Background: As technology continues to advance, language acquisition methodologies have increasingly been integrated into computer-assisted language learning (CALL) systems. In the context of Chinese language acquisition, characters are structured in three phases: the overall character, its components, and its strokes. Proficiency in identifying…

One shared goal of classroom instruction is to support students' reading competence as a key skill of school success and participation in daily life. Yet, teaching that addresses multilingual students' language-related resources to support reading is rare. In this study, we enriched reciprocal teaching with elements of linguistically responsive…

English proficiency has become pivotal for university admission, particularly at the CEFR B2 level and IELTS band 6-6.5 across Europe. In Nordic universities, the substantial amount of assigned English reading materials requires a strong command of English reading skills, with vocabulary knowledge being a crucial component. This study explores 309…

This paper examines the effect of COVID-19 on learning loss and learning inequality in South Africa using 2016 and 2021 Grade 4 PIRLS datasets. On average, South African Grade 4 reading achievement declined by 31 PIRLS points from 320 in 2016 to 288 in 2021, equivalent to a decline of 0.29 standard deviations or 50-60% of a year of learning. The…

Response times have often been used as ancillary information to improve parameter estimation. Under the dual processing theory, assuming reading comprehension requires an automatic process, a fast, correct response is an indicator of effective automatic processing. A skilled, automatic comprehender should be high in response accuracy and low in…

There is a dearth of appropriate reading material for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs). Often, a book's content is relevant to younger audiences, or its reading level is inaccessible. In this pilot study, we determined which factors facilitate reading accuracy and comprehension for this population. We wrote and tested…

Two experiments investigated the extent to which the concreteness of titles affects metacognitive text expectations, study motivation, and comprehension test performance. Sixty-three American and 61 German students were presented with three titles (either concrete or abstract), based upon which the students estimated their expected…

We investigated how affective states influence expository text comprehension and whether text valence moderates the effects (i.e., mood congruency). In Experiment 1 participants were randomly assigned to a happy or sad affective state (elicited via films) before reading a positive or negative version of a scientific text on animal adaptations.…

Response times have often been used as ancillary information to improve parameter estimation. Under the dual processing theory, assuming reading comprehension requires an automatic process, a fast, correct response is an indicator of effective automatic processing. A skilled, automatic comprehender should be high in response accuracy and low in…

The current study examined the extent to which sixth grade students used their pre-existing topic beliefs to guide comprehension of semantic ideas within multiple conflicting texts, and the sources providing them. Adolescents completed an inventory assessing their pre-reading topic beliefs one week prior to the study. During the study, students…

This study investigated the extent to which third graders (n = 84) from predominantly low-socioeconomic status families had access to books matched to their reading levels in their homes. On average, students showed home visitors books that fell within the Common Core State Standards' recommended text difficulty range for Grade 3 (mean Lexile =…

This paper presents the findings of a study that intended to seek the content validity (CV) evidence of an instrument to measure the reading ability of university students in Sri Lanka. The reading passages and items were adapted from CEFR aligned Learning Resource Network (LRN) materials. The items were designed based on the cognitive processing…

The school closures owing to the 2020 COVID-19 crisis resulted in a significant disruption of education provision, leading to fears of learning losses and of an increase in educational inequality. This article evaluates the effects of school closures based on standardised tests in the last year of primary school in the Dutch-speaking Flemish…

This technical report documents the processes and procedures employed by NWEA® to build and support the English MAP® Reading Fluency™ assessments administered during the 2020-2021 school year. It is written for measurement professionals and administrators to help evaluate the quality of MAP Reading Fluency. The seven sections of this report: (1)…

Scores from computer-based tests are increasingly used to inform a variety of school- and student-level decisions. An underlying assumption is that the associated scores represent effortful responding by each student with respect to the tasks presented. An innovative method for examining evidence for this assumption involves an examination of item…