英语说明文语篇的思维模式及其运用规律

本根据有关语篇衔接连贯的理论，思维模式在说明语篇中的运用进行探讨，结果表明：1．在说明中，思维模式一般不单独使用，而是和其它模式组合在一起，以其中一种为主，其它为辅，构成语篇内的多个层次，将主题展开、收拢来说明。2．说明的主旨决定语篇的基本思维模式，虽然两并不是一对一的关系，但两的配搭有一定的规律性。     

Comprehending coherent and incoherent texts: evidence from eye movement patterns and recall performance

The effect of text structure on the reading process and recall performance was examined. Adult readers’ eye movements were monitored when they read coherently and incoherently structured texts (N=19). Incoherence was brought about by changing the sentence order in the middle paragraphs of the two stimulus texts. Each subject read and learned one text in a coherent and the other in an incoherent form in two experimental sessions. Immediate free recall followed the reading. The eye movement data showed that during the first pass reading, i.e. initial reading of a sentence until the end of the sentence is reached, structurally incoherent text segments attracted the largest number of regressive fixations, and, hence, were given more visual attention than coherent text segments (indicated by the total duration of fixations). On the other hand, more rereadings, i.e. all fixations made after the first pass reading but before moving away from the given sentence, were devoted to text segments resolving the incoherence. Textual incoherence was further found to lead to inferior recall. However, no clear-cut correspondence between eye movement behavior and quantitative recall performance was found.     

Learning literacy though play using interactive texts during storybook reading: A parent/child experience

Abstract

Based on first hand field notes, I undertook to research the reasons why children interacted or did not interact appropriately with a common emergent literacy experience, the readaloud. I explored the reasons why par‐ents/caregivers may not effectively participate in storybook reading, including reactions of parents/caregivers during four literacy events. I determined that the key to successful literacy experiences were first hand, personal involvement of the children in an active learning experience associated with interactive texts. Here, children were invited to create appropriate actions to accompany the story readings. Interactive texts appear to hold the key to successful early literacy experiences for preschoolers. © 2005 Published by Elsevier Inc.     

Orthographic and Phonological Processes in Reading

Investigations of reading have focussed largely on two component processes, phonological processing and orthographic processing. However, a number of unresolved issues have hampered progress in the investigation of these abilities. Three such issues that formed the focus of the present study were (1) the extent to which tasks used to operationalise orthographic processing measure the same construct, (2) the extent to which tasks from a range of phonological processing domains measure the same construct, and (3) the degree to which orthographic processing tasks reflect orthographic processes independent of extraneous phonological operations, and conversely, phonological processing tasks measure phonological processes independent of orthographic processes. To address these questions, a variety of tasks used to evaluate orthographic processing (orthographic verification, homophone verification, nonlexical choice, irregular word reading, irregular word spelling), phonological processing (phoneme deletion, phonological choice, nonword reading, nonword spelling) and related domains (e.g., word identification, IQ) were administered to 177 children from Grades 3, 4 and 5. Factor analysis conducted using accuracy data revealed that orthographic processing tasks congregate along a single factor, while phonological processing tasks congregate along another, separate factor, viewed as evidence for the construct validity of orthographic processing and phonological processing, respectively. When response-time data were analysed, these same tasks did not differentiate on the basis of their orthographic and phonological demands, but rather in terms of their more general task demands. Additionally, results reveal that some phonological processing and orthographic processing tasks measure their respective construct with a greater degree of purity than do others. It is recommended that these tasks be used in future research.     

Correlates of Reading Fluency in Arabic: Diglossic and Orthographic Factors

Arabic native speaking children are born into a unique linguistic context called diglossia (Ferguson, word, 14, 47–56, [1959]). In this context, children grow up speaking a Spoken Arabic Vernacular (SAV), which is an exclusively spoken language, but later learn to read another linguistically related form, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Forty-two first-grade Arabic native speaking children were given five measures of basic reading processes: two cognitive (rapid automatized naming and short-term working memory), two phonological (phoneme discrimination and phoneme isolation), and one orthographic (letter recoding speed). In addition, the study produced independent measures of phonological processing for MSA phonemes (phonemes that are not within the spoken vernacular of children) and SAV phonemes (phonemes that are familiar to children from their oral vernacular). The relevance of these skills to MSA pseudoword reading fluency (words correct per minute) in vowelized Arabic was tested. The results showed that all predictor measures, except phoneme discrimination, correlated with pseudoword reading fluency. Although phonological processing (phoneme isolation and discrimination) for MSA phonemes was more challenging than that for SAV phonemes, phonological skills were not found to affect reading fluency directly. Stepwise regression analysis showed that the strongest predictor of reading fluency in vowelized Arabic was letter recoding speed. Letter recoding speed was predicted by memory, rapid naming, and phoneme isolation. The results are discussed in light of Arabic diglossia and the shallow orthography of vowelized Arabic.     

Exploring the eye‐movement patterns as Chinese children read texts: a developmental perspective

This study was to investigate Chinese children's eye patterns while reading different text genres from a developmental perspective. Eye movements were recorded while children in the second through sixth grades read two expository texts and two narrative texts. Across passages, overall word frequency was not significantly different between the two genres. Results showed that all children had longer fixation durations for low‐frequency words. They also had longer fixation durations on content words. These results indicate that children adopted a word‐based processing strategy like skilled readers do. However, only older children's rereading times were affected by genre. Overall, eye‐movement patterns of older children reported in this study are in accordance with those of skilled Chinese readers, but younger children are more likely to be responsive to word characteristics than text level when reading a Chinese text.     

Preschool prediction: Orthographic and phonological skills,and reading

Because of the research demonstrating the roles of phonological awareness, serial naming speed, and orthographic processing in reading, a test of each of these skills was added to a preschool screening battery. The main aim of the study was to determine whether these measures would contribute to the prediction of reading. The 118 subjects were first tested six months before kindergarten entry and were followed up 19 and 24 months later. Each additional screening test made a significant, independent contribution to the prediction of early first grade word reading/spelling, after the contributions of a parent rating of preschool reading ability (PRA), verbal IQ, socio-economic status (SES), and chronological age were accounted for. With letter naming and PRA, the additional tests were responsible for 62 percent of the variance. The orthographic test made the largest single contribution (32%) to the variance in word reading/spelling. Variables contributing significantly to the prediction of later first grade reading comprehension were (in order of proportion of the variance accounted for) letter naming, sentence memory, object naming speed, the orthographic test, and SES. The revised preschool screening battery correctly identified 91 percent of individual first grade good and poor readers. It was concluded that preschool measures of phonological awareness, serial naming speed, and orthographic processing make a strong contribution to prediction of first grade reading.     

Orthographic and semantic processing in young readers

This investigation examined orthographic and semantic processing during reading acquisition. Children in first to fourth grade were presented with a target word and two response alternatives, and were asked to identify the semantic match. Words were presented in four conditions: an exact match and unrelated foil (STONE–STONE–EARS), an exact match and an orthographic neighbour foil (STONE–STONE–STOVE), a ­synonym match and an unrelated foil (STONE–ROCK–EARS) and a synonym match and an orthographic neighbour foil (STONE–ROCK–STOVE). Accuracy and reaction time results suggest that orthographic and semantic processing follow a two‐step ­acquisition pattern. First, the orthographic component of reading develops quickly; however, forming strong conceptual links from orthographic to semantic representations follows a protracted trajectory, which matures between the third and fourth grades. These results are consistent with research that suggests younger children rely on more concrete, perceptual systems and then transition to more flexible, abstract cognition.     

Changing patterns in community attitudes to child abuse

Tasmania is the island state of Australia with a population of 416,000 people. A statewide programme on child abuse was commenced with the passing of a Child Protection Act in 1974. The results of the introduction of education programmes for professional groups and of providing information for the community have been analysed. Since 1972 notifications of suspected cases of child abuse have risen sixfold, but even now there are fewer cases reported in areas away from the main professional centre in the state. In the types of abuse being reported, there has been a sharp rise in self referrals and children deemed to be at risk. Sexual abuse may have been dealt with by other agencies before, but is now being notified. There has been a change in the age groups of children coming under notice with an increase in those between 2 and 12 years and a fall in those 0–2 years. The proportions of notifications from the various agencies have changed with considerably more coming from self referrals, from community referrals and from the education services. These trends would seem to indicate that both the professionals and the community are more aware of child abuse than formerly.     

Children's reasoning about disclosing adult transgressions: effects of maltreatment, child age, and adult identity

A total of two hundred ninety-nine 4- to 9-year-old maltreated and nonmaltreated children of comparable socioeconomic status and ethnicity judged whether children should or would disclose unspecified transgressions of adults (instigators) to other adults (recipients) in scenarios varying the identity of the instigator (stranger or parent), the identity of the recipient (parent, police, or teacher), and the severity of the transgression ("something really bad" or "something just a little bad"). Children endorsed more disclosure against stranger than parent instigators and less disclosure to teacher than parent and police recipients. The youngest maltreated children endorsed less disclosure than nonmaltreated children, but the opposite was true among the oldest children. Older maltreated children distinguished less than nonmaltreated children between parents and other types of instigators and recipients.     

Orthographic similarity and phonological transparency in spelling

In a brief, exploratoryspelling intervention, second through fourthgrade students, divided in two groups of 70students, learned to spell Latin loan wordsthat ended in -ion with either alinguistically explicit or implicit method. The -ion words were chosen because theypossess similar orthographic structure inaddition to uniform pronunciation. In theexplicit instruction, linguistic andorthographic properties of the words weresimultaneously considered and non-overlappingdistributive patterns between sound andspelling were discussed, whereas in theimplicit instruction discussion was limited tothe orthographic pattern. The explicitinstruction was based on the Orton–Gillinghammethod. Linguistically explicit instructionimproved discrimination of /zh/ and /sh/sounds, spelling of word endings tion andsion and, most importantly, spellinggeneralization to novel words over implicitinstruction. These results were consistent pergrade. The children in each instructionimproved equally on spelling of the stressedvowel, which did not receive explicit attentionin the intervention, as well as on reading ofboth the stressed vowel and the word endings. Thus, the effectiveness of drawing explicitversus implicit attention was shown across andwithin type of instruction. The results appearto support sound-based spelling instruction.     

Infants' responses to strangers: midget, adult, and child.

Infants respond differentially, and at times with fearlike behavior, to unfamiliar persons. This study was designed to see how infants discriminate among strangers. Since it has been shown that infants respond differently to children and adults, the physical characteristics of persons used to make such differentiations were of interest. Facial configuration and height were systematically varied as 4 different strangers--a male and female child, a female adults, and a small female adult the same height as the children (midget)--each approached 40 different infants. The infants responded as if there were 3 classes of persons--adult, child, and small adult, suggesting that both size and facial configuration cues were used. Infants as young as 7 months of age reacted to the size-facial configuration discrepancy of the small-adult condition.     

Entryway into the child protection system: The impacts of child maltreatment reporting policies and reporting system structures

This study was designed to assess the impacts of maltreatment reporting policies and reporting system structures on four aspects of entry into the child protection system (the maltreatment referral rate, the percentage of referrals screened in for investigation, the screened-in report rate and the substantiated report rate). Using secondary data from several sources, eight multiple linear regression models were created and analyzed. Results from a sample of 44 states indicated significant effects for system structure but no effects for reporting policies. Specifically, states with decentralized reporting system structures were significantly more restrictive in access than other states. These results have implications for child welfare administrators and policymakers seeking to maximize access for maltreated children and their families.     

Profiles of choice: Parents’ patterns of priority in child care decision-making

Responding adequately to parental priorities for child care is important for shaping children’s early experiences and development, and for facilitating parenting at the nexus of work and caregiving roles. Although much research on child care choice has relied on variable-centered approaches that treat parental priorities as distinct and isolated, this article aims to understand parents’ care choices from a person-centered, holistic perspective. Using data from the National Household Education Survey of Early Childhood Program Participation of 2005 (n = 4570), we conduct latent class and multinomial logistic regression analyses, identifying four empirically and substantively distinctive classes of parents based on their scores on seven indicators of child care priority. Class 1 parents (35%) rank all seven indicators as very important. Class 2 parents (18%) prioritize practicality factors. Class 3 parents (9%) do not, on average, rank any of the indicators as highly important. Class 4 parents (37%) emphasize learning and quality-focused factors. Class membership is associated with child’s age, race/ethnicity, and parent respondent’s gender, age, employment status, and socio-economic status. After controlling for socio-demographic factors, parents in the learning-focused class are more likely to choose center-based cares whereas practicality-focused parents prefer home-based relative or non-relative care arrangements.     

Orthographic knowledge: clarifications,challenges, and future directions

Orthographic knowledge is the understanding of how spoken language is represented in print. However, the terms used to describe the two levels of orthographic knowledge, lexical and sublexical orthographic knowledge, have been variably defined and inconsistently measured, potentially contributing to discrepancies in research findings. Dissimilarities in how orthographic knowledge has been operationally defined and measured and the associated differences in tasks used to assess that construct are discussed. As part of that discussion, we relate how some measures assess either implicit or more explicit levels of orthographic knowledge. Using current theories and the existing research, we next provide an argument for how initial development of sublexical orthographic knowledge occurs before lexical orthographic knowledge. Suggestions are provided for what researchers might do in the future to help move the field toward a better understanding of orthographic knowledge. Strategies for assessing orthographic knowledge in literacy research are offered.