Enhancing comprehension in small reading groups using a manipulation strategy

Improving Reading to Improve Math

“…When compared to children in a control condition who read and reread the signaled sentences, children using PM remember much more (Cohen's d > 1) from the text. This effect is found working with children one-on-one (Glenberg, Gutierrez, Levin, Japuntich, & Kaschak, 2004) and when the children work in three-person reading groups (Glenberg, Brown, & Levin, 2007). Similar effects are seen in a listening comprehension environment with children with learning disabilities (Marley, Levin, & Glenberg, 2007).…”

“…We think this alternative is unlikely for two reasons. First, in some of previous work (e.g., Glenberg, Brown, et al, 2007;Glenberg et al, 2004), there was explicit control of time on task by having children in the control condition reread those sentences that were manipulated by children in the Moved by Reading condition. Nonetheless, children in the Moved by Reading condition greatly outperformed children in the control condition on assessments of comprehension and memory.…”

Do nimble hands make for nimble lexicons? Fine motor skills predict knowledge of embodied vocabulary items

“…Semantic language processing that is concordant with a motor action stimulates motor action (Zwaan & Taylor, 2006). Evidence also indicates that movement and verbal processing are facilitated in children, in that manipulating objects during reading facilitates reading comprehension (Glenberg, Brown, & Levin, 2007;Glenberg, Gutierrez, Levin, Japuntich, & Kaschak, 2004). Two further lines of evidence are considered next, that link body parts to verb processing (Maouene et al, 2008) and show that embodied lexical items enjoy processing advantages (Siakaluk et al, 2006;Siakaluk et al, 2008).…”

Getting the point: Tracing worked examples enhances learning

“…The physical external support intervention seems to be a particularly effective method to improve young students' ability to generate mental models while performing text processing tasks. Even when the physical manipulation was executed by other people, young students who simply watched the manipulation had improved reading comprehension (Glenberg, Brown, & Levin, 2007;Marley et al, 2010). Moreover, in the circumstances when real objects are absent, mapping words to the representations of real 21 objects are also sufficient for improving comprehension.…”