Márcia Maria Peruzzi Elia da Mota

A morfologia derivacional contribui para a leitura e escrita no português

Estudos realizados em lingua inglesa mostram que a habilidade de refletir sobre os morfemas que compoem as palavras esta associada ao sucesso no reconhecimento e compreensao de palavras, na leitura, e na escrita. O portugues e uma lingua com uma ortografia bem mais transparente em termos das correspondencias entre letra e som do que o ingles. Neste estudo investigamos se o processamento da morfologia derivacional contribui para leitura e escrita no portugues e se essa contribuicao e independente da consciencia fonologica. Os resultados mostram que a habilidade de refletir sobre os morfemas contribui tanto para leitura quanto para escrita, e que essa contribuicao e ate certo ponto independente do processamento fonologico.Studies carried out in English orthography show that the ability to reflect upon the word’s morphemes is related to the success in recognizing words, reading comprehension and spelling. Portuguese is a language with a more transparent letter-sound correspondence rule than English. This study investigated whether derivational morphology processing contributes to reading and spelling in Portuguese and whether this contribution is independent of phonological awareness. The results show that the ability to reflect upon the morpheme of the words contributes both to reading and spelling and this contribution is, to a certain extent, independent of phonological processing.

Relação entre consciência morfológica e leitura contextual medida pelo teste de Cloze

Morphological awareness is the awareness of the morphemes of the words. This ability is related to spelling, reading and it seems to be particularly important for reading comprehension and contextual reading. In this kind of reading besides phonological information, syntactic-semantic information is required as well. This study intends to investigate the relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension measured by the Cloze Test. In the first part of the study the relationship between the Cloze test scores and morphological awareness are explored by simple correlations. In the second part, the specificity of this relationship is further explored. The results showed that to some extent this relationship is independent of phonological awareness.

Consciência morfológica e desenvolvimento ortográfico: um estudo exploratório

Dentre as habilidades metalinguisticas, tres parecem ajudar o leitor aprendiz a aprender a ler e a escrever: a consciencia fonologica, a consciencia sintatica e a consciencia morfologica. Das tres habilidades, aquela que e menos estudada e a consciencia morfologica. Este estudo explora a relacao entre a consciencia morfologica e o desenvolvimento ortografico de criancas nas duas primeiras series do Ensino Fundamental. Os resultados mostram uma associacao entre a consciencia morfologica e o desenvolvimento ortografico das criancas. Os resultados sao discutidos sob a luz das teorias do desenvolvimento metalinguistico e das implicacoes pedagogicas destes resultados.

Triagem cognitiva: comparações entre o mini-mental e o teste de trilhas

This study investigated the performance of elderly people in the Mini-Mental State Examination cognitive screening test. By comparing the performance of ninety-two elderly subjects in the Mini-Mental test and the Trail Making test, the authors demonstrated that the Mini-Mental test is not appropriate for identifying precocious cognitive decline. The results of the analyses showed that those who passed the Trail Test had better performance than those who failed. At first, these results may suggest that both the Trail test and the Mini-Mental test are screening for cognitive decline. However, the analysis of the average number of correct answers in the test showed that around 90% of those who correctly completed the Trail Test B would pass the Mini-Mental test in clinical evaluations. These results held true even when a conservative cut-off point was adopted (those for literate subjects). Almost 90% of the subjects, who would be described as having a cognitive deficiency per Trail Test B did not show a decline when Mini-Mental cognitive screening was used. These results point to the importance of reviewing the screening procedures when prevention of cognitive decline is the aim. These results suggest that the Mini-Mental cognitive screening test detects decline when it has already begun but that it has little value when evaluating a sample of healthy subjects.

Spelling errors in context: an information processing approach

The orthography of the majority of alphabetic languages is highly influenced by morphemic factors. However, few studies have investigated the role of morphology in the development of skilled spelling. This study investigated the role of morphemic factors in processing written words. The analyses of spelling errors in context showed that final letters were omitted more often when coinciding with morphemes rather than when they were part of the words. The results are discussed in the light of information processing theory.

Leitura contextual e processamento metalingüístico no português do Brasil: um estudo longitudinal

Metalinguistic skill is the ability to reflect upon language as an object of thought. Amongst metalinguistic skills, two seem to be associated with reading and spelling: morphological awareness and phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability of reflecting upon the phonemes that compose words, and morphological awareness is the ability of reflecting upon the morphemes that compose the words. The latter seems to be particularly important for reading comprehension and contextual reading, as beyond phonological information, syntactic and semantic information are required. This study is set to investigate - with a longitudinal design - the relation between those abilities and contextual reading measured by the Cloze test. The first part of the study explores the relationship between morphological awareness tasks and Cloze scores through simple correlations and, in the second part, the specificity of such relationship was inquired using multiple regressions. The results give some support to the hypothesis that morphological awareness offers an independent contribution regarding phonological awareness to contextual reading in Brazilian Portuguese.

O Cloze como instrumento de avaliação de leitura nas séries iniciais

Literature review in this field of investigation has pointed to the importance of reading and spelling skills, especially when considering the literacy process and difficulties related to it. In order to verify the validity of the Cloze Test as reading assessment instrument, the goal of this study was to compare Cloze Test with The School Achievement Test (TDE-), which, in addition to studies of validity and accuracy, has a proposal for grade regulations. The study consisted of 42 children, 19 children from 1st grade and 23 from 2nd grade (in the current system 2nd year and 3rd year), from private primary education schools located in Minas Gerais Brazil. The results reveal the validity of Cloze criterion and point to its usefulness as assessment of reading task.Literature review in this field of investigation has pointed to the importance of reading and spelling skills, especially when considering the literacy process and difficulties related to it. In order to verify the validity of the Cloze Test as reading assessment instrument, the goal of this study was to compare Cloze Test with The School Achievement Test (TDE-), which, in addition to studies of validity and accuracy, has a proposal for grade regulations. The study consisted of 42 children, 19 children from 1st grade and 23 from 2nd grade (in the current system 2nd year and 3rd year), from private primary education schools located in Minas Gerais - Brazil. The results reveal the validity of Cloze criterion and point to its usefulness as assessment of reading task.

O desenvolvimento da consciência morfológica nos estágios iniciais da alfabetização

Evidencias de estudos recentes mostram que a consciencia morfologica esta relacionada a aquisicao da leitura e da escrita. Entretanto, a idade da aquisicao dessa habilidade ainda e uma questao controversa. Identifica-se na literatura dois grupos que tratam desse desenvolvimento: teoricos que defendem que essa aquisicao e tardia e os que defendem que ela acontece desde os estagios iniciais da alfabetizacao e interage com a escolarizacao. Apresentamos a primeira parte de um estudo longitudinal que observou o desenvolvimento da consciencia morfologica no portugues do Brasil. Cinco tarefas foram usadas avaliar a consciencia morfologica de criancas de 6 a 9 anos de idade. Os resultados mostram que essa habilidade interage com a escolarizacao desde os anos iniciais da alfabetizacao.

O papel da consciência morfológica para a alfabetização em leitura

Among the metalinguistic abilities three seem to help children to learn to read and to write: phonological awareness, syntactic awareness and morphological awareness. Of the three abilities, the least studied one is morphological awareness. However, this state of things is changing and a new body of knowledge has been formed about the role of morphological abilities in literacy. As this field of research advances, new theoretical and methodological questions are raised. Based on recent published literature in this field, this article discusses some of these questions.Among the metalinguistic abilities three seem to help children to learn to read and to write: phonological awareness, syntactic awareness and morphological awareness. Of the three abilities, the least studied one is morphological awareness. However, this state of things is changing and a new body of knowledge has been formed about the role of morphological abilities in literacy. As this field of research advances, new theoretical and methodological questions are raised. Based on recent published literature in this field, this article discusses some of these questions.

Considerações sobre o papel da consciência morfológica nas dificuldades de leitura e escrita: uma revisão da literatura

The objective of this work was to revise the national and international scientific production indexed in the Scielo and the periódico CAPES (Web of Science and Psychinfo), between 1996 and 2006 on the relation between morphological awareness, reading and spelling difficulties. Empirical studies had been selected that described the relationship between morphological awareness and literacy. It has been identified 16 articles (three national and 13 international ones) that were analyzed considering the following aspects: the causal relation between morphological awareness and literacy, and the role of morphological awareness in reading and spelling difficulties. An analysis of the articles and where they had been published, types of techniques of collection and analysis of data were made. The results point out to the lack of empirical studies that study this phenomenon in Brazil. The theoretical and methodological implications of these studies for the educational context and for the evaluation of the reading difficulties are also discussed.Este trabalho teve como objetivo revisar a producao cientifica nacional e internacional indexada no Scielo e no periodico CAPES (Web of Science e Psychinfo), entre 1996 e 2006 sobre a relacao entre a consciencia morfologica e as dificuldades de aprendizagem da leitura e escrita. Foram selecionados estudos empiricos que descreviam o relacionamento entre a consciencia morfologica e a alfabetizacao. Identificaram-se 16 artigos (tres nacionais e 13 internacionais) que foram analisados considerando os seguintes aspectos: a relacao causal entre a consciencia morfologica e a alfabetizacao e o papel da consciencia morfologica nas dificuldades de leitura e escrita. Foi feita uma analise dos periodicos em que foram publicados tipos de tecnicas de coleta e analise de dados utilizados. Os resultados apontam para a carencia de estudos empiricos que estudem este fenomeno no Brasil. Sao discutidas tambem as implicacoes teorico-metodologicas destes estudos para o contexto educacional e para avaliacao das dificuldades de leitura.