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This study addresses two areas of need in the literature. First, we recognize the impact of experiential-learning on student outcomes and fewer opportunities within the social sciences. Second, as academics in criminal justice and education, we are aware of educational needs of incarcerated persons. The current study blended together experiential-learning alongside a reading program within one state's women's correctional facility, targeting (grand)mothers. Two faculty and 40 students, spanning two academic departments, completed a research-based experiential-learning project with one community partner. This undergraduate project sought to benefit students, incarcerated (grand)mothers, and the (grand)children of incarcerated (grand)mothers through a read-aloud program. Through student observations, themed results found incarcerated (grand)mothers had negative school experiences regarding reading. Subsequently, they did not read with their (grand)children prior to incarceration but used reading as a means to escape their incarceration. Students' reflections demonstrated value to self, participants, and the community, through participation in research-based experiential-learning.

This study determined the level of home learning support given by the parents and the level of reading performance of primary pupils in Alat-Alatin Elementary School, a multi-grade school in Lopez West District, Lopez, Quezon. This utilized the quantitative method anchored by a descriptive-correlational design. Moreover, the researchers used a survey questionnaire consisting of 15 questions pertaining to parental involvement, home learning resources, and home literacy practices to determine the level of home learning support given by the parents and conducted a reading session to determine the reading performance of the primary pupils. The study found that home learning support is sometimes given to primary pupils, and the level of reading performance of the primary pupils in Alat-Alatin Elementary School during the implementation of modular distance learning is at a frustration level. Using Spearman's rho non-parametric statistical tool, the Alpha level is 0.05. Since 0.395 is greater than the alpha level (0.05), the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore, based on the result, there is no significant relationship between home learning support extended by the parents and the reading performance (in both oral reading and comprehension scores) of the pupils. Furthermore, the researchers designed Project BASA (Be A Servant Alat-Alatinian), a reading intervention program in distance learning settings that aims to improve the reading performance.

Given the shift toward technology-based approaches to assessment and intervention and the growing popularity of virtual service delivery, practitioners must have data to inform whether student performance on curriculum-based measures (CBMs) is equivalent when administering assessments through different modalities. Reading CBMs are a widely used tool for benchmarking and monitoring student progress, but researchers have not thoroughly examined variations on CBM assessment modality (e.g., tablets, computers, video conferencing). The current study extends the research on CBM assessment modalities by comparing students' oral reading fluency (ORF) scores across traditional (face-to-face, with paper probes) and virtual (via video conferencing, with probes presented on screen share) assessment sessions. Results from four students, using an alternating treatment design, show slight differences between modalities with traditional face-to-face administration yielding higher scores. Assessment integrity and interscorer agreement data were collected. Discussion focuses on limitations, directions for future research, and considerations for practitioners.

Reading comprehension is one of the most valuable academic skills taught in school. Selecting the appropriate assessment instrument to ensure early identification and intervention is important as there is an amalgam of cognitive abilities and academic skills involved in reading comprehension. The GORT-5 is the most recent edition of a test that measures reading rate, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension among school-age children and young adults. The current study evaluated the concurrent validity of the GORT-5 with the WJ-IV ACH for a group of referred students. Findings indicate that Pearson correlation coefficients for all GORT-5 and WJ-IV ACH score comparisons were very large (0.70-0.89). Generally, GORT-5 scores were 2-3 points higher than WJ-IV ACH cluster scores. The diagnostic accuracy of the GORT-5 is excellent, with very few students' scores yielding a false negative.

This study intends to examine the reading process in Chinese of two young heritage language learners through the use of retrospective miscue analysis (RMA). Retrospective miscue analysis involves both the author and the reader in reflectively discussing the reader's oral reading miscues--responses that differ from the actual text. This study confirms the notion that reading is an active sense-making process where the graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic cues as well as translanguaging skills function interdependently to assist heritage language readers with meaning construction. Strategies of sampling, predicting, substituting, and correcting are also evident in their reading. These active but "invisible" reading behaviors are not available through asking comprehension questions. Instead, they are obtained from the reflective conversations between the researcher and the students. Retrospective miscue analysis helps readers gain a deeper understanding of the reading process and enhances their metacognitive skills. This study also includes language and reading behaviors that are unique to Chinese heritage language learners as well as implications for parents and teachers.

Relatively little is known regarding post-intervention reading fluency outcomes for English learners (ELs) in comparison with non-EL peers, yet educators must be prepared to sustain growth for all students transitioning to less-intensive tiers of support. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether EL status moderated post-intervention maintenance effects among U.S. second- and third-grade students who transitioned back to Tier 1 instruction only due to successful performance during a Tier 2 reading fluency intervention. Piecewise multi-level models were estimated to address whether EL status uniquely predicted intervention growth patterns and the extent to which these patterns were maintained over a 12- to 13-week post-intervention period. Reading fluency scores were similar between EL and non-EL students prior to the start of and during the intervention, and all students' performance decreased slightly immediately after support ceased. Regardless of grade level or EL status, post-intervention fluency gains generally remained smaller than those observed during intervention meriting attention to individual- and systems-level instructional considerations for ensuring continued growth.

Assessments of oral reading are widely used for screening, progress monitoring, and comprehensive evaluations. Despite the utility and technical adequacy of these tools, there are subgroups of students for whom measures of oral reading may be inappropriate. The first section of this article focuses on how tests of oral reading may underestimate word reading ability and reading fluency among four subgroups of students with speech, language, or learning difficulties. These include school-age students who demonstrate word-finding difficulties (which are common among students with a learning disability or developmental language disorder), developmental stuttering, childhood apraxia of speech, and pediatric dysarthria. The second section offers practical recommendations for more accurate assessment procedures, correct placement decisions, relevant professional learning activities, and strategic interdisciplinary teaming.

Background: Disfluency is a multifactorial concept that can be linked to several of the language production levels, in both typical and atypical populations. In children, the language system is still developing and few studies have explored disfluency patterns. In typical development (TD), in particular, studies have shown discrepancies according to the language being considered. In neurodevelopmental disorders, such as developmental dyslexia (DD), it is still unclear whether the pattern of disfluency is similar to TD. Aims: To analyse the type of disfluency and their evolution in French children aged 8-12 years. Also to compare the pattern of disfluency in DD and TD, and to test whether disfluencies were correlated with reading difficulties. Methods & Procedures: A total of 25 children with DD and 21 children with TD aged 8-12.6 years produced an autobiographical narrative. Seven types of disfluencies were coded: part-word repetitions; repetitions of monosyllabic words; other types of repetitions (words and phrases); filled pauses; revisions-substitutions; revisions-additions; and abandoned utterances. We compared the proportion of each disfluency in DD and TD. Spearman correlations were then performed between disfluencies, reading performance and age. Outcomes & Results: The results showed that both DD and TD children mainly produced filled pauses, repetitions of monosyllabic words and substitutions. Both groups displayed a high rate of disfluency (> 10%). No correlations with age were found. Correlations with reading performance were significant in the TD group only. Conclusions & Implications: The study showed that DD is not characterized by a specific pattern of disfluency. Additionally, disfluency rates were similar in children aged 8-12 years. In contrast to other languages, the current study suggests that French-speaking children have a high rate of disfluency. The study also suggests that disfluency should be interpreted with caution in DD, given that TD children also have a high rate of disfluency. Therefore, it seems important to adapt the pathological threshold of disfluency to the language being spoken in order to avoid an overestimation of the prevalence of these deficits in French-speaking children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate if a group of sixth-grade low achievement language minority (LM) students' reading skills could be improved by an intervention designed to train reading fluency, a critical component of reading development, defined as integrating speed and accuracy (reading rate) as well as prosody. The study included 54 sixth-grade LM students attending a low socio-economic school. Two groups matched on different reading and control measures were randomly assigned to an intervention condition, which consisted of a tutored reading aloud intervention combining repeated reading, assisted wide reading and modeling prosody or a control condition where students achieved their usual classroom activities. Reading rate (number of words correctly read per minute), prosody and comprehension were assessed. Students who received the intervention scored better on measures of reading prosody but not on reading rate and comprehension measures than students from the control group. The discussion questions the lack of apparent results in reading rate in relation to the progress made in reading prosody.

The goal of this study was to examine the relation of morphological skills with reading fluency in 2nd grade Greek-speaking children and if phonological awareness and vocabulary mediate their relation. The sample consisted of 105 2nd grade Greek-speaking students (46 males; Mage = 7.83 years, SD = 3.31). Morphological awareness was assessed with four tasks, examining inflectional and derivational morphology both at an epilinguistic and metalinguistic level. Reading fluency was assessed with oral and silent measures. Results of path analyses indicated that inflectional and derivational morphology contributed to reading fluency through multiple pathways, controlling for the effect of Rapid Automatized Naming. Phonological awareness fully mediated the relation of inflectional and derivational morphology with text reading fluency. Vocabulary partially mediated the relation of inflectional and derivational morphology with silent reading fluency. Furthermore, derivational morphology directly affected silent reading fluency. Overall, the relation of morphological awareness with reading fluency appeared to be dynamic and varied depending on the morphological awareness skill and measure of reading fluency. Regarding the mediating role of phonological awareness and vocabulary, the results showed that children in lower elementary grades in a transparent orthography with a rich morphological system used morphological skills as activators to existing phonological and semantic skills in supporting reading fluency processes.

This study investigated the effects of assisted oral reading on EFL learners' oral reading rates and took into account repetition times, passage features (length and type), and language proficiency. Forty-nine students from a university of technology took part in a 27-week oral reading program. Teaching assistants were assigned to assist individual students' oral reading and offered immediate feedback for their performance. Students read a total of 27 texts, one per week. The texts involved 9 short- and 9 long-conversational texts, and 9 monologic texts. Each text was read six times and the time for each oral reading was recorded. The collected data were analyzed with HLM. The dependent variable was students' oral reading rates, and three fixed factors were repetition times, text features, and students' language proficiency. The results showed that students' oral reading rates significantly improved with times of repetition increased. Text length (shorter or longer) did not affect students' oral reading rates but text types (conversational vs. monologic) did. Higher-level students read significantly more fluently than those in the lower-level. Implication of the study results was discussed.

Reading aloud is recommended as a simple technique to measure speaking ability (Hughes & Hughes, 2020; Madsen, 1983). Reading aloud is currently used in the Pearson Test of English and a couple of other international English as a second language proficiency tests. Due to the simplicity of the technique, it can be used in conjunction with other techniques to measure foreign and second language learners' speaking ability. One issue in reading aloud as a testing technique is its psychometric modeling. Because of the peculiar structure of reading-aloud tasks, analyzing them with item response theory models is not straightforward. In this study, the Rasch partial credit model (PCM) is suggested and used to score examinees' reading-aloud scores. The performances of 196 foreign language learners on five reading-aloud passages were analyzed with the PCM. Findings showed that the data fit the RPCM well and the scores are highly reliable. Implications of the study for psychometric evaluation of reading aloud or oral reading fluency are discussed.

Research has shown that second language (L2) learners generally lack multiword expression knowledge, and L2 researchers and practitioners have tried various techniques to assist L2 learners to acquire it more efficiently. This study adopted an under-researched technique-- repeated oral reading--to enhance the retention of high-frequency multiword items by 62 EFL college students divided into experimental (n =38) and control (n =24) groups. Fifteen unfamiliar multiword items comprising only known individual words were selected through a pre-test based on a theme-based text. All students received a formal instruction first, followed by the experimental group orally reading the text six times under a time constraint. A two-week delayed post-test was used to test students' retention of four dimensions of multiword knowledge: aural forms and aural meanings, and written meanings and use. Except for use, the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the other three dimensions. Four fixed factors (oral reading speed, prior vocabulary knowledge, dimensions of multiword knowledge, and the number of words per item) were analyzed via GLMM. Results showed three factors had significant effects on retaining multiword items except oral reading speed. Based on the results, pedagogical implications are discussed and suggestions are made.

Background: Learners with reading and writing difficulties (RWD) are accommodated in Mauritian government schools without formal curriculum adjustment and teacher support. Little is known about their RWD. The aim was to describe the characteristics of Grade 4 learners with RWD. Aim: To describe the characteristics of Grade 4 learners with RWD. Setting: Government primary schools in Mauritius, in urban and rural areas. Methods: Grade 4 learners with RWD from 20 randomly selected schools were identified with the Screening Tool for Learning Disorders (STLD). A comparative design was used. Parents of 67 learners with RWD (research group [RG]) gave consent. Forty-nine learners without RWD were selected as a control group (CG) based on academic performance and consent. Hearing loss and visual impairment were excluded. The Clinical Evaluation of Language Function Observation Rating Scale (CELF-5 ORS), the Schonell Spelling Test and the Gray Oral Reading Test were used. Results: The CELF-5 ORS showed a wide range of difficulties of the RG with speaking, listening, oral reading and writing. There were significant differences between the RG and CG with reading and spelling. Despite being in Grade 4 (mean age 9.0 years), the mean spelling age for the RG was 5.5 years, corresponding to a Grade 1 level. Positive correlations were found between the STLD and listening, speaking and reading on the CELF-5 ORS for the RG. The more likely it was that participants had specific learning disorders on the STLD, the worse the spelling. Those with a history of speech and language delay performed more poorly with reading and spelling. Conclusion: Difficulties were confirmed by all the measures. Diagnostic assessments for specific learning disorders are required to exclude intellectual disability and other comorbidities. There is a dire need for intervention programs for learners with RWD in mainstream government schools in Mauritius. Programs should include speech-language therapists and aim at prevention, identification, diagnosis and intervention. Contribution: The study is important for speech--language therapists working in the education system and primary school teachers. There is a dire need to implement intervention programs for learners with RWD in mainstream government schools in Mauritius.

This academic article has objectives were 1) to study the techniques in data analyzing of speech recognition systems techniques to detect reading aloud skills in Thai tonal conjugation for Primary Education Students, and 2) to study the effect of speech recognition systems techniques to detect reading aloud skills in Thai tonal conjugation for Primary Education Students. Sample group in this research were 30 Primary Education Students in Grades 4-6 of Wat Na Klang School in Nakhon Sawan Province, Thailand. Research tools was speech recognition systems techniques to detect reading aloud skills in Thai tonal conjugation. Results showed that, 1) the three techniques involved in sound analysis consisted of Spectrogram Sound Wave Change Techniques, Wavelet Transform Audio Format Conversion Techniques, and two sets of data similarity comparison techniques named Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). The researchers used three techniques in analysis and comparison for making the more similar to the sound signal than using a single technique to analyze. 2) the effect of using speech recognition system to detect reading aloud skills in Thai tonal conjugation showed results of pronunciation practice and compared the similarity of audio signals that after using the technique in 5 analytical times, the largest average result was 93.52 Percent, the least average result was 87.75 Percent, and the total average result was 90.66 Percent.

Significant traumatic events affect communities and schools. Teachers need tools to help navigate challenging conversations with their students. Consequently, we utilized our children's literature course on the use of picture books that would invite dialogue supporting children responding to traumatic events. Specifically, we reconceptualized an existing read-aloud assignment to focus on selecting and using literature that facilitates children's responses to challenging life experiences. This article describes the read-aloud assignment, providing a content analysis of the books the preservice teachers selected, and examples of both preservice teachers' responses and K-12 students' responses to the literature.

Background: According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS, 2006 with 87%, 2011 with 82%, 2016 with 78%, 2021 with 81%), an international reading comprehension assessment conducted at the Grade 4 level, South African learners perform very poorly in reading comprehension, even when reading in their African home languages. Objectives: To analyse learner performance in the Intermediate Phase (IP) focusing on English First Additional Language (EFAL) before and after the implementation of the Primary School Reading Improvement Programme (PSRIP) in Johannesburg West (JW) district. The study aims to analyse EFAL learning gains obtained during the pilot phase of the PSRIP in JW district. Method: Quantitative data (learner performance in EFAL) was collected from South Africa-School Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS) in six schools in JW. Learner performance marks from Term 1 before PSRIP was implemented and from Term 4 after PSRIP implementation were analysed quantitatively using System Analysis Program Development (SAP) data and analytics solutions. Results: Learner performance analysis based on the DBE pass rates indicates positive outcomes, learner performance increased in 3 out of 6 schools; however, based on the PSRIP pass rates, only 2 out of 6 schools managed to get 90% of their learners obtaining at least 50% in EFAL after PSRIP was introduced. Conclusion: Implementation of PSRIP affected learner performance positively; however, more support is needed to meet the PSRIP targets. Contribution: Based on these findings, there is a need to further investigate how (if at all) the PSRIP strategies can be used in other languages that are taught at IP level. Study results will inform language in education policies. Furthermore, the Department of Basic Education's reading campaigns may adopt the benefits of the PSRIP in improving literacy development in other South African languages including the indigenous languages.

The aim of this research is to examine the effect of poems read by using chorus reading, repeated reading and echo (echoing) reading strategies, which are one of the fluent reading strategies, on the reading comprehension ability of primary school third grade students with and without gifted diagnosis. In accordance with this purpose, the study, which was carried out according to the experimental design with pretest-post-test control group, was carried out with a total of 39 students who attended the third grade, who were (18) gifted students and those who were not (21) as gifted. A total of 60 sessions of experimental applications lasting 20 minutes were carried out separately for both students with a diagnosis as gifted and for students without a diagnosis of as gifted. The False Analysis Inventory was used as a data collection tool. The obtained data were analysed in accordance with the Wrong Analysis Inventory evaluation criteria; Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test analysis was performed to decipher the significant difference between the pretest-post-test scores. As a result of the study, it was seen that reading poetry by using choir reading, repetitive reading and echo/echoing reading strategies from fluent reading strategies improved the reading comprehension skills of both students with a gifted and primary school third grade students without a diagnosis as gifted. This development was higher in students with a diagnosis as gifted than in students without a diagnosis as gifted.

This paper provides an experimental study of interlanguage phonological characteristics of Chinese students learning Thai as a foreign language and the accentedness perceived by native Thai speakers. Both production and perception experiments were designed to see how Chinese students acoustically produced Thai final nasal consonants and how Thai native speakers perceived these Chinese-accented nasals. The production experiment compared the acoustic features of Thai final nasal consonants (i.e. /m/, /n/, and /[eng]/) produced by Chinese students and native Thai speakers (n = 5 in each group), who provided speech samples from a wordlist reading task, consisting of 28 words (840 tokens). Nasal acoustic properties of 840 tokens (duration, nasal murmurs, and formant transitions) were examined. The findings showed that the Chinese students produced significantly longer nasal duration and more drastic formant transitions compared to the native speakers. The perception experiment analyzed how native Thai raters (n = 10) rated speech samples concerning degrees of accentedness by using a 5-point Likert scale with 5 as the most native level. Based on this, the native Thai raters rated the Chinese students' speech as 3.22 on average, while native Thai speech was judged with an average score of 4.65, which demonstrated that native Thai raters could distinguish foreign speech from those pronounced by native speakers. To find out to what extent nasal acoustic characteristics in Chinese students' interlanguage phonology contributed to the degree of accentedness, stepwise regression analyses were utilized to discover that nasal duration was particularly important in accurately predicting accentedness in Thai with Chinese accents.

The perennial challenge of reading fluency, notably profound among Asian EFL learners, stems largely from linguistic disparities, conventional teaching paradigms, and ingrained cognitive practices. This study critically investigates the challenges Chinese undergraduates face with English reading fluency, notably due to linguistic disparities and historically rooted teaching methodologies. Leveraging the Read-Aloud Instructional Strategy (RAIS), this quasi-experimental study sampled 73 students from a private university in Thailand. Baseline assessments depicted similar fluency levels across groups. Post-intervention, the instructor-centered approach demonstrated profound efficacy, with the mean fluency score soaring to 4.35, compared to the student-centered mean of 2.69 and the near-static comparison group at 2.04. Additionally, confidence metrics evinced a remarkable ascent to 3.46 for the instructor-led group, a notable rise to 2.19 for the student-centered cohort, juxtaposed against the comparison group's minimal shift to 1.71. Furthermore, the instructor-centered method substantially ameliorated reading anxiety (d=1.378) and showcased stronger, albeit weak to moderate, post-intervention correlations between fluency, confidence, and anxiety. This comprehensive study underscores the transformative potential of RAIS, particularly the instructor-centered paradigm, in concurrently augmenting reading fluency, confidence, and reducing anxiety among Chinese EFL undergraduates. The implications herein suggest the exigency of reassessing prevalent pedagogical methodologies in Asian EFL environments.

A robust finding in psycholinguistics is that prior language experience influences subsequent language processing. This phenomenon is known as syntactic priming. Most of the empirical support for L2 syntactic priming comes from lab-based experiments. However, this evidence might not reflect how priming occurs in typical language activities in the L2 classroom. As such, we conducted a classroom-based priming study. Using a between-subject design, 52 L2 Arabic speakers read and listened to eight story-reading sessions over two weeks that either included a high proportion of the fronted temporal phrase (TP) structure (experimental group) or included no fronted TPs (controls). The effect of L2 proficiency was also investigated. Results revealed that the experimental group did not significantly increase their use of fronted TPs in the immediate posttest or the one-week delayed posttest relative to the baseline. A null effect of Arabic L2 proficiency was also observed. We discuss our findings in light of related priming theories and previous findings. This study highlights the need for more research on syntactic priming via common language tasks in the L2 classroom.

Question asked in a preschool/primary teacher PD session on read-alouds: "After our Family Night presentation on home read-alouds, we got so many questions from families and caretakers. How can we give follow-up support?" This teaching guide suggests three simple ideas for supporting parent home-read-alouds with preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade students.

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.

This study explores the educational meaning of Songdok in traditional Korean education. Songdok refers to the act of memorizing text completely while reading it aloud; however, in traditional Korean education, it used to symbolize 'learning' itself. Historically, Songdok was regarded in extreme terms: being criticized as low-level memorization or encouraged as a religious ritual. In the Goryeo Dynasty, when civil service exams were introduced, Songdok was performed to memorize Confucian textbooks solely for passing the exam. However, its status changed in the mid-1600s because of an educational reform movement by Neo-Confucian fundamentalists. Given the widespread perception in South Korea that 'imitating a saint is a way of learning', Songdok has been elevated as part of moral consciousness. Here, we discuss how Songdok takes on two opposing educational objectives: One is passing the exam, and the other is imitating a saint. An examination of Songdok provides insightful perspectives on Korean education, especially regarding sluggish moral education.

Purpose: Recent research on the potential of using eye-tracking to measure reading comprehension ability suggests that the relationship between standard eye-tracking measures and reading comprehension is influenced by differences in task demands between comprehension assessments. We compared standard eye-tracking measures and scanpath regularity as predictors of reading comprehension scores. Method: We used a dataset in which 79 participants (mean age: 22 years, 82% females, 76% monolingual English speakers) were administered three widely-used reading comprehension assessments with varying task demands while their eye movements were monitored: the "York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension"; (YARC), the "Gray Oral Reading Test"; (GORT-5), and the sentence comprehension subtest of the "Wide Range Achievement Test"; (WRAT-4). Results: Results showed that scanpath regularity measures, similarly to standard eye-tracking measures, were influenced by differences in task demands between the three tests. Nevertheless, both types of eye-tracking measures made unique contributions as predictors of comprehension and the best set of predictors included both standard eye-tracking measures and at least one scanpath measure across tests. Conclusion: The results provide evidence that scanpaths capture differences in eye-movement patterns missed by standard eye-tracking measures. Overall, the results highlight the effect of task demands on eye-movement behavior and suggest that reading goals and task demands need to be considered when interpreting eye-tracking data.

In order to inform English foreign language (EFL) diagnostic assessment of literacy, this study examined the extent to which 175 first-language Hebrew-speaking EFL young learners from fifth to tenth grade exhibited differences in single-letter grapheme recognition, sub-word, and word reading, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) of letters and numbers. In addition, this cross-sectional quasi-experimental quantitative study examined correlations between the aforementioned literacy components and oral reading speed, spelling, vocabulary, syntax, and morphological awareness. There were no differences between the grades for single-letter grapheme recognition, and participants demonstrated incomplete automatic recognition for this task. Sub-word recognition improved across grades. However, the results highlighted a lack of mastery. Sub-word recognition correlated with word reading and spelling throughout. RAN speeded measures and oral reading speed correlated with sub-word, word recognition, and spelling in the older grades illustrating the presence of accuracy and speed components. Correlations across grades between literacy components and vocabulary, syntax, and morphological awareness provided support for theories explaining how knowledge of multiple layers of words contributes to literacy acquisition. These results comprising EFL diagnostic assessment can inform reading and spelling teaching and learning.

Oral reading fluency is crucial to successful reading comprehension. Difficulties to effectively read aloud with fluency often pose challenges to develop more complex reading skills. Although there exists research on teaching oral reading fluency using repeated readings, there is limited research on the effectiveness of listening while reading with error correction procedures for children struggling with reading. Using a single-case, alternating treatments design, this research evaluated the effectiveness of repeated readings with word rehearsal when compared to listening while reading with error correction on the number of words read correctly per minute for three 2nd graders who struggled with reading. In addition, silent reading was assessed as a control condition in this study. The results of this research indicated an acceleration in the correct number of words read as a result of practice, as well as a deceleration of incorrect words read, overall, for both reading interventions. Listening while reading with error correction and repeated reading with word rehearsal did not seem produce a larger effect than the other. However, the implementation of silent reading resulted in both correct and incorrect words accelerating. This may suggest that silent reading may not be as effective as repeated reading and listening while reading. Furthermore, best-quality reading instruction appears to need some form of corrective feedback (e.g., error correction or word rehearsal) to obtain best outcomes for students.

Studies have disclosed conflicting evidence on the effect of oral reading (i.e., reading aloud in class) on various language measures. However, with online learning and teaching, personalized activities are employed to develop students' reading comprehension, improve motivation, and minimize anxieties. A qualitative research design was deployed to test the association between reading anxiety and reading proficiency of EFL learners in an online classroom using a correlational research approach to see if there was a correlation between reading anxiety and reading proficiency. Two hundred undergraduate students from a public university in Iraq participated in this study. The experimental group received oral reading intervention for six months in their daily lectures (where they were all invited to read orally before explaining the material), whereas the control group did not. The results revealed a statistically significant difference in the reading comprehension test scores between the group that received the reading intervention program and the one that did not. The novelty of this research is situated in the following three items, which, although replicated in previous studies to a certain extent, have received less to no attention in the literature on online teaching and learning of oral reading and its contributions. First, there is a negative correlation between reading comprehension scores and anxiety measures. Second, reading comprehension scores increased when reading and classroom anxiety decreased. Third, there was also a positive correlation between reading and classroom anxiety that heavily affected the reading comprehension scores of the participants. The teacher's observation suggests that accommodating oral reading in online instruction promotes motivation, rapport, and a conducive classroom climate, affecting reading performance and anxiety measures in an online foreign language classroom.

The goal of this pilot study was to test a bilingual interactive read-aloud intervention designed to develop the oral language proficiency of three-year-old dual language learners (DLLs). The eight-week intervention--Cultivating Oral Language and Literacy Talent in Students (COLLTS)--was aligned with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework and consisted of evidence-based instructional methods; resources for teachers and students that supported teachers in enacting these methods; professional development related to the methods and resources; and family literacy activities. Control teachers were given the same books as the treatment teachers to read to their students but were not provided with all of the professional development and any of the other COLLTS resources. The study was implemented in 22 classrooms in seven Head Start centers in a large city in the southern United States. Data were collected to assess students' language outcomes, teacher fidelity, and family participation. Findings indicated gains on a short receptive measure of instructed vocabulary, but no significant differences between treatment and control DLLs on that measure. Findings also indicated significantly greater gains for treatment DLLs compared with control DLLs in semantic knowledge measured by oral narrative retellings coded using language sample analysis; high levels of parent involvement and family satisfaction; and significantly greater gains in student's vocabulary knowledge for more engaged treatment families.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a skill of social cognition recently of interest to literacy researchers. This article presents initial findings from a pilot study investigating the use of ToM to teach theme identification and theme statement formation to beginning readers who are less-skilled in comprehension. The authors designed a brief, 1:1 listening comprehension intervention using a ToM focused inference making questioning structure to conduct a dialogic read aloud. Using a multi-probe single-case research design, the authors engaged three less-skilled comprehenders in Grades 2 and 3 in the intervention virtually using online texts of authentic children's literature. The findings from the pilot study indicate that situating ToM as a skill of social inference making during dialogic reading activities, combined with explicit instruction on theme identification, is an effective method by which to increase the listening comprehension of less-skilled comprehenders. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

In Colombia, some educational settings, particularly territories with high levels of educational inequality, uphold conventional teaching strategies where emotional education and critical thinking receive little attention. This study is rooted in our intention to contribute to peace education in early childhood educational environments by fostering critical thinking and empathy, a predictor of prosocial behavior in children. The aim of this study is, first, that young children develop empathy by recognizing situations of oppression and injustice in children's literature using critical literacy practices; and second, to contribute to young children's development of critical thinking. Utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis, we suggest that critical literacy practices enhance empathy and critical thinking in young children through three strategies: reading selected children's literature aloud, responding through multimodal texts, and having an open dialogue about critical issues that affect children in local communities. This article contributes to the literature about literacy, empathy development, and peace education with young children.

This study examined the differences among the typically developing, low-achieving, and young offender participants on indices of oral and silent reading, listening comprehension, the Raven and behavior scales, and parental status. A convenient sample of 81 males and females from the same geographical region in the Sultanate of Oman took part in this study. Analyses showed that the typically developing participants obtained a higher Raven score, achieved better on the behavior scale, and performed commensurately with their current grade placement in oral, silent, and listening skills when compared with both the young offenders and low-achieving participants. The academic skills of the young offenders were better than those of the low-achieving participants, a strong indication that the low-achieving group had more serious academic difficulties when compared with the young offenders. The young offenders living with married parents obtained a better score on the adjustment disorder domain than those who had divorced or deceased parents. The results suggested that the young offender and underachieving participants were not entirely identical in their profiles. Implications and limitations are discussed.

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.

U.S. elementary schools administer reading screeners to identify students in need of remedial instruction. However, the administration of additional assessments comes with a cost. It is unclear the extent to which multiple types of reading screeners warrant the increase in resources that could be used for instruction. This study compared cost--accuracy ratios for three types of reading screeners in Grade 3: curriculum-based measurement (Acadience), computer adaptive assessment (Star), informal reading inventory (Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System), and the cost--accuracy of using all three in conjunction. We used classification and regression tree analysis to identify local cut-scores and identify how measures could be combined to maximize classification accuracy. Results suggested that oral reading fluency score (Acadience) yielded the best cost-accuracy ratio, but the combination of Star and oral reading fluency identified important instructional groups. Cost tables provide additional insight to schools on critical decision points for choosing and implementing reading screeners.

Reading numbers aloud, a central aspect of numerical literacy, is a challenging skill to acquire, but the origins of this difficulty remain poorly understood. To investigate this matter, we examined the performance of 127 third- and fourth-grade children who read aloud, in Hebrew, numbers with 2-5 digits. We found several key observations. First, we observed a substantial variation among the 3rd graders--7% and 59% errors in the top and bottom deciles, respectively. Second, the task difficulty stemmed from syntactic processing: Most errors were distortions of the number's syntax, as opposed to digit substitutions or transpositions, and the main factor affecting a specific number's difficulty was not its magnitude, as is commonly assumed, but rather its syntactic structure. Third, number reading performance was not predicted by a school-like task that assessed syntactic-conceptual knowledge of the decimal system structure, but rather by knowledge of specific syntactic-verbal rules, suggesting that the syntactic-verbal knowledge is separate from the syntactic-conceptual knowledge. Last, there was a double dissociation between 4-digit numbers and 5-digit numbers, which in Hebrew have completely different syntactic structures: Half of the children showed a significant advantage in one number length compared to the other, with equal numbers of children preferring either length. This indicates that the different syntactic-verbal rules are learned relatively independently of each other, with little or no generalization from one rule to another. In light of these findings, we propose that schools should specifically teach number reading, with focus on specific syntactic-verbal rules.

Several cross-linguistic studies found that oral reading prosody (i.e., prosodic variations in reading aloud) correlates with reading comprehension. As an extension, the present study aimed to examine the relationship between oral reading prosody and beyond word-level reading abilities in tone languages like Mandarin. One hundred and nine third-grade children were recruited in Taipei, Taiwan and undertook the following tasks: nonverbal IQ, vocabulary and syntactic knowledge, word reading, reading fluency (rate and accuracy), reading comprehension, and oral reading prosody. In the oral reading prosody task, children read aloud narrative prose at the Grade 3 level and their production was evaluated through two rating scales: Rasinski's (Edu Leadshp 61: 46, 2004) and Benjamin et al.'s (Read Res Q 28: 105-133, 2013) scales. Several key findings were found as follows. First, ANOVAs compared children's performance on oral reading prosody across word reading quartiles and found that oral reading prosody differed as a function of word reading. Second, hierarchical regressions controlled age, nonverbal IQ, vocabulary and syntactic knowledge, word reading and found that oral reading prosody rated through Rasinski's (Edu Leadshp 61: 46, 2004) and Benjamin et al.'s (Read Res Q 28: 105-133, 2013) scales made significant contributions to reading fluency and reading comprehension in Grades 3 and 4. Taken together, oral reading prosody, implicated in word reading, is important to beyond word-level reading abilities.

The transition from sounding out unfamiliar words to effortlessly reading connected text does not occur all at once nor 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 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.

For shared book reading to be effective for language development, the adult and child need to be highly engaged. The current paper adopted a mixed-methods approach to investigate caregiver's language-boosting behaviours and children's engagement during shared book reading. The results revealed there were more instances of joint attention and caregiver's use of prompts during moments of higher engagement. However, instances of most language-boosting behaviours were similar across episodes of higher and lower engagement. Qualitative analysis assessing the link between children's engagement and caregiver's use of speech acts, revealed that speech acts do seem to contribute to high engagement, in combination with other aspects of the interaction.

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of Reading for Ethiopia's Achievement Developed Community Outreach (READ CO) project intervention on students' oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, academic achievements, and listening comprehension. It also aimed at identifying the students and teachers' awareness and practices about the READ CO project interventions. Experimental research--Posttest-only control group--design was employed for the study, which is mainly quantitative, but also uses qualitative techniques (latent content analysis). The results were analyzed using t tests and econometrics analysis mainly. Questionnaires and observations were also developed and employed as other tools among the experimental group principals and language teachers in the school to investigate the overall practice. The results from quantitative data analysis indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the posttest performance of the study group and the control group for reading comprehension, academic achievements, and listening comprehension, yet oral reading fluency is significant. The result from questionnaire and observation also showed that the project has not been found to have a positive impact on students reading performance or improvement. Finally, it was mainly recommended that practical training and real service should be given for the targeted schools on how to improve and implement reading practices via the project.

Limited health literacy and access to engaging, relevant, understandable health promotion and disease prevention materials are barriers to achieving and maintaining health. The We-Engage-4-Health program co-created the graphic-style story "Foamy Soap Fun" with community members to reinforce the importance of the primary preventive strategy--handwashing--in limiting spread of COVID-19. Pre/postsurveys were administered, and a modified focus group was conducted to learn community participants' preferences for reading stories (aloud together and/or silently to themselves), versus reading typical health promotion information sheets. Three themes were identified related to reading the story aloud: increased enthusiasm, increased attentiveness, and improved interpretation skills, vocabulary, and information processing skills. Educational constructs included: empathy with the story's characters, engagement with previous health experiences, enthusiasm with sharing health information, and explanation of complex health topics. This study supports the value of graphic-style stories in helping communities to better understand the science behind health topics.