Reading is a fascinating cognitive process through which individuals perceive arbitrary symbols on a page and turn them into vivid mental representations of text. Most available evidence supports an embodied explanation for how readers are capable of such representations--they recruit supralinguistic brain regions in order to mentally simulate the…

This action research study aimed to improve reading with understanding in a lower primary classroom in Fiji. Five emergent readers were selected through an examination of class running records. Peer observation, student worksheets, and class running records were utilized to collect data. The data analysis revealed that when teachers implement…

Mind maps are often used to help readers process texts, but their effectiveness is empirically under-investigated. This study explores whether the use of mind maps presented either before or after the text can prime successful selective processing strategies related to the text topic structure. Differences in performance outcomes (i.e., memory and…

Background: Reading comprehension is a multifactorial process, but one of its features has been relatively under-investigated--it is the strategy used when answering reading comprehension questions. In order to find the correct answer, children can either respond to questions about a text relying on their text memory or look back at the written…

Despite the importance of source attention and evaluation for learning from texts, little is known about the particular conditions that encourage sourcing during reading. In this article, basic assumptions of the discrepancy-induced source comprehension (D-ISC) model are presented, which describes the moment-by-moment cognitive processes that…

Objectives and Theoretical Frame: Previous research has established the role of proactive interference (PI)--when old knowledge interferes with acquiring new knowledge--in forgetting simple experimental materials like lists of words (Wickens, 1972), nonsense syllables (Keppel & Underwood, 1962), and word pairs (Postman & Keppel, 1977).…

This study investigated the effects of a mental simulation training targeted at improving children's reading comprehension. In a 4-week period, one group of third and fourth graders (n = 75) learned to draw upon their sensorimotor memories and experiences to mentally simulate text (experimental training group), whereas another group (n = 51)…

It is estimated that nearly 70% of high school students in the United States need some form of reading remediation, with the most common need being the ability to comprehend the content and significance of the text (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004). Research findings support the use of visual imagery and keyword cues as effective comprehension…

Deafblind readers are heterogeneous in reading skill acquisition. This qualitative study uses in-depth interviews and protocol analyses and queries the three deafblind adult participants in describing their metacomprehension, metacognitive and metalinguistic strategies used when reading different types of text. Using retrospective analysis, the…

Working-memory capacity, strategy instruction, and timing of estimates were investigated for their effects on absolute monitoring accuracy, which is the difference between estimated and actual reading comprehension test performance. Participants read two expository texts under one of two randomly assigned reading strategy instruction conditions…

Is Skim reading effective? How do readers allocate their attention selectively? The authors report 3 experiments that use expository texts and allow readers only enough time to read half of each document. Experiment 1 found that, relative to reading half the text, skimming improved memory for important ideas from a text but did not improve memory…

According to a 2010 report by ACT, "Only 31 percent of students are performing at a college-and-career reading level with respect to successfully understanding complex text" (p. 5). This statistic demonstrates what educators know: Middle and high school students face numerous challenges in reading, understanding, connecting to, and…

This research study had two purposes, (a) to design and develop a Web-based learning environment that supports the use of a set of reading strategies, and (b) to investigate the impact of this Web-based learning environment on readers' "memory" and "understanding" of an instructional unit on the human heart (Dwyer &…

Suggests that to develop fluency, educators need teacher-directed lessons in which children spend the maximum amount of time engaged in reading connected text. Presents the National Reading Panel's (2000) examination of research on guided oral reading in order to explore what works. Discusses research on effectiveness of reading practices and…

We study the comprehension of a multimedia technical document about gear functioning by young pupils. The research is focused on the effect of three factors on the construction of a mental model: illustration format (animated versus static) signaling cues (presence versus absence) learner-control of information delivery (three rhythms of…