**1. Introduction**

The skin is the primary protective barrier of the human body, and it plays a role in preserving moisture in the body and protecting the skin from the external environment. The epidermal stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the skin, is involved in protecting the moisture content of the skin in a dry environment [1]. When the epidermis is repeatedly exposed to a large amount of ultraviolet (UV) light, it induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and oxidative stress. UV rays can penetrate the epidermal and dermal layers and facilitate ROS generation in cells and tissues through various processes [2]. UV-induced ROS accelerate aging by inducing photooxidative damage to the skin. ROS cause an imbalance in enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense systems of the skin and prevent normal cell functions owing to lipid peroxidation-induced cell membrane damage [3]. Increased oxidative stress in skin cells activates the expression of matrix metalloproteases, thereby reducing collagen production and elastic fiber synthesis, thereby promoting skin aging [4]. As it cannot recover from the continuous oxidation state, the skin surface becomes rough and loses its luster, leading to skin aging, which involves loss of elasticity and wrinkle formation [5].

The stratum corneum, which affects skin moisture retention, forms a lipid layer composed of ceramide, cholesterol, and free fatty acids between keratinocytes and has low permeability compared to general phospholipid biofilms, thereby inhibiting the permeation

**Citation:** Ahn, Y.; Kim, M.G.; Jo, K.; Hong, K.-B.; Suh, H.J. Effects of Sphingomyelin-Containing Milk Phospholipids on Skin Hydration in UVB-Exposed Hairless Mice. *Molecules* **2022**, *27*, 2545. https:// doi.org/10.3390/molecules27082545

Academic Editor: Smaoui Slim

Received: 29 March 2022 Accepted: 12 April 2022 Published: 14 April 2022

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

of external substances [6]. The stratum corneum produces natural moisturizing factors, such as amino acids, lactic acid, urea, citrate, and hyaluronic acid (HA), to maintain body water balance [7]. The stratum corneum of a healthy person contains approximately 10 to 30% moisture, and insufficient moisture causes abnormalities in the skin barrier and increases transdermal moisture loss, resulting in dry skin. Loss of moisture caused by abnormal skin barrier function reduces skin elasticity, thickens the epidermis, promotes wrinkle formation, causes diseases such as itching and xerosis, and worsens diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis [8]. Moisture supply and maintenance of moisture in the skin are important in terms of pathological and cosmetic aspects [7]. Active ingredients required to moisturize the skin include ceramide, hydroxy acid, glycerin, and butylene glycol, and these compounds are either applied to the skin or ingested orally [9,10].

Research on the development of commercial cosmeceuticals has been conducted through the repositioning of natural and synthetic products, and research to explore and utilize food materials with wrinkle-improving effects continues steadily [11]. This study used sphingomyelin-containing phospholipids, which are polar lipids extracted from milk whey with ethanol. Most of it contains phospholipids, mainly phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, and sphingolipids, mainly sphingomyelin [12]; therefore, it is a food ingredient rich in precursors of ceramides necessary for skin moisturizing. Milk fat is a dietary source of sphingomyelin, and dietary sphingomyelin raises ceramide levels in the body. Ceramide plays a role in maintaining the moisture in the epidermis and skin barrier function [13,14].

Numerous studies have been conducted on natural diets and herbs for skin moisturizing and skin barrier function improvement, but studies on milk phospholipids are limited. Therefore, in this study, the skin moisturizing effect of milk phospholipids was evaluated by measuring the expression levels of skin hydration factors and enzymes related to the synthesis and decomposition of hyaluronic acids in hairless mice induced by photoaging. By measuring the expression level of enzymes involved in ROS removal by milk phospholipids, the potential for skin photoaging inhibition was evaluated, and the mechanism of action of ROS removal was investigated.

#### **2. Results**

#### *2.1. Effects of Milk Phospholipids on Body Weight Changes and Plasma Biochemical Parameter*

During the experimental period, all the experimental groups showed a tendency to gradually increase in body weight (Supplementary Materials Table S1). In addition, the milk phospholipid administration groups (low-dose milk phospholipids [ML]: 50 mg/kg; medium-dose milk phospholipids [MM]: 100 mg/kg; high-dose milk phospholipids [MH]: 150 mg/kg) did not show a significant difference in body weight compared to the NOR group. Plasma biochemical values are shown in Table S2. Plasma levels of glucose, aspartate transaminase and alanine transferase were not significantly different between groups. The milk phospholipid administration groups (MM and MH) showed significantly lower triglyceride levels compared to the NOR group (*p* < 0.05 and *p* < 0.01, respectively), but the total cholesterol levels were similar to the NOR group.

#### *2.2. Effects of Milk Phospholipids on Skin Parameters*

Erythema formation and skin thickness are expressed as delta values, which represent the difference in values before and after the UV treatment (Figure 1A,B). As representative phenomena of skin photoaging, the erythema index and skin thickness were significantly higher in the UVB-C group than in the normal group (*p* < 0.001). However, oral administration of milk phospholipids decreased the erythema index in a concentration-dependent manner, showing improvement in UV-induced photoaging (Figure 1A). Administration of medium (MM) and high (MH) doses of milk phospholipids significantly decreased the erythema index compared to the UVB-C group (*p* < 0.05 and *p* < 0.01, respectively). Oral milk phospholipid administration, particularly MM and MH doses, significantly decreased UV-mediated increase in skin thickness compared to the UVB-C group (Figure 1B; *p* < 0.01

and *p* < 0.05, respectively). Collectively, MM and MH groups showed positive effects on erythema and skin thickness.

**Figure 1.** Effects of milk phospholipids on erythema formation (**A**), skin thickness (**B**), skin hydration (**C**) and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) (**D**) in ultraviolet (UV) B-irradiated hairless mice. NOR: oral administration of saline without UVB irradiation; UVB-C: oral administration of saline under UVB irradiation; ML: oral administration of low-dose (50 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MM: oral administration of medium-dose (100 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MH: oral administration of high-dose (150 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation. Data are expressed as means ± standard error (*n* = 6). \* *p* < 0.05, \*\* *p* < 0.01, and \*\*\* *p* < 0.001 vs. UVB-C group (Tukey's test).

Skin hydration and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) were determined to evaluate skin barrier function, which plays an important role in skin hydration. Skin moisture content and transdermal moisture loss are expressed as delta values, which represent the difference in values before and after the experiment (Figure 1C,D). There were significant differences in the delta values of skin hydration and TEWL between normal and UVB-C groups (*p* < 0.001). Furthermore, UV-induced reduction in skin hydration was reversed by milk phospholipid administration in a concentration-dependent manner (Figure 1C). Similarly, milk phospholipid administration also improved TEWL (Figure 1D). In particular, ML and MH groups showed a significant improvement in TEWL compared to the UVB-C group, but there was no dose-dependent change (*p* < 0.01 and *p* < 0.05, respectively). Compared with the UVB-C group, the MM group showed a tendency to decrease TEWL, but there was no significant difference. Taken together, milk phospholipids exhibited improving effects on the skin barrier function.

#### *2.3. Effects of Milk Phospholipids on HA Synthesis and Degradation*

HA is a compound responsible for skin moisture and is involved in inhibiting moisture loss from the epidermis and maintaining skin elasticity. HA is synthesized by hyaluronic acid synthase (HAS) and degraded by hyaluronidase (HYAL). UV irradiation significantly decreased the expression of HAS (HAS1, 2, and 3) (Figure 2A–C; *p* < 0.01, *p* < 0.05, *p* < 0.05, respectively), but significantly increased the expression of HYAL (HYAL1 and 3) (Figure 2D,E; *p* < 0.01, *p* < 0.001, respectively) compared to the normal group. However, milk phospholipids increased HAS expression, which were reduced by UV, and decreased HYAL expression, which were increased by UV, in a concentration-dependent manner (Figure 2D,E). HA content in the skin was also reduced by UV irradiation, but it was significantly increased by oral milk phospholipid administration (Figure 2F; *p* < 0.001). Hereby, milk phospholipids are thought to improve skin hydration by regulating the expression of HAS and HYAL.

**Figure 2.** Effects of milk phospholipids on gene expression of HAS (**A**–**C**) and HYAL (**D**,**E**) and hyaluronic acid (HA) content (**F**) in UVB-irradiated hairless mice. NOR: oral administration of saline without UVB irradiation; UVB-C: oral administration of saline under UVB irradiation; ML: oral administration of low-dose (50 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MM: oral administration of medium-dose (100 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MH: oral administration of high-dose (150 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation. Data are expressed as means ± standard error (*n* = 6). \* *p* < 0.05, \*\* *p* < 0.01, and \*\*\* *p* < 0.001 vs. UVB-C group (Tukey's test). HAS: hyaluronan synthase; HYAL: hyaluronidase.

#### *2.4. Effects of Milk Phospholipids on the Expression of Skin Moisture-Related Factors*

UV rays damage the skin, causing abnormal skin barrier function and eventually dryness [15]. The effect of milk phospholipids on the recovery of skin barrier function damaged by UV was examined. The gene expression of involucrin and filaggrin, which are differentiation-promoting factors involved in keratinocyte membrane formation, and AQP3, a gene that encodes a protein that synthesizes the water passage in the basal outer layer of the cell membrane, were determined (Figure 3). Their expressions were significantly lower in the UVB-C group than in the normal group (Figure 3; *p* < 0.01, *p* < 0.001, and *p* < 0.01, respectively). Milk phospholipids significantly increased their expression in a concentrationdependent manner (Figure 3; *p* < 0.001). Collectively, milk phospholipids appear to be

involved in the restoration of skin barrier function by suppressing UV-mediated decrease in the expression of these factors.

**Figure 3.** Effects of milk phospholipids on the expression of filaggrin (**A**), involucrin (**B**), and AQP3 (**C**) in UVB-irradiated hairless mice. NOR: oral administration of saline without UVB irradiation; UVB-C: oral administration of saline under UVB irradiation; ML: oral administration of low-dose (50 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MM: oral administration of mediumdose (100 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MH: oral administration of high-dose (150 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation. Data are expressed as means ± standard error (*n* = 6). \*\* *p* < 0.01 vs. UVB-C group (Tukey's test). AQP3: aquaporin3.

#### *2.5. Effects of Milk Phospholipids on ROS Production and Expression of Genes Encoding Antioxidant Enzymes*

Figure 4 shows the inhibitory effect of milk phospholipids on ROS production and expression of genes encoding antioxidant enzymes. ROS levels were significantly higher in the UVB-C group than in the normal group (Figure 4; *p* < 0.001). Milk phospholipids significantly lowered UV-induced ROS production in a concentration-dependent manner (Figure 4A; *p* < 0.01 and *p* < 0.001, respectively). The expression of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), SOD2, catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1), which are involved in ROS removal, were lower in the UVB-C group than in the normal group (Figure 4B–E). Milk phospholipids suppressed UV-mediated decrease in gene expression in a concentration-dependent manner. In particular, the expression of the antioxidant enzymes was significantly increased by MM and MH doses. Altogether, oral milk phospholipid administration inhibited photoaging by suppressing ROS generation and regulating the expression of genes encoding antioxidant enzymes.

#### *2.6. Effects of Milk Phospholipids on Nrf2-Keap1-Related Protein Expression*

Oral administration of milk phospholipids suppressed UVB-induced ROS generation and the decrease in gene expression of antioxidant enzymes. Therefore, to examine the underlying mechanisms of milk phospholipids, protein expression of nuclear factor erythoride-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap-1), which are affected by oxidative stress, and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an antioxidant enzyme, were examined by Western blotting (Figure 5). Protein expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 (*p* < 0.001 and *p* < 0.05, respectively) were significantly lower, but that of keap1, a negative regulator of Nrf2, was significantly higher (*p* < 0.01) in the UVB-C group than in the normal group (Figure 5A,B). Milk phospholipids increased Nrf2 and HO-1 expression and decreased Keap1 expression in a concentration-dependent manner. Taken together, milk phospholipids demonstrated ROS scavenging effects by increasing the expression of the transcription factor Nrf2, contributing to an increase in ROS scavenging-related enzymes.

**Figure 4.** Effects of milk phospholipids on ROS production (**A**) and the expression of genes encoding the antioxidant enzymes SOD1 (**B**), SOD2 (**C**), CAT (**D**), and GPx1 (**E**) in UVB-irradiated hairless mice. NOR: oral administration of saline without UVB irradiation; UVB-C: oral administration of saline under UVB irradiation; ML: oral administration of low-dose (50 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MM: oral administration of medium-dose (100 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MH: oral administration of high-dose (150 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation. Data are expressed as means ± standard error (*n* = 6). \*\* *p* < 0.01 and \*\*\* *p* < 0.001 vs. UVB-C group (Tukey's test). ROS: reactive oxygen species; CAT: catalase; SOD: superoxide dismutase; Gpx-1: glutathione peroxidase-1.

**Figure 5.** Effects of milk phospholipids on protein expression of Nrf2 (**A**), Keap1 (**B**), and HO-1 (**C**) in UVB-irradiated hairless mice. Western blot and protein quantifications are shown. NOR: oral administration of saline without UVB irradiation; UVB-C: oral administration of saline under UVB irradiation; ML: oral administration of low-dose (50 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MM: oral administration of medium-dose (100 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation; MH: oral administration of high-dose (150 mg/kg b.w.) milk phospholipids under UVB irradiation. Data are expressed as means ± standard error (*n* = 6). \* *p* < 0.05 and \*\* *p* < 0.01 vs. UVB-C group (Tukey's test). Nrf2: Nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2; Keap1: Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1; HO-1: heme oxygenase-1.

#### **3. Discussion**

The skin has a barrier function to protect the body from environmental factors, such as chemicals, pathogens, air pollutants, and UV rays, and a moisturizing function to prevent water loss from the body. The skin is an organ that retains moisture and performs an essential barrier function to protect the body from the intrusion of external factors [16]. In particular, the stratum corneum of the epidermis acts as a skin barrier to protect the skin from the outside while retaining moisture [17]. Skin moisture is the most important factor for maintaining skin health and controlling aging. When UV-induced photoaging progresses, the optimal moisture content of the skin cannot be achieved, and enzymes that produce lipids and natural moisturizing factors are not activated, causing the stratum corneum of the skin to become dry and thick [18].

The keratinocyte membrane is formed when proteins, such as loricrin and involucrin, generated during the differentiation of keratinocytes are cross-linked by transglutaminases [19]. Genes whose expression increases as differentiation progresses include transglutaminase 1 and 3, involucrin, loricrin, cornifin, and filaggrin. Among them, transglutaminase 1 strengthens the skin barrier by crosslinking the structural proteins involucrin, loricrin, and cornifin and imparts resistance and insolubility by catalyzing a stable isotope peptide bond during keratinocyte formation [20]. UV light inhibits the production of natural moisturizing factors by reducing the expression of proteins involved in keratinocyte membrane formation, such as filaggrin, involucrin, and caspase-14 [21]. In keratinocytes, among transmembrane proteins, AQP3 is expressed; aquaporins (AQPs) specifically transport water and glycerol into cells. Glycerol is a structural component for various lipids, and has a positive effect on elasticity and wound healing by increasing the water content of the epidermal layer [22]. Interestingly, AQP3 expression decreases with age, and contributes to skin dryness [23]. As a result, UV-induced damage to the epidermis layer causes skin dryness by reducing skin moisture content [24]. We found that UV rays reduced the expression of genes encoding filaggrin, involucrin, and AQP3, which are skin moisture-related factors; however, oral milk phospholipid administration reversed this effect (Figure 3). Uncontrolled expression of inflammation-related factors causes dysfunction of the epidermal barrier, which is seen in diseases such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. Our previous study reported that administration of sphingomyelin-containing milk phospholipids reduces production of proinflammatory cytokines in the photoaged skin [25]. We also confirmed that milk phospholipids had similar effects to virgin coconut oil, *Centella asiatica*, and *Tamnolia vermicularis*, which are known to affect epidermal markers (filaggrin, involucrin and AQP3) responsible for keratinocyte differentiation and skin barrier function [26–28].

Although UV irradiation decreased skin moisture and increased TEWL, oral milk phospholipid administration improved the skin barrier damage (Figure 1). UV irradiation promotes the detachment of keratinocytes from the skin surface, weakening the skin hydration and skin barrier function. According to the H&E staining results of epidermis, oral administration of milk phospholipids inhibited the increase in epidermal thickness caused by UV irradiation [29]. In addition, administration of milk phospholipids lowered plasma triglyceride levels compared to the NOR group. Ref. [30] reported that milk-derived phospholipids improved plasma lipid levels, including triglycerides, in obese mice induced by a high-fat diet. UV irradiation induces the increase of TEWL and the alteration of stratum corneum lipid profile by disrupting epidermal barrier functions in skin [31]. According to our previous study [25], sphingomyelin, which is involved in the skin barrier function, decreased when irradiated with UV light, but showed a tendency to increase in the skin tissue by administration of milk phospholipids. Dietary sphingomyelin might improve skin barrier function by altering skin inflammation and covalently bound ω-hydroxy ceramides, and it is also known that dietary sphingomyelin can promote the formation of the epidermal cornified envelope by changes in inflammation-related gene expression [32].

ROS and reactive nitrogenous species (RNS), which are formed during inflammatory processes, are known to be critical for signaling, aging, and apoptosis in extrinsic or intrinsic

skin. Several studies showed that hydroxyl radical or endogenous ROS affected epidermal HA catabolism by producing peroxynitrite [33,34]. Overproduction of ROS/RNS has been known to promote the degradation of HA, which has the capacity to bind and retain water molecules, resulting in the expansion of skin aging. Thus, the control of ROS/RNS in skin metabolism is essential in skin health. Furthermore, HA is a major component of the extracellular matrix and is involved in water retention, maintenance of intercellular spacing, and storage and diffusion of cell growth factors and nutrients [35]. HA content decreases with skin aging and represent a direct cause of decreases in skin elasticity and moisture content [36]. HA is synthesized by HAS and degraded by HYAL [37]. Among HAS, HAS2 and HAS3 are known to play a decisive role in HA synthesis. UV rays affect the expression of these proteins, damaging the epidermal layer and causing a decrease in skin moisture content. This eventually leads to dry skin and accelerated aging [38]. However, oral milk phospholipid administration seemed to contribute to skin hydration by maintaining HA content, which was reduced by UV irradiation, as milk phospholipids upregulated HAS gene expression and downregulated HYAL gene expression (Figure 2).

In addition, it has been reported that accumulated UV irradiation breaks the antioxidant defense system and promotes the generation of lipid oxidation products including malondialdehyde by increasing ROS production [39]. ROS generated by UVB exposure accelerate skin aging by participating in wrinkle formation and melanin generation via decomposition of binding tissue components, such as collagen and HA, and abnormal crosslinking of these components [40,41]. In this study, SOD, CAT, and GPx1 expression were decreased by UV irradiation, but milk phospholipid administration reversed this effect (Figure 4). Moreover, although sphingomyelin has been known to represent one of the main factors behind the antioxidant activity of milk and dairy products [42], the current study has demonstrated that sphingomyelin-containing milk phospholipids can upregulate the expression of antioxidant enzymes in skin tissues.

The skin barrier improvement effect of milk phospholipids appeared to be related to the activation of Nrf2-keap1, which is related to ROS removal. Milk phospholipids activated Nrf2 and increased the expression of HO-1, an antioxidant enzyme, thereby reducing ROS produced by UV irradiation (Figures 4A and 5). Nrf2, which responds sensitively to intracellular oxidative stress, is a transcription factor for some antioxidant enzymes and is known to play an important role in protecting against UV-induced skin cell death and acute skin burns [43]. In a steady state, Nrf2 levels in the cytoplasm are kept low by Keap1, which forms a complex with Nrf2 and degrades it. During oxidative stress, Nrf2 is separated from Keap1 and translocated to the nucleus [44], where it forms a dimer with the small Maf protein, binds to the antioxidant response element (ARE), and activates HO-1, an ARE-dependent antioxidant gene [45]. HO-1 is a member of the intracellular phase II enzyme family, plays an important role in ROS generation and maintenance of homeostasis against oxidative stress, and is one of the cell protection mechanisms.

We demonstrated that milk phospholipid administration improved skin hydration in a UVB-induced photoaging model. In the future, we will investigate changes in the lipid composition of the skin by administration of milk phospholipids. However, since this study evaluated the effect of milk phospholipids in a UVB-induced photoaging model, additional studies are needed to clarify the effect of milk phospholipid administration on the skin in a normal skin model. Milk phospholipids were involved in the restoration of skin barrier function damaged by UV rays and improved the skin moisture and transdermal moisture loss. This result was suspected to be because of a decrease in UV-induced ROS production following the activation of the Nrf2-Keap1 system. In addition, milk phospholipids may have improved UVB-induced skin barrier damage by supplying the skin constituent lipids containing ceramide.

#### **4. Materials and Methods**

#### *4.1. Materials and Animals*

Sphingomyelin-containing milk phospholipids were provided by Solus Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. (Yongin, Korea). Sphingomyelin-containing milk phospholipids consist of: Phospholipids 25.0 ± 5.0% (phosphatidylcholine 7.5 ± 1.5%, phosphatidylethanolamine 6.5 ± 1.5%, phosphatidylserine 1.3 ± 0.7%, sphingomyelin 6.5 ± 1.0%), lactosylceramide 1.5 ± 0.5%, glucosylceramide 0.9 ± 0.6% and GD3 ganglioside 0.3 ± 0.1%. Eight-weekold SKH-1 hairless male mice (Central Lab Animal Inc., Seoul, Korea) were acclimatized for one week before being used in the experiment. They were reared in an environment maintained at a temperature of 23 ± 2 ◦C, humidity of 55 ± 10%, and light/dark cycles of 12 h. They were provided with solid feed and ad libitum access to drinking water. To induce photoaging, mice were irradiated with UVB; UVB irradiation dose was 1 minimal erythemal dose (MED; 75 mJ/cm<sup>2</sup> ) in weeks 1 and 2, 2 MED in week 3, 3 MED in week 4, and 4 MED in week 5 onward, 3 times a week for a total of 8 weeks. For UV irradiation, a UV irradiator (BLX-254, Vilber Lourmat, Marne La Vallee, France) with UVB lamp (UB800, Waldman Licht Technik GmbH) was used. In addition, UV spectrum was measured using a UV light meter (UV-340, Lutron, Taipei, Taiwan) before UVB irradiation. Experimental animals were randomly divided into five groups, each group containing six mice: normal (unirradiated) group (NOR), UVB-irradiated group (UVB-C), 50 mg/kg b.w. milk phospholipid-administered group (ML), 100 mg/kg b.w. milk phospholipid-administered group (MM), and 150 mg/kg b.w. milk phospholipid-administered group (MH). Mice in the experimental groups (ML, MM, and MH) were orally administered with milk phospholipids once a day. The sample was administered intragastrically and was conducted simultaneously with UVB irradiation for a total of 8 weeks. The body weight of mice was measured once a week. After the end of the experiment period, whole blood was collected from the abdominal aorta and centrifuged (3000 rpm, 4 ◦C, 15 min) to separate plasma for serum biochemical analysis. The animal experiments were approved by the Korea University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (KUIACUC-2020-0054).

#### *4.2. Measurement of Skin Parameters*

To evaluate skin barrier function, skin hydration and TEWL were measured on the dorsal side of mice. Skin hydration content was measured using a Corneometer CM825 (Courage and Khazaka electronic GmbH, Cologne, Germany) and TEWL was measured using a Tewameter TM300 (Courage and Khazaka electronic GmbH) equipped with a Multi Probe Adapter MPA5 (Courage and Khazaka electronic GmbH). The erythema index of the mouse dorsal skin was determined using a Mexameter MX18 (Courage and Khazaka electronic GmbH). A caliper (Ozaki MFG Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) was used to measure skin thickness, which was the thickness of the middle part after grabbing the skin of the lower part of the mouse tail and the neck by hand. Skin parameters (erythema, skin thickness, skin hydration, and TEWL) were expressed as delta values, which are differences from the initial values of the experiment.

#### *4.3. Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR) Analysis*

The qRT-PCR analysis was performed using cDNA prepared from mRNA fractions of tissue lysates as previously described [46]. Target gene expression was normalized to that of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH; NM\_008084.3). The target gene information is as follows: HAS-1 (NM\_008215.2), HAS-2 (NM\_008216.3), HAS-3 (NM\_008217.4), HYAL-1 (NM\_008317.6), HYAL-3 (NM\_178020.3), filaggrin (NM\_001013804.2), involucrin (NM\_008412.3), AQP3 (NM\_016689.2), superoxide dismutase (SOD) 1 (NM\_011434.1), SOD2 (NM\_013671.3), glutathione perxodiase1 (GPx-1) (NM\_008160.6), and catalase (CAT) (NM\_009804.2).

#### *4.4. Measurement of Protein Expression by Western Blot Analysis*

Proteins were isolated from skin tissues using a lysis buffer, and the concentration of the isolated proteins was quantified using the Bradford assay [47]. Proteins were separated by 6–15% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and then transferred to polyvinylidene fluoride membranes. After blocking the membranes with 5% skim milk solution for 1 h, anti-Nrf2 (1:1000, #12721, Cell Signaling Technology, Beverly, MA, USA), anti-Keap1 (1:1000, #8047, Cell Signaling Technology), anti-HO-1 (1:1000, SC-120745, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX, USA), and anti-β-actin (1:1000, #8457, Cell Signaling Technology) were added, and incubated overnight at 4◦C. The membranes were washed with 1X Tris-buffered saline (TBST) buffer, reacted with secondary antibodies (anti-rabbit IgG, 1:2000, #7074, Cell Signaling Technology) for 2 h, washed with 1X TBST buffer, and treated with enhanced chemiluminescence reagent to determine the expression of proteins. The results were normalized to the endogenous protein, β-actin.

#### *4.5. Measurement of ROS*

For ROS measurement, the skin tissues were homogenized in 40 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.4) and centrifuged [48]. Next, 10 µM 20 ,70 -dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA) was added to the supernatant and reacted at 37 ◦C. Fluorescence (Excitation wavelength: 485 nm, emission wavelength: 535 nm) was measured after 30 min (SpectraMax Gemini EM fluorometer, Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA, USA).

#### *4.6. Statistical Analysis*

Data are expressed as the mean ± standard mean error (SEM). The statistical significance was at the *p* < 0.05 level. Comparisons between treatment groups were performed using one-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey's multiple range test using the Statistical Package for the Social Science software (SPSS Version 20, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).

**Supplementary Materials:** The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https: //www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/molecules27082545/s1, Table S1. Effects of milk phospholipids on body weight changes in ultraviolet (UV) B-irradiated hairless mice; Table S2. Effects of milk phospholipids on serum biochemical parameters in ultraviolet (UV) B-irradiated hairless mice.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, K.-B.H., K.J., and H.J.S.; methodology, K.-B.H. and H.J.S.; software, M.G.K.; validation, Y.A., K.-B.H. and K.J.; formal analysis, Y.A. and M.G.K.; investigation, K.J.; data curation, Y.A.; writing—original draft preparation, Y.A. and H.J.S.; writing—review and editing, Y.A., M.G.K., K.-B.H., K.J., and H.J.S.; visualization, Y.A. and M.G.K.; supervision, K.-B.H. and H.J.S.; project administration, H.J.S.; funding acquisition, H.J.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by Solus Biotech Co., Ltd. (Yongin, Korea) and Holistic Bio Co., Ltd. (Seongnam, Korea) (Q2026771).

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The animal study protocol was approved by the Korea University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol code KUIACUC-2020-0054 and date of approval: 2020.11.09.).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

**Acknowledgments:** This research was supported by Solus Biotech Co., Ltd (Yongin, Korea) and Holistic Bio Co., Ltd., Korea (Seongnam, Korea). The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

**Sample Availability:** Samples of the milk phospholipids are available from the corresponding authors, Ki-Bae Hong and Hyung Joo Suh.

### **References**


**Figure 17.**

*CareLink Statistics: A comparison between date range A (blue) and B (orange). Progress between both date ranges, blood glucose (BG), insulin usage, and saccharides consumed (Table 7).*


Three factors principally accounted for the teacher's perception of the nature of effective teaching and learning science are a conducive learning environment, instructional processes, and consciousness of professional demands. In a conducive learning environment, it is apparent that the teachers perceive that effective teaching and learning science involves teachers who show love and empathy to their students and create a good human relationship with their students. Such environments make students feel comfortable to ask questions to help build their knowledge and understanding [14, 37]. The supervisors, mentors, and mentees who have gone through science training themselves recognize that proper knowledge of the content of science and knowledge of how to transform this content form an integral part of science teaching and learning. Thus, teachers perceive that an effective teacher demonstrates this knowledge by giving detailed explanations of concepts, which is well justified with an appropriate instructional strategy. As educators, the teachers appreciate that effectiveness needs to be sustained as such they perceive effective teaching and learning science involves a teacher who conducts research to update his/her knowledge and conceptual understanding of science concepts, ideas, and principles that needed explaining to students. There is, therefore, a need for Ghana Education Service to organize professional development programs for experts to share experiences on contemporary approaches to creating a conducive learning environment for basic school students. On the part of instructional processes, it came to bear that effective teaching and learning science involves teachers who by nature care about students' prior knowledge, simplifying the provided learning material in ways that meet individualized needs and respecting the diversity of any kind, ensuring solidarity and implementing democratic procedures, reducing students' learning load, and encouraging feedback [39]. The teachers' perception that as part of the instructional processes of effective teachers, they make their lessons participatory could be because they might have been aware that participatory approaches, a constructivist approach, enable students to make meaning of science concepts by themselves. Moreover, the teachers' perception of effective teaching and learning science in relation to teacher

### *A Comparative Study of Groups of Teachers on the Perceived Nature of Effective Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110366*

consciousness of professional demands helps basic school teachers to manage their time well. This confirms earlier findings [14, 37] that effective teachers manage their time to avoid wastage of instructional time. The teachers perceive that effective science teachers by their nature take time to explain to students difficult concepts. As much as possible, science educators in colleges of education should maximize the use of instructional time as they prepare preservice teachers. This will make their students see them as role models and, hence, adopt best practices as they handle science in the basic schools.

The findings that there was no statistically significant difference in the mean perceptions of the three groups of teachers on conducive learning environment, instructional processes, and consciousness of professional demands in relation to effective teaching and learning science implies that the science teacher educators (supervisors) might be doing a good job. Because of this, no statistically significant difference among supervisors, mentors, and mentees has once been reported [42] on teachers' perspectives on the effective use of teaching and learning resources in science lessons. Hence, science educators and researchers should conduct further research to investigate curriculum structure and how college tutors conduct their classroom activities to share with the world what the initial teacher training is and its impact on preservice teachers. It could also be that the supervisors have instilled in their students (mentors & mentees) lifelong learning of effective teaching and learning science. In addition, it could be a confirmation of earlier studies that educators have an influence on preservice (mentees) and in-service (mentors) teachers' conception of effective teaching, and this also influences their practices [3, 40, 41]. It is that the supervisors prepare the preservice teachers to develop appropriate knowledge, strategies, and techniques relevant to creating an enabling environment for learning science who eventually continue this acquired (mentors). However, the supervisors need to be aware preconceptions held on by preservice education may be retained by preservice teachers despite methodology units and practicum experiences [41] and help them to address them appropriately.

## **5. Conclusion and implications**

This chapter studied the perceived nature of effective teaching and learning science among supervisors (who were college tutors), mentors (who were in-service teachers in basic schools), and mentees (who were preservice teachers in colleges of education). These teacher groups were linked in common as they were mandated to effective teaching and learning science in the basic schools. Having responded to a questionnaire and interview, through the triangulation mixed methods, the three groups of teachers had highly positive perceptions of effective teaching and learning science in basic schools. Hence, science educators and researchers should case-study effective teaching and learning science in basic schools through observer participation or participation observer to further investigate whether teachers practice what they professed to teach. The factors underpinning this highly positive perception of effective teaching and learning science were a conducive learning environment, instructional processes, and consciousness of professional demands. However, supervisors, mentors, and mentees shared a common perception and did not differ statistically on conducive learning environments, instructional processes, and consciousness of professional demands in relation to effective teaching and learning science though qualitatively some issues were expressed differently by the three groups of teachers.

Hence, the Ministry of Education through the Ghana Education Service should provide opportunities for the three groups of teachers to meet and share experiences on effective teaching and learning science in basic schools.

## **Appendix A**

## **A.1 Effective science teacher questionnaire**

Dear teacher,

This questionnaire seeks your opinions and concerns about the perceived nature of an effective science teacher**.** You are required **NOT** to write your **name** and the name of your **college or school**. Your response(s) to this questionnaire will remain **confidential** and any comment made will not be personalized in this research. The information provided will be used to improve the teaching and learning of science in schools and colleges. Completing the questionnaire means you are consenting to take part in the research.

Please carefully read all the instructions in each section before giving your response(s).

## **SECTION A: Background Information.**

1. Zone

…………………………………………………………………………… .

2. Sex Male [] Female [].

3. Level of Teaching College Tutor [] Primary School Teacher [] JHS Teacher []

4. Role as a Teacher Supervisor [] Mentor [] Mentee []

## **SECTION B: Perceived Nature of Effective Teaching and Learning Science.**

Indicate your level of agreement (**from 1 to 5**) to the following statements on how you consider as an effective science teacher. A rank of 1 is the lowest agreement and a rank of 5 is the highest agreement.

Tick [√ to show your level of agreement. **Lowest to Highest Agreement**

*A Comparative Study of Groups of Teachers on the Perceived Nature of Effective Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110366*

*A Comparative Study of Groups of Teachers on the Perceived Nature of Effective Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110366*

## **Appendix B**

## **B.1 Effective science teacher interview schedule**

This interview schedule is designed to interact with science teachers on a one-toone interview to seek their views on who an effective science teacher is. Your response (s) to this interview will remain **confidential** and any comment made will not be personalized in this research. The information provided will be used to improve the teaching and learning of science in schools and colleges. Transcribed audiotapes will be sent to teachers for their approval and any materials that will form part of the final study will have their consent.

### **A. Bio-Data for teachers**

1.How long have you been teaching in this school?

…………………………………………………………………………………

## 2.How long have you been teaching science?

…………………………………………………………………………………

3.What is your academic/Professional qualification? ………………………………………………………………………………… **B. Who is an effective science teacher?** 4. What instructional strategies do effective science teachers normally use in teaching science? Prompt 1: why those strategies? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 2: is it by group activities? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 3: is it by hands-on activities? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 4: is it by demonstration? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 5: is it by lecture? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 5. How does an effective science teacher acquire and use Instructional materials? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 1: what type of instructional materials do they use? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 2: how do they get them? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 3: do they use more than one instructional material for lesson delivery? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 6. How does an effective science teacher prepare in advance as well as manage his/ her time for science lessons? Prompt 1: does he/she prepare lessons before coming to class? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………

*A Comparative Study of Groups of Teachers on the Perceived Nature of Effective Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110366*

Prompt 2: does he/she allocates time for each stage of lesson delivery? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 3: how does he/she organizes his/her instructional materials? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 7. How do you see the learning environment of an effective science teacher's class? Prompt 1: does he/she build the student's confidence? how? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 2: does he/her have good class control? What are the indicators? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 3: are students free and willing to ask questions? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 4 does he/she provides students with opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need in the classroom? How? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 8. How would you describe the effective science teacher's interest in students' academic improvement? Prompt 1: does he/she considers the students in the preparation of lessons? Why …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… prompt 2: is his/her lesson structured to prepare to work toward their success? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 3: does he/she consider the intellectual abilities of the learners? Why …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… 9. How would you describe the effective science teacher's knowledge of content and instructional strategy? Prompt 1: how is his/her knowledge being demonstrated? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 2: how does he/she updates his/her knowledge? why? ……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………… Prompt 3: how does he/she explain scientific concepts, ideas, and principles when teaching? Why?

………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………

## **Author details**

Kenneth Adu-Gyamfi\*, Isaiah Atewini Asaki and Benjamin Anim-Eduful Department of Science Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*A Comparative Study of Groups of Teachers on the Perceived Nature of Effective Teaching… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110366*

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## **Chapter 3**

## Assessment of Students' Reading Comprehension Skills in Teaching English

*Farida Huseynova*

## **Abstract**

This article presents the reading comprehension skills of freshmen and sophomores majoring in English at the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. The main goal of the paper is to discuss the value of assessment in identifying students' reading proficiency in higher education. Another goal is to help teachers identify assessment criteria and give feedback to students in developing reading comprehension skills. In addition, the article explains the application of assessment strategies and evaluation criteria for various reading comprehension skill levels. The last goal of the research paper is to demonstrate the benefits of formative assessment to both teachers and students. For this purpose, the experiment examines the students' reading comprehension abilities. The study included 31 female and 23 male student participants from the English language faculty. The participants were chosen on purpose from the first and second years of the academic year 2021-2022. The designed survey questions were used to collect data. Qualitative analyses were used to analyze the students' results. According to the findings, teachers believe that reading assessment is an important component of effective reading instruction. Throughout the study, both teachers and students valued the role of formative assessment in improving reading comprehension.

**Keywords:** reading comprehension, strategies, formative assessment, bottom-up, top-down, criteria

## **1. Introduction**

This research presents the importance of assessment as one of the most effective steps in teaching English. Moreover, developing reading comprehension skills in teaching English is more explored by many researchers [1, 2]. Recent research highlight a few considerations exploring measuring reading comprehension that is most typically performed among university students [3].

The term "assessment of reading skills" [4] is seen as the practice of defining the students' reading ability of their skimming, scanning, pronunciation, and interpretation skills). In addition, the term "assessment criteria" is used to refer to the reading process and what criteria measure reading scores in teaching. The concept of "ongoing assessment" includes elements of formative assessment, such as activities, methods, or techniques used in evaluating students reading skills regularly. In brief,

"giving constructive feedback" conduct' or "washback effect" [5] mean what happens between teacher and students to determine students' strength and weaknesses while reading texts of different genres.

The research will focus on the following research questions:

Assessment in developing reading comprehension skills involves the ability of readers to critically evaluate information in a text in addition to word decoding and content comprehension [6, 7]. Moreover, this research aims to explore the main obstacles and difficulties that impede students' text comprehension, as well as developing linguistic, communication, and critical thinking skills. The article presents a new type of standardized reading assessment tasks formats by applying formative assessment tasks that motivate students in reading comprehension.

It is known that from the secondary school level, students have experience with linguistic assessment of reading, and at the university level, there is a need to acquire new skills based on previous knowledge.

Furthermore, this research introduces one of the main issues, the differences between the assessment and evaluation process, in many cases, teachers find it difficult to explain the difference between assessment and evaluation. Although these two terms are each a quality factor, they are used interchangeably, there is a noticeable difference between them. Assessment collects evidence of learner performance, evaluation process provides a measurement of performance based on data collection and analysis [8].

Additionally, it is essential that assessing students' reading skills in English at an intermediate level is crucial in starting the steps of bachelor's degrees in universities. It is known that freshmen and sophomore students at the university should take reading classes in English at a more adequate level. In this case, students' interest in reading is measured by the assessment of their comprehension skills.

The evaluation of reading comprehension in the teaching English language provides teachers with important information about students' weaknesses and reading needs, obstacles, and challenges. The article attempts to provide fair evidence for adequate assessment of reading comprehension.

It is contradictory, in many cases, accepting the assessment from the learning as a separate process makes a great challenge in the assessment of language skills because of time limitations [9].

Another purpose of the paper aims the importance of using reliable criteria to assess reading skills in achieving learning outcomes and to give constructive feedback to the students for improving their reading. In this paper, the authors introduce essential skills that must be assessed in reading, as well as good morphological, syntactical, and vocabulary knowledge, recall of relevant details, and summarizing skills for these study levels. Therefore, this article focuses on examining to assess students' interpretation skills in reading texts when using interactive and genre knowledge [10].

Recently, many studies have been conducted on the correct assessment of reading in the development of bottom-up and top-down skills in reading.

According to Richards and Alderson, curricula play an important role in providing students with the necessary skills to understand fiction, documentaries, and

*Assessment of Students' Reading Comprehension Skills in Teaching English DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110600*

non-academic texts at the intermediate reading level. There has been a growing interest in the development of an English language curriculum that promotes the acquisition of bottom-up and top-down skills in reading effectively [11, 12].

Nevertheless, in checking the comprehension level of reading texts of different genres teachers face many problems in evaluating reading performance at the initial stage of higher education [13]. However, the university system is focused on test-based examinations or taking the paper-based exam on writing theoretical rules of reading strategies to provide sophomore students with reading effectively. Shortanswer items are the most preferred tests utilized in ongoing assessment (formative assessment) methods.

Thus, it is necessary to avoid such assessment tools that disturb students to demonstrate their true abilities. Therefore, it was important to ask them about the effective assessment criteria that they do not use. The students emphasized the importance of using ongoing classroom tasks and activities as useful assessment tools during the experiment. Thus, assessment tools for developing reading abilities do not impose test conditions and help students learn without fear or stress.

## **2. Literature review**

#### **2.1 Reading assessment in the English language teaching**

Assessment has become an essential part of effective teaching and learning. Azerbaijan Education has shifted the assessment norms in English language teaching in universities. Several guidelines have already been developed on the simultaneous application of assessment in education in teaching English. Although there has been some progress in applying new assessment guidelines, the summative assessment has been taken as a student outcome in learning. Traditionally, summative assessment has been accepted to identify students' English language knowledge and skills [14].

Developing reading comprehension skills in teaching English is considered an essential language skill in foreign language teaching. Therefore, this study examines and presents the exploration and analysis of different new theoretical approaches to developing adequate reading assessment.

According to Douglas Brown [15], assessment is an integral part of the teaching cycle and is applied throughout the learning process. Assessment tasks and tests in reading can provide motivation, feedback, and authenticity to the students in learning. Moreover, the role of reading comprehension in English in students' understanding of problems, evaluation, and independent thinking is undeniable in higher education [1].

In addition, the researchers Barr, Tagg [16], Black, Wiliam [17] state that the effective acquisition of reading skills in teaching English in higher education is also measured by the assessment obtained in the exams. It is known that an exam-oriented assessment process does not ensure uniform language skills in reading. Students can play an active role in the learning process to evaluate each other's reading skills with peers [8]. Rethinasamy [18] and Mermelstein [19] noted that classroom assessment is an ongoing process that uses judgments about students' language learning, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other achievements. Thus, reading assessment should allow them to improve their reading in English.

Literature analysis shows that the difficulties during the reading process are indicated in three areas: students' low-level communication skills in reading activities and low students' motivation to engage in reading. Though teachers use reading assignments and class tests to evaluate student reading skills and development, they are more likely to choose the summative assessment method than the formative or alternative assessment for improving reading comprehension. It allows teachers to assess as part of the classroom's ongoing learning activities, thus directly linking assessment with the curriculum. The curriculum should reflect learning outcomes related to acquiring bottom-up and top-down skills in reading comprehension. It is essential to evaluate student performance in direct relation to the curriculum and learning outcomes [20, 21].

Furthermore, reading assessment in English language teaching is considered in four aspects: students' general reading level, students' reading comprehension, reading for information and argument, reading strategies, and reading as leisure [22]. Regarding these, conducting a formative assessment is more productive than a summative assessment in the learning process. Black and Wiliam [9] stated that assessing reading is the main factor influencing students' ability to develop reading comprehension skills in formative classroom-based assessments.

Finally, it is proved that the assessment should be carried out by teachers in the classroom and get an opportunity to use formative assessments instead of summative tests. Students feel free to demonstrate their performance in the classroom performances and participate in the reading process using dialogs, role plays, stories, and summaries. It allows students to develop their personalities, talents, needs, and interests in the reading process. Classroom-based assessment promotes student progress in reading and contributes to their language learning [16].

### **2.2 Reading assessment strategies**

Recently Perera-Diltz and Moe [23] claimed that formative assessments improve teachers' instructional practice and allow them to track students' progress toward standards. This assessment motivates students to build self-confidence pre, while, and after the reading process to comprehend the content. Linse & Nunan [24] and Freeman and Brown [17] point out that reading strategies open good opportunities for assessing reading in an ongoing process. Reading strategies encompass many aspects in conducting pre, while, and after the reading process. Students can respond to all questions, select a word or structure, identify new information, visualize it, schematically interpret content, or summarize in a short context.

It is clear that to become efficient readers of English, two required skills are crucial:

a.bottom-up strategies for recognizing words and phrases to enrich vocabulary size.

b.top-down skills to drive reading strategies and conceptual comprehension.

Moreover, bottom-up strategies entail assessing reading ability measured for the effectiveness of comprehension. In the top-down approach to reading, students can comprehend content and format schemata to demonstrate cultural experiences for interpretation. The main essential factor in bottom-up strategies is assessing students' metacognitive skills (predicting, questioning, paraphrasing, visualizing, evaluating, and summarizing) through using formative classroom assessments [15, 25].

Additionally, reading comprehension skills in English are understood as reading for comprehending meaning in different genres and entertainment. It involves *Assessment of Students' Reading Comprehension Skills in Teaching English DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110600*

decoding specific words to demonstrate higher-order thinking skills. First, they must be able to practice fundamental bottom-up strategies, such as selecting new words, phrases, and appropriate terminologies, and new information on fiction, documentaries, and non-academic texts [7].

Finally, the readers boost a top-down approach, freewriting in summarizing the content on a schema, using prior knowledge and background information, and acquiring all interpretations effectively [26].

### **2.3 Formative assessment criteria in reading**

According to Gipps [27] and Gladwell, L. Leslie [28], the main goal of applying formative assessment are to provide students with appropriate tasks and tests that motivate them to read. Moreover, Cohen [25] and Hudson [29] emphasized that the teacher should make descriptive rubrics for analyzing students' cognitive and metacognitive skills in reading. Teachers should prepare holistic and analytic assessment criteria for assessing various reading activities. In addition, the assessment criteria or descriptive rubrics aim to boost students' critical and creative skills to accomplish reading tasks. According to these criteria, students should improve their linguistic, communicative, and discourse skills in reading. For this purpose, teachers should give constructive or judgmental feedback to each student with clear explanations. Thus, the analysis of the study shows formative assessment tasks and testing are helpful for students to achieve the main goal and support teachers' activity in teaching [13, 30, 31]. Finally, Cohen [25] presents the following formative assessment criteria for reading comprehension (**Table 1**).

Brown [17], Linse and Nunan [24], Rouet and Britt [7] stated that the comprehension process constructs meaning and fluency. Fluency is the main criterion for checking to understand and focuses on developing spoken language. Fluency contributes to students' boosting memory and provides an opportunity for understanding reading [32].

They mentioned that university students must become efficient readers of English. The different types of reading help develop students' micro-skills in reading comprehension. Learners should focus on learning reading style to acquire short-term memory in reading fiction, documentaries, and non-academic reading. Recognizing words, word classes, as nouns and verbs, and sequence of tenses, agreement, and different grammatical forms is significant for effective paraphrasing.

According to Kendeou et al. [13] different genres improve students' macro skills that entail developing communicative functions. Therefore, it is essential to assess learners' genre reading skills to identify their purpose for reading. They read extensive types of

#### **Table 1.** *Reading assessment criteria [25].*

reading, as well as novels, fiction, non-fiction, journals, magazines, announcements, job-related articles, schemata, and other genres of reading. The learners should describe facts and opinions, chronological events, causes and effects, and problem solutions. Several issues were raised in reading schemata in reading. The schemata reading assists students in extracting appropriate meaning and accomplishing the purpose of information. In this case, students need to relate data using numbers and activities for a good interpretation. It is essential to read schemata in English at the university level.

## **2.4 Standardized reading tasks in formative assessment**

Standardized reading tests are conducted for assessing students' linguistic skills, phonemic, lexical, grammatical, reading aloud, vocabulary, and grammar skills. This assessment has only one tool for indicating students' cognitive or bottom-up skills [6]. On the contrary, Dennis [33] and Brown H. Douglas [15] proved that utilizing different formats of tests can improve comprehension skills as the best assessment tool.

According to Perera-Diltz and Moe [23], contrary to using standardized assessment tasks, formative assessment must be used for students' reading comprehension to acquire essential top-down skills (**Table 2**).

Comparing formative assessment tasks with standardized general reading tests in the table, it can be seen that ongoing assessment tasks are more effective in developing critical thinking and understanding. Standardized testing in reading seems very traditional today. The formative assessment tasks on reading comprehension make it possible for the readers to acquire both linguistic and communicative skills [3].

## **2.5 Methodology**

The participants in this study enrolled 54 undergraduate students, 4 teachers, and 2 instructors from the teaching department of the university were registered for

#### **Table 2.**

*Formative assessment tasks for reading comprehension [23].*

## *Assessment of Students' Reading Comprehension Skills in Teaching English DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110600*

the study. The average age of the participants is between 19 and 20. The setting is Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. First, there was a whole assessment criterion for selection. Secondly, the participants were divided randomly among boys (N = 23) and girls (N = 31). Gladwell [34] claimed: "Qualitative Reading Inventory is more important to identify students' strengths and difficulties in assessing reading skills". Qualitative research is a methodology tool for exploring challenges and searching for research questions to gather all of the information on the anticipated study. Therefore, the study presents the following research questions:

## 1.*What measurement tools should be used in assessing freshmen and sophomore students' reading skills?*

The qualitative research approach was utilized to examine students' and teachers' perceptions of using formative assessments in reading classes. Participants claimed that formative assessment is the best tool to identify their strengths and weaknesses in reading. The research conducted open-ended interview questions so that participants could share their reading skills, and experiences with formative assessment. Additionally, the interviews and observations were compared and problems were identified. The records were taken from focus group members and teachers' responses are compared to reading assessment criteria.

First, all interviews were recorded in transcription. Interview questions:

1.*What kind of tasks is appropriate to assess students' reading skills?*

2.*What can you say about bottom-up technologies in reading?*

3.*How do you explain top-down or metacognitive skills in reading?*

However, the study planned procedures in the following phases for adjusting students' reading levels.

**Phase 1.** To select participants from the general student population, including English Language Learners and other respondents.

**Phase 2.** The goal of assessing students' reading levels and selecting appropriate test items must be clear to generate feedback and assign valid scores. In addition, tests should have various purposes to evaluate students' different reading skills. The content of tests is to achieve students' cognitive and metacognitive skills. Participants were provided holistic and analytic rubrics for assessing reading comprehension to identify their levels. Thus, it is also crucial for teachers and learners to understand specific criteria and scores in reading [11].

**Phase 3**. Developing reading tasks and testing items according to the scoring criteria.

The first step in this phase is to develop reading tasks that can assess score items.

The items are supposed to measure specifications on learning outcomes in reading comprehension and content standards. Reading assessment should be measured on standardized assessment tasks (Rethinasamy S. and Ramanair J.) [18].

The common problem realized that teachers and students improve only linguistic skills (bottom-up) in reading comprehension skills than communicative or discourse skills. They need to achieve metacognitive skills (top-down) in comprehending completely.

## **2.6 Findings and discussion**

Surveys were conducted among the students enrolled, and the purpose of the surveys was to design the students' strengths and weaknesses in their reading skills. The data survey questions included student levels, and gender differences among students were mainly included. A survey was conducted to check the level of understanding of reading strategies among boys and girls. Tests and exercises were presented to determine the levels of comprehension among the students, and as the survey result, the frequency of reading, acquisition rate, and the final score were described in the table (**Table 3**).

The survey aimed to collect several assessment methods and activities learners applied in the learning process and how they acquired good reading skills. They could demonstrate comprehension, predict, and recognize the words, improve vocabulary, use it in interpretation, and analyze different types of texts adequately. The observations showed that the girls have more achievements than the boys participating in reading activities to demonstrate good reading comprehension skills (**Table 4**).

Another survey was conducted between boys and girls on reading comprehension frequency, quick understanding of new information and the percentage of understanding and mastering the content of the text, and finally the acquisition of metacognitive skills. For this purpose, several evaluation techniques were incorporated into the survey design. As a result, respondents were able to obtain a medium score after completing the formative assessment tasks (**Table 5**).

Survey analysis proved that many students have good linguistic skills in reading and approved that comprehending seemed challenging perceptions. Several

#### **Table 3.**

*Survey analysis on doing reading comprehension tasks between girls and boys.*

#### **Table 4.**

*Survey results of students' reading acquisition levels (frequency, rate score).*

*Assessment of Students' Reading Comprehension Skills in Teaching English DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110600*

#### **Table 5.**

*The survey analysis of students' attitudes in doing reading assessment tasks.*

time observations were taken during the learning process to determine students' perceptions in assessing their reading skills. The class observations are conducted in some reading sessions as constructive tools to take notes or data in detail [35]. Regarding the qualitative research methodology, it is more important to collect data on students' progress in getting knowledge and skills in assessing reading. Thus, observation lists were used in the classes, and some notes in comparison were taken.

### **2.7 Challenges in reading assessment**

Observations realized that students have some issues with predicting, identifying information, questioning, visualizing, and summarizing. Sophomore students have background knowledge in reading with translating, identifying new words and structures, choosing true and false answers, and responding to close-ended questions on a text model. They have some problems getting confused about the meaning of words and sentences; lack of skills to connect ideas in a passage; eliminate some words that are not important; analyze statements to distinguish important information from the text using minor detail; making passages in order; to explore cause and effect relationship; to use comparison and contrast; to concentrate themselves during reading [16, 36, 37]. Students' attitudes toward reading skills in different genres were observed with different indicators between boys and girls (**Table 6**).

The biggest problem is in reading and understanding texts of different genres. The main problem is reading various genres without analyzing them because of misunderstanding. The study proved that students have more interest in reading non-academic texts in English.

#### **Table 6.**

*Survey analysis of students' reading skills in different genres.*

#### **2.8 Teachers' challenges in the assessment of reading skills**

The research aim is for students to improve assessment reading comprehension skills and explores various theoretical basis on this issue. Rethinasamy and Ramanair [18] suggests that teachers should implement reading assessment as an activity and procedure in English language teaching. These procedures include planning, implementing, and documenting the assessment process. However, teachers' assessment experience of reading skills is limited [13] in teaching. Teachers' main problem is to design formative assessment tasks for assessing reading. They get satisfied having students do more linguistic tasks, vocabulary tasks, multiple-choice tests on mastering good grammar, and several phonetic tasks for spelling in reading [34].

Artieda [38] and Veloo et al. [39] discovered that more university teachers hardly used classroom-based assessment in developing reading skills because they do not consider it helpful to the students. This explains why they practice limited classroombased assessment because the higher education assessment model determines students reading levels by doing paper-based tests instead of practicing reading strategies. They argued that high-stakes testing has negative effects on reading assessment.

First, the discussion revealed that the majority of students should be aware of the requirements of assessment in improving their reading comprehension skills. They argue that the assessment criteria were helpful to identify their levels of reading. Only a few of them (2–3 students) feel stressed while assessing. Secondly, the study discovered that high leveled exam tests that entail theoretical explanations on papers cause fear in students and they could not solve any problems in the current situation.

It is a fact that in the assessment of reading comprehension, students should be involved in various tests, assignments, and daily classroom activities to develop cognitive and metacognitive skills in reading. The variations of tasks are based on wellstructured tests and activities to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the texts for assessment. According to the survey responses, most of the teachers were able to make some progress in reading comprehension by using these types of tasks. The study has related factors that several measurements in formative assessment provide evidence in reading [40]. This evidence was identified in students' activities in the classroom-based reading process.

Moreover, data analysis shows that teachers' practice in assessing students' reading skills should be based on using different instructions to measure students' reading comprehension. They preferred using linguistic tests to communicative task techniques. Hence, students have challenges in involving reading activities and assessing their linguistic, cognitive, and communicative skills to comprehend texts. Another challenge is to have a lack of motivation, reading fluency, and using vocabulary in reading.

Additionally, formative assessment tasks provide all requirements shown above so that teachers could collect all detailed information about their student's progress. Furthermore, all information allows teachers to provide students with appropriate feedback to the students that master their expected skills in reading.

Discussing some lack in the observation process with students expressed their lack of motivation and getting stressed in the assessment process. Therefore, this lack is shown in comprehension of the text and achieving top-down skills. They need appropriate activities to predict the content, predict further events, find cause-effect, make the comparison, analyze the passages, and give a short summarization.

Finally, teachers and students mentioned that effective feedback is the best option to boost learners' further learning. Students are unaware of what areas are being

#### *Assessment of Students' Reading Comprehension Skills in Teaching English DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110600*

assessed during reading or if they needed feedback to improve their reading. The feedback from the teacher helps them be aware of their level. Another finding was that teachers have an average level of insufficient experience in assessment or measuring scores of reading comprehension, therefore they need to involve training in implementing the assessment.

## **3. Conclusion**

The research paper presents the importance and the role of assessment in reading comprehension which has been proven by many theoretical studies. This study showed that the reading comprehension assessment of undergraduate students makes them aware of their strengths and weaknesses in reading. The assessment provides students with opportunities for them to improve their reading comprehension skills across different reading strategies. Therefore, the assessment process should depend on clear criteria to indicate and inform teachers and learners about their reading levels.

Moreover, the article proved that it is necessary to provide freshmen and sophomore students with productive assessment tasks that provide metacognitive skills, rather than linguistic tests and tasks. The formative assessment tasks presented in the article respond to assessing students more adequately.

Nevertheless, both teachers and students have enough difficulties in the assessment of reading. It was pointed out that linguistic tests in reading comprehension do not develop any thinking skills, only content repetition and grammar knowledge. It realized that summative assessment in reading has a negative effect on students' comprehension. Students get stressed because of a lack of knowledge of reading strategies in a short period of time.

For this purpose, motivation, stress relief, and the principle of authenticity should be fully provided so that they feel self-development in reading, but not a test of knowledge in reading. In this case, the tasks on reading strategies should be applied in the reading assessment.

The methodology of the research showed that the qualitative method was the most successful tool for conducting this research. The article comments on the importance of tasks applied in formative assessment and evidence showed students' dynamic growth in reading comprehension skills through surveys.

Formative assessments based on measurable criteria and rubrics can also provide correlation in daily reading activities. It is a fact, the formative assessment allows teachers to see intensively students' strengths and weaknesses in reading. Therefore, tasks that meet formative assessment criteria can provide excellent information about learner achievement. The survey results showed that the respondents believed that ongoing formative assessment was the best tool for assessing reading comprehension.

In addition, teachers need sufficient training and experience in assessing reading comprehension skills in English. This research realized that teachers need to assess this skill on the criteria and to get.

a clear view of their learners' needs.

Hence, this study can benefit the improvement of English reading comprehension skills of lower-course university students and new strategies can be effectively applied in the assessment of reading skills.

At the same time, it will improve both students' and teachers' assessment knowledge and skills in the.

reading process.

*Teacher Training and Practice*

## **Author details**

Farida Huseynova Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University, Baku, Azerbaijan

\*Address all correspondence to<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Assessment of Students' Reading Comprehension Skills in Teaching English DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110600*

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## **Chapter 4**


**6.1. Safety and toxicological concerns of herbal medicine**

The products of herbal medicine have a long history of being safe [39], however the misuse of these medicines may have side effects due to toxic constituents [29]. In some countries, toxicological assessment of herbal medicine and associated products are not employed before placing them in the market [8]. Herbal medicine of a single plant may contain hundreds of constituents and mixed products may contain numerous times that number. The time required to isolate every single active ingredient from every herb would be tremendous [22]. Moreover, these countries lack operative machinery to legalize manufacturing quality standards and practices. Thus making hazardous herbal products continually available to consumers [8]. A study related on the use of traditional eye medicine reported that it caused 26% of childhood blindness in Malawi and Nigeria, and 25% of corneal ulcer in Tanzania [4]. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids have been reported to be fatal, these are molecules within certain plants causing hepatotoxicity through a veno-occlusion illness [10]. Nausea and probably vomiting can occur with some herbs such as ephedra and echinacea. Herbs consumed as teas have been reported to cause diarrhea and hematologic, cardiac and gastrointestinal effects [40]. Herbal products from Asia have been reported to be problematic since it contains numerous contaminants. A study on the assessment of 260 Asian patent medications reported that 25% of these products contained high levels of heavy metals and 7% contained undeclared drugs, decisively and unlawfully added to produce desired effects [41].