Effet des connaissances linguistiques en langue maternelle (arabe vs portugais) sur les performances phonologiques et morphologiques en français langue seconde

On the one hand, this study aims to determine whether acquisitions in mother tongue influence learners' phonological and morphological knowledge of French as second language. Therefore, Arabic and Portuguese speakers' sensitivity and awareness of different sublexical French units are compared. On the second hand, this study aims to appreciate the link between this knowledge and recognition of French written words among these two populations. Results indicate that Arabic speakers are not sensitive to rime. However, they are more competent to analyse explicitly the morphoderivational structure of words than Portuguese speakers. Finally, different profiles of readers are determined considering their mother tongue. Results are discussed in light of mother tongue linguistics features and their closeness to French.     

Improving parent–child interactions through interactive reading workshops

IntroductionMany authors agree on the importance of training parents in early literacy strategies.ObjectiveThis study analyses the effects of an intervention to improve parent–child interactions during reading sessions, using interactive reading techniques.MethodThe design is exploratory and includes a treatment group (n = 22), which benefited from four interactive reading workshops, and a control group (n = 18), which did not benefit from specific training. Both groups read the same books, three times a week, for 10 weeks. The children come from middle socioeconomic backgrounds and attend preschool or kindergarten (grades 1–3).ResultsThe analyses were conducted on the basis of pre- and post-intervention video observations, coded using the Adult–Child Interactive Reading Inventory (ACIRI). Results from an ANCOVA show that parental behavior, and in turn child behavior, improves in post-intervention: parents improve their children's attention to the text and implement literacy strategies, while the children become more involved in the interactions.ConclusionInteractive reading workshops for parents improve the quantity and quality of parent–child interactions when reading books in a natural and playful context.     

Factors influencing drivers’ reading and comprehension of on-board traffic messages

IntroductionWhen variable message signs (VMS) or on-board traffic information systems are used, it is essential that while driving, motorists read and understand the information as soon as possible in order to make appropriate decisions to increase road safety and/or facilitate traffic flow. Thus, it is important to investigate the factors that may increase fast reading and comprehension of on-board traffic information.ObjectivesWe examined the influence of the type of message (warnings vs. recommendations), location of the pictogram (top or bottom of the text), type of display device (IPhone, Blackberry, or Tablet) and its position (horizontal or vertical) on drivers’ fast reading and comprehension of on-board messages provided via in-vehicle system. Moreover, we were interested in drivers’ acceptability of in-vehicle system.MethodForty-nine drivers (M_Men = 32, 19–65 years) participated to a reading and comprehension task while travelling on a desktop driving simulator. Participants were exposed to two series of 11 traffic messages displayed on one of the three devices. Reading and comprehension times were measured (= milliseconds) for each message. At the end, they had to fill in a questionnaire on their beliefs about on-board traffic messages and in-vehicle system.ResultsDrivers expressed a positive attitude toward on-board traffic messages and in-vehicle system. Reading and comprehension times were of approximately 4 seconds and were longer for warnings as compared to recommendations. The pictogram placed at the top of the text, the tablet and the vertical display device facilitated fast reading and comprehension.     

Contributions des aspects idiomatiques et morphologiques du langage à la lecture aux CE1 et CM1

Background and objective

To our knowledge, no research has so far associated idiomatic (or figurative) and morphological aspects of language in children reading and in examining the various skills involved. This study aims to: (1) specify, at two levels of reading ability, the implication of these two dimensions of language in decoding-word identification and comprehension and their possible correlation: idiom comprehension and morphemic skills have in common the need to pay attention to the meaning and play with the different levels of language analysis (literal vs figurative and sublexical vs lexical representations); (2) examine individual performance profiles of children with reading difficulties, in the light of these idiomatic and morphological skills.

Effects of an early reading intervention based on grapho-syllabic decoding and fluency training in French elementary schools

IntroductionStudies conducted in recent decades have led to the development of instructional interventions to help prevent or eliminate a large proportion of reading difficulties. However, few experiments have been conducted in French schools.ObjectiveAims for this research were to create, implement and evaluate a remediation program for French students with reading difficulties up to the end of elementary school.MethodThis paper examines the effects of a decoding-skills and fluency-based intervention on 133 struggling readers in second- to fifth-grade. Depending on the nature of their reading difficulties, students were given a year-long training based either on grapho-syllabic conversion — focusing on syllable units, rather than phonemic units, is considered a promising way of helping French-speaking beginning readers — or on repeated reading techniques, used to improve fluency.ResultsIncreases in written-word identification scores were greater for students who followed the program than they were for a control group of 184 students with reading difficulties who did not follow the program.ConclusionThe results show that programs combining early evaluation of written-word identification abilities followed by a year-long series of remediation sessions focusing on specific difficulties can help students progress in written-word identification. However, further research is needed to examine why our program was less effective with children from disadvantaged (“éducation prioritaire”) areas.     

Contribution de la motricité graphique à la reconnaissance visuelle des lettres

The ability to recognize single letters, an important step in reading, is traditionally assumed to depend only on visual processes. However, as many of the objects surrounding us, letters are learnt through a matching between a visual configuration and movements. We review arguments suggesting that the characteristics of writing movements impact visual recognition of letters, at both a behavioral and neural levels. This impact might be especially strong when the orientation of letters has to be processed.     

Multisensory letter integration and implicit learning of reading with 5-year-old children

IntroductionSeveral studies have shown that adults can memorize an audio-visual association in response to an incidental presentation. Moreover, a motor experience of the letter-shape promotes letter knowledge and reading acquisition.ObjectiveIn order to develop optimal learning designs for children, we evaluate the effect of the implicit learning of grapho-phonemic correspondences on decoding abilities (study 1). The action performed on the letter-shape in this type of learning was then also investigated with regard to the emergence of multisensory knowledge (study 2).MethodsA paradigm inspired by studies conducted with adults was tested in 5-year-old children (study 1). A classical design pre-test/learning/post-test was used in the study 2. During the learning, the child was asked to explore the letter shape. An incidental presentation of the corresponding sound was simultaneously proposed to the child.ResultsResults indicated that (1) implicit learning was efficient on the discrimination of grapho-phonemic correspondences in young children and (2) the motor action amplified audio-visual integration within a single memory trace.ConclusionThese results are discussed in the light of knowledge emergence in long-term memory and the benefit of an implicit training at the beginning of reading acquisition.     

Lexical orthographic knowledge acquisition in adults: The whole-word visual processing impact

IntroductionOne of the most persistent difficulties in French written language acquisition is lexical orthographic memorization. Both theoretical models and behavioral studies have suggested that simultaneous visual processing of all the letters of a word could be important for the acquisition of its orthographic form.Main goalTwo experiments are conducted to test this whole-word visual processing hypothesis.MethodThe paradigm used in both experiments is a self-teaching paradigm in which adult participants had to read orthographically complex bisyllabic pseudowords in isolation. In one reading condition, all the letters of the item are available at once, in the other the first and second syllables are seen successively. After reading, participants had to spell under dictation and to recognize the written items.ResultsGlobally, the results showed that participants better recall the orthographic form of a word after having read it in the whole-word reading condition. The result of the recognition task, in the second experiment, was in line with the result of the spelling under dictation task.ConclusionThese results, although they should be interpreted with caution, are in line with the whole-word visual processing hypothesis. Applied consequences for orthographic learning and teaching, as for remediation of specific orthographic disabilities, are discussed.     

L'impact des schémas non analogiques conceptuels dans la compréhension de textes expositifs : stratégies visuelles selon l'expertise

The main objectives of this study are: 1) to determine the contribution of a conceptual not-analogical schema in an expositive text's comprehension and memorizing according to the reader's previous knowledge level in the field approached in the text; 2) to identify the differentiated reading strategies according to the reader's previous knowledge level in the field when it is about understanding expositive schematized texts via ocular movements recording on one hand and the score given on the comprehension questions on the other hand. The results highlight a reading strategy with more Text/Schema transitions accompanied by longer fixations on the textual zone for the items for which the subjects are novice in the field than for those whose contents relate to their expertise field.     

大学生面众交流恐惧的心理测量学初探

研制测量大学生面众交流恐惧的量表。采用初测量表在西南地区师范类与非师范类大学随机测查349名大学生,对回收有效数据进行探索性因素分析。采用正式量表对西南地区师范类与非师范类619名大学生进行施测,将回收有效问卷进行分半处理,将其中一半的数据作为验证性因素分析;另一半数据作为交互效度分析。3个星期后,随机抽取西南某省师范大学与非师范大学生100名进行重测。验证性因素分析结果表明,大学生面众交流恐惧量表由4个维度构成,分别是上台恐惧,社交交流恐惧、小组交流恐惧和交流自信。交互效度的检验表明该量表具有测量恒等性,可使用于大学生不同样本的测量。