The Science of Meaning in Life King, Laura A; Hicks, Joshua A
Annual review of psychology,
01/2021, Volume:
72, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Meaning in life has long been a mystery of human existence. In this review, we seek to demystify this construct. Focusing on the subjective experience of meaning in life, we review how it has been ...measured and briefly describe its correlates. Then we review evidence that meaning in life, for all its mystery, is a rather commonplace experience. We then define the construct and review its constituent facets: comprehension coherence, purpose, and existential mattering significance. We review the many experiences that have been shown to enhance meaning in life and close by considering important remaining research questions about this fascinating topic.
Las canciones son grandes aliados del aprendizaje, por su contribución a la socialización, memorización y aprendizaje de conceptos. Se trata de una investigación cuasi-experimental, con el objetivo ...de investigar el impacto de las canciones como herramienta de mediación para mejorar el lenguaje y las habilidades básicas de lectura en niños de una escuela brasileña. Se compararon dos grupos, con treinta y un niños. Los datos se recolectaron mediante tres instrumentos. Los resultados apuntan a puntuaciones altas (p≤ 0,001) en todos los dominios de las pruebas realizadas en el grupo experimental, en comparación con los resultados del grupo control. Este resultado indica que la música se consideró un buen instrumento para mejorar el lenguaje y la lectura.
The debate over the science of reading has focused primarily on decoding (i.e., connecting letters and sounds to read words) and whether to use phonics to teach it. However, research on reading has ...included much more than decoding. Language comprehension, which allows readers to derive meaning from text, is an equally critical component of reading. Research has suggested that explicit instruction on the components of language comprehension—vocabulary and semantics, morphology, and syntax—can support language and reading comprehension. To inform the field on the science of reading as it pertains to language comprehension, in this meta-analysis of recent language comprehension interventions (n = 43) in U.S. elementary schools, the authors examined whether effects vary depending on participant and intervention characteristics. Findings suggest positive effects on custom measures of vocabulary, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension but not on standardized measures of these outcomes. Results also indicate positive effects for English learners and promise for multicomponent interventions and those that include technology. Much more research is needed on how best to support language comprehension for underserved populations (e.g., students from low-income backgrounds) and how interventions can be optimized to support generalizable language and literacy outcomes. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Audiobooks allow language learners to read and listen to the same text simultaneously; yet the effects of this bimodal input (written and spoken) on learners’ comprehension have been inconsistent, ...suggesting that the conditions under which audiobooks can help comprehension are not well understood. As such, I explored silent reading speed and text complexity as two potential variables that moderate reading‐while‐listening (RWL) comprehension. In a within‐participant design, 46 English learners in an American university read, listened to, and simultaneously read and listened to two complexity versions of a fictional text. Mixed‐effects regression modeling revealed that participants comprehended better in the RWL conditions than in the listening‐only conditions, echoing findings from the captions literature. This effect was moderated by neither silent reading speed nor text complexity. There were also no main effects between RWL and reading‐only conditions, indicating limitations in the use of audiobooks in language classrooms to promote written text comprehension.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Ten years ago, researchers using event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) to study language comprehension were puzzled by what looked like a Semantic Illusion: Semantically anomalous, but structurally ...well‐formed sentences did not affect the N400 component—traditionally taken to reflect semantic integration—but instead produced a P600 effect, which is generally linked to syntactic processing. This finding led to a considerable amount of debate, and a number of complex processing models have been proposed as an explanation. What these models have in common is that they postulate two or more separate processing streams, in order to reconcile the Semantic Illusion and other semantically induced P600 effects with the traditional interpretations of the N400 and the P600. Recently, however, these multi‐stream models have been called into question, and a simpler single‐stream model has been proposed. According to this alternative model, the N400 component reflects the retrieval of word meaning from semantic memory, and the P600 component indexes the integration of this meaning into the unfolding utterance interpretation. In the present paper, we provide support for this “Retrieval–Integration (RI)” account by instantiating it as a neurocomputational model. This neurocomputational model is the first to successfully simulate the N400 and P600 amplitude in language comprehension, and simulations with this model provide a proof of concept of the single‐stream RI account of semantically induced patterns of N400 and P600 modulations.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Students in the middle grades are expected to read complex texts to acquire content knowledge, particularly in social studies/history and science. Most students with disabilities are included in ...social studies/history and science classes yet read below grade level, requiring significant support with accessing text knowledge. Question generation is one high‐impact, evidence‐based practice that content area teachers can use to support students as they read complex text. This practice has been studied in rigorous research studies, and findings suggest that students’ reading comprehension increases when they apply the practice while reading. The authors provide an overview of question generation, including explanations of each step in the instructional process, so content area teachers can integrate this reading comprehension practice into their instruction.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This article provides classroom examples of how interactive read‐alouds of informational texts facilitate collaborative and respectful discussions that promote literacy learning. Several specific ...considerations for making interactive read‐alouds engaging and successful are presented in an effort to support educators in capitalizing on this effective instructional practice.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
ABSTRACT
The simple view of reading describes reading as the product of decoding (D) and listening comprehension (LC). However, the simple view of reading has been challenged, and evidence has proved ...it to be too simple to explain the complexities of reading comprehension in the elementary school years. Hypotheses have been advanced that there are cognitive‐linguistic factors that underlie the common variance between D and LC, which are malleable, although there is no clarity at this point regarding what these are. We propose that one such group of malleable cognitive factors is executive function (EF) skills. Further, we posit that EF skills play equally strong roles in explaining reading comprehension variance in emergent bilinguals and English monolinguals. We used multigroup structural equation modeling to determine the contribution of these constructs (D, LC, and EF) to reading comprehension in 425 emergent bilinguals and 302 English monolinguals in grades 2–4. The shared variance between D and LC was explained by direct and indirect effects in the models tested, with strong indirect effects for the EFs of cognitive flexibility and working memory through D and LC, respectively, for both language groups. The indirect effect of cognitive flexibility through LC on reading comprehension was considerably larger for emergent bilinguals than for English monolinguals. Considerations for a more nuanced view of the simple view of reading and its implications for practice are discussed.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Background
Linguistic comprehension and narrative skills encapsulate a complex array of grammatical and semantic skills that underpin complex reading comprehension processes. However, most research ...in this area has focused on children with reading difficulties and not on typically developing children. Also the research has mostly focused on short‐term effects of these skills on reading during the primary school years. Therefore, it remains unclear what specific role linguistic comprehension and narrative skills play in typically developing children’s reading beyond the primary school years.
Aims
With this 9‐year prospective longitudinal study, we sought to clarify the independent effects of linguistic comprehension and narrative skill (at 5 years of age) on children’s reading ability at 10 and 14 years of age.
Sample
We examined the data from 716 children (MAge = 67 months, SD = 2.13 months), which were drawn from a major population cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.
Methods
Children’s language skills were assessed at 5 and word reading and reading comprehension skills at 10 years of age. The reading achievement scores at 14 years of age were based on national curriculum test results.
Results
Linguistic comprehension and narrative skills at 5 years of age made unique and direct contributions to reading comprehension skills and reading achievement after accounting for general cognitive ability, memory, phonological skills, and mother's education. Moreover, listening comprehension predicted reading achievement even when prior reading skills were taken into account.
Conclusions
Linguistic comprehension and narrative skills are related but distinct oral language skills that continue to influence children's reading development beyond the primary school years.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We report 2 self-paced reading experiments investigating the longevity of structural priming effects in comprehending reduced relative clauses among adult Chinese-speaking learners of English. ...Experiment 1 showed that structural priming occurred both when prime and target sentences were immediately adjacent and when they were separated by 1 or 2 filler sentences of unrelated structures. Moreover, the magnitude of the priming effect held constant across different lag conditions. Experiment 2 replicated the persistent priming effect and ruled out the possibility that the effect was due to verb repetition priming. Taken together, the current results suggest that recent experience with a given structure can have relatively long-lived facilitation effect on the language-processing system in second-language learners. As such, structural priming may serve as a learning mechanism for second-language speakers.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ, UPUK
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