This study investigated the effect of a dynamic test in reading and writing compared to a static test for 87 children in elementary schools in the Netherlands (aged 7-9 years old). Static tests...Show moreThis study investigated the effect of a dynamic test in reading and writing compared to a static test for 87 children in elementary schools in the Netherlands (aged 7-9 years old). Static tests measure the knowledge a child already has at the moment of testing, while on the other hand in a dynamic test children are provided with feedback, prompts or training in order to demonstrate more of their learning potential. Dynamic tests are especially useful for children with intellectual disabilities or learning impairments. Children with and without the diagnosis of dyslexia were allocated to either the experimental or the control condition. Children in the experimental condition of this study received a training in between pretest and posttest, whereas those in the control condition received the training after the posttest. Results showed a positive effect of training on the subtests prosodic awareness, spelling sounds and verbs and context dependent spelling, meaning that the group who received the dynamic test showed more progress from pretest to posttest in these subtests than the group who received the static test. This difference in progress did not apply to the subtest phonemic awareness. No significant gender differences and differences in performance between the dyslexic and the non-dyslexic children were found.Show less
The levels of reading and reading enjoyment of students in the Netherlands are decreasing compared to students in other European countries. Therefore, in the current study, research on the...Show moreThe levels of reading and reading enjoyment of students in the Netherlands are decreasing compared to students in other European countries. Therefore, in the current study, research on the effectiveness of reading interventions Systematic Teaching and Recording Tactic (S.T.A.R.T). and Repeated Reading is conducted. S.T.A.R.T. is a more extensive, but also more time-consuming intervention than Repeated Reading. Students in group six and seven of the Dutch primary education (similar to fourth and fifth grade in English schools) with below-average scores on their CITO-reading tests were asked to participate in the study. In two groups, they either read a difficult text with S.T.A.R.T. and an easy text with Repeated Reading or vice versa. After each intervention their reading performance was tested via a MAZE-test. The text used for this test was an extended version of the text that was used in the intervention. Results showed that students scored better on their MAZE-test after being taught by the S.T.A.R.T.-intervention. This effect was bigger when the difficult text had been read Morover, students enjoyed reading a text more if they read it with S.T.A.R.T. Together, these findings suggest that S.T.A.R.T. is a more sufficient intervention than Repeated Reading. Implications for future research and use in schools are discussed.Show less
The CBM Maze task has been found to be an indicator of students‟ general reading performance and progress. Teachers administer the CBM Maze task frequently and evaluate students‟ progress towards...Show moreThe CBM Maze task has been found to be an indicator of students‟ general reading performance and progress. Teachers administer the CBM Maze task frequently and evaluate students‟ progress towards an individual goal. Insufficient growth in scores indicates the reading instruction to be ineffective for the particular student and calls to adapt the instruction, which again is followed by evaluating its effectiveness. Research indicates that the use of CBM Maze task can improve students‟ reading performances if teachers use it to plan their instructions. Despite of CBM being properly used by teachers, they seem to use it too little to modify their reading instruction. A possible explanation for the lack of instructional adaptations is that teachers do not know how they can adapt their instructions. This study examined how many, and what kind of ideas teachers have to adapt their instruction for students with reading difficulties, and the relationship between the ideas, the implementation of an adaptation by the teachers and Teacher efficacy. Teachers (N = 23) filled in a Teacher efficacy questionnaire and were interviewed about their ideas for instructional adaptations, after two of their students completed the CBM Maze task for ten weeks. After another eight weeks of CBM Maze administration it was examined whether teachers made an adjustment in their instruction for their students. About half of the teachers did not adapt their instruction despite it was necessary based on the Maze scores. Also, the implementation of an instructional adaptation did not relate with both the amount of ideas for instructional adaptations as well as Teacher efficacy. Doubts about the validity of the Maze task by teachers are considered to be involved in their use of CBM Maze. Although the study was exploratory because of the small sample size, implications for practice are discussed.Show less
Education is becoming increasingly digital. However, the scientific foundation for this trend does not seem to be very strong. It is in no way certain that digital materials enhance learning...Show moreEducation is becoming increasingly digital. However, the scientific foundation for this trend does not seem to be very strong. It is in no way certain that digital materials enhance learning outcomes. This thesis researches ways of representing knowledge through digital text, with a specific focus on education. When digitising a text, different elements of that text might change, like the structure and its navigational options. This thesis examines those elements with the help of literature research and practical examples of digitised text. Theories of reading are discussed, and the relationship between medium and message is seen to be central. Case studies exemplify different possible elements of digital text. Next, educational theory related to digital text is discussed to assess the potential of those elements in digital educational material. A conclusion is that developers should be careful adopting digital material without proper research into the consequences. Multimedia material seems the most promising of the options discussed. Learning to read long-form text seems to remain crucial, even though shorter texts are the trend. Deep, sustained and active reading is required for a good learning experience. When developing new learning materials, the quality of that material should come first, before the choice of the medium. This evaluation should be made carefully, and right now paper seems to offer better educational potential.Show less
Reading comprehension is a dynamic process which is influenced by a range of text characteristics and individual characteristics (Van den Broek, 1994). An important text characteristic is coherence...Show moreReading comprehension is a dynamic process which is influenced by a range of text characteristics and individual characteristics (Van den Broek, 1994). An important text characteristic is coherence, a measure of the interconnectedness of information within a text, which can be assessed locally and globally. This study was intended to conceptually replicate previous research using event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the maintenance of global coherence. ERPs were computed for critical words in each story to compare the difference in mean amplitude of the N400 component across coherent and incoherent story conditions. The N400 is thought to be inversely related to the ease with which semantic processing is carried out (Nieuwland & Van Berkum, 2006). It was hypothesised that breaks in global coherence would produce an N400 effect relative to the coherent control condition. A repeated measures ANOVA was carried out to test whether the N400 amplitude, measured as mean amplitude in the 300 – 500ms post critical word time window across 11 chosen scalp sites, was more strongly negative for critical words in the incoherent condition than for those in the coherent condition. Mean amplitude values for the N400 were more negative for critical words in the incoherent condition than those in the coherent condition across 7 out of 11 scalp sites, but the differences did not reach significance.Show less
