Phonological awareness,verbal working memory and the acquisition of literacy

This paper describes a 2-year longitudinal study of 76 initially prereading children. The study examined the relationships between phonological awareness (measured by tests of onset and rime, phonemic segmentation and phoneme deletion), verbal working memory and the development of reading and spelling. Factor analyses showed that the verbal working memory tests which were administered loaded on two distinct but highly related factors, the first of which,simple repetition, involved the repetition of verbal items exactly as spoken by the experimenter, whereas the second,backwards repetition, involved repetition of items in reverse order. Factor analyses also showed that, whist the phonological awareness variables consistently loaded on the backwards repetition factor at the beginning and end of Grade 1, by Grade 2 the phonological awareness variables loaded on a separate factor which also included sentence repetition. Results of multiple regression analyses, with reading and spelling as a compound criterion variable, indicated that phonological awareness consistently predicted later reading and spelling even when both simple and backwards repetition were controlled. In contrast, verbal working memory did not consistently predict reading and spelling across testing times. Whilst there was some indication that verbal working memory, especially backwards repetition, measured during Grade 1 did predict reading and spelling in Grade 2, these effects were no longer evident when all three phonological variables were controlled. Nevertheless, with 4 individual reading and 2 individual spelling measures as the criterion variables, it was shown that phonological awareness was not quite such a consistent predictor of reading and spelling: it was most highly related to reading pseudowords and spelling real words; but it was not so highly related to spelling pseudowords, apparently because the processing demands of the task for the young children in the study were extremely high. Given the importance of verbal working memory for the completion of phonological awareness, reading and spelling tasks, in particular for spelling pseudowords, the findings are interpreted as providing some support for a theoretical position which posits that both phonological awareness and verbal working memory contribute to the early stages of literacy acquisition. Whilst the findings suggest some support for a general underlying phonological ability, there is also evidence that, as children learn to read and write, verbal working memory and phonological awareness become more differentiated.     

The role of private speech in the transition from collaborative to independent task performance in young children

This study was designed to examine the following central Vygotskian hypotheses about the functions of preschool children's private speech: (1) that private speech facilitates the transition from collaborative to independent task performance, and (2) that children's use of private speech is conducive to task success. Age-related changes in children's use of private speech were also examined. Forty preschoolers, ranging in age from three to five, completed a selective attention task with scaffolded assistance given from an experimenter when needed. In an effort to overcome several methodological limitations found in previous research, a new microgenetic method of analyzing speech-performance relations based on assigning task items to discrete categories reflecting six possible co-occurrences between private speech (item-relevant speech, item-irrelevant speech, silence) and performance (success, failure) was introduced. Results were that (1) item-relevant speech was used more often during successful than during failed items while the opposite was true for item-irrelevant speech; (2) children were more likely to use private speech on successful items after scaffolding than they were on similar items not following scaffolding; (3) after scaffolding, children were more likely to succeed on the next item if they talked to themselves than if they were silent; and (4) hypothesized curvilinear, age-related patterns in children's item-relevant private speech and silence were found, however, only when analyzing speech during successful items. Implications of this research for preschool teachers and parents are discussed.     

Models of Speech Perception and Phonological Processing in Reading

Multiple measures of speech perception, phonological awareness, naming speed, verbal short-term memory, and word reading were concurrently administered to 136 third- and fourth-grade children. Structural equation modeling was used to contrast 5 models of the relations of speech perception and phonological processing skills to reading with IQ controlled. The best-fitting model, the Indirect Model, was one in which the effect of speech perception on reading was mediated by its relations with phonological processing abilities. Naming speed was particularly highly associated with speech perception, possible evidence for the Motor Theory. Phonological awareness was also substantially correlated with speech perception.     

Auditory Sensitivity,Speech Perception,and Reading Development and Impairment

While the importance of phonological sensitivity for understanding reading acquisition and impairment across orthographies is well documented, what underlies deficits in phonological sensitivity is not well understood. Some researchers have argued that speech perception underlies variability in phonological representations. Others have investigated the role of more general auditory sensitivity for reading development and reading difficulties, arguing that poor phonological representations may actually be due to broad underlying auditory deficits, which are not restricted to speech stimuli. We argue that these hypotheses are not necessarily mutually exclusive. In this review, we demonstrate that auditory sensitivity and speech perception can be integrated into a single developmental model, in which auditory sensitivity may have an indirect impact on reading; this impact is mediated by speech perception. In the model, we distinguish general auditory sensitivity as falling into at least two general categories: rhythmic and temporal. Correspondingly, speech perception itself can be distinguished as suprasegmental and segmental. Theoretically, the proposed model integrates a broad range of studies on general auditory and speech perception to suggest a developmental trajectory for reading acquisition that can be explored from before birth. Practically, the proposed model points to different ways of understanding and diagnosing reading difficulties and distinguishing reading difficulties across languages and orthographies.     

The Relationship of First-Grade Readiness to Third- and Fourth-Grade Achievement

Abstract

In meaningful learning tasks the acquisition process is influenced by the way in which the individual learner interprets and encodes the material. Early attempts to recall written materials largely determine subsequent retention, even when the learner's errors are corrected. To provide an indication of how information was interpreted and encoded by learners, adult students were asked to write notes on a meaningful prose extract they heard, and they were later asked to attempt recall. Whereas the meaningful items recorded in a subject's notes had a .34 probability of recall one week later, items not recorded in notes were recalled on only .047 of occasions, suggesting that the notes learners make provide a useful indication of the products of individual encoding processes In meaningful verbal learning and memory.     

Infant-directed speech does not always involve exaggerated vowel distinctions: Evidence from Danish

This study compared the acoustic properties of 26 (100% female, 100% monolingual) Danish caregivers' spontaneous speech addressed to their 11- to 24-month-old infants (infant-directed speech, IDS) and an adult experimenter (adult-directed speech, ADS). The data were collected between 2016 and 2018 in Aarhus, Denmark. Prosodic properties of Danish IDS conformed to cross-linguistic patterns, with a higher pitch, greater pitch variability, and slower articulation rate than ADS. However, an acoustic analysis of vocalic properties revealed that Danish IDS had a reduced or similar vowel space, higher within-vowel variability, raised formants, and lower degree of vowel discriminability compared to ADS. None of the measures, except articulation rate, showed age-related differences. These results push for future research to conduct theory-driven comparisons across languages with distinct phonological systems.     

The Relationship Between Learning to Read and Language-Specific Speech Perception: Maturation versus Experience

Does the intensification of what can be called “language-specific speech perception” around reading onset occur as a function of maturation or experience? Preschool 5-year-olds with no school experience, 5-year-olds with 6 months' schooling, 6-year-olds with 6 months' schooling, and 6-year-olds with 18 months' schooling were tested on native and nonnative speech contrasts, phonological awareness, and letter identification. Native speech perception was predicted by phonological awareness, but not school experience or age, whereas nonnative speech perception was negatively related to school experience and had no relationship with age or phonological awareness. Over and above any limitation of a possible selection bias associated with parents' choice of school entry age, the results suggest that intensified language-specific speech perception is due to more robust phoneme categories: increased phonological awareness facilitates judgments of native phoneme membership, whereas increased experience with phoneme-to-grapheme mapping assists in the process of disregarding allophonic variations within native phoneme classes.     

Phonological processing,speech perception,and reading disability: An integrative review

Relations between phonological processing and speech perception skills in reading-disabled children and adults are considered. Following Wagner and Torgesen (1987), phonological processing is comprised of at least three distinct though interrelated abilities--phonemic awareness, phonological recoding in lexical access, and short-term verbal memory skills. Speech perception skills may also represent two domains, speech perception and short-term memory. Studies of speech perception and word reading are critiqued. The interactions of speech perception, phonological processing skills, and word-reading abilities with development are considered in a preliminary model of reading. Although studies of phonological processing and speech perception in poor readers have thus far developed separately, experimenters in these isolated domains could benefit from the research findings in each and the unique paradigms each uses to investigate deficits in poor readers.     

How poor readers and spellers use interactive speech in a computerized spelling program

The ‘Spello’ program was designed to use interactive speech feedback on a talking-computer system to improve children's spelling and phonological skills. In two versions of the program, the synthesizer pronounced the word to be spelled and the student tried to type in the word correctly. Both versions of the program showed the students which letters were correct in their spelling attempts. One version pronounced only the target word, as often as the child requested. The other version also provided intermediate speech feedback for children's spelling attempts, so they could hear how their own attempts sounded, and compare them to the target word. Twenty-eight children aged seven to fourteen studied 16 words they had misspelled on pretests and 16 words of related word structure. For children ten years or older, training with intermediate speech feedback led to greater benefits in phonological coding skills than training with word-only feedback, reflected in the ability to read nonsense words related in structure to the trained words. Intermediate speech feedback also led to a marginally significant advantage in spelling the trained words. When the groups switched conditions, however, there was no difference in their tested skills after a second week of training.     

Executive function and verbal self-regulation in childhood: Developmental linkages between partially internalized private speech and cognitive flexibility

Recent studies have noted that executive function and the use of self-regulatory private speech are related in childhood, and proposed that the critical leap that occurs in the development of executive function between the ages of three and six years may be due to the onset of language-based self-regulatory functions at this age. This research explored the relationship between executive function and private speech in a cross-sectional study of 81 children between four and seven years of age. The children performed an executive function task, the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS), and children's use of private speech was observed during a categorization task. The results indicated that, after controlling for children's age, gender, verbal abilities, and fluid reasoning, children's use of partially internalized private speech during the categorization task was significantly related to the number of phases successfully passed on the DCCS task, which required them to switch between card sorting rules. Children who used more partially internalized private speech were more likely to pass the most challenging phase of the DCCS task that assesses the ability to flexibly use different sorting rules according to a higher-order rule. We discuss the role of verbal mediation in the development of cognitive flexibility and its implications for the design of intervention programs for children who possess deficits of executive function.     

Enhancing English among second language learners: the pre‐school years

Informed by knowledge of linguistics, research findings in the areas of monolingual and bilingual acquisition, dyslexia and speech therapy clinical practice, five factors are proposed to argue that the acquisition of English by young non‐native learners can be enhanced by learning activities which take into account factors of developmental sequence in language acquisition, language‐specific properties, the relationship between oral and written language, the what‐to‐learn‐first issue and the quality of the language input. Proper language goals can be set and appropriate activities designed, only if the language input provider interacts with a learner in a concrete activity while being sensitive to the developmental trajectory of monolingual speaking children, the development of the less dominant language in a bilingual child, the prosodic and phonological differences between the learner's mother tongue and the target language, the importance of phonological awareness which defines dyslexia, the use of non‐abstract language structures grounded in concrete lexical items in the early stage of language acquisition and the strategy of expanding learners' utterance by one element as used in speech therapy.     

Singing One's Way to Self-Regulation: The Role of Early Music and Movement Curricula and Private Speech

Research Findings: Although the role of language and private speech in the development of behavioral self-regulation has been studied, relations between behavioral self-regulation and children's experiences with other symbolic systems, such as music, have not yet been explored. Eighty-nine 3- and 4-year-old children (42 of whom had been enrolled in Kindermusik music and movement classes, and 47 demographically similar children who had not experienced structured early childhood music classes) completed a battery of laboratory self-regulation tasks and a selective attention task during which their private speech was reliably transcribed and categorized. Children currently enrolled in Kindermusik classes showed better self-regulation than those who were not currently enrolled (d = .41), and they also used more relevant private speech during the selective attention task (d = .57), a verbal strategy that was positively related to performance. Children exposed to the music program were also more likely to engage in the facilitative strategy of singing/humming to themselves during a waiting period in which they had to inhibit their desire to examine a gift, and they were less likely to call out socially to the experimenter, a strategy negatively associated with performance and self-regulation. Practice or Policy: Implications for early childhood education are discussed.     

Relationships among rapid digit naming, phonological processing, motor automaticity, and speech perception in poor, average, and good readers and spellers

In this article, we explore the relationship between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and other cognitive processes among below-average, average, and above-average readers and spellers. Nonsense word reading, phonological awareness, RAN, automaticity of balance, speech perception, and verbal short-term and working memory were measured. Factor analysis revealed a 3-component structure. The first component included phonological processing tasks, RAN, and motor balance. The second component included verbal short-term and working memory tasks. Speech perception loaded strongly as a third component, associated negatively with RAN. The phonological processing tests correlated most strongly with reading ability and uniquely discriminated average from below- and above-average readers in terms of word reading, reading comprehension, and spelling. On word reading, comprehension, and spelling, RAN discriminated only the below-average group from the average performers. Verbal memory, as assessed by word list recall, additionally discriminated the below-average group from the average group on spelling performance. Motor balance and speech perception did not discriminate average from above- or below-average performers. In regression analyses, phonological processing measures predicted word reading and comprehension, and both phonological processing and RAN predicted spelling.     

Self-regulatory private speech relates to children's recall and organization of autobiographical memories

We investigated relations between 4- and 7-year-olds’ (N = 58) autobiographical memory and their use of self-regulatory private speech in a non-mnemonic context (a cognitive planning task). Children's use of self-regulatory private speech during the planning task was associated with longer autobiographical narratives which included specific rather than general memories and which were recalled with greater narrative cohesion and more evaluative information. Children's use of private speech that served no regulatory function was unrelated to all memory variables. The relations between self-regulatory private speech and autobiographical memory were independent of children's age, general verbal ability, and gender. Our findings are discussed in the context of the social interaction perspective on autobiographical memory development.     

Trials to criterion: a within‐program prediction of post‐program generalization

Data‐based instruction is an important and effective procedure when teaching handicapped learners; at present, however, no validated decision rules are available to predict post‐program generalization. This study investigated the extent to which learning set analysis of a severely handicapped subject's performance was capable of providing decision rules when teaching for a generalized outcome. Generalized compliance was trained and training data analyzed to determine how data trends across training examples compared with post‐program generalization. Results show that the greatest generalization effect occurrred when training data trends were steepest downwards. Discussion of the findings includes suggestions concerning future research to further define the parameters of decision rules necessary to teach for generalization.     

Effects of Visual and Phonological Distinctness on Visual–verbal Paired Associate Learning in Dutch Dyslexic and Normal Readers

In three studies, the effects of visual and phonological distinctness on the visual–verbal paired associate learning of dyslexic and normal readers at the age of 10–12 were examined. We hypothesized that both groups would be equally affected by the visual distinctness of the pictures, whereas the learning performance of the dyslexic children would be more susceptible to the phonological distinctness of the verbal stimuli (words). As expected, in Study 1 we found that the visual distinctness of pictures had a similar effect on both groups. However, the results of Studies 2 and 3 on the effect of phonological distinctness did not support the hypothesis. Both reader groups were equally affected by the phonological distinctness of the words. In addition, we found that, although not consistently, dyslexic children tended to be worse in verbal learning, which could to a large extent be explained by their problems with phonological processing.     

Evidence for phonological processing deficits in less-skilled readers

Although weaknesses in metaphonological skills are well-documented in poor readers, prior studies have yielded inconsistent findings as to whether less-skilled readers also have deficits in the more primary phonological processes entailed in verbal working memory and speech production tasks. The present study was designed to examine this issue by comparing less-skilled third-graders readers (n=30) with younger children at the same reading level (n=30) and with more-skilled agemates (n=30) on a variety of tasks that require phonological processing (i.e., three “verbal memory” tasks [word span, span with concurrent processing, pseudoword imitation] and three “speech production” tasks [word-pair repetition, tongue twisters, rapid naming]). The results were striking: the less-skilled third-grade readers had significantly lower accuracy scores than both their agemates and the younger normal readers on the word span, pseudoword imitation, word-pair repetition, and tongue twister tasks. Measures of accuracy were more related to reading ability than were measures of speed. Performance on a pseudoword imitation task was the variable most strongly linked to reading achievement.     

Predictors of word‐reading ability in 7‐year‐olds: analysis of data from a U.K. cohort study

Previous U.K. population‐based studies have found associations amongst early speech and language difficulties, socioeconomic disadvantage and children's word‐reading ability later on. We examine the strength of these associations in a recent U.K. population‐based birth cohort. Analyses were based on 13,680 participants. Linear regression models were fitted to identify factors that were associated with word‐reading score at the age of 7 years. Path analysis models were fitted to examine phonological skills as a mediator of the relationships. We found that male gender, preterm birth, naming vocabulary at age five, concerns about speech and language, maternal education, type of housing tenure, lone parenting, parent attachment and frequency of reading to the child were all independently associated with word reading. For each of these predictors, there was evidence suggesting that a substantial proportion of the effect may be mediated by phonological skills (ranging from 52 to 89%). Despite policy intervention, many of the same risk factors identified in previous studies still predict children's word‐reading ability in the United Kingdom. Results support the phonological model, with phonological skills on the pathway to word reading.

What is already known about this topic?

• A range of studies has implicated poor socioeconomic background and disadvantaged family circumstances as risks for children's poor word reading.
• Good early development of language skills is firmly established as a pathway to promoting reading ability.
• Not all poor readers show deficits in phonological skills, although such deficits correlate highly with reading difficulties.

What this paper adds

• This is an original analysis of factors in a recent cohort of U.K. children, using stratified sampling to be representative of the U.K. population as a whole.
• A range of child‐specific, family socioeconomic and family relationship factors were independently associated with word‐reading ability when children were age seven.
• For each of the predictors, there was evidence suggesting that a substantial proportion of the effect, if causal, may be mediated by phonological skills (ranging from 52 to 89%).

Implications for theory, policy or practice

• Despite policy intervention, many of the same risk factors identified in older studies still predict children's word‐reading ability in the United Kingdom.
• Results lend weight to the phonological model, where deficits in phonological skills are on the pathway to word reading.

     

Structural invariance in the associations of naming speed,phonological awareness,and verbal reasoning in good and poor readers: A test of the double deficit hypothesis

The associations of multiple measures of speeded naming, phonological awareness, and verbal intelligence with word reading were examined in 51 poor readers and 74 good readers in third and fourth grade. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the extent to which these two groups exhibited structurally invariant patterns of associations among the constructs. Results revealed that for poor readers, both speeded naming and phonological awarencess were significantly associated with word reading, but verbal intelligence had no association with it. In contrast, for good readers, phonological awareness and verbal intelligence were significantly associated with word reading, but naming speed was not. Findings are discussed in light of the double deficit hypothesis.     

The role of prosodic sensitivity in children's reading development

While the critical importance of phonological awareness (segmental phonology) to reading ability is well established, the potential role of prosody (suprasegmental phonology) in reading development has only recently been explored. This study examined the relationship between children's prosodic skills and reading ability. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined the unique contribution of word‐level and phrase‐level prosodic skills to the prediction of three concurrent measures of reading ability in 81 fourth‐grade children (mean age 9.3 years). After controlling for phonological awareness and general rhythmic sensitivity, children's prosodic skills predicted unique variation in word‐reading accuracy and in reading comprehension. Phrase‐level prosodic skills, assessed by means of a reiterative speech task, predicted unique variance in reading comprehension, after controlling for word reading accuracy, phonological awareness and general rhythmic sensitivity. These results add to the growing body of evidence of the importance of prosodic skills in reading development.