Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item EEG EFFECTS OF EVENT MODELS IN STORY COMPREHENSION(2023) Rickles, Ben Bogart; Bolger, Donald J; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Cognitive models can offer deep insights into how stories are comprehended. Models which follow event segmentation theory (EST) focus on the processing of brief episodes or events within a narrative and the boundaries between events. To test the brain mechanisms proposed by EST to occur at the event boundaries we looked at electroencephalographs (EEG) recorded from 49 participants as they were tasked with both listening to and recalling 9 blocks of ~ 6 minute-long audio clips in one of three conditions: single ordered stories, unrelated events from unrelated stories, or single stories in scrambled order. All stimuli were designed to contain event boundaries spaced at semi-regular intervals. Accuracy during an inference recognition task administered after each block was highest in the single ordered stories condition. Analysis 1 examined the effects of event boundary vs. local semantic context on evoked negativities (N400) related to lexical processing of each word. Effects of condition suggest that narrative structure affected lexical processing, more so than event-level structure and sentence-level semantic context. Analysis 2 Examined changes in alpha (8.5-12.5 Hz) and theta (4-8 Hz) band power of the EEG induced by the onset of the event boundary. Boundary-induced changes in both frequencies were recorded, in all conditions. The largest increases were recorded during the ordered stories over large portions of the scalp. How these findings relate to cognitive mechanisms suggested by event segmentation theory is discussed.Item EXAMINING TRANS-SYMBOLIC AND SYMBOL-SPECIFIC PROCESSES IN POETRY AND PAINTING(2013) Loughlin, Sandra; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There is a growing interest in multiliteracies and the processes by which nonlinguistic and multisymbolic compositions are understood. However, as indicated by Unsworth (2008), there is currently no "trans-disciplinary" theoretical framework robust to these examinations. This study investigated the degree to which the Trans-Symbolic Comprehension framework (TSC; Loughlin & Alexander, 2012; Loughlin et al., 2013) might serve this purpose. The TSC posits that every act of comprehension, text or otherwise, entails both trans-symbolic and symbol-specific processes. Trans-symbolic comprehension processes are general processes that are necessary for understanding information encoded in a variety of compositional forms (e.g., text, paintings, musical score, physical formula), while symbol-specific processes are particular to a given symbol-system (e.g., text-specific processes). This study used the symbol systems of language and visual array to determine the viability of the TSC framework. Offline and online comprehension processes measures were administered before, during, and after studying a poem and a painting to capture the comprehension processes used by 12 English and 12 Art education majors. Verbal protocol analyses of these data resulted in the identification of 7 poem and 8 painting comprehension processes, which manifested in 48 associated subprocesses. The 48 comprehension subprocesses were then compared to determine degree of trans-symbolism. It was determined that a significant portion of the comprehension processes and subprocesses were shared; that is, iterative manifestations applied to both poem and painting. However, processes that did not appear to iterate were also identified (e.g., inferring mood). The discovery of these apparent trans-symbolic processes and symbol-specific processes is in line with the predictions of the TSC framework. Implications of this study for education research are discussed, specifically with respect to the burgeoning literature on nonlinguistic literacies. Preliminary implications for educational practice are also drawn in relation to the growing praxis of teaching literature, including poetry, through visual art in middle and high schools, and ongoing policy efforts to expand this type of instruction.Item A Comparison of Two Strategies for Teaching Third Graders to Summarize Information Texts(2011) Dromsky, Ann; Dreher, Mariam J; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Summarizing text is one of the most effective comprehension strategies (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000) and an effective way to learn from information text (Dole, Duffy, Roehler, & Pearson, 1991; Pressley & Woloshyn, 1995). In addition, much research supports the explicit instruction of such strategies as critical to developing skilled readers (Baker, 1984, Duke, 2000; Hare & Borchardt, 1984, Pressley, Mc Donald, et al. 2000; Williams et al., 2005). Despite such evidence, relatively few studies focus on summarization and even less research has been conducted with young children and information texts. This study investigated the effects of two approaches to teaching third-grade students how to summarize information text. Cue Word Summarization (CWS) and a modified version of Cunningham's (1982) Generating Interactions between Schemata and Text (GIST) were the two approaches designed to help students read multi-paragraph informational text and select information using a procedure to guide their composition of a written summary. Third-grade students in intact classrooms randomly assigned to the instructional treatment conditions (CWS or GIST) or a comparison group were pre-tested on their ability to compose written summaries of information text. After explicit strategy instruction in the treatment classrooms and observations of regular instruction in the comparison classroom, students took a post-test to evaluate their summary writing of information text. Performance on three aspects of summary writing was first analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to control for experiment-wise error, followed by an analysis of variance (ANOVA) for each of the three dependent variables: textbook information, vocabulary, and organization. For each analysis, group was a between-subjects measure and time was a within-subjects measure. Participants in the treatment conditions had statistically significantly higher scores on all three aspects of the summary writing measure than students in the comparison classroom. This research indicates that explicit instruction in summary writing can be successful with primary-grade students.Item Comprehension and Learning from Social Studies Textbook Passages among Elementary School Children in Korea and the United States(2011) Huh, Hyejin; Chambliss, Marilyn J; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Earlier research has shown that cultural schemata affect readers' comprehension from an expository text (e.g., Carrell, 1984, 1987; Swales, 1990). Previous research also suggested that there are shared features of well-designed text across cultures (Chambliss & Calfee, 1998) and that reader characteristics like background knowledge affect text comprehension (e.g. McKeown, Beck, Sinatra, & Loxterman, 1992; McNamara, Kintsch, Songer, & Kintsch,1996). However, little research has shown the relations among culture, text design, and reader characteristics. Accordingly, I first analyzed four US and Korean social studies textbook passages about two topics. Then, 63 Korean and 57 US 10-year-olds read in their own language one of the four passages that differed in topic and country of origin counterbalanced to insure that all passages were read by an equal number of students. Students completed perceived and demonstrated knowledge and individual interest measures before and after reading, and main ideas, conceptual understanding, free drawing, problem-solving, and situational interest measures after reading. I analyzed the large-group data with either mixed or between-subjects ANCOVA with background knowledge as a covariate. Additionally, four protocol students from each country thought aloud as they read one of the four passages and answered some interview questions after reading, which I qualitatively analyzed. The results of this study suggest that although cultural schemata made differences in the design of a text about the same topic, children's comprehension was not affected by cultural differences in text design. It did not matter whether a text was from their own or the other country. Rather, the comprehension of children from both countries was affected by their own background knowledge about the topic and whether a particular text was familiar with realistic examples, had interest-enhancing but not seductive features, had explicit statements or signals, and had features that facilitate active engagement such as why and how questions. More importantly, all of these textual features in comprehensible texts were coherently structured around main ideas. These findings indicate that comprehension and learning from text depends on the effective interplay between well-designed text and a reader who brings a certain level of background knowledge to text.Item The Effects of Two Summarization Strategies Using Expository Text on the Reading Comprehension and Summary Writing of Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students in an Urban, Title 1 School(2009) Braxton, Diane Marie; Dreher, Mariam J.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation:THE EFFECTS OF TWO SUMMARIZATION STRATEGIES USING EXPOSITORY TEXT ON THE READING COMPREHENSION AND SUMMARY WRITING OF FOURTH- AND FIFTH-GRADE STUDENTS IN AN URBAN, TITLE 1 SCHOOL Diane M. Braxton, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Directed By: Dr. Mariam Jean Dreher Department of Curriculum and Instruction University of Maryland, College Park Using a quasi-experimental pretest/post test design, this study examined the effects of two summarization strategies on the reading comprehension and summary writing of fourth- and fifth- grade students in an urban, Title 1 school. The strategies, Generating Interactions between Schemata and Text (GIST) and Rule-based, were taught using authentic social studies materials that are part of the school system's curriculum. Four intact classes participated in fifteen 40 - 60 minute lessons. One fourth-grade (17 students) and one fifth-grade (13 students) received GIST instruction, and one fourth-grade (20 students) and one fifth-grade (14 students) received Rule-based instruction. The Qualitative Reading Inventory - 4 was used to determine the effects on the expository reading comprehension. For the fourth graders, there was no significant interaction between time and intervention. However, there was a significant main effect for time with a very large effect size. Additional analyses showed a significant time by intervention by gender interaction for implicit questions (but no effect for explicit questions). GIST group males outperformed the females, while Rule-based group females outperformed males. For the fifth graders, there was no significant interaction between time and intervention. However, there was a significant main effect for time with a very large effect size. For the quality of summaries, there was a significant interaction between time and intervention with a very large effect size for both grades, favoring the Rule-based group. Questionnaire responses showed the greatest change for students in both grades and interventions on concepts of summary writing. Ratings indicated an increase in knowledge about summary writing, paralleling the gained knowledge that was evident in students' post test summaries. These results suggest that both summarization methods can improve the expository reading comprehension and summary writing of urban, Title 1 students. These findings provide evidence to encourage the teaching of summarization strategies to promote reading achievement especially with students who are lagging behind their peers in the area of reading. This study extended summarization research by (a) using authentic expository text rather than research-generated material, and (b) instructing a student population that has had limited representation in past studies.Item EFFECTS OF TEXT MARKERS AND FAMILIARITY ON COMPONENT STRUCTURES OF TEXT-BASED REPRESENTATIONS(2006-10-20) Davis, Marcia Hardisky; Guthrie, John T.; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Reading theorists agree that the outcome of reading comprehension is a text representation (Gernsbacher, Varner, & Faust, 1990; Kintsch, 1998). To measure reading comprehension, however, many use testing formats such as multiple-choice and short answer, that have been shown to provide very little information about the text representations created during reading (Kintsch & Kintsch, 2005). A different type of format, proximity measures, is a promising measure for text based representations, although few studies have examined the validity of this type of comprehension measure. The current dissertation addressed this issue by creating a proximity measure named the Passage Comprehension for Structured Text (PCST) and by examining the validity of the PCST through experimental manipulations on the text. This investigation tested the comprehension of 236 ninth-grade students with the PCST. Students were asked to read a short text followed by a computer task where the students rated the similarity of 11 concepts. Two components were extracted from the PCST, the textbase component and the situation model component. Text manipulations included changes in text coherence and familiarity. It was hypothesized that a coherence manipulation should have an effect on the textbase component and a familiarity manipulation should have an effect on the situation model component. Further, both manipulations should influence the strength of the factor that determines the scores on these components. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to compare the conditions. Results confirmed that students with coherent text outperformed students with incoherent text on the textbase component and students with familiar text outperformed students with unfamiliar text on the situation model component. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to further explore the effect of text manipulations on the structure of the PCST components. Results indicated that there was a stronger factor for the situation model component when the text was familiar compared to when the text was unfamiliar. Limited evidence suggests that there was also a stronger factor for the textbase component when the text included macrosignals compared to when the text did not include macrosignals.