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P.G. Aaron (Indiana State University) - The validity of the Component model of reading: Outcome of an instructional procedure.
The Component model of reading derives from the Simple view of reading but is more comprehensive. The Component model encompasses three domains: the cognitive domain, the psychological domain, and the ecological domain. This presentation will focus on the Cognitive domain of the Component model. The Component model proposes that reading problems could be attributed to a deficiency in word recognition skills (decoding) or linguistic comprehension skills. The question whether speed of processing (fluency) should be considered to be an independent component is not clear yet because it may be that speed of processing is closely tied to the ability to recognize written words instantly (sight word reading), an ability which is based on decoding skills. To be effective, remedial instruction should not be fuzzy but should focus on the deficient skill. This proposition was tested by examining the outcomes of a six-year old remedial instructional program. In this program, children receive one hour of reading instruction per day, three days a week. Pretests are given and children are identified as having decoding deficit, comprehension deficit, or both. Children who have decoding deficits are provided phoneme awareness training followed by word recognition and spelling training using the Spalding method of "Writing Road to Reading". Children with comprehension deficits are taught 7 comprehension strategies. Children who have deficits in both components are treated as children with decoding deficit. Over the period of six years, 107 different groups of children from grades 1 through 5 underwent the Component model-based training (treatment group). The pretest and post-test scores of these children in Word attack, and Reading comprehension were compared with the scores of 52 children (control group) who were taught in resource rooms in schools which do not follow the differential instruction based on component model. The data were analyzed statistically using a split-plot ANOVA design. The results show that children who were given word recognition training improved in word attack skills as well as comprehension skills; children who received comprehension strategy training showed significant improvement in reading comprehension even though the improvement was relatively small. When compared to the control group, all these gains were significant. It is concluded that remedial instruction based on the Component model produces positive results thus establishing the validity of the Simple view of reading.
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Monica Abrahamsen (University of Oslo) - The relationship between reading skills, verbal short-term memory and phonological skills
Gathercole and Baddeley (1993) have proposed that verbal short-term memory problems can cause reading difficulties. Hulme and Roodenrhys (1995) have suggested an alternative view: that a common set of phonological representations underpin verbal short-term memory and reading skills. Two training studies are reported, in which the effects of phonological awareness training on verbal short-term memory and reading skills have been assessed in children with poor reading skills. Results show that phonological awareness training has positive effects on both verbal short-term memory and reading skills. This supports that a common set of phonological representations underpin both verbal short-term memory and reading.
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Suzanne Adlof (University of Kansas); Catts, Hugh; Zhang, Xuyang - Kindergarten Prediction of Reading in Early vs. Later Grades
The nature of reading comprehension is known to change over time, with early reading comprehension being determined mainly by word recognition skills, and later reading comprehension being more dependent on higher level language skills. Thus, the predictors of early reading outcomes may differ from those of later reading outcomes. This study used logistic regression analyses to show that kindergarten measures including letter identification and phonological processing were good predictors of second grade reading outcomes, whereas kindergarten measures that included assessment of semantic/syntactic abilities predicted later reading outcomes in children who were expected to be good readers in second grade.
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Stephanie Al Otaiba (Florida State University, Florida Center for Reading Research); Connor, Carol; Lane, Holly - Examining the Relations between Reading Instruction and Student Outcomes in Kindergarten Classrooms in Reading First Schools
This study describes kindergarten Reading First (RF) literacy instruction, exploring the relation between amount of instruction, how this instruction is implemented, and student outcomes, including child X instruction interactions. Our study extends research on expert teaching and effective instruction (e.g., Block, Oaker, & Hurt, 2002; Pressley, Rankin, & Yokoi, 1996; Pressley et al., 2001; Shulman, 1987; Taylor & Pearson, 2002).
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Lori Altmann (University of Florida); Lombardino, Linda; Puranik, Cynthia; Shepard, Kathleen; Eidson, SueAnn - Word and sentence production fluency in dyslexic adults
This study tests the hypothesis that adults with dyslexia have impaired access of phonological representations from semantics which impairs the accuracy and speed of single word reading and sentence generation from printed words. 20 adults with dyslexia completed a constrained sentence production task requiring them to produce sentences that included 3 stimulus words. Responses were scored for fluency, grammaticality and completeness; response times for correct sentences were obtained. Early results suggest that most dyslexic speakers responded slower and less fluently than control subjects, although a small subset performed within normal limits. Sentence generation and single word reading were more highly correlated in dyslexia than in normal readers.
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Alida Anderson (University of Maryland); Wang, Min - The utility of Chinese tone processing skill in detecting children with English reading difficulties
The present study investigates the utility of Chinese tone processing skill in detecting children with English reading difficulties. We examine differences in Chinese tone experimental tasks between a group of native English-speaking children with reading difficulties and a comparison group of normally achieving children. General auditory processing, English phonemic processing and English reading skills are also tested. The nature of the relationship between Chinese tone processing, general auditory processing, English phonological processing and English reading skills are compared between groups. Our hypothesis is that there are differences between groups in Chinese tone processing skill, since previous research has shown that Chinese tone processing skill is associated with English reading skill (Wang et al., 2005, under revision). The findings have implications for assessment and intervention with children who have English reading difficulties.
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Jason Anthony (University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston); Gunnewig, Susan; Landry, Susan; Swank, Paul - Effectiveness of comprehensive professional development for teachers of at-risk preschoolers.
We compared four professional development (PD) programs for teachers of at-risk preschoolers. PD programs included year-long coursework, classroom application, and collaboration among teachers. Additionally, teachers in two programs received weekly mentoring and teachers in two programs received detailed, instructionally linked feedback on children’s academic progress. The 2x2 (Mentoring by Feedback) design yielded four treatment conditions that were compared to business-as-usual. 187 teachers from 110 schools were randomly assigned to experimental conditions. Mentoring and instructionally relevant feedback on children’s progress had positive effects on teaching quality, classroom environments, and children’s achievement but the most powerful program included the core PD activities, ongoing mentoring, and detailed feedback on children’s academic progress.
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Dorit Aram (Tel Aviv University); Bialistock, Tali - Writing with Young Children: A Comparison between Fathers' and Mothers' Mediation
The study described and compared mothers' and fathers' writing mediation to their preschool children. We videotaped 50 mothers and fathers interacting with their child (M = 59.17 months, SD = 4.77) at home, writing unfamiliar words. The children individually completed three literacy tasks: word writing, letter naming, and phonological awareness. The analyses of the videotapes yielded task-specific mediation measures: grapho-phonemic mediation, printing mediation, demand for precision, and reference to orthography. It also yielded general mediation measures: atmosphere, cooperation, reinforcements, task perception and duration. The findings of the research revealed differences between the fathers' and mothers' mediation characteristics. However the results suggest that families have mediation styles. Moreover, we found correlations between parent's mediation and the children's early literacy.
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Michael Assel (University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston); Landry, Susan; Swank, Paul; Gunnewig, Susan - Longitudinal investigation of the implementation of two literacy focused curricula (i.e., Let’s Begin with the Letter People and Doors to Discovery) during pre-K and kindergarten: The impact of setting and mentoring.
Two commercial curricula were evaluated against a control condition within each of three settings (HS, Title 1, and Universal pre-K). Schools were randomly assigned to conditions. Half of the teachers within each curricula condition received mentoring. Pre/post-testing during pre-K and follow-up testing in kindergarten was completed on 640 children across multiple outcome measures. Results revealed that the curricula were comparable in terms of children’s gains in the area of language. However, curricula differed in terms of children’s gains in letter knowledge and phonological awareness, which depended on the setting and mentoring conditions. HS classes with a curriculum outperformed HS classes without a curriculum regardless of mentoring. Mentoring appeared more effective in Title 1 and Universal Pre-K. Results will be discussed in relation to the moderating influences of setting characteristics and mentoring.
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Diane August (Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington) - Effective Literacy Instruction for English-language Learners
Unfortunately, research has failed to provide a very complete answer to what constitutes high-quality literacy instruction for language-minority students. However, what is evident from the existing research is that—as is true for language-majority students—instruction that provides substantial coverage of key components of literacy such as phonemic awareness, decoding, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing, has clear benefits. Some of the instructional research shows that enhanced teaching of these various elements provided an advantage to second-language learners; the more complex programs that were studied typically tried to teach several of these elements simultaneously and were also usually successful. Although second-language literacy instruction should focus on the same curricular components as first-language literacy instruction, the differences in the children’s second-language proficiency make it important to adjust instruction to meet the needs of second-language learners.
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Clara Brandao de Avila (Federal University of Sao Paulo); Batista, A.S.; Lemos, C.M.; Silva, M.A.; Rodrigues, A.N.; Capellini, A.S. - Quantity and Typology of Errors: A comparative analysis of Brazilian students of public and private schools.
The objective of this research was to analyze and compare the typology of errors in word and text reading of students enrolled in a Private (SPS) and in a Public (SPuS) School. 70 children with ages between 6 and 12 years, from 1 st to 4th Grades participated. Reading was assessed through text and a 30-word list. The errors were analyzed according to the Goulandris criteria (2004) and through the Test t of Student. The SPS had fewer errors in text reading in comparison to word. The inverse effect occurred for the reading by 4 th graders, causing a greater number of inappropriate closure errors.
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Thierry Baccino (University of Nice, Sophia-Antipolis); Manunta, Yves - How to Describe the Timeline of Cognitive Processes using Eye-Fixation-Related-Potentials
The paper presents a new methodology for studying cognition that combines on-line eye-movements (EM) and event-related potentials (ERP) to track the cognitive processes that occur during a single eye fixation. This technique called eye-fixation-related potentials (EFRP) has the advantage of coupling accurate time measures from ERPs and the location of the eye on the stimulus, so it can be used to disentangle perceptual/attentional/cognitive factors affecting reading. We tested this new technique to describe the controversial parafoveal-on-foveal effects on reading, which concern the question of whether two consecutive words are processed in parallel or sequentially.
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Doris Baker (University of Oregon) - The Predictive Validity and Decision Utility of a Spanish Early Literacy Measure: the Indicadores Dinámicos del Exito en la Lectura (IDEL)
The dramatic increase in the Spanish-speaking English Language Learner (ELL) population in the United States presents a challenge to teachers and school administrators not used to dealing with a linguistically, culturally, and academically diverse student body. Currently, 80 percent of all Ells are Spanish-speakers (NCES 2005). According to the National Symposium on Learning Disabilities in English Language Learners, the identification and assessment of learning disabilities, and the development and testing of the effectiveness of interventions for learning disabilities in ELLs (McCardle, Mele-McCarthy, & Leos, 2005) are two of the five major themes in dire need of research. Initial results on the reliability and validity of IDEL indicates that this early literacy measure is highly predictable of student reading outcomes at the end of first grade. Early identification of students’ reading skills allows teachers to enhance Spanish literacy interventions, particularly for students who are referred for special education services.
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Michal Balass (University of Pittsburgh); Bolger, Donald; Perfetti, Charles - The Role of Definition and Sentence Context in Vocabulary Learning
This study examined the benefits of context and definitions for learning new word meanings. Participants learned a set of very low frequency English words. For each word, the order in which participants received the definitional information (before first context or after the last context sentences) and the variety of context (the same context presented four times or four different contexts) were manipulated over the course of five learning trials. Following the learning session, a primed lexical decision task was completed. Results indicate that the effects of context on learning word meanings are greatest when the sentence context is varied and is followed by a dictionary definition.
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Jennifer Balogh (Ordinate Corporation) - Predicting Oral Reading Rate and Accuracy from a Subjective Measure of Expressiveness
An oral reading fluency experiment was conducted with 97 fifth grade students to determine whether expressiveness can predict accuracy and reading rate. The results showed that expressiveness predicts both measures, but accounts for more of the variability for rate (r2 = 0.66). Moreover, expressiveness levels follow distinct patterns with regard to pre-established thresholds of accuracy (independent, instructional, and frustration levels) and also percentiles of reading rate norms. Based on the results, a new approach to the assessment of fluency is proposed, called the Reading Grid, which considers accuracy, reading rate, and expressiveness concurrently.
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Amy Barth (University of Kansas); Catts, Hugh - An Investigation of the Reading-related Component Skills That Underlie Reading Fluency for Adolescent Readers
The goal of the present study is to use a latent variable approach to comprehensively examine the reading related component skills that underlie reading fluency of adolescent readers. Measures of word recognition, word reading efficiency, efficiency of phonological access, working memory, phonological awareness, nonverbal cognition, and language comprehension were administered to a sample of 527 eighth grade students participating in a longitudinal study of reading and language impairments. Structural equation modeling will be used to examine the unique contributions of cognition, language, and reading skills to the prediction of Reading Fluency.
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Judith Bekebrede (University of Amsterdam); van der Leij, Aryan; Share, David - Dutch dyslexic adolescents: phonological core/ variable orthographic difference or subtypes?
In a sample of Dutch dyslexic adolescents the phonological core/variable orthographic difference model is investigated to explain heterogeneity of cognitive profiles. After confirmation of this model, it is validated by comparing it to alternative subtype classifications. The phonological core/variable orthographic difference model is compared to operationalisations of the double deficit model and deficits based on the dual route theory. The prediction is that the phonological core/variable orthographic difference model is the best fitting model, because more of the dyslexics will be classified within this model than in the other two.
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Ruth Berman (Tel Aviv University); Ravid, Dorit - Children’s Knowledge of Novel and Traditional Sayings: The Impact of Schooling
The study compares how Hebrew-speaking children cope with two types of proverbial sayings: Sayings that are not established in Hebrew, worded in familiar terms (e.g., the equivalent of English “A caged bird longs for the clouds”) and traditional Hebrew proverbs using high-register language (e.g., “Those that sow in tears, in joy shall reap”). Sixty 4th, 8th, and 11th-grade students were given two different multiple-choice tasks in writing: literal paraphrases and sentence-completion. Age-related differences in results on each task are attributed to the impact of increased literacy on interpreting figurative language and to growing command of a culturally-anchored literate lexicon.
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Rebecca Betjemann (University of Colorado); Keenan, Janice - Is Processing Speed an Independent Component of Reading Comprehension?
We investigated the Simple View of Reading by assessing processing speed in addition to decoding ability and listening as components of reading comprehension. A factor analysis found evidence for a processing speed factor, independent from comprehension and decoding factors. In regression analyses, processing speed did not appear to contribute much variance to reading comprehension after decoding and listening comprehension were accounted for in our entire sample. In the youngest group of children, however, processing speed accounted for more variance than in the older children.
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Joseph Betts (Renaissance Learning, Inc.); McBride, James; Milone, Michael; Hannigan, Eileen - Tracking Students’ Early Literacy Development: A Three-Year Study
This study analyzed the development of early literacy skills over a three-year duration using a cohort-sequential, time-series design. Estimates of literacy skills were gathered at monthly intervals from a random sample of the cohorts from a large user database. The results provide confirmatory evidence of a “slump” in early literacy skills over the summer months between grades. Another important result of this research is the generation of developmental milestones in the mastery of specific early literacy skills known to be important for later reading development. Implications of the results for progress monitoring and program evaluation are also discussed.
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Gina Biancarosa (Harvard Graduate School of Education); Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Christodoulou, Joanna; Snow, Catherine - Exploring the Heterogeneity of English Reading Comprehension Difficulties among Spanish-speaking Middle School Students
This study examines reading comprehension amongst 180 language minority Spanish-English speakers in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades at one urban school. Word, non-word, and passage reading speed, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension were assessed. Cluster analysis was used to identify theoretically meaningful sub-groups of struggling comprehenders based on their componential skills. Regression analyses were used to determine how the relationship between reading comprehension and word, non-word, and passage reading skills varied as a function of grade. Implications for research and practice are explored.
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Ulrike Biangardi (University of Washington); McCutchen, Deborah - Morphological and orthographic priming in children and adults
Adult readers (college students), as well as 5th and 8th grade students, were presented with a continual lexical decision priming task, in which target words were preceded by words that were morphologically similar, orthographically similar, or unrelated. Reaction time (RT) was the dependent variable. Repeated measures ANOVA analyses revealed that children showed significant morphological priming effects, with no significant RT difference between orthographic and unrelated conditions. Unlike the children, adults showed a significant inhibition effect in the orthographic condition, replicating effects found in prior studies with adults. Developmental implications are discussed.
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Emily Binks (Texas A&M University); Joshi, R.M.; Graham, L.; Dean, E. - Roadblocks to Reading Acquisition: Is Teacher Knowledge One of Them?
There is overwhelming evidence that perhaps classroom instruction, especially at the early primary grades, might be at the core of the high incidence of literacy problems in the US. It was hypothesized that many classroom teachers are not familiar with the knowledge about language concepts due to an inaccurate presentation of these concepts in (1) the type of instruction received in the colleges of education and (2) the information provided in the textbooks used in the basic literacy courses. Questionnaires were administered to pre-service teachers and university instructors. Popular reading education textbooks were examined. Results and recommendations will be discussed.
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Jay Blanchard (Arizona State University); Christie, Jim; Gorin, Joanna; Atwill, Kim; Millett, Joe; Sheppard, Duane; Cabrera, Jerry; de la Fuentes, Maria Elena - The Influence of a 'Science-based' Preschool Curriculum on Literacy Development in Spanish-speaking Kindergarten Children Learning English
Eighty Spanish-speaking children (L1) learning English (L2) who completed an experimental 'science-based' U.S. Department of Education, Early Reading First curriculum in preschool were compared to controls throughout their kindergarten year. The curriculum centered on instruction for oral and listening language, phonological awareness, print awareness and alphabet knowledge through print-enriched activities. Measures included: receptive vocabulary (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test), phonological awareness and letter-name knowledge fluency (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills, DIBELS), as well as speaking and listening skills (Stanford English Language Proficiency Test). Across time experimental children generally outperformed controls. Causal explanations are suggested.
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Rachael Borley (University of Manitoba); Kruk, Richard - Visual processing components of rapid naming
A model positing connections among lower-level visual processing and rapid naming skills was tested in Grade 1 children. Results showed that wholistic visual attention, selective visual attention, backward visual masking, phonological awareness and IQ are significantly correlated with rapid naming. A path analysis confirmed that a model involving backward masking and phonological awareness predicting rapid naming, and measures of magnocellular functioning and IQ predicting phonological awareness, provided a good fit of the data. Potential explanations of the links relating visual components and RAN are explored in terms of attention and the development of automatic recognition abilities.
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Marie-Line Bosse (Grenoble 2 University); Valdois, Sylviane - Reading acquisition and the visual attentional span: a longitudinal study
The visual attention (VA) span is defined as the amount of distinct visual elements which can be processed in parallel in a multi-element array. Both recent empirical data and theoretical accounts suggest that VA span might be involved in reading acquisition, independently of phonological abilities. This hypothesis was tested on a longitudinal study of 130 children during 3 years. Phonological abilities and VA span were evaluated before the beginning of reading learning, and the children were tested on reading tasks in first and second grade. Regression analyses showed that VA span predicted a significant part of variance on reading, independently of phonological abilities.
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Peter Bowers (Queen's University); Kirby, John - Instruction in morphophonological word structure: Can instruction add transparency to opaque words?
Despite lack of instructional emphasis, morphological awareness (MA) contributes to children’s literacy. Children demonstrate less awareness of morphological cues in “opaque” words where shifts in phonology (do+es à does), spelling (hope/+ingà hoping) or semantics (as+signà assign) mask meaning cues. This intervention study investigates whether morphological instruction improves literacy. Two grade 4/5 classes will be randomly assigned to morphological instruction while two continue with regular instruction. All groups will complete pre- and post-tests on standardized reading and reading-related measures. Standardized, and experimental tests based on the intervention will assess the effect of the instruction on near and far transfer measures.
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Susan Brady (University of Rhode Island and Haskins Laboratories); Gillis, Margie - Studying The Influence of Teacher Attitudes on Response to Professional Development
In an on-going professional development project, we are investigating methods for improving the preparation of first-grade teachers to teach reading. One component is to study whether teachers' initial attitudes toward professional development correspond with their subsequent gains in knowledge about how to teach reading using research-based techniques.  To begin to test that hypothesis, an attitude survey was given to a cohort of 65 teachers, along with a teacher knowledge survey, both before and after one year of training. We will report on construct validity for the measures and on the links between teacher attitudes and teacher gains in knowledge.
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Lee Branum-Martin (University of Houston); Francis, David - Heterogeneity in Language Ability among Spanish-speaking English Language Learners: A Latent Class Analysis
This study was designed to examine the heterogeneity in language ability among a large sample of Spanish-speaking children acquiring English. The latent class analysis is based on the assessment of two types of language tasks each administered in Spanish and English to a sample of 1,440 Spanish-speaking children in the primary grades. One measure was a standardized measure of expressive vocabulary and the other was a narrative production task. Given the markedly different nature of the tasks and the differing types of skills tapped by each, the heterogeneity of language ability in the sample – within and across language and as a function of task type – is examined.
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Mario Braun (Freie Universitat Berlin) - The optimal viewing position effect: New evidence from eye tracking research
The optimal viewing position (OVP) effect describes the fact that word identification performance declines with increasing distance of the initial fixation from the centre of a word (O’Regan, 1981). During reading, first fixation durations show an inverse pattern: First fixation durations are longest near the centre of the word but decrease with increasing distance from the centre. In three experiments, eye movements were recorded during OVP tasks to systematically explore the inverse OVP effect. Implications of results on the interplay of visual-perceptual and cognitive processing components are discussed.
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David Braze (Haskins Laboratories, Yale University); Einar Mencl, W; Shankweiler, Donald; Tabor, Whitney; Shutz, Aaron - Reader Skill Differences and Online Reading Behavior: Temporarily Ambiguous Sentences
This study focuses on the apprehension of combinatorial meaning of sentences. We recorded eye-movements (EM) during silent reading of temporarily ambiguous sentences to examine individual differences in gaze patterns as a function of those capacities that support reading comprehension. We collected measures of reading and listening comprehension, decoding skill, verbal memory, vocabulary, and experience with print. Participants were 50 young-adults, 16 to 24 y.o., primarily adult-school and community college students representing a wide range of reading skill. Results indicate that reader skill is positively correlated with sensitivity to the local, moment-to-moment, demands of text comprehension, as evidenced through EM measures.
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Monique Brodeur (University of Quebec); Dion, Eric; Mercier, Julien; Capuano, France; Poulin, Francois; Vinier, Nathalie - Effects of systematic kindergarten phonic activities on readiness for first-grade reading instruction
Systematic kindergarten phonic activities are considered a crucial component of prevention efforts. Unfortunately, there are still too few practical phonic programs with demonstrated effectiveness for this age-group. A large-scale field trial was used to examine the effectiveness of a French adaptation of the Optimize Reading Program (Kame’enui et al., 2002). Students’ phonological awareness (PA) and letter-sounds (LS) knowledge were assessed at beginning and end of kindergarten. These measures were repeated at the beginning of first-grade. At this point, decoding was also tested. Compared with controls, experimental students demonstrated uniformly better PA and LS at the end of kindergarten and first-grade.
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Gail Brown (Assoc of Ind. Schools, NSW, Australia); Cassar, Mary - Classroom implementation of effective instruction in question-answer relationships
This presentation reports treatment integrity data from a study that effectively implemented question-answer relationships (QAR) in year 5 classrooms. Data are reported from the original study and from subsequent implementations in year 2 and year 3. Instructional efficacy is based on both treatment integrity and teacher understanding of QAR concepts. This presentation reports the strengths and weaknesses of collaborating with classroom teachers to implement instructional materials. Empirical and anecdotal evidence document a clear need for ongoing support and mentoring of classroom teachers over a period of time.
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Jennae Bulat (University of California, Berkeley); Cunningham, Anne - The Role of Print Exposure in the Development of Early Literacy Skills Among Kindergarten Students
This study demonstrates the contribution of early reading exposure to the development of orthographic processing and other early literacy skills, introducing a new measure of print exposure: Book Cover Recognition Test. Kindergartner's (n=110) early levels of print exposure accounted for 9.3% of variance in orthographic processing after partialing out age, nonverbal intelligence, and rapid naming ability, and 8.8% of variance in orthographic processing after also partialing out phonological processing ability. Early reading exposure also significantly contributed to vocabulary, comprehension skill, and letter knowledge. This study replicates early literacy patterns but extends the findings to a younger population of students.
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Adriana Bus (Leiden University); de Jong, Maria - An Up-date and Expansion of a Meta-analysis of Parent-child Book Reading
Bus et al.’s (1995) meta-analysis revealed an effect size of d = .59, indicating that book reading explains about 8% of the variance in reading and language measures. Since 1995 the number of studies testing effects of book reading grew exponentially. Besides, animated stories on DVD, the internet or television have their share in children’s literary canon and we wonder whether these new forms of story encounters have similar effects on language and literacy measures. The meta-analysis takes these new studies into account and expands the review by adding new variables such as qualitative aspects of book reading (e.g. interactive reading) and new forms of story encounters.
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Brian Byrne (University of New England); Olson, Richard; Samuelsson, Stefan; Hulslander, Jacqueline; Wadsworth, Sally; Willcutt, Eric; DeFries, John - Learning-based and "static" measures in early literacy:  A behavior-genetic analysis
A feature of our longitudinal twin study of literacy development has been the employment of learning based measures alongside standard (or "static") ones.  These have included a tightly-scripted routine for teaching phoneme identity at the preschool stage and learning of orthographic patterns at Grade 2.  In this presentation I compare the information we have gleaned from the two kinds of tasks, "dynamic" and static, with univariate and multivariate behaviour-genetic analyses.  The conclusion is that the learning measures have not behaved in a manner fundamentally different from the more standard methods of assessment, and I discuss two interpretations of this observation.  I supplement the analyses with data from an intervention study of young children at familial risk for dyslexia, and suggest that learning-based measures may furnish extra information if the learning period is of a more sustained nature.
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Donna Caccamise (University of Colorado); Snyder, Lynn; Kintsch, Walter - Improving High Stakes Testing Reading and Writing Outcomes through Summarization
This paper discusses a 5 year scale-up project that implemented a reading/writing, technology-driven tutor in grades 5-11, called Summary Street.  Research in reading comprehension (e.g., Kintsch 1998) points to summarization as one reading strategy that engages readers to actively process the gist of a text to create a situational model that connects important points of the text with background knowledge, for a deeper understanding of the text.  This paper will discuss results of students using this text summarization tool with SES, home literacy practices, and other demographic factors and the impact on reading comprehension scores, including high stakes state standards testing.
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Erin Caffrey (Vanderbilt University); Lemons, Chris - Predicting Reading Growth with Dynamic Assessment
This study examined the validity of a dynamic assessment measure to identify students at-risk for school failure. Participants were 137 kindergarten and first-grade students from an urban school district in the southeastern United States. Student reading ability was assessed during two sessions: a) one with static assessment, and b) one with dynamic assessment. Event-related potential (ERP) data was collected at pre- and post-test on a subset of 50 first-grade participants. Progress monitoring in reading was conducted for 14 weeks using Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM). Static and dynamic assessments were repeated at post-test. Results are discussed in terms of individual differences and predictors of reading growth.
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Kate Cain (Lancaster University); Oakhill, Jane - What happens to poor comprehenders?
Before we can develop effective interventions for poor comprehenders, we need to establish which, if any, skill impairments are fundamental to their reading comprehension deficit, the persistence of the deficit, and the wider implications of early literacy problems. We addressed these issues by following the progress of eight-year-olds with poor reading comprehension and age-appropriate word reading ability. They did not receive any treatment for their problems. Our findings indicate that a single source of poor comprehension is unlikely, comprehension problems were still evident at 11 and 14 years, and that other aspects of language and literacy may suffer over time.
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Claire Cameron (University of Michigan); McClelland, Megan; Connor, Carol - The Head-to-toes Task: Using a behavioral measure of self-regulation to predict emergent literacy, language, and math skills
Self-regulation comprises a developmentally acquired set of skills involved in controlling and directing behavior, and is associated with early academic success, including literacy acquisition. The present study investigated the relation of preschoolers' (n = 310) self-regulation to emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skill growth. Self-regulation was assessed using a direct behavioral measure. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) revealed that self-regulation predicted growth in letter-word recognition, vocabulary, and math skills over the prekindergarten year, controlling for site (Michigan or Oregon), student gender, and other sociocultural variables. Implications for the role of self-regulation in children's literacy development and their successful transition to kindergarten will be discussed.
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Marketa Caravolas (University of Liverpool) - The foundations of literacy in a consistent orthography: Much like English after all?
The predictors of alphabetic reading and spelling ability were assessed in Czech, a language with a consistent orthography. Czech children (N=75) were assessed between the middle of kindergarten and the end of second grade on measures of LK, PA, RAN, IQ, reading and spelling. Regression analyses indicate that the pattern of prediction is remarkably similar to that found in English: PA and LK are the strongest unique predictors of accuracy in both early literacy skills, while RAN only plays a role in predicting reading speed. However, reading accuracy is acquired quickly and is measurable during a relatively short developmental window.
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Claudia Cardoso Martins (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil); Fulanete Correa, Marcela; Marchetti, Patricia; Ehri, Linnea - Reading and Spelling Ability of Brazilian Adults with Little or no Formal Education
The study investigated the reading and spelling ability of a group of low SES Brazilian adults with little or no formal education. Seventy-two individuals (Mean Age= 54 years) enrolled in an adult literacy program in a major Brazilian city were administered tests of reading, spelling and arithmetic skills, as well as experimental tasks of phonological skills at the beginning and end of the program. Regardless of reading skill at the beginning of the program, there was little if any progress throughout the school year. Preliminary analyses suggest that participants relied on partial alphabetic cues to learn to read words which may account for the lack of growth in reading and spelling ability across the school year.
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Joanne Carlisle (University of Michigan); Zeng, Ji - Is Reading First an Effective Intervention Over Time for Students’ At-Risk for Reading Difficulties?
For students at risk for serious reading problems, early identification of reading-related difficulties and timely intervention are critical in order to prevent negative outcomes. We examine these factors in the context of Reading First (RF), a program specifically designed for students in schools with high percentages of students at risk for reading problems. An important question is whether the high quality classroom instruction provided by RF offsets risk factors. Results suggest that attending a RF school leads to greater improvement than attending a nonRF school in risk status on Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). However, we also examined whether number of years in RF (one, two, or three years) affects the probability of RF second graders being in the “at risk: category on DIBELS. Results suggest that RF has a cumulative dosage effect for low risk students but not for at risk students. Follow-up analyses examine the contribution of demographic variables to these results.
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Julia Carroll (University of Warwick); Myers, Joanne - The Development of Phonological Representations
There has been little research into the nature of phonological representations in pre-literate children, though some researchers (Logan, 1992; Storkel, 2002) suggest that children may represent words in terms of phonetic features, rather than as a series of phonemes. If this is true, it may provide an explanation for the non-phonemic strategies some children use to solve phoneme awareness tasks (Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1993). We carried out five different phonological tasks contrasting phoneme based strategies with phonetic feature based strategies (using manner or place of articulation).Preliminary findings suggest that children are sensitive to phonetic features.
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Hugh Catts (University of Kansas); Ellis Weismer, Susan; Zhang, Xuyang; Tomblin, J. B.; Adlof, Suzanne - A further investigation of poor comprehenders and poor decoders.
Research has shown differences in the cognitive-linguistic profiles of children with specific comprehension and specific decoding deficits. In this presentation, we further examine longitudinal data from a large cohort of children followed from kindergarten to 10th grade. Latent class analysis is used to identify classes (subgroups) of children based on individual differences in decoding and reading comprehension abilities. These classes are compared in terms of differences in language and cognition abilities. Results have implications for theories of reading comprehension.
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Hsin-Chin Chen (Texas A&M University); Viad, Jyotsna; Yang, His-Chun; Wu, Jei-Tun - Orthographic and Phonological Neighborhood Density Effects in Word Recognition in Chinese vs. English Readers
It has been claimed that  recognition of individual words is influenced by the degree to which the words possess unique vs. shared letters or sounds relative to other words, that is, whether the words have few or several neighbors. In the present research, we directly compared orthographic and phonological neighborhood density  effects in Chinese relative to those in English on both lexical decision and naming. Different patterns of results were found in English and Chinese, suggesting that different grapheme-to-phoneme designs of a writing system influence the way readers visually process words and the way orthographic and phonological representations are organized.
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Shu-Li Chen (National Taitung University, Taiwan); Tzeng, Shih-Jay; Hung, Li-Yu; Ko, Hwa-Wei - The relationships between Phonological awareness and Chinese reading abilities
With a data pool of 2840 Taiwanese children, the author explores the relationships between phonological awareness (PA) and Chinese reading abilities. The results showed 4 main findings: 1. PA correlates significantly with reading comprehension and character recognition. 2. Tone awareness also correlates with reading abilities. 3.PA does not increase with age.4. The correlations between PA and reading seem to vary with grade. In first 2 grades, PA correlates more with reading comprehension than with character recognition. However, after third grade, PA correlates more with character recognition. The development of the Chinese PA test will also be reported.
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Becky Chen-Bumgardner (University of Toronto); Luo, Yang; Zhang, Jing - Development of Phonological Strategies in Learning to Reading Chinese
The study investigates the development of two phonological strategies in learning to read Chinese. The phonetic strategy refers to reading a character (°é/ban4/) by naming the phonetic component (°ë/ban4/). The analogy strategy refers reading a character (°é/ban4) by making an analogy to a character (°í/ban4) with the same phonetic component. The study found that the two strategies develop simultaneously. Children can use the strategies as early as in kindergarten before receiving formal literacy instruction, and their performance increases with grade level. Moreover, the phonological strategies are important for character reading.
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Chenxi Cheng (University of Maryland) - Morphological Awareness and Reading Development in Chinese-English Bilingual Children
In this study, we aim to investigate the development of morphological awareness and reading skill in Chinese-English bilingual children from grade 1 to grade 3. We are going to focus on compound morphology in Chinese and English. The design of the study is a 2 (familiarity) x 2 (semantic transparency) x 3 (grade level) design. We expect a main effect of grade and interactions between age and familiarity, age and transparency. Compound morphological awareness will be associated with reading skill in both Chinese and English. We also expect an association between morphological awareness in L1 and reading skill in L2.
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Penny Chiappe (University of California, Irvine); Glaeser, Barbara; Ferko, Doreen - Speech perception, vocabulary and the development of literacy skills in English among Korean- and English-speaking children
This longitudinal study examined the roles of speech perception and phonological processing in literacy development in of 23 native English-speakers (NS) and 27 native Korean-speakers in the first grade. Children completed tasks assessing word recognition, reading comprehension, spelling, phonological awareness, speech perception and receptive vocabulary at the start and end of the school year. Despite weaker performance in vocabulary, KS children’s performance on the literacy measures was superior to that of NS children, and comparable on measures of phonological processing. Speech perception and phonological awareness in autumn explained unique variance in literacy performance at the end of first grade for children from both language groups.
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Naya Choi (Seoul National University); Yoo, An-Jin; Yi, Soon-Hyung - The effect of Korean preschoolers’ visual perception on Hangul words reading
The purpose of this study was to explore the predictability of children’s visual perception on words reading, in connection with the feature of the Korean alphabet ‘Hangul’. The factor analysis confirmed three factors of visual perception, that is, perception about form constancy, direction, and number. The data collected from 252 preschoolers showed that all the sub-tests of this scale, composed of figures, vowels, and consonants, were correlated to words and pseudo-words reading. Regression analysis revealed that perception about form constancy, direction, and number could predict words reading, while perception about the number did not contribute to pseudo-words reading.
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Ellie Clin (Queen's University); Wade-Woolley, Lesly; MacCoubrey, Sharon - What Predicts Growth in L2 Alphabet Knowledge in French Immersion Kindergarten Students?
A strong knowledge of letter names and sounds in pre-readers of alphabetic languages has been shown to be a significant predictor in early reading development in children. Until recently, however, researchers have focused mainly upon this topic in relation to first-language reading acquisition. This study examines the predictive effects of the child’s linguistic environment (eg., number of L1 and L2 books in the home, parents’ competence in the L2) and cognitive and linguistic variables on French Immersion kindergarteners’ development of letter knowledge in the L2. The results of the study will shed light on which aspects of L1 competence and home literacy behaviour are most strongly related to early emergent literacy skills in L2.
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Chris Coleman (University of Georgia); Gregg, Noel; Davis, J. Mark; Hartwig, Jennifer - Dyslexic and Non-Dyslexic Spelling Errors Among University Students
In this study, we analyzed 1,610 spelling errors produced by 130 university students (65 with dyslexia, 65 normally-achieving). The errors came from two sources: (1) a standardized spelling test; and (2) an impromptu essay-writing task. Numerous group- and item-level analyses were conducted, some of which confirmed earlier findings by Evans & Smith (1989) and Bruck (1993). Overall, our investigations were consistent with the view that dyslexia leads to poorer spelling accuracy, plausibility, and knowledge (e.g., morphological awareness). However, data from the essays indicated that adult dyslexics vary in their approach and performance on unconstrained writing tasks.
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Donald Compton (Vanderbilt University); Bigalow, Emily; Elleman, Amy; Lawrence, Jane; Ollinghouse, Natalie; Bauer, Jennifer; Vyning, Jan - Predicting struggling readers' responsiveness to reading comprehension instruction.
There is renewed interest in matching reading interventions to child characteristics in order to optimize treatment responsiveness. Sixty-eight 3rd – 5th grade struggling readers participated in one of three different 25-lesson reading interventions. Groups of struggling readers were assigned to either: 1) decoding only, 2) decoding + traditional (TRAD) comprehension, or 3) decoding + reciprocal teaching (RT) instruction. Employing an ATI approach we predicted responsiveness using treatment group, child attributes (e.g., vocabulary, IQ, word ID skill), and the interaction between the two. Results suggest that child attributes differentially predict responsiveness across the TRAD and RT interventions, suggesting the existence of ATI’s.
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Carol Connor (Florida State University, Florida Center for Reading Research); Morrison, Frederick - The cumulative effect of first and second grade reading instruction on students’ decoding skill growth
Using cross-classified-random-effects models we examined the combined impact of first and second grade language arts instruction on students’ (n=86) decoding skill growth. Overall, the amount of language arts instruction (minutes/day) increased from first to second grade. However, the amount of teacher-managed-code-focused instruction (TMCF) decreased by half from first to second grade. During first grade, students with weaker initial decoding scores demonstrated greater decoding growth in classrooms with more time in TMCF1 instruction while students with stronger initial decoding demonstrated less growth. During second grade all students demonstrated stronger decoding skill growth in classrooms where more time was spent in TMCF2 activities.
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Michael Coyne (University of Connecticut); McCoach, D.Betsy - Direct Vocabulary Instruction during Shared Storybook Reading with Kindergarten Students: A Comparison of Basic Instruction, Extended Instruction, and Incidental Exposure
This poster presents the results of a study evaluating the efficacy of direct vocabulary instruction within storybook reading activities with kindergarten students. A within subjects design was used to compare the effects of basic instruction, extended instruction, and incidental exposure on receptive and expressive measures of target word acquisition. Results revealed statistically and educationally significant differences across conditions favoring extended instruction on all measures. Results of a delayed posttest indicated that instructional effects were maintained after eight weeks. Secondary analyses examined student variables that moderated response to the vocabulary instruction.
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Claudine Crane (University of York); Margaret Snowling; Carroll, Julia; Duff, Fiona; Fieldsend, Elizabeth; Miles, Jeremy; Hulme, Charles - Early intervention at the foundations of reading comprehension.
Following screening of 4-5 year-old children from 20 larger schools in the York area (UK), 160 children were selected on the basis of having poor speech and language development at school entry. Within each school, 4 children were randomly assigned to receive oral language training (including vocabulary and comprehension exercises), 4 to receive an early literacy intervention (including phoneme awareness, print concepts and book reading). The interventions were delivered by trained teaching assistants who taught in both arms of the intervention, daily for two 10-week periods. Findings of the study will be described drawing out implications for theory and practice.
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Jennifer Cromley (Temple University); Azevedo, Roger - Is there more than one way to be a poor reader?
We examined the profiles of background knowledge, inference, strategies, vocabulary, and word reading scores for 9th-grade students who had also completed the Gates comprehension subtest. There were 34 low comprehenders(LC), 42 average comprehenders (AC), 75 above-average comprehenders (AAC) and 21 very high comprehenders (VHC). There were statistically significant differences on all 5 component scores between all groups, with VHC > AAC > AC > LC. In other words, profiles for each group were relatively flat and did not show much overlap. Our findings are highly consistent with Stanovich’s (1986) Matthew Effects and inconsistent with Stanovich’s (1984) interactive-compensatory hypothesis.
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Virginia Cronin (The George Washington University); Chahil, Sandeep; Karajgikar, Jay; Lawson, Beverly - Two-Core Hypothesis and the Stroop Effect
The two-core hypothesis proposes that automaticity and phonology are involved in the development of word reading. The Stroop effect is a test of the automatic quality of word reading. In this longitudinal study, children were divided in to four groups, those high in both naming and phonological awareness, those poor in both abilities, and two groups, high in one ability and low in the other. In grades one through four the groups with one high and one low ability had equivalent levels of word reading, but the low naming group consistently performed more poorly on the Stroop effect. Good phonology seemed to compensate for poor naming in word learning, and supports the two-core hypothesis
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Daniel Daigle (University of Montreal) - The acquisition of double consonants’ legal position in written French: a case of implicit learning in deaf readers
The purpose of this study was to assess the implicit learning by deaf students of a French orthographic rule concerning the legal position of double consonants. The participants were 10-18 years old and were grouped according to their age and reading level. The experimental material consisted of pairs of pseudowords that either respected the legal position of double consonants in French words (e.g. fellut) or not (e.g. felutt). The items were presented on a computer screen. Results show that most subjects demonstrate knowledge of the targeted French orthographic rule because they select significantly more often pseudowords that respect this rule.
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Meredyth Daneman (University of Toronto at Mississauga); Hannon, Brenda; Burton, Christine; Lennertz, Tracy - Individual and age-related differences in shallow semantic processing of text: Evidence from eye movements
Evidence for shallow semantic processing has depended on paradigms that require readers to explicitly report whether they noticed an anomalous noun phrase after reading text such as “The authorities were trying to decide where to bury the surviving injured after the plane crash.” We replicated previous research by showing that readers frequently fail to report the anomaly. In addition, we monitored readers’ eye movements for spontaneous disruptions when encountering the anomaly, and showed how reading skill and aging impact on the time course of anomaly detection. Our results challenge orthodox models of comprehension that assume that semantic analysis is exhaustive and complete.
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J.P. Das (University of Alberta); Georgiou, George; Janzen, Troy - Single and Double-Deficits in Reading: An Analysis of the Effect of Phonological Awareness, Rapid Naming Speed, and Distal Cognitive Processes
The present study examined (a) the contribution of phonological awareness and rapid naming speed on reading ability, (b) the double-deficit hypothesis, and (c) the effects of distal cognitive processes on reading ability. Seventy First Nation Canadian children attending grade 3 and 4 were examined on phonological awareness (PA), rapid naming (RAN), Planning, Attention, Successive, and Simultaneous (PASS) processing, Word Identification, and Word Attack measures. Results indicated that PA and RAN made unique contributions to reading while PASS variables did not contribute significantly, once the effect of PA and RAN was controlled. Finding single and double-deficit subtypes supported the independence of PA and RAN.
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Dana David (Queen's University); Wade-Woolley, Lesly - Lexical Stress and Early Reading Skills in Preschool Children
This study examines the relationship between sensitivity to lexical stress and reading related abilities in preschool children between the ages of 42 – 71 months. Lexical stress sensitivity was measured through an age-appropriate paradigm (Wood, 2004), and measures of letter knowledge, letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, reading ability, and vocabulary were taken as well. Results will be discussed in the context of previous research, and related through regression analyses to theories of children’s reading development in terms of models of linguistic stress development.
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Peter de Jong (University of Amsterdam) - Young children’s use of sound similarity in paired associate learning.
Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that non-reading kindergarten children can benefit from the sound similarity between stimuli during paired associate learning. In Study 1, pairs of words were learned which differed in the unit (rhyme, first sound or none) that the words had in common. In Study 2, a novel letter sound was associated with a word that did or did not contain the sound. In both studies, also the relation between phoneme awareness and learning performance in the various conditions was examined.
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S. Helene Deacon (Dalhousie University); McGonnell, Melissa; Duncan, Hilary - Morphological processing: Friend or foe for adults with a history of reading difficulties?
The limited existing evidence on morphological knowledge amongst poor readers can be described, at best, as mixed. Some research indicates that it causes no particular difficulties (Leong, 1999); other work marks it as an area of strength (Elbro & Arnbak, 1996) or weakness (Giraudo, 2001). This study will evaluate morphological processing abilities in compensated dyslexics, individuals with a history of reading difficulties with age-appropriate reading comprehension levels. Performance on morphological processing tasks will be compared to that of comprehension matched controls. These results will determine if morphological processing might act as a compensatory mechanism for those with reading difficulties.
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Sylvia Defior (University of Granada); Jimenez-Fernandez, Gracia; Cantos, Inmaculada; Serrano, Francisca - Influence of Spanish Code Features upon Reading Acquisition
The aim of this work was to study the development of literacy taking into account the complexities of the Spanish alphabetic code. Children from first to fourth grade were tested with word and pseudoword reading tasks. Seven different types of orthographic complexity were studied. Results showed a developmental effect across grades. They were also found a complexity and a lexicality effect in all grades. Regarding type of complexity, diacritical mark showed the greater difficulty, followed by contextual influence. Findings are discussed in the framework of cross-linguistic research and practical implications are considered.
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Elizabeth Demont (Louis-Pasteur University, Strasbourg); Daigle, Daniel - The use of phonological information by deaf readers of French: a cross-cultural study
The purpose of the present study was to compare phonological processing in deaf readers of French from Canada and from France. Subjects were matched for age and reading level. Phonological processing (graphophonemic and syllabic) was evaluated with two similarity judgement tasks. Subjects had to determine which of two pseudowords resembled the most a target pseudoword. Results indicate a reading level effect in French and Canadian subjects. Better readers got better scores on both tasks. There was no effect of cultural belonging.  Results are discussed in terms of sources of success/failure in deaf students’ reading development in French.
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Peter Dewitz (Educational Consultant, Capital School District, Dover, Delaware); Jones, Jennifer; Leahy, Susan - Reading Comprehension Instruction in Five Basal Reading Programs: Durkin Revisited
Comprehension instruction in five contemporary basal reading programs was examined to determine how they conformed to current research recommendations about effective instruction. The programs were examined from four perspectives. What skills and strategies are being taught? How explicit is the instruction? How much massed and distributed practice, guided practice, is provided for each skill and strategy. How well are research-based strategies like self-questioning, summarizing, narrative structure, main idea and making inferences taught in basal programs compared to original research studies. Results indicate that basal programs offer some direct instruction, minimal guided practice, and a predominance of questioning. The instruction in basal programs lacks the intensive massed practice found in the original research studies for five key strategies.
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Vassiliki Diamanti (University College London); Goulandris, Nata; Stuart, Morag; Campbell, Ruth - Longitudinal Predictors of Reading and Spelling Ability in Greek Dyslexic and Normally Developing Readers.
The study examined the development of literacy skills in twenty-five Greek dyslexic readers and their reading-level and age-level-matched controls over a period of 18 months. Participants were assessed on a large battery of tests, including phoneme awareness, rapid naming, reading and spelling. Concurrent and longitudinal partial correlations revealed that phonological skills play an important role in the development of reading, but mainly in the development of dyslexic and normal readers’ phonological and conventional spelling skills. The longitudinal prediction of naming speed in reading and spelling was evident only among normal readers.
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Beatriz Diuk (University of Buenos Aires); Borzone de Manrique, Ana Maria ; Ledesma, Ruben - Vocabulary knowledge, phonological representations and phonological sensitivity in Spanish-speaking low- and middle-income preschoolers 
The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among vocabulary knowledge, phonological representations of lexical items and phonological sensitivity in 79 Spanish-speaking preschool children from middle- and low-income families. These skills are currently considered developmental precursors to reading acquisition and socioeconomic differences in some of them have been identified in several studies. Significant social class differences were obtained on all tasks except syllable matching. Receptive vocabulary predicted rhyme identification. Syllable matching was predicted by a task tapping accuracy of phonological representations. Results were interpreted taking into account environmental factors - opportunities for vocabulary growth, structural characteristics of Spanish and pedagogical intervention.
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Nell Duke (Michigan State University); Pressley, Michael; Fingeret, Lauren; Golos, Deborah; Halladay, Juliet; Hilden, Katherine; Partk, Yonghan; Reynolds, Julia; Zhang, Shenglan - Revisiting the Simple View of Reading
The Simple View of Reading (Gough and Tunmer, 1986) posits that reading comprehension is a function of two components – decoding and listening comprehension. This view has been influential in reading research. However, research in several areas suggests that reading comprehension is better explained with the addition of other components (e.g., Cartwright, 2002; Joshi & Aaron, 2000; Proctor, Carlo, August, & Snow, 2005). There are also reading processes, including reading illustrations, skimming, searching, and hypertext reading, which are captured in the Simple View. Finally, some research identifies individual cases of readers whose difficulties are not explained by the Simple View.
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Linnea Ehri (CUNY Graduate Center); Greenberg, Daphne; Frederick, Laura - Acquisition of Graphophonemic Mappings in Beginning Readers Receiving Systematic Phonics Instruction
A longitudinal study was conducted with 113 first graders to examine the impact of systematic phonics instruction on the acquisition of graphophonemic mapping relations in English written words and the relationship of this metalinguistic skill to the development of reading and spelling skills. The principal task required students to segment words into phonemes, to circle the graphemes corresponding to phonemes, and to cross out silent letters. Students were tested in first and second grades. Results are contrasted to previous findings with students receiving unsystematic phonics instruction to test the transparency hypothesis that phonics instruction enhances students’ awareness of these correspondences.
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Fathi El Ashry (Tanta University and Florida State University); Al Otaiba, Stephanie - A double dilemma for Arab children learn to read Arabic: Diglossia and unvowelled text.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of diglossia and the effects of unvowelled text on children learning to read in Arabic. A computer search was conducted using ERIC to search the database between 1993 and 2005 using the descriptors: Arabic, reading, diglossia, and vowels. A hand search yielded additional articles. While children learning to read in Arabic may encounter a unique set of difficulties, issues related to research methodology in many studies constrain the findings. Implications will be discussed.
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Marla Endler (University of Toronto) - Predictors of reading in early French Immersion
Seventy-one French Immersion (FI) children from dual-track schools were administered phonological awareness tasks, letter identification and reading measures in both English and French at the end of their senior kindergarten year. These same children are part of a longitudinal study that will follow them through to the end of Grade one. Phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge in their first language (English) was predictive of reading in both their first and second language in Senior Kindergarten. This will provide a significant contribution to early reading literature. Implications for teachers include the ability to predict L2 success with L1 measures.
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Ruth Ervin (University of British Columbia); Leung, Simon; Cohen, Robin; MacKay, Leslie - Preliminary Evaluation of a Formative Reading Measure as a Tool for Assesing Risk and Responsiveness to Intervention: Preliminary Findings in Canada
The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) is a research-based, standardized, norm-referenced measure of pre-reading and reading skills (Good, Gruba, & Kaminski, 2002). Within the United States, preliminary findings suggest that the DIBELS measures are predictive of later reading fluency and comprehension, making them useful in screening for risk of reading failure, and facilitating intervention selection and determining responsiveness to intervention (Hosp & Fuchs, 2005; Kame’enui & Simmons, 2001; Shinn, Good, Knutson, Tilly, & Collins, 1992). Despite widespread use and promising empirical support for DIBELS, these systems are not without criticism (e.g., Manzo, 2005) and in need of further validation in international contexts such as Canada and New Zealand (Croft, Strafford, & Mapa, 2000). In this paper, we examine the utility of DIBELS as a formative measure to assess for risk of reading difficulities and responsiveness to targetted reading interventions in Canada. Results are discussed in terms of their practical utility at a class-wide and individual level.
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Adelina Estevez (University of La Laguna); Jimenez, J.E.; Ortiz, M.R.; Rodrigo, M.; Estevez, A.; Guzman, R.; Hernandez-Valle, I.; Garcia, A.I.; Garcia, E.; Diaz, A.; Muneton, M.; Rojas, E.; Rodriguez, C. - Morphological and syntactic processing in normal reading and reading disabilities in Spanish.
The objective in the present study was to assess the acquisition of different psychological processes, such as morphological and syntactic processing in normal reading and reading disabled children, from a developmental perspective (second-grade to sixth-grade). Furthermore, we tested whether children with reading difficulties differ from normal readers on a number of syntactic processing tasks such as, gender, number, word order, use of function words, thematic role assignment and punctuation sings. The experimental procedure consisted in assessing performance on different morphological and syntactic tasks that were presented from a computerized system, SICOLE-R (Jimenez et al., 2002). Preliminary results indicate that when normal and reading disabled groups are compared across age on syntactic processing tasks it indicates that the syntactic processing is affected in reading disabled children.
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Mary Ann Evans (University of Guelph); Mansell, Jubilea; Shaw, Deborah - Parental Styles of Coaching Normally and Slowly Progressing Young Readers and their Effect
63 mother-child dyads (42 Average on the Test of Early Reading Achievement in Kindergarten and 21 Below Average) were observed reading together at grades K, 1 and 2 and children tested each year. Parents were grouped as Word Suppliers and Code Coaxers though cluster analysis. Word Suppliers more often supplied miscued words and less often gave graphophonemic clues. After covarying out the previous year’s achievement, Average readers obtained lower Word Attack scores in Grade1 under a Word Supplier style in Grades K and 1 than under a Code Coaxer style (SS 91 vs 100, eta .17). This effect was more marked for Below Average readers (SS 77 vs 93, eta .33). The results mirror curricular findings on the efficacy of phonics.
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Iuliana Faroga (Sir Wlifrid Laurier University); Gottardo, Alexandra - Training phonological awareness and commonly used words in school in preschool ESL children: Educational implications
The impact of a training program that combined phonological awareness activities with instruction in the alphabetic principle, teaching of Dolch words (May & Rizzardi, 2002) and of commonly used words in school (Scarborough, 2003) was evaluated through a repeated measures design with a control group. The intervention targeted low-income preschool English-as-a-second language children (ESL) as well as middle-class ESL children. The results show that the children participating in the intervention group showed significantly better performance on phonological awareness, Dolch word reading and Scarborough vocabulary than children in the control group. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.
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Amy Feiker Hollenbeck (University of Wisconsin - Madison) - “There’s nothing to think about”: Text processing across genres for individuals with learning disabilities.
Numerous studies have described the different types of processing that occur when typical readers construct meaning across genres; however, limited research has been completed to compare the strategies that children with learning disabilities (LD) use across narratives and exposition. Does a child with LD apply different strategies when approaching different genres of text? What are these strategies, and does the reader benefit from their use? This presentation will describe the results of a study utilizing protocol analysis of think-aloud transcripts to ascertain the processing of individuals with LD when reading narrative and expository texts, and provide implications for research and practice.
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Liory Fern-Pollak (Brunel University) - Word Frequency, String-Length and Lexicality in reading Spanish, English and Hebrew: Effects of Different Levels of Orthographic Transparency on Reading Strategy in Trilinguals
The study was aimed at showing that reading strategies used for Spanish, English and Hebrew can be arranged along an orthographic transparency continuum, parallel to the languages themselves, i.e. reading in Spanish (transparent) predominantly requires sublexical/phonological processing, reading in Hebrew (opaque) involves lexical/semantic processing, and reading in English requires both types. Spanish-Hebrew-English trilinguals performed a word/nonword naming task. Reaction-time and accuracy data were reflective of the orthographic properties of each language, and the predominant reading strategy used. Moreover, trilingual’s English naming patterns resembled that seen the native language, suggesting an influence of L1’s orthographic properties on L2 reading strategy.
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Ruth Fielding-Barnsley (Queensland University of Technology); Hay, Ian - Unravelling the causal interrelationships of early language and reading development
Approaches to teaching reading to young children and to children who have literacy difficulties are often summarised as a choice between either a whole language or a decoding approach. It is maintained in this paper that this either or notion has failed to acknowledge that reading is a dynamic process where the elements of language, metacognition, and phonological skills form an interactive relationship and any weakness in one inhibits reading development. This paper presents language, phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge data associated with 800 children in their first year of formal schooling.
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Lauren Figueredo (University of Alberta); Varnhagen, Connie - Effects of spelling errors on readers’ judgments about job applicants
We investigated expectations regarding a job applicant’s responsibility to proofread text for spelling errors when using a word processor. Undergraduates were asked to read a cover letter for a job application and then rate both the applicant and the cover letter. We manipulated the presence of spelling errors and gender of the applicant. We found that participants’ ratings of the applicant’s abilities suffered when the letter contained spelling errors. Results suggest that perceptions of both a job applicant’s abilities and their written products can be affected by spelling errors. This study highlights the importance of proofreading one’s spelling, especially in professional settings, and accordingly, the need to develop skill at using tools that support this critical process.
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Alexis Filippini (University of California, Santa Barbara); Solari, Emily; Gerber, Michael - Beyond Letter Name Recognition and Early PA Skills: Does Kindergarten Vocabulary Proficiency Predict Later Reading Success for an English Learner Sample?
Project La Patera’s primary purpose was to investigate the cross-linguistic transfer of phonological awareness skills for young English Learners. The project began in July 2000 with a cohort (N=377) of Spanish-speaking kindergarteners in three school districts and twenty-three (23) classrooms. In 2003-2004, follow-up data was collected on over 100 participants in the sample, which are presented in this paper. Data have been analyzed which suggest a clear and consistent relationship between kindergarten early literacy skills and third grade decoding and word reading which is supported by literature indicating the importance of PA skills for decoding (e.g., Durgunoglu, Nagy & Hancin-Bhatt, 1993). However, there is also an emphasis in the literature on the importance of vocabulary for reading comprehension and the interactive nature of the relationship between vocabulary knowledge, decoding and comprehension (e.g. Baker, Simmons & Kameenui, 1995; Carlisle, Beeman, Davis, & Spharim, 1999),). Therefore, this paper addresses the relationship between first grade receptive vocabulary knowledge and fourth grade reading outcomes.
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David Francis (University of Houston); Carlson, Coleen; Iglesias, Aquiles; Miller, Jon - Use of Oral Narrative to Understand Language and Literacy Development in Spanish-Speaking Children
This study was designed to provide insight into the relationship between standardized and naturalistic language measures when administered to Spanish speakers acquiring English. The study was conducted with 4,008 Spanish-speaking children in the primary grades, using standardized measures of English and Spanish vocabulary and an oral narrative procedure conducted in both languages. The analyses focus on the relationship between the tasks - within and across languages - and the factor structure of the skills assessed. The findings suggest the standardized assessments and narrative production tasks tap different, yet strongly related, aspects of oral language, and the relationship between English and Spanish language ability differs as a function of task type.
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Jorgen Frost (University of Oslo); Moller Sorensen, Peer - The Effects of a Comprehensive Reading Intervention Program for Grade Three Children
A group of 37 Norwegian eight-year (yr 3) old children who had scored below the 20th percentile on a national reading test, were offered intensive reading instruction in groups of four during grade three in two periods (10 weeks and 5 weeks). The intervention was delivered by six teachers who received training in a comprehensive reading intervention program, EMMA (Epi-Meta-Mastery-Approach). A control group of 36 children received increased instructional intensity at their schools during the same periods. The intervention group showed gains in comparison to the control group on measures of word and non-word reading, and spelling.
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Susan Galletly (Central Queensland University); Knight, Bruce - Measuring Australian reading achievement using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
Reading accuracy (word-identification) has been largely ignored in Australian reading instruction since the 1980s, and there are no rigorous Australian tests of reading-accuracy of single words. In this study, DIBELS and TOWRE tests are being administered to 450 children in Years 1-3 at two timepoints. Preliminary findings show DIBELS and TOWRE to be valid, reliable measures mapping reading development and predicting children’s achievement on systemic measures. Additionally, USA Kindergarten, Grade 1 and 2 norms have been found inappropriate for Queensland Year 1 and 2 readers, probably due to Queensland reading instruction not occurring until children’s second school year. The Queensland Year 2 children scored as significantly delayed against USA Grade 2 norms (same length of time in school), and significantly advanced against USA Grade 1 norms (same length of formal reading instruction). This difference narrows markedly by midYear 3, and it is considered likely that in endyear testing, Year 3 Qld children will score at equivalent levels to USA Grade 3 levels.
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George Georgiou (University of Alberta); Manolitsis, George; Parrila, Rauno; Stephenson, Kathy - Comparing the effects of cognitive and noncognitive factors on early reading acquisition in English and Greek
This study examines the effects of cognitive and noncognitive factors on early reading acquisition in an orthographically opaque language (English) and in an orthographically transparent language (Greek). Seventy Canadian children and 90 Greek children attending kindergarten were examined in general cognitive ability, phonological sensitivity, rapid naming speed, phonological memory, letter name knowledge, letter sound knowledge, and word reading. The parents of the children responded to a questionnaire that measures parent’s beliefs and home literacy environment and the teachers of the children responded to a questionnaire that measures student’s achievement strategies. In the data analysis, language will be treated as a predictor variable, whereas the interest would also be on the effects of the language by predictor variables interaction terms. Data are currently being analyzed.
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Astrid Geudens (University of Antwerp); Sandra, Dominiek; Nation, Kate; Martensen, Heike - Children’s reliance on the onset-rime structure: A comparison between English- and Dutch-speaking Children’s RECALL ERRORS
It is widely accepted that onsets/rimes form salient syllable constituents. However, our cross-linguistic study in English- and Dutch-speaking prereaders reveals problems for the interpretation of onset/rime effects. In a syllable recall task (e.g., /tEf/, /rIs/, /nAl/), a rime-effect could only be observed for items starting with sonorants. For items starting with obstruents, Dutch- and English speaking prereaders were as likely or less likely to produce recombination errors that broke up the rime (e.g., /tEs/) as errors retaining the rime (e.g., /tIs/). We conclude that children’s sensitivity to rimes may not reflect a fixed perceived structure of spoken syllables. The importance of statistical characteristics and perceptual-phonetic factors are emphasized.
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Esther Geva (University of Toronto) - Oral Language Proficiency and Literacy Development of English Language Learners: Key Findings of the NLP Report
This presentation will focus on results of a recent comprehensive review of research on literacy development in English Language Learners. The presentation will focus on studies that examined in various ways the role of first and second language oral language skills in developing literacy skills in English, being studied as the societal or foreign language. The review focused on studies of elementary and secondary school students. While the effect of second-language oral proficiency on word-level skills is limited, having well developed second language oral proficiency is associated with well developed reading comprehension and writing skills.
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Stephanie Glasney (Florida State University, Florida Center for Reading Research); Schatschneider, Chris; Connor, Carol - Expressive and Receptive Vocabulary Skills Related to Story Comprehension in Preschool Children
This study examined the contribution of receptive and expressive vocabulary to preschoolers’ listening comprehension. Nineteen preschool children were administered two vocabulary measures: The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test. Children were also given a listening comprehensive measure utilizing open-ended and multiple choice questions about two storybooks that were read to the children. Analyses showed that on the multiple choice model, receptive vocabulary was positively associated with multiple choice correct responses but expressive vocabulary was not. In contrast, expressive vocabulary did significantly positively predict preschoolers’ correct responses on open-ended questions but receptive vocabulary did not.
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Lucie Godard (University of Quebec); Fejzo, Anila - Teaching Phonemic Awareness, a Tool to Enhance Morphological Abilities and Vocabulary Acquisition in French as L2 for Native Arabic Speaking Students of 1st Grade.
Many studies have demonstrated the effects of training phonemic awareness on reading development. In this study, we explore the lexical and morphological outcomes resulting from the phonemic training of 1st grade L1Arabic children in a French language school setting. We compared the lexical and morphological gains of participants trained in phonemic awareness over a 12-week period (N = 7) with those of untrained participants in a control group (N = 7) over the same period. Statistical analyses revealed that the members of the experimental group made significantly greater gains in lexical acquisition and morphological accuracy than members of the control group. These findings support the hypothesis that the explicit teaching of phonemic awareness in first grade could improve a variety of language skills in L2 speakers.
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Nina Goodman (Fordham University); Uhry, Joanna - Initial word-attack strategies used by English-speaking first-graders learning Hebrew as a second language
This study identifies initial word attack strategies in English and Hebrew used by English-speaking first-graders learning Hebrew as a second language through an analysis of student reading and student self-reporting. Initial data suggest that students’ word-identification in English (L1) is more fluent than it is in Hebrew (L2). When students attempt to identify unfamiliar words in Hebrew they most often sound out each syllable individually, beginning with the initial consonant-vowel unit. In English, students rely more consistently on the initial phoneme or the complete initial CVC syllable when breaking words into parts. Students also use a greater variety of word-identification strategies when reading an English text.
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Alexandra Gottardo (Sir Wlifrid Laurier University); Geva, Esther; Faroga, Iuliana; Ramirez, Gloria - The influence of first language (L1) category on the development of second language reading: A longitudinal perspective
The contributions of first language (L1) and second language (L2) measures of phonological processing skills and oral language proficiency were examined in L2 learners with Portuguese, Spanish or Chinese as a first language. Concurrent relationships in kindergarten and longitudinal relationships, kindergarten to grade 1 were examined for the combined group and for each language group (Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish L1) separately. Results show language-specific trends based on L1 script and language-universal relations. Therefore, the nature of the relations between L1 and L2 scripts influences the degree to which reading-related skills overlap in young L2 learners.
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Amy Grant (Sir Wlifrid Laurier University); Wilson, Lex; Gottardo, Alexandra - The Role of Exposure to Print in Reading Skills of College Students with and Without Reading Disabilities.
Exposure to print is a significant predictor of vocabulary growth and declarative knowledge (Stanovich, West, & Harrison, 1995). Research shows that initial differences in print exposure predict differences in reading comprehension in children studied ten years after initial assessment (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997). The present study examines the use of print exposure to explore differences in both reading comprehension and vocabulary in a sample of students with well-documented learning disabilities in the area of reading, and a control group without reading disabilities (RD). Preliminary results suggest that exposure to print is more strongly related to reading comprehension in RD participants.
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Noel Gregg (University of Georgia); Coleman, Chris - Evaluating the Written Discourse Complexity of College Writers: Task, Individual, and Writing Experience
The purpose of this session will be to discuss the occurrence of specific linguistic features most frequently used in the expository writing of college writers. Biber’s (1998) corpus-based analysis was used to code specific linguistic features. Two studies are used to illustrate the need to utilize multi-dimensional models in interpreting discourse complexity. One study was conducted using an impromptu timed essay completed by writers with and without disabilities (dyslexia) .The second study represents preliminary results of a large on-going research study. Data was collected through a program using an on-line application called EMMA (electronic markup and management application).
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Bente Hagtvet (University of Oslo); Horn, Erna; Lyster, Solveigh - Preschool oral language skills and variations in early literacy skills: longitudinal relationships in children at familial risk of dyslexia.
Interrelations between “general language skills”, phonological skills and early literacy skills were studied longitudinally in 73 children at familial risk of dyslexia (from early preschool years to to Grade 3). The longitudinal relationship between preschool oral language skills and reading skills at age 7 was studied by path analysis. The main results were as follows: Both receptive and expressive language at age 3 predicted rime awareness at age 5. Receptive language predicted in addition articulation at age 5, and expressive language predicted phoneme awareness at age 6. Rime awareness at age 5 predicted letter knowledge, phoneme awareness and rime awareness at age 6. Phoneme awareness predicted both spelling and reading accuracy at age 7. In addition, articulation at age 5 predicted spelling. Neither rime awareness nor letter knowledge predicted the literacy measures. Results are discussed with reference to developmental and linguistic theory.
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Ellen Hamilton (University of Michigan); Tardif, Twila; Shu, Hua; Jiang, W.; Jingyuan, Huang - Differentiating the role of sound sensitivity and awareness in reading ability for English- and Mandarin-speaking adults.
We investigate the role of phonological processing in reading using a unique cross-cultural approach. In the first phase of experimentation, we explore the relationship between accuracy and reaction time measures on a sound awareness task (where participants are asked to make ¡°same¡± or ¡°different¡± judgments about native and nonnative word pairs (same, different, rhyming, and alliterating pairs)) with performance on a battery of reading measures in English- and Mandarin-speaking adults. Preliminary results demonstrate that there is a main effect of language. English-speaking adults who show less interference are better readers, but there is no relationship between reading and levels of interference for Mandarin-speakers.
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Nicole Harlaar (King's College, London); Plomin, Robert - Accounting for stability in reading achievement in the early school years: Evidence from a twin study
This paper shows how genetic factors may be implicated in the continuity of reading achievement in the early school years. Reading achievement was assessed at ages 7, 9 and 10 in a sample of over 3000 twin pairs, using National Curriculum (NC) teacher assessments. Genetic factors accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in NC scores at each age and showed substantial stability across ages. Genetic factors also contributed indirectly to the stability of reading achievement through its effects on leisure-time reading experiences. These findings suggest a model accommodating two routes to the stability of early reading achievement differences.
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Margaret Harris (Oxford Brookes University); Moreno, Constanzo - Speech reading and learning to read: a comparison of 8-year-old deaf children with good and poor reading ability
Eight-year-old deaf children, whose reading was age-appropriate (Good Readers), were compared to peers with poor reading and spelling. Overall the two groups differed in the proportion of phonetic errors and syllabic representation in spelling, orthographic awareness and silent speech reading but not speech intelligibility However, individually, only three Good Readers showed strong evidence of phonetic coding in spelling although seven had good representation of syllables; and only four had high orthographic awareness scores. However, all Good Readers were good at speech reading, suggesting that a phonological code derived through lip and tongue movements may underpin reading success for deaf children.
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Gina Harrison (University of Victoria) - Phonological and Orthographic Coding Skills in Adults with Writing Difficulties
Measures of phonological and orthographic coding were administered to 42 adults, 20 with writing difficulties but no reading difficulties, and 22 without difficulties with writing or reading to examine the relationship between these core cognitive processes and writing. Results indicated that adults with writing difficulties were less accurate detecting rhymes in orthographically different words, and were less accurate and slower in responding to a task assessing sight vocabulary than the adults without writing difficulties. Findings are consistent with the view that reading and writing are connected and that skilled writing at a basic level depends on the coordination of salient graphophonemic connections into adulthood.
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Sara Ann Hart (Pennsylvania State University); Petrill, Stephen - Understanding the links between measured environments, reading, and math outcomes: Evidence from a twin study
This study examined the relationship between measures of the home environment, reading, and math skills using a sample of 350 pairs of 8-year-old twins. Results suggested that reading comprehension explained 30% of the variance associated with math skills. Furthermore, the quality of a child’s math homework, mothers’ traditionalism towards education, and the number of hours parents helped with homework each also accounted for about 5% of the variance in math skills. Interestingly, of these environmental variables, only math homework problems accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in math ability after controlling for the effects of reading comprehension.
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Denyse Hayward (University of Alberta); Das, J.P.; Janzen, Troy - “Closing the Gap?” Implementing a classroom-based reading remediation program with Canadian First Nations children who have experienced reading failure for 2-3 years.
The central objective of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive-based, classroom-administered reading remediation program; COGENT. Canadian Aboriginal Grade 3 students (N=34) were divided into an experimental group (n=11) and no-risk control group (n=23). Following 30 hours of COGENT instruction, results showed the experimental group made significantly greater gains in all reading measures (ID, Attack, Comprehension) than the no risk control. Further, the experimental group exceeded the standard score improvement per hours of instruction benchmarks suggested by Torgesen (2002) following COGENT. The merits of such a remedial program are discussed in the context of this unique population.
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Lindsay Heggie (Queen's University); Wade-Woolley, Lesly; Goetry, Vincent; Sabourin, Chantal - Children’s use of syllable and rime as orthographic units in reading English
It has been suggested that phonological structures that are salient in different languages drive reading in ways that are consistent with those structures. Accordingly, syllable and rime have been found to be salient units for decoding in French and English, respectively. A language-specific hypothesis would predict that rime but not syllable is a functional unit of reading in English. The current study tests this hypothesis with 49 English-speaking students in grades 2, 3 and 4. Results showed an interaction of frequency with unit size. Implications for onset-rime and syllable as a functional unit for English reading development are discussed.
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Elfrieda Hiebert (University of California, Berkeley); Fisher, Charles - A Comparison of the Effects of Two Types of Phonetically Regular Text On The Fluency and Word Recognition Of First-Grade English Learners
This study examined the effects of two types of phonetically regular text on reading fluency and word recognition among first-grade English Learners. Eighty-one students were randomly assigned to a single-criterion text (SC), multiple-criteria (MC), or control group. Other than differences in the texts read during 40 half hour lessons, the SC and MC groups received similar instruction. Students who read from SC texts gained 2.4 words correct per minute on an informal reading inventory for every week of instruction. The MC group made even greater progress, gaining 2.8 words per week. Control group students gained 2.0 words per week.
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Maartje Hilte (PI Research, VU Amsterdam); Reitsma, Pieter - The effect of segmentation cues in spelling exercises for beginning spellers at risk
Phonemic segmentation is an important, but demanding task for beginning spellers, especially for those who experience phonological difficulties. The present experiment examines the effect of explicit segmented pronunciation as compared to a normal pronunciation or mere orthographic presentation as cues during computer-based exercises in learning to spell. A group of relatively poor spellers from Grade 1 and 2 participated. In Grade 1 a contrast in length (= number of phonemes) was made, and in Grade 2 only syllabic segmentation was employed, contrasting open versus closed syllables. Training is ongoing, but results in terms of pretest – posttest gains as a function of condition will be presented.
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Annemarie Hindman (University of Michigan); Morrison, Frederick - Teacher practices for partnering with parents across the transition to school
Studies of parent-teacher partnership have identified small effects of parent involvement on children's academic and social learning, but this is only half of the picture. To address teachers' contributions, this study explored a) the extent and nature of family involvement strategies utilized by preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade teachers and b) the effects of these strategies on children's cognitive and social skills. Results suggest that amount of outreach was small but increased across the transition to school, as did focus on academics. Outreach was associated with small gains in alphabet and academic knowledge but not decoding, vocabulary, mathematics, or self-regulation.
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Connie Suk-Han Ho (The University of Hong Kong); Leung, Man-Tak; Cheung, Him - Early Language and Rapid Naming Difficulties of Chinese Preschool Children at Familial Risk for Dyslexia
The present study examined whether Chinese preschool children at familial risk for dyslexia had early language and cognitive difficulties. 99 high-risk and 44 low-risk Chinese children of four years old were recruited. It was found that low-risk children performed significantly better than high-risk children in rapid naming and two language measures. More high-risk children had atypical development in articulation than the low-risk children. Both language and rapid naming measures had unique contribution to Chinese character reading over that of age, family’s SES, and English letter naming. These results suggest that Chinese preschool children at familial risk for dyslexia have early difficulties in spoken language and rapid naming.
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Tiffany Hogan (University of Kansas); Catts, Hugh; Storkel, Holly - Word learning in preschool children differing in phonological awareness
Language skills influencing the emergence of phonological awareness are not well understood. Two theories present opposing views on the area of breakdown if phonological awareness is delayed. One focuses on the influence of phonological processing, whereas another posits a link between lexical processing and phonological awareness acquisition. This study investigated both claims using a word-learning paradigm to observe phonological and lexical processing of the same (non)words before, during, and after they enter the lexicon. Results indicate that children with low phonological awareness evidence phonological processing differences that, in turn, influence their subsequent word learning and lexical processing.
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Andrew Holliman (Open University); Wood, Clare; Sheehy, Kieron - The relationship between musical rhythm, speech rhythm and reading development
Speech rhythm and musical rhythm have been independently related to phonological awareness and reading development. However, it is not known whether these measures are assessing different elements of the same skill. One hundred children aged 5 to 7 were given a variety of speech rhythm and musical rhythm tasks along with reading and phonological awareness assessments. The collection of these data is ongoing, but the analysis aims to show the extent to which the two skills are related and can account for variance in reading skills. If the expected results are obtained, it will have important implications for theoretical explanations of phonological development and reading.
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Wes Hoover (South West Educational Development Laboratory) - The Simple view of reading: An overview and implications for instruction
Gough (Gough and Tunmer, 1986; Hoover and Gough, 1990) proposed the Simple view of reading as a description of two necessary and sufficient cognitive capacities underlying skilled reading, namely, decoding and linguistic comprehension. Over the last 15 years, a number of investigations have provided data that speak to the adequacy of this characterization of reading. This presentation will provide an overview of the types of questions posed, the studies conducted, their general findings, and the implications for the simple view. The presentation will conclude with a description of how the simple view can be used to understand the acquisition of reading in two languages, particularly the transfer of skills (both proximal and distal) from reading skill in one language to a second.
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John Hosp (University of Utah); Dole, Janice; Hosp, Michelle - DIBELS as a Predictor of Proficiency on High Stakes Outcome Assessments for At-Risk Readers
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) is used as an indicator of future reading success and for monitoring student’s progress toward established benchmarks. Researchers have reported that the DIBELS benchmarks may not represent the optimum score needed to predict student success on high stakes assessments. Using ROC over a logistical liner model may provide a better way to determine benchmark scores. For this study, we expand on the literature by using ROC to examine the optimum score on DIBELS for predicting success on high stakes assessments for students in first, second, and third grade who are at-risk.
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Charles Hulme (University of York); Goetz, Kristina; Gooch, Debbie; Adams, John; Snowling, Margaret - Visual-verbal paired associate learning, phoneme deletion ability and learning to read
Two studies examine the relationships between three paired-associate learning (PAL) tasks (visual-visual; verbal-verbal; visual-verbal), phoneme deletion, single word and nonword reading ability. Path analyses showed that both phoneme deletion and visual-verbal PAL were unique predictors of a composite measure of single word reading and of irregular word reading. However, for nonword reading, phoneme deletion was the only unique predictor (and visual-verbal PAL was not a significant predictor). Learning visual- (orthography) to-verbal (phonological) mappings appears to be an important skill for developing word recognition skills in reading.
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Jacqueline Hulslander (University of Colorado, Boulder); Wadsworth, Sally; Olson, Richard - Longitudinal stability of reading skill profiles.
Four-hundred and thirty-six children participating in the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center were tested on a range of reading, language, and cognitive skills at two timepoints, 5 to 8 years apart. Single-word reading and nonword reading measures showed stability correlations in the .7 to .8 range, similar to full-scale IQ. Choice tasks measuring component reading skills were also reasonably stable (.55-.7) considering error variance due to guessing. An orthographic-phonological decoding discrepancy score was moderately stable (.5). A decrease in poor readers’ verbal IQ, but not their performance IQ, provided evidence for a “Matthew effect,” despite reading and language scores that regressed toward the control mean.
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Li-Yu Hung (National Taiwan Normal University); Fang, Chin-Ya - The Development of Three Competences of Orthographic Awareness in Chinese Reading
The orthographic process of Chinese reading involve in awareness of logographic, semantic, and phonetic radical. The study aimed to explore the development of these three components of the graded students in Taiwan. There are 3383 students selected from the island of Taiwan, which about 300 students for each grade, from G3 to G9. Since the G1 students was found to achieve 90% of accuracy of the cue-given task of orthographic radical, the orthographic radical was tested without cue while the semantic and phonetic radicals were tested with cue. The development of the awareness of semantic radical showed earlier than that of phonetic radical. The 3rd-grade students achieved the 85% accuracy of semantic awareness while the 5th-grade students did in the phonetic awareness. The difference of grade and gender were found in the three competences and the fluency of the awareness.
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Florian Hutzler (University of Vienna); Braun, Mario; Engl, Verena; Hofmann, Markus; Dambacher, Michael - Recording of brain potentials in real-world reading paradigms
Fixation-related brain potentials (FRPs) utilize eye movements for the recording of brain potentials during the examination of complex visual stimuli such as sentence reading, scene perception and real world paradigms. The general problem with the FRP technique – that constitutes an alternative to event-related potentials (ERPs) – is that up to now it is unknown whether they are valid and reliable measures of cognitive processes. Here we show, exemplified by the well known old/new effect in visual word recognition that brain potentials corresponding to eye fixations during free exploration are as reliable as conventional, though highly restricted ERPs.
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Jukka Hyona (University of Turku); Haikio, Tuomo; Niemi, Pekka - Letter identity span among younger and older readers
The region around an eye fixation from which letter identities are processed was determined using the moving window paradigm. The availability of letter identity information was manipulated by varying the size (7, 11, 15, 19 letters, and whole line) of the window where the text was kept intact (text outside it was replaced by visually similar letters). Several eye movement measures were used as processing indices. The results showed that the letter identity span was 11-15 letters for the 2nd graders, 15 letters for the 4th graders, and more than 19 letters for 6th graders and adults.
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Albrecht Inhoff (State University of New York); Solomon, Matthew - The time course of parafoveal information usage is a function of task demands
We manipulated the ease of sentence reading and we used eye-movement-contingent display changes to control the temporal and spatial visibility of a  to-be-fixated (parafoveally visible) target word. The intact target was visible upon its fixation. Examination of target viewing duration as a function of experimental demands and of previously available target information showed that the time line of parafoveal information usage was influenced by the linguistic properties of the target word and by the demands of the reading task. We propose that an attention shift precedes the usage of parafoveally available item information, and that task demands and item properties determine when the attention shift takes place.
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Nancy Jackson (University of Iowa); Hurtig, Richard; Wu, Anna - Can Ordinary Classroom Assignments be Used to Measure Development of Young Children’s Writing?
The Breakthrough to Literacy curriculum includes daily writing assignments that are centered on a different book each week. Assignments progress during the week from pre-writing to a culminating Friday assignment. Sets of Friday assignments were collected monthly from 10 pre-K through Grade 2 classrooms, yielding complete data for about 95 children. Samples were scored for features theoretically linked to the development of writing ability. Measures derived from this scoring were compared for their reliability as indicators of individual and classroom-level growth. Alternative models of development at the classroom level were related to ratings of fidelity of program implementation.
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Marilyn Jager Adams (Soliloquy Learning, Inc.); Curtis, Mary; Strucker, John - Fluency and Vocabulary Instruction for Adult Basic Education Intermediate Readers
In the US, adult intermediate readers (Grade Equivalent 4-8) make up nearly 70% of all Adult Basic Education enrollees. Although proven instructional approaches for assisting adult intermediates are scarce, descriptive research has produced broad agreement on their reading difficulties. For these students, alphabetic basics and decoding are generally in place, but reading fluency and vocabulary are far below norm. We report on the impact of two different approaches to improving adult intermediates' literacy growth, a teacher-managed curriculum, built from an adaptation of the fluency and vocabulary strands of the Boys Town Reading Program, and a computer-managed approach, anchored on Soliloquy Learning's speech-recognition based reading tutor.
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Lara Jakobsons (Florida State University, Florida Center for Reading Research); Connor, Carol; Meadows, Jane - The Impact of Instruction and Engagement on First Graders' Reading Comprehension Skills in Reading First Schools
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of instruction and engagement on first grade students’ reading comprehension (RC) skills, controlling for length of observation, and entering skills in oral reading fluency (ORF), letter naming fluency (LNF), vocabulary (VOC), and vocabulary by ORF (VOCxORF). Observations in 31 classrooms were conducted in April 2004 as part of Reading First site visits, and five-hundred and six students participated in this study. Results, using HLM, revealed that student engagement significantly predicted RC skill growth. Additionally, a teacher-managed, meaning-focused instruction by VOCxORF interaction related to spring RC.
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Debra Jared (University of Western Ontario); Cormier, Pierre; Levy, Betty Ann; Wade-Woolley, Lesly - Cross-language activation in young bilingual readers
We examined whether young bilingual readers activate representations from one or both languages when reading in one language. The bilinguals were English children in Grades 2 and 3 who were enrolled in French Immersion programs. They were asked to read aloud words presented on a computer screen. Words were English-French cognates (e.g. ANIMAL), interlingual homographs (e.g., COIN), interlingual homophones (e.g., KEY-QUI), and matched control words. The results are relevant to the debate in the adult bilingual literature as to whether lexical activation in bilinguals is language specific or nonspecific.
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Annette Jenner (College of the Holy Cross and Haskins Laboratories); Pugh, Kenneth; Hughes, Danielle; Liang, Sarah; Sandak, Rebecca; Einar Mencl, W.; Frost, Stephen - Comparisons of Orthographic-to-phonologic