The present paper proposes and evaluates a readability assessment method designed for Japanese learners of EFL (English as a foreign language). The proposed readability assessment method is constructed by a regression algorithm using a new set of linguistic features that were employed separately in previous studies. The results showed that the…

The purpose of this nonequivalent, control group, pretest-posttest design study was to evaluate the effectiveness of leveled book programs on first-grade students' oral reading fluency rates and comprehension levels. This study was conducted over a 10-week time span with four first-grade classes. All of the students in each class were given a…

In response to the rapid growth of information in recent decades, knowledge-based systems have become an essential tool for organizational learning. The application of electronic performance-support systems in learning activities has attracted considerable attention from researchers. Nevertheless, the vast, ever-increasing amount of information is…

The "Common Core State Standards/English Language Arts" include the ability to become increasingly more capable with complex text over the school career, redirecting attention to the measurement of text complexity. While suggesting multiple criteria, the Standards offer a single measure of text complexity--Lexiles. Additional…

An individualized education program is a legal document that details information regarding the special education program of a student with a disability. For parents to determine whether they agree with the individualized education program that is proposed by the school, they must first be able to read and comprehend the document. This study aimed…

This study is a quantitative, quasi-experimental investigation focusing on the effects of word recognition training on word recognition fluency, reading speed, and reading comprehension for 151 Japanese university students at a lower-intermediate reading proficiency level. Four treatment groups were given training in orthographic, phonological,…

This study assessed the effects of cloze instructional approach on senior secondary school students' achievement in Igbo language reading comprehension. The study utilized a quasi experimental research design of the pretest posttest non-equivalent control group design. The study was conducted in Abakaliki education zone of Ebonyi State of Nigeria.…

In our study we investigated second and foreign language (L2) sentence readability, an area little explored so far in the case of several languages, including Swedish. The outcome of our research consists of two methods for sentence selection from native language corpora based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML)…

The authors examine the growth and impact of guided reading, small group teaching for differentiated instruction in reading that was stimulated by their early publications. Many changes in literacy education have been observed as a result--almost as if educators had a "romance" with guided reading and leveled books. While changes have been…

Background: Contemporary adolescents use e-mail for a variety of purposes, including peer communication and education. Research into these uses has focused on typically developing individuals; much less is known about the use of e-mail by exceptional youth. Aims: The present study examined the structure and form of e-mail messages sent by…

This investigation compared readability formulae to publishers' identified reading levels in science-based elementary readers. Nine well-established readability indices were calculated and comparisons were made with the publishers' identified grade designations and between different genres of text. Results revealed considerable variance among the…

What is meant by text complexity is a measurement of how challenging a particular text is to read. There are a myriad of different ways of explaining what makes text challenging to read, from the sophistication of the vocabulary employed to the length of its sentences to even measurements of how the text as a whole coheres. Research shows that no…

This study explored the area of effective feedback and whether undergraduate students prefer electronic or handwritten feedback. In teacher training programs this determination has become crucial because of the escalation in the number of formative assessments replacing summative assessments. A mixed methodology design was completed that involved…

We have been engaged in developing a readability index and its application software attuned for Japanese EFL learners. The index program, Ozasa-Fukui Year Level Program, Ver. 1.0, was used in developing the readability metric Ozasa-Fukui Year Level Index but tended to assume a high level of computer knowledge in its users. As a result, the…

This collaborative action research study describes the results of how pre-service teachers at three institutions of higher learning construed three pre-colonial West African folktales that portrayed the villain or trickster in a heroic manner. Folktales represent common forms of literature that are used in the classroom as conscience stories to…