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Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren's classic How to Read a Book gives useful guidance. It explains how to evaluate whether a book is worth reading. It also gives you tips for getting the most out of the books that you read. Their advice on reading also suggests some tips for better writing. Pick an important topic and say something important about it. Do your research and organize your presentation. Keep your writing clear and simple. Make clear and reasoned arguments and anticipate the objections that your audience may raise. Above all, make sure that your title, front matter, back matter, and book cover tell the reader what your book is about and why it is worth reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the heterogeneity of literacy profiles for adolescents with and without a specific learning disability (SLD) in the U.S. state of Florida Student subgroups displaying common patterns of performance in word-level skills and reading comprehension were identified through latent profile analysis. Results indicate most of the total sample demonstrated below-average performance in one or both areas with word-level skill difficulties being more common than difficulties in reading comprehension alone. Changes in reading performance by profile over time (Grades 6–8) were examined through a latent transition analysis revealing consistent patterns in the SLD sample and variable patterns in the typically developing sample. Resulting profiles were utilized to predict performance on an end-of-year broad reading comprehension measure indicating very little change in performance over time. Findings suggest large numbers of adolescents with concurrent word-level and reading comprehension difficulties likely need sustained intervention in word-level skills to support their reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the response of two students in the Southwestern United States with autism spectrum disorder and IQ in the intellectual disability range to a comprehensive, text-based reading intervention. The intervention, Friends on the Block, includes multiple strands of literacy providing explicit instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness, high-frequency irregular or temporarily irregular words, decoding, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension. Multiple supports for students with intensive needs are embedded within the intervention, such as specially designed multi-criteria books, extensive scaffolding, and intensive cumulative review. Teachers customize the program to address the varying needs of students. We used single-case multiple baselines across levels of instruction design to assess growth on a measure of reading (words read correctly). Results indicated a positive, functional relation between reading intervention and word reading. Both students also demonstrated modest growth on measures of phonemic awareness, letter–sound knowledge, and word identification from pre- to post-intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) is a powerful predictor of reading fluency, and many digitized dyslexia screeners include RAN as an essential component. However, the validity of digitized RAN has not been established. Using a sample of 174 second-graders, this study tested (1) the comparability between paper and digitized versions of RAN and (2) the validity of the digitized version. We found that paper and digital versions were highly correlated, and such correlation was consistent across students' reading levels. Further, the digital RAN predicted children's word reading proficiency as well as the paper version. Moreover, the constructs measured by paper and digital versions of RAN were comparable. We conclude that the digitized RAN is a valid alternative to the traditional paper version for this age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stroke profoundly affects quality of life (QOL), including loss of employment, reduced social activity, shrinking social networks and low mood. Dysgraphia (impaired writing) is a common symptom of aphasia yet is rarely targeted in rehabilitation. Recent technological advances might challenge this, since much communication is now conducted digitally through writing. The rehabilitation of writing may therefore help to address the wider consequences of stroke and aphasia. Aims: Can assistive technology (AT) training for people with dysgraphia: (1) improve written output, and are gains achieved only with AT? (2) improve reading comprehension scores, and are gains achieved only with AT? and (3) affect social participation, mood or QOL Methods and Procedures: Design A mixed‐methods, repeated measures, small group study design was adopted (qualitative outcomes will be reported elsewhere). Participants: Recruited from community settings, for example, Stroke Association communication support groups. Inclusion criteria: over 18 years old, aphasia due to stroke, acquired dysgraphia, writing more impaired than speech, fluent English prior to stroke, access to computer and Internet. Exclusion criteria: currently receiving speech and language therapy, significant cognitive impairment, neuromuscular/motor‐speech impairments/structural abnormalities, developmental dyslexia, uncorrected visual/auditory impairments. Procedures: Screening and diagnostic assessments at time T1 (first baseline). Outcome measures at T1; repeated at T2 (second baseline), T3 (end of intervention), T4 (3‐month follow up). Social participation assessment and cognitive monitoring at T2, T3, T4. Intervention: Seven–ten hours individual therapy weekly and additional email support. Participants were trained to operate Dragon NaturallySpeaking (speech to text package) and ClaroRead (read writing aloud). Outcome measures were administered on pen and paper (control) and on computer, with AT enabled only at T3, T4. Outcomes and Results: Computer narrative writing was significantly improved by AT training (Friedman's χ2 (3) = 8.27, p = 0.041), indicating a compensatory effect of AT. Though reading comprehension significantly improved in the computer condition (Friedman's χ2 (3) = 21.07, p = 0.001), gains could not be attributed to the AT. Gains were achieved only when measures were administered on the keyboard, with AT enabled. Thus, a compensatory rather than remediatory effect was suggested. Social network size significantly increased; there were no significant changes in mood/QOL. Individual success rates varied. Conclusion and Implications: The customisable AT training was acceptable to participants and resulted in significantly improved narrative writing. Compensatory AT interventions are a useful adjunct to remediatory writing interventions and may particularly support functional writing. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject: Writing is rarely spared in aphasia and may present as the most impaired communication modality. Yet, people with aphasia report that writing is seldom included in their rehabilitation. Many communication activities are now conducted digitally through writing, therefore rehabilitation of this is more important than ever before. This study sought to address whether an assistive technology (AT) software package can improve writing and whether any changes were compensatory or remediatory. What this study adds to existing knowledge: This group study found that AT training led to gains in written discourse and social network in people with aphasia and dysgraphia. Gains were not replicated in handwritten tasks, suggesting this was a compensatory therapeutic approach. What are the clinical implications of this work?: AT programs such as this may present speech and language therapists with a practical, pragmatic adjunct to writing or typing therapy, particularly for clients with chronic, intractable impairments for whom remediatory therapy may have a low chance of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from sounding out unfamiliar words to effortlessly reading connected text does not occur all at once or at the same rate for students. The purpose of this study was to explore the accuracy of three decision rules (data point, median, and trend line) applied to progress monitoring outcomes of alphabetic principle (nonsense word fluency [NWF]) and oral reading rate (curriculum-based measurement of reading [CBM-R]). Outcomes from a sample of U.S. students receiving Tier-2 supports in oral reading and decoding were analyzed to generate model parameters. Scores were simulated for NWF and CBM-R, and decision rules were applied to schedules where one observation was collected per week. The trend-line rule was viable with NWF after 7 weeks and 9 to 10 weeks with CBM-R. Differences in base rates of non-proficiency between measures call into question the utility of NWF to capture student improvement in alphabetic principle as they encounter increasingly complex word types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purposes of this clinical focus article are to describe differences in expressive prosody among autistic individuals, describe the role of prosody in reading comprehension, highlight the potential contribution of prosody to the reading comprehension difficulties experienced by many autistic individuals, discuss interventions that target prosody, and make clinical recommendations. Method: We describe differences in expressive prosody that many autistic individuals experience; review the existing body of literature surrounding reading comprehension, prosody, and autism; and discuss interventions that target prosody as it applies to reading comprehension. Conclusion: Based on the review of the literature and presentation of the challenges that currently exist, we make clinical recommendations regarding the integration of interventions addressing prosody in expressive communication and reading comprehension for autistic individuals who have strong word reading skills and poor reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a school-based randomized control trial study comparing two morphological interventions with untaught controls: one focusing on direct instruction targeting print morphological decoding (direct decoding condition) and the other on inquiry-focused pedagogy using oral morphological analysis (inquiry-analysis condition). We identified 63 Grade 3 children with below-average morphological awareness following screening (from N = 163). This sub-sample showed average pseudoword decoding but poor language and word reading abilities. Following a 13-week supplemental intervention randomized within the 63 children, results showed a statistically significant main effect of intervention on standardized reading vocabulary measures at immediate post-test in the direct decoding condition. Pre-test morphological awareness moderated reading vocabulary effects for the untaught control group. Statistically significant moderation of growth in sentence comprehension at post- by pre-test morphological awareness was also evident in the inquiry-analysis condition. Universal screening for below-average morphological awareness followed by inquiry-based or direct instruction interventions focusing on the meaning dimensions of morphemes may be modestly efficacious for supporting reading vocabulary and sentence comprehension in such at risk learners, potentially aiding school-wide literacy improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient information materials often tend to be written at a reading level that is too advanced for patients. In this proof-of-concept study, we used ChatGPT and Google Bard to reduce the reading level of three selected patient information sections from scientific journals. ChatGPT successfully improved readability. However, it could not achieve the recommended 6th-grade reading level. Bard reached the reading level of 6th graders but oversimplified the texts by omitting up to 83% of the content. Despite the present limitations, developers of patient information are encouraged to employ large language models, preferably ChatGPT, to optimize their materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Words read correctly per minute (WCPM) is the reporting score metric in oral reading fluency (ORF) assessments, which is popularly utilized as part of curriculum-based measurements to screen at-risk readers and to monitor progress of students who receive interventions. Just like other types of assessments with multiple forms, equating would be necessary when WCPM scores are obtained from multiple ORF passages to be compared both between and within students. This article proposes a model-based approach for equating WCPM scores. A simulation study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the model-based equating approach along with some observed-score equating methods with external anchor test design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attention hypothesis, which assumes that font emphasis captures readers' attention, is usually used to explain the mechanism by which such emphasis operates. This study further delineates the attention hypothesis by investigating the ways in which font emphasis captures attention and its effects on the integration of emphasized information into the previous context. We computed event-related potentials and frequency band-specific electroencephalographic power changes occurring while participants read sentences containing critical words that were either emphasized (i.e., displayed in a color different from the other words in the sentence) or not (i.e., shown in the same color as the rest of the sentence) and semantically congruent with prior words or not. The results showed that the emphasized words (as compared to control words) elicited a reduced N1 and increased P2, indicating that font emphasis reduced familiarity-based visuo-orthographic processing and instead increased controlled attentional processing. We also observed greater P300 and power decreases in the alpha and beta frequency range in response to critical words in the emphasized condition, suggesting that font emphasis enhances focal attention to promote a fuller integration of information into the sentence context. Furthermore, relative to the control condition, the emphasized condition induced delta and theta power increases for the incongruent words. These results suggest that font emphasis increases the efficiency of glyph processing, which facilitates lexical access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negated text is a difficult text construction that readers encounter in various forms throughout their lives. Despite a wealth of research on its impact, including potential strategies to improve comprehension, readers maintain poor comprehension when encountering this text construction. Given its large potential impact on reading texts like medical paperwork or insurance documents, it is important to understand not only what makes the construction difficult but also what can help a reader better process the information communicated in this way. The present research explored the impact of rereading on older adults' comprehension and metacomprehension of negated text. Results demonstrated that while rereading was beneficial for older adults' comprehension overall, this benefit was not specific to negated text. Moreover, metacomprehension data demonstrated that both young and older readers are aware of the difficulty they have in understanding negated text, but corresponding comprehension remains low. Results suggest that an additional reading of a passage containing negated text helped to mitigate the comprehension deficits associated with text that has been negated. This demonstrates that the comprehension accuracy can be improved for negated text under these circumstances. Future research should explore what specific factors associated with re-reading helps to improve comprehension accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This mixed-methods research sought to examine the experience of people with aphasia who used text-to-speech (TTS) support to read a novel for virtual book club participation. Method: Six people with chronic aphasia used a TTS system to review portions of a novel about which they conversed during eight virtual book club meetings occurring over 5 weeks. During one-on-one interactions prior to each meeting, participants answered comprehension questions and provided feedback about reading experiences. Then, during group meetings, they reviewed and discussed relevant book content and predicted upcoming content. During a structured individual interview, participants reflected on their supported reading and book club experience. Results: Participants reported a range of reading confidence prior to study participation, mostly influenced by decreased comprehension or reading speed. After book club participation, four participants expressed increased confidence. Some reported searching for key words and skipping difficult words as strategies additional to TTS support. All reviewed at least some book sections more than once either with or without TTS support. Highly motivated participants expressed low frustration and high reading ease and enjoyment. Perceived comprehension was roughly consistent with actual comprehension across participants. Most believed TTS support promoted faster reading than otherwise possible. Participants liked adjustable features affecting speech output rate, word or sentence highlighting, and font size. Psychosocial benefits included decreased isolation and increased friendship. Conclusions: The findings extend previous evidence about perceived and actual benefits associated with TTS support. People with aphasia express positive experiences when given TTS support during book club participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the readability and quality of current online information on Bell's palsy. Method: A Google search using the terms 'Bell's palsy' and 'facial palsy' was performed separately. The first three pages of results were analysed. Readability was assessed using Flesch Reading Ease Score, Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level, the Gunning-Fog Index and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook. Quality was assessed using the Discern tool. Spearman's correlation between quality and readability was calculated. Results: A total of 31 websites met the inclusion criteria. The mean Flesch Reading Ease Score, Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level, the Gunning Fox Index and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook scores were 52.45 (95 per cent confidence interval = 47.01–57.86), 10.50 (95 per cent confidence interval = 9.42–11.58), 12.76 (95 per cent confidence interval = 11.68–13.85) and 9.36 (95 per cent confidence interval = 8.52–10.20), respectively. The average Discern score was 44 (95 per cent confidence interval = 40.88–47.12). A negligible correlation was noted between the Discern and Flesch Reading Ease Score (rs = −0.05, p = 0.80). Conclusion: Online information on Bell's palsy is generally of fair quality but is written above the recommended reading age guidance in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) powerfully predicts word-level reading fluency in the first 2 years of school as well as further reading development. Here, we analyze various RAN stimuli (objects and digits) and oral/silent word reading (OWR/SWR) modalities to find feasible measures for predicting early reading development. The RAN performances of 127 children starting first grade were assessed. The children's oral and silent word reading skills were then reassessed in the second grade. Linear regression models and relative weight analysis were used to compare reading and screening modalities and further precursors of reading such as phonological awareness and nonverbal IQ were controlled. Scores from the first grade RAN assessment did not differentially predict second grade OWR versus SWR levels. RAN digits predicted word reading development more strongly than RAN objects, which contributed uniquely when predictions used only RAN variables. However, when different precursors of reading were controlled, only RAN digits helped to predict early reading performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Electrónica de Psicología Iztacala is the property of Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Researchers have taken great interest in the assessment of text readability. This study expands on this research by developing readability models that predict the processing effort involved during first language (L1) and second language (L2) text reading. Employing natural language processing tools, the study focused on assessing complex linguistic features of texts, and these features were used to explain the variance in processing effort, as evidenced by eye movement data for L1 or L2 readers of English that were extracted from an open eye-tracking corpus. Results indicated that regression models using the indices of complex linguistic features provided better performance in predicting processing effort for both L1 and L2 reading than the models using simple linguistic features (word and sentence length). Furthermore, many of the predictive variables were lexical features for both L1 and L2 reading, emphasizing the importance of decoding for fluent reading regardless of the language used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining accurate prevalence rates of sexual violence is made difficult by discrepancies in self-report questionnaires. Thus, the current study sought to explore participants' perceptions of acceptability (i.e., perceived difficulty and preference) as a potential mechanism of discrepancy between different questionnaires. Participants were 673 college students who completed two frequently used sexual victimization questionnaires, the Sexual Experiences Survey-Short Form Victimization (SES-SFV) and the Post-Refusal Sexual Persistence Scales-Victimization (PRSPS-V). Participants then answered questions about each measure's perceived difficulty and their preference between the two. Participants found the PRSPS-V easier to understand and preferred it 2.5 to 1 over the SES-SFV. Preference was related to reporting; participants who preferred the PRSPS-V reported more instances of sexual victimization on the PRSPS-V by 9.8%. Our results indicate that acceptability impacts reported prevalence rates and is one mechanism of discrepancy between questionnaires. Thus, researchers may wish to consider acceptability when choosing sexual victimization questionnaires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is converging evidence that readers monitor text coherence and consistency by immediate, nonstrategic processes of validation. The literature also offers numerous instances of deficient validation. A prominent example of the latter is that understanders tend to overlook discourse anomalies that are embedded in given (presupposed) sentence information. However, we previously documented reading time "consistency effects" (O'Brien & Albrecht, 1992) that exposed readers' sensitivity to both given and new text discrepancies in numerous declarative syntactic constructions (Singer et al., 2017; Singer & Spear, 2020). Five new experiments addressed these phenomena with reference to constructions regularly shown to mask discourse inconsistencies: namely, interrogatives. In striking contrast with declaratives, five interrogative conditions in four experiments yielded no significant consistency effect. Experiments 2-4 documented coincident consistency effects with declarative but not interrogative constructions. A fifth experiment denied that the interrogative-construction findings resulted from readers' lack of knowledge about critical concepts. The cognitive-scientific linguistic construct of verb resolutivity offers a possible basis for these outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction facilitates word processing in the moment, but the longer-term consequences of prediction remain unclear. We investigated whether prediction error during language encoding enhances memory for words later on. German-speaking participants read sentences in which the gender marking of the pre-nominal article was consistent or inconsistent with the predictable noun. During subsequent word recognition, we probed participants' recognition memory for predictable and unpredictable nouns. Our results indicate that individuals who demonstrated early prediction error during sentence reading, showed enhanced recognition memory for nouns overall. Results from an exploratory step-wise regression showed that prenominal prediction error and general reading speed were the best proxies for recognition memory. Hence, prediction error may facilitate recognition by furnishing memory traces built during initial reading of the sentences. Results are discussed in the light of hypotheses positing that predictable words show a memory disadvantage because they are processed less thoroughly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mental disorders in people who stutter are controversial among researchers. The 3 types of stuttering are developmental stuttering, neurogenic stuttering, and psychogenic stuttering. The exact cause of stuttering is unknown. This study aimed at investigating the relationship between Stress and Reading Comprehension Performance of Iranian Stuttering Individuals. Materials and Methods: The current research was descriptive quantitative research with a correlational approach. The research tools included Zong's Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (S.A.S) questionnaire. The face validity, reliability and internal consistency of the questionnaire were examined. Five patients (5 adult men aged 14 and 19 with symptoms of stuttering and stress) were selected voluntarily among those who referred to the speech therapy clinic in Ilam. Results: To test the normality and abnormality of the research data, the Kolmogorov Smirnov statistics for stuttering and stress were 0.176 and 0.198, respectively, and the significance levels for both variables were greater than 0.05, none of which were statistically significant. In other words, the normality of the data was confirmed, which showed that Pearson's parametric tests can be used. The results indicated a relationship between stress and vulnerability (P < 0.05). Conclusion: It has been concluding that there is a significant relation between stress and stuttering, indicating that stress and social phobia are common among people who stutter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consistency effect, prevalent in the text comprehension literature, comprises longer reading times for inconsistent than equivalent consistent text continuations. It is widely interpreted as reflecting readers' effective "validation" of text coherence. However, there are also numerous phenomena of readers' deficient validation, sometimes collectively labelled "misinformation effects." This study asked whether readers become consciously aware of the text discrepancies diagnosed by the consistency effect. Experiment 1 scrutinized (a) conspicuous conceptual inconsistencies and (b) character-trait inconsistencies. It replicated the consistency effect both at a critical target sentence and at a subsequent sentence (spillover). Experiment 2 replaced self-paced reading with consistency judgments about the target sentences. The subjects overlooked almost half of the inconsistencies, thus denying that readers reliably become aware of consistency-effect discrepancies. In Experiment 3, the former target sentences were reframed as explicit questions. Accuracy for inconsistencies was statistically indistinguishable from accuracy for consistent targets, favoring the interpretation that Experiment 2 subjects overlooked known, encoded discrepancies. The results are interpreted with reference to Kintsch's (Psychological Review, 95, 163-182, Kintsch, 1988; Comprehension. New York: Cambridge University Press, Kintsch, 1998) construction-integration model, a refinement of which adds an immediate, passive stage of validation processing to construction and integration. It is proposed that passive validation affords the detection of text inconsistencies that do not reach the level of readers' conscious awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined how readers process content and function words in sentence comprehension with ERPs. Participants read simple declarative sentences using a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) with flankers paradigm. Sentences contained either an unexpected semantically anomalous content word, an unexpected syntactically anomalous function word or were well-formed with no anomalies. ERPs were examined when target words were in the parafoveal or foveal vision. Unexpected content words elicited a typically distributed N400 when displayed in the parafovea, followed by a longer-lasting, widely distributed positivity starting around 300 ms once foveated. Unexpected function words elicited a left lateralised LAN-like component when presented in the parafovea, followed by a left lateralised, posteriorly distributed P600 when foveated. These results suggested that both semantic and syntactic processing involve two stages – the initial, fast process that can be completed in parafovea, followed by a more in depth attentionally mediated assessment that occurs with direct attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing what information a user wants is a paramount challenge to information science and technology. Implicit feedback is key to solving this challenge, as it allows information systems to learn about a user's needs and preferences. The available feedback, however, tends to be limited and its interpretation shows to be difficult. To tackle this challenge, we present a user study that explores whether tracking the eyes can unpack part of the complexity inherent to relevance and relevance decisions. The eye behavior of 30 participants reading 18 news articles was compared with their subjectively appraised comprehensibility and interest at a discourse level. Using linear regression models, the eye‐tracking signal explained 49.93% (comprehensibility) and 30.41% (interest) of variance (p <.001). We conclude that eye behavior provides implicit feedback beyond accuracy that enables new forms of adaptation and interaction support for personalized information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is well-known, but perhaps not well documented, that after the first democratic elections in 1994, South African education was declared standard. However, poverty is widespread in rural-based schools, which negatively impacts the development of quality education for learners. This is attributed to the unique challenges that learners in rural-based schools face that affect their quality of education. Apart from inadequate state funding, insufficient resources, and underqualified teachers, learners are faced with poor reading and writing in foreign languages such as English. Furthermore, teaching language incorporating music as a supportive tool has been neglected. Music can be a powerful tool for language teaching for several reasons. This has become a significant contributor and barrier to effective education. Objective: Therefore, from this background, this article aims to discuss the effectiveness of music education in developing and fostering reading and writing in rural-based schools. Method: A qualitative research method was used embedded within content analysis of existing scholarly writings. Results: Framed within music learning theory, the findings of this article reveal that music education plays an essential role in improving the readability of learners, especially in ruralbased schools. Conclusion: This article concludes by affirming that music education is essential in developing and fostering the reading and writing of languages such as English in rural-based schools. However, this calls for the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to provide a proper music infrastructure in rural-based schools. Contribution: This article provides new insight about the role of music education in improving reading and writing for learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Quaderns: Revista de Traducció is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In an eye-tracking-while-reading study, we investigated adult monolinguals' (N = 80) processing of two-clause sentences embedded in short narratives. Three principles theorised to guide comprehension of complex sentences were contrasted: one operating at the clause level, namely clause structure (main clause – subordinate clause or vice versa), and two operating at the discourse-level, namely givenness (given-new vs. new-given) and event order (chronological vs. reverse order). The results indicate that clause structure mainly affects early stages of processing, whereas the two principles operating at the discourse level are more important during later stages and for reading times of the entire sentence. Event order was found to operate relatively independently of the other principles. Givenness was found to overrule clause structure, a phenomenon that can be related to the grounding function of preposed subordinate clauses. We propose a new principle to reflect this interaction effect: the grounding principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many people with aphasia (PWA) want to read books. Text-to-speech (TTS) technology sometimes provides comprehension and processing time benefits when PWA read short, multisentence passages. Currently, no research examines the effect of TTS support when PWA read books. Aims: This study’s primary purpose was to examine comprehension accuracy and total processing time of PWA and neurotypical healthy adults (NHAs) when reading book sections in read-only versus TTS-supported conditions. A secondary aim was to examine condition preference and perceived degree of understanding by people in both participant groups. Method and Procedure: Ten PWA and 10 NHAs alternated between read-only and TTS-supported conditions to read a book. Participants answered comprehension questions and provided feedback about their reading experience, condition preference, and desire to use TTS technology for future book reading. Outcomes and Result: Overall, PWA exhibited less accurate comprehension and slower processing times compared to NHAs in both conditions. No significant comprehension accuracy difference occurred between conditions for either group. However, four PWA exhibited a 10% or greater increase in comprehension accuracy when receiving TTS support. A significant processing time difference occurred with PWA processing text faster with TTS support, whereas NHAs did not demonstrate processing time differences. Most PWA preferred the TTS condition and expressed a desire to use TTS technology in the future. Most NHAs expressed the opposite preference. Conclusions: TTS support during book reading promotes faster processing without compromising comprehension for PWA. Clinicians should discuss with PWA the relative importance of comprehension accuracy, processing time, and comfort with technology when determining whether using TTS support during book reading is desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cue-based retrieval theories of sentence processing posit that long-distance dependency formation is guided by a cue-based retrieval mechanism: dependents are retrieved via retrieval cues associated with a verb. When retrieval cues match multiple similar items in memory, this leads to cue-based retrieval interference. A landmark study by Van Dyke and McElree tested interference from sentence-external items: retrieval cues were manipulated to (mis-)match semantically similar items presented prior to a target dependency. The support for interference of this type is weak, and only comes from English object cleft constructions. Our study provides a cross-linguistic investigation of interference from sentence-external items: Three eyetracking studies in English, German and Russian tested interference in the online processing of filler-gap dependencies under varying task demands. A fourth study attempted to replicate the Van Dyke and McElree study using self-paced reading. Bayes factors analyses show cross-linguistic evidence against interference from sentence-external items. A broader implication from these data is that cue-based retrieval interference is driven by sentence-internal distracting items, suggesting that a cue-based search is restricted to the current linguistic context. • Cross-linguistic study on cue-based interference from sentence-external items. • Three larger-sample eye-tracking studies in English, German and Russian. • A fourth self-paced reading study attempts to replicate the original Van Dyke study. • Data show evidence against interference from sentence-external items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The results of two large-scale eye-tracking studies are reported. • A novel variable trailing mask paradigm was used to determine whether amount or location of rereading of NP/Z garden-path sentences was related to offline comprehension. • E1 presented comprehension questions after each sentence, and E2 presented the comprehension questions both before and after each sentence. • Results provide strong evidence (of multiple types) against selective reanalysis of NP/Z garden-paths. When people read temporarily ambiguous ("garden-path") sentences, the forward movement of their eyes is often interrupted by regressions. These regressions are usually followed by rereading some portion of the previously read text. Frazier and Rayner (1982) proposed the Selective Reanalysis Hypothesis (SRH), which proposed that readers regress to critical choice points in the syntactic phrase marker of garden-paths where misparses had occurred, and furthermore, then reanalyzed the syntactic structure to arrive at a correct parse in most cases. A considerable amount of more recent work, however, suggests that readers often do not derive a correct parse or interpretation from such sentences. If these more recent observations are accurate, perhaps rereading is not necessarily strategic, controlled, or predictable. The current study consists of two large-scale eye-tracking experiments designed specifically to examine where and how much people reread garden-path sentences, and whether rereading influences comprehension accuracy. A variable text-masking paradigm was employed to restrict access to portions of garden-paths and non-garden-paths during rereading. Scanpath analyses were used to determine whether some or all participants targeted syntactically critical parts of previously read text. Comprehension questions probed final interpretations. In short, readers often misinterpreted the garden-paths, and no rereading measures predicted better comprehension. Furthermore, scanpath analyses revealed considerable variation across and within readers; only small percentages of trials conformed to structurally-based predictions. Taken together, we fail to find support for structurally strategic rereading. We therefore propose that rereading of these sentences is more often "confirmatory" than "revisionary" in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction has been proposed as an overarching principle that explains human information processing in language and beyond. To what degree can processing difficulty in syntactically complex sentences – one of the major concerns of psycholinguistics – be explained by predictability, as estimated using computational language models, and operationalized as surprisal (negative log probability)? A precise, quantitative test of this question requires a much larger scale data collection effort than has been done in the past. We present the Syntactic Ambiguity Processing Benchmark, a dataset of self-paced reading times from 2000 participants, who read a diverse set of complex English sentences. This dataset makes it possible to measure processing difficulty associated with individual syntactic constructions, and even individual sentences, precisely enough to rigorously test the predictions of computational models of language comprehension. By estimating the function that relates surprisal to reading times from filler items included in the experiment, we find that the predictions of language models with two different architectures sharply diverge from the empirical reading time data, dramatically underpredicting processing difficulty, failing to predict relative difficulty among different syntactic ambiguous constructions, and only partially explaining item-wise variability. These findings suggest that next-word prediction is most likely insufficient on its own to explain human syntactic processing. • We collect a large reading time dataset for English syntactically complex sentences. • We evaluate to what extent surprisal – estimated using neural network language models – can explain processing difficulty. • Surprisal greatly underestimated processing difficulty for most constructions. • It failed to predict relative difficulty among different garden path constructions. • It also failed to predict across-item variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Internet provides individuals with intellectual disability with access to information and participation in a broader society, but it also presents risks when content is difficult to comprehend. This study aimed to test whether students with intellectual disability enhanced their comprehension of online blogs as a function of the format (text vs. video) and linguistic simplification. Method: Young students with intellectual disability read or watched text and video‐blog posts about environment, health, society, and technology in their original version or a linguistically simplified/easy‐to‐read version. Then, they completed tests that assessed their reading processing (e.g., calibration) and comprehension of blog content. Results: Participants predicted that they would correctly answer 80% of the comprehension questions, but their average comprehension of the blog posts was 55%, regardless of the condition. Previous levels of students' reading comprehension skills predicted their blog comprehension scores and interacted with format and simplification. Those participants with higher reading comprehension skills learned more from non‐simplified than from simplified blog posts while those with lower levels of reading comprehension skills did not benefit from linguistic simplification nor video‐blog format although the difference with regard to higher comprehenders was lower in the video and simplified conditions. Conclusions: Improving reading comprehension abilities of students with intellectual disability is essential to prevent the digital divide while linguistic simplification is not a useful accommodation and even counterproductive for higher reading comprehenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the content and quality of reading instruction provided to students with intellectual disability. This study aimed to describe the reading instruction provided to students with intellectual disability who were not yet readers in self-contained elementary classrooms. The teachers of 24 classrooms participated in the study. Systematic observations of reading lessons, follow-up interviews with the teachers, review of teaching material, and content analysis of students' individualized education plans were conducted. Findings indicate that phonics and phonological awareness were taught in most of the classrooms. However, phonics was taught systematically, as recommended in the research, in only less than half of the classes. Sight-word instruction and vocabulary instruction were observed in more than half of the classes. Comprehension instruction of texts read aloud by the teacher was observed in only about a third of the classrooms. Recommendations to support teachers in enhancing the quality of reading instruction are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor comprehenders are a significant subgroup of poor readers who, due to their ability to read aloud accurately, are often difficult to identify. This study aimed to determine whether assessment using two oral language tasks, mapped onto the two components of the Simple View of Reading, would provide an efficient approach to identification. Children (N = 218) from School Years 3 to 6 (ages 7; 8–12; 1) attending two schools in Australia were assessed, and 45 identified as potential poor comprehenders, based on a profile of average phonological awareness but poor listening comprehension. Subsequent assessment of decoding and text reading comprehension confirmed 24 of these children to be poor comprehenders, consistent with reported prevalence rates. Five of these children were judged to be weak readers by their classroom teacher. The oral tasks alone overidentified this group; however, the findings suggest that using the tasks as an initial phase, followed up with a reading assessment, could be effective in identifying poor comprehenders, and reduce time spent in testing as this would only involve at-risk children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for persons with aphasia (PWA) are commonly used to measure various outcomes. Persons with aphasia commonly present with language deficits that can likely increase respondent burden. Elements that contribute to respondent burden include readability, design, and formatting methods. The aims of this study were to determine how PROMs for PWA rate in level of respondent burden and on readability levels. Method: Irwin's 2012 review of PROMs for PWA was used for inclusion criteria and additional PROMs developed after 2012 were identified. This method resulted in 14 PROMs, which were rated on proposed respondent burden criteria and also underwent a readability analysis. Results: Six PROMs achieved a 7 or higher with the proposed 10-point respondent burden measure, indicating lower respondent burden. Eight PROMs met the nationally recommended reading level of sixth grade. Conclusions: Results indicated that the several PROMs available for PWA fail to minimize respondent burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined (a) the identification of various reading groups across languages in Chinese (L1) adolescents learning English as a second language (ESL), in terms of their word-reading and reading comprehension skills, (b) overlap in reading group membership across languages, and (c) the performance of the various reading groups on reading-related language comprehension measures in English. The participants were 246 eighth-grade students from an English-immersion program in a middle school in China. Latent profile analysis identified three reading groups in each language: (a) a typically developing reader group with average or above-average word-reading and reading comprehension, (b) a group with poor decoding/word-reading skills and weak reading comprehension, and (c) a group with poor reading comprehension in the absence of poor decoding/word reading. The overlap in profile characteristics across languages for typically developing readers and poor decoders was high (about 68% for typically developing readers and 54% for poor decoders), whereas the overlap for being poor comprehenders in each language was moderate (about 37%). Furthermore, poor decoders in either language performed more poorly than the typically developing and poor comprehender groups on word reading in the other language, while poor comprehenders in either language performed more poorly than the typically developing and poor decoder groups on reading comprehension in the other language. The comparison of the reading groups' performance on English reading-related language comprehension measures showed that poor comprehenders and poor decoders performed worse than typically developing readers. Implications for identification and instruction of ESL children with reading difficulties are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the link between phonological and morphological awareness and reading comprehension among special-education children who attend self-contained special education classes in regular Arab elementary schools.The three hypotheses were: First, the higher the level of phonological awareness in Arabic among special education learners, the better their reading comprehension level. Similarly, the higher the level of morphological awareness in Arabic among special education learners, the better their reading comprehension level. Third, it is possible to point to a joint effect of a child's phonological awareness and morphological awareness on reading comprehension abilities. This study's findings confirmed all three hypotheses and can subsequently be applied to understanding the processes underlying phonological and morphological awareness. This may be instrumental in discovering methods for promoting literacy and reading comprehension in special education learners. This study may also contribute to development of teacher training programmes that focus on effective methods for raising phonological and morphological awareness, ultimately resulting in improved reading comprehension in special education learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Question: Are the readability levels for COVID-19 vaccine-related fact sheets and informational materials appropriate for the general U.S. population? • Findings: This study, which analyzed fact sheets for three of the major U.S. vaccine manufacturers and other informational material, found that most of the COVID-19 vaccine-related informational materials did not meet appropriate readability levels for the U.S. population. • Meaning: Informational materials should be written at a 7th-grade reading level for the general population to fully comprehend them. More than 130 million individuals in the United States have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, all adults in the Unites States now have access to one of three COVID-19 vaccines. As part of the vaccination procedure, Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) fact sheets, which contain information regarding the vaccine, are provided. The purpose of this study was to analyze the ease of reading (i.e., readability) of the EUA-approved fact sheets for the vaccines currently available in the United States, the V-Safe adverse event survey script, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website information on COVID-19 vaccines designed for the general public in the United States. We acquired the Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen EUA fact sheets, as well as the V-Safe survey script and the CDC website information regarding COVID-19 vaccines. These documents were analyzed for their complexity regarding the following readability factors: average length of paragraphs, sentences, and words; font size and style; use of passive voice; the Gunning-Fog index; the Flesch Reading Ease index; and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level index. Only the V-Safe adverse-event survey script met readability standards for adequate comprehension. The mean readability scores of the EUA fact sheets and the CDC website were as follows: Flesch Reading Ease score (44.35 avg); Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (10.48 avg); and Gunning-Fog index (11.8 avg). These scores indicate that at least a 10th-grade level education would be required to understand these reading materials. The average person in the United States would have difficulty understanding the information provided in the EUA fact sheets and CDC COVID-19 vaccine website documents; however, the V-Safe survey was written at an adequate reading level. To ensure that the general public fully understands information regarding COVID-19 vaccines, greater care and effort should be given to the development of simplified information material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Cross-sectional analysis.Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the quality and accuracy of the content surrounding cervical radiculopathy available on the internet.Summary Of Background Data: Those experiencing cervical radiculopathy and their families are increasingly browsing the worldwide web for medical information. As the information offered is likely to influence their health care choices, spine care providers must understand the quality and accuracy of that information.Methods: Independent searches were conducted on the three most commonly accessed search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) using the keyword "cervical radiculopathy." The searches were performed on June 28th, 2019. The top 50 sites from each search engines were reviewed. The websites were evaluated using quality, accuracy and usability markers.Results: Seventy-seven unique websites were analyzed; 54.5% were physician or medical group professional sites, 20.8% as non-physician, 10.4% as unidentified, 7.8% as academics, and 6.5% were commercial. Accuracy ranged from <25% to >75% were recorded with a mean accuracy of 3.5 signifying 50% to 75% agreement. Overall, website categories had a significant effect on Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) score, content quality, accuracy, total summary scores, distraction index, reading ease, and grade level (P  < 0.05). Academic sites had the highest mean quality content, accuracy and total summary scores. Four of the top five websites with the highest total summary scores were physician driven. On average, Health on the Net code (HONcode) certified websites had lower grade level readability with greater reading ease and higher DISCERN and JAMA scores than uncertified sites (P < 0.05).Conclusion: Despite the wide number of sources available, the quality, accuracy, pertinence, and intelligibility of the information remains highly variable. Clinicians treating patients with cervical radiculopathy should direct them to verifiable sites with regulated information and, where possible, contribute high- quality information to those sites.Level of Evidence: 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The internet has become an increasingly popular resource among sports medicine patients seeking injury-related information. Numerous organizations recommend that patient educational materials (PEMs) should not exceed sixth-grade reading level. Despite this, studies have consistently shown the reading grade level (RGL) of PEMs to be too demanding across a range of surgical specialties. Purpose: To determine the readability of online sports medicine PEMs. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: The readability of 363 articles pertaining to sports medicine from 5 leading North American websites was assessed using 8 readability formulas: Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease Score, Raygor Estimate, Fry Readability Formula, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, Coleman-Liau Index, FORCAST Readability Formula, and Gunning Fog Index. The mean RGL of each article was compared with the sixth- and eighth-grade reading level in the United States. The cumulative mean website RGL was also compared among individual websites. Results: The overall cumulative mean RGL was 12.2 (range, 7.0-17.7). No article (0%) was written at a sixth-grade reading level, and only 3 articles (0.8%) were written at or below the eighth-grade reading level. The overall cumulative mean RGL was significantly higher than the sixth-grade [95% CI for the difference, 6.0-6.5; P <.001] and eighth-grade (95% CI, 4.0-4.5; P <.001) reading levels. There was a significant difference among the cumulative mean RGLs of the 5 websites assessed. Conclusion: Sports medicine PEMs produced by leading North American specialty websites have readability scores that are above the recommended levels. Given the increasing preference of patients for online health care materials, the imperative role of health literacy in patient outcomes, and the growing body of online resources, significant work needs to be undertaken to improve the readability of these materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading comprehension and fluency are crucial for successful academic learning and achievement. Yet, a rather large percentage of children still have enormous difficulties in understanding a written text at the end of primary school. In this context, the aim of our study was to investigate whether text simplification, a process of reducing text complexity while keeping its meaning unchanged, can improve reading fluency and comprehension for children learning to read. Furthermore, we were interested in finding out whether some readers would benefit more than others from text simplification as a function of their cognitive and language profile. To address these issues, we developed an iBook application for iPads, which allowed us to present normal and simplified versions of informative and narrative texts to 165 children in grade 2. Reading fluency was measured for each sentence, and text comprehension was measured for each text using multiple-choice questions. The results showed that both reading fluency and reading comprehension were significantly better for simplified than for normal texts. Results showed that poor readers and children with weaker cognitive skills (nonverbal intelligence, memory) benefitted to a greater extent from simplification than good readers and children with somewhat stronger cognitive skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the readability, content, and authorship of websites related to patella instability. A search was performed using three search engines and four terms related to patella dislocation. Thirty-seven unique websites were identified. Seventeen of 37 (46%) websites disclosed the authorship credentials. The mean Flesch-Kincaid grade was 10.8±3.5, and the mean Flesch reading ease score was 47.6±18. Only 8 of 37 (22%) websites had a third-party Health On the Net seal. The information presented online about patella dislocation can be unreliable and misleading for patients. [Orthopedics. 2022;45(2):e62-e66.]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review synthesizes fluency intervention research for struggling readers in Grades 6 through 12 from January 2006 to October 2019. The search yielded 17 studies examining reading fluency and comprehension outcomes. Most studies examined repeated reading (RR) interventions to improve reading fluency for struggling readers at these grade levels, resulting in improved fluency but few positive effects on reading comprehension outcomes, similar to trends observed in prior systematic reviews. Reading connected text with an equivalent word count to word counts of RR sessions did not result in increased reading fluency, a finding aligned with a prior synthesis. Few studies used a fluent reader as a model prior to RRs, despite previous support for modeling within fluency interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted two separate but related multiple baseline with alternating treatment single-case design studies to investigate the effect of the same reading intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder being implemented under different conditions. We conducted a researcher-implemented study in a public school (Study 1) and a teacher-implemented study in a specialized private charter school for children with ASD (Study 2). In each study, we compared a typical intervention approach with interest-based text intervention that included reading on each child's interest area. The treatment included systematic vocabulary instruction and main-summarization strategy instruction. Findings from Study One showed consistent increases in comprehension and vocabulary outcomes compared to baseline. In Study Two the baselines phases were unstable with small differences in mean scores detected for vocabulary during the intervention phase favoring the interest-based treatment for three of four participants. The results across studies were mixed indicating the importance of taking into account contextual factors including student characteristics and learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates reading comprehension in adult deaf and hearing readers. Using correlational analysis and stepwise regression, we assess the contribution of English language variables (e.g., vocabulary comprehension, reading volume, and phonological awareness), cognitive variables (e.g., working memory (WM), nonverbal intelligence, and executive function), and language experience (e.g., language acquisition and orthographic experience) in predicting reading comprehension in deaf and hearing adult bilinguals (native American Sign Language (ASL) signers, non-native ASL signers, and Chinese–English bilinguals (CEB)), and monolingual (ML) controls. For all four groups, vocabulary knowledge was a strong contributor to reading comprehension. Monolingual English speakers and non-native deaf signers also showed contributions from WM and spoken language phonological awareness. In contrast, CEB showed contributions of lexical strategies in English reading comprehension. These cross-group comparisons demonstrate how the inclusion of multiple participant groups helps us to further refine our understanding of how language and sensory experiences influence reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Studies in India have examined the relation of rapid automatized naming (RAN), reading fluency (RF), phonological awareness (PA), spelling ability, and language ability with reading comprehension (RC) in English in children where English is taught for the purpose of education. However, the predictor variables of RC have not been explored. Aim: To propose a structural model for RC in English in children with mother tongue Marathi studying in English medium schools. Materials and Methods: Participants included 80 children with mother tongue Marathi (Grades 1 and 2) in English medium schools. A battery of test for the assessment of language, RAN, PA, RF, spelling and RC in English was administered. Smart PLS 3.0 was used for the analysis of data. Results: The final model proposed had loadings > 0.708, composite reliabilities > 0.7, and AVE of all constructs > 0.5. Discriminant validity of the model was ascertained as the values were less than the heterotraitmonotrait (HTMT) criteria of 0.85 for all components. 86% of variance in RC was explained by language ability (β = 0.409, P < 0.001) and RF (β = 0.453, P < 0.001), when RF was mediated by RAN-letter (β = 0.348, P < 0.001), and PA (β = 0.384, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The structural model proposed in the study is reliable and valid. Language ability and RF have significant influence on RC, and RAN-letter and PA have a significant mediating role in the relationship between RF and RC. Thus, RC in English can be improved if language and RF are developed, and RF can be improved by enhancing RAN-letter speed, and PA skills in these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Language Academy is the property of Rota Kariyer and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: There is limited understanding amongst patients and parents of paediatric patients regarding adenoidectomy. Most patients access health-related information online. The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of online information on adenoidectomy. Method: The term 'adenoid' was used to search Google, and the first 50 websites identified were screened. For each website, the readability and quality were assessed. Results: Of the 41 websites that met the inclusion criteria, the mean readability scores corresponded to 'difficult to read' and university-level reading categories. For the quality of the websites, the mean score corresponded to 'fair' with 39 per cent of the websites containing either 'poor' or 'very poor' quality data. The ENT UK information is one of the most readable and reliable online resources. Conclusion: The online information on adenoidectomy is largely set at an inappropriate readability level and of variable quality. Surgeons should consider assisting their patients with online searches regarding adenoidectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has demonstrated that computer assisted instruction (CAI) can have positive impacts on various literacy skills, however its impact on specific comprehension skills is currently unclear. This study employed a small‐scale randomized control trial to examine the impact of a researcher‐developed adaptive computer assisted instructional program, Digital Comprehension, on 47 upper elementary struggling readers' comprehension skills, specifically main idea identification. Students were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups, with students in the treatment group engaging in the Digital Comprehension program and students in the control group receiving only business‐as‐usual classroom instruction. Students completed measures assessing main idea and general reading comprehension skills at pre‐ and post‐intervention. Students in the treatment group demonstrated statistically significant greater growth in main idea skills than students in the control group. No main effect for the intervention was found for general reading comprehension skills, although there was a significant interaction between condition and student's pretest scores. Results indicate that adaptive CAI may be an effective means for remediating struggling readers' main idea skills. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic:Research suggests that adaptive instructional software has a positive impact on a wide variety of reading skills, particularly for younger children.The research is less clear about the impact such technology has on students specific comprehension skills.What this paper adds:This study sought to close the literature gap by examining the impact of an adaptive instructional program on comprehension skills.Results showed that students who used the adaptive instructional program demonstrated significantly higher gains in main idea skills than students in the control group, but failed to demonstrate significantly higher growth on general comprehension measures. Implications:This study demonstrates that computer adaptive instructional programs may be a valuable supplemental tool to increase upper‐elementary students' specific comprehension skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the relative contribution of the two components in the simple view of reading to the reading comprehension skills of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) adults in the Netherlands. Eighty DHH adults, aged between 30 and 80 years old, were tested on word reading, reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Regression analyses showed that both decoding skills and vocabulary contributed to the reading comprehension skills of DHH adults, with vocabulary being the strongest predictor. For skilled decoders, the picture was somewhat different with only vocabulary being a predictor of reading comprehension. The results of this study show that the simple view of reading is applicable to DHH adults' reading comprehension skills: both decoding skills and vocabulary contribute to reading comprehension. Also, as in previous studies on the simple view of reading, as readers become more skilled in the decoding process, vocabulary becomes the only predictor of reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]