Written Word Identification Research Articles

ProVoc: An app to train vocabulary depth in order to foster children's reading comprehension

AbstractMany studies have demonstrated the crucial role of vocabulary in predicting reading performance in general. More recent work has indicated that one particular facet of vocabulary (its depth) is more closely related to language comprehension, especially inferential comprehension. On this basis, we developed a training application to specifically improve vocabulary depth. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of a mobile application designed to improve vocabulary depth. The effectiveness of this training was examined on 3rd and 4th grade children's vocabulary (breadth and depth), decoding and comprehension performances. A randomized waiting‐list control paradigm was used in which an experimental group first received the intervention during the first 4 weeks (between pretest and post‐test1), thereafter, a waiting control group received the training for the next 4 weeks (between postest1 and posttest2). Results showed that the developed application led to significant improvements in terms of vocabulary depth performance, as well as a significant transfer effect to reading comprehension. However, we did not observe such a beneficial effect on either vocabulary breadth or written word identification. These results are discussed in terms of the links between vocabulary depth and comprehension, and the opportunities the app presents for remedying language comprehension deficits in children.

Processing of Regular and Irregular Past‐Tense Verb Forms in First and Second Language Reading Acquisition

We investigated written word identification of regular and irregular past‐tense verb forms by first (L1) and second language (L2) learners of Dutch in third and sixth grade. Using a lexical decision task, we measured speed and accuracy in the identification of regular and irregular past‐tense verb forms by children from Turkish‐speaking homes (L2 learners) and monolingual Dutch‐speaking homes (L1 learners). All beginning readers of Dutch had relatively more difficulties with the identification of irregular verb forms than regular verbs forms, but the effects were stronger for L2 learners than for L1 learners. These processing differences were only present in third grade, however, indicating that with increased target language experience, the reading of past‐tense verb forms becomes more fluent and automatized in both L1 and L2 learners.

Reading without the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex

The left ventral occipito-temporal cortex (LvOT) is thought to be essential for the rapid parallel letter processing that is required for skilled reading. Here we investigate whether rapid written word identification in skilled readers can be supported by neural pathways that do not involve LvOT. Hypotheses were derived from a stroke patient who acquired dyslexia following extensive LvOT damage. The patient followed a reading trajectory typical of that associated with pure alexia, re-gaining the ability to read aloud many words with declining performance as the length of words increased. Using functional MRI and dynamic causal modelling (DCM), we found that, when short (three to five letter) familiar words were read successfully, visual inputs to the patient’s occipital cortex were connected to left motor and premotor regions via activity in a central part of the left superior temporal sulcus (STS). The patient analysis therefore implied a left hemisphere “reading-without-LvOT” pathway that involved STS. We then investigated whether the same reading-without-LvOT pathway could be identified in 29 skilled readers and whether there was inter-subject variability in the degree to which skilled reading engaged LvOT. We found that functional connectivity in the reading-without-LvOT pathway was strongest in individuals who had the weakest functional connectivity in the LvOT pathway. This observation validates the findings of our patient’s case study. Our findings highlight the contribution of a left hemisphere reading pathway that is activated during the rapid identification of short familiar written words, particularly when LvOT is not involved. Preservation and use of this pathway may explain how patients are still able to read short words accurately when LvOT has been damaged.

Beyond isolated word recognition

In this commentary we concur with Frost's view of the centrality of universal principles in models of word identification. However, we argue that other processes in sentence comprehension also fundamentally constrain the nature of written word identification. Furthermore, these processes appear to be universal. We, therefore, argue that universality in word identification should not be considered in isolation, but instead in the context of other linguistic processes that occur during normal reading.

Effect of foster care on language learning at eight years: Findings from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project

This study reports on language outcomes at eight years from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a randomized controlled study of foster care. We previously have shown that children placed in foster care by age two have substantially stronger preschool language outcomes than children placed later and children remaining in institutional care. One hundred and five children participated in the current study, fifty-four originally assigned to foster care and fifty-one to continued institutional care. Even though current placements varied, children originally in foster care had longer sentences and stronger sentence repetition and written word identification. Children placed in foster care by age two had significant advantages in word identification and nonword repetition; children placed by age 1 ; 3 performed equivalently to community peers. The results show the continuing adverse effects of early poor institutional care on later language development and the key importance of age of placement in a more optimal environment.

Perceived Attachment Security to Father, Academic Self-Concept and School Performance in Language Mastery

This study examined the relations between 8–12-year-olds’ perceived attachment security to father, academic self-concept and school performance in language mastery. One hundred and twenty two French students’ perceptions of attachment to mother and to father were explored with the Security Scale and their academic self-concept was assessed with the French adaptation of the Self Perception Profile. Students’ grade point average in language mastery was obtained from teachers and their reading performances were evaluated with a written word identification test. Attachment to father was found to be the only significant predictor, among attachment variables, of children’s grade point average in language mastery even after controling for sex, age and cognitive performance. Finally, results confirmed the mediating role of academic self-concept in the relation between attachment to father and grade point average in language mastery.

The Psychology of Literacy: New Developments

In this paper we begin by addressing the concept of literacy, which for us is “the ensemble of representations and processes that an individual acquires as an obligatory and direct consequence of learning to read and write”, and distinguish it from other conceptions that can be found in the literature. In the remaining of the paper we discuss some of the most recent developments in the psychology of literacy: (i) the occurrence of language differences in the progressive mastery of the orthographic code; (ii) the neural basis of written word identification; and (iii) the consequences of literacy on spoken word identification.

Language learning

Language learning

The Semantic Organisation of Mass Nouns: Evidence from Semantic Refractory Access Dysphasia

The conceptual properties and organisation of mass noun concepts are examined in a patient (A.Z.) with a semantic refractory access disorder. A cardinal feature of this class of disorder is the build up of interference (refractoriness) between semantically similar concepts. In a series of written word identification tasks, a gradient of semantic relatedness is demonstrated within the broad domain of mass noun concepts but not between different word classes. More detailed examinations of semantic similarity effects within subcategories of mass concepts reveal a variable degree of fine-grain organisation, which may reflect the influence of premorbid personal knowledge and experience. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that common mass or count noun status did not lead to an enhancement of the refractory effects of semantic similarity.

Interfering neighbours: The impact of novel word learning on the identification of visually similar words

We assessed the impact of visual similarity on written word identification by having participants learn new words (e.g. BANARA) that were neighbours of familiar words that previously had no neighbours (e.g. BANANA). Repeated exposure to these new words made it more difficult to semantically categorize the familiar words. There was some evidence of interference following an initial training phase, and clear evidence of interference the following day (without any additional training); interference was larger still following more training on the second day. These findings lend support to models of reading that include lexical competition as a key process.

In defense of abstractionist theories of repetition priming and word identification.

There is a great deal of interest in characterizing the representations and processes that support visual word priming and written word identification more generally. On one view, these phenomena are supported by abstract orthographic representations that map together visually dissimilar exemplars of letters and words (e.g., the letters A/a map onto a common abstract letter code a*). On a second view, orthographic codes consist in a collection of episodic representations of words that interact in such a way that it sometimes looks as if there are abstract codes. Tenpenny (1995) contrasted these general approaches and concluded by endorsing the episodic account, arguing that no evidence demands that we posit abstract orthographic representations. This review reconsiders the evidence and argues that a variety of priming and nonpriming research strongly supports the conclusion that abstract orthographic codes exist and support priming and word identification. On this account, episodic representations are represented separately from abstract orthographic knowledge and contribute minimally to these functions.

Is visual lexical access based on phonological codes? Evidence from a picture-word interference task

The claim that lexical access for visual words is mandatorily mediated by their phonological codes was investigated. Ninety-six subjects performed timed naming responses to pictures while instructed to ignore printed words superimposed on the pictures. Distractor words were either semantically related to the picture label or were homophones of a word semantically related to the picture name. On the basis of the claim that homophones initially activate multiple semantic codes, we hypothesized that the homophone and semantic distractors would yield comparable interference. Picture-word stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was varied between subjects as 0 or +100 msec. For an SOA of 0 msec, semantic interference, but no effect from the homophones, was obtained. For an SOA of +100 msec, no effect was obtained in either condition. In combination, these findings indicate a limited role of phonological codes in visual lexical access. It is suggested that the role of phonology in written word identification may vary dependent on procedure and utility to the task.