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Item Analyzing Topical Structure in ESL Essays: Not All Topics are Equal(Copyright © Cambridge University Press [BREAK]The original doi for the as-published version of the article is 10.1017/S0272263100009517. To access the doi, open the following DOI site in your browser and cut and paste the doi name where indicated: [LINK]http://dx.doi.org[/LINK][BREAK]Access to the original article may require subscription and authorized logon ID/password. IUPUI faculty/staff/students please check University Library resources before purchasing an article. Questions on finding the original article via our databases? Ask a librarian: [LINK]http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/research/askalibrarian[/LINK]., 1990) Schneider, Melanie; Connor, Ulla, 1948-Topical structure analysis (TSA), a text-based approach to the study of topic in discourse, has been useful in identifying text-based features of coherence. It has also been used to distinguish between essays written by groups of native English speakers with varying degrees of writing proficiency (Witte, 1983a, 1983b). More recently, TSA has distinguished between higher and lower rated ESL essays, but with different results from those found with native speakers of English (Connor & Schneider, 1988). The present study replicated the previous ESL study of two groups of essays written for the TOEFL Test of Written English with three groups of essays. Findings indicate that two topical structure variables, proportions of sequential and parallel topics in the essays, differentiate the highest rated group from the two lower rated groups. We offer explanations for the results and propose that all occurrences of a particular type of topic progression do not contribute equally to the coherence of a text.Item First and Second Language Use in Reading Comprehension Strategies of Japanese ESL Students(TESL-EJ (Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language - The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language): [LINK]http://www.tesl-ej.org[/LINK]., 1997-11) Upton, Thomas A. (Thomas Albin)Reading in a second language (L2) is not a monolingual event; L2 readers have access to their first language (L1) as they read and many use it as a strategy to help comprehend an L2 text. Due to difficulties in observing the comprehension process, little research has been conducted to try to determine what roles the L1 and L2 play in the reading strategies of L2 readers or how these roles vary at different proficiency levels. This study attempts to address these two issues. Eleven native speakers of Japanese, at two different proficiency levels, were asked to think-aloud –in the language of their thoughts—as they were reading an English text. In retrospective interviews, subjects then listened to their tape-recorded think-aloud protocols and were asked to clarify and explain their thoughts. Three generalizations about L1 and L2 strategy use emerged from the data and are discussed.Item ‘Yuk, the Skin of Insects!’ Tracking Sources of Errors in Second Language Reading Comprehension(COPYRIGHT 1998 College Reading and Learning Association [BREAK]This article is reproduced with permission. Further reproduction of this article in violation of the copyright is prohibited., 1998) Upton, Thomas A. (Thomas Albin)Readers for whom English is a second language often misinterpret texts. One source for such errors is failing to accurately recognize phonemic and graphemic features, leading to interpreting a text within a framework not intended by the author. Teachers can help second language readers become more perceptive by preparing students for the material and providing practice in recognizing the text's syntactic connections.