Computer speech-based remediation for reading disabilities: the size of spelling-to-sound unit in a transparent orthography

This study was designed to assess the effects of four reading-training procedures for children with reading disabilities (RD) in a transparent orthography, with the aim of examining the effects of different spelling-to-sound units in computer speech-based reading. We selected a sample of 83 Spanish children aged between 7 years 1 month and 10 years 6 months (M = 105.2, SD = 7.8) whose pseudoword reading performance was below the 25th percentile and IQ > 90. The participants were randomly assigned to five groups: (a) the whole-word training group (WW) (n = 17), (b) the syllable training group (S)(n = 16), (c) the onset-rime training group (OR) (n = 17), (d) the phoneme training group (P) (n = 15), and (e) the untrained control group (n = 18). Children were pre- and post-tested in word recognition, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and orthographic and phonological tasks. The results indicate that experimental groups who participated in the phoneme and syllable conditions improved their word recognition in comparison with the control group. In addition, dyslexics who participated in the phoneme, syllable, and onset-rime conditions made a greater number of requests during computer-based word reading under conditions that required extensive phonological computation (low frequency words and long words). Reading time, however, was greater for long words in the phoneme group during computer-based reading. These results suggest the importance of training phonological processes in improving word decoding in children with dyslexia who learn in a consistent orthography.     

小学儿童英语正字法技能的发展及其在单词阅读中的作用

为系统探讨正字法技能不同成分的发展特点及其在英语单词阅读中的作用,对小学一、三、五年级共110名儿童施测英语正字法规则意识、正字法模式建构技能、正字法编码技能、单词阅读以及一般认知能力和英语语音意识测验。结果表明：（1）汉语儿童的英语正字法技能各成分随年级显著增长,各成分间及其与一般认知技能、语音意识的关系存在年级差异;（2）控制年龄、一般认知能力和语音意识后,正字法技能在三、五年级仍对单词阅读有显著的独立解释作用,且其独立贡献率高于语音意识;（3）进一步控制其他正字法技能成分后,正字法规则意识以正字法模式建构技能为完全中介间接地作用于单词阅读,正字法模式建构技能在三、五年级都仍对单词阅读有显著的独立解释作用,正字法编码技能在五年级中能显著地独立解释单词阅读的部分变异。     

Phonological and orthographic coding skills in adult readers

Although less skilled readers are handicapped by their poor phonological skills, this may not be true of their visual and orthographic coding skills. Because of an increasing reliance on visual-orthographic coding with reading experience, the author predicted that there would be smaller differences between skilled and less skilled adult readers on orthographic coding measures than on phonological coding measures. The orthographic and phonological coding measures involved, respectively, judgments of which looks more like a word, filv-fild, and which sounds like a real word, kake-dake? On the orthographic measure, reading groups did not differ in coding speed--although the less skilled readers made more errors, but far fewer than on the phonological coding measure. Differences between reading groups were substantial for both speed and errors on the phonological coding measure. Phonological variables accounted for most of the variance in word recognition, and this was especially true for men. The results suggest that in less skilled adult readers, phonological skills are a primary factor in their reading despite some evidence of visual-orthographic compensation.     

The relationship between paired associate learning and phonological skills in normally developing readers

Seventy-five 6- to 11-year-old children were administered tests of phonological awareness, verbal short term memory (STM), and visual-verbal paired associate learning (PA learning) to investigate their relationship with word recognition and decoding skills. Phonological awareness was a stronger concurrent predictor of word recognition than verbal STM, and phonological awareness but not verbal STM was a predictor of learning in the PA learning task. Importantly, measures of phonological awareness and PA learning both accounted for independent variance in word reading, even when decoding skill was controlled. The results suggest that PA learning and phonological awareness tasks tap two separate mechanisms involved in learning to read. The results are discussed in relation to current theories of reading development.     

Generalist genes and cognitive abilities in Chinese twins

This study considered how far nonverbal cognitive, language and reading abilities are affected by common genetic influences in a sample of 312 typically developing Chinese twin pairs aged from 3 to 11 years. Children were individually given tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary, phonological memory, tone awareness, syllable and rhyme awareness, rapid automatized naming, morphological awareness and orthographic skills, and Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices. Factor analyses on the verbal tasks adjusted for age indicated two factors: Language as the first factor and Reading as the second factor. Univariate genetic analyses indicated that genetic influences were substantial for nonverbal cognitive ability and moderate for language and reading. Multivariate genetic analyses showed that nonverbal cognitive ability, language and reading were influenced by shared genetic origins, although there were specific genetic influences on verbal skills that were distinct from those on nonverbal cognitive ability. This study extends the Generalist Genes Hypothesis to Chinese language and reading skills, suggesting that the general effects of genes could be universal across languages.     

学前和小学低段不同识字量儿童的认知能力比较

以193名学前儿童和291名一到三年级小学生为研究对象, 比较了不同年级、不同识字量儿童在语音意识、语素意识、快速命名、视觉技能和正字法意识方面的差异。结果显示, 不同年级、不同识字量儿童分别在语音意识和语素意识的不同层面存在差异, 学前主要表现在音节删除和语素建构任务中, 小学阶段表现在韵母识别、音位删除以及语素判断和语素产生方面;快速命名能力是区分各阶段儿童汉字识别能力的有效指标, 学前儿童的视觉能力与识字量密切相关, 而小学儿童的正字法意识与识字量密切相关。     

Development of phonological and orthographic processing in reading aloud,in silent reading,and in spelling: a four-year longitudinal study

The development of phonological and orthographic processing was studied from the middle of Grade 1 to the end of Grade 4 (age 6; 6-10 years) using the effects of regularity and of lexicality in reading aloud and in spelling tasks, and using the effect of pseudohomophony in a silent reading task. In all the tasks, signs of reliance on phonological processing were found even when indicators of reliance on orthographic processing appeared. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine which early skills predict later reading achievement. Pseudoword and irregular word scores were used as measures for phonological and orthographic skills, respectively. Only middle of Grade 1 phonological reading skills accounted for independent variance in end of Grade 4 orthographic skills. Conversely, from the middle to the end of Grade 1, and from the end of Grade 1 to the end of Grade 4, both orthographic and phonological skills accounted for independent variance in later orthographic skills. In the prediction of phonological skills, only the unique contribution of earlier phonological skills was significant. Thus, phonological and orthographic processing appear to be reciprocally related, rather than independent components of written word recognition. However, very early reliance on the phonological procedure seems to be the bootstrapping mechanism for reading acquisition.     

Vowel processing during silent reading: evidence from eye movements

Two eye movement experiments examined whether skilled readers include vowels in the early phonological representations used in word recognition during silent reading. Target words were presented in sentences preceded by parafoveal previews in which the vowel phoneme was concordant or discordant with the vowel phoneme in the target word. In Experiment 1, the orthographic vowel differed from the target in both the concordant and discordant preview conditions. In Experiment 2, the vowel letters in the preview were identical to those in the target word. The phonological vowel was ambiguous, however, and the final consonants of the previews biased the vowel phoneme either toward or away from the target's vowel phoneme. In both experiments, shorter reading times were observed for targets preceded by concordant previews than by discordant previews. Implications for models of word recognition are discussed.     

Dynamic relationships between phonological memory and reading: A five year longitudinal study from age 4 to 9

We reconcile competing theories of the role of phonological memory in reading development, by uncovering their dynamic relationship during the first 5 years of school. Phonological memory, reading and phoneme awareness were assessed in 780 phonics‐educated children at age 4, 5, 6 and 9. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that phonological memory loaded onto two factors: verbal short‐term memory (verbal STM; phonological tasks that loaded primarily on serial order memory) and nonword repetition. Using longitudinal structural equation models, we found that verbal STM directly predicted early word‐level reading from age 4 to 6, reflecting the importance of serial‐order memory for letter‐by‐letter decoding. In contrast, reading had no reciprocal influence on the development of verbal STM. The relationship between nonword repetition and reading was bidirectional across the 5 years of study: nonword repetition and reading predicted each other both directly and indirectly (via phoneme awareness). Indirect effects from nonword repetition (and verbal STM) to reading support the view that phonological memory stimulates phonemically detailed representations through repeated encoding of complex verbal stimuli. Similarly, the indirect influence of reading on nonword repetition suggests that improved reading ability promotes the phoneme‐level specificity of phonological representations. Finally, the direct influence from reading to nonword repetition suggests that better readers use orthographic cues to help them remember and repeat new words accurately. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70LZfTR0BjE .     

汉语阅读障碍的语音加工及正字法加工缺陷的实验研究

本研究对汉语阅读障碍的加工缺陷进行探讨,期望有助于揭示语言加工的普遍性与特殊性,以及阅读障碍的成因,并可为后期的干预提供帮助。研究采用改编的言语认知测验对阅读水平匹配组与阅读障碍组和生理年龄匹配组进行比较后发现,阅读障碍组在语音意识和正字法加工任务上的成绩均明显差于生理年龄控制组和阅读水平匹配组;阅读障碍组在快速命名和语音记忆任务上的成绩不如生理年龄匹配组,仅达到阅读水平匹配组水平。因此,汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童存在语音意识和正字法加工缺陷,这两种缺陷可能是阅读障碍儿童面临的最主要的两大缺陷;阅读障碍儿童在快速命名和语音记忆上的不足可能是发展迟滞所致。同时,大多数的汉语阅读障碍儿童存在不止一种的认知缺陷。阅读障碍儿童在语音意识和正字法加工上存在缺陷的比例最高。     

There are Multiple Contributors to the Verbal Short-Term Memory Deficit in Children with Developmental Reading Disabilities

Prior research has put forth at least four possible contributors to the verbal short-term memory (VSTM) deficit in children with developmental reading disabilities (RD): poor phonological awareness that affects phonological coding into VSTM, a less effective phonological store, slow articulation rate, and fewer/poorer quality long-term memory (LTM) representations. This project is among the first to test the four suppositions in one study. Participants included 18 children with RD and 18 controls. VSTM was assessed using Baddeley's model of the phonological loop. Findings suggest all four suppositions are correct, depending upon the type of material utilized. Children with RD performed comparably to controls in VSTM for common words but worse for less frequent words and nonwords. Furthermore, only articulation rate predicted VSTM for common words, whereas Verbal IQ and articulation rate predicted VSTM for less frequent words, and phonological awareness and articulation rate predicted VSTM for nonwords. Overall, findings suggest that the mechanism(s) used to code and store items by their meaning is intact in RD, and the deficit in VSTM for less frequent words may be a result of fewer/poorer quality LTM representations for these words. In contrast, phonological awareness and the phonological store are impaired, affecting VSTM for items that are coded phonetically. Slow articulation rate likely affects VSTM for most material when present. When assessing reading performance, VSTM predicted decoding skill but not word identification after controlling Verbal IQ and phonological awareness. Thus, VSTM likely contributes to reading ability when words are novel and must be decoded.     

How does orthographic knowledge influence performance on phonological awareness tasks?

Three experiments explored the nature of orthographic influences on performance on phonological awareness tasks. Experiment 1 demonstrated that adults find it easier to perform phoneme deletions on items where there is a direct correspondence between letters and target sounds (e.g., take the /r@/ from struggle) than where there is not (e.g., take the /w@/ from squabble). Analogous results were found in a phoneme reversal task. Spelling production ability tended to correlate more strongly with performance on the former type of item than on the latter, suggesting that elevated performance on phonological awareness tasks is associated with the use of orthographic information. Experiment 2 produced similar results in Grade 5 children. Experiment 3 suggested that adults cannot inhibit orthographic activation when it is disadvantageous to them, as they performed no better on items such as squabble when they were presented in pure blocks than when they were presented in mixed blocks. It is concluded that there are substantial automatic orthographic influences on phonological awareness task performance that need to be taken into account in interpreting data concerning the relationship between phonological awareness and reading.     

语音意识的不同成分在汉语儿童英语阅读学习中的作用

研究一测查了74名小学三、五年级儿童辨别、删除汉语和英语音节、首音-韵脚、音位等不同语音成分的能力以及英语单词阅读,考察语音意识不同成分与英语阅读学习的关系及母语语音意识的作用途径.研究二测查了83名英语阅读较差和73名英语阅读一般及以上儿童的英语语音删除和单词认读能力,考察阅读水平对于语音意识作用的调节效应.结果表明:(1)英语首音-韵脚意识对英语阅读具有显著的独立贡献;(2)汉语首音-韵脚意识和声调意识分别对英语单词认读和假词拼读具有显著的独立贡献,二者通过英语首音-韵脚意识的中介发挥作用;(3)阅读水平具有显著的调节作用.首音-韵脚意识是正常儿童阅读的有效预测变量,而音节意识是低水平儿童阅读的有效预测变量.上述结果与有关语音意识各成分在英语为母语儿童阅读学习中作用的研究结果不同,提示第二语言的学习具有特殊性,母语经验影响着个体第二语言学习的过程.     

The relationship between phonological skills and word decoding

Word decoding ability is a critical factor in reading performance. In the present study, we examined the relationship between word decoding ability and three different phonological skills; phonemic awareness, verbal short-term memory (V-STM), and rapid automatic naming (RAN) in 1007 Scandinavian third- and fifth-graders. In the first part of the study, we sought to investigate the influence of the three phonological skills on word decoding ability. Using multiple regression analysis, our result clearly demonstrated that phonemic awareness was the most powerful phonological skill explaining variance in word decoding ability among average decoders. Among children with poor decoding skills, however, RAN was the most important factor in Grade 3, whereas V-STM was the main contributor to decoding ability among children in Grade 5. In the second part of the research, we examined the relationship between poor phonological skills and word decoding ability. Interestingly, our result revealed that approximately one half of the children with phonological difficulties, still performed within the average range with regard to word decoding ability. However, our analyses confirmed earlier research concerning the severe word decoding difficulties children with both poor phonemic awareness and restricted V-STM, experience.     

Word recognition in developmental dyslexia: A connectionist interpretation

We present a study of the accuracy, consistency, and speed of word naming in a dyslexic boy, JM, who has severe impairments in the ability to use sub-lexical, phonological reading strategies. For words that he can recognise, JM's naming latencies do not differ from those of control subjects matched for reading age, and he is generally consistent from one occasion to the next. He can also match printed homophones with their definitions--a skill that requires access to well-specified orthographic representations. The data are interpreted as evidence for the creation of efficient recognition devices for words within JM's sight vocabulary. However, he shows a continuing inability to use phonological decoding strategies to deal with words that he cannot recognize by sight. Overall we argue our results pose problems for stage models of reading development, and that they may best be interpreted within a connectionist framework of the development of word recognition skills.     

藏语母语者汉语词汇识别的眼动研究

采用眼动技术,通过两个实验考察了藏语母语者在不同语境中阅读汉语句子时,字形、语音信息在词汇识别中分别发挥的作用以及词频效应。结果发现：（1）在高限制性句子语境中,字形和语音共同作用;（2）在低限制性句子语境中,语音作用显著;（3）词频效应出现在高限制性语境的晚期,以及低限制性语境的中期和晚期。该结果表明,在藏语母语者阅读汉语的过程中,句子语境影响词汇识别过程中字形、语音的作用及作用的时间进程,藏语母语者汉语词汇识别符合双通道理论。     

LEARNING TO READ IN ARABIC: READING,SYNTACTIC, ORTHOGRAPHIC AND WORKING MEMORY SKILLS IN NORMALLY ACHIEVING AND POOR ARABIC READERS

ABSTRACT

While many studies point to a positive relationship between phonological skills and reading in English, little is known about these relationships for children learning to read in Arabic. Arabic orthography is considered deep if it is not vowelized but shallow if it is vowelized. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among reading ability, phonological, semantic, orthographic and syntactic skills in Arabic. The participants were 143 Arab children, aged 8‐11, in Arab villages of central Israel. They were administered working memory, visual, oral close, phonological, word recognition, spelling, orthographic, and word attack tests. The results showed that word recognition test was highly correlated with phonological skills, semantic processing, syntactic knowledge and short‐term memory. Poor readers showed a significant lag in the development of these skills, the problems being most significant at phonological and semantic levels and less so at the visual levels. The similarities and differences between the acquisition of reading skills in Arabic and English are discussed.     

Relations between enabling skills and reading comprehension: a follow-up study of Latvian students from first to second grade

In order to examine the relationships among various phonological skills and reading comprehension, Latvian children were followed from grade 1 to grade 2 and were tested with a battery of phonological, word reading, and reading comprehension tasks. A principal component analysis of the phonological tasks revealed three salient factors: a phonemic awareness factor, a rapid naming factor, and a short-term memory factor. In order to analyze the relationship between various phonological skills and reading comprehension, a structural modeling analysis was performed. Phonemic awareness and rapid naming explained approximately the same amount of unique variance in reading comprehension, but phonemic awareness had most predictive power indirectly via word decoding. Only rapid naming had a significant direct impact on reading comprehension.     

Chicken or egg? Untangling the relationship between orthographic processing skill and reading accuracy

There is increasing evidence of a relationship between orthographic processing skill, or the ability to form, store and access word representations, and reading ability. Empirical research to date has not, however, clarified the direction of this relationship. We examined this question in a three-year longitudinal study of children from Grades 1 to 3. We included standard measures of orthographic processing skill, at both the lexical and sublexical level, and word reading accuracy, as well as controls of vocabulary, non-verbal reasoning, and phonological awareness. In all analyses, word reading predicted progress in acquiring orthographic processing skill, regardless of grade level or orthographic processing measure. In contrast, orthographic processing skill did not predict progress in word reading. Our results suggest that, between Grades 1 and 3, children acquire orthographic processing skill through their reading and that this ability, as characterized by the most common tasks used to date, does not play an independent role in supporting reading acquisition.     

Word reading and picture naming in Italian

Results from two separate norming studies of lexical access in Italian were merged, permitting a comparison of word-reading and picture-naming latencies and the factors that predict each one for an overlapping subsample of 128 common nouns. Factor analysis of shared lexical predictors yielded four latent variables: a frequency factor, a semantic factor, a length factor, and a final factor dominated by frication on the initial phoneme. Age of acquisition (AoA) loaded highly on the first two factors, suggesting that it can be split into separate sources of variance. Regression analyses using factor scores as predictors showed that word reading and picture naming are both influenced by the frequency/AoA factor. The semantics/AoA factor influenced only picture naming, whereas the length and frication factors influenced only word reading. Generalizability of these results to other languages is discussed, including potential effects of cross-language differences in orthographic transparency.