Development Of Reading Ability Research Articles

Evaluation of a Bayesian Approach to Estimating Nonlinear Mixed-Effects Mixture Models

The growth mixture model has become increasingly popular, given the willingness to acknowledge developmental heterogeneity in populations. Typically, linear growth mixture models, based on polynomials or piecewise functions, are used in substantive applications and evaluated quantitatively through simulation. Growth mixture models that follow inherently nonlinear trajectories, referred to as nonlinear mixed-effects mixture models, have received comparatively little attention—likely due to estimation complexity. Previous work on the estimation of these models has involved multistep routines (Kelley, 2008), maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) via the E-M algorithm (Harring, 2005, 2012), Taylor series expansion and MLE within the structural equation modeling framework (Grimm, Ram, & Estabrook, 2010), and MLE by adaptive Gauss–Hermite quadrature (Codd & Cudeck, 2014). This article proposes and evaluates the use of Bayesian estimation with OpenBUGS (Lunn, Spiegelhalter, Thomas, & Best, 2009), a free program, and compares its performance with the Taylor series expansion approach. Finally, these estimation routines are used to evaluate the need for multiple latent classes to account for between-child differences in the development of reading ability.

A holistic intervention program for children from low socioeconomic status families.

A holistic intervention program for children from low socioeconomic status families.

Development of reading ability is facilitated by intensive exposure to a digital children's picture book.

Here the author presents preliminary evidence supporting the possibility that the reading ability of 4-year-old children can be improved as a consequence of intensive exposure to the narrative in a digital picture book over a consecutive 5-day period. When creating the digital version used here, two additional functions were provided with it. First, the entire story was voice-recorded by a professional narrator and programmed so that it was played as narration from the speaker of an iPad. Next, as the narration of each digitized page proceeded, the character exactly corresponding to that pronounced by the narrator at that moment became highlighted in red. When the subjects' literacy capability with respect to the syllabic script of the Japanese language (kana) was evaluated before and after the exposure, their performance score was found to increase after the exposure to the digital book, whereas such a change was not recorded in children who experienced exposure to the printed version of the same picture book read to them by their mother. These effects were confirmed when the children were retested 4 weeks later. Although preliminary, the current study represents the first experimental evidence for a positive effect of exposure to digital books upon any aspect of child development.

Early preschool processing abilities predict subsequent reading outcomes in bilingual Spanish–Catalan children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have severe language difficulties without showing hearing impairments, cognitive deficits, neurological damage or socio-emotional deprivation. However, previous studies have shown that children with SLI show some cognitive and literacy problems. Our study analyses the relationship between preschool cognitive and linguistic abilities and the later development of reading abilities in Spanish–Catalan bilingual children with SLI. The sample consisted of 17 bilingual Spanish–Catalan children with SLI and 17 age-matched controls. We tested eight distinct processes related to phonological, attention, and language processing at the age of 6 years and reading at 8 years of age.Results show that bilingual Spanish–Catalan children with SLI show significantly lower scores, as compared to typically developing peers, in phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN), together with a lower outcome in tasks measuring sentence repetition and verbal fluency. Regarding attentional processes, bilingual Spanish–Catalan children with SLI obtained lower scores in auditory attention, but not in visual attention. At the age of 8 years Spanish–Catalan children with SLI had lower scores than their age-matched controls in total reading score, letter identification (decoding), and in semantic task (comprehension). Regression analyses identified both phonological awareness and verbal fluency at the age of 6 years to be the best predictors of subsequent reading performance at the age of 8 years. Our data suggest that language acquisition problems and difficulties in reading acquisition in bilingual children with SLI might be related to the close interdependence between a limitation in cognitive processing and a deficit at the linguistic level.Learning Outcomes: After reading this article, readers will be able to: identify their understanding of the relation between language difficulties and reading outcomes; explain how processing abilities influence reading performance in bilingual Spanish-Catalan children with SLI; and recognize the relation between language and reading via a developmental model in which the phonological system is considered central for the development of decoding abilities and comprehension.

How phonological awareness mediates the relation between children's self-control and word decoding

Around the age of five, worldwide, most children show phonological awareness and word decoding abilities which are needed to become literate. Ample evidence has shown that subjective measures of self-control in kindergarten strongly contribute to the emergence of reading. In the present study, we examined this relation more thoroughly, by considering contributions of objective self-measures of both attentional control and behavioral control to the developmental trajectory from phonological awareness to subsequent decoding. Ninety-six children were assessed on their attentional and behavioral control and phonological awareness in kindergarten. One year later, in grade 1, their decoding abilities were assessed. Using the bootstrapping process procedure, we found both self-control and phonological awareness in kindergarten to be related to decoding in first grade. Process analyses revealed that phonological awareness interferes with the relation between self-control and decoding. For attentional control, full mediation was evidenced; for behavioral control, an indirect effect was found. It is concluded that self-control allows the development of reading abilities that predate formal reading instruction via the advancements in phonological awareness.

Role of Oral Reading in the Development of Reading Ability :

Role of Oral Reading in the Development of Reading Ability :

Collaborative inquiry project-based learning: Effects on reading ability and interests

The academic performance of students has been shown to be associated with reading ability. Inquiry learning can potentially enhance the reading abilities and interests of students. This study verified this proposition by examining the effects of an inquiry approach to group projects on the reading abilities of primary school students. Using a case study design, an inquiry project-based learning (PBL) approach, with the collaboration between three types of teachers and the school librarian was implemented to support the development of reading abilities and interests of students in a primary school in Hong Kong. The participants included Primary 4 students, teachers, and parents. Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) tests were used to evaluate the students' reading abilities; survey questionnaire and interviews were used to examine the participants' perceptions of the inquiry PBL; and the PIRLS survey was used to measure the students' attitudes and self-perceptions. Quantitative and qualitative data analyses showed positive effects on the reading abilities and attitudes of the participating students. Students' attitudes and self-perceived abilities appeared to influence the improvements in reading abilities. Finally, improvements in the students' reading comprehension, reading speed, and vocabulary were perceived. These findings provide evidence and insights to support further implementation of inquiry PBL in primary schools.

On the Development of Reading Ability

English reading is not only the purpose of the study, but also the main means and paths of learning English. English reading skill is one of the important language skills, which students have to master. Therefore, in order to improve students’ reading ability, teachers should particularly focus on the development of students’ effective reading skills and good reading habits.

Predictors of reading development in deaf children: A 3-year longitudinal study

The development of reading ability in a group of deaf children was followed over a 3-year period. A total of 29 deaf children (7–8 years of age at the first assessment) participated in the study, and every 12 months they were given a battery of literacy, cognitive, and language tasks. Earlier vocabulary and speechreading skills predicted longitudinal growth in reading achievement. The relations between reading and the predictor variables showed developmental change. Earlier reading ability was related to later phonological awareness skills, suggesting that deaf children might develop their phonological awareness through reading. Deaf children who had the most age-appropriate reading skills tended to have less severe hearing losses and earlier diagnoses and also preferred to communicate through speech. The theoretical implications of the role for speechreading, vocabulary and phonological awareness in deaf children’s literacy are discussed.

Oculomotor and linguistic determinants of reading development: A longitudinal study

We longitudinally assessed the development of oculomotor control in reading from second to fourth grade by having children read sentences with embedded target words of varying length and frequency. Additionally, participants completed oculomotor (pro-/anti-saccades) and linguistic tasks (word/picture naming), the latter containing the same item material as the reading task. Results revealed a 36% increase of reading efficiency. Younger readers utilized a global refixation strategy to gain more time for word decoding. Linguistic rather than oculomotor skills determined the development of reading abilities, although naming latencies of fourth graders did not reliably reflect word decoding processes in normal sentence reading.

Phonological awareness and the minimising of reading problems: a South African perspective

In South Africa and in many other countries there is a concern that many learners in our schools do not have well developed reading abilities. Research in overseas countries has indicated that phonological awareness as a pre-reading skill influences the development of reading abilities. In order to verify overseas research, the authors undertook a research project to determine the relation between phonological awareness and reading success of a group of young learners in three primary schools. The results of the research findings verified overseas research in which a meaningful relation between preschoolers' phonological awareness and later reading success was indicated. Keywords: phonological awareness, phonological structure of language, emergent literacy, reading abilities, reading success Journal for Language Teaching Vol. 39(2) 2005: 210-225

Clinical Course of Hearing and Language Development in GJB2 and Non-GJB2 Deafness following Habilitation with Hearing Aids

Mutations in the GJB2 gene (connexin 26) are the most common cause of nonsyndromic autosomal recessive sensorineural hearing loss. Genetic testing of GJB2 may offer opportunities to predict the features of hearing loss and prognostication of speech-language development in children with hearing loss. The present study assessed the clinical features of hearing and some aspects of language development in congenital deafness due either to GJB2 mutations or to other factors in Japanese patients who had been habilitated with hearing aids. Thirty-five unrelated subjects with nonsyndromic, congenital, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss were enrolled in the study. Among them, 16 had biallelic GJB2 mutations related to hearing loss and 17 lacked such mutations. As has been reported in populations of European ancestry, the present Japanese subjects with GJB2 mutations had a relatively high incidence of the flat pattern audiogram and nonprogressive pure tone thresholds compared with subjects without GJB2 mutations. Subjects with GJB2 mutations and those without GJB2 mutations both showed a similar tendency in speech perception, some aspects of language development, and communication methods. In both groups, development of reading ability tended to be normal, but vocabulary development tended to be delayed. The present results establish the basis for future studies to aid in the evaluation and follow-up of patients with congenital hearing loss associated with GJB2 mutations who are habilitated with hearing aids.

The dissociation of word reading and text comprehension: Evidence from component skills

In this paper, we discuss the relative contribution of several theoretically relevant skills and abilities in accounting for variance in both word reading and text comprehension. We present data from the first and second waves of a longitudinal study, when the children were 7 to 8 years, and 8 to 9 years old. In multiple regression analyses, we show that there is a dissociation between the skills and abilities that account for variance in word reading, and those that account for variance in text comprehension. The pattern of results is very similar at both time points. Significant variance in comprehension skill is accounted for by measures of text integration, metacognitive monitoring, and working memory. By contrast, these measures do not account for variance in word reading ability, which was best accounted for by a phoneme deletion task. The implications of these findings for our understanding of the development of reading ability, children’s problems in text comprehension and for remediation will be discussed.

When reading is acquired but phonemic awareness is not: A study of literacy in Down's syndrome

The concept of phonological awareness (PA) has loomed large in recent discussions of the acquisition of literacy in alphabetic orthographies (Bryant & Goswami, 1987). The term is usually taken to imply overt knowledge of how spoken words can be analysed into their constituent sounds (“phones”). This awareness is assessed by such tasks as requiring the child to produce (or recognize) rhymes, to indicate how many sounds there are in a particular word, or to delete a constituent (phone or syllable) of a word and pronounce the remainder. It has been asserted that these skills play a causal role in the development of reading ability (Bradley & Bryant, 1983). We provide evidence against the position that such skills are essential prerequisites for reading (and any other hypothesis that claims necessary causal links between reading and PA). It is shown that some children with Down's syndrome can learn to read despite their failure on a set of tasks conventionally employed to assess PA. The pedagogic implication is that reading should be taught by teaching reading skills (including letter-sound correspondences), not phonological awareness skills.

Hypertext in cognate-language learning

Abstract This paper reports on the results of and experiences gained from a project to investigate and evaluate the use of hypertext as a tool for developing CALL systems. The type of CALL system implemented was to some extent influenced by the desire to experiment with hypertext. Its novel features seemed to indicate that it would be ideal for the development of a cognate-language learning package i.e. software which would aid the development of reading ability in a foreign language based on the knowledge of a related language. Accordingly, a package was developed which provides the ‘same’ prose passages in French and Spanish (with English normally operating as the first language). A reader is able to browse in one of these languages, trying to understand the meaning by either interpolating between cognate words or by moving between the identical passages of two (or even three) of the languages.

Reading development in adults

A comparison of the development of reading ability among adults with that of children-from the lowest levels of literacy to the most advanced. Included in the comparison are characteristics of adults at each level of development, the kind of instruction that will help bring them from lower to higher levels, and the particular difficulties they experience at the various levels. The article concludes with a historical overview of the changes in literacy standards and needs in the United States and the growing recognition that among the adult illiterates, particularly native English speakers who have very limited reading skills, are large numbers who have dyslexia.

Reading in Newport News High School

Careful attention to the testing and development of reading abilities in this high school, produced remarkable results. For example, the most backward group made the equivalent of two years' progress in a single semester.