Lexical coverage, i.e. the extent to which words in a text are known, is considered an important predictor of reading comprehension, with studies suggesting 98% lexical coverage leads to adequate comprehension. However, no studies to date have examined how the various lexical coverage percentages suggested in the literature are reflected by the…

Seductive details are interesting but irrelevant details that impede text comprehension (Mayer, 2005). Whether visual images can act as seductive details remains unclear (Rey, 2012). In two experiments, 125 undergraduates read 10 pages from a leading educational psychology textbook that either included illustrated cartoons or not, followed by a…

When readers are asked to detect a target letter while reading for comprehension, they miss it more frequently when it is embedded in a frequent function word than in a less frequent content word. This missing-letter effect has been used to investigate the cognitive processes involved in reading. A similar effect, called the missing-phoneme effect…

Introduction: There is a variety of literature regarding reading development in its acquisitional stages, and also regarding reading disabilities that appear in early childhood. However, from the cognitive point of view, there has been less study of reading comprehension in secondary students. The principal aim of this study was to analyze the…

Audio-assisted reading (reading-while-listening) was commonly used as a pedagogical method in English (L2) learning. Numerous studies had reported its efficacy in English (L2) reading. Its efficacy in reading comprehension has been inconclusive due to the lack of studies on the relationship among attention, cognitive load and L2 reading…

People routinely rely on inaccuracies they have read to complete subsequent tasks, even when they should already possess accurate prior knowledge. This problematic reliance maintains even when people are warned about potential inaccuracies prior to reading. In contrast, reductions have been observed when interventions target encoding of…

Based on previous research on multimedia learning and text comprehension, an eye-tracking study was conducted to examine the influence of audio text coherence on visual attention and memory in a multimedia learning situation with a focus on picture comprehension. Audio text coherence was manipulated by the type of LDI structure, that is, whether…

This study investigated whether presenting a picture before reading can encourage situation-model construction. We compared two conditions (n = 30) which differed in whether a picture of the initial situation described in a narrative text was presented before reading (i.e. pictorial-support condition) or not (i.e. no-picture condition).…

The note- and test-taking skills of typically functioning undergraduates are significantly and positively related to handwriting speed, listening comprehension, background knowledge and sustained attention. This study attempted to replicate these findings with two groups of high school students--those with and without the diagnosis of a learning…

This study examined 30 second graders' patterns of attention to graphics (e.g., maps, diagrams, photographs, illustrations) and their illustration extensions (e.g., captions, labels) in two informational texts, and how students processed these items (e.g., creating narrative or evaluating). Results indicate that students do tend to study different…

In this chapter, we examine adult- and child-focused models of reading with respect to cognitive processing deficits associated with low literacy. We examine influential integrative models of reading and reading comprehension. We then review the empirical literature on components of reading ability, subdivided into three categories: language…

Listening is regarded as a key requirement for successful communication and is fundamentally linked to other language skills. Unlike reading, it requires both hearing and processing information in real-time. We therefore propose that the ability to concentrate is a strong predictor of listening comprehension. Using structural equation modeling,…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study is to examine whether attention cueing benefits learners of ancient Egyptian culture using mobile-assisted instrumentation. A self-regulatory, mobile phone based set of visualizations depicting ancient Egyptian culture served as the primary instrument. A total of 50 learners of English as a foreign…

Some music has been proved effectively to mitigate anxiety, beneficial to reading. However, little was known on its influence of reading behaviors and outcomes. Thanks to the advance of e-book technology, it becomes possible to track reading rate and outcomes in a real-time manner by the underlying mobile devices. This study intends to examine the…

Our aim in the present paper is to discuss a "cognitive view" of reading comprehension, with particular attention to research findings that have the potential to improve our understanding of difficulties in reading comprehension. We provide an overview of how specific sources of difficulties in inference making, executive functions, and…