Reading comprehension in autism spectrum disorders: The role of oral language and social functioning

Reading comprehension is an area of difficulty for many individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). According to the Simple View of Reading, word recognition and oral language are both important determinants of reading comprehension ability. We provide a novel test of this model in 100 adolescents with ASD of varying intellectual ability. Further, we explore whether reading comprehension is additionally influenced by individual differences in social behaviour and social cognition in ASD. Adolescents with ASD aged 14-16 years completed assessments indexing word recognition, oral language, reading comprehension, social behaviour and social cognition. Regression analyses show that both word recognition and oral language explain unique variance in reading comprehension. Further, measures of social behaviour and social cognition predict reading comprehension after controlling for the variance explained by word recognition and oral language. This indicates that word recognition, oral language and social impairments may constrain reading comprehension in ASD.

Correlates of early reading comprehension skills: a componential analysis

This study had three main aims. First, we examined to what extent listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammatical skills and verbal short-term memory (VSTM) assessed prior to formal reading instruction explained individual differences in early reading comprehension levels. Second, we examined to what extent the three common component skills, namely vocabulary, grammar and VSTM explained the relationship between kindergarten listening comprehension and early reading comprehension levels. Third, we examined the relative contributions of word-reading and listening comprehension skills to early reading comprehension in Turkish. For this purpose, 56 Turkish-speaking children were followed from kindergarten (mean age = 67.7 months) into Grade 2 (mean age = 90.6 months). The relative role of kindergarten listening comprehension, vocabulary, VSTM and grammatical skills in later reading comprehension tended to vary across time, and they partly explained the relationship between listening comprehension and reading comprehension. Finally, as anticipated, listening comprehension, rather than word-reading , was found to play a more powerful role in children’s reading comprehension levels even during the early primary grades. These results contradicted those reported in English and can be explained by the rapid development of accurate word-reading skills due to the consistency of the grapheme–phoneme relationships of the Turkish orthography.

Online and Offline Gaming as Support for English Education in Swedish Upper Elementary Schools with Focus on Reading Comprehension Online and Offline Gaming as Support for English Education in Swedish Upper Elementary Schools with Focus on Reading Comprehension : A literature review about online and offline gaming as a resource for developing English reading comprehension in Swedish schools in year 4-6

The aim of this degree thesis is to see what research says about the use of computer and video games to support upper elementary pupils’ development in English reading comprehension in Swedish schools. Other goals are to see how online and offline gaming can be integrated in the Swedish schools and what attitudes teachers have towards gaming. The method used is a systematic literature review and the purpose is to analyze chosen articles and to find relevant content that answers the research questions. Five articles were chosen from different databases and were systematically analyzed in this thesis. The results show that online gaming as support for education can be rewarding for some upper elementary pupils in English learning. However, in English reading comprehension there is not much research found which means that more research needs to be made within this area. Moreover, involving online gaming in English language learning seems to be a challenge for teachers mostly because of their lack of knowledge about the subject, even though they are positive to gaming. The lack of knowledge about the subject could be altered with more education and courses in the area.

Reading comprehension in primary school: textbooks, curriculum and assessment

This study describes the reading comprehension processes present in the most widely sold textbooks at the fourth grade level in Portugal and discusses how they compare to international assessments of reading literacy. We adopted the Progress of International Reading Literacy Study framework to categorize the questions in the textbooks. Our analyses revealed that they focus heavily on the retrieval of explicitly stated information to the detriment of higher level comprehension skills. Portuguese fourth grade textbooks rarely challenge students to make connections between their knowledge and the ideas in the texts and to adopt a critical and evaluative reading stance. This is in sharp contrast to what students are asked to do in the Progress of International Reading Literacy Study, conducted every five years since 2001, and it may help explain the poor results Portuguese students have in national assessment and in PISA. The findings are discussed in light of the curriculum frameworks currently adopted in Portugal and suggestions are made as to how we can improve reading literacy achievement.

Construction and validation of an instrument to assess the reading comprehension of students from the third to the fifth grades of elementary school

Objetivo:Este estudo teve como objetivo construir e validar um instrumento de avaliação da compreensão de leitura a fim de caracterizar o perfil de leitura e detectar dificuldades de compreensão em escolares do terceiro ao quinto ano do Ensino Fundamental.Métodos:Participaram 378 escolares divididos em trés grupos para avaliação da compreensão de proposições literais e inferenciais de micro e macroestruturas de dois textos expositivos e dois textos narrativos por meio de questões de múltipla escolha.Resultados:Os dados analisados estatisticamente indicaram valores do teste alfa de Cronbach apresentando consisténcia interna nos quatros textos aplicados para os trés grupos.Conclusão:Foi possível constatar que os escolares apresentaram menor número de erros com o aumento da escolarização e que cada tipo de texto apresentou uma dificuldade específica para os escolares.

Reading comprehension in nacional and internacional programs of educational assessment

El principal objetivo de este artículo es identificar distintos programas de evaluación educativa, tanto nacionales como internacionales, y describir sus características generales. Asimismo, analiza el modo en que se conceptualiza y evalúa la competencia lectora. Finalmente, este trabajo presenta los resultados que ha obtenido Argentina en esta área. Los programas analizados son: el Programa para la Evaluación Internacional de Alumnos (PISA, Programme for International Student Assessment) , el Segundo Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo (SERCE) y, específicamente en nuestro país, el Operativo Nacional de Evaluación (ONE) y el Programa de Evaluación de la Calidad Educativa de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Estos diferentes estudios sitúan la importancia de la lectura comprensiva en tanto "competencia para la vida" necesaria para la realización de otros aprendizajes, para el logro de una participación activa en la sociedad y ligada a la posibilidad de proyectar un futuro mejor. Los informes muestran la existencia de diferencias entre los resultados de distintos países y al interior de los mismos. El desarrollo de competencias desiguales aparece como un desafío a nivel nacional e internacional, ya que constituye un importante indicador de la situación crítica en la que se encuentran un número significativo de niños y adolescentes.

Reading comprehension in nacional and internacional programs of educational assessment

El principal objetivo de este artículo es identificar distintos programas de evaluación educativa, tanto nacionales como internacionales, y describir sus características generales. Asimismo, analiza el modo en que se conceptualiza y evalúa la competencia lectora. Finalmente, este trabajo presenta los resultados que ha obtenido Argentina en esta área. Los programas analizados son: el Programa para la Evaluación Internacional de Alumnos (PISA, Programme for International Student Assessment) , el Segundo Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo (SERCE) y, específicamente en nuestro país, el Operativo Nacional de Evaluación (ONE) y el Programa de Evaluación de la Calidad Educativa de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Estos diferentes estudios sitúan la importancia de la lectura comprensiva en tanto "competencia para la vida" necesaria para la realización de otros aprendizajes, para el logro de una participación activa en la sociedad y ligada a la posibilidad de proyectar un futuro mejor. Los informes muestran la existencia de diferencias entre los resultados de distintos países y al interior de los mismos. El desarrollo de competencias desiguales aparece como un desafío a nivel nacional e internacional, ya que constituye un importante indicador de la situación crítica en la que se encuentran un número significativo de niños y adolescentes.

Reading comprehension in nacional and internacional programs of educational assessment

El principal objetivo de este artículo es identificar distintos programas de evaluación educativa, tanto nacionales como internacionales, y describir sus características generales. Asimismo, analiza el modo en que se conceptualiza y evalúa la competencia lectora. Finalmente, este trabajo presenta los resultados que ha obtenido Argentina en esta área. Los programas analizados son: el Programa para la Evaluación Internacional de Alumnos (PISA, Programme for International Student Assessment) , el Segundo Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo (SERCE) y, específicamente en nuestro país, el Operativo Nacional de Evaluación (ONE) y el Programa de Evaluación de la Calidad Educativa de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Estos diferentes estudios sitúan la importancia de la lectura comprensiva en tanto "competencia para la vida" necesaria para la realización de otros aprendizajes, para el logro de una participación activa en la sociedad y ligada a la posibilidad de proyectar un futuro mejor. Los informes muestran la existencia de diferencias entre los resultados de distintos países y al interior de los mismos. El desarrollo de competencias desiguales aparece como un desafío a nivel nacional e internacional, ya que constituye un importante indicador de la situación crítica en la que se encuentran un número significativo de niños y adolescentes.

Effects of Dialogic Reading in the Improvement of Reading Comprehension in Students of Primary Education

Reading is an essential factor for success at school that requires certain skills and strategies of great complexity rarely taught in schools. Verbalization of comprehension strategies can be considered an effective measure in learning to read. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of a program of teaching reading strategies implemented through interactive dialogic reading groups in the learning of reading comprehension. A quasi-experimental comparison with pretest and posttest design between groups was used. A sample of 355 participants aged between 8 and 9 years aged was used. The results weigh the potential value of the program and support the development of teaching models that integrate dialogic reading practices as they facilitate learning of reading comprehension.