Word List Reading Research Articles

Dyslexie font does not benefit reading in children with or without dyslexia

In two experiments, the claim was tested that the font “Dyslexie”, specifically designed for people with dyslexia, eases reading performance of children with (and without) dyslexia. Three questions were investigated. (1) Does the Dyslexie font lead to faster and/or more accurate reading? (2) Do children have a preference for the Dyslexie font? And, (3) is font preference related to reading performance? In Experiment 1, children with dyslexia (n = 170) did not read text written in Dyslexie font faster or more accurately than in Arial font. The majority preferred reading in Arial and preference was not related to reading performance. In Experiment 2, children with (n = 102) and without dyslexia (n = 45) read word lists in three different font types (Dyslexie, Arial, Times New Roman). Words written in Dyslexie font were not read faster or more accurately. Moreover, participants showed a preference for the fonts Arial and Times New Roman rather than Dyslexie, and again, preference was not related to reading performance. These experiments clearly justify the conclusion that the Dyslexie font neither benefits nor impedes the reading process of children with and without dyslexia.

How sure are you that this is the man you saw? Child witnesses can use confidence judgments to identify a target.

We tested whether an alternative lineup procedure designed to minimize problematic influences (e.g., metacognitive development) on decision criteria could be effectively used by children and improve child eyewitness identification performance relative to a standard identification task. Five hundred sixteen children (6- to 13-year-olds) watched a video of a target reading word lists and, the next day, made confidence ratings for each lineup member or standard categorical decisions for 8 lineup members presented sequentially. Two algorithms were applied to classify confidence ratings into categorical decisions and facilitate comparisons across conditions. The classification algorithms produced accuracy rates for the confidence rating procedure that were comparable to the categorical procedure. These findings demonstrate that children can use a ratings-based procedure to discriminate between previously seen and unseen faces. In turn, this invites more nuanced and empirical consideration of ratings-based identification evidence as a probabilistic index of guilt that may attenuate problematic social influences on child witnesses' decision criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record

A comparative acoustic analysis of Korean vowels by native and non-native speakers

The primary purpose of this study is to examine L1 transfer in L2 vowel acquisition (Flege 1995,1996) by comparing L1 vowels with L2 Korean vowels produced by Korean native speakers and both Mandarin and English learners of Korean. It would predict which L2 Korean vowels are relatively difficulty or easy to produce for the non-native speakers based on acoustic similarities and dissimilarities between their L1 vowels and L2 Korean vowels. A total of 68 female speakers participated in a word-list reading task. For acoustic analysis, the formant frequencies (F1 and F2) and vowel duration were measured. Results demonstrated that there were cross-language differences in both vowel quality and duration. Both Mandarin and English learners of Korean perform well when producing Korean [a, i] vowels, but have difficulty producing Korean vowel contrasts [ʌ]-[o], [o]-[u], [ɨ]-[u]. In terms of vowel duration, Korean vowels were the shortest, English vowels were the longest, and Mandarin vowels were intermediate between the two. Overall, the L2 Korean vowel duration of both Mandarin and English speakers was too short, compared to their L1 vowel productions, to have a Korean native-like performance of vowels.

ROBO1 polymorphisms, callosal connectivity, and reading skills.

The genetic effects on specific behavioral phenotypes are putatively mediated by specific neural functions. It remains unexplored how the axon-guidance-receptor gene ROBO1 influences reading performance through the neural system despite the identification of ROBO1 as a susceptibility gene for dyslexia. To address this issue, the present study recruited a group of children with a wide range of reading abilities. Two previously identified reading-related ROBO1 polymorphisms were genotyped, and diffusion and structural MRI were acquired to measure the fiber microstructure of the corpus callosum (CC), the major white-matter tract that connects inter-hemispheric cortical regions. The results confirmed the significant influence of the ROBO1 polymorphisms on reading scores. The fiber microstructures of the midline-CC segments around the genu and splenium were also affected by the ROBO1 polymorphisms. Moreover, a mediation analysis further revealed that the genu could significantly mediate the effects of the ROBO1 polymorphisms on word-list reading performance, which suggests a ROBO1-to-genu-to-reading pathway. The genu-linked cortical morphology, however, was not associated with either the ROBO1 polymorphisms or reading performance. These findings offer direct evidence supporting ROBO1-callosum association in humans and also provide valuable insight into the functions of ROBO1 and the gene-to-brain mechanisms that underlie human reading. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2616-2626, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sentence processing in anterior superior temporal cortex shows a social-emotional bias

The anterior region of the left superior temporal gyrus/superior temporal sulcus (aSTG/STS) has been implicated in two very different cognitive functions: sentence processing and social-emotional processing. However, the vast majority of the sentence stimuli in previous reports have been of a social or social-emotional nature suggesting that sentence processing may be confounded with semantic content. To evaluate this possibility we had subjects read word lists that differed in phrase/constituent size (single words, 3-word phrases, 6-word sentences) and semantic content (social-emotional, social, and inanimate objects) while scanned in a 7T environment. This allowed us to investigate if the aSTG/STS responded to increasing constituent structure (with increased activity as a function of constituent size) with or without regard to a specific domain of concepts, i.e., social and/or social-emotional content. Activity in the left aSTG/STS was found to increase with constituent size. This region was also modulated by content, however, such that social-emotional concepts were preferred over social and object stimuli. Reading also induced content type effects in domain-specific semantic regions. Those preferring social-emotional content included aSTG/STS, inferior frontal gyrus, posterior STS, lateral fusiform, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and amygdala, regions included in the “social brain”, while those preferring object content included parahippocampal gyrus, retrosplenial cortex, and caudate, regions involved in object processing. These results suggest that semantic content affects higher-level linguistic processing and should be taken into account in future studies.

What's a stigmatized variant doing in the word list? Authenticity in reading styles and Hebrew pharyngeals

The pharyngeal segments in Hebrew, [ʕ] and [ħ], are historically conservative and considered prescriptively correct, but are also socially stigmatized as a feature associated with Mizrahi (Middle Eastern) descent. I present data from sociolinguistic interviews in two Israel field sites and demonstrate a robust pattern in both communities: speakers who produce pharyngeals in the interview use more [ʕ] in reading a word list than in free‐form conversation, but show no such effect for [ħ]. The results are difficult to reconcile with a single axis of standardness or formality and highlight the need for a more multidimensional approach to interpreting reading styles. Taking into account both the community's language ideologies that link reading styles to their ethnic identity and the fact that [ʕ] has been shown to be more useful as a stylistic resource for performing Mizrahi personae, I argue for an interpretation that considers word list reading as a site for performing a Mizrahi ethnic identity.

Writing, Reading, and Listening Differentially Overload Working Memory Performance Across the Serial Position Curve.

Previous research has assumed that writing is a cognitively complex task, but has not determined if writing overloads Working Memory more than reading and listening. To investigate this, participants completed three recall tasks. These were reading lists of words before recalling them, hearing lists of words before recalling them, and hearing lists of words and writing them as they heard them, then recalling them. The experiment involved serial recall of lists of 6 words. The hypothesis that fewer words would be recalled overall when writing was supported. Post-hoc analysis revealed the same pattern of results at individual serial positions (1 to 3). However, there was no difference between the three conditions at serial position 4, or between listening and writing at positions 5 and 6 which were both greater than recall in the reading condition. This suggests writing overloads working memory more than reading and listening, particularly in the early serial positions. The results show that writing interferes with working memory processes and so is not recommended when the goal is to immediately recall information.

Palatalization Practices in Ghanaian English

This paper adds to the literature on the phonology of Ghanaian English. The paper focuses on describing theassimilation process of palatalization which is a feature in the coarticulation of speech sounds in a language variety.The assumption that non-native varieties of English are distinct and unique at all levels of language analysis is usedas approach in observing the occurrence of palatalization processes in the data which consisted of informal speech infocus group discussion, and formal reading of word lists and a passage. The study shows that generallyplace-changing palatalization processes like velar softening, spirantization and coronal palatalizations are establishedfeatures in Ghanaian English though coronal palatalization of the voiced alveolar stop [d] to the voicedpalato-alveolar affricate [ʤ] does not occur. Also, yod-insertion palatalization is greatly influenced by the length ofthe following high vowel. Yod-insertion palatalization frequently occurs with the labials [f], [m], and [b] and thealveolars [t] and [d]. Nevertheless, the labial [p], the alveolars [l], [s] and [n] and the velar stops [k] and [g] arehardly palatalized in Ghanaian English. Significantly, palatalization is a local assimilation feature which tends to beregressive in direction. Word boundary palatalization frequently occurs among fricatives.

Quasi-neutralization in the acquisition of English coronal fricatives by native speakers of Japanese

Second language learners show various forms of mispronunciation, or modification, of target pronunciation, most perhaps due to direct native language transfer, but others, summarized here, to deflected contrast, hypercorrection and covert contrast. The present paper reports on a novel form of adaptation that we term ‘quasi-neutralization,’ in which acoustic characteristics of competing target phonemes are found within the same interlanguage segment (e.g., think [θɪŋk] pronounced as [θsiŋk]). The three English voiceless coronal fricatives /s/, /ʃ/, /θ/ were elicited from Japanese learners of English via two techniques: a wordlist reading task that encouraged participants to focus on their pronunciation, and a sentence construction task that diverted their attention from pronunciation. Among different types of modification, quasi-neutralization was observed predominantly when participants were conscious of their pronunciation, which could reflect their linguistic insecurity as learners. This research thus illuminates another of the strategies that learners employ in the acquisition of L2 pronunciation.

Voice quality variation and gender

Recent work on American English has established that speakers increasingly use creaky phonation to convey pragmatic information, with young urban women assumed to be the most active users of this phonetic feature. However, no large-scale acoustic or articulatory study has established the actual range and diversity of voice quality variation along gender identities, encompassing different sexual orientations, regional backgrounds, and socioeconomic statuses. The current study does exactly that, through four methods: (1) subjects identifying with a range of gender and other demographic identities were audio recorded while reading wordlists as well as a scripted narrative assuming characters’ voices designed to elicit variation in vowel quality. Simultaneously, (2) electroglottographic readings were taken and analyzed to determine the glottal characteristics of this voice quality variation. (3) Subjects were then asked to rate recordings of other people’s voices to identify the personal characteristics associated with the acoustic reflexes of phonation; in the final task, (4) subjects were explicitly asked about their language ideologies as they relate to gender. Thus, the current study explores the relation between gender identity and phonetic features, measured acoustically, articulatorily, and perceptually. This work is currently underway and preliminary results are being compiled at this time.

Spontaneous speech variability across languages: Labial and velar stops

Stops such as /ptkbdg/ are perhaps the most-studied type of consonant in all of phonetics, and they have well-defined acoustic properties that one expects to find in a typical pronunciation. However, casual spontaneous speech reveals highly variable realizations of stops, ranging from voiceless stops with silent closure, burst, and aspiration noise, to weak approximants with only a slight weakening of formants, to deletion. Even careful speech reveals considerable variability. We examine acoustic realizations of intervocalic stops in Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and English, as well as the L2 English speech of the native Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese speakers. For each speaker, we measure data from spontaneous casual conversation and from careful word-list reading. In this presentation, we focus on realizations of /pbkg/. Preliminary results indicate that Dutch speakers variably transfer word-final devoicing of Dutch voiced stops to their English /bg/, but that they do not rely on the Dutch /x/ (orthographic “g”) as a source of their English /g/. Results also show that Spanish /bg/ in conversation are almost categorically approximants or nearly deleted. Spanish speakers, especially those who learned English late, appear to apply this pronunciation to English consonants as a reduced speech style.

L1 Transfer in the Production of Fricatives and Stops by Pattani-Malay Learners of English in Thailand

This study investigated the English fricative and stop pronunciation errors produced by Pattani-Malay learners of English. The participants, speaking L1 Malay, were recruited from fifth and sixth graders at Thamwittaya Mulniti School, Yala province, Thailand. The major research instruments used to examine the errors were the word list reading task and the sentence reading task. The findings of this research demonstrate that Pattani-Malay learners of English seemed to have difficulty in producing errors in some specific English fricative sounds in particular positions. The medial voiced labiodental fricative /v/ and the medial voiced interdental fricative /ð/ were apparently the most problematic. The errors in pronouncing the voiced labiodental fricative /v/ and the voiced interdental fricative /ð/ in the initial and final positions were ranked second, followed by the final voiced palato-alveolar fricative /?/ errors and the final voiceless interdental fricative /?/ errors respectively. The results revealed that the learner’s problems in pronouncing English fricatives and stops are mainly attributed to first language transfer.

Examining Variance in Reading Comprehension Among Developing Readers: Words in Context (Curriculum-Based Measurement in Reading) Versus Words Out of Context (Word Lists)

.Curriculum-based measurement in reading (CBM-R) is a widely used measure for identifying students in need of reading intervention and monitoring their progress. Despite a large base of research supporting the efficacy of CBM-R as a measure of comprehension, critics maintain that CBM-R is little more than a measure of word reading. The current study extends existing research by examining the extent to which CBM-R is a measure of student performance beyond word reading rate and accuracy as well as examining the benefits of administering a word list to early elementary students. Participants included 143 first-grade and 147 second-grade students. All students were administered a norm-referenced measure of reading achievement, two CBM-R passages, and two word lists. Results replicate and extend the literature by highlighting potential differences in the reading behavior of developing and fluent readers and demonstrating the potential need to administer measures of word list reading when conducting screenings in early grades.

Teaching pronunciation: Is explicit phonetics instruction beneficial for FL learners?

Pronunciation instruction has been shown to improve learners' L2 accent in some, though certainly not all, cases. A core component of traditional pronunciation instruction is explicit lessons in L2 phonetics. Studies suggest that Spanish FL learners improve their pronunciation after receiving instruction, but the effect of phonetics instruction has not been directly compared with other pedagogical alternatives. This study reports on the pronunciation gains that first, second, and third year learners (n = 95) made after receiving either explicit instruction in Spanish phonetics or a more implicit treatment with similar input, practice, and feedback. The target phones included a variety of consonants that are problematic for English speakers learning Spanish: stop consonants (/p, t, k/), approximants ([]), and rhotics (/, r/). Learners' production of the target phones was measured in a pretest, posttest, delayed posttest design using a word list reading task. Learners in both groups improved their pronunciation equally, suggesting that it might be the input, practice, and/or feedback included in pronunciation instruction, rather than the explicit phonetics lessons, that are most facilitative of improvement in pronunciation.

On the role of social factors in the loss of phonemic distinctions

The article tests the generalisation of the curvilinear hypothesis and the tendency of females to lead linguistic change in vocalic mergers on the basis of two mergers currently in progress in Charleston, South Carolina: the low-back merger and thepin–penmerger. It is based on sociolinguistic interviews with 100 informants, aged 8–90, covering the socioeconomic spectrum of the city. The speech of 90 of the informants is analysed acoustically; it is supplemented with minimal-pair tests and word list reading. F1/F2 measurements and minimal-pair test results are subjected to a series of multiple linear regression analyses, with social class, gender, age and style as independent variables. While the low-back merger is a change from below showing a female lead and a curvilinear effect of social class, thepin–penmerger shows a decreasing monotonic relationship with social class and no female advantage. The difference is argued to be due to the two mergers being at different levels of social awareness.

Action Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better

Learning to read is extremely difficult for about 10% of children; they are affected by a neurodevelopmental disorder called dyslexia [1, 2]. The neurocognitive causes of dyslexia are still hotly debated [3-12]. Dyslexia remediation is far from being fully achieved [13], and the current treatments demand high levels of resources [1]. Here, we demonstrate that only 12 hr of playing action video games-not involving any direct phonological or orthographic training-drastically improve the reading abilities of children with dyslexia. We tested reading, phonological, and attentional skills in two matched groups of children with dyslexia before and after they played action or nonaction video games for nine sessions of 80 min per day. We found that only playing action video games improved children's reading speed, without any cost in accuracy, more so than 1 year of spontaneous reading development and more than or equal to highly demanding traditional reading treatments. Attentional skills also improved during action video game training. It has been demonstrated that action video games efficiently improve attention abilities [14, 15]; our results showed that this attention improvement can directly translate into better reading abilities, providing a new, fast, fun remediation of dyslexia that has theoretical relevance in unveiling the causal role of attention in reading acquisition.

Trans-saccadic parafoveal preview benefits in fluent reading: A study with fixation-related brain potentials

During natural reading, a parafoveal preview of the upcoming word facilitates its subsequent recognition (e.g., shorter fixation durations compared to masked preview) but nothing is known about the neural correlates of this so-called preview benefit. Furthermore, while the evidence is strong that readers preprocess orthographic features of upcoming words, it is controversial whether word meaning can also be accessed parafoveally. We investigated the timing, scope, and electrophysiological correlates of parafoveal information use in reading by simultaneously recording eye movements and fixation-related brain potentials (FRPs) while participants read word lists fluently from left to right. For one word-the target-(e.g., "blade") parafoveal information was manipulated by showing an identical ("blade"), semantically related ("knife"), or unrelated ("sugar") word as preview. In boundary trials, the preview was shown parafoveally but changed to the correct target word during the incoming saccade. Replicating classic findings, target words were fixated shorter after identical previews. In the EEG, this benefit was reflected in an occipitotemporal preview positivity between 200 and 280 ms. In contrast, there was no facilitation from related previews. In parafoveal-on-foveal trials, preview and target were embedded at neighboring list positions without a display change. Consecutive fixation of two related words produced N400 priming effects, but only shortly (160 ms) after the second word was directly fixated. Results demonstrate that neural responses to words are substantially altered by parafoveal preprocessing under normal reading conditions. We found no evidence that word meaning contributes to these effects. Saccade-contingent display manipulations can be combined with EEG recordings to study extrafoveal perception in vision.

Effects of a Computer-Based Early Reading Program (Headsprout®) on Word List and Text Reading Skills in a Student with Autism

This study evaluated the effects of a computer-based early reading program, Headsprout®, on accurate reading of word lists and connected text by a student with autism. The dependent measures were four word sets and four short stories that increased in difficulty. In the context of a multiple baseline design, the reading program was associated with improved reading accuracy across the word sets and stories. Data also suggested generalization of word set reading skills. We discuss elements of Headsprout® and implementing computer-based early reading programs with children who have autism.

“Probably, OK, whatever!”: Variability in conversational speech stops and flaps.

In casual, conversational speech, speakers often do not fully realize all segments one would normally expect in a given word. For example, “better” may be pronounced with an approximant instead of a medial flap (if the tongue fails to make a complete closure at the alveolar ridge), the expected flap may be entirely deleted, or the segments may be so heavily overlapped that it is almost impossible to say which segments are present and which not. The current work investigates how much reduction occurs (including both changes and deletions), comparing casual conversations, connected reading, and isolated word-list reading. It compares the phonemes /p, t, k, b, d, g/, post-stress vs inter-unstressed, and six segmental environments. The results represent 13 native English speakers and comprise a dataset of more than 9000 tokens, with several acoustic measures. This provides very thorough data on phonetic variability in both natural and “lab” speech. The work finds relatively little effect of stress and complex effects of segmental environment attributable to places of articulation. It also provides insight into how variable speakers are in how much they reduce, both within a speaker and within the population, a topic not often addressed in phonetic research.

The influence of language distance and language status on the acquisition of L3 phonology

Research in the field of third language acquisition has consistently identified two key factors which have an effect on the ways in which the two known languages may influence the acquisition of a third. These factors are language distance (typology) and language status (more specifically, second language, L2, or non-native language status). To date, however, the findings have not been conclusive regarding whether one of the two factors has a greater influence than the other. In this study, we investigated whether L2 status or typology would be the stronger predictor in the selection of a source language for phonological influence in L3 acquisition. Two groups of learners of Spanish as an L3, one with English L1 and French L2, the other with French L1 and English L2, were recorded reading word lists containing voiceless stops in onset, stressed position. Paired-samples t-tests were used to compare the rates of presence (English-influenced) or absence (French-influenced) of aspiration (operationalised as voice onset time values). Results point to L2 status as the determining factor in the selection of a source language for the production of voiceless stops in stressed onset position in L3 Spanish for both groups.