Letter Naming Research Articles

Young children's alphabet learning as a function of instruction and letter difficulty

Despite the importance of alphabet knowledge for learning to read in English, we continue to have a limited understanding of children's alphabet knowledge learning and how to best support such learning. In this pretest-posttest within-subjects experimental study (n = 29), we examined alphabet learning as a function of lessons tailored to individual children's alphabet learning needs and as a function of letter difficulty. Children received instruction on four individually selected target letters and no instruction on four control letters; target and control letters were equated for letter difficulty. Results showed that children were more likely to learn target letters than control letters. Additionally, letter difficulty predicted children's learning of uppercase and lowercase letter names but not their learning of letter sounds. Findings partially substantiate the role of letter difficulty in alphabet learning and support continued research on effective practices for differentiating alphabet instruction to meet individual alphabet learning needs.

Penelitian Permainan Rakyat: Konten Analisis (Content Analysis) Pada Website Garuda RISTEK-BRIN

The folk games are the one development of object culture to must to the preserve. The researcher has researched traditional games from science various. The purpose this research to know folk games research through content analysis in Garuda RISTEK-BRIN website. The research method use analysis content with qualitative approach. The data collection through literature study from 13 folk games research. Based on result analysis found 5 sub themes consist of architecture desain, the type of traditional games analysis, school teaching materials, song traditional games analysis, and traditional games transformation. The research based on publication year has various year publication. The experience of publication year ups and down after sorted using journal names from the initial letters of journal names a to s. The language used in this study uses Indonesian with differences in the writing of the title, the use of Indonesian English titles, Indonesian titles, and Indonesian English titles. The research 13 studies has 63 types of traditional games with the number of games reaching 77. Folk games from an area become a cultural representation of the area itself. Hopefully this research will provide benefits for the reference and development of the next folk game research.

Internet-based language production research with overt articulation: Proof of concept, challenges, and practical advice

Language production experiments with overt articulation have thus far only scarcely been conducted online, mostly due to technical difficulties related to measuring voice onset latencies. Especially the poor audiovisual synchrony in web experiments (Bridges et al. 2020) is a challenge to time-locking stimuli and participants’ spoken responses. We tested the viability of conducting language production experiments with overt articulation in online settings using the picture–word interference paradigm – a classic task in language production research. In three pre-registered experiments (N = 48 each), participants named object pictures while ignoring visually superimposed distractor words. We implemented a custom voice recording option in two different web experiment builders and recorded naming responses in audio files. From these stimulus-locked audio files, we extracted voice onset latencies offline. In a control task, participants classified the last letter of a picture name as a vowel or consonant via button-press, a task that shows comparable semantic interference effects. We expected slower responses when picture and distractor word were semantically related compared to unrelated, independently of task. This semantic interference effect is robust, but relatively small. It should therefore crucially depend on precise timing. We replicated this effect in an online setting, both for button-press and overt naming responses, providing a proof of concept that naming latency – a key dependent variable in language production research – can be reliably measured in online experiments. We discuss challenges for online language production research and suggestions of how to overcome them. The scripts for the online implementation are made available.

The Names of the Letters for Al- Khalil Bin Ahmad: A Lexical Morphological Study

This research aimed at study some of the linguistic lexical rules that were established by the pioneer of language and the Arabic lexicon, Al Khalil bin Ahmed Al- Farahidi, and which Al- Khalil included in his dictionary and referred to it in his exclusive comprehensive genius style.The study deals with the names of letters and the rooting for them in Al Khalil and those who came after him from the linguists and the dictionary Interpretation and others who devoted his knowledge and age to serve the language of the Noble Qur’an,. The study came as an analytical morphological lexical, and it is unique as far as I know regarding the general rules in Al Ain’s dictionary of Al Khalil.

Systematic Review of Occupational Therapy Interventions to Enhance Cognitive Development in Children 0–5 Years: Part 2, At-Risk Due to Environmental Factors and Promoting Cognitive Development

ABSTRACT Aim: This article is the second part of a systematic review updates and broadens a previous systematic review (Frolek Clark & Schlabach, 2010) to examine the evidence for of interventions within the scope of occupational therapy practice to enhance cognitive and pre-academic development in young children with or without at-risk factors. This article is Part 2 of the review and will focus on interventions for children at-risk from environmental factors and interventions that promoting cognitive development in children ages birth to 5 years. Part 1 is published separately and focuses on children with specific diagnoses. Methods: A systematic search of studies published from 2010 to 2020 using MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, OTseeker, and Cochrane was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Results: Twenty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised: 19 Level I, 6 Level II, and 2 Level III evidence (Part 2). Two themes are discussed within this paper (Part 2): Children At-Risk of Cognitive Delays due to Environmental Factors, and Promoting Cognitive Development. Strong strength of evidence exists for cognitive and executive functioning training programs, literacy programs, and parent interactions focused on child’s needs. Strong strength of evidence indicates explicit Tier II interventions assist preschool children in learning early literacy skills (e.g., print knowledge, letter names, letter sounds). Moderate strength of evidence supports using movement or play to enhance cognitive and executive functions in preschoolers. Conclusions: Occupational therapy practitioners working in home and preschool programs can use these evidence-based interventions to enhance cognitive development, executive functions, and pre-academic functions performance for young children with or without risk factors. Part 1 of the review also appears in this issue.

U.S. children’s understanding of the English alphabet: Its acquisition, conceptualization, and measurement.

Construct confusion and measurement challenges have plagued emergent literacy research for decades. Using a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design, this study evaluated the dimensionality of alphabet knowledge and identified the sequence of development of 8 alphabet knowledge skills. Eleven models were evaluated in a sample of 3,692 preschool- and elementary school-age children. Findings supported a unidimensional conceptualization of alphabet knowledge that includes letter name knowledge and letter sound knowledge but not the ability to discriminate letters from nonalphabetic characters. Test information curves and significance tests of model constraints revealed reliable main and interaction effects of test format, capitalization, and component skills on items’ discriminations and difficulties. Implications for improving the measurement of alphabet knowledge are discussed in recognition that doing so will support advancement of theory, research, educational practice, and ultimately student achievement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

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Teaching Beginners to Decode Consonant–Vowel Syllables Using Grapheme–Phoneme Subunits Facilitates Reading and Spelling as Compared With Teaching Whole‐Syllable Decoding

ABSTRACTIn this experiment, we examined whether beginning readers benefit more from grapheme–phoneme decoding (GPD) than from whole‐syllable decoding (WSD) instruction in learning to read and write words. Sixty Brazilian Portuguese‐speaking first graders (M age = 6 years 1 month) who knew letter names but could not read or write words were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. The GPD group was taught to decode 40 consonant–vowel (CV) syllables by sounding out and blending grapheme–phoneme constituents (combinations of 10 consonants and five vowels). The WSD group was taught to decode the same CV syllables as whole graphosyllabic units. The individual grapheme–phoneme (IGP) group was taught the same 15 grapheme–phonemes as single units but no decoding. Groups were taught to a mastery criterion. Results showed that GPD instruction was much more effective than WSD and IGP instruction in enabling beginners to read CV syllables, multisyllabic words, and pseudowords; to learn to read words from memory; to write words; and to segment and blend spoken words phonemically. Also, GPD instruction facilitated phonological memory for spoken pseudowords. Despite receiving much practice in reading whole CV syllables, the WSD group learned few, if any, grapheme–phoneme subunits. Results support theories that reading instruction is most effective when it begins by teaching students to decode with small grapheme–phoneme units rather than with larger syllabic units, even when syllables are salient spoken and written units in the writing system.

Patterns of risk exposure in first 1,000 days of life and health, behavior, and education-related problems at age 4.5: evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand, a longitudinal cohort study

BackgroundChildren who are high priority candidates for early intervention need to be identified to reduce their risk for experiencing problems in development. Those exposed to multiple risk factors are more likely to exhibit problems in development than those exposed to a single or no risk factor. We examined the longitudinal associations between persistence and timing of exposure to cumulative risk (CR) on three occasions by age 2 and problems in development at age 4.5 in health, behavior, and education-related domains.MethodsData are from Growing Up in New Zealand (NZ), a prospective longitudinal study of a birth cohort first assessed during their last trimester in 2009–10 and followed at ages 9 months and 2 and 4.5 years. All women with an expected delivery date in a 12-month period who resided within a defined region were invited to participate, with no additional eligibility criteria. Exposure was measured for 12 sociodemographic and maternal health risk factors at third trimester and ages 9 months and 2 years, from which developmental trajectories were constructed capturing persistence and timing of CR exposure. Ten developmental outcomes were measured at age 4.5 to classify problems in overall health status, obesity, and injuries; internalizing and externalizing behavior problems; and letter naming, counting forward and backward, and expectations for starting school and completing education.ResultsAnalyses of data from 6156 children (49% female, 33% Non-European ethnicity) who participated in the 4.5-age assessment uniformly showed associations between exposure to more than consistently zero CR across early development and higher prevalence of being classified with problems for 9 of 10 outcomes. Persistent exposure to a CR ≥ 4 was generally associated with a higher prevalence of problems for 7 of 10 outcomes, whereas the timing of first exposure to CR ≥ 4 showed a less consistent association with problem outcomes.ConclusionsThese findings are concerning because over 50% of NZ children are exposed to at least one of these risk factors at some point in early development. Routine screening of most of these risk factors during pregnancy is feasible and can identify priority candidates for intervention.

Evaluating the Impact of the delivery of Synthetic Phonics Teaching on the Acquisition of Upper and Lowercase Recognition Skills of Omani Third Graders

Letter name knowledge is regarded as being among the soundest indicators of later reading skill and an imperfectly established alphabetic knowledge is a well-known predictor of future reading challenges. Hence, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a synthetic approach to phonics, specifically Jolly Phonics (JP), to determine its contribution to Omani third graders’ acquisition of uppercase (UC) and lowercase (LC) recognition. The study sample consisted of 117 Omani male and female third graders in two cycle one schools in Al-Dhahira Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman during the academic year 2019/2020. The study employed a quantitative descriptive research design, in which data was collected using an UC and LC letter recognition test. The findings revealed that the although the third graders in this study’s sample have on average achieved the JP programme’s objective in terms of UC and LC letter recognition skills, not all students have achieved the minimum required level in this literacy skill; whereby 43.6% of the students were below the minimum required level and the remaining 56.4% of students were at or above the minimum required level. Besides, there was a statistically significant difference between third graders’ scores in UC letter recognition and LC recognition in favour of UC letters. The study concluded with a set of recommendations for the MOE and English teachers, in order to develop the delivery of synthetic phonics teaching as a literacy-enhancing approach, namely JP, in the Omani context. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this study is important for being the first to evaluate the impact of the delivery of synthetic phonics teaching (i.e. JP programme) on the acquisition of upper and lowercase recognition skills among Omani EFL third graders since the programme’s implementation in 2014.

Measuring the Emergence of Specific Abilities in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Example of Early Hyperlexic Traits.

The presence of a restricted interest in written materials, including an early ability to name and recognize letters and numbers, is regularly reported in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). There is, however, scarce information on this early ability akin to emerging hyperlexic traits in preschoolers with ASD younger than 3 years old. Here, we defined a measure of early naming and recognition of letters and numbers in 155 preschoolers with ASD using a sliding window approach combined with a 90th percentile threshold criterion, and subsequently compared the profiles of children with ASD with and without early hyperlexic traits. Using this measure, we found that 9% of children with ASD showed early hyperlexic traits. The early ability to name and recognize letters and numbers was associated with a higher level of restricted and repetitive behaviors yet more social-oriented behaviors at baseline and with better expressive and written communication at baseline and one year later. This study contributes to a better definition of the profile of children with ASD with an early ability in letters and numbers akin to emerging hyperlexic traits, a skill that is associated with promising social strengths and language abilities in this subgroup of children.

The name effect in customization service: the role of psychological ownership and self-threat

PurposeThis study investigated the effect of adding a customer's name onto a standard product on the customer's product attitude from the perspective of the name-letter effect and psychological ownership theory.Design/methodology/approachA 2 × 2 experiment was conducted to test the name effect in customization services. The main effects, mediation effects and moderation effects were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and PROCESS 2.16.3.FindingsAdding customers' personal names onto a standard product positively affected their attitude toward the product, and these effects were mediated by psychological ownership. Furthermore, customers' responses were moderated by self-threat, whereby threatening customers' self-concept enhanced their attitude toward the product that had their name on it.Originality/valueThis study found a positive name effect that is applicable to customization services. It also identified mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this effect. Therefore this study extends previous studies on customization services that have solely focusing on complex product personalization by focusing on a service that requires less effort and a more basic customization service. This study also extends previous findings about name-letter effects by focusing on the associations between an individual and an object that are induced by shared name letters and by studying how directly adding a personal name onto an object can influence these associations.

Does learning to read affect naming skills? Insights from ERPs during letter and picture naming tasks

Numerous studies report that poor readers display low performance in naming tasks. However, very few studies have investigated the development of naming skills along with the development of reading fluency and its variability in typically developing children. In this study, we used electro-encephalographic (EEG) recordings acquired during letter and picture naming tasks to investigate how naming skills develop and, possibly, interact with age and reading level variations. Ninety-three children aged 7–12 years named letters and pictures under an EEG recording, and their reading performance was assessed. ERP results on amplitudes show that age and reading level have similar effects on the entire letter naming time-course. By contrast, age and reading level have different effects on the picture naming time-course, with a specific effect of reading level on the N1 time-interval, associated with visuo-conceptual processing and an effect of both age and reading on later time-windows. On the microstate analysis, age remains the only predictor of the variance in global electric field at scalp for both letter and picture naming indicating that reading skill is not related to a modulation of the mental processes underlying naming.

What can children learn from exposure to visual-graphical representations?

This study examined the relative effectiveness of two intervention programs based on joint-interactive storybook reading: one program focused on cultivating awareness and use of visual-graphic representation (VGR), and the second focused on verbal conversations (VC). Both programs were delivered over 12 sessions, to Hebrew-speaking kindergarteners, by their teachers. Language abilities (vocabulary, narrative skills, listening comprehension, phonological and morphological awareness) and emergent literacy knowledge (print concept and letter naming) were examined both before and after the interventions. Additionally, reading motivation was examined, to find out whether children are more motivated to take part in reading activities after participating in one of the programs. Overall, results showed significant improvement in most examined variables in both intervention groups. The VGR group earned better scores in phonemic and morphemic awareness, print concepts and letter-naming than the VC group. However, scores in vocabulary, narrative ability and listening comprehension improved to a similar degree in both intervention groups. Motivation to read increased only among children who participated in the VC intervention program, while in the VGR group it remained unchanged. Possible implications of the findings to educational settings are discussed.

The Effects of a Whole‐Class Kindergarten Handwriting Intervention on Early Reading Skills

ABSTRACTThe ultimate goal of reading is to comprehend written text, and this goal can only be attained if the reader can decode written words and understand their meanings. The science of reading has provided compelling evidence for the subskills that form the foundation of decoding. Decoding words requires understanding of the alphabetic principle and letter–sound, or grapheme–phoneme, correspondence. In the first year of formal schooling (kindergarten), this same understanding is also required for young learners who are learning to write the letters of the alphabet. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of a handwriting intervention, Write Start–K, that emphasizes the recall, retrieval, reproduction, and repetition (the 4Rs model) of grapheme–phoneme relations. We conducted a two‐group, pre/posttest study at two Australian schools across four kindergarten classes (n = 77 students). One school received the intervention, and the other continued with standard teaching. Participants (mean age = 5 years 8.45 months, standard deviation = 4.18 months) at both schools were assessed at baseline, immediately after the eight‐week intervention period, and at 12 weeks following the end of the intervention (follow‐up). We used linear mixed models to determine the statistical significance of effects over three time intervals. We identified statistically significant Group × Time effects for letter name knowledge and word reading, whereas changes in letter sound knowledge and nonsense word–reading fluency approached statistical significance. These results indicate that a handwriting intervention, incorporating repeated practice in recalling and reproducing letter forms, had a statistically significant impact on early reading skills.

Trajectories of Response to Treatments in Children with ADHD and Word Reading Difficulties.

This study investigated patterns of response to intervention in children with co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and reading difficulties (RD), who participated in a randomized clinical trial examining the efficacy of reading intervention, ADHD treatment, or combined treatments. Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM) was used to investigate trajectories of parent and teacher academic impairment ratings and child oral reading fluency, and whether trajectories were predicted by pre-treatment covariates (ADHD severity, reading achievement, phonemic awareness, rapid letter naming, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder), for 216 children with ADHD/RD in 2nd-5th grade (61.1% male; 72.2% African American; 8.8 ± 1.3years of age). GMM revealed three trajectories for academic impairment (6.9-24.2% stable, 23.7-78.7% moderately improving, and 14.1-52.1% steeply improving) and oral reading fluency (20.8% low improving, 42.1% moderate improving, and 37.1% high improving). Children in the reading intervention were more likely to be in the stable or moderately improving trajectory than those in the ADHD and combined treatments, who were more likely to be in the steeply improving trajectory for academic impairment. Relative to the ADHD intervention, children in the reading intervention were more likely to be in the high improving trajectory than the moderate or low improving trajectory for oral reading fluency. Children without comorbid anxiety and with better reading skills showed a more positive treatment response for teacher-rated academic progress and oral reading fluency. Results highlight the importance of examining individual differences in response to reading and ADHD interventions. Intervention modality predicted differences in parent/teacher ratings of academic progress as well as reading fluency.

Introducing augmented reality in early childhood literacy learning

Augmented reality (AR) as an emerging technology has gradually been incorporated into educational contexts; however, the cases that incorporate AR into early childhood contexts are underrepresented and especially scant in the literacy domain. Aiming to measure the impact of AR on early childhood learning and motivation in the literacy domain, this study brought an application into six pre-kindergarten classrooms by introducing three experimental classrooms to an AR centre while others engaged with a two-dimensional (2D) version of the same material. Bayesian analysis revealed that rapid letter naming rates grew for all children involved in the study. It increased by 6.28% among children in the experimental AR group and 3.35% in the control 2D group. Growth in rates of motivation was similar among experimental (11.5%) and control (10.9%) groups. These findings suggest that three-dimensional images of letters might help with rapid letter naming skills, and animations available in both versions may be the reason of increases in motivation. Teacher interviews presented positive views towards AR, and instructional implications were provided by teachers for incorporating the technology into early childhood classrooms.

Does the cowl make the monk? Detecting counterfeits in brand names versus logos.

Companies and products are identified by their brand names, which are typically written with a specific letter style, color, and design (i.e., logos). This graphical information offers a distinctive image that facilitates their recognition. However, the uniqueness of these configuration cues may make brand names more vulnerable to counterfeiting via misspelling. We examined whether the confusability at detecting misspelled brand names is higher when embedded in the full logo than when presented in plain format (Experiment 1), when removing all graphical information of the logo other than typeface (Experiment 2), and when only modifying the typeface (Experiment 3). Participants had to decide whether the presented item was a correctly spelled brand name. The misspelled stimuli were created by either transposing or replacing two internal letters of popular brand names (amazon → amzaon vs. amceon), thus allowing us to have a measure of the transposed-letter confusability effect. Results showed a sizeable transposed-letter confusability effect for all types of brand names, but the effect was greatest for the misspelled full logos. Thus, the distinctiveness of the graphical information in logos has a deleterious side effect: logos are quite vulnerable to counterfeiting via misspelling branding.

Profiles and Predictors of Children’s Growth in Alphabet Knowledge

Despite being a critical emergent literacy skill and an indicator of risk for later reading difficulties, relatively little is known about how alphabet knowledge develops over time. This study utilized a person-centered approach and longitudinal sample of 998 preschool-aged children (M = 56.50 months old) to examine patterns in letter name and letter-sound knowledge development, associations with child, home/family, and classroom factors, and kindergarten readiness outcomes. Results indicated three profiles: children demonstrating initially High knowledge and little growth before mastery, children demonstrating initially low knowledge but Growing trajectories toward mastery, and children demonstrating initially low knowledge whose growth was substantially Delayed. Multiple factors distinguished the High profile but few distinguished the Growing versus Delayed profiles; all differed in kindergarten readiness. Implications concerning risk, resiliency, and assessment/instruction are discussed.

Who are the nonresponders to intervention among Chinese children learning English as a second language?

The purpose of this study was to examine the profiles of nonresponders among native Chinese-speaking students struggling in English reading before and after an intensive intervention in phonological awareness as well as letter knowledge. Struggling English learners (n = 72) were screened from 668 Grade 4 students based on their English word recognition, school English examinations, and nominations by teachers. About 43% of struggling readers were remediated in decoding skills after the intervention. Nonresponders were profiled on both phonological and orthographic processing skills in their first and second languages. More than 76% of nonresponders showed deficits in English rapid letter naming, letter sound knowledge and English orthographic image. Nonresponders also had deficits in Chinese phonological memory and rapid digit naming. Rapid letter naming made the most contribution to word reading after intervention and letter sound knowledge was the only significant predictor in 1-year follow-up word reading. The findings suggest that Chinese poor English learners have difficulties in both phonological and orthographic processing in English reading. Educational implications are discussed using the triangle model. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)