Papers by Chrysovalantou Kapeta
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF BILINGUAL STUDENTS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL IN WRITTEN PRODUCTION?, 2025
Bilingualism in relation to the degree of Readability in the first grades
of primary school was t... more Bilingualism in relation to the degree of Readability in the first grades
of primary school was the starting point of this research to highlight
variables that influence the written production. Out of a total of 150
samples, 39 samples were randomly collected from a bilingual student
of a German public school. The mother tongue is Greek while the
samples come from the 2nd
– 5
th grade of primary school. This was
followed by the precise digitization of the texts in Word format and the
investigation of the variables continued with the Readability formulas
Flesch-Kincaid and Gunning Fog. The results were transferred to an
Excel spreadsheet. Using Tableau through statistical analysis, it was
found that words associated with History, Biology, Geography or
Religious Studies, multisyllabic words and appropriate vocabulary
display high Readability grades and also high marks during evaluation.
The relationship between all these important factors is inversely
proportional. In other words, when one variable increases, the other
also increases. For example, when the evaluation decreases, the
difficulty grade of the text also decreases, and vice versa. The purpose
of the research is to find the characteristics by which the Readability
grade of texts produced by bilingual primary school students can be
determined. In this way, a database can be created for even more
reliable assessment of bilingual students, but also for the construction
of digital tools and educational material adapted for bilingual students.
GAS Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences (GASJAHSS), 2025
Bilingualism often affects early-age students in written production as their mother tongue interf... more Bilingualism often affects early-age students in written production as their mother tongue interferes. The purpose of this research is to identify the variables that may influence the readability grade of texts produced by a Greek origin bilingual student through tests from the 2nd- 5th grade of German elementary school. For this reason, 39 out of 150 samples were collected, digitized through Word software and analyzed with the readability formulas Flesch-Kincaid and Gunning Fog. The results of this analysis were then transferred to an Excel spreadsheet. The data were statistically analyzed using Tableau. The results of the study showed that at these ages, bilingual students seem to have some difficulties to develop vocabulary related to the disciplines of Geography, Biology or/and History. Unusual words that are not included in the everyday vocabulary of a primary school student also seem to present e.g. spelling errors or confusion of concepts. The same phenomenon is observed in multi-syllabic words or in words that are difficult to pronounce or memorize in the German language regarding a bilingual student. In conclusion, the degree of difficulty and the final grade of a test depends quite a lot on the above elements. Their frequent and correct use would perhaps increase the readability grade. These variables should be taken into account by every teacher, while the construction of digital readability measurement tools is recommended for a more reliable assessment towards bilingual students. Finally, the creation of more specialized educational materials would likely contribute to the performance of bilingual students regarding written production.
Bilingualism and Readability in written language production, 2025
The present study concerns 39 samples out of 150 in total produced by one bilingual student of a ... more The present study concerns 39 samples out of 150 in total produced by one bilingual student of a primary school in Germany and including both simple and short sentences as well as more complex or in some cases complete paragraphs. The language of writing is German, while the mother tongue is Greek. The purpose of the research is to highlight the ease or difficulties that a bilingual student faces in producing written language and which factors (e.g. vocabulary, grammar, syntax, level of text difficulty) influence the final result. Tableau Public was used for the statistical analysis, while all 39 samples were first digitized manually in Word format. They were then analyzed with the Flesch-Kincaid and Gunning Fog Readability formulas, the results of which were carefully transferred to an Excel spreadsheet. The final results showed that there is a relative comfort in the use of more advanced vocabulary as well as the use of subordinate clauses compared to the age of 8-11. The creation of a database would perhaps contribute even more to the academic and educational community in terms of a more fair evaluation of texts produced by bilingual primary school students.
IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education (IOSR-JRME), 2024
Background: Scientists have been exploring the field of Readability for many decades through vari... more Background: Scientists have been exploring the field of Readability for many decades through various tools, such as special software or indicators (Gulpease, Dale-Chall, Gunning Fox, etc.), in order to make careful measurements of the Readability degree. The purpose of the present research is to identify those criteria, which first determine the level of difficulty, and second, the language level of a written text.
Materials and methods: In order to measure the Readability grade and the Language Level in written production, 316 texts from the state certificate for Italian language in Greece (KPG) were selected between May 2015 and November 2016. Specifically, from 1000 randomized KPG notebooks, a total of 80 notebooks of language level B1 and B2 were used, that were first digitized in manual form. All data were collected from the examinations of the Greek Certificate (KPG) of May 2015 and November 2016. 316 written texts, including both levels, B1 and B2, were digitized manually in Word form. In the second phase, they were measured by
using the Read-It tool, and the values and results of this process were evaluated. Through SPSS.24, and in particular, with factor analysis, the final results were achieved.
Results: 1. The texts produced by Greek users of the Italian language show that the Readability degree seems to vary by language level and degree of difficulty both through the use of vocabulary as well as grammatical and syntactic features. 2. There seems to be a great difficulty in producing secondary texts, correctly worded in Italian, at both levels. 3. Another phenomenon that reduces both, the readability grade and the language level is the vocabulary confusion with other languages, e.g. we see Greek users writing English or Spanish words confusing them with Italian.
Conclusion: These valuable findings and this research are likely to pave the way for future scientists to delve even deeper into the parameters of writing with the ultimate goal of developing more advanced software that
will help to improve the use of languages by foreign users and to prepare tests more accurate and fair by certification entities.
The Importance of Vocabulary and Grammar for Measuring the Readability and Language Level
Journal of Education and Teaching, Jun 24, 2024
The purpose of this research is to determine the level of difficulty (Readability) and the langua... more The purpose of this research is to determine the level of difficulty (Readability) and the language level of texts written by non-Italian speakers. For this purpose, texts produced by Greek candidates (B1 and B2 level) according to the Greek State Certificate Exam (KPG) for the Italian language were selected. All data was collected from the KPG exams of May 2015 and November 2016. Specifically, from 1000 randomized KPG notebooks, a total of 80 notebooks were used, (B1 and B2) that were first digitized in manual form. In the second and third phase, these texts were measured using the READ-IT and SPSS.24 tool. The results lead to the fact that both the correct use of vocabulary, i.e., spelling and the appropriate vocabulary in relation to the content of the text, determine the language level and degree of difficulty of produced texts. All results are part of an existing tool named trat.exe used by the University EKPA and Aristotle to measure the Readability regarding the exams of Italian language of KPG. Of utmost importance would be the future deepening of the parameters of writing with the goal of developing even more advanced software.
ISRGJEHL, 2024
Appropriate tools lead to valid and fair measurement, processing and evaluation of texts produced... more Appropriate tools lead to valid and fair measurement, processing and evaluation of texts produced by foreigners in a different language (Elder & Harding, 2008: 341-342). In addition, this data is very important in order to be able to create exam instructions and tests depending on language skills (in this case B1 and B2 based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Foreign Languages) and level of difficulty, i.e. the readability grade (Lenzner, 2014: 678-681). The discovery of such data is necessary for language levels (A1-C2) and for different languages in order to create more advanced text evaluation software (Beacco, 2017: 9-19). Furthermore, the two largest Greek universities EKPA and the University of Aristotle in Thessaloniki already use a very
International Conference on Science, Innovations and Global Solutions (Poland), 2024
In order to measure Readability, 316 texts from the state certificate for Italian language in Gre... more In order to measure Readability, 316 texts from the state certificate for Italian language in Greece were selected (May 2015 & November 2016). The texts were manually digitized in Word 2010 format and measured through the Read-IT tool. The data processing was carried out using SPSS software 24. Greek candidates at level B produce texts in Italian depending on features interwoven with vocabulary, grammar and syntax. The aim was to form the basis for further research in other language levels (A & C) and different languages which would probably provide important outcomes for language learning by foreign speakers.
International Journal of Science Academic Research (IJSAR), 2024
Scientists have been exploring the field of Readability for many decades through various tools, s... more Scientists have been exploring the field of Readability for many decades through various tools, such as special software or indicators (Gulpease, Dale-Chall, Gunning Fox, etc.), in order to make careful measurements of the Readability degree. The purpose of the present research is to identify those criteria, which first determine the level of difficulty, and second, the language level of a written text. All data were collected from the examinations of the Greek Certificate (KPG) of May 2015 and November 2016. 316 written texts, including both levels, B1 and B2, were digitized manually in Word form. In the second phase, they were measured by using the Read-It tool, and the values and results of this process were evaluated. Through SPSS.24, and in particular, with factor analysis, the final results were achieved. Summarized, inter alia, the following were found: 1. The texts produced by Greek users of the Italian language show that the Readability degree seems to vary by language level and degree of difficulty both through the use of vocabulary as well as grammatical and syntactic features. 2. There seems to be a great difficulty in producing secondary texts, correctly worded in Italian, at both levels. 3. Another phenomenon that reduces both, the readability grade and the language level is the vocabulary confusion with other languages, e.g. we see Greek users writing English or Spanish words confusing them with Italian. These valuable findings and this research are likely to pave the way for future scientists to delve even deeper into the parameters of writing with the ultimate goal of developing more advanced software that will help to improve the use of languages by foreign users and to prepare tests more accurate and fair by certification entities.
Διαδικτυακό Εκπαιδευτικό Περιοδικό i-Teacher, 2020
The present reserach focuses on important parameters, such as coherence and consistency of a text... more The present reserach focuses on important parameters, such as coherence and consistency of a text, suitability of the language and more generally, grammatical and syntactic phenomena that affect the degree of difficulty and level of language learning in the production of written speech. For this reason, 80 samples of level B of the Greek State Certificate of the Italian Language were used with a random lot between 1000 notebooks. 316 written texts were first digitized and measured with the READ-IT tool, then registered in the form of a table through SPSS.24, on the basis of which the cases were verified by factor analysis. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the construcion of more up-to-date software, in order to create more reliable and accurate tests for potential, non-natural speakers. It is recommended to expand this project for levels A and C, and also for other languages.
8th International Conference on Language, Literature and Linguistics 2021 in Singapore, 2021
Nowadays, it is very important for scientists to find out those criteria that are based on which ... more Nowadays, it is very important for scientists to find out those criteria that are based on which the linguistic level and the degree of Readability of a produced text can be measured and evaluated. For this reason, 316 texts were chosen randomly produced by Greek candidates of Italian Language for the exams of the Greek State Certificate of Italian Language regarding the period May 2015 and November 2016. After selection, the above were manually digitized in Word format 2010 and measured in the Read-IT tool (Dylan Tool). The data processing and factor analysis were done with the SPSS.24 software which shows that the Greek users for B1 and Β2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages produce texts per level of language learning and degree of difficulty that are differentiated through features intertwined with vocabulary, grammar and syntax, like appropriate or inappropriate language, spelling, word sufficiency, off or within topic, evaluation of the examiner, textual coherence and cohesion. Furthermore, there is a particular difficulty in producing texts per level when there is a lack of appropriate vocabulary, while the majority of texts are within the topic, which positively affects the result. Finally, exploring criteria for other language levels but also for other languages will perhaps contribute to a more valid and fair assessment worldwide. It would be very interesting to have a common database around the world that would simultaneously lead to more advanced rating software like trat.exe and READ-IT.
International Journal of Educational Innovation , 2020
Περίληψη Η ανάγκη για αξιόπιστη και ακριβοδίκαιη αξιολόγηση της παραγωγής γραπτού λόγου οδήγησε σ... more Περίληψη Η ανάγκη για αξιόπιστη και ακριβοδίκαιη αξιολόγηση της παραγωγής γραπτού λόγου οδήγησε στην εύρεση, ανάπτυξη και επεξεργασία κριτηρίων, με τα οποία μπορεί να μετρηθεί και να αξιολογηθεί το επίπεδο γλωσσομάθειας και ο βαθμός αναγνωσιμότητας ενός παραγόμενου κειμένου. Έτσι, χρησιμοποιήθηκαν με τυχαίο κλήρο 316 κείμενα του Κρατικού Πιστοποιητικού Γλωσσομάθειας της Ιταλικής Γλώσσας περιόδου Νοεμβρίου 2015 και Μαΐου 2016 από Έλληνες υποψηφίους που ψηφιοποιήθηκαν χειροκίνητα σε μορφή word και μετρήθηκαν στο εργαλείο Read-IT (Dylan Tool). Η επεξεργασία των δεδομένων έγινε με το λογισμικό SPSS 24 από όπου προκύπτει ότι οι Έλληνες χρήστες της Ιταλικής επιπέδου Β1 και Β2 παράγουν κείμενα ανά επίπεδο γλωσσομάθειας και βαθμό δυσκολίας βάσει χαρακτηριστικών, συνυφασμένα με το λεξιλόγιο, τη γραμματική και τη σύνταξη. Άρα, π.χ. η λεξιλογική πυκνότητα, ορθογραφία, η συνοχή προτάσεων, ο αριθμός των προτάσεων, το μάκρος λέξεων είναι ουσιώδη συστατικά στην παραγωγή κειμένων και συνδράμουν ως προς τη δημιουργία πιο αξιόπιστων τεστ για όλους τους υποψηφίους.
Journal of Education and Teaching (JET), 2024
The purpose of this research is to determine the level of difficulty (Readability) and the langua... more The purpose of this research is to determine the level of difficulty (Readability) and the language level of texts written by non-Italian speakers. For this purpose, texts produced by Greek candidates (B1 and B2 level) according to the Greek State Certificate Exam (KPG) for the Italian language were selected. All data was collected from the KPG exams of May 2015 and November 2016. Specifically, from 1000 randomized KPG notebooks, a total of 80 notebooks were used, (B1 and B2) that were first digitized in manual form. In the second and third phase, these texts were measured using the READ-IT and SPSS.24 tool. The results lead to the fact that both the correct use of vocabulary, i.e., spelling and the appropriate vocabulary in relation to the content of the text, determine the language level and degree of difficulty of produced texts. All results are part of an existing tool named trat.exe used by the University EKPA and Aristotle to measure the Readability regarding the exams of Italian language of KPG. Of utmost importance would be the future deepening of the parameters of writing with the goal of developing even more advanced software.
Conference Presentations by Chrysovalantou Kapeta
Papers of 8th International Conference on Language, Literature & Linguistics 2021, 2021
Nowadays, it is very important for scientists to find out those criteria that are based on which ... more Nowadays, it is very important for scientists to find out those criteria that are based on which the linguistic level and the degree of Readability of a produced text can be measured and evaluated.
For this reason, 316 texts were chosen randomly produced by Greek candidates of Italian Language for the exams of the Greek State Certificate of Italian Language regarding the period May 2015 and
November 2016. After selection, the above were manually digitized in Word format 2010 and measured in the Read-IT tool (Dylan Tool). The data processing and factor analysis were done with the SPSS.24 software which shows that the Greek users B1 and Β2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages produce texts per level of language learning and degree of difficulty that are differentiated through features intertwined with vocabulary, grammar and syntax, like appropriate or inappropriate language, spelling, textual coherence and cohesion.
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Papers by Chrysovalantou Kapeta
of primary school was the starting point of this research to highlight
variables that influence the written production. Out of a total of 150
samples, 39 samples were randomly collected from a bilingual student
of a German public school. The mother tongue is Greek while the
samples come from the 2nd
– 5
th grade of primary school. This was
followed by the precise digitization of the texts in Word format and the
investigation of the variables continued with the Readability formulas
Flesch-Kincaid and Gunning Fog. The results were transferred to an
Excel spreadsheet. Using Tableau through statistical analysis, it was
found that words associated with History, Biology, Geography or
Religious Studies, multisyllabic words and appropriate vocabulary
display high Readability grades and also high marks during evaluation.
The relationship between all these important factors is inversely
proportional. In other words, when one variable increases, the other
also increases. For example, when the evaluation decreases, the
difficulty grade of the text also decreases, and vice versa. The purpose
of the research is to find the characteristics by which the Readability
grade of texts produced by bilingual primary school students can be
determined. In this way, a database can be created for even more
reliable assessment of bilingual students, but also for the construction
of digital tools and educational material adapted for bilingual students.
Materials and methods: In order to measure the Readability grade and the Language Level in written production, 316 texts from the state certificate for Italian language in Greece (KPG) were selected between May 2015 and November 2016. Specifically, from 1000 randomized KPG notebooks, a total of 80 notebooks of language level B1 and B2 were used, that were first digitized in manual form. All data were collected from the examinations of the Greek Certificate (KPG) of May 2015 and November 2016. 316 written texts, including both levels, B1 and B2, were digitized manually in Word form. In the second phase, they were measured by
using the Read-It tool, and the values and results of this process were evaluated. Through SPSS.24, and in particular, with factor analysis, the final results were achieved.
Results: 1. The texts produced by Greek users of the Italian language show that the Readability degree seems to vary by language level and degree of difficulty both through the use of vocabulary as well as grammatical and syntactic features. 2. There seems to be a great difficulty in producing secondary texts, correctly worded in Italian, at both levels. 3. Another phenomenon that reduces both, the readability grade and the language level is the vocabulary confusion with other languages, e.g. we see Greek users writing English or Spanish words confusing them with Italian.
Conclusion: These valuable findings and this research are likely to pave the way for future scientists to delve even deeper into the parameters of writing with the ultimate goal of developing more advanced software that
will help to improve the use of languages by foreign users and to prepare tests more accurate and fair by certification entities.
Conference Presentations by Chrysovalantou Kapeta
For this reason, 316 texts were chosen randomly produced by Greek candidates of Italian Language for the exams of the Greek State Certificate of Italian Language regarding the period May 2015 and
November 2016. After selection, the above were manually digitized in Word format 2010 and measured in the Read-IT tool (Dylan Tool). The data processing and factor analysis were done with the SPSS.24 software which shows that the Greek users B1 and Β2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages produce texts per level of language learning and degree of difficulty that are differentiated through features intertwined with vocabulary, grammar and syntax, like appropriate or inappropriate language, spelling, textual coherence and cohesion.