Reading Fluency in Young Elementary School Age Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

The Center on Literacy and Deafness examined the language and reading progress of 336 young deaf and hard-of-hearing children in kindergarten, first and second grades on a series of tests of language, reading, and spoken and fingerspelled phonological awareness in the fall and spring of the school year. Children were divided into groups based on their auditory access and classroom communication: a spoken-only group (n = 101), a sign-only group (n = 131), and a bimodal group (n = 104). Previous work reports the overall data (Antia, S., Lederberg, A., Schick, B., Branum-Martin, L., Connor, C. M., & Webb, M. (2020a). Language and reading progress of young DHH children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, (3), 25; Lederberg, A. R., Branum-Martin, L., Webb, M. L., Schick, B., Antia, S., Easterbrooks, S. R., & Connor, C. M. (2019). Modality and interrelations among language, reading, spoken phonological awareness, and fingerspelling. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 24(4), 408–423). This report presents an in-depth look at the reading fluency of the participants measured along multiple dimensions. In general, 43% of the participants were unable to read fluently and an additional 23% were unable to read fluently at grade level. Rate and accuracy, rate of growth, miscue analysis, and self-corrections differed by communication modality. Most notably, children demonstrated limited strategies for self-correction during reading fluency tasks.

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Alex Quigley explores the key issues underpinning his latest professional book, Closing the Reading Gap. In it he focuses on how to identify where children are struggling and provides practical strategies to support their reading progress.

Identificación de patrones instruccionales de mediación relacionados con progresos en comprensión lectora en contextos de desventaja sociocultural

Identificar factores instruccionales específicos relacionados con progresos en comprensión lectora es esencial para optimizar el aprendizaje y orientar la intervención, especialmente en contextos de desventaja sociocultural o dificultades de aprendizaje. Este estudio pretende identificar patrones instruccionales de mediación eficaces en la explicación del progreso en comprensión. Se grabaron, transcribieron y analizaron sistemáticamente 82 sesiones-clase, y se registraron pautas de mediación relativas a diferentes procesos lectores. Los patrones de mediación fueron analizados mediante codificación y categorización del contenido con el programa Maxqdea-7. Fueron consideradas 19 categorías, que aglutinaron 178 unidades de información significativas (pautas/conductas de mediación). La muestra estuvo compuesta por 21 docentes y 821 estudiantes de tercero a octavo grado de Educación básica de escuelas públicas de Chile ubicadas en contextos deprivados. El progreso lector se midió con la prueba estandarizada CL-PT, aplicada al principio y al final del curso escolar. Los resultados permitieron identificar pautas específicas de mediación significativas en la explicación del progreso, especialmente el patrón M_17 (Mediación del uso de estrategias para la activación e integración de conocimientos previos) explicaba el 26% de la varianza (r = .55, p < .01; R2ajustado = .26, F(1, 19) = 8.19, p = .01). Se discuten las implicaciones educativas de estos resultados. Identifying specific instructional factors related to progress in reading comprehension is essential to optimize learning and guide intervention, especially in contexts of sociocultural disadvantage or learning difficulties. This study aims to identify effective mediational instructional patterns in the explanation of progress in reading comprehension. Teaching guidelines were systematically recorded in relation to different reading processes. Eighty-two sessions were recorded, transcribed and analyzed by coding and categorizing the content of the sessions through the Maxqdea-7 program. Nineteen categories were considered, which comprised 178 significant units of information (mediation guidelines). The sample consisted of 21 teachers and 821 students from third to the eighth grade of public schools of Chile located in deprived contexts. Reading progress was measured with the standardized CL-PT test, which was applied at the beginning and end of the school year. The results have allowed identifying mediation patterns with a significant relevance in the explanation of reading progress, especially the pattern M_P17 (Mediation of the use of strategies for the activation and integration of previous knowledge) managed to explain 26% of the variance in the progress (r = .55, p < .01; R2adjusted = .26, F(1, 19) = 8.19, p = .01). The educational implications of these results are discussed.

Language and Reading Progress of Young Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

We examined the language and reading progress of 336 young DHH children in kindergarten, first and second grades. Trained assessors tested children’s language, reading, and spoken and fingerspelled phonological awareness in the fall and spring of the school year. Children were divided into groups based on their auditory access and classroom communication: a spoken-only group (n = 101), a sign-only group (n = 131), and a bimodal group (n = 104). Overall, children showed delays in language and reading compared to norms established for hearing children. For language, vocabulary standard scores were higher than for English syntax. Although delayed in language, children made expected gains based on hearing norms from kindergarten to second grade. Reading scores declined from kindergarten to second grade. Spoken-only and bimodal children had similar word reading and reading comprehension abilities and higher scores than sign-only children. Spoken-only children had better spoken phonological awareness and nonword reading skills than the other two groups. The sign-only and bimodal groups made similar and significant gains in ASL syntax and fingerspelling phonological awareness.

The Habits and Hermeneutics of Digital Bible Readers: Comparing Print and Screen Engagement, Comprehension, and Behavior

Christians in general and American evangelicals in particular are increasingly using digital media to access Scripture, but it is unclear how this shift is influencing the behaviors they value most: regular reading and in-depth study. Using survey data, assessments of comprehension, and daily reading progress, this study examines how engagement with the Bible varies between print and screens. Results indicated that American evangelicals use a combination of print and digital forms of Scripture based on the kind of engagement they want to carry out (devotional reading, in-depth study, prayer, etc.). The data also suggest readers have lower comprehension when reading the Bible on screens compared to print. Readers using mobile devices are more likely to engage scripture daily than those using printed Bibles, and these effects are more pronounced in male readers than female readers.