Victor Van Daal

Automatization Aspects of Dyslexia Speed Limitations in Word Identification, Sensitivity to Increasing Task Demands, and Orthographic Compensation

A study is presented in which three characteristics of dyslexia were examined: (a) speed limitations in word identification, (b) sensitivity to increasing task demands, and (c) orthographic compensation. Ten students with dyslexia (10 years old) were compared to 10 chronological-age controls and 20 reading-age controls on their performance in reading. Response latencies of the students with dyslexia were slower when familiar words, letter clusters, and nonwords had to be named. A larger word-frequency effect and a larger word-length effect in the these students indicates that they have difficulty with increasing task demands. In addition, a subword-frequency effect was found to be larger in the students with dyslexia. These differences among the three groups of students are interpreted in terms of automatization. Furthermore, it is suggested that students with dyslexia may have a preference for large orthographic units, which is used as a compensatory tool in reading.A study is presented in which three characteristics of dyslexia were examined: (a) speed limitations in word identification, (b) sensitivity to increasing task demands, and (c) orthographic compensation. Ten students with dyslexia (10 years old) were compared to 10 chronological-age controls and 20 reading-age controls on their performance in reading. Response latencies of the students with dyslexia were slower when familiar words, letter clusters, and nonwords had to be named. A larger word-frequency effect and a larger word-length effect in the these students indicates that they have difficulty with increasing task demands. In addition, a subword-frequency effect was found to be larger in the students with dyslexia. These differences among the three groups of students are interpreted in terms of automatization. Furthermore, it is suggested that students with dyslexia may have a preference for large orthographic units, which is used as a compensatory tool in reading.

Computer-assisted learning to read and spell: Results from two pilot studies

Because multimedia computer programs may provide promising opportunities for the training of initial reading and spelling skills, two small-scale pilot studies have been conducted with a recently-developed program to examine its efficacy and impact on the motivation of the users. The first study is concerned with the use of the program in kindergarten children (K2). As there is no curriculum for these children, a computer program that is fully adaptive may well boost their independence in learning to read and spell. The main finding in this study was that kindergarten readers learned in up to 16 hours of computer practice as much as is normally attained in the first 3 months of formal reading instruction in the classroom. In the second study, reading-disabled students with low levels of motivation engaged in computer-based spelling practice. The most important finding in this study was that the amount of non-task directed behaviour of those who had practised with the computer significantly decreased during both computer sessions and classroom sessions. In the discussion the way in which computers can be used most efficiently for the instruction of reading and spelling is analysed and suggestions for further research and development are presented.

The use of speech feedback by normal and disabled readers in computer-based reading practice

Disabled readers and normal beginning readers were compared on requesting help in the form of speech feedback during computer-based word reading. It was also examined whether it is best to give feedback on all words or to allow the disabled readers to choose. Normal beginning readers and reading-age matched pupils with reading problems engaged in reading practice with speech feedback on call for both difficult and easy words. A set of both difficult and easy sums was completed as a control task. Another group of reading-disabled pupils who were also matched on reading level practiced the reading of words with unsolicited speech feedback. In the first two groups the selectivity in requesting help in both the reading and arithmetic task was assessed. All subjects were tested on the reading of both practiced and nonpracticed words. The results indicate that both disabled readers and beginners were very sensitive to sum difficulty but not to word difficulty, though in the present study the students were more selective than in a previous study. The inclusion of more easy words might account for this finding. The beginners requested help only during the first sessions of reading practice, whereas the disabled readers remained dependent on the speech feedback. The reading-disabled pupils did not learn less when the computer unsolicitedly delivered the spoken form of all words than when they were allowed to choose. It is discussed how profits from the different speech feedback procedures by disabled readers might be related to word decoding skill and metacognitive monitoring.

Emergent Literacy: Preschool Teachers' Beliefs and Practices.

The present study reports on the construction of a research instrument developed to examine preschool teachers’ beliefs and practices in relation to emergent literacy. A 130-item survey (Preschool Literacy Survey, PLS) was completed by a total of 90 preschool teachers in Norway. Items were grouped into homogenous scales, and the relationship between beliefs and practices was examined using structural equation modelling. The structural model for all preschool teachers was compared in a qualitative way with the structural model for a random group of preschool teachers (n = 54), who had not participated in literacy-awareness training to look at whether the effects of literacy-awareness training could be assessed with the PLS. The main results show that teachers who took part in the literacy-awareness training were more homogeneous in respect of their beliefs and practices, that their beliefs were strongly underpinned by their beliefs about the specific role of the preschool teacher and by their beliefs about practices consistent with current research. Finally, it seems that the literacy-awareness programme affected the beliefs rather than the practices of preschool teachers. How a PLS can further contribute to research on early literacy in preschools and preschool teacher training is discussed.

Learning to Read Words in Albanian: A Skill Easily Acquired

Effects of orthographic transparency were examined by comparing children learning to read in Albanian, Welsh, and English. Twenty Year 1 Albanian children were given a reading test consisting of a 100-word stratified sample of decreasing written frequency. They were able to read accurately 80% of the words; reading latency was a direct effect of word length (R2 =. 89); and errors tended to be mispronunciations rather than real word replacements, with hardly any null responses. These results were compared with Ellis and Hooper (2001), where the same design was used with English and Welsh children of the same age, but with 1 more year of formal reading instruction. The Albanian children read more words than the English and Welsh children, but they had longer reading latencies. Like the Welsh children, but unlike the English children, the Albanian children made more nonword errors. These results suggest that children acquire reading faster the more transparent the orthography, and that shallow orthographies promote an initial reliance on a phonological recoding strategy.

Effects of Outpatient Treatment of Dyslexia

The effects of a Dutch intervention program for dyslexia are reported. The program was individually tailored, depending on the style of reading, the phase of the learning process, and the intermediate results of the treatment. Two groups of participants were involved: (a) a group of children with pure dyslexia (n = 109) and (b) a group that had reading problems but also suffered from cognitive deficits or psychiatric symptoms (n = 29). Scores of reading single words and text at intake and after the intervention were analyzed to assess the efficacy of the intervention program. Furthermore, the effects of pre-intervention variables such as intelligence, reported speech, and language problems and of intervention variables such as the initial level of performance and the duration of the treatment were examined. Both groups benefitted from the intervention, but the children with pure dyslexia profited most. Neither of the groups could catch up the reading deficit. Intelligence and reported speech and language problems did not affect the treatment outcomes. Individual differences in treatment outcome were related to the absolute level of word reading and age at intake. In the group with comorbidity, the intervention program was more successful in relatively younger children. Within this group, the cognitive deficits and types of psychiatric problems were not related to the treatment.

The effects of multimedia on early literacy development of children at risk: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis of 35 studies was conducted to review and analyze the effect of multimedia on the early literacy development of children at risk of literacy underachievement. Large effect sizes were found for phonological awareness, concepts of print, vocabulary, and reading. Medium effect sizes were found for comprehension, nonword reading, and alphabetic knowledge. However, large effect sizes for vocabulary, reading, and alphabetic knowledge were also found for children at risk who did not participate in a multimedia intervention. It is concluded that multimedia-literacy applications can be beneficial to children at risk of literacy underachievement, especially with respect to phonological awareness, concepts of print, comprehension, and nonword reading.

First- and Second-Language Learnability Explained by Orthographic Depth and Orthographic Learning: A “Natural” Scandinavian Experiment

ABSTRACT Effects of orthographic depth on orthographic learning ability were examined in 10- to 13-year-old children who learnt to read in similar orthographies differing in orthographic depth, defined as consistency of grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences. Danish children who learnt to read a deep orthography underperformed their Swedish counterparts who acquired a shallow orthography on vocabulary, phonological working memory, orthographic learning ability, and a range of first-language (L1: Danish/Swedish) and second-language (L2: English as a foreign language) measures. Orthographic learning ability explained over and above vocabulary and phonological working memory the better performance of Swedish children in comparison with Danish children on L1 reading accuracy and fluency, spelling, and visual word familiarity. With respect to L2 learning, orthographic learning ability determined spelling and visual word familiarity over and above L2 vocabulary and phonological working memory. It is concluded that shallow orthographies promote orthographic learning ability more efficiently than deep orthographies.

Introduction to the Special Issue. Orthographic Learning and Mental Representations in Literacy: Striving for a Better Understanding of a Complex Lead Role

As skilled readers, we are able to recognize printed words with apparent ease. Indeed, you are most likely to find reading this text now to be far from an arduous process, and it has thus far taken only seconds of your time. Yet when children first begin down the pathway to becoming literate, the task of word reading is often far from an effortless one. And, of course, for some individuals the process of reading can remain challenging throughout life. In our attempts to describe and explain skilled reading, to better understand development, and to account for individual differences, many researchers are focusing on word representations, both in terms of delineating their role in literacy and explaining how they are acquired or learned. In this special issue, the topic of orthographic representations and learning is explored in considerable detail, through six studies employing diverse research methods with varying samples and languages. When young children are first learning to read and spell, the process can be slow and laborious. As they apply their growing knowledge and awareness of the alphabet, letters are sounded out and blended together in serial decoding of printed words, a process that consumes considerable cognitive resources. Matching individual sounds with letters during spelling can also be time-consuming and fraught with error. Much developmental research has focused on this early entry into learning to read and spell, and our knowledge of the importance of the alphabet and awareness of speech sounds (phonology) has grown exponentially as a result. Yet as children become more adept at reading, they begin to recognize words rapidly and with seemingly less conscious effort. In spelling, word-specific patterns are reproduced, testimony to having fully specified orthographic representations. There thus seems to be a transition on the pathway to literacy, where children progress from sounding out words to being able to more effortlessly recognize and spell print, implicating the importance of orthographic learning. Ehri (2005, 2014) eloquently described this development in literacy as a progression to being able to utilize memory representations for longer letter strings and entire words and proposed that children store or learn these representations as they progress in their developmental proficiency with processing written text. In essence, they become able to store longer and longer letter strings in memory through experience with, and exposure to, printed language. This storing of representations, or orthographic learning, is further detailed in Share’s (1995, 1999, 2004) oft-cited self-teaching hypothesis. Share proposed that a reader’s own independent attempts to decode print allow the reader to store longer and more detailed orthographic representations (i.e., more fully specified as per Perfetti, 1992). These representations then become available to the individual for future encounters with these words, providing a more direct route to fluent word reading. This connection between orthographic learning and efficient literacy is made explicit in other prominent developmental theory as well, in that more advanced word recognition and spelling skills are linked to better specified orthographic representations (e.g., Castles, Davis, Cavalot, & Forster, 2008; Ziegler & Goswami, 2005). Indeed, the common element among leading developmental reading theories appears to be a critical role attributed to orthographic learning and representations in helping

Raising children’s self-efficacy through parental involvement in homework

Abstract Background This paper is a qualitative evaluation of a small-scale pilot study that attempted to generate parental involvement in children’s learning. It used problem-solving mathematics homework in order to raise the children’s self-efficacy, or, put another way, the child’s belief that success lies in their own hands. Purpose Homework is often seen as a common sense practice which is conducive to the development of the attributes of an effective learner. The pilot investigated whether situating homework tasks in everyday mathematical contexts enhanced parent–child interaction. If so, the child was then more likely to commit to learning, recognise the usefulness of mathematics as a life skill, and the value of sharing ideas and accepting feedback. Design and methods The pilot took place between April and July 2015 in a primary school in the Northwest of England. Participants were a class of nine- and ten-year-old children (n = 27), their two class teachers and a self-selecting sample of parents. Children were asked to work on open-ended problem-solving activities designed to connect with everyday use of mathematics. The parental role was to model, encourage and reinforce rather than instruct. Data was collected from focus groups, from parent feedback sheets and from a self-efficacy questionnaire. The data was analysed thematically. Findings and conclusions Despite limitations of time and scale, evaluation of the pilot suggests that the homework strategy does justify further research. The qualitative analysis of the data indicates that greater involvement of parents in learning was generated, the homework was well received by children and self-efficacy levels remained stable. The next step should be to run an extended version of the pilot.