Investigating Reading

 
PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTORS

VISUAL ADEQUACIES
1. Reading requires the sense of sight.

2. Visual Acuity -you do not need to have a 20/20

vision to read well.
 What a Reader Must Do Visually to Read Efficiently (Dechant,1964)

• -Coordinate the eyes

• -Move the eyes along line of print
• -Make proper return sweeps
• -See clearly and distinctly both near and far
• -Change focus
• -Fuse the impressions of each eye into a single image
• -Have a visual memory for what was seen -Sustain visual
concentration
• -Have good hand-eye coordination
• -Accurately perceive size and distance relationships
 VISUAL DEFECTS

• Myopia (nearsightedness) – a condition of the eye where the light that

comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in front of it, causing
the image that one sees when looking at a distant object out of focus,
but in focus when looking at a close object.

• Hyperopia (farsightedness) – a condition in which visual images come

to a focus behind the retina of the eye and vision is better for a distant
than for near objects.
• Astigmatism – a effect in the eye or in a lens caused by a deviation
from spherical curvature, which results in distorted images, as light
rays are prevented from meeting at a common focus.
• Binocular difficulties-
• Strabismus – abnormal alignment of the eye; the condition of having
a squint
• Aniseikonia – is an ocular condition where there is a significant
difference in the perceived size of images
 Symptoms of Visual Difficulty (Rubin, 1982)

 Complains of constant headaches

 Has red or watery eyes or eyes with red rims, swollen lids and
frequent sties
 Squints while reading
 Asks to sit loser to the chalkboard and cannot seem to sit still while
doing close work
 Holds the book very close to his/her face while reading
 Skips lots of words or sentences while reading
 Makes many reversals while reading
 Confuses letters
 Avoids reading
 Mouths the words or lip reads
 Confuses similar words
 Makes many repetitions while reading
 Skips lines while reading
 Has difficulty remembering what he/she just read
silently
 Educational Implications
(Eames, 1959, Dechant, 1964)

• Control the glare in the classroom.

• Do not block the light source.
• Arrange pupils in the classroom such that they are
comfortable with the lighting especially when
• they read
• Use large-sized materials.
• Write on the blackboard with large letters
above children's eye level.
• Provide ample rest periods.
• Learn to use various screening tests.
• Refer children to qualified professionals if
necessary.
 DYSLEXIA
• It comes from the Greek 'dys-,' meaning difficulty with, and ‘-
lexia,’ meaning words or language.
• Dyslexia affects information processing (receiving, holding,
retrieving and structuring information) and the speed of
processing information. It therefore has an impact on skills such
asreading, writing, using symbols and carrying out calculations.
• Dyslexia describes a group of different but related factors that
affect an individual throughout his/her life. It is not just about
speaking and reading difficulties; it is not about lack of
intelligence.
The Role of Psychological Factors
in the Process of Reading
Maryam Habibian* Samsilah Roslan
Khairuddin Idris Jamilah Othman

Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia

 Psychological Factors

Attitude
Researchers (Montano and Kasprzyk, 2008) declared
that attribute is identified by a person’s behavioral
belief, weighted by their evaluation of their
attribution.
• However, as pointed out by Guthrie and Wigfield (1997),
attitude toward reading is defined as a person’s feeling on
the basis of reading, which will cause the learner to either
approach or avoid a process of reading.

• Harris and Sipay (1990) agreed that, students’ attitude to

reading process playing a significant role in both their reading
attainment and their choice of being voluntary to read.
• Farnan (1996) stated that a factor that influences
reading achievement of the readers is their
attitude toward reading. She postulated that
there is a connection between readers’
inclinations to read and their attitude,
motivation, and interest.
•Self-efficacy
Bandura’s (1977, 1986, 1997) definition of self-efficacy was
based on the framework of Cognitive Learning Theory and
denotes a person’s competence in dealing with his/her
individual challenges. Bandura (1986) explained self-efficacy
as the person’s personal belief in his/her potential to be
knowledgeable or to carry out an assigned task or enforce a
course of action to the targeted level.
Anxiety
• In psychological literature regarding the term emotion, one
of the concepts which extensively pretended and became
the central attention to clinical psychologist and
psychiatrists is anxiety, yet often used to reflect diverse
meaning. Anxiety which is an important component of
affective factors plays a crucial rule in L2 and FL reading.
Brown (2007) emphasized the strong effectiveness of the
role of anxiety in L2 and FL learning.

• According to Liu and Huang (2011) one of the influential

factors that can predict students’ achievement is affective
factors.
•Interest
Renninger, Hidi and Krapp (1992) defined interest as
occurrence that appears as a result of a person’s interplay
with his or her surroundings. In the process of reading,
according to Hidi and Renninger (2006), interest can be
observed when the interaction between individual and
content make up positively. It comprises of high attention
and emotion involvement.
Motivation
• To Bandura (1986), motivation is a behavior directed by a
desire to achieve certain objectives, driven and
maintained by the possibility of achieving exceptional
results from doing something. Motivation in fact
determines the way and the reasons people learn, as well
as, how well they perform (Pintrich and Schunk, 1996).
Motivation is seen as a social concept, which is lively and
specific (Dornyei, 1998), and having a close relation with
the learner’s concept of his/her personal identity.
A Study of Factors Affecting EFL Learners’
Reading Comprehension Skill and the
Strategies for Improvement
Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani & Narjes Banou Sabouri
1 2

Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran

1

2 Department of Linguistics, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

 Complexity of the Texts

• This factor is influenced by the readers’ strength and

fluency in language and their comprehending of its
applications and different meanings. Oral abilities have a
significant part in identifying how skilled a reader can be
because learners hear words and obtain a lot of
vocabulary. A lot of vocabulary assist learners in
explaining the unknown words through applying the
opinions of context (Dennis, 2008).
Environmental Conditions
• Readers may have a lot of problems to understand a text
in an unorganized environment than those who read in a
calm and controlled place. If learners are in an unsafe
place, they find it difficult to focus on their reading.
When they are in safe environments, their reading
comprehension ability will better. Readers will lose their
concentration in understanding a text when there are
noises like televisions or radios (Dennis, 2008).
Anxiety
• Examinations, class work, or homework situations can
put more pressure on readers’ reading than reading for
enjoyment. Some learners react positively to
examinations while others are overwhelmed by the
pressure to carry out a reading activity. Learners who
experience this anxiety may not completely understand
the instructions and this may lead to confusion and
poor comprehension of the reading task (Dennis, 2008).
 Interest and Motivation

• According to Dennis (2008), learners’ interest and motivation

are very important in developing reading comprehension skill.
If readers find the reading material monotonous, they will have
a lot of problems in concentrating on their comprehension.
This can lead to a lowering of reading comprehension among
readers. If the reading material is interesting for learners they
can easily understand it and can remember it clearly. EFL
teachers should motivate their learners through providing
interesting reading materials during their class time.
 Decoding and Word Recognition Speed
• Readers who have problems in decoding and recognizing words read
slowly and find it more difficult to understand the meaning of
passages than those without decoding problems. She expressed that
vocabulary influences the reading comprehension skill because
readers apply decoding skills to understand the pronunciation and
meaning of words they have not seen before.

• Persons who have enough vocabulary can clarify the meaning or

reading passages faster than those who should guess the meaning of
unfamiliar words according to the clues of context (Dennis, 2008).
 Medical Problems

According to Hollowell (2013), poor reading comprehension skill

may be related to the medical difficulty that does not get
addressed until the child is older.

This involves undiagnosed ADD (attention deficit disorder),

speech problems, and hearing impairments. She emphasized
that learners with speech and hearing difficulties are less likely
to take part in oral reading and class discussions. These are the
two activities that help learners improve their reading
comprehension skill.
 GROUP ACTIVITY: Answer this!

What are the classroom implications of knowing

the hindrances of your students to your lesson
instruction? Provide 4 implications.

Select a member who will explain what the group has

talked about.
THANK YOU!