The goal of the current study is to investigate whether perspective-taking abilities impact reading comprehension among adolescents at different stages of puberty. To find out if there are any...Show moreThe goal of the current study is to investigate whether perspective-taking abilities impact reading comprehension among adolescents at different stages of puberty. To find out if there are any relations between perspective-taking and reading comprehension the influence of an imposed perspective on the mental representation of a text was investigated for 98 participants. Puberty is taken into account as a factor that could contribute to the mental representation of a text. The Director Task and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index were used to measure perspective-taking abilities. Results on the Director Task show significant differences in error rates amongst the three puberty groups. Post-hoc analysis revealed significant differences between all puberty groups in the Director Experimental conditions. The IRI scores increased between the puberty groups, but was not correlated to the scores on the Director Task. Reading comprehension was measured through two narrative text, the tekst ‘Het Huis’ and the text ‘Het Vakantiepark’. The study revealed a better recall of perspective-relevant elements for the text ‘Het Huis’, increasing between the puberty groups. The total score on the IRI was identified as a significant predictor for memory of elements on ‘Het Huis’. Contradictory to the text ‘Het Huis’, no significant differences were found between perspective-relevant and perspective-irrelevant elements on the text ‘Het Vakantiepark’. The findings align with previous research pointing out that perspective-taking abilities develop throughout puberty. There are some effects of perspective-taking abilities on reading comprehension, but there could be more aspects that influence the effectiveness of applying a reading perspective while reading a text. More investigation into the role of executive functions on the implementation of reading with a perspective is needed.Show less
Curriculum Based Measure (CBM) is an evidence-based approach used widely by educators to measure student progress and the effects of instruction. The CBM maze was designed as an indicator of...Show moreCurriculum Based Measure (CBM) is an evidence-based approach used widely by educators to measure student progress and the effects of instruction. The CBM maze was designed as an indicator of progress and performance in reading comprehension. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between reading comprehension and the CBM maze by comparing a standard version of the maze with a scrambled version of the maze where coherence of the text is distorted. The study looked further into the effects of intrinsic motivation and desire to understand, by comparing the differences in scores between the standard and scrambled version of the maze. Participants were 40 Dutch bachelor-students in the Netherlands. The relationship between CBM maze and reading comprehension were examined and analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA, with one within factor (maze format: CBM standard maze vs scrambled maze) and between factors (intrinsic motivation: high vs low or desire to understand: high vs low). The results revealed a significant difference between scores on the standard and scrambled version of the maze, indicating that CBM maze scores reflected text-level comprehension. The results also revealed that neither intrinsic motivation nor the desire to understand had an influence on the differences between scores on the standard and scrambled version of the maze. This study provides evidence for CBM maze as a valid and reliable indicator for reading performance. However, it is recommended that this study be replicated with children to allow for generalizability of the targeted population. Further research is needed to determine the relationship between reading fluency, reading comprehension and the CBM maze.Show less
A study published in 2017 about leisure time use of average American citizens depicted the percentage of time Americans read, played video games or did other leisure activities on the computer. On...Show moreA study published in 2017 about leisure time use of average American citizens depicted the percentage of time Americans read, played video games or did other leisure activities on the computer. On an average day, only 21% of respondents in 2015 would read as a pastime, a decrease from the 27% of respondents that would read for pleasure in 2005. As opposed to this, the playing of video games as a pastime increased by 38%. With the preference of time use leaning towards gaming as well as the increasing popularity of smartphones and online devices, most people tend to spend more time reading from a screen rather than from print with the average adult spending around nine hours per day reading, swiping and listening to media. This, however, is claimed to crucially affect our level of text comprehension. Experts on study and learning claim that people remember less when reading something from a screen because of a multitude of factors. It has been argued, for instance, that texts are taken less seriously due to the loss of physical location, as explored in Jabr’s article “The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens”, which will be researched in more detail further on in this thesis, and that the loss of physical characteristics, such as pages put up barriers for comprehension and for memorization.Reading from electronic devices such as laptops or tablets can also affect the degree of concentration a reader experiences because of the constant presence of distractions.4 Various scholars have found that readers cannot be immersed as easily in digital texts. The notion of immersion is defined in this thesis as “the feeling of being lost in a story”; one loses track of their surroundings and devotes their full concentration of the story. But to what degree can readers feel immersed in texts that are read in video games? Many video games contain texts as well, next to still and moving images. This thesis concentrates on text-rich video games, which are video games of any genre whose most important feature is text; although text rich video games can be beautifully designed, the reader/player needs to read the text to proceed in the game. Playing a text-rich video game can be considered a hybrid genre, as it entails reading and playing video games simultaneously. It offers individuals the opportunity to do both at once meaning they will not have to choose one of the activities over the other. When considering immersion in text-rich games, Madigan believes that one of the central characteristics of an immersive game is “a strong and interesting narrative, plot, or story”. This statement, as well as research into text rich video games by Catherine Beavis, have spurred my interest in this subject. This thesis will consist of two parts. One part describes the theory behind text rich games. Among other information, this theoretical section will include a clear definition and delineation of the term ‘text rich games’. Furthermore, this part of this thesis will touch upon theories of navigability, reading comprehension, immersion, narrative, and medium to determine whether reading video game text is feasible, desirable and similar to reading from print. The second part discusses research into reading culture and immersion, based on a case study which compares experiences of a printed version of The Shamutanti Hills by Steve Jackson and the video game adaptation of the same book. The concepts that have been researched in the theoretical section will be put to the test in this section of the thesis. The main aim of the case study is to examine whether the act of reading a text in video game format can genuinely be seen as (deep) reading. Alternatively, should this solely be considered playing a video game? The hypothesis is that the degree of immersion in the text of the video game will be similar to the text of the gamebook, this due to the similarity in non-linear form of the video game and the gamebook. A gamebook is a genre of printed book that combines elements of traditional text with elements of games in which readers choose their own stories; by flipping through the pages and following clues in the numbered paragraphs, readers find out what their choices entail. Since the game primarily works with clicks and reading, the distractions are expected to be minimal. Considering reading comprehension, the hypothesis is that participants should read about the same amount of text with similar results for reading comprehension, due to the non-conventional format of the texts, and the visual cues both texts provide.Show less
Het doel van dit onderzoek is om te onderzoeken wat het effect is van het vragen naar het detecteren van inconsistenties tijdens het lezen op het verschil in de leestijden van inconsistente en...Show moreHet doel van dit onderzoek is om te onderzoeken wat het effect is van het vragen naar het detecteren van inconsistenties tijdens het lezen op het verschil in de leestijden van inconsistente en consistente zinnen ten opzichte van het niet vragen hiernaar. Dit verschil in leestijd wordt ook wel het inconsistentie effect genoemd en reflecteert dat de lezer zijn of haar begrip monitort tijdens het lezen. Begrip monitoren is een cognitief proces en houdt in dat de lezers zijn of haar begrip van de tekst evalueert. Daarnaast is de invloed van een toenemend aantal fillerzinnen en de relatie tussen CITO begrijpend leesniveau en inconsistentie effect onderzocht. Dit is gedaan aan de hand van twee inconsistentietaken: de impliciete inconsistentietaak zonder consistentievraag en de expliciete inconsistentietaak met consistentievraag. In totaal hebben 67 kinderen van tussen de 9 en 12 jaar uit Zuid Holland meegedaan aan dit onderzoek. Een tweeweg repeated measurement ANOVA toont aan dat er een positief effect is op het inconsistentie effect naarmate de fillerzinnen toenemen in de expliciete inconsistentietaak. Het vragen naar inconsistentie detecteren zorgt dus dat de lezer zijn begrip effectief blijft monitoren naarmate het aantal fillerzinnen toeneemt. Er is geen correlatie gevonden tussen CITO scores begrijpend lezen en het inconsistentie effect. De resultaten van dit onderzoeken wijzen er op dat vragen tijdens het lezen invloed hebben op de cognitieve processen van de lezer. Er wordt een implicatie voor de onderwijspraktijk gemaakt om vragen op het lees- en leerdoel van de tekst af te stellen.Show less
