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摘要：In spite of extensive research on reading comprehension in EAP, the literature on how it is conceptualized and taught by teachers is still scanty. Moreover, in some contexts, EAP reading comprehension courses are taught by two groups of teachers with different specializations, that is, ELT instructors and subject teachers, which, in turn, may render the gap in teachers' understanding of EAP reading comprehension instruction wider. In this study, we explored the actual classroom practices and cognitions within and across these two groups of teachers teaching EAP reading comprehension in Iran. Three ELT instructors and three subject teachers teaching discipline-based EAP courses at a university of medical sciences were observed for eight sessions. In addition to carrying out observations and taking field-notes, we conducted semi-structured interviews with the teachers in order to probe their underlying cognitions. The findings indicated considerable inconsistencies among the subject teachers compared with the ELT instructors as well as noticeable discrepancies across the two groups of teachers with respect to their practices and cognitions in EAP reading comprehension instruction. The findings point to some new ideas, issues, and options for reflection in EAP reading comprehension instruction and promise implications for EAP teacher education programs. [Copyright The American University; published by Elsevier Ltd.]

摘要：本文从认知负荷的视角考察了超媒体文本注释与知识学习的关系以及不同注释类型对不同英语水平学习者阅读成效的作用。研究发现:1不同超媒体文本注释对阅读过程中的知识学习具有不同影响,选择性注释对词汇习得的作用最为显著,组织性注释促进语篇理解,综合性注释则有助于拓展性知识学习;2学习者的英语水平对其阅读过程中的认知负荷具有重要影响,英语水平较高者利用注释所需的认知负荷更小且阅读成效更优,对英语水平较低者而言,选择性注释和组织性注释具有辅助作用,但综合性注释引发的较高认知负荷对其阅读效率具有阻碍作用。

摘要：This study examines the effects of interactive versus simultaneous display of visual and verbal multimedia information on incidental vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of learners of English with lower proficiency levels. In the interactive display condition, learners were allowed to select the type of multimedia information whereas the simultaneous display condition presented the verbal (definitions) and visual (associated pictures) information in a single gloss. Eighty-two students were randomly assigned to the treatment conditions and were asked to read an annotated expository text. Reading comprehension was measured through a recall protocol and a multiple-choice test. Incidental vocabulary learning was measured through unannounced vocabulary tests of form recognition, meaning production, definition match, and bilingual synonym match. T-tests and ANOVA analyses indicated that the participants utilized glosses less frequently when they were given the control over access to the type of multimedia information. In addition, simultaneous display of multimedia information led to better performance on reading and vocabulary tests. The results are in line with the contiguity principle of Generative Theory of Multimedia Learning, which posits that presenting verbal and visual information simultaneously reduces cognitive load and results in better learning. The findings have implications for both the development of multimedia materials for L2 learners and training of learners to interact with multimedia materials. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Although stress is frequently claimed to impede foreign language (FL) reading comprehension, it is usually not explained how. We investigated the effects of stress, working memory (WM) capacity, and inferential complexity on Spanish FL readers' inferential processing during comprehension. Inferences, although necessary for reading comprehension, vary in inferential complexity and WM demands. We measured 55 intermediate-level Spanish FL learners' reading comprehension, using questions with three levels of inferential complexity: non-inference (factual), bridging inference (pronoun referent), and pragmatic inference. We measured participants' WM capacity and varied their stress level between blocks using a video camera. Results showed that higher WM learners were more accurate overall. Inference construction during comprehension was negatively related to inferential complexity. Stress increased processing time overall, with a trend toward greater effect on response times (RTs) for questions requiring greater inferential complexity. Higher WM learners showed a greater effect of inferential complexity on RTs than lower WM learners. More generally, and consistent with the Eysenck, Santos, Derekschan, and Calvo's (2007) Attentional Control Theory, analyses showed that higher WM learners strategically traded reading speed (processing efficiency) for greater comprehension accuracy (processing effectiveness), whereas lower WM learners only did so under stress and did so less successfully. Thus, stress impedes FL reading comprehension through interactions between WM capacity and inferential complexity, and such effects are moderated by strategy use.

摘要：Using structural equation modeling analysis, this study examined the contribution of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge to second language reading comprehension among 190 advanced Chinese English as a foreign language learners. Vocabulary knowledge was measured in both breadth (Vocabulary Levels Test) and depth (Word Associates Test); grammatical measures focused on learners' implicit (timed grammaticality judgment task), as well as explicit knowledge (grammatical error correction task); reading comprehension had three indicators, namely, co-reference, textual inference, and gist. Vocabulary knowledge related significantly to reading comprehension; grammatical knowledge showed a weak contribution to reading comprehension after controlling for the effect of vocabulary knowledge. In addition, learners' implicit knowledge of grammar had a stronger relationship to reading comprehension than explicit knowledge, over and above the effect of vocabulary size. Adapted from the source document

摘要：On the basis of a validation study of a new test for assessing low-achieving adolescents' reading comprehension skills - the SALT-reading - we analyzed two issues relevant to the field of reading test development. Using the test results of 200 seventh graders, we examined the possibility of identifying reading comprehension subskills and the effects of task specificity on test reliability. Regarding the former, we distinguished three subskills indicating different levels of understanding ('retrieving', 'interpreting', 'reflecting'). However, confirmatory factor analyses did not support the presence of these subskills. Task specificity refers to the situation that different tasks within a test are not uniformly difficult for individual test takers, which constitutes a form of error negatively influencing test reliability. However, Generalizability Theory analysis showed that such task-specific effects did not occur: the reliability of the SALT-reading was primarily affected by error associated with the score variance within tasks.

摘要：This study tested three hypotheses about the direct and indirect contributions of derivational morphological awareness to English reading comprehension in sixth-grade students from differing language backgrounds (n= 952). Students included Spanish-speaking, Filipino-speaking, and Vietnamese-speaking language minority learners as well as native English speakers. Multiple-group structural equation modeling indicated that morphological awareness made a significant direct contribution to reading comprehension, controlling for reading vocabulary and word reading fluency. Morphological awareness also made a significant indirect contribution to reading comprehension via reading vocabulary, but not via word reading fluency. Effects were similar across the four language groups. Findings suggest that morphological awareness may play multiple important roles in English reading comprehension for students from a variety of home language backgrounds. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Previous research investigating the effects of unassisted and assisted repeated reading has primarily focused on how each approach may contribute to improvement in reading comprehension and fluency. Incidental learning of the form and meaning of unknown or partially known words encountered through assisted and unassisted repeated reading has yet to be examined in an ecologically valid context. This study investigated the effects of assisted and unassisted repeated reading on incidental vocabulary learning with beginner readers over two seven-week periods. A total of 82 students who were 15-16 years old and studying English as a foreign language in Taiwan read or read and listened to 28 short texts several times. To measure the effects of each condition, a modified vocabulary-knowledge scale was used in a pretest and post-test design. The results indicated that both types of repeated reading contributed to vocabulary learning with assisted repeated reading leading to significantly greater vocabulary knowledge. The implications for the development of reading skills and vocabulary size are discussed in detail. Adapted from the source document

摘要：The Assessment of Language Competence (ALC) certificates is an annual, international testing program developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research to test the listening and reading comprehension skills of lower to middle year levels of secondary school. The tests are developed for three levels in French, German, Italian and Japanese, and at two levels in Chinese and Indonesian. There is a mixture of target language and English questions in the Level 2 and 3 tests. Some teachers have raised this as a concern in the belief that all questions should only be offered in English for the sake of fairness. Their view is that the tests are unduly difficult when they are designed with questions in the language. Arising from this concern, the aim of the research to be reported in this paper was to investigate the effects of the language of the question on student performance. We drew on data from a trial test and a final listening test, a questionnaire administered to students to gauge their perceptions of the tests and an examination of public documentation about the ALC. For the statistical analysis, we used Item Response Theory for calibrating items and for comparing item difficulty estimates, and fit statistics to verify how well items with English and target language question formats worked together. We found that where the questions involved listening for simple, explicitly stated information, students found the items in the target language relatively easier. In questions that required students to listen for global meaning, language choice either did not matter or tended to favour items in English rather than the target language. Furthermore, each of the six tests with some items in English and others in the target language showed a high level of reliability and fit to the single latent scale, indicating that items were functioning consistently regardless of the language of the test question. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Ltd., copyright holder.]

摘要：This paper provides a summary of a novel and integrated way to think about the item response models (most often used in measurement applications in social science areas such as psychology, education, and especially testing of various kinds) from the viewpoint of the statistical theory of generalized linear and nonlinear mixed models. In addition, this new approach emphasizes how item response models can be coordinated and broadened to emphasize their explanatory uses beyond their standard descriptive uses. The basic explanatory principle is that item responses can be modeled as a function of qualities and features of various measurement contexts. These qualities and features can be: (a) characteristics of (i) items, (ii) persons, and (iii) combinations of items and persons; (b) observed or latent (of either items or persons); and (c) continuous or categorical. These ideas are exemplified in the context of a reading comprehension test. The paper starts with an introduction to the framework and then provides: (a) a description of the data that will be used to illustrate the new framework; (b) a discussion of data structure; (c) a brief description of the statistical approach we used; (d) a discussion of how the framework helps one to conceptualize existing item response models, linking the formal features of the models to substantive issues in the assessment of reading comprehension, as well as incorporating an example that goes beyond the usual range of item response models; and (e) a brief summary of further expansion. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications, Ltd., copyright holder.]

摘要：Few second-language (L2) reading studies have examined the relationship between reading large amounts of text and fluency, and those studies that have tend to be problematic in terms of their designs and/or analyses. In order to address this lack of empirical L2 reading fluency research, this study investigates the effects of a 1-year pleasure reading program on the reading rate development of first-year Japanese university students (N= 97). The reading rates and reading comprehension of an Intensive Reading Group and three Pleasure Reading Groups were measured at the beginning and end of the academic year. All Pleasure Reading Groups made greater gains than the Intensive Reading Group, and the two Pleasure Reading Groups that read the most made greater reading rate gains than the Pleasure Reading Group that read the least. Reading one book every 2 weeks or more was the most effective means for promoting reading rate gains for the majority of learners. An additional finding was that reading comprehension was consistently high on both the pretest and posttest; thus, the increased reading rates did not come at the expense of passage comprehension. A final finding was that reading simplified rather than unsimplified texts resulted in greater reading rate gains. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Text comprehension models in first and second language reading research posit that slow word recognition inhibits reading speed and decreases comprehension. To investigate the role of word recognition in reading, 2 experiments examined rereading benefits in participants' first and second languages using scrambled and normal versions of English and Spanish texts. Native English speakers with intermediate (Experiment 1) or advanced (Experiment 2) Spanish skills demonstrated word- and text-level transfer in both English and Spanish. However, advanced Spanish readers did not exhibit word-level transfer when reading simple Spanish texts. These results suggest that fluent reading may be strongly influenced not just by word recognition, but also by text difficulty relative to reader skill, as well as other factors. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This article examines the extent to which lexical bundles (LBs; i.e., frequently recurring strings of words that often span traditional syntactic boundaries) are stored and processed holistically. Three self-paced reading experiments compared sentences containing LBs (e.g., in the middle of the) and matched control sentence fragments (e.g., in the front of the). LBs and sentences containing LBs were read faster than the control sentence fragments in all three experiments. Two follow-up word and sentence recall experiments demonstrated that more sentences containing LBs were correctly remembered. Consistent with construction-type models of language, these results suggest that regular multiword sequences leave memory traces in the brain. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Most learners experience the teaching of reading in the classroom in the form of intensive reading activities, where learners are provided with support, typically by the teacher, to make sense of texts that are too difficult for the learners to read successfully by themselves. After reading learners are usually expected to answer a series of comprehension questions. The problem with this approach, critics say, is that it does not in fact teach learners how to read. While comprehension questions can be used effectively in the teaching of reading their effectiveness depends on the teacher having a clear understanding of the goal of the reading lesson and the conditions that need to be met if learning is to take place. This article discusses and exemplifies these concerns and proposes a framework that can assist teachers plan lessons that help learners to read better. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Vocabulary knowledge is of fundamental importance to reading comprehension, and many students lack the vocabulary knowledge necessary to facilitate learning to read. A study was conducted to determine the effects of an individualized, online vocabulary program on picture vocabulary test scores. Elementary summer school students (N = 43), entering grades 2-4, who scored poorly on a vocabulary pretest were randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. Students in the treatment condition received computer-delivered vocabulary instruction on a stratified sample of 100 words selected from 4000 of the most common words in written English. Posttest scores on a picture vocabulary test showed that students in the treatment condition outperformed control students by more than one standard deviation. The computer-adaptive, individualized instruction provided by this vocabulary program addresses a need for efficiency in remediation of vocabulary deficits. Further study is planned to determine whether improved vocabulary performance mediated by this computer assisted language learning (CALL) program might transfer to broader measures of vocabulary knowledge or reading comprehension. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This research introduced mobile devices into an intensive reading course and allowed functions that are usually found only in the language laboratory to be easily and flexibly utilized in the general classroom. To enhance and improve the reading comprehension of English as a foreign language (EFL) readers, a computer-assisted-language-learning (CALL) system for use on PDAs, integrating an instant translation mode, an instant translation annotation mode, and an instant multi-users shared translation annotation function was developed to support a synchronously intensive reading course in the normal classroom. Experiments were conducted to analyze the usage of the system, including the attitude and satisfaction of users. Moreover, the study determined the optimum number of users in each group for the system to work most efficiently, and for students to improve their reading comprehension. Experimental results indicated that those students who were grouped into twos, threes, and fours had significantly higher levels of comprehension than individual students, but those grouped into fives did not. Overall, on average around 70% of the students agreed that the system was useful, 75% of the students agreed that the system was easy to use, and 66% of the students perceived satisfaction with the system. The user intentions were also further analyzed in light of a path analysis method. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study explores the impact of concept map strategy on the understanding of second language information texts. Sixty-nine adult learners of French as a second language (FSL) in a Montreal francophone university were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. After reading an information text, both groups answered a comprehension questionnaire as a pre-test survey. The experimental group then participated in four weekly preparation sessions. After each session, proper understanding of the text studied was assessed through a comprehension survey composed of literal and inferential questions. One week after the last session, both groups of learners were evaluated using the same comprehension questionnaire that had been used as a pre-test. Results show that the experimental group tend to obtain higher scores than the control group on the immediate post-tests, either for the global score (3 of the 4 texts), or for the literal questions score (2 of the 4 texts), or for the inferential questions score (2 of the 4 texts). Moreover, a comparison of the pre- and post-test results shows that students from the experimental group were able to transfer their literal comprehension skills, but they could not, however, transfer their inferential comprehension skills. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Deaf children experience difficulties with reading comprehension. These difficulties are not completely explained by their difficulties with the reading of single short words. Whether deaf children and adults lag behind in the morphological processing of longer words is therefore examined in two experiments in which the processing of prefixes by deaf versus hearing children and deaf versus hearing adults is compared. The results show that the deaf children use morphological processing but to a lesser extent than hearing children. No differences appeared between the deaf and hearing adults. Differences between deaf children with and without a cochlear implant were examined, but no firm conclusions could be drawn. The implications of the results for the reading instruction of deaf children are discussed. Adapted from the source document

摘要：Research suggests that late bilinguals may have persistent difficulties with the automatic access and use of some second language structures because of a lack of underlying integrated knowledge of those structures. In contrast, early bilinguals show advantages in aspects of language use that require this type of automatic knowledge. This study investigated whether early and late English-Spanish bilinguals evidence integrated knowledge of agreement in Spanish by examining their sensitivity to agreement errors while reading for comprehension. The results of a pilot and two experiments indicate that both early and late bilinguals do possess integrated knowledge of subject-verb number agreement and noun-adjective gender agreement in Spanish, although sensitivity to agreement errors interacts with properties of the experimental stimuli. Adapted from the source document

摘要：This study investigates the contribution of second-language (L2) morphological awareness to foreign language reading comprehension. Tenth graders (n= 188) at a South Korean high school were assessed on 6 reading- and language-related variables: phonological decoding, listening comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, passage-level reading comprehension, metacognitive reading awareness, and morphological awareness. A series of 10 sequential regression analyses were conducted to determine the unique reading variance accounted for by each of the 2 morphological awareness tests included in this study (i.e., the Test of Morphological Structure-Revised [TMS-R], the Verbal Suffix Knowledge Test-Revised [VSKT-R]). The result revealed that morphological awareness was a significant predictor of L2 reading comprehension when other variables were controlled. Of the 2 tests, the TMS-R-a measure that primarily tested derivational morphological knowledge-showed stronger predictability. This provides evidence that morphological awareness, especially derivational morphological knowledge, is an important variable to be considered in explaining L2 reading comprehension among older readers. Adapted from the source document