Text complexity has received increased attention due to the CCSS, which call for students to comprehend increasingly more complex texts as they progress through grades. Quantitative text complexity (or readability) indices are based on text attributes (e.g., sentence lengths, and lexical, syntactic, & semantic difficulty), quantified by…

Engagement during reading can be measured by the amount of time readers invest in the reading process. It is hypothesized that disengagement is marked by a decrease in time investment as compared with the demands made on the reader by the text. In this study, self-paced reading times for screens of text were predicted by a text complexity score…

Technology and engineering functional literacy should be intentionally developed in the school system -- like any other competence, it does not develop spontaneously. For this purpose, a didactic model, the Metacognitive model for developing technology and engineering literacy (McM_T&E), was developed, implemented and evaluated. The results of…

Books designed for beginning readers typically intermix text with illustrations in close proximity. Prior research suggests this standard layout may reduce literacy skills due to increased attentional competition between text and illustrations. The current study extends this work by examining whether manipulations to the book layout can enhance…

Dyslexia and other learning disabilities are not being properly recognized and treated in our educational system or society at large. Unrecognized and untreated learning disabilities represent a serious social and economic problem, not only to the individual but to society as a whole. For example, antisocial behavior, as seen in prison populations…

This study investigates a novel method of captioning, partial and synchronized, as a listening tool for second language (L2) learners. In this method, the term partial and synchronized caption (PSC) pertains to the presence of a selected set of words in a caption where words are synced to their corresponding speech signal, using a state-of-the-art…

Three experiments investigated the extent to which children of various intellectual abilities rely on speech-related processes in working memory. Subjects consisted of 16 learners with mental retardation (MRLs) in grades 5-9 and 16 nondisabled learners (NLs) in grades 2-3, matched in word recognition skills. The independent variable within each…

Conventional wisdom has suggested that the rate at which a reader processes text matters little as long as the reader can read with accuracy and comprehension. This paper makes the case that reading rate is an essential component of proficient reading, and is significantly correlated with other measures of proficient reading, such as standardized…

This document reports the findings of a study of children's comprehension of stories containing inconsistent information. The subjects were 84 children in kindergarten and the second, fourth and sixth grades. Twelve subjects from each grade listened to two stories and twelve other subjects from grades 2, 4, and 6 read two stories. Each subject was…

The study involving 20 learning disabled (LD) and 20 normal Ss at the fourth, seventh, and tenth grade levels was conducted to determine if normal and LD students differ in reading flexibility. To measure reading flexibility, the dependent variables--elapsed time and comprehension--were assessed under two conditions. For Condition 1, Ss were asked…

The improvement of college students' reading rate and comprehension is a major educational concern. Many students arrive at college unprepared for the massive amount of required reading. This study presents several attempts to improve vocabulary, reading rate, and comprehension and addresses tangential issues related to the improvement of reading…

A study was conducted to examine the relationship of reading rate to comprehension on material read with a pacer and without a pacer. Two hundred paired scores were obtained in a college reading and study skills course in which students read both paced and nonpaced material alternately during class time and recorded their rate and comprehension…

This study explored the effects of different sentence conditions upon reading comprehension as evidenced by reading rate and recall taken at various times. Thirty-two subjects from a California high school representing four sex-by-ability groups, read experimental material on a table-top programmer while being timed. Recall responses were recorded…

An overview of significant research studies, bibliographies, historical reviews, definitions, and commentaries on speed reading during the past 60 years is presented in this paper. The first part of the paper considers the concept and definitions of speed reading, and summarizes research from the l940s and 1950s--including discussion of eye…

A study explored an application of rauding theory to the developmental components that contribute to elementary-age children's reading comprehension. The relationships among cognitive power, auditory accuracy level, pronunciation (word recognition) level, rauding (comprehension) accuracy level, rauding rate (reading rate) level, and rauding…