The impact of image characteristics on written naming in adults

The present study was aimed at investigating whether and how image characteristics influence written naming performance in adults. In three different sessions, participants had to quickly write down the names of pictured objects on a graphic tablet. Across sessions, the picture format was different, but the to-be-named objects were the same: There were black-and-white pictures (Snodgrass & Vanderwart’s [SV] 1980 drawings), grayscale and colored pictures of the SV drawings as provided by Rossion and Pourtois (2004). Linear-mixed models (LMM) were used to analyze written latencies. The main findings were the following: (1) Colorized pictures yielded shorter written naming latencies than line drawings with the grayscale pictures being situated between the two; (2) Both within- and between-picture format LMM revealed reliable effects of name agreement, objective word frequency, frequency trajectory (the effect was marginal in the grayscale condition), and imageability on written latencies. The influence of image agreement was, however, less stable (reliable only in the colorized condition in the within-picture format LMM analysis; significant with both line drawings and their colorized version only in the between-picture format LMM analysis); (3) None of the interactions with picture format reached significance except the interaction of Image agreement with Picture format. In line with Bonin, Roux, Barry, & Canell (2012b), the findings support a limited-cascading account of written word production.

     

Dyslexia and dysgraphia: more than written language difficulties in common

A dual-task paradigm involving concurrent finger tapping and line orientation judgment was used to investigate brain processing differences in early adolescent good readers/poor spellers (dysgraphia), poor readers/poor spellers (dyslexia) and good readers/good spellers. Whereas all groups were similarly affected during the left-hand tapping condition, in the right-hand tapping condition the good spelling group displayed significantly less tapping disruption than both poor spelling groups, who did not differ significantly from each other. From these results, it can be inferred that individuals with dyslexia and dysgraphia share a left-hemisphere processing limitation that is not confined to written language. In light of other relevant research findings, I suggest that this limitation is due to the absence of a disembedding scanning mechanism for converting spatial arrays (e.g., spelling patterns) to temporal form-an impairment putatively caused by attempting to teach written language to children who are late in establishing left-hemisphere motor dominance.     

Parsing written language with non-standard grammar

Reading and Writing - Morphologically marked case is in Arabic a feature exclusive to the variety of Standard Arabic, with no parallel in the spoken varieties, and it is orthographically marked...     

Predictor variables of written picture naming in the deaf

Studies conducted in recent years on oral andwritten language production show that the ageat which words are learned is the main variablethat influences lexical access in both hearingpeople and people who have suffered brainlesions. No studies have been done with deafpeople and, since they use sign language inaddition to oral language, differencesregarding hearing people might be found intheir lexical organization. The aim of thisstudy was to test which variables determine thelexical production of deaf people. For thispurpose, 40 deaf people between the ages of 13and 58 years were asked to write individuallythe names of 100 pictures. The regressionanalyses performed on a total of 4000 responsesshow that the main predictor variable ofperformance was also age of acquisition. It isconcluded that the organization of the lexicalsystem in deaf people is similar to that of hearing people, although the phonologicalrepresentations of deaf people may be moreinaccurate.     

例谈生物学教学中学生图文转换能力的培养

图表是一种语言。在教学中,该语言的运用可以使抽象、枯燥的文字变得直观、具体,同时又能揭示事物的内在联系;在高考中,图表往往是检测学生能力的一种很重要形式。图表信息题对能力的考查通常是在分析、理解和应用水平上考查学生的认识能力和对生物学基本知识的掌握情况,一方面是考查学生对生物学常用图形的识别;另一方面是考查学生用图表的表达方式描述生物现象和生命活动规律的能力。而准确解答和运用图表,要求学生具备较强的图文转换能力。     

Gifted children with written output difficulties: Paradox or paradigm

Abstract

This study was designed to ascertain the prevalence of written output deficits in young gifted children, to delineate the relationship between written output performance and reading performance, and to identify possible mechanisms for specific written output deficits in such children. Data from a sample of children scoring >120 on at least one IQ or achievement subscale indicated: (1) that there was a significant incidence of discrepancies between written spelling scores and reading (decoding) scores, as compared to the population; (2) that performance on spelling tasks was more subject to a maturational timetable than decoding was; (3) that performance on spelling tasks is less amenable than performance on decoding tasks to compensatory enhancement by higher level processing, and involves a sequential processing module that is shared with calculation but not with decoding; and (4) that strengths in visual‐spatial tasks may interact with relative weaknesses in both decoding and calculation tasks to predict even poorer performance on written spelling tasks.     

Text structure and patterns of cohesion in narrative texts written by adults with a history of language impairment

This paper examines text structure and patterns of cohesion in stories written by a group of adults with a history of childhood language impairment. The study aimed to extend our knowledge of writing difficulties in this group by building upon a study that examined clause level phenomena (Smith-Lock, Nickels, & Mortensen, this issue). Ten adults with a history of Language Impairment and 30 control participants were asked to write the story of Cinderella. Stories were analyzed for their generic structure and cohesion resources, both of which contribute to the organization and coherence of a text. Results revealed that patterns of text organization at the level of generic structure and measures of cohesion did not distinguish the performance of writers with a history of Language Impairment from the comparison group. A wide range of lexico-grammatical skills was evident within the Language Impaired group, with few individuals with Language Impairment falling outside the normal range of performance. It is suggested that generic structure and cohesion are a relative strength in the writing of adults with Language Impairment, within the constraints of their lexical and grammatical skills.

Modeling the development of written language

Alternative models of the structure of individual and developmental differences of written composition and handwriting fluency were tested using confirmatory factor analysis of writing samples provided by first- and fourth-grade students. For both groups, a five-factor model provided the best fit to the data. Four of the factors represented aspects of written composition: macro-organization (use of top sentence and number and ordering of ideas), productivity (number and diversity of words used), complexity (mean length of T-unit and syntactic density), and spelling and punctuation. The fifth factor represented handwriting fluency. Handwriting fluency was correlated with written composition factors at both grades. The magnitude of developmental differences between first grade and fourth grade expressed as effect sizes varied for variables representing the five constructs: large effect sizes were found for productivity and handwriting fluency variables; moderate effect sizes were found for complexity and macro-organization variables; and minimal effect sizes were found for spelling and punctuation variables.     

Investigating the mechanisms of written word production: insights from the written blocked cyclic naming paradigm

Reading and Writing - In three experiments, we examined whether similar principles apply to written and spoken production. Using a blocked cyclic written picture naming paradigm, we replicated the...     

The number skills of children with specific language difficulties

This research, undertaken by Dr Gina Conti-Ramsden and her team at the University of Manchester, involved investigating three groups of children: children with specific language difficulties; 'maths poor' children; and a control group (n = 15, 12 and 15 respectively). These three groups of children were compared on a task of processing two and three digit numbers. Few differences were found between the children who had language difficulties and those who were 'maths poor'. These findings suggest that both groups of children may have some form of language difficulty that contributes to a delayed performance on some maths related tasks.     

Phonological knowledge and naming ability in children with reading disability

Children who are poor readers have difficulty naming pictured objects. Their naming difficulty could be a result of inadequate representations of the phonology of words, inadequate processing of those representations, or both. In this study, third-grade good and poor readers were tested on object naming, and, in cases of naming failure, forced-choice recognition tasks were used to probe their knowledge of the phonology of the object names. The two reading groups showed no differences in their ability to select the initial phonemes or rhymes of object names they had not produced spontaneously. Moreover, initial phoneme prompts were helpful for both reading groups. The children differed, however, in their ability to produce words after being given rhyme information. The results indicated that, except in the ability to manipulate explicitly phonological information, the poor readers; performance was qualitatively similar to that of the good readers. It is suggested that training in phonological analysis may help poor readers overcome the deficiencies in establishing and processing phonological representations that lead to their quantitative deficit in object naming.     

Eye movements of university students with and without reading difficulties during naming speed tasks

Although naming speed (NS) has been shown to predict reading into adulthood and differentiate between adult dyslexics and controls, the question remains why NS is related to reading. To address this question, eye movement methodology was combined with three letter NS tasks (the original letter NS task by Denckla & Rudel, Cortex 10:186–202, 1974, and two more developed by Compton, The Journal of Special Education 37:81–94, 2003, with increased phonological or visual similarity of the letters). Twenty undergraduate students with reading difficulties (RD) and 27 without (NRD) were tested on letter NS tasks (eye movements were recorded during the NS tasks), phonological processing, and reading fluency. The results indicated first that the RD group was slower than the NRD group on all NS tasks with no differences between the NS tasks. In addition, the NRD group had shorter fixation durations, longer saccades, and fewer saccades and fixations than the RD group. Fixation duration and fixation count were significant predictors of reading fluency even after controlling for phonological processing measures. Taken together, these findings suggest that the NS–reading relationship is due to two factors: less able readers require more time to acquire stimulus information during fixation and they make more saccades.     

The language of written language: an introduction to the special issue

This special issue includes five articles dealing with selected aspects of writing disorders, crafted by key contributors to the literature on written language. Articles addressing definitional issues and diagnostic questions, assessment strategies, selected neurodevelopmental components of written expression, the manifestation of writing problems in children and young adults, direct intervention, training for elementary teachers in the early grades in the area of literacy, and brain-behavior linkages are presented. This introduction provides an overview of these articles tied to specific issues confronting the field of written language. Some thoughts and directions for the future are articulated.     

近代书写语言的工具性改革——论近代白话语言的提出

近代白话在“言文合一”的要求下,作为宣传维新思想和开启民智的工具被提出,白话报刊积极地实践了这个主张,培养了一批有实际白话写作经验的人才。近代白话的提出也给后人留下了一系列的经验教训。     

中职语文课堂教学困境归因探究

文章结合教学实际分析了中职语文课堂教学困境产生的原因。     

Meeting the needs of children with specific speech and language difficulties

Clinical and diagnostic approaches to special educational needs do not translate easily into educational models. In some cases, these approaches can serve to limit understanding of children's wider needs. Children with specific speech and language difficulties (SSLD) are a case in point. Clear criteria exist for identification, but identification mechanisms may not relate to the child's wider educational needs. This paper addresses the ways that children with SSLD present in mainstream educational settings. The study aimed to identify all Year 3 children with SSLD in two English local education authorities. One hundred and thirty-three children (95 boys and 37 girls were identified). Sixty-five per cent of the children were in mainstream schools, 14.3 per cent in mainstream schools with designated units and the remainder in special schools. Half were at stage 5 of the Code of Practice, with most of the remaining participants at stage 3. Children experienced a wide range of difficulties, in addition to their primary speech and language problems. Patterns of difficulties varied across children, and associations existed between particular forms of language problems and learning and relationship problems. Professionals (teachers, educational psychologists and speech and language therapists) varied in their understanding of the children's needs. The data highlight the range and diversity of the needs of children with specific speech and language difficulties and the need for a multi-professional approach to these children. It is argued that ‘best practice’ for these children must consider the impact of speech and language problems on children's access to the curriculum and their social and behavioural needs. Narrow diagnostic models do not provide the appropriate information to inform educational practice and support inclusive policies.     

Working memory performance of Italian students with foreign language learning difficulties

It has been suggested that the ability to learn a foreign language is related to working memory. However, there is no clear evidence about which component of working memory may be involved.Two experiments investigated working memory problems in groups of seventh and eighth grade Italian children with difficulties in learning English as a second language. They were compared with control groups of children matched for age, education, school, and intelligence who differed for foreign language learning ability.Experiment 1 focused on clarifying how modality-specific the memory problem of children with a foreign language learning difficulty (FLLD) is. Verbal working memory tasks (forward and backward digit span) were proposed together with visuospatial working memory (VSWM) tasks. Groups showed a significant difference only in the more passive verbal working memory task, that is, the forward digit span.Experiment 2 focused on clarifying how central the verbal working memory problem of students with an FLLD is. A nonword repetition task and an Italian version of the listening span test were proposed. Groups differed significantly in both tasks. However, differences in the listening span test disappeared when nonword repetition performance was partialed out. It was concluded that a difficulty in learning a foreign language is mainly related to the more passive aspects of verbal working memory, typically associated with the articulatory loop.