According to international research, the reading skills of Dutch students have declined in the last few years. The Curriculum-Based Measurement maze test can be used to monitor the progress of...Show moreAccording to international research, the reading skills of Dutch students have declined in the last few years. The Curriculum-Based Measurement maze test can be used to monitor the progress of students’ reading performance. This can help teachers in adjusting instructional programs, which can lead to improvement in students’ reading skills. Although most of the previous research showed that maze test scores measure reading skills, one study showed that the scores measure decoding, not text level reading comprehension. The current study investigated whether the maze test also measures text level reading comprehension, through comparing the scores on maze tests with a standard and a scrambled format. The standard maze test was comprehensible on text level, but the scrambled maze test was not: the text was incoherent, because the sentences were placed in a random order. This study also investigated the relations among reading comprehension level, reading motivation level and maze test scores. Two standard and two scrambled maze tests and the Standards of Coherence questionnaire were completed by 140 fifth grade students. Their reading comprehension Cito-scores were also collected. Results showed that students scored higher on the standard than on the scrambled maze test. This suggests that the scores also reflect reading comprehension on text level, which supports the fact that maze tests measure reading skills. The main effects of reading comprehension level and reading motivation level on maze test scores were significant. Both factors seem to be related to reading performance. The interaction-effect of reading motivation level and reading comprehension level was not significant. The relation between reading motivation level and reading scores appears to be the same for weak, average and strong readers. More research is needed to find out if the maze test scores are sensitive for change when interventions are carried out to increase reading skills.Show less
Is attentional bias the underlying concept behind the vicious circle in which children with low reading motivation, poor reading culture (home literacy environment) and lagging in reading...Show moreIs attentional bias the underlying concept behind the vicious circle in which children with low reading motivation, poor reading culture (home literacy environment) and lagging in reading performance determine themselves? In the current study, 428 primary school pupils from groups 6 and 7 are taken to investigate the influence of the home literacy environment and reading performance on the reading motivation . Through questionnaires it was found that a more stimulating home environment and literacy ensures a better the vocabulary and a stronger reading motivation . In addition, we investigated whether non- enthusiastic readers have a resistance (attentional bias) to reading. Attentional bias is measured with a digital selective attention task and was not found in enthusiastic or non - enthusiastic readers.Show less
In this research the question was raised whether reading motivation was related to attentional processes during the reading of easy and difficult texts. Reading motivation was measured on a...Show moreIn this research the question was raised whether reading motivation was related to attentional processes during the reading of easy and difficult texts. Reading motivation was measured on a conscious and unconscious level. The unconscious reading motivation (measured with the attentional bias for reading related stimuli) and the conscious reading motivation were related negatively. People with a high attentional bias score for reading related stimuli did have lower scores for rating reading related stimuli. Although a relationship between the attentional bias scores and the frequency of mind wandering during reading hasn’t been found, there was a relationship between the scores for rating reading related stimuli and the amount of mind wandering while reading difficult texts. No relationship was found between participants’ rating of reading related stimuli and mind wandering while reading easy text. People who rated reading related stimuli more positive were mind wandering less often while reading difficult texts. Therefore, reading motivation seems to be related to the attention we have while reading difficult texts.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
under embargo until 2030-01-01
2030-01-01T00:00:00Z
This study examines the presence of an attentional bias in the attentional processing of reading related pictures and words. On the basis of an online rating of reading-related pictures and words a...Show moreThis study examines the presence of an attentional bias in the attentional processing of reading related pictures and words. On the basis of an online rating of reading-related pictures and words a sample of 54 undergraduate students was selected. Individuals with high ratings were assigned to a reading enthusiast group, while individuals with low ratings to a reading reluctant group. Attentional bias was examined with the dot-probe and emotional Stroop paradigms. The dot-probe task showed an attentional bias towards reading pictures, that is faster responses to reading-related than to neutral pictures, at a stimulus onset asynchrony of 1500 msec.. This bias was found in both reading reluctant and reading enthusiast individuals. An additional bias towards reading words was found in the reading enthusiast group. Attentional bias scores towards pictures representing reading were positively related to social motivation to read books, indicating that the more an individual was socially motivated to read books, the faster attention was directed towards reading pictures compared to matched neutral pictures. This suggests that the attentional bias (responding faster to reading-related pictures in the dot-probe task) is an indication of individual’s eagerness to read. However, no other association were found between other measures of reading behaviour and reading ability (vocabulary learning, spelling). Future research including other groups than undergraduates might provide stronger links between a reading-related attentional bias and reading motivation.Show less
In deze studie is gekeken naar de invloed van voorgelezen e-books met een verteller in beeld die de aandacht voor tekst en illustraties stuurt, op het leesbegrip en de leesmotivatie van zwakke...Show moreIn deze studie is gekeken naar de invloed van voorgelezen e-books met een verteller in beeld die de aandacht voor tekst en illustraties stuurt, op het leesbegrip en de leesmotivatie van zwakke lezers. Dertig kinderen met een gemiddelde leeftijd van 7.13 jaar kregen tweemaal een voorgelezen e-book met of zonder verteller in beeld aangeboden of moesten zelf een verhaal lezen op de computer. Voor- en na iedere leessessie is de motivatie van lezers beoordeeld. Het verhaalbegrip is gemeten door een terugverteltaak, een mazentest en meerkeuzevragen. De resultaten laten zien dat er geen significante verschillen zijn tussen de groepen (e-book met verteller in beeld, e-book zonder verteller in beeld, zelf lezen) wat betreft leesbegrip en leesmotivatie. Het aanbieden van een voorgelezen e-book met of zonder verteller in beeld is even leerzaam en motiverend als het zelf lezen van een verhaal op de computer. Uit deze resultaten volgt dat e-books naast bestaande leesinterventies kunnen worden ingezet om het maken van veel leeskilometers te vergemakkelijken en derhalve de leesvaardigheid te bevorderen.Show less
