Reading Comprehension and Academic Vocabulary: Exploring Relations of Item Features and Reading Proficiency

Lawrence, Joshua Fahey; Knoph, Rebecca; McIlraith, Autumn; Kulesz, Paulina A.; Francis, D.

doi:10.1002/rrq.434

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 82 publications

(108 reference statements)

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“…Our findings suggest that explicit teaching of sentence‐level features supports metalinguistic awareness in students, mirroring research with other levels of academic language such as vocabulary (Goldman et al, 2016; Lawrence et al, 2022; Truckenmiller et al, 2019). Importantly, Laura's students moved beyond their epilinguistic awareness, their ability to use language based on what “sounds right,” well into the space of metalinguistic awareness.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Exploring teacher and student knowledge of sentence‐level language features

Knecht

Larson²,

Townsend

2023

J Adolescent & Adult Lit

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Proficiency with sentence‐level features of language is essential for reading comprehension of academic texts, especially for early adolescents who face increasingly complex, discipline‐specific texts as they enter upper elementary and middle school. However, little research has been done to explore instruction in sentence‐level features. This qualitative case study explores how a sixth‐grade social studies teacher developed knowledge of sentence‐level features and implemented sentence‐level instruction through a professional learning inquiry, as well as how 3 sixth‐grade students responded to challenging sentences as a result of this instruction. Findings from thematic analyses of both teacher and student data sources indicate that increased metalinguistic awareness of sentence‐level features in the teacher participant was essential to effective, discipline‐specific instruction in sentence‐level features. Additionally, explicit instruction in sentence‐level features led to increased metalinguistic awareness in students, which supported their comprehension of challenging sentences.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Exploring teacher and student knowledge of sentence‐level language features

Knecht

Larson²,

Townsend

2023

J Adolescent & Adult Lit

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“…Interestingly, the relation between word frequency and reading difficulty is stronger among better readers, whereas the relation between word complexity (i.e., length etc.) and reading difficulty is stronger among less proficient readers (Lawrence et al, 2021). This suggests that difficulties in comprehending word features may vary among readers with different levels of proficiency.…”

Section: Word Decoding and Lexical Featuresmentioning

confidence: 94%

What Text Features Make Reading Comprehension Difficult Across Elementary School? Investigating Difficulty and Changes in Difficulty

Ludewig¹,

Trendtel²,

Weiss³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Beginning readers benefit in most situations from reading activities that are neither too difficult nor too easy. This study investigated which text features make reading comprehension difficult for third and fourth grade elementary school students. Specifically, 145 multiple-choice items from a reading comprehension test used in several cross-sectional studies (G3: N = 1387; G4: N = 868) and a longitudinal sub-study (N = 195) were analyzed using explanatory item response models to explain item difficulty and changes in item difficulty across grades. A multi-step feature selection procedure controlling for seven task features led to the selection of eight text features from a total of 268 linguistic text features examined. The results showed that lexical and syntactic features and text genre were the most relevant features and that the importance of specific text features changes from third to fourth grade. Expository text were more difficult on average than narrative texts. This difference was only partially explained by lexical and syntactic features in third grade, but almost completely in fourth grade. The results suggest that text features have a dynamic effect on reading comprehension difficulty throughout third to fourth grade; this is especially true of text genre. Our results can help to select more appropriate texts for elementary students and to improve our understanding of the complex interaction between reader, text and activity as it develops over time.

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“…The existing literature generally focuses on learning to read, reading comprehension, and reading quality (Jackson, 2022 ; Kanniainen et al, 2022 ; Lawrence et al, 2022 ; Neirouz, 2020 ; Radia, 2019 ). Very few researchers focus on instilling in students a love of reading and developing their reading habits (Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002 ; Tovli, 2014 ), which seems to be a very significant gap in the education system this paper tried to fill.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary american literature in Online Learning: fostering Reading Motivation and Student Engagement

Gao

2022

Educ Inf Technol

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Reading is one of the crucial aspects of the learning process. The learning efficiency depends on the motivation and involvement of students. The paper aims to determine whether the developed online course enhances student motivation and engagement in contemporary American literature. For this purpose, questionnaires were used. The sample consisted of 126 students enrolled in Yulin Gaoxin Secondary School, who had English proficiency at a high enough level to read English literature in the original language. Before and after the course, the Reading Motivation Questionnaires test was administered, with its scores validated using Student’s t-test for dependent samples. Significant progress is observed in the internal and social components of motivation (23–25%), as well as in the Engagement category (31%). The course also positively affected learning effectiveness. None of the participants scored less than half of the possible points for the course assignments. Most children obtained high (95–119 points) and very high scores (120–140 points). This finding demonstrates the suitability of the tools used (videoconferencing, learning management systems, discussion forums, and interactive exercises) in online learning when studying modern literature. The research findings are of interest, first of all, to instructors who adopt technological innovations in their lessons or want to motivate students to read. Second, school administrators and education sector officials can draw information from the findings for corrective action. Third, software developers may be inspired by the data and create new technology solutions.

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Reading Comprehension and Academic Vocabulary: Exploring Relations of Item Features and Reading Proficiency

Cited by 24 publications

References 82 publications

Exploring teacher and student knowledge of sentence‐level language features

Exploring teacher and student knowledge of sentence‐level language features

What Text Features Make Reading Comprehension Difficult Across Elementary School? Investigating Difficulty and Changes in Difficulty

Contemporary american literature in Online Learning: fostering Reading Motivation and Student Engagement

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