图形和语音编码难度对听写困难儿童形音联结记忆的影响

听写困难是指儿童阅读正常而听写落后的现象,是一种常见的儿童学习障碍类型.本研究考察了听写困难儿童在不同条件下的形音联结记忆水平,结果发现:在图形和语音编码难度双低的条件下,听写困难儿童的形音联结记忆成绩与普通儿童没有差异;在图形编码难度高-语音编码难度低的条件下,听写困难儿童的形音联结记忆成绩落后于普通儿童;在图形编码难度低-语音编码难度高的条件下,听写困难儿童的形音联结记忆成绩与普通儿童没有差异.     

听写困难儿童对形声字的整字语义加工特点

汉语听写困难是一种常见的儿童学习障碍类型.由于汉字的主要类型是形声字,掌握形声字的形旁规则并加工整字的语义表征,会影响到字形输出成绩.实验通过语义启动范式,设计形旁透明材料和形旁不透明材料,考察听写困难儿童在两种材料中的整字语义表征水平差异.结果表明,在自然加工条件下,听写困难儿童无法快速形成整字语义表征.     

声旁规则性对留学生形声字输出能力的影响

针对各个水平的非汉字背景留学生,文章设计了一种听写任务的纸笔测试,实验材料为规则形声字与不规则形声字各10个,通过对听写正确率和偏误情况的分析,考察了形声字的规则性对留学生字形输出能力的影响。结果发现：与本族儿童不同,形声字的规则性对留学生字形输出的正确率没有表现出显著的影响,但是却影响了同声旁偏误的比例;声旁输出情况比较好,形旁则不太好。与声旁相比,形旁属于比较细微的差别,因此在字形输出的心理加工过程中,很容易处在被忽视的地位。     

儿童听写困难研究综述

听写困难是儿童学习障碍的一种,是指在没有阅读障碍病史的情况下儿童特定拼写技能明显落后的现象。已有研究发现,听写困难儿童在字形表征、形音联结强度、语音表征、语义表征与听写正常儿童存在着显著差异,未来研究应注重对听写困难纵向发展的研究、制定听写技能的发展常模、探明听写过程中各环节的转换机制和神经生理基础及影响听写活动的相关因素。     

汉字听写困难儿童视觉加工实验研究

采用视觉辨别、视觉记忆和视觉整体加工实验来探讨听写困难儿童是否存在视觉加工缺陷,分析听写困难儿童和正常儿童视觉加工水平的差异。结果显示,同正常儿童相比,听写困难儿童的视觉辨别能力水平低,而视觉记忆、视觉整合能力没有显著性差异。     

汉字听写困难儿童字形整体表征的实验研究

本研究采用汉字翻转实验探讨汉字听写困难儿童是否存在汉字翻转效应,探讨两类儿童汉字整体字形表征的质量.研究结果:对于真字,汉字听写困难儿童存在翻转效应,但是小于一般儿童的翻转效应.汉字听写困难儿童的汉字整体表征质量要比一般儿童低.对于假字,一般儿童、汉字听写困难儿童都存在翻转效应,但一般儿童的翻转效应大于汉字听写困难儿童.汉字听写困难儿童存在汉字字形的整体表征,但字形的整体表征水平不高,但不至于影响汉字认读.     

形声字的形旁和声旁

形声字是在象形字、指事字、会意字的基础上形成的,是由两个文或字复合成体,由表示意义范畴的意符(形旁)和表示声音类别的声符(声旁)组合而成.形声字是最能产的造字形式.意符一般由象形字或指事字充当,声符可以由象形字、指事字、会意字充当.     

形声字的字音和声旁

汉字有四种造字法:象形、指事、会意和形声。“现行汉字在构造上巩固并发展了以形声字为主的格局,是形声字占绝对优势的文字体系。在现行汉字里,象形、指事、会意字总计不过百分之十几,而形声字占80%左右,居主要地位。”(邢福义主编《现代汉语》,高等教育出版社)     

复合式听写对大学英语听写教学的启示

大学英语四级听力考试的“复合式听写”强调的是学生语言综合运用的能力,学生不仅要具有良好的听力能力,还应具有较强的拼写能力、记笔记能力和书面表达能力。相关学科研究及教学经验表明,学生对基本的听写技能的掌握程度影响着听写的效果。要切实提高学生的听写能力,在课堂上有针对性地提高其对听写技能的运用能力非常必要。     

复合式听写对大学英语听写教学的启示

大学英语四级听力考试的“复合式听写”强调的是学生语言综合运用的能力,学生不仅要具有良好的听力能力,还应具有较强的拼写能力、记笔记能力和书面表达能力。相关学科研究及教学经验表明,学生对基本的听写技能的掌握程度影响着听写的效果。要切实提高学生的听写能力,在课堂上有针对性地提高其对听写技能的运用能力非常必要。     

Sound links in reading and spelling with discrepancy-defined dyslexics and children with moderate learning difficulties

This study reports the effects of a highly structuredindividually administered remedial teaching programmefor children with reading difficulties. Thephonological awareness, reading accuracy and spellingattainments of 28 children diagnosed as having low IQ(Mean IQ = 66, SD = 5.3) were compared with those of29 children diagnosed as having discrepancy defineddyslexia (Mean IQ = 95, SD = 8.4). The responsivenessto intervention of each group was also compared withteacher-referred reading-delayed children matched forinitial literacy skills. For reading accuracy andphonological awareness the dyslexic group respondedmore successfully than the low IQ group. The twogroups did not differ significantly on spelling. It isargued that the reading accuracy and phonologicalawareness results are in keeping with thephonological-core variable-difference (Stanovich &Siegel 1994) model of reading disability and that thegains of all groups on all measures were such thatthere is no obvious benefit in using IQ to selectchildren for a programme of individual teaching whichcombines reading with phonological awarenesstraining.     

The precursors of double dissociation between reading and spelling in a transparent orthography

Research and clinical practitioners have mixed views whether reading and spelling difficulties should be combined or seen as separate. This study examined the following: (a) if double dissociation between reading and spelling can be identified in a transparent orthography (Finnish) and (b) the cognitive and noncognitive precursors of this phenomenon. Finnish-speaking children (n?=?1963) were assessed on reading fluency and spelling in grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. Dissociation groups in reading and spelling were formed based on stable difficulties in grades 1–4. The groups were compared in kindergarten phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, letter knowledge, home literacy environment, and task-avoidant behavior. The results indicated that the double dissociation groups could be identified even in the context of a highly transparent orthography: 41 children were unexpected poor spellers (SD), 36 were unexpected poor readers (RD), and 59 were poor in both reading and spelling (RSD). The RSD group performed poorest on all cognitive skills and showed the most task-avoidant behavior, the RD group performed poorly particularly on rapid automatized naming and letter knowledge, and the SD group had difficulties on phonological awareness and letter knowledge. Fathers’ shared book reading was less frequent in the RD and RSD groups than in the other groups. The findings suggest that there are discernible double dissociation groups with distinct cognitive profiles. This further suggests that the identification of difficulties in Finnish and the planning of teaching and remediation practices should include both reading and spelling assessments.     

Speaking to read: The effects of speech recognition technology on the reading and spelling performance of children with learning disabilities

In recent literature on persons with learning disabilities (LD), speech recognition has been discussed primarily as an assistive technology to help compensate for writing difficulties. However, prior research by the authors has suggested that in addition to helping persons to compensate for poor writing skills, speech recognition also may enhance reading and spelling; that is, what was designed as assistive technology appears to serve remedial functions as well. The present study was conducted to determine whether elementary and secondary students with LD who used the technology to write self-selected compositions and class assignments would demonstrate improvements in reading and spelling. Thirty-nine students with LD (ages 9 to 18) participated. Nineteen participants used speech recognition 50 minutes a week for sixteen weeks, and twenty students in a control group received general computer instruction. Results indicated that the speech recognition group showed significantly more improvement than the control group in word recognition (p<.0001), spelling (p<.002) and reading comprehension (p<.01). Pre- and posttests on five reading-related cognitive processing measures (phonological, orthographic, semantic processing, metacognitive reading strategies, and working memory) indicated that for the experimental group, only phonological processing improved significantly over the treatment period when compared to controls (p<.04). Further ANCOVA suggested that growth in phonological processing was associated with significant differences among conditions for all three academic measures: word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension. Address correspondence to 971 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena, CA 91107. E-mail center@frostig.org.     

Efficacy of Fast ForWord training on facilitating acquisition of reading skills by children with reading difficulties—A longitudinal study

We explored the effects of Fast ForWord (FFW) training on reading and spoken language skills in children with difficulties in phonemic awareness and word identification. Gains were examined both immediately after treatment and over a period of two years. In the short term, children who received FFW training were compared to children who received Orton Gillingham (OG) training. The FFW group was also compared to a matched longitudinal control group (LC); all participants in the FFW and LC groups received similar multisensory structured language instruction over two academic years. The FFW and OG groups made similar gains in phonemic awareness. However, the children who received FFW training did not show significant gains in word identification or word attack whereas the children who received OG training made significant gains in word attack. Immediately after treatment, the FFW group showed significant gains in speaking and syntax, but these gains were not maintained over two years. The FFW group did not differ significantly from the LC group in any areas over the two years. Children in both groups made significant progress in phonemic awareness and reading.     

A pre-school training programme for children with poor phonological awareness: effects on reading and spelling

An earlier paper published in this journal described the pilot study and first two phases of a longitudinal study that examined the possibility of preventing the emergence of written language difficulties, by addressing the ability of pre-schoolers to make phonological judgements (Layton, Deeny, Upton and Tall, 1996). The literacy development of the children involved in the study was assessed when they had been in mainstream education for approximately two years. It was discovered that there were no significant differences, in terms of written language achievement, between the children who had received phonological training while in nursery school and their peers in a control group whose training programme had not featured phonological awareness activities. These findings challenge the view that training pre-schoolers to attend to the sound structure of words promotes later literacy development. The results are considered in the context of other research findings, and then the study is discussed in both quantitative and qualitative terms, with some comment on the feasibility of identifying pre-schoolers at risk for literacy failure on the basis of poor phonological awareness.     

The mathematics skills of children with reading difficulties

Although many children with reading difficulty (RD) are reported to struggle with mathematics, little research has empirically investigated whether this is the case for different types of RD. This study examined the mathematics skills of third graders with one of two types of RD: dyslexia (n = 18) or specific reading comprehension difficulty (n = 22), as contrasted to a comparison group (n = 247). Children's performance on arithmetic fact fluency, operations, and applied problems was assessed using standardized measures. The results indicated that children with dyslexia experienced particular difficulty with arithmetic fact fluency and operations: they were 5.60 times and 8.54 times more likely than other children to experience deficits in fact fluency and operations, respectively. Our findings related to arithmetic fact fluency were more consistent with domain-general explanations of the co-morbidity between RD and mathematics difficulty, whereas our findings related to operations were more consistent with domain-specific accounts.     

Computer-based reading and spelling practice for children with learning disabilities.

To examine the effects of computer-based reading and spelling practice on the development of reading and spelling skills, a pretest-training-posttest experiment was conducted in The Netherlands. Eleven girls and 17 boys with written language disorders (on the average, 9 years, 7 months old and performing 2 grades below age expectancy) practiced hard-to-read words under three conditions: reading from the computer screen, copying from the screen, and writing from memory after presentation on the screen. For all words, whole-word sound was available on call during practice. To assess learning effects, both a dictation and a read-aloud task were administered in which nonpracticed control words were also presented. During training, the computer kept record of several aspects of the pupils' learning behavior. It was found that copying words from the screen resulted in significantly fewer spelling errors on the posttest than writing words from memory, and that both forms of spelling practice led to fewer spelling errors than only reading words during practice. All three forms of practice improved to the same degree both the accuracy and fluency of reading the practiced words aloud. The way in which spelling and reading practice, in combination with speech feedback, support the development of phonological skills in children with written language disorders is highlighted in the discussion.     

A possible contribution of word-retrieval difficulties to reading and spelling impairments

Good and poor readers at the junior high school level and good and poor spellers at the university level were compared on their ability to produce words in response to a semantic cue (a category name), a visual cue (three letters), and an auditory cue (a syllable rime). Kindergarten children were tested on a word-identification task and their retrieval of words in response to the semantic and auditory cues. At all ages, poor readers or spellers produced fewer words on all word-retrieval tasks than did good readers or spellers. Performance on the auditory and visual word-retrieval tasks correlated very highly with pseudoword reading and spelling ability in the two older groups; in the kindergarten children, auditory retrieval correlated with word identification. The results suggest that poor readers have not organized words in long-term memory according to rhyming families but that good readers have. We speculate that failure to retrieve rhyming words during acquisition of reading and spelling skills underlies the failure of poor readers and spellers to abstract the higher-order relationships between orthography and phonology.     

Ocular dominance,reading and spelling: a reassessment of a measure associated with specific reading difficulties

The association of reading disability with perceptuomotor problems has had a chequered history. This study examines the relationship between a new test of ocular dominance and reading and spelling ability in a group of 323 schoolchildren. Similar rates for unfixed ocular dominance were found for poor readers as in comparable studies. The rates of unstable ocular dominance did not differ between those with reading and spelling difficulties and controls. These findings in a ‘blind’ study question the role of this test of eye dominance as a diagnosis of ‘dyslexia’.     

A comprehension intervention for children with reading comprehension difficulties

Abstract

Many students in Australian schools today experience difficulty understanding read text beyond Year 3 despite early intervention and rich learning experiences. Often the first indications that such students may have reading comprehension difficulties is from poor performance on comprehension tests in fourth grade. After Year 3 the written text becomes more complex and there is an increasing emphasis on reading comprehension. Less skilled comprehenders experience difficulties because they often use inefficient memory strategies and do not normally visualise story content. Readers with comprehension difficulties can be taught to construct mental imagery that will enable them to link verbal and imaginal information more efficiently into their working memory by reducing the cognitive load. The indications are that engaging readers in elaborative questioning and discussion of the text improves reader's own language and mental imagery as well as enhancing comprehension of read text. For readers who have struggled for years and have developed a resistance to reading, a literacy tutoring intervention framework that focuses on a personalised responsive relationship‐based approach to reading, combined with interesting text and student choice of appropriate material, can facilitate improved reading. The Comprehension of the Narrative intervention program is an example of a multiple strategy training intervention program that utilises explicit strategy instruction in a framework of measured stages while also increasing the level and complexity of the reading texts used. It has been shown that participating students are enabled to build on previously mastered skills and develop more effective higher order comprehension outcomes through focused dialogue with trained tutors.