Search

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the construction of mental images as a cognitive strategy to improve comprehension of expository texts in elementary school children. Since these texts require greater cognitive effort, we investigated whether the creation of mental images facilitates the reading comprehension process. A quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental design and a hypothetico-deductive method was used. Fifty-four elementary school students participated (mean age = 9.24, SD = 0.43; 31 boys and 23 girls), distributed in two groups: an experimental group, which applied the strategy during eight 90-minute sessions, and a control group, which received conventional instructions. The results indicated that the experimental group showed a significant improvement in the comprehension of expository texts, with 63% of the students reaching a satisfactory level of achievement, while the control group did not present relevant advances. In conclusion, the strategy of constructing mental images proved to be effective in the development of reading comprehension skills, improving the literal, inferential, and critical levels. The practical implications indicate that implementing this strategy as a key pedagogical tool could positively impact reading comprehension in primary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Signos is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso 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.)

The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of a monitoring strategy on the comprehension of expository texts, taking into account the influence of prior knowledge and working memory capacity in university students. Two experiments were conducted. The first investigated whether the use of the monitoring strategy enhanced comprehension of expository texts that required different levels of prior knowledge. The second experiment enquired into the role of working memory in conjunction with the monitoring strategy and varying levels of prior knowledge. The results revealed that the use of the monitoring strategy improved comprehension regardless of prior knowledge level. Furthermore, high working memory capacity is found to be associated with better comprehension, particularly in texts with low prior knowledge content. These findings highlight the importance of considering both the monitoring strategy and working memory capacity in the comprehension of expository texts, with implications for university contexts.

Background Methods Results Conclusions We examined the influence of text and reader characteristics on sixth graders' inference generation.Eleven‐ to 12‐year‐old US monolingual English speakers (N = 71) and Spanish‐English bilinguals (N = 81) read narrative and informational expository texts requiring an inference and answered an inference‐tapping question after each text. We examined the influence of language status, word reading ability, knowledge (background knowledge and vocabulary), and reading strategy awareness and use on question accuracy, question‐answering times and sentence reading times.Linear mixed effects models predicting response accuracy indicated an advantage for narrative texts, in general, and for participants with higher knowledge. When examining variation across the whole sample, rather than contrasting language groups, faster question‐answering and sentence processing times were associated with higher knowledge.Adolescent readers are better able to generate inferences from narrative than informational expository texts, and knowledge has a critical influence on both the process and product of inference generation and may explain reading comprehension performance differences between monolingual and bilingual students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Western Anatolia Journal of Educational Sciences (WAJES) / Batı Anadolu Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Dokuz Eylul University 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.)

Prior research has examined the impact of different cognitive predictors on students' expository and narrative text comprehension. It has become apparent that some cognitive variables predict text comprehension in both genres, while some are genre-specific predictors. However, the effect of reading motivation on expository and narrative text comprehension remains unclear. Thus, the aim was to investigate which reading-related cognitive and motivational characteristics predict universal versus genre-specific text comprehension. The sample consisted of 261 eighth graders (age: M = 14.96; 37.9% girls). Applying path modeling, the results showed that students' vocabulary was a significant predictor of text comprehension in both genres. Furthermore, reading strategy knowledge predicted text comprehension of a narrative and an expository text. Reading for interest predicted text comprehension in two of three expository texts. Identifying these universal and genre-specific characteristics of text comprehension can enable teachers to foster students' text comprehension by targeting these specific skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Numerous studies have shown that children with developmental language disorder (DLD), in addition to oral language difficulties, exhibit impaired writing abilities. Their texts contain problems in grammar, organization, cohesion, and length of written output. However, most of these studies have been conducted with English speakers. English is characterized by complex phonological structure, opaque orthography, poor morphology and strict word order. The aim of this research is to observe the writing abilities of children with DLD in a language with simple phonological structure, transparent orthography, rich morphology and flexible word order like Spanish in the production of expository texts. Methods: Twenty-six children with DLD (mean age in months = 128.85) and 26 age-and sex-matched typically developing (TD) children (mean age in months = 124.61) wrote an expository text about their favorite animal. Results: In order to analyze how the two groups plan and encode written texts, we looked at word frequency and sentence structure, grammatical complexity and lexical density, and omissions and errors. Compared to the TD group, the children with DLD omitted more content words; made more errors with functional words, verb conjugation and inflectional morphemes, and made a large number of spelling errors. Moreover, they wrote fewer words, fewer sentences, and less structurally and lexically complex texts. Discussion: These results show that children with DLD who speak a transparent orthography language such as Spanish also have difficulties in most language areas when producing written texts. Our findings should be considered when planning and designing interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the application of computerized programming to teach how to study expository texts. Principles of programmed instruction were used, and different target behaviors were focused on: inspecting the text, locating and highlighting important information, paraphrasing, building schemes, and conceptual maps, and elaborating questions on the topic. The activities were designed and carried out using Google Forms, Socrative, and Wordwall applications. Nine students from the 3rd to the 6th year of elementary school, from public and private schools, participated in this study. Participation was online and remote. The results showed an improvement in the performance of the participants in seven of the ten selected objectives for evaluation. In conclusion, it is possible to teach how to study expository texts through programmed instruction based on a clear description of the objectives involved in this repertoire.

IntroductionNumerous studies have shown that children with developmental language disorder (DLD), in addition to oral language difficulties, exhibit impaired writing abilities. Their texts contain problems in grammar, organization, cohesion, and length of written output. However, most of these studies have been conducted with English speakers. English is characterized by complex phonological structure, opaque orthography, poor morphology and strict word order. The aim of this research is to observe the writing abilities of children with DLD in a language with simple phonological structure, transparent orthography, rich morphology and flexible word order like Spanish in the production of expository texts.MethodsTwenty-six children with DLD (mean age in months = 128.85) and 26 age-and sex-matched typically developing (TD) children (mean age in months = 124.61) wrote an expository text about their favorite animal.ResultsIn order to analyze how the two groups plan and encode written texts, we looked at word frequency and sentence structure, grammatical complexity and lexical density, and omissions and errors. Compared to the TD group, the children with DLD omitted more content words; made more errors with functional words, verb conjugation and inflectional morphemes, and made a large number of spelling errors. Moreover, they wrote fewer words, fewer sentences, and less structurally and lexically complex texts.DiscussionThese results show that children with DLD who speak a transparent orthography language such as Spanish also have difficulties in most language areas when producing written texts. Our findings should be considered when planning and designing interventions.

Copyright of Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa is the property of Universidade de Brasilia, Instituto de Psicologia 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.)

Copyright of JMD: Journal für Mathematik-Didaktik is the property of Springer Nature 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.)

The paper adopts a sociopragmatic approach to the study of emotion processes and investigates discursive traits of the reader’s interest. The field of written popularization was examined to establish how it conceptualizes the reader’s interest through discourse structures. The text materials were obtained experimentally. They consist of 104 pairs of expository text; each of the pairs includes a text published in an academic source and a popular science text created by the participant for provoking the reader’s interest. The comparative methods of empirical discourse analysis are used to identify and describe popularisation strategies. The results show that participants employed four strategies to transform academic texts: reduction N = 94), simplification (N = 81), contextualization (N = 58), and concrete elaboration (N = 17). The strategies tend to present the most significant text ideas, reduce reader’s efforts for processing, and introduce the reader into the discourse-world. The findings suggest that the strategies aim to enhance the optimal relevance and conceptualize reader’s interest through the communicative dimension of relevance.

Background: Generalisation inferences let readers identify a conceptually superordinate statement to represent multiple subordinate concepts. This study measures text genres' influence on the scope and timing of generalisation inferences. Methods: To measure the scope, or breadth, of generalisation inferences, undergraduates (N = 266) read expository and literary texts containing target sentences that were consistent, inconsistent or off‐topic in relation to the generalisation implied in each paragraph. To test when the generalisations were inferred, target sentences were placed either early or late in each paragraph. Results: Readers drew broad generalisations early in the text and changed to specific generalisations later for exposition. The generalisations inferred from fairy tales were specific regardless of whether tested early or later in the text. Conclusions: Readers construct generalisation inferences while reading both expository and literary texts, although the timing and scope of the inferences vary slightly by genre. Implications for theories of reading comprehension and applications for reading interventions are discussed. Highlights: What is already known about the topic Readers infer superordinate concepts, or generalisations, as they read.Inferring generalisations is important for reading comprehension.Text genre affects reading behaviours, including inference construction. What this paper adds This study investigated how genre affects the scope, or breadth, of generalisation inferences and the timing of those inferences.Readers' inferences for expository texts began as broad but became specific as the text continued but were always specific for literary texts.Readers began drawing the inferences while reading, as opposed to after reading. Implications for theory, policy or practice Although readers often struggle to identify the main point of a text, these results suggest readers begin to find connections between ideas within paragraphs very early in the text.Readers reacted to inconsistent information differently in literary versus expository texts, suggesting continued instruction of genre‐specific reading strategies is appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Reading comprehension is a complex skill that involves several linguistic and cognitive processes. While the evidence indicates that expository texts are more difficult and cognitively demanding than narrative texts, the contribution of core executive functions to comprehension has seldom been compared between these genres, particularly in adolescents. The present study examined the association of executive functions with expository and narrative text comprehension in Argentinean high school students, while controlling for their verbal skills. Method: One hundred and twenty-one 12 to15-year-old high school students participated in our study (75.2% of them were girls). Participants completed pencil and paper tests in reading comprehension (TLC-II), vocabulary (BAIRES) and reading efficacy (TECLE), as well as computerised tests in shifting, inhibition and verbal and visuospatial working memory from the Cognitive Self-Regulation Test Battery (TAC). Results: We found lower comprehension scores in the expository text. Shifting and verbal working memory were predictors of reading comprehension beyond verbal skills, but we did not observe significant differences between text types. Comprehension in general was lower for third-year students. Conclusion: In accord with the literature, we observed greater difficulties for expository text comprehension, and a general contribution of shifting and working memory to both types of text. We found no conclusive evidence of differences in this association between text types. Third-year students' comprehension might have been affected by the impact of the pandemic on their schooling trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of processing three types of texts, namely expository texts, narrative texts, and a combination of both known as twin texts, on incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention in L2 learners. College freshmen (N = 109), who were lower to upper intermediate learners of English, were assigned into a control group and three experimental groups representing different reading conditions. Over a period of seven weeks, the experimental groups engaged in two reading sessions to read their assigned texts accompanied by output tasks and input enhancement. The participants' receptive and productive vocabulary gains were measured with an immediate posttest and a delayed posttest to assess retention. Results revealed significant impacts of text genres on L2 incidental vocabulary learning and retention. Processing twin texts and expository texts yielded significantly greater vocabulary gains than processing narrative texts alone. These effects might be due to different processing mechanisms required for texts structured in distinct ways. Expository texts are informative and explanatory in nature, providing explicit and contextually rich information for word comprehension and retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed at revealing the correlation between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' metacognive reading strategy and their reading comprehension on English expository text. The research applied quantitative method, particularly descriptive and correlational designs. The subjects were the students of Senior High School (SMAS) Buqa tun Mubarakah Makassar. The instrument used to collect the data was questionnaire which was adapted from SORS inventory. The data were analyzed by using SPSS Version 22, particularly Pearson Product Moment Correlation Formula. The results of the study showed that the majority of the students in this current time were in possession of high metacognitive reading strategy. Furthermore, the metacognitive reading strategy profile of SMAS Buqa tun Mubarakah students was problem solving strategy where the students used some actions and procedures while working directly with the text. Since metacognitive reading strategy included awareness and conscious willing of one or more strategies to monitor reading comprehension, there was tendency of metacognitive reading strategy influenced reading comprehension of the students. Therefore, based on the analysis result of this study, there was significant positive correlation between the EFL students' metacognitive reading strategy and their reading comprehension on English expository text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine the effect of interest in reading on the ability to write exposition texts of class X students of SMA Negeri 1 Tulung Selapan based on students' perceptions. The method used in this study is a quantitative method with a causality approach. They are collecting data in this study using a questionnaire. This research uses primary data obtained directly from its source through respondents' answers. The data source consists of students' perceptions regarding their reading interests and their impact on their ability to write expository texts. The population of this study was class X students of SMA Negeri 1 Tulung Selapan. Sampling was carried out using a purposive sampling technique. The sample for this research was 60 students of class X Science 1 and class X Science 2 of SMA Negeri 1 Tulung Selapan. The technique is to distribute a 1-5 Likert scale questionnaire. Research data analysis includes validity testing, reliability testing, classical assumption testing, and hypothesis testing using a simple regression analysis model. The research findings show that interest in reading influences the ability to write expository texts in class X Negeri 1 Tulung Selapan, South Sumatra. This is proven by the calculated t value of 4.460 > t table of 2.000 with a significance value of 0.00 < 0.05.

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the long- term effectiveness of expository text, refutational text and augmented text on conceptual change changes in elementary students (a combination of male and female students). Besides, the subordinate purpose of the study was to investigate the role of gender differences between male students and female students in the effectiveness of expository text, refutational text and augmented text on conceptual change and epistemic emotions on elementary students. Refutation text has been described by Guzzetti (2000) as one of the most effective means of producing cognitive conflict that can result in a change in readers' misconceptions, which means conceptual change. These texts traditionally contain three core features: (1) a common misconception is stated (e.g., Many people believe that if you drop a coin while walking in a forward direction along a straight path, the coin will land on the ground directly beneath the point from which it was released); (2) the misconception is refuted (However, the coin will actually move forward as it falls, landing some distance ahead of its point of release), and (3) evidence is described that supports the currently-accepted scientific explanation (Newtonian mechanics explain that when the coin is dropped, it continues to move forward at the same speed as the walking person because no force is acting to change its horizontal velocity). From an educational perspective, the effectiveness of refutation text has been attributed to increasing students’ awareness of their own conceptions in relation to scientific ones. This awareness, which involves the recognition of their own conceptions as limited and scientific ones as correct, is an essential condition for conceptual change. From a cognitive perspective, the coactivation principle, posited by van den Broek and Kendeou (2008), offers the ground for understanding how a refutation text supports conflict detection between prior knowledge and new scientific information. It postulates that by explicitly presenting misconceptions and scientific conceptions in close proximity to each other, a refutation text induces their co- activation in readers’ working memory, which in turn, facilitates the detection of conflicts and efforts to resolve them. By using the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML), which posits learning from text and graphic is potentially superior to learning from text alone, an augmented text was produced. This augmented text consists of a refutation text added to an appropriate graphic. Like refutation text material, a refutation graphic should be designed to activate a misconception, refute it, and then present the correct conception. The combination of a refutation text and a refutation graphic may represent an optimal tool for knowledge revision. For multimedia learning to occur, information provided by texts should be integrated with information provided by graphics. Some crucial processes should be activated for effective multimedia learning. Specifically, selection and organization processes in the verbal and pictorial subsystems lead to the generation of a text-based model and a picture-based model. These models must then be integrated into a one-to-one mapping process, which also involves prior knowledge. The research method was experimental. The statistical population consisted of all 6th grade elementary students in region 17 in Tehran during the 1399-1400 school year. A sample of 155 students (77 female students and 78 male students) was selected from the statistical population. The sampling method was at-hand sampling. Their average age was 11.9 years. From a socio-economical point of view, most of them were middle class or indigent. According to three types of texts, students were accidentally divided into three groups: expository text group, refutational text group, and augmented text group. In the expository text group, there were 52 students (27 female students and 25 male students); in the refutational text group, there were 50 students (24 female students and 26 male students); and in the expository text group, there were 53 students (26 female students and 27 male students). In the first phase, in order to investigate the role of gender differences between male and female students, pretest- immediate posttest method was used. In the second phase, a delayed post- test was used in order to investigate the long- term effectiveness of texts on conceptual change. Research instruments were Epistemic Emotions Scale (pekrun et al., 2016), researcher made texts (expository text, refutational text, and augmented text) and researcher made knowledge questionnaire (these texts and questionnaire were made under supervision of supervisors and expert teachers and passed a pilot study by researcher). Differences in knowledge questionnaire grade between pretest and posttest were used to examine the conceptual change. The data were analyzed using one- way analysis of variance (to study the effectiveness of three types of texts on epistemic emotions) and one- way analysis of covariance (to study the effectiveness of three types of texts on conceptual change) in the first phase and dependant T-test in the second phase. The first phase generally showed refutational text, and augmented text have significant effects on both conceptual change and epistemic emotions in both male and female groups, but expository text has not. Secernment results showed significant differences in epistemic emotions between refutation group and expository group and also between augmented group and expository group in both male and female groups. Therefore, there are no gender differences in this part. Moreover, regarding the effectiveness of texts on conceptual change, in the male group, differences in conceptual change between both refutation group and augmented group, as well as between expository group and augmented group, were significant. In the female group, differences in conceptual change between the refutation group and both the augmented group and the expository group were significant; besides, differences between the augmented group and the expository group were significant too. The delayed posttest results in the second phase showed that differences in conceptual change between immediate posttest and delayed posttest are not significant. Thus, texts have long- term effects on conceptual change. These results are very important and applicable to writers, especially who write academic books and suggest them use more refutational and augmented texts; the results might be useful for filmmakers and suggest them use refutational methods in producing scientific movies and cartoons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Apuntes Universitarios: Revista de Investigación is the property of Universidad Peruana Union Filiar Tarapoto 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.)

Copyright of Educaniora: Journal of Education & Humanities is the property of Educaniora: Journal of Education & Humanities 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.)

The article aims to expand the scope of interpersonal pragmatics and deals with the issue of ‘recipient’s emotions’ which is the least developed area of communication research into emotions. The authors promote the sociopragmatic conception of emotional processes and highlight the strategic nature of emotional impact in communicative situations. The study focuses on the analysis of emotion-evocative communication in terms of the reader’s emotional interest with reference to expository texts from Russian school textbooks. The main purpose of the study is to identify how the strategic use of language increases text-triggered interest. In order to achieve this purpose, the study applies not only linguistic methods intended to explore the strategic manner of language usage, but also experimental methods intended to verify a possible emotional impact. The linguistic analysis reveals that there are three main ways the strategic use of language increases text-triggered interest: expression of dialogicity, concretisation, and manifestation of emotions. The experimental results prove their provoking functions and demonstrate a leading role of linguistic-based factors in interest-evocative communication. The study suggests that the recipient’s interest is often provoked by text-based factors, and text-triggered interest is dependent on the linguistic structure of the discourse. The linguistic strategies used to increase text-triggered interest might be treated as a foundation for different interest-evoking strategies and as a discursive dimension of the recipient’s interest.

Copyright of Human Review is the property of Eagora Science 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 today's society, we are constantly absorbing information via text (e.g., news, social media), much of which may be affectively charged. However, to date, little is known about how the affective framing of the text itself may give rise to various affective experiences during reading. We examined how subtle changes to wording (negatively or positively valenced framing of the same content) influenced affective experiences during reading and subsequent comprehension. Results show that (a) affective framing in text elicited congruent subjective affective states throughout reading, (b) subjective affective valence throughout reading impacted comprehension at various levels, and (c) subjective affective valence mediated the relationship between affective framing and how participants integrated information from the text in their summaries, as well as if they included affect in their summaries. This indicates that even subtle affectively valenced content in text can indirectly influence some aspects of comprehension through eliciting subjective affective experiences in the reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading comprehension is the ability to create a mental representation of a written text. It constitutes the main mechanism through children incorporate new knowledge at school age. Reading comprehension achievement has been systematically associated with oral comprehension and reading rate. Furthermore, both oral and reading comprehension has been related to inferences generation and different linguistic abilities, like vocabulary and syntax processing. In the case of text comprehension, also orthographic recognition of written words plays a fundamental role and, for that reason, reading comprehension would be a greater challenge than oral comprehension for early readers. Indeed, word recognition during reading is essential for text meaning construction. It is well known that a slow and laborious reading mechanism would overload cognitive processing and that reading automaticity is essential to carry out text processing. Longitudinal studies realized in different orthographies indicated that reading rate was the variable that had greatest impact on reading comprehension in early readers. In studies carried out in shallow orthographies, it was also observed that reading performance have an important impact on reading comprehension measure after 3 to 5 years of instruction. However, although impact of reading skills and oral comprehension mechanisms on reading comprehension has been reported in several studies, there is another important factor to consider: text structure. Studies propose that children tend to understand "narrative schemas" more easily since they are exposed to this type of text from a very early age. Likewise, all narrative texts present, in general, the same type of structure, respect temporal sequence of events and focus on story characters, their actions and motivations. In contrast, expository texts present new information to children, are oriented to a specific topic, contain less familiar and more technical vocabulary and a higher level of abstraction. This type of structure presents numerous cohesive connections and greater propositional density than narrative texts. The present study aims to compare listening and reading comprehension of narrative and expository text. For this, a group of 32 4th graders was evaluated in oral and reading comprehension of narrative and expository texts. In reading comprehension test, children read narrative and expository texts and then orally answered a series of questions. In oral comprehension, both narrative and expository texts were read aloud to children and then they answered questions about the texts orally. Vocabulary and reading rate were also measured. Data analysis shows correlations between oral comprehension and vocabulary. Reading comprehension were associated to vocabulary, oral comprehension and reading rate. Results suggest that oral and reading comprehension are associated with different linguistic skills and to each support access skills. In comprehension test, measures show higher performance in narrative oral comprehension texts when compared to reading comprehension. This result could be related to children reading rate. In fact, reading performance shows that children were "slow readers" according to the reading tests scales used in this study. Difference between oral and written comprehension in narrative texts, was not transferred to expository. In this type of texts children had low scores, without significant differences, in oral and reading comprehension. Results suggested that expository structures challenge children comprehension in both, oral and written modality. It is suggested that different types of expository texts difficult hierarchization of information that allows, in turn, the construction of text mental representation. Data of this study suggest the importance of establish interventions that allow children to improv text processing for access higher levels of comprehension in different textual structures. Furthermore, it is necessary in educational practices to expose children to expository structures from an early age. On the other hand, it is necessary to rethink reading instruction methods that originate low reading performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Better translation produced by computation linguistics should be evaluated through linguistics theory. This research aims to describe translation techniques between Google Translate and U-Dictionary. The study used a qualitative research method with a descriptive design. This design was used to describe the occurrences of translation techniques in both translation machine, with the researchers serving as an instrument to compare translation techniques which is produced on machine. The data are from expository text entitled “Importance of Good Manners in Every Day Life”. The total data are 122 words/phrases which are pairs of translations, English as source language and Indonesia as target language. The result shows that Google Translate apply five of Molina & Albir’s (2002) eighteen translation techniques, while U-dictionary apply seven techniques. Google Translate dominantly apply literal translation techniques (86,8%) followed by reduction translation techniques (4,9%). U-dictionary also dominantly apply literal translation techniques (75,4%), but follows with the variation translation techniques (13,1%). This study showed that both machines produced different target texts for the same source language due to different applications of techniques, with U-dictionary proven to apply more variety of translation techniques than Google Translate. The researcher hopes this study can be used as an evaluation for improving the performance of machine translations.

In this study, we compared the effects of two media (Interactive Whiteboards and Paper) on both expository and narrative texts reading comprehension among 5th grade children of primary school. Two texts were constructed, according to the same controlled hierarchical structure. Comprehension was assessed by a multiple-choice questionnaire including three types of questions (surface, semantics, inferential). Results of the comprehension test revealed no difference between the two supports. Regardless of support, we found better performances for the narrative text, as well as an interaction between Text and Question factors, revealing that children had more difficulties to elaborate inferences when reading the expository text. These results are in line with previous findings underlying that texts with a similar structure, with a single-page presentation elicit similar performances on paper and electronic devices. They also provide interesting perspectives about the use and impact of Interactive Whiteboards during reading activities or lessons in classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of Present Perfect and Preterite in expository texts written in Spanish. For this purpose, the existence of an argumentative dimension has been considered as a basic factor. Firstly, its role in the organisation of texts is studied; its presence in initial paragraphs, in initial paragraph sentences and in initial text sentences is evaluated. Furthermore, its function in the implementation of intertextual and cotextual references is analysed. Secondly, its function in the configuration of two types of relevant information in expository discourse is described. These are the initial events, and the known premises. The paper shows that the Present Perfect is the most useful tool in the expression of these two types of information due to reasons not of a temporary nature, but of discursive strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides the linguistics approach to the study of text-based interest. The purpose of the article is to identify the means and strategies used in expository texts from Russian school textbooks for the creation of text emotiveness. This characteristic of an interesting text has been repeatedly pointed out in the psychological research (Schiefele 2009). The article uses the linguistics methods of communicative and functional analysis and, in particular, the method of semantic modeling of emotive situations (Filimonova 2007). The authors intention to evoke the readers interest is the basis for forming an emotional-evoking type of expository discourse. The implementation of this intention is carried out through special discourse strategies called interest-evoking rhetorical strategies. Some of these strategies are based on the transmission of emotions as a special type of information in verbal interaction. In a text, this type of information is represented by emotiveness, that is, a component of text content through which the emotional states of participants of communication or characters are manifested. The article provides a description of four primary ways to create expository text emotiveness: 1) the usage of emotive insertions - commentaries made by the participant of communication acting as the subject who feels emotions; 2) the verbalization of the emotional scenario of interest for its projection to the reader; 3) the description of the characters emotional states; 4) the representation of abnormal situations (a disruption of normal and expected relations between components of a situation in the real world described in a text). The first two ways are related to the strategies of the text dialogization aimed at creating the dialogue form of an expository text, and the thematization of interest. The third way enhances the text vividness and the fourth increases its dynamics and unexpectedness for the reader.

During the early grades of primary school, texts are mainly narrative and focus on technical aspects such as decoding words and understanding simple syntax. However, from 4th grade onwards, texts become increasingly more difficult and expository texts become the main source of knowledge from which children will have to extract and learn new information while creating their mental model. This article examined the influences of two main text characteristics: text genre and level of representation (text base and mental model), in the reading comprehension scores of 313 Spanish primary school children aged 8 to 11 to study the relationship between these variables as well as the differences between grades. Comprehension of each text genre was assessed through a validated multiple-choice questionnaire and each variable was compared through a series of correlational methods, such as Pearson's correlation, Spearman's rho and ANOVAs. The results showed that all grades obtained significant higher scores on the text base than the mental model but only the expository texts exhibited better results when passing from 4th to 5th and 6th grade. This study provides findings that may contribute to the topic of literacy education during primary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to expand the scope of interpersonal pragmatics and deals with the issue of ‘recipient’s emotions’ which is the least developed area of communication research into emotions. The authors promote the sociopragmatic conception of emotional processes and highlight the strategic nature of emotional impact in communicative situations. The study focuses on the analysis of emotion-evocative communication in terms of the reader’s emotional interest with reference to expository texts from Russian school textbooks. The main purpose of the study is to identify how the strategic use of language increases text-triggered interest. In order to achieve this purpose, the study applies not only linguistic methods intended to explore the strategic manner of language usage, but also experimental methods intended to verify a possible emotional impact. The linguistic analysis reveals that there are three main ways the strategic use of language increases text-triggered interest: expression of dialogicity, concretisation, and manifestation of emotions. The experimental results prove their provoking functions and demonstrate a leading role of linguistic-based factors in interest-evocative communication. The study suggests that the recipient’s interest is often provoked by text-based factors, and text-triggered interest is dependent on the linguistic structure of the discourse. The linguistic strategies used to increase text-triggered interest might be treated as a foundation for different interest-evoking strategies and as a discursive dimension of the recipient’s interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textbooks currently include many elaborations that describe, illustrate, and explain main ideas, increasing the length of these textbook chapters. The current study investigated if the cost in additional reading time that these elaborations impose is outweighed by benefits to memory for main ideas. Given that elaborations in textbooks sometimes fail to produce memory benefits, the current study also investigated if the reason is that less time is spent reading main ideas sentences in elaborated versus unelaborated texts. In two experiments, participants read a textbook passage with just the main ideas or with these main ideas and elaborations. Two days later, participants completed tests of their memory for the main ideas. Conceptually replicating previous research, elaborations did not provide a memory benefit commensurate with the time cost they imposed. Results also indicated that the lack of benefit is at least partially attributable to less time spent reading main ideas for the elaborated versus unelaborated text. To further investigate why students spent less time on main idea sentences, Experiment 2 provided evidence that this difference may be due to difficulty discriminating main ideas from elaborations while reading. In sum, textbook elaborations may impair memory for main ideas due to less time spent on these main ideas despite the large overall time cost imposed; thus elaborated texts can be less effective than unelaborated texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the effect of different text types on the learners’ verb learning when glosses were used. In this true-experimental research, two types of texts, namely, expository and narrative, were utilized. To achieve the objective, 30 female learners in the 16-20 age range who were studying at Adib English Institute in Rasht, Iran were selected from among 50 participants based on their performance on Quick Placement Test. The qualified learners were randomly divided into two groups (control and experimental) comprising 15 learners in each. Afterwards, a 30-item vocabulary pretest was administered. Then both groups were exposed to ten reading texts (five narrative texts and five expository texts) with the target verbs glossed for the experimental group. After the completion of a five-session treatment, participants of both groups were given a vocabulary posttest to measure their verb learning. The findings showed that in the experimental group the use of glossing in expository texts leads the learners to more proficiency in verb learning. In other words, the experimental group that received instruction on glossing for the reading tasks made a noticeably better performance on expository type as compared with narrative text type.

Reading course in university level is supposedly designed to promote EFL students’ reading comprehension skills and strategies, in order to assist them in comprehending information as delivered by reading text. However, it is considered that EFL students often face have difficulties in comprehending English text, specifically English expository text. Therefore, appropriate model for teaching expository text comprehension for the students who experience difficulties in comprehending expository text is highly needed. Appropriate comprehension instructions, such as questioning and analyzing text structure, should become the focus of teaching reading to students to achieve this main goal of reading course objective. If these instructions are combined with video, under the framework of experiential learning theory, students will have rich experiences in promoting their reading comprehension skills and strategies. This article discusses the possibility of integrating video in reading course and proposes the possible activities of integrating video with reading comprehension activities.

We examine the effects of a read aloud replication intervention designed to improve the vocabulary, comprehension, and expository and narrative language outcomes of first grade students. Thirty-nine first-grade classrooms from 12 schools were randomly assigned to a treatment (n = 19) or comparison condition (n = 20). Teachers in the treatment condition implemented a 19-week set of read aloud lessons during whole-class read aloud time. Read alouds included the systematic use of narrative and expository texts, before-, during-, and after-reading components, the use of teacher-facilitated text-based discourse, and explicit comprehension instruction. Results indicated main effects of treatment on vocabulary knowledge. Exploratory findings indicated a significant interaction effect of treatment and recommended features of read aloud instruction on all outcomes. Specifically, students of teachers in the treatment condition who were rated higher on adhering to recommended features of read aloud instruction had better outcomes on vocabulary, comprehension, and language outcomes on expository and narrative text than treatment teachers who closely followed intervention materials without dynamically adjusting to student responses. We discuss these findings in the context of other read aloud studies, including a previous study that used the same intervention in a different setting and with a less diverse sample of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined how information relevance affects readers' understanding of conflicting information in multiple documents and how relevance affects the processing of conflicting information on a moment‐by‐moment level. Sixty‐four undergraduate students read a set of documents about a medical topic containing three intertextual conflicts addressing subtopics that were either highly relevant or irrelevant to the readers' task. Eye movements were recorded during reading, and afterward, readers' memory for conflicting information and their ability to apply their knowledge about the conflicting information was assessed. Relevance had a powerful influence on readers' understanding of conflicts between multiple documents: Readers for whom the intertextual conflicts were relevant remembered conflicting information better and reported conflicts more frequently than readers for whom the conflicts were irrelevant. The time course of this effect revealed that relevance exerts its influence only during a later stage of processing. Readers appear to initially detect conflicts regardless of their relevance, but only readers for whom conflicts are relevant invest the additional regulatory effort needed to include them in their mental representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study developed a learning system that allows teachers to edit assignments designed to teach students the text structure strategy through the use of four phases: instructing, modeling, practicing, and reflecting. A 7-week instructional experiment was conducted in which 84 12th-grade students learned the text structure strategy using this system. The results produced several significant findings. First, the students demonstrated very different patterns of accessing time when using this system, making it possible to classify them into 3 categories or clusters of users: "low-practice-low-reflection students", who spent little time using the system; "low-practice-high-reflection students" who spent most of their time in the reflecting phase, during which they constructed graphic organizers and wrote summaries primarily by referring to the teacher's examples; and "high-practice-low-reflection students" who spent most of their time in the practicing phase, during which they constructed graphic organizers and wrote summaries without referring to the teacher's examples. Second, the students' patterns of accessing time were related to their prior knowledge, Web experience, and learning performance. In particular, the "low-practice-low-reflection students" had the lowest learning performance. The "low-practice-high-reflection students" had a higher frequency of using PCs to access the Web, a lower level of prior knowledge, and higher gain scores than the "high-practice-low-reflection students". These findings are discussed, and several suggestions are proposed for future research work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors conducted a qualitative content analysis of the 400 National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 from 2010–2017 selected for their instructional usefulness in science classrooms. The authors examined these expert‐recommended science trade books to better understand their design and to identify the various aspects of science education to which various genres may contribute. In light of previous research demonstrating the importance of texts used in science classrooms, the authors attended to the books' scientific discourses and features. The authors present a typology helpful for understanding the books as related to science education broadly. The authors found general alignment between books that use expository language and those genres most likely to present knowledge accepted as reliable by the relevant scientific community. Genres apt to support the development of understandings about the nature of science and scientific inquiry, however, were more often composed of narrative. Given the richness of the text set and the multiple discourses therein, the authors were unable to bring their typology into alignment with arguments that certain kinds of trade books are unsuitable for science classrooms (e.g., biography, realistic fiction). A challenge with much of the existing research on science trade books and their use is that it has used oversimplified binary categories of narrative/expository to encourage limiting exposure to a single discourse or genre. Ultimately, through the typology presented, the authors seek to support the ability of science educators and researchers in identifying how different types of science trade books align with comprehensive science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Textbook Research is the property of National Academy for Educational Research 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.)