Katherine S. Binder

Eye movements and lexical ambiguity resolution: Effects of prior encounter and discourse topic.

Eye movements were monitored as participants read passages that contained 2 occurrences of a balanced ambiguous word. In Experiment 1, local context was manipulated so that the meaning of the ambiguous word either remained the same or changed from the 1st to 2nd encounter. In Experiments 2 and 3. global context was manipulated by shifting the discourse topic between the 2 instances of the ambiguous word. Gaze durations on the 2nd instance of the ambiguous word were shorter when the meaning remained consistent than when the meaning changed, and this facilitation was impervious to changes in the discourse structure. In contrast, processing time in the region immediately following the target was longer when the word meaning changed, but only when the topic of the discourse remained the same throughout the passage. When the topic was shifted, this effect disappeared.

Eye movement control in reading: word predictability has little influence on initial landing positions in words

We examined the initial landing position of the eyes in target words that were either predictable or unpredictable from the preceding sentence context. Although readers skipped over predictable words more than unpredictable words and spent less time on predictable words when they did fixate on them, there was no difference in the launch site of the saccade to the target word. Moreover, there was only a very small difference in the initial landing position on the target word as a function of predictability when the target words were fixated which is most parsimoniously explained by positing that a few programmed skips of the target word fell short of their intended target. These results suggest that low-level processing is primarily responsible for landing position effects in reading.

A comparison of the factors affecting reading performance of functionally illiterate adults and children matched by reading level

We examined the relations among phonological awareness, short-term memory, orthographic ability, contextual information, and reading skill in a study of 60 functionally illiterate adults enrolled in Adult Basic Education programs. Using a multiple regression analysis, the results indicated that phonological awareness, orthographic ability, and context each accounted for a unique portion of the variance in reading skill. To compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of these adult readers to children, we tested 99 children and matched them to the adults on reading level. We then divided the adults and children into more and less skilled readers. Although the more skilled readers out-performed the less skilled readers on most of the tasks, tasks that relied on general world knowledge or experience tended to favor the adult readers. Adults seem to be relying less on phonological decoding, which is an area of weakness for them, and more on remembering specific words and patterns, which is an area of relative strength. Examinamos las relaciones entre conciencia fonologica, memoria a corto plazo, habilidad ortografica, informacion contextual y habilidad lectora mediante el estudio de 60 analfabetos funcionales adultos inscriptos en programas de educacion basica de adultos. Los resultados de un analisis de regresion multiple indicaron que la conciencia fonologica, la habilidad ortografica y el contexto dieron cuenta, cada uno, de una porcion unica de la varianza en habilidad lectora. Para comparar fuerzas y debilidades relativas de los lectores adultos con respecto a los ninos, evaluamos a 99 ninos y los apareamos con los adultos por nivel de lectura. Luego dividimos a los adultos y ninos en grupos de lectores de mayor y menor habilidad. Si bien los lectores de mayor habilidad se desempenaron mejor que los de menor habilidad en la mayoria de las tareas, aquellas tareas que dependian de conocimiento del mundo o experiencia tendieron a favorecer a los adultos. Los adultos parecen depender menos de la decodificacion fonologica, que es un area de debilidad para ellos y mas de la memoria de palabras y patrones especificos, que es un area de fuerza relativa. Wir untersuchten die Relationen zwischen phonologischem Bewustsein, Kurzzeitgedachtnis, orthografischer Fahigkeit, kontextualer Information, und der Lesekenntnis in einer Studie mit 60 funktionell illiteraten Erwachsenen bei dem Erlernen von Basisprogrammen fur Erwachsene. Bei der Anwendung einer multiplen Regressionsanalyse zeigten die Ergebnisse auf, das ein phonologisches Bewustsein, die orthographische Leistung und der Kontext jeweils uber einen eigenen Anteil in der Lesebefahigung gemas der Abweichungerhebung verfugt. Um die relativen Starken und Schwachen dieser erwachsenen Leser mit denen der Kinder zu vergleichen, pruften wir 99 Kinder und verglichen sie mit den Erwachsenen auf Leseeinstufung. Wir unterteilten dann die Erwachsenen und Kinder in mehr oder minder befahigte Leser. Erwachsene scheinen sich weniger auf phonologisches Entschlusseln zu verlassen, welches sich als Schwachebereich bei ihnen erweist, und neigen mehr zum Auswendiglernen spezifischer Worter und Strukturen, welches ein Bereich relativer Starke ist.

Sentential and discourse topic effects on lexical ambiguity processing: An eye movement examination

Models of lexical ambiguity resolution posit a role for context, but this construct has remained relatively undefined in the literature. The present study isolated two different forms of contextual constraint and examined how these sources of information might differentiate between a selective access and a reordered access model of ambiguity processing. Eye movements were monitored as participants read passages that contained either a balanced or a biased ambiguous word. The sentence containing the ambiguous word was held constant and instantiated either the subordinate meaning (Experiment 1) or the dominant meaning (Experiment 2) through the use of local context. These sentences were embedded in passages in which the topic was consistent, inconsistent, or neutral with respect to the meaning biased by the critical sentence. Experiment 1 provided evidence suggesting that the subordinate meaning of an ambiguous word was not selectively accessed even when sentence and discourse topic information biased that meaning. The data from Experiment 2 provided evidence that even the dominant meaning was not selectively accessed. These contextual sources of information were evaluated in terms of the roles they play in models of lexical ambiguity resolution.

Contextual strength and the subordinate bias effect : Comment on Martin, Vu, Kellas, and Metcalf

Martin, Vu, Kellas, and Metcalf (this issue) claim to have demonstrated that the subordinate bias effect (when preceding context instantiates the subordinate meaning of an ambiguous word that has a highly dominant meaning, reading time on that word is lengthened) can be eliminated by strong context. They argue that this provides evidence critical to discriminating between competing models of lexical ambiguity resolution: the reordered access model (in which access of meanings for an ambiguous word is exhaustive but in which the order of access is influenced by prior disambiguating context) and the context-sensitive model (in which access is selective in the presence of prior disambiguating information). We argue that there are methodological problems with their demonstration, but even if there were not, it is unclear that the subordinate bias effect is appropriate for discriminating between competing models of lexical ambiguity resolution (the reordered access model and the context-sensitive model). The effect is an empirical finding and not a fundamental tenet of the reordered access model.

An investigation of morphological awareness and processing in adults with low literacy

Morphological awareness, which is an understanding of how words can be broken down into smaller units of meaning such as roots, prefixes, and suffixes, has emerged as an important contributor to word reading and comprehension skills. The first aim of the current study was to investigate the contribution of morphological awareness independent of phonological awareness and decoding to the reading comprehension abilities of adults with low literacy. Results indicated that morphological awareness was a significant unique predictor of reading comprehension. A second aim of the study was to investigate the processing of morphologically complex words of adults with low literacy in both an oral reading passage and a single-word naming task. Adults’ accuracy and response times were measured on different types of morphologically complex words and compared with control words matched on frequency in both the passage and the naming tasks. Results revealed that adults were vulnerable to morphological complexity: they performed more accurately and faster on matched control words versus morphologically complex word types. The educational implications for Adult Basic Education programs are discussed.

DOES CONTEXTUAL STRENGTH MODULATE THE SUBORDINATE BIAS EFFECT? A REPLY TO KELLAS AND VU

In their reply to Binder and Rayner (1998), Kellas and Vu (1999) raised questions about the criteria we used to exclude items from the Kellas, Martin, Yehling, Herman, and Vu (1995) stimulus set. In this reply, we further document these criteria and also address the issue of local versus published norms. We continue to believe that the stimulus set used by Kellas et al. (1995) was problematic. We also address the issue of strength of context, a concept used in earlier research that dealt with the subordinate bias effect. We argue that the contexts used by Kellas et al. (1995) were no stronger than the contexts previously used that established this effect. Therefore, we continue to think that our finding that context does not eliminate the subordinate bias effect is valid.

Examining the Impact of Feedback and Repeated Readings on Oral Reading Fluency: Let's Not Forget Prosody.

Although extensive research supports repeated readings (RR) as an intervention for improving reading fluency, it largely ignores reading prosody, which is a key component of reading fluency. The current study extends the RR literature by examining the impact of RR on prosody and whether the content of directions and feedback might impact what components of fluency are improved. Elementary students (N = 76) were randomly assigned to either a rate- or prosody-focused RR intervention. The study differs from existing RR research in that (a) students were average as opposed to struggling students, (b) prosody was evaluated, and (c) measures of prosody were objective as opposed to subjective. Results support previous research suggesting that RR improves fluency but indicate that the nature of the instruction and performance feedback provided to students influences the components of reading fluency (i.e., rate or prosody) that are improved.

The Contributions of Phonological and Morphological Awareness to Literacy Skills in the Adult Basic Education Population

The Adult Basic Education (ABE) population consists of a wide range of abilities with needs that may be unique to this set of learners. The purpose of this study was to better understand the relative contributions of phonological decoding and morphological awareness to spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension across a sample of ABE students. In this study, phonological decoding was a unique predictor of spelling ability, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. We also found that morphological awareness was a unique predictor of spelling ability, vocabulary, and listening comprehension. Morphological awareness indirectly contributed to reading comprehension through vocabulary. These findings suggest the need for morphological interventions for this group of learners.

Investigating morphological awareness and the processing of transparent and opaque words in adults with low literacy skills and in skilled readers

For adults with low literacy skills, the role of phonology in reading has been fairly well researched, but less is known about the role of morphology in reading. We investigated the contribution of morphological awareness to word reading and reading comprehension and found that for adults with low literacy skills and skilled readers, morphological awareness explained unique variance in word reading and reading comprehension. In addition, we investigated the effects of orthographic and phonological opacity in morphological processing. Results indicated that adults with low literacy skills were more impaired than skilled readers on items containing phonological changes but were spared on items involving orthographic changes. These results are consistent with previous findings of adults with low literacy skills reliance on orthographic codes. Educational implications are discussed.