Oral Reading Task Research Articles

Spatiotemporal Neural Network for Sublexical Information Processing: An Intracranial SEEG Study.

Words offer a unique opportunity to separate the processing mechanisms of object subcomponents from those of the whole object, because the phonological or semantic information provided by the word subcomponents (i.e., sublexical information) can conflict with that provided by the whole word (i.e., lexical information). Previous studies have revealed some of the specific brain regions and temporal information involved in sublexical information processing. However, a comprehensive spatiotemporal neural network for sublexical processing remains to be fully elucidated due to the low temporal or spatial resolutions of previous neuroimaging studies. In this study, we recorded stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) signals with high spatial and temporal resolutions from a large sample of 39 epilepsy patients (both sexes) during a Chinese character oral reading task. We explored the activated brain regions and their connectivity related to three sublexical effects: phonological regularity (whether the whole character's pronunciation aligns with its phonetic radical), phonological consistency (whether characters with the same phonetic radical share the same pronunciation), and semantic transparency (whether the whole character's meaning aligns with its semantic radical). The results revealed that sublexical effects existed in the inferior frontal gyrus, precentral and postcentral gyri, temporal lobe, and middle occipital gyrus. Additionally, connectivity from the middle occipital gyrus to the postcentral gyrus and from postcentral gyrus to the fusiform gyrus was associated with the sublexical effects. These findings provide valuable insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of sublexical processing and object recognition in the brain.Significance statement Elucidating the intricate neural mechanisms underlying sublexical processing is crucial for understanding the intricacies of language comprehension and object recognition in the human brain. This study employed intracranial stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) recordings to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of sublexical processing during a Chinese character reading task. We constructed a neural network for sublexical processing and depicted its temporal sequence in different brain regions. Furthermore, we identified the information flow within this network and observed its variation with the reading of characters containing different sublexical information. These findings not only advance our understanding of the cerebral mechanisms governing sublexical processing but also offer insights into the broader framework of object recognition processes.

Automatic Morphological Processing in Middle School Students with and without Word Reading Difficulties

Morphological processing is the use of morphological structure during word reading. This study investigated whether middle school students applied morphological structure automatically when reading words. In addition, this study asked whether students with word reading difficulties (WRD) applied morphological structure in a way that differed from proficient word readers. Participants were seventh- and eighth-grade students (n = 80). Students were divided into two reading ability groups: proficient word readers (n = 55) and students with word reading difficulties (n = 25). Four computer-administered experimental tasks measured automaticity in reading morphologically complex words and morphologically simple words. A backward masking measure assessed whether students were applying morphological structure automatically to support task accuracy. Students were significantly more accurate in masked performance with morphologically complex words than with morphologically simple words on an oral word reading task. Students with WRD benefitted more from morphological structure on this task than proficient readers did. Findings suggest that proficient word readers and students with WRD automatically apply morphological structure when reading words aloud. In addition, middle school students with WRD may rely more on morphological structure than their proficient peers. However, there may be differences in morphological processing based on the nature of word reading tasks.

An exploratory characterization of speech- and fine-motor coordination in verbal children with Autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder often associated with difficulties in speech production and fine-motor tasks. Thus, there is a need to develop objective measures to assess and understand speech production and other fine-motor challenges in individuals with ASD. In addition, recent research suggests that difficulties with speech production and fine-motor tasks may contribute to language difficulties in ASD. In this paper, we explore the utility of an off-body recording platform, from which we administer a speech- and fine-motor protocol to verbal children with ASD and neurotypical controls. We utilize a correlation-based analysis technique to develop proxy measures of motor coordination from signals derived from recordings of speech- and fine-motor behaviors. Eigenvalues of the resulting correlation matrix are inputs to Gaussian Mixture Models to discriminate between highly-verbal children with ASD and neurotypical controls. These eigenvalues also characterize the complexity (underlying dimensionality) of representative signals of speech- and fine-motor movement dynamics, and form the feature basis to estimate scores on an expressive vocabulary measure. Based on a pilot dataset (15 ASD and 15 controls), features derived from an oral story reading task are used in discriminating between the two groups with AUCs > 0.80, and highlight lower complexity of coordination in children with ASD. Features derived from handwriting and maze tracing tasks led to AUCs of 0.86 and 0.91, however features derived from ocular tasks did not aid in discrimination between the ASD and neurotypical groups. In addition, features derived from free speech and sustained vowel tasks are strongly correlated with expressive vocabulary scores. These results indicate the promise of a correlation-based analysis in elucidating motor differences between individuals with ASD and neurotypical controls.

Oral reading tasks as proficiency indicators

Abstract This study aims to explore the potential of oral reading tasks to establish learners’ proficiency when compiling learner corpora. Informed by research on oral reading fluency, we selected a text containing a variety of linguistic features and submitted it to 68 English learners in Taiwan, who were interviewed for the construction of a large spoken corpus of L2 English across proficiency levels. Their proficiency was rated by trained Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR; Council of Europe, 2001, 2018, 2020) raters and ranged from A1 to B2. The performances in the reading passage were analyzed for reading rate and reading disfluencies. The relationship between reading measures and language scores was analyzed using spine plots, revealing a strong association between reading rate and language level. The number of disfluencies did not show a significant association with language level when all disfluencies were counted together. However, when different types of disfluencies were treated separately, false starts were found to be associated with language level (even though the relationship was less clear than the one reported between reading rate and language level). The study demonstrates that including a carefully selected reading passage among the tasks when compiling spoken learner corpora may be an efficient way of collecting data relating to learner performance in speech.

77 Differentiating Amnestic Versus Non-Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment Using the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery

Objective:In research, and particularly clinical trials, it is important to identify persons at high risk for developing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), such as those with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). However, not all persons with this diagnosis have a high risk of AD as MCI can be broken down further into amnestic MCI (aMCI), who have a high risk specifically for AD, and non-amnestic MCI (naMCI), who are predominantly at risk for other dementias. People with aMCI largely differ from healthy controls and naMCI on memory tasks as it is the hallmark criteria for an amnestic diagnosis. Given the growing use of the NIH Toolbox Cognition battery in research trials, this project investigated which Toolbox Cognition measures best differentiated aMCI from naMCI and in comparison to persons with normal cognition.Participants and Methods:A retrospective data analysis was conducted investigating performance on NIH Toolbox Cognition tasks among 199 participants enrolled in the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. All participants were over age 50 (51-89 years, M=70.64) and had a diagnosis of aMCI (N=74), naMCI (N=24), or Normal Cognition (N=101). Potential demographic differences were investigated using chi-square and ANOVAs. Repeated measure general linear model was used to look at potential group differences in Toolbox Cognition performance, covarying for age which was statistically different in aMCI versus Normal participants. Linear regression was used to determine which cognitive abilities, as measured by the Uniform Data Set-3 (UDS3), might contribute to Toolbox differences noted in naMCI versus aMCI groups.Results:As expected, aMCI had lower Toolbox memory scores compared to naMCI (p=0.007) and Normals (p<0.001). Interestingly, naMCI had lower Oral Reading scores than both aMCI (p=0.008) and Normals (p<0.001). There were no other Toolbox performance differences between the MCI groups. 19.4% of the variance in Oral Reading scores was explained by performance on the following UDS3 measures: Benson delayed recall (inverse relationship) and backward digit span and phonemic fluency (positive relationship).Conclusions:In this study, Toolbox Picture Sequence Memory and Oral Reading scores differentiated aMCI and naMCI groups. While the difference in memory was expected, it was surprising that the naMCI group performed worse than the aMCI and normal groups on the Toolbox Oral Reading task, a task presumed to reflect Crystalized abilities resistive to cognitive decline. Results suggest that Oral Reading is primarily positively associated with working memory and executive tasks from the UDS3, but negatively associated with visual memory. It is possible that the Oral Reading subtest is sensitive to domains of deficit aside from memory that can best distinguish aMCI from naMCI. A better understanding of the underlying features in the Oral Reading task will assist in better characterizing deficit patterns seen in naMCI, making selection of aMCI participants more effective in clinical trials.

Singing Songs Facilitates L2 Pronunciation and Vocabulary Learning: A Study with Chinese Adolescent ESL Learners

The present study assesses the effect of a three-session classroom-based training program involving singing songs with familiar melodies on second-language pronunciation and vocabulary learning. Ninety-five adolescent Chinese ESL learners (M = 14.04 years) were assigned to one of two groups. Participants learned the lyrics in English of three songs whose melodies were familiar to them either by singing or reciting the lyrics, following a native English singer/instructor. Before and after training, participants performed two vocabulary tasks (picture-naming and word meaning recall tasks) and two pronunciation tasks (word and sentence oral-reading tasks). The results revealed that although both groups showed gains in vocabulary and pronunciation after training, the singing group outperformed the speech group. These findings support the value of using songs with familiar melodies to teach second languages at the early stages of learning in an ESL classroom context.

A-13 Concussion history is related to performance on executive functioning tasks in youth

Abstract Purpose Pediatric traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are among the most common acquired disabilities in youth. They occur when the brain is rapidly developing and therefore many impact the child into adulthood and can impact executive functioning (EF) skills that are vital to everyday tasks, like maintaining attention, organizing, and inhibiting behaviors. It is important to understand the impact of childhood TBIs to learn how to best intervene. Methods 11,224 children aged 9-10 years old (mean age=9.91, 49.4% male) at baseline completed an extensive battery of interviews and neuropsychological tasks through the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Based on parent reports on the Ohio State TBI screening measure, children were classified into No/Unlikely TBI, Possible Mild, Mild, Moderate, and Severe TBI. 153 children met criteria for possible mild TBI or higher. They also completed an array of neurocognitive measures, including Matrix Reasoning and several NIH Toolbox executive functioning tasks. Results There were small significant correlations between TBI status and a language task (Picture Vocab, r=.03, p=.002), attention task (Flanker, r=.02, p=.04), set shifting (Dimensional Change Card Sort, r=.02, p=.04), and with the crystallized cognition (r=.03, p=.005) and cognition composite (r=.03, p=.005) scores. Trend-level correlations were found for an oral reading task and fluid cognition composite score. However, when children with no TBI history were removed, no correlations held. Conclusions A history of even a mild TBI may be related to impaired functioning across several domains of executive functioning skills in youth.

Thanks or Tanks: Training with Tactile Cues Improves Learners’ Accuracy of English Interdental Consonants in an Oral Reading Task

ABSTRACT The present study investigates whether training second language pronunciation with tactile cues facilitates the production of non-native sounds involving accessible articulatory features. In a between-subjects experiment with a pretest-training-posttest design, 50 Turkish learners of English received audiovisual training on a set of target words and sentences containing two English interdental fricatives, /θ/ and /ð/, in one of two conditions, tactile and non-tactile. The tactile condition involved self-touching the tongue as it protruded during pronunciation of the two target sounds. Participants’ pronunciation performance was assessed through a word-imitation task, a sentence-imitation task, and a discourse reading task. Results showed that while both training conditions helped learners to improve their pronunciation performance in all three tasks, the tactile condition triggered greater improvements in the discourse reading task. These results extend previous findings on the benefits of tactile input for speech perception and suggest the efficacy of multisensory training paradigms for improving second language pronunciation.

Semantic network activation facilitates oral word reading in chronic aphasia

People with aphasia often show partial impairments on a given task. This trial-to-trial variability offers a potential window into understanding how damaged language networks function. We test the hypothesis that successful word reading in participants with phonological system damage reflects semantic system recruitment. Residual semantic and phonological networks were defined with fMRI in 21 stroke participants with phonological damage using semantic- and rhyme-matching tasks. Participants performed an oral word reading task, and activation was compared between correct and incorrect trials within the semantic and phonological networks. The results showed a significant interaction between hemisphere, network activation, and reading success. Activation in the left hemisphere semantic network was higher when participants successfully read words. Residual phonological regions showed no difference in activation between correct and incorrect trials on the word reading task. The results provide evidence that semantic processing supports successful phonological retrieval in participants with phonological impairment.

Instruction Type, Motivation, and Transferability in L1- Arabic and L2-French Speakers’ L3-English Cognates Pronunciation

This study investigated the extent to which explicit and implicit instruction improve L1-Arabic speakers’ articulation of English words whose cognates were acquired earlier in their L2 French. Sixty-eight secondary school students, explicit (n=35) and implicit (n=33), participated in a programme incorporating focus-on-pronunciation activities, comprising three 45-minute sessions. Their learning motivation was first rated using an adapted version of Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). Their pronunciation improvement was assessed through an oral-reading task. Ten new words were included in the post-test to see if they would generalize the instructed knowledge analogically. Results indicated that both explicit and implicit instruction had a positive impact on the students’ pronunciation advancement. However, the explicit group outperformed the implicit group with both the targeted and untaught words. There was insignificant interaction effect between instructional method and students’ motivation level, with higher motivation uniformly enhancing the effect of instruction. Nevertheless, motivation played a more crucial role in the learnt knowledge transferability when instruction was of implicit.

How you read affects what you gain: Individual differences in the functional organization of the reading system predict intervention gains in children with reading disabilities.

There is now considerable evidence regarding the types of interventions that are effective at remediating reading disabilities on average. It is generally unclear, however, what predicts the magnitude of individual-level change following a given intervention. We examine new predictors of intervention gains that are theoretically grounded in computational models of reading and focus on individual differences in the functional organization of the reading system. Specifically, we estimate the extent to which children with reading disabilities (n=118 3rd-4th graders) rely on two sources of information during an oral word reading task - print-speech correspondences and semantic imageability - before and after a phonologically-weighted intervention. We show that children who relied more on print-speech regularities and less on imageability pre-intervention had better intervention gains. In parallel, children who over the course of the intervention exhibited greater increases in their reliance on print-speech correspondences and greater decreases in their reliance on imageability had better intervention outcomes. Importantly, these two factors were differentially related to specific reading task outcomes, with greater reliance on print-speech correspondences associated with pseudoword naming, while (lesser) reliance on imageability related to word reading and comprehension. We discuss the implications of these findings for theoretical models of reading acquisition and educational practice.

Vowel quality in intermediate L2 Spanish learners: a study of lexical, linguistic, and individual variables

ABSTRACT The current study analyzes vowel quality production across the lexical factors of cognate status and timing of word introduction, the linguistic factor of vowel position (pre-tonic, tonic, or post-tonic), and individual factors including age of acquisition of Spanish and length of study abroad. Participants were 29 intermediate second language Spanish learners who completed an oral text reading task. Results found that learners pronounced vowels differently in early as compared to later introduced words and in tonic (stressed) position compared to unstressed (pre-tonic/post-tonic) position. However, cognate status and individual factors were in general not statistically significant. These results lead us to suggest that pronunciation instruction should ideally begin early in the acquisition process and include explanations of vowel production in unstressed syllables.

Right‐hemispheric language reorganization in patients with brain arteriovenous malformations: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a presumed congenital lesion, may involve traditional language areas but usually does not lead to language dysfunction unless it ruptures. The objective of this research was to study right‐hemispheric language reorganization patterns in patients with brain AVMs using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We prospectively enrolled 30 AVM patients with lesions involving language areas and 32 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls. Each subject underwent fMRI during three language tasks: visual synonym judgment, oral word reading, and auditory sentence comprehension. The activation differences between the AVM and control groups were investigated by voxelwise analysis. Lateralization indices (LIs) for the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and cerebellum were compared between the two groups, respectively. Results suggested that the language functions of AVM patients and controls were all normal. Voxelwise analysis showed no significantly different activations between the two groups in visual synonym judgment and oral word reading tasks. In auditory sentence comprehension task, AVM patients had significantly more activations in the right precentral gyrus (BA 6) and right cerebellar lobule VI (AAL 9042). According to the LI results, the frontal lobe in oral word reading task and the temporal lobe in auditory sentence comprehension task were significantly more right‐lateralized in the AVM group. These findings suggest that for patients with AVMs involving language cortex, different language reorganization patterns may develop for different language functions. The recruitment of brain areas in the right cerebral and cerebellar hemispheres may play a compensatory role in the reorganized language network of AVM patients.

The Assessment of Possible Cluttering in Japanese Adults Who Stutter: Analyzing the Ratio of Disfluencies

Purpose In this study, we investigated the classification of cluttering by assessing speech based on the ratio of disfluencies (RDF) and attempted to identify cluttering and cluttering–stuttering by classifying disfluencies according to previous studies and the Japanese Standardized Test for Stuttering. We further investigated the factors that contribute to the occurrence of disfluency by comparing the disfluencies of three tasks (spontaneous speech, oral reading, and retelling a memorized story) and examining the relationship between RDF and speech rate. Method The participants comprised 20 Japanese adults who stutter. Participants were required to perform an oral reading task, retelling a memorized story task, and a spontaneous speech task. We subsequently classified their disfluencies and calculated the RDF (normal disfluencies that are often observed in cluttering/stuttering-like disfluencies). Results About half of the participants met the cluttering criteria, that is, an RDF of above 3. Analyzing speech disfluencies revealed that a high RDF is associated with fewer stuttering-like disfluencies that increase the denominator of the RDF formula or many “interjections” that make its numerator smaller. Conclusions These tendencies of speech disfluencies could influence cluttering identification. We should further utilize the RDF considering the findings of this study.

Oral Reading Task with Selected Indices to Evaluate Speaking Voice Function in Patients with Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis before and after Surgical Interventions

Oral Reading Task with Selected Indices to Evaluate Speaking Voice Function in Patients with Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis before and after Surgical Interventions

Measures of Second-Formant (F2) Movements for Oral Reading Task in Japanese-Speaking Dysarthric Speakers

Measures of Second-Formant (F2) Movements for Oral Reading Task in Japanese-Speaking Dysarthric Speakers

Oral reading fluency of Chinese second language learners

The present study examined the components of oral reading fluency (ORF) via various indices and their relationships with comprehension and learner-perceived difficulty of oral reading among Chinese second language (L2) learners. One hundred participants read aloud paragraphs, completed the comprehension test, and rated the difficulty of the oral reading task. Nine indices were generated to measure ORF: the percentage of omissions, substitutions, repetitions, insertions, self-corrections, and segmental problems out of the total produced characters, the number of pauses per minute, the number of actually produced characters per minute, and the number of correctly read characters per minute. The results showed that the nine indices tapped the accuracy, speed, chunking, and monitoring components of the ORF construct. The accuracy, speed, and chunking dimensions effectively predicted comprehension and the accuracy and speed dimension was closely related to learner-perceived difficulty. These findings suggested that ORF is a multi-faceted construct and can be used to assess comprehension and detect learner difficulty in Chinese L2 reading.

Disfluencies and Strategies Used by People Who Stutter During a Working Memory Task.

Purpose Working memory (WM) deficits are implicated in various communication disorders, including stuttering. The reading span test (RST) measures WM capacity with the dual task of reading sentences aloud and remembering target words. This study demonstrates a difference in strategy between people who stutter (PWS) and people who do not stutter (PWNS) in performing the RST. The impact of the effective strategy and the stuttering-like disfluencies during the RST were investigated. Method Twenty-six PWS and 24 people who do not stutter performed the RST and a simple reading aloud task. After the RST, they were asked which strategy ("imagery" or "rehearsal") they had used in order to remember the target words during the task. Results The proportion of those who used an "imagery" strategy during the RST was significantly smaller in the PWS group. However, the RST scores of those who used an "imagery" strategy were significantly higher than the RST scores of those who used a "rehearsal" strategy in both groups. The "rehearsal" users were asked to undertake one more RST with an "imagery" strategy, which resulted in an increased score for both groups. The disfluency frequency of the PWS group was significantly reduced during the RST than during the oral reading task, irrespective of the employed strategy. Conclusions PWS tended to use the less effective verbal "rehearsal" strategy during the RST. The differential effects of switching strategies on the measured WM capacity and on the disfluency rate suggest that the enhanced fluency during the RST would be mostly attributable to the reduced attention to speech motor control. Therefore, the use of the "imagery" strategy and focusing on the contents of communication, away from speech motor control, should help PWS communicate better in daily conversation.

Assessing Variability in Reading Performance with the New Greek Standardized Reading Speed Texts (IReST)

This article evaluates the standardized Greek version of the International Reading Speed Texts (IReST) set, which enriches interlanguage comparisons and international clinical studies of reading performance. Moreover, it investigates how specific textual and subject-related characteristics modulate the variability of reading speed across texts and readers. The purpose of this study was to develop a standardized Greek version of the IReST set and investigate how specific textual and subject-related factors modulate the variability of reading speed across texts and readers. The English IReST texts were translated to Greek and matched for length, content, and linguistic difficulty. The Greek IReSTs were presented at a distance of 40 cm and size of 1 M to assess reading speeds of 25 normally sighted native speakers (age range, 18 to 35 years). The participants read the texts aloud while reading time was measured by stopwatch. Reading performance included measurement of reading speed in three units of analysis. Reading efficiency was assessed using a word-level oral reading task. Statistical analysis included evaluation of subject- and text-related variability, as well as correlations between reading speed and specific textual and subject-related factors. The average reading speed between texts was 208 ± 24 words/min, 450 ± 24 syllables/min, and 1049 ± 105 characters/min. Differences between readers accounted for the 76.6%, whereas differences across texts accounted for the 23.4% of the total variability of reading speed. Word length (in syllables per word) and median word frequency showed a statistically significant contribution to the variability of reading speed (r = 0.95 and 0.70, respectively). Reading speed was also statistically correlated with word reading efficiency (r = 0.68). The addition of the Greek version in the IReST language pack is expected to be a valuable tool for clinical practice and research, enriching interlanguage comparisons and international studies of reading performance.

Effect of Different Body Postures on the Severity of Stuttering in Young Adults with Developmental Stuttering.

Objective The current study aimed to investigate the effects of body position on the level and severity of stuttering in young adults with developmental stuttering. Methods A total of 24 subjects (male: 17; female: 7; mean age: 24.9 ± 6.2 years) with developmental stuttering participated. The participants were asked to perform oral reading and spontaneous monologue-speaking tasks in different body postures while their speech was recorded. During reading and speaking tasks, the Stuttering Severity Instrument was used to quantify the severity of stuttering. The effects of different body postures on stuttering severity, reading task, and speaking task scores were analyzed. Results Significant differences in stuttering severity, reading task, and speaking task scores were found for different body postures. Post hoc analyses revealed a significant difference in stuttering severity, reading task, and speaking task scores when subjects were sitting on a chair with no arm support compared to lying down (p<0.05). Similarly, there were significant differences for two sitting positions (sitting on a chair with no arm support vs sitting on a chair with arm support (p<0.05)). Conclusions Body postures or body segment positions that relax and facilitate the muscles of the neck and shoulders may potentially improve speech fluency in young adults with developmental stuttering.