Estelle A. Doctor

Developmental surface dyslexia: a case study of the efficacy of a remediation programme

Abstract A remedial training programme was devised and implemented in a single case of developmental dyslexia. Extensive pre-therapy psycholinguistic assessment determined the developmental stage at which the acquisition of reading skills had arrested. Subject DF had failed to develop orthographic skills; his pattern of performance resembled that of surface dyslexics. Remediation focused on development of the strategy DF had failed to acquire. The efficacy of remediation was investigated employing a single subject case study incorporating a crossover design with multiple baseline and repeated pre- and post-therapy measures. DF indicated significant positive effects of therapy, which could only be ascribed to the treatment. Theoretical explanations and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Phonological processing in bilingual word recognition

Abstract A model of bilingual word recognition is presented which is derived from current unilingual dual route and verification models. A core feature of this model is that word recognition involves obligatory grapheme-phoneme translation followed by an optional spelling check. The model is able to account for an observed interlingual homophone effect, and successfully predicts the consequences which impaired functioning of this translator would have for a bilingual who is learning to read orthographically deep and shallow languages simultaneously.

The evolution of deep dyslexia : Evidence for the spontaneous recovery of the semantic reading route

Abstract Most theoretical accounts of deep dyslexia postulate at least two independent deficits which give rise to the observed pattern of reading impairment. One deficit is an inability to derive phonology from orthography sublexically and the second is an impairment in semantically mediated reading. These deficits generate a host of symptoms including an impairment in reading nonwords, a part-of-speech and imageability effect in word reading, and, importantly, the occurrence of semantic paralexias. It is possible, then, that during recovery of deep dyslexia, either one or both of these underlying deficits resolve. We describe a case, RL, with deep dyslexia who showed significant change in his reading performance in the absence of any therapeutic intervention. At 18 months post-onset, unlike at 6 months post-onset, RL no longer produced any purely semantic errors nor did he show effects of imageability or past-of-speech on his oral readings. Despite his change, RLs ability to read nonwords did not impro...

MEMORY SCANNING: A COMPARISON OF THE DYNAMIC STACK AND EXHAUSTIVE SERIAL SCAN MODELS, WITH AN EXTENSION OF THE LATTER *

Abstract Sternberg (1966) introduced a paradigm which allowed him to examine the relation between recognition latency and the size of a set of targets. He obtained linear plots of latency against set size, and explained these by a model for the item recognition task which included a process of exhaustive serial scanning of the list of positive items. Theios (1973) offered an alternative explanation for these data. In his model positive and negative items are stochastically ordered in a dynamic stack, and subjected to serial, self-terminating search. The present paper derives alternative predictions from these two theories and tests them. Experimental results are reported which are not compatible with either model. On the basis of these results, the dynamic stack model is rejected, and a theory is put forward that preserves Sternbergs (1966) principle of serial exhaustive search, but adds to this strategies directed at speed and accuracy maximisation. The theory allows memory scans to be repeated. It provides a new account of the generation of nonlinear latency functions which is consistent with serial exhaustive search. It allows differences to arise between the slopes of positive and negative set size functions even though the search process is exhaustive and not self-terminating. It also predicts speed-accuracy trade-off data of the form obtained by Reed (1976).

A Psycholinguistic Perspective on Bilinguals' Discrepant Questionnaire Responses

The Finding That Bilinguals Sometimes Respond Differently To The Same Item In Different Language Versions Of Questionnaires Is Usually Interpreted In Terms Of Social Psychological Processes Such As Accommodation, Ethnic Affirmation, Or Social Desirability. However, The Discrepant Responses Of Bilinguals May Be A Function Of The Way In Which The Languages Have Been Acquired. In Terms Of The Dual-Coding Model, Compound Bilinguals Should Have The Same Images Related To Interlingual Equivalents, Whereas Coordinate Bilinguals Should Function More Like Unilinguals, Since Their Two Conceptual Systems, Acquired Through Each Language, Are Clearly Differentiated. Thus Differences In Responses To Questionnaires In Two Different Languages Should Occur In Bilinguals Who Are Of A More Compound Type. Results Of A Study Testing This Hypothesis Are Reported.

A letter-by-letter reader who could not read nonwords.

Letter-by-letter reading is a neuropsychological syndrome characterized by oral reading which seems to be mediated by explicit naming of constituent letters of the printed string. Thus reading time rises abnormally as a function of the length of the items to-be-read. This syndrome is generally interpreted as indicating a disconnection within the normal reading system prior to the activation of the visual and phonological lexical access routes. The patient retains a subsidiary strategy of spelling words by naming their constituent letters and uses this strategy for planning their pronunciation. If this interpretation is correct then reading aloud in letter-by-letter reading should not be affected by the features of the letter string which are stored lexically as the functional disconnection is postulated to occur prior to this stage. In this paper we report the case of a letter-by-letter reader who shows some signs which are puzzling in terms of current interpretations of the syndrome. They can be summarized as follows: (1) The patient reads words better than he reads nonwords; (2) Concrete words are processed more holistically while abstract words are processed more letter-by-letter; (3) Lexical decisions can be made far more rapidly than words can be read aloud. These three signs are very difficult to account for if reading is accomplished solely through a non-lexical reversed spelling strategy. Our experimental investigations of this patient are reported and alternative models assuming strategic control over the reading mechanism are discussed.

Homography and Polysemy as Factors in Bilingual Word Recognition

This study reports an experiment which examines semantic representation in lexical decisions as a source of interconnection between words in bilingual memory. Lexical decision times were compared for interlingual polysemes such as HAND which share spelling and meaning in both languages, and interlingual homographs such as KIND which share spelling but not meaning. The main result was faster “response times for polysemes than for interlingual homographs. Current theories of monolingual word recognition and bilingual semantic representation are discussed, and the findings are accommodated within the model of bilingual word recognition proposed by Doctor and Klein.

Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism. Part 1. External Features

In this review we evaluate definitions of bilingualism, its nature and scope, and types of bilinguals. We indicate the importance of assessing the degree of bilingualism accurately, and delineate some of the difficulties associated with evaluating it. We discuss bilingualism and biscriptalism, and reading different orthographies. Finally we place these issues within the context of English — Afrikaans bilingualism in South Africa.

Comprehending Text and Comprehension Tests

Four different categories of reading tests are discussed with special attention to their relevance for reading comprehension. Diagnostic and phonic tests serve special functions, but pronunciation, or word tests are often assumed to be measures of comprehension. A detailed critique of one of these, the Schonell Graded Reading Test (R1) is presented and some explanations are suggested for the type of error usually made on this type of test. Several different types of comprehension tests exist, and these are discussed. A different comprehension test which distinguishes between the ability to comprehend material presented aurally and the ability to comprehend the same material in its printed form is presented. The relationship between pre- and post-lexical phonology is also discussed in relation to reading tests.

Considering reading cognitively a review

Several studies of reading are reviewed with particular reference to the type of code, visual or phonological, adopted by the reader to obtain meaning from printed symbols. Integrated into the review are reports of recent studies on phonological encoding in children, skilled readers, poor readers, and the deaf. The role of orthography in pre- and postlexical encoding is also reviewed and it is concluded that phonological encoding takes place and is prelexical for pronunciation tasks, but when sentences rather than single words are presented to the reader, phonological encoding, if it occurs at all, is probably postlexical.