? Findings reveal that although the participants used the glosses to facilitate comprehension 54% of the time, unanticipated uses are also identifiable. Included are examples and suggestions for promoting reading comprehension through marginal gloss use.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Second Language Learners' Use of Marginal Glosses

O’Donnell

2012

Foreign Language Annals

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“…Kandula et al [25] found an increase in Cloze scores after manual lexical simplification of text from journals and electronic health records. O’Donnell [26] shows the beneficial effects of lexical simplification using elaborations for difficult Spanish terms for English speakers. Students who read elaborated documents could recall more information and the effect was stronger for more difficult text.…”

Section: Factors Influencing Learning and Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A user-study measuring the effects of lexical simplification and coherence enhancement on perceived and actual text difficulty

Leroy

Kauchak

Mouradi

2013

International Journal of Medical Informatics

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Purpose Low patient health literacy has been associated with cost increases in medicine because it contributes to inadequate care. Providing explanatory text is a convenient approach to distribute medical information and increase health literacy. Unfortunately, writing text that is easily understood is challenging. This work tests two text features for their impact on understanding: lexical simplification and coherence enhancement. Methods A user study was conducted to test the features’ effect on perceived and actual text difficulty. Individual sentences were used to test perceived difficulty. Using a 5-point Likert scale, participants compared eight pairs of original and simplified sentences. Abstracts were used to test actual difficulty. For each abstract, four versions were created: original, lexically simplified, coherence enhanced, and lexically simplified and coherence enhanced. Using a mixed design, one group of participants worked with the original and lexically simplified documents (no coherence enhancement) while a second group worked with the coherence enhanced versions. Actual difficulty was measured using a Cloze measure and multiple-choice questions. Results Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, 200 people participated of which 187 qualified based on our data qualification tests. A paired-samples t-test for the sentence ratings showed a significant reduction in difficulty after lexical simplification (p < .001). Results for actual difficulty are based on the abstracts and associated tasks. A two-way ANOVA for the Cloze test showed no effect of coherence enhancement but a main effect for lexical simplification, with the simplification leading to worse scores (p = .004). A follow-up ANOVA showed this effect exists only for function words when coherence was not enhanced (p = .008). In contrast, a two-way ANOVA for answering multiple-choice questions showed a significant beneficial effect of coherence enhancement (p = .003) but no effect of lexical simplification. Conclusions Lexical simplification reduced the perceived difficulty of texts. Coherence enhancement reduced the actual difficulty of text when measured using multiple-choice questions. However, the Cloze measure results showed that lexical simplification can negatively impact the flow of the text.

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“…strategy use, comprehension), researchers (e.g. Ko, ; O'Donnell, ; Goo, ) continued to be primarily concerned with the product of reading, that is, the results of the reading task [e.g. assessment of text comprehension and vocabulary acquisition in O'Donnell ()].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seng, ; Goo, ) and types of glosses (e.g. Bowles, ; O'Donnell, ; Yanguas, ). Participants were generally expected to perform reading, production, comprehension, and recognition tasks in conjunction with concurrent verbal reports.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verbal reports in the reading processes of language learners: A methodological review

Smith

Kim

Vorobel

et al. 2019

Review of Education

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This methodological review highlights the trends in empirical studies where a methodological construct (i.e. verbal reports) intersects with content (i.e. literacy research). Specifically, we synthesise research on language learners’ reading in which verbal reports were deployed as a methodological tool. Questioning the long‐standing assumption that verbal report methods validated in first‐language verbal report reading studies necessarily constitute a basis for validation of second‐language verbal report reading studies, we consider the broader educational frameworks within which studies are embedded. In our synthesis of language learners’ verbal report literacy research published between 2000 and 2015, we attend to the social, demographic and geographic realities characteristic of studies reviewed and of the participants involved. Our findings demonstrate the following: (a) tendency to report quantitative information regardless of the type of verbal reporting method and the component of reading explored; (b) predominance of independent concurrent methods that emphasised the reading product; (c) predominance of integrated verbal reports (i.e. concurrent and other forms of reporting) in sociocultural studies that reflected the reading process; (d) concerns about validity in studies premised on cognitivist models of verbal reports; (e) a tendency to use solely concurrent verbal reports in quantitative studies; (f) high reliance on integrated concurrent methods in qualitative studies; and (g) preponderance of qualitative‐to‐quantitative versus a qualitative‐to‐quantitative‐to‐qualitative verbal reporting paradigms across studies. Based on these findings, we make several recommendations to be considered when verbal reports are used to study language learners’ reading processes.

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Finding Middle Ground in Second Language Reading: Pedagogic Modifications That Increase Comprehensibility and Vocabulary Acquisition While Preserving Authentic Text Features

Cited by 24 publications

References 51 publications

Second Language Learners' Use of Marginal Glosses

Second Language Learners' Use of Marginal Glosses

A user-study measuring the effects of lexical simplification and coherence enhancement on perceived and actual text difficulty

Verbal reports in the reading processes of language learners: A methodological review

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