Reading Of Regular Words Research Articles

Disentangling the Impact of Bilingualism and SES in Literacy Skills of Language-Minority Bilingual Children and Monolingual Peers Exposed to French

In the present study, we aimed to disentangle the impact of bilingualism and socioeconomic status (SES) on literacy in language-minority bilingual children (LMBC) and monolinguals exposed to French. We also wanted to explore the role of these two factors on cognitive and language skills, i.e., verbal knowledge (VK), morphosyntactic comprehension (MC), and phonological short-term memory (PSTM), well known to be important predictors of literacy acquisition. We compared LMBC with low and medium-high SES, and monolinguals with low and medium-high SES. All the children attended Grades 3, 4, and 5. We found that LMBC underperformed monolinguals on VK and MC. Low SES children showed lower scores compared to medium-high SES children on VK, MC, and PSTM. With regard to literacy, LMBC underperformed monolinguals on text and irregular word reading. Low SES children underperformed medium-high SES children only in regular word reading and pseudoword spelling. As a whole, bilingualism had an effect on measures involving lexical components, while SES had a more widespread effect on cognitive and language skills. The results are discussed considering implications for research, clinical, and educational settings.

Phonological and orthographic processing in basic literacy adults and dyslexic children.

The aim of the present study was to examine the hypothesis that, compared to typically reading children matched on regular word reading, adults with basic literacy (either adult literacy students or adult basic education students) struggle on phonologically demanding tasks but are relatively performant on orthographic demanding tasks, and hence present a performance pattern similar to that of dyslexic children. Using various reading and phoneme awareness tests, we therefore compared the adults to both typically reading children from Grades 3 and 4 and dyslexic children, these two groups being matched to the adults on regular word reading. The dyslexic children were also compared to either chronological age- or reading level-matched children. The hypothesis was only partly supported by the data, as results depended on the subgroup of adults considered. While the literacy students presented poorer phoneme awareness and a somewhat stronger length effect in reading than the dyslexic children, the basic education students outperformed the latter on irregular word reading. The adults, and in particular the literacy students, also relied frequently on orthography in a complex phoneme awareness task. Taken together, these results suggest that adults with basic literacy rely more on visual memory than both dyslexic and typically reading children. This opens the question of whether the peculiar profile of these adults is intrinsic to adult literacy acquisition or is related to the way they are taught and trained to read and write. The results also highlight the need for better characterization of subgroups of adults with basic literacy.

Examining Associations Between Preschool Home Literacy Experiences, Language, Cognition And Early Word Reading: Evidence From A Longitudinal Study

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The study investigated whether preschool code-related home literacy experiences had direct associations with regular and irregular word reading in the first year of primary school as well as exploring whether there were indirect associations between these experiences and later word reading via children’s language skills or inhibitory control. The parents of 274 preschool children completed a home learning questionnaire at time 1 (Mage = 3:11). At time 2, the children completed phonological awareness, vocabulary, inhibitory control and nonverbal reasoning assessments (Mage = 4:3) and at time 3 a word reading assessment (Mage = 5:3). Letter-sound interactions (a code-related home literacy index that included discussions about letter-sound associations) bore significant associations with children’s word reading, whereas letter activities (a code-related index that was less focussed on letter-sound links) did not. Path analyses indicated that letter-sound interactions directly predicted regular word reading and predicted regular and irregular word reading indirectly via children’s phonological awareness. These findings highlight that different aspects of code-related home literacy experiences are differentially associated with later word reading skills. Practice and Policy: The findings suggest that parents’ integration of interactive, age-appropriate discussions that focus on letter-sound associations into children’s everyday experiences may support emerging word decoding skills.

Remediation of Allophonic Perception and Visual Attention Span in Developmental Dyslexia: A Joint Assay.

Categorical perception of phonemes and visual attention span are cognitive processes that contribute independently to poor reading skills in developmental dyslexia. We here explored whether training programs specifically targeting one or the other process do improve reading performance in dyslexic children. The dyslexic participants were trained using either the RapDys© program designed to improve phonemic perception or the MAEVA© program targeting visual attention span. Each participant was provided the two programs successively for intensive training. Results show specific effects of RapDys© on phonemic discrimination and pseudo-word reading. MAEVA© specifically improved visual attention span and irregular word reading. Phonemic awareness and regular word reading improved after application of both training programs, suggesting similar positive effects of both methods although effects of concomitant phonic training cannot be ruled out (as there was no control group). The overall findings suggest that both categorical perception and visual attention span remediation contribute to reading.

Examining the effectiveness of a supplemental reading intervention on the early literacy skills of English language learners

ABSTRACTWhile the research on effective early reading interventions for English language learners is expanding, the majority of the research focuses on students whose native language is Spanish. This study investigated the effects of a supplemental reading program that builds phoneme awareness skills and emphasizes explicit instruction in the alphabetic code for five first grade ELLs whose native language was not Spanish. Each of the five participants spoke a different language, including Somali, French, Arabic, Burmese, and Chinese. A single-case design study was conducted to examine students’ response to the intervention, as measured by weekly progress monitoring probes in areas of phoneme segmentation, phonetically regular real word reading skills, and pseudoword reading skills. The study also investigated pretest and posttest measures of phoneme blending, phoneme segmenting, and real word reading. All students showed improvement on the phoneme segmentation and nonsense word reading probes, and four out of five improved on the phonetically regular word reading probes. Additionally, all students showed growth from pretest to posttest on phoneme segmentation and real word reading, and four of the five students improved their blending skills. The data from this study indicate that explicit and systematic phonological awareness and phonics-based instruction shown to be effective with native English speakers can be effective with non-Spanish-speaking ELLs.

The Role of the Left Anterior Temporal Lobe for Unpredictable and Complex Mappings in Word Reading.

The anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) have been consistently associated with semantic processing which, in turn, has a key role in reading aloud single words. This study aimed to investigate (1) the reading abilities in patients with the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), and (2) the relationship between gray matter (GM) volume of the left ATL and word reading performance using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Three groups of participants (svPPA, Alzheimer’s Disease, AD and healthy elderly adults) performed a reading task with exception words, regular words and pseudowords, along with a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. For exception words, the svPPA group had a lower accuracy and a greater number of regularization errors as compared to the control groups of healthy participants and AD patients. Similarly, for regular words, svPPA patients had a lower accuracy in comparison with AD patients, and a greater number of errors related to complex orthography-to-phonology mappings (OPM) in comparison to both control groups. VBM analyses revealed that GM volume of the left ATL was associated with the number of regularization errors. Also, GM volume of the left lateral ATL was associated with the number of errors with complex OPM during regular word reading. Our results suggest that the left ATL might play a role in the reading of exception words, in accordance with its role in semantic processing. Results further support the involvement of the left lateral ATL in combinatorial processes, including the integration of semantic and phonological information, for both exception and regular words.

The Role of the Supplementary Motor Region in Overt Reading: Evidence for Differential Processing in SMA-Proper and Pre-SMA as a Function of Task Demands.

A differentiation in function between the pre-SMA (i.e., cognitive load) and the SMA-proper (i.e., motor execution) has been described (Zhang et al., Cereb Cortex 22:99-111, 2012). These differential SMA functions may be influential in overt reading tasks. The present study examined the relationships between various segments of the SMA and overt reading through the modulation of task demands in an effort to explore the complexity of the print-to-speech network. Skilled reading adults (N = 15) took part in five overt reading tasks: pure regular word reading, pure exception word reading, mixed regular word and exception word reading, go/no-go reading with nonword foils and go/no-go reading with pseudohomophone foils. Five regions of interest that spanned the pre-SMA to the SMA-proper were isolated. Behaviour-function relationships were tested to examine the associations between performance (response time) and brain activity (percent signal change). Further, the coherence between feedforward (SMA) and feedback (supramarginal gyrus) regions were explored to further refine the print-to-speech network. We found that the pre-SMA was related to cognitively demanding tasks (go/no-go with pseudohomophones), whereas the SMA-proper was related to an automatized task (pure regular words). Notably, only those tasks that required information from the feedback system (i.e., mixed word lists, go/no-go tasks) showed connections between SMA regions and the supramarginal gyrus, which is in line with the role of feedback and feedforward systems in the print-to-speech network. Together, these results support the notion that the pre-SMA and SMA-proper are sensitive to reading tasks that differentially invoke higher cognitive resources (mixed word lists, go/no-go) versus automatized articulation (pure lists), respectively. We discuss our findings in the context of print-to-speech neural networks.

The effect of aging on the brain network for exception word reading

Cognitive and computational models of reading aloud agree on the existence of two procedures for reading. Pseudowords (e.g., atendier) are correctly read through subword processes only while exception words (e.g., pint) are only correctly read via whole-words processes. Regular words can be correctly read by means of either way. Previous behavioral studies showed that older adults relied more on whole-word processing for reading. The aim of the present fMRI study was to verify whether this larger whole-word reliance for reading in older adults was reflected by changes in the pattern of brain activation. Both young and elderly participants read aloud pseudowords, exception and regular words in the scanner. Behavioral results reproduced those of previous studies showing that older adults made significantly less errors when reading exception words. Neuroimaging results showed significant activation of the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL), a key region implicated in whole-word reading for exception word reading in both young and elderly participants. Critically, ATL activation was also found for regular word reading in the elderly. No differences were observed in the pattern of activation between regular and pseudowords in the young. In conclusion, these results extend evidence on the critical role of the left ATL for exception word reading to elderly participants. Additionally, our study shows for the first time from a developmental point of view that the behavioral changes found in reading during normal aging also have a brain counterpart in the reading network changes that sustain exception and regular word reading in the elderly.

Phonics Training Improves Reading in Children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1: A Prospective Intervention Trial

To examine the efficacy of a phonics-training program in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and reading difficulties. Thirty children (7-12 years of age) with NF1 completed a double-baseline, 24-week intervention trial. Literacy outcome measures were assessed at 4 time points: (1) at baseline; (2) after an 8-week no-treatment period; (3) immediately post-treatment; and (4) at follow-up 8 weeks post-treatment. Repeated-measures ANOVA were conducted to examine change over time for all outcome measures, and significant main effects were explored with planned comparisons. Predictors of treatment effects were examined by linear regressions. Ninety percent of participants completed the intervention. Intervention-specific improvements were observed across a range of literacy outcomes, including reading accuracy (nonword reading, Cohen d = 1.10; regular-word reading, Cohen d = 0.32), letter-sound knowledge (Cohen d = 0.80), blending (Cohen d = 0.88), repetition of nonsense words (Cohen d = 0.94), phonemic decoding fluency (Cohen d = 0.55), and reading comprehension (Cohen d = 0.31). Improvements were maintained 8 weeks post-treatment. Age (P = .03) and working memory (P = .02) significantly influenced efficacy, with greatest improvements observed in older children with stronger verbal working memory capacity. Home-based, computerized reading intervention was effective in improving the reading and reading-related abilities of children with NF1 and reading difficulty. Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12611000779976.

Can cognitive models explain brain activation during word and pseudoword reading? A meta-analysis of 36 neuroimaging studies.

Reading in many alphabetic writing systems depends on both item-specific knowledge used to read irregular words (sew, yacht) and generative spelling-sound knowledge used to read pseudowords (tew, yash). Research into the neural basis of these abilities has been directed largely by cognitive accounts proposed by the dual-route cascaded and triangle models of reading. We develop a framework that enables predictions for neural activity to be derived from cognitive models of reading using 2 principles: (a) the extent to which a model component or brain region is engaged by a stimulus and (b) how much effort is exerted in processing that stimulus. To evaluate the derived predictions, we conducted a meta-analysis of 36 neuroimaging studies of reading using the quantitative activation likelihood estimation technique. Reliable clusters of activity are localized during word versus pseudoword and irregular versus regular word reading and demonstrate a great deal of convergence between the functional organization of the reading system put forward by cognitive models and the neural systems activated during reading tasks. Specifically, left-hemisphere activation clusters are revealed reflecting orthographic analysis (occipitotemporal cortex), lexical and/or semantic processing (anterior fusiform, middle temporal gyrus), spelling-sound conversion (inferior parietal cortex), and phonological output resolution (inferior frontal gyrus). Our framework and results establish that cognitive models of reading are relevant for interpreting neuroimaging studies and that neuroscientific studies can provide data relevant for advancing cognitive models. This article thus provides a firm empirical foundation from which to improve integration between cognitive and neural accounts of the reading process.

The Understanding Words Reading Intervention: Evidence From a Case Series Design

Using a case-series design with double baseline and 10-week maintenance phase, 5 struggling readers from middle- to high-income families (age range 6.4–7.9 years) completed a 5-times-weekly intervention (96 sessions) administered by a parent. All participants completed the intervention with phonological decoding, text-reading accuracy and reading comprehension scores above the 30th percentile. Regular-word reading improved significantly, and 3 out of 5 participants achieved average levels at postintervention testing. Growth of 0.58 standard deviations (SD) was seen in one participant on a test of irregular-word reading. The other 4 participants made growth of > 0.8 SD. However, only 1 participant achieved average levels at postintervention testing on the irregular-word reading measure. Results provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of the intervention in improving word-level decoding and comprehension in struggling readers. Most important, the data provide preliminary evidence that some parents can function as paraprofessionals and provide effective reading intervention for struggling readers. Special education professionals may be able to work around limited funding for struggling readers by recruiting, training, and supervising parents.

Desempenho de escolares com transtorno de déficit de atenção e hiperatividade em tarefas metalinguisticas e de leitura

OBJETIVOS: comparar e caracterizar o desempenho de escolares com Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade (TDAH) em tarefas metalinguísticas e de leitura com escolares sem queixa de transtornos comportamentais e/ou de aprendizagem. MÉTODO: participaram vinte escolares do 4º ao 8º ano do ensino fundamental, sendo catorze escolares do sexo masculino e seis do sexo feminino, na faixa etária de 9 a 13 anos. Os escolares foram divididos em dois grupos, sendo o GI composto por dez escolares com diagnóstico interdisciplinar de TDAH e o GII composto por dez escolares sem queixa de transtornos comportamentais e/ou de aprendizagem, pareados com os escolares do GI de acordo com a idade e o nível escolar. Foi utilizado como procedimento a aplicação de protocolo com provas de habilidades metalinguísticas e de leitura de palavras reais e pseudopalavras. RESULTADOS: houve diferença estatisticamente significante entre os grupos nas tarefas de manipulação silábica e fonêmica, como também nas provas de leitura de palavras reais referentes à leitura de palavras regulares e palavras irregulares, bem como para as pseudopalavras. CONCLUSÃO: os escolares com Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade apresentaram desempenho inferior nas tarefas consideradas mais complexas, como a manipulação de sílabas e fonemas e na leitura de palavras irregulares, que exigem retenção, análise e recuperação de informação. As dificuldades apresentadas nessas habilidades pelos escolares com Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade podem ser atribuídas não a um déficit primário, mas como um fenômeno secundário à desatenção que interferem de forma direta em seu desempenho.

Do reading processes differ in transparent versus opaque orthographies? A study of acquired dyslexia in Welsh/English bilinguals

In English, the relationship between the written and spoken forms of words is relatively opaque, leading to proposals that skilled reading requires two procedures: (a) a sublexical grapheme/phoneme conversion process allowing the correct reading of regular words (CAT) and new or pseudowords (ZAT); (b) a lexical process necessary to read irregular words accurately (TWO) and assumed to be the dominant process for familiar words. However, it has been argued that the sublexical process may be sufficient in highly transparent languages such as Welsh. If this is the case, damage to the sublexical process may lead to more severe deficits in transparent languages due to the lack of an alternative lexical process. To test this hypothesis, we compared Welsh and English oral reading and written-word recognition and comprehension in seven bilingual stroke participants with comparably impaired pseudoword reading in English and Welsh. Performance was remarkably similar across languages. Irrespective of the language tested, words were read more accurately than pseudowords. Lexical decision and word comprehension were as accurate in Welsh and in English, and when imageability effects were present they were of a similar size in both languages. This study does not support the hypothesis that orthographic transparency determines the nature of cognitive reading processes, but rather suggests that readers develop a sight vocabulary through reading experience irrespective of orthographic transparency.

Dyslexia and DCDC2: normal variation in reading and spelling is associated with DCDC2 polymorphisms in an Australian population sample

The 6p21-p22 chromosomal region has been identified as a developmental dyslexia locus both in linkage and association studies, the latter generating evidence for the doublecortin domain containing 2 (DCDC2) as a candidate gene at this locus (and also for KIAA0319). Here, we report an association between DCDC2 and reading and spelling ability in 522 families of adolescent twins unselected for reading impairment. Family-based association was conducted on 21 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in DCDC2 using quantitative measures of lexical processing (irregular-word reading), phonological decoding (non-word reading) and spelling-based measures of dyslexia derived from the Components of Reading Examination test. Significant support for association was found for rs1419228 with regular-word reading and spelling (P=0.002) as well as irregular-word reading (P=0.004), whereas rs1091047 was significantly associated (P=0.003) with irregular-word reading (a measure of lexical storage). Four additional SNPs (rs9467075, rs9467076, rs7765678 and rs6922023) were nominally associated with reading and spelling. This study provides support for DCDC2 as a risk gene for reading disorder, and suggests that this risk factor acts on normally varying reading skill in the general population.

Is a “Phoenician” reading style superior to a “Chinese” reading style? Evidence from fourth graders

This study compared normally achieving fourth-grade “Phoenician” readers, who identify nonwords significantly more accurately than they do exception words, with “Chinese” readers, who show the reverse pattern. Phoenician readers scored lower than Chinese readers on word identification, exception word reading, orthographic choice, spelling, reading comprehension, and verbal ability. When compared with normally achieving children who read nonwords and exception words equally well, Chinese readers scored as well as these children on word identification, regular word reading, orthographic choice, spelling, reading comprehension, phonological sensitivity, and verbal ability and scored better on exception word reading. Chinese readers also used rhyme-based analogies to read nonwords derived from high-frequency exception words just as often as did these children. As predicted, Phoenician and Chinese readers adopted somewhat different strategies in reading ambiguous nonwords constructed by analogy to high-frequency exception words. Phoenician readers were more likely than Chinese readers to read ambiguous monosyllabic nonwords via context-free grapheme–phoneme correspondences and were less likely to read disyllabic nonwords by analogy to high-frequency analogues. Although the Chinese reading style was more common than the Phoenician style in normally achieving fourth graders, there were similar numbers of poor readers with phonological dyslexia (identifying nonwords significantly more accurately than exception words) and surface dyslexia (showing the reverse pattern), although surface dyslexia was more common in the severely disabled readers. However, few of the poor readers showed pure patterns of phonological or surface dyslexia.

Do reading processes differ in transparent vs. opaque orthographies? A study of acquired dyslexia in Welsh/English bilinguals

In English, the relationship between the written and spoken forms of words is relatively opaque, leading to proposals that skilled reading requires two procedures: (a) a sublexical grapheme/phoneme conversion process allowing the correct reading of regular words (CAT) and new or pseudowords (ZAT); (b) a lexical process necessary to read irregular words accurately (TWO) and assumed to be the dominant process for familiar words. However, it has been argued that the sublexical process may be sufficient in highly transparent languages such as Welsh. If this is the case, damage to the sublexical process may lead to more severe deficits in transparent languages due to the lack of an alternative lexical process. To test this hypothesis, we compared Welsh and English oral reading and written-word recognition and comprehension in seven bilingual stroke participants with comparably impaired pseudoword reading in English and Welsh. Performance was remarkably similar across languages. Irrespective of the language tested, words were read more accurately than pseudowords. Lexical decision and word comprehension were as accurate in Welsh and in English, and when imageability effects were present they were of a similar size in both languages. This study does not support the hypothesis that orthographic transparency determines the nature of cognitive reading processes, but rather suggests that readers develop a sight vocabulary through reading experience irrespective of orthographic transparency

Vocabulary Is Important for Some, but Not All Reading Skills

Although there is evidence for a close link between the development of oral vocabulary and reading comprehension, less clear is whether oral vocabulary skills relate to the development of word-level reading skills. This study investigated vocabulary and literacy in 81 children aged 8 to 10 years. In regression analyses, vocabulary accounted for unique variance in exception word reading and reading comprehension, but not text reading accuracy, decoding, or regular word reading. Consistent with these data, children with poor reading comprehension exhibited oral vocabulary weaknesses and read fewer exception words correctly. These findings demonstrate that oral vocabulary is associated with some, but not all, reading skills. Results are discussed in terms of current models of reading development.

The Natural History of Late-stage “Pure” Semantic Dementia

Relatively little is known about the neuropsychological profile of late-stage semantic dementia. This article provides a detailed assessment of patient MK who, despite her very severe semantic impairments, remained cooperative to testing and, unusually, did not show additional behavioral/personality changes. Although MK’s initial presentation was typical of semantic dementia (SD), her performance began to deviate from the normal pattern. She developed impairments of single word repetition and regular word reading, and began to produce phonological errors in picture naming and spontaneous speech. These deficits might suggest that late-stage SD includes an independent disorder of phonology. An alternative possibility, however, is that phonological processing cannot proceed normally in the face of profound semantic degradation. A series of experiments supported the latter explanation of MK’s deficits. In picture naming, MK showed little effect of progressive phonological cueing, did not reveal an increased sensitivity to word length or phonological complexity and continued to show a high degree of item-specific consistency in both accuracy and errors: she tended to produce the same erroneous phonemes for each item. She remained sensitive to the effects of phonological similarity in immediate serial recall. Letter substitution errors in regular word reading were more common for lower frequency letters (e.g., Q, Z). These letters also produced more item errors in immediate serial recall, suggesting that a frequency-graded loss of letter knowledge, rather than separate orthographic and phonological deficits, accounted for the deficits in both of these tasks. These findings are discussed in terms of theories that posit strong interactivity between phonology and semantics. We would like to thank David Bateman at the Royal United Hospital, Bath, UK and Roy Jones at St. Martin’s Hospital, Bath, UK for referring the patients to us. This work was carried out in part while the first author was on a study visit to the MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, funded by the Experimental Psychology Society. The work was also supported by a grant from the NIMH (MH64445).

Development of reading and metaphonological abilities: A transversal study of French-speaking children aged 5 to 12 years

We investigated the development of phonological awareness and reading abilities in French-speaking children aged 5–12 years. Participants were divided into seven groups (kindergarten to grade 6). Metaphonological tasks included segmentation, blending and inversion at the syllable and the phoneme level, reading of regular and irregular words and nonwords, rhyme production and rhyme recognition. We hypothesised that: (1) children will rely more heavily on phonological awareness in the first years of reading acquisition; (2) development of phonological awareness at the phoneme level will facilitate reading of regular words and nonwords. Results in metaphonological tasks showed a clear developmental progression between kindergarten and 2nd grade. Regular words were easily read in grade 2, nonwords were adequately decoded in grade 3, whereas irregular word reading gradually increased until grade 6 and beyond. These results suggest that the facilitatory effect between phonological awareness and reading appears ...

Training phoneme to grapheme conversion for patients with written and oral production deficits: A model‐based approach

Background: A previous study (Kiran, Thompson, & Hashimoto, 2001) investigated the effect of training sublexical conversion on improving oral reading of regular words in two individuals with aphasia. Results revealed that training grapheme to phoneme conversion improved acquisition of trained items and facilitated generalisation to trained and untrained stimuli during oral naming, written naming, and writing to dictation as well. Aims: The aim of the present study was to extend this work to investigate if training phoneme to grapheme conversion would result in improvement of writing to dictation of trained items and facilitate generalisation to untrained stimuli and untrained tasks. Methods & procedures: Using a single subject experimental design across three participants with aphasia, the effects of phoneme to grapheme conversion treatment were evaluated by periodic probing of both trained and untrained regular words across lexical tasks: writing to dictation, written naming, oral spelling, and oral naming. Outcomes & Results: Results indicated that training phoneme to grapheme conversion resulted in improved writing to dictation of trained and untrained words in two out of three patients. In addition, improved written naming and oral spelling of trained words was observed. Marginal improvements were observed for untrained stimuli on written naming, oral spelling, and oral naming. Conclusions: The results of this experiment demonstrate the effectiveness of training sublexical conversion to improve written production deficits and to facilitate generalisation to untrained stimuli and untrained tasks. These results also complement findings of our previous study to suggest a more efficient method of improving single word production deficits than training each modality successively.