Phonemic awareness,spontaneous writing,and reading and spelling development from a preventive perspective

This study examined the nature of the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading and spelling development and focused particularlyon the development of early self-directed writing. The spontaneous writing attempts of 44 first-graders were followed on 6 test occasions from the start of grade 1 (7 years) until the middle of grade 2. The children were divided into 2 groups, one group (N = 21) with a high level of phonemic awareness on entry into grade 1 (HPA) and one group (N = 23) with a low level on entry (LPA). The connection between level of inventedspelling used in the self-directed writing and later reading andspelling achievement in grades 1 and 2 was investigated. The results showed remarkable differences between the two groups. Level of invented spelling at Time 1 was highly predictive of both reading and spelling achievement at the end of grades 1 and 2, but only for the HPA group. With Time of Mastery regarding phonemic spelling as the independent variable and reading and spelling at the end of grade 2 as the dependent variable, regressions analysis indicated strong direct effects of early phonemic spelling upon later reading and spelling development, but only for the LPA children. The two groups showed different patterns of development in learning to read and spell during grades 1 and 2.     

Phonemic awareness and reading skill in hyperlexic children: A longitudinal study

Children with hyperlexia who learn to readspontaneously before the age of five are impaired inreading and listening comprehension but have wordrecognition skills well above their measured cognitiveand linguistic abilities. In a previous study, theauthor administered a battery of cognitive, academicachievement, and phonemic awareness tests to threechildren classified as hyperlexic. The findingsshowed that the levels of phonemic awareness of thesechildren were low and not commensurate with their wordreading skill. In the present study, the authorreevaluated the three children approximately 7–8 yearslater with the same battery of cognitive, academicachievement, and phonemic awareness tests as well asseveral additional measures of phonemic awareness. The results showed that all three childrens' levels ofphonemic awareness were still low and not commensuratewith their word reading skill. Other findings showedthat two of the children, both of whom had remained inspecial education classes since the previous study,continued to be voracious readers. The other child,who had always been in regular education classes, hadnot read very much for several years. Findings alsoshowed that the word recognition skills of two of thechildren, including the child who had always attendedregular education, had decreased by one to twostandard deviations.     

Screen design for children’s reading: some key issues

This paper draws attention to design issues that are likely to affect the way that children interact with screen‐based information texts. It is based on the findings of the Interactive Multimedia in Primary Schools (IMPS) project funded by the British Library, carried out at The University of Reading. The paper summarises the design‐related aspects of the project, highlighting those issues that relate to access, navigation and typography. It draws together observations from teachers and children based on tape‐recorded interviews and video recordings, and research from the fields of human computer interaction, information design and education.     

Phonemic segmentation and blending skills of kindergarten children: Implications for beginning reading acquisition

This study explored the abilities of kindergarten children in segmenting and blending phonemic components of words and the relationship of these abilities to beginning reading acquisition measured by the word recognition subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) and to auditory discrimination defined by performance on the Wepman Test of Auditory Discrimination. Random assignment of 103 kindergarten children to six experimental groups was used to evaluate phonemic segmentation and blending skills and to one control group to assess the relationship of these skills to auditory discrimination. Each experimental group received training in one of three types of word division (either C-V-C, CV-C or C-VC) for phonemic segmentation and blending in one of two task sequences (either blending first or segmentation first). Results indicate that segmentation is significantly more difficult than blending and that C-V-C is the most difficult of the three types of word division for both segmentation and blending. There were no significant differential effects of the training and control procedures on a pretest and posttest of the Wepman. Follow-up with the WRAT 1 year later indicated that C-V-C segmentation is a highly useful predictor of beginning reading acquisition. Implications for teaching of reading and for the interpretation of Wepman results are included.     

Phonemic awareness,naming, visual symbol processing,and reading

This study examined differences between adequate and poor readers in phonemic awareness, rapid continuous and confrontation naming, and visual symbol processing. It also investigated which of these skills make independent contributions to word recognition, pseudoword reading, and reading comprehension. Subjects were 170 school referrals of average intelligence, aged 6 to 10 years. The strongest differentiators of adequate and poor readers, with IQ and reading experience controlled, were phonemic awareness, naming speed for letters and pictured objects, and visual symbol processing. Letter naming speed made the largest independent contribution to word recognition, phonemic awareness to pseudoword reading, and object naming speed to reading comprehension. Confrontation picture naming accounted for minimal variance in reading skills, when IQ was controlled. It was concluded that tasks of naming speed, phonemic awareness, and visual symbol processing are valuable components of a diagnostic battery when testing children with possible reading disability.     

Symbol communication in special schools in England: the current position and some key issues

In this article, originally submitted to B J S E' s Research Section, Chris Abbott of King's College, London, and Helen Lucey of the Open University report on the outcomes of a survey of special schools in England. The aim of the research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, was to understand the nature and extent of symbol use for communication and literacy. A questionnaire was used to collect data on topics including: the types of symbols in use; the methodologies operated; ownership of symbol choice; and agreed policies within and outside school. The researchers had an excellent response in this important survey, undertake n after a period of rapid growth in symbol use in special schools and elsewhere. Chris Abbott and Helen Lucey provide a discussion of the results of their survey and of the issues that arise from the findings and the many comments added by respondents. They close their article with a call for further detailed research, both in the UK and in co-operation with practitioners in other countries, into the ways in which symbol use can meet the needs of learners.     

儿童课外阅读现状的调查分析

对市内实验小学6—13岁少年儿童采取抽样问卷的方式进行调查,就小学生的课外阅读情况,教师、家长对学生课外阅读的指导状况等多方面进行了调查,对调查结果进行分析研究,为教师开展学生课外阅读指导提出应对策略。     

The roots of reading for pleasure: Recollections of reading and current habits

Children's early literacy experiences are critical, yet it remains unclear whether memories of early reading instruction continue to be associated with reading habits into adulthood. We examined the association between recollections of reading experiences and present-day reading habits in an adult population. University students responded in writing to three open-ended prompts asking about their memories of reading during early childhood, elementary school and high school. They also completed two questionnaires inquiring about reading enjoyment and frequency in elementary school and high school. For the concurrent measures of reading, participants described their current reading habits in an open-ended prompt and completed an author recognition test. Results showed positive links between favourable memories of reading during elementary and high school years and present-day reading habits. Conversely, unfavourable memories during high school were associated with unenthusiastic present-day reading habits. We found that reading instruction in school forms long-lasting memories, and these memories are linked in meaningful ways with print exposure during adulthood.     

Learning disabilities and reading disorders: A current assessment

Increased interest in the child with learning problems has resulted in a number of studies of the diagnosis and remediation of learning disabilities. Such factors as visual perception, learning style and strategies, and modality deficits are examined. The efficacy of various treatment approaches is reviewed. The importance of utilizing sophisticated remediation techniques is discussed. Educators also will need to examine the excessively high failure rate found in the primary grades in many American schools and analyze the factors involved in such failure.     

当前我国科学教学中的一些基本问题及其对策

重点探讨了我国当前科学教学中存在的六大基本问题。认为这些问题集中反映了我国科学课程教学改革中存在的误区,严重制约着我国新世纪科学课程实施质量成效和科学素养三维目标的达成。希望我国科学教育界密切关注这些问题。     

Recurrent education: some economic issues

Despite increasing interest internationally concerning the concept of recurrent education, comparatively little work has been undertaken on its economic implications. This paper applies the principles of social cost-benefit analysis to the recurrent education model and contrasts it with the conventional apprenticeship or front-end model of provision. Consideration is given to the implications of redistributing education and training over the lifespan of the individual, and also of utilising alternatives to conventional full-time formal educational provision. It is suggested that, when a range of factors is taken into account, recurrent education may not be so obviously uneconomic as simple analyses suggest. On the other hand, the concept may pose rather starkly the possible conflict between efficiency and equity objectives in educational policy-making. These findings must be tentative, however, because the cost implications of different forms of provision geared to the specific characteristics and needs of adults have been little researched. The paper concludes by asking how far the cost-benefit framework itself is an appropriate tool for choosing between alternative educational strategies, when decisions are non-marginal and the criteria for educational policy-making may not be primarily economic.The author wishes to thank Professor Gareth Williams for helpful suggestions on an earlier draft.     

Qualifications Frameworks: some conceptual issues

The aim of this article is to contribute to realising the progressive and democratic opportunities that National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) can offer. In doing so it will be critical of many of the ways that NQFs have been interpreted to date and the claims that have been made for them. The article has six sections. Section 1 considers some of the reasons for the recent growth of interest in NQFs. Section 2 is concerned with the widely shared goals of NQFs and some of the contradictions and problems that they involve. Section 3 discusses the very different forms that NQFs can take. Section 4 examines a number of issues that underlie all approaches to qualifications but are made more explicit by qualification frameworks and concludes by questioning the much lauded claim that NQFs can promote and accredit informal learning. The concluding section considers the longer term implications for the future of NQFs of the earlier analysis.     

Gender studies: some methodological and theoretical issues

In the first part of this paper, studies are reviewed which suggest that gender differences in science achievement can be explained entirely in terms of social factors, and which also suggest that these differences could be eliminated, or even reversed, by changing the social environment. For the studies examined, it is suggested that research workers may not have taken sufficient account of confounding variables in their work, and that the apparent changes in gender differential reported may be explained in terms of these confounding variables.

In the second part of the paper, studies are reviewed which seek explanation of gender differences in science achievement in terms of unequal treatment of boys and girls by science teachers in the classroom. It is concluded that the quality of the research work which has been undertaken is disappointing, and that the research evidence provided by these studies for the differential treatment of boys and girls by science teachers is far from convincing.

It is concluded that real gender differences in science achievement do exist, and that they cannot be explained fully in terms of the social environment. It is suggested that both biological and sociological theoretical perspectives on gender differences in science achievement are inadequate, and that further progress in understanding gender differences in science achievement will require a new theoretical synthesis. It is suggested that sociobiology may provide the required new theoretical synthesis by allowing for the recognition of both biological and environmental influences on science achievement.     

Measuring teaching quality: some key issues

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability -