Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) scripts can foster learners' deep text comprehension. However, this depends on (a) the extent to which the learning activities targeted by a script promote deep text comprehension and (b) whether the guidance level provided by the script is adequate to induce the targeted learning activities…

We examined the relationship between inference making, vocabulary knowledge, and verbal working memory on children's reading comprehension in 62 6th graders (aged 12). The effect of vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension was predicted to be partly mediated by inference making for two reasons: Inference making often taps the semantic…

This meta-analysis synthesizes results from expository text structure interventions designed to increase comprehension for students in kindergarten to grade 12 published between 1970 and 2013. Twenty-one studies were identified, 19 of which met criteria for a meta-analysis, including 48 studywise effect sizes that were meta-analyzed to determine…

The study is situated at the interface between reading comprehension and critical thinking research. Its purpose was to examine the influence of reading goals and argument quality on the comprehension and critical evaluation of argumentative texts. Young adult readers read to comprehend or evaluate texts on two different controversial issues.…

The growing popularity of graphic novels for younger readers is hard to miss. This article provides specific ways to think about, recognize, and teach with multimodal texts that leverage student interest. In this English language arts unit, we taught a sixth-grade class how to read and comprehend the complex design elements common to the graphic…

Close reading of poetry scaffolds readers and writers as they come to understand the form and function of poetry and transfer those skills to writing. In this teaching tip, the authors explain a way in which primary teachers can introduce close reading and move young students toward composing and presenting poetry.

I conducted 2 experiments to analyze the effects of a reading curriculum, "Corrective Reading," which has a sequence that trains derived relations, on the emission of (a) derived relations defined as combinatorial entailment in Relational Frame Theory and (b) metaphors with first grade students. In Experiment 1, I compared the…

This study examined how machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) techniques can be leveraged to assess the interpretive behavior that is required for successful literary text comprehension. We compared the accuracy of seven different machine learning classification algorithms in predicting human ratings of student essays about…

This dissertation investigated how various features of scenario-based assessments (SBAs) affect reading comprehension and measures of engagement (e.g., situational interest and motivation) with a sample of college students. SBAs are assessments that contain several features not traditionally found in reading assessments. These features include an…

Learning to read consists of developing skills in two critical areas: (1) Reading each word in texts accurately and fluently and (2) Comprehending the meaning of texts being read. This is known as the Simple View of Reading. To read words accurately and fluently, students need strategies to read words they have never seen before in print as well…

We investigate generalizability of face-based detectors of mind wandering across task contexts. We leveraged data from two lab studies: one where 152 college students read a scientific text and another where 109 college students watched a narrative film. We automatically extracted facial expressions and body motion features, which were used to…

This study examined how machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) techniques can be leveraged to assess the interpretive behavior that is required for successful literary text comprehension. We compared the accuracy of seven different machine learning classification algorithms in predicting human ratings of student essays about…

I present a theoretical basis for the use of critical literacy as an important instructional and ideological approach in the field of special education. Virtually no reading comprehension intervention studies predominantly involving students with learning or other high incidence disabilities use principles or elements of critical literacy. I…

This study aimed to investigate the effects of integrated intensive and extensive reading instruction (IIERI, hereafter) on Thai primary school students' English reading ability and to find out the students' opinions towards the instruction. Eleven Thai students studying at the primary education level were purposefully selected to participate in…

In this response, we make the case for the power and promise of scaffolded reading instruction for teaching civic literacy--civic content knowledge and skills needed to both comprehend and take a stand on civic issues at a local, national, or global level. We argue the following: (a) Now, more than ever, students need to develop the skills and…