Meaning As a Factor in Predicting Spelling Difficulty

Abstract

This study was designed to assess whether knowing the meaning of a word facilitates one’s ability to spell it. A total of 180 fourth, sixth, and eighth graders took four spelling tests and four multiple-choice vocabulary tests on a list of 100 words. Results of analysis showed that when the effects of word frequency, word length, and phoneme-grapheme regularity were partialed out, there was still a significant relationship between ability to spell words and understanding of their meanings. Implications for the teaching of spelling and vocabulary are discussed.     

A Simple Technique for Determining Whether Children Know the Meaning of Spelling Words

ABSTRACT

Empirical research has provided evidence supporting the validation and prediction of 4 major sources of self-efficacy: enactive performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional states. Other research studies have also attested to the importance and potency of self-efficacy in academic learning and achievement. Despite this emphasis, very few, if any, research has explored the impact of the 4 sources of information on self-efficacy from a developmental perspective. The author used latent growth modeling to explore the impact of the 4 sources of information on self-efficacy over 4 occasions. This methodological approach, similar to recent studies (Caprara et al., 2008 Caprara, G. V., Fida, R., Vecchione, M., Del Bove, G., Vecchio, G. M., Barbaranelli, C. and Bandura, A. 2008. Longitudinal analysis of the role of perceived self-efficacy for self-regulated learning in academic continuance and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100: 525–534. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), is significant, as it allowed the author to trace the developmental trajectories of elementary school children's self-efficacy beliefs in English and mathematics over time. Three hundred and thirty-nine 3rd- and 4th-grade students (147 girls, 192 boys) took part in this study. Two Likert-type inventories were administered and the data collected were analyzed with the statistical software SPSS AMOS 18. Causal modeling analyses indicated that children's self-efficacy for English and mathematics learning increased over time. Furthermore, of the 4 informational sources, enactive performance accomplishments associated closely with the growth of change of English and mathematics self-efficacy beliefs. Children's emotional states also associated negatively with the growth of change of mathematics self-efficacy. Enactive performance accomplishments and verbal persuasion associated positively with the initial levels of English and mathematics self-efficacy. Finally, the results provide methodological support for the psychometric properties of the inventories used.     

衔接与评价分析在英语阅读教学中的运用

在大学英语阅读教学中,语篇结构知识有助于宏观理解,对那些使语篇得以保持衔接连贯的因素的分析有利于理解语篇的建构过程。其中,对衔接手段的分析有助于在语篇表面快速把握文章的发展脉络,对评价资源的分析有助于准确解读文章如何实现语义层的连贯。根据语篇结构的不同,两种分析方法相互渗透,交替使用,可增强学生的语篇理解能力。     

浅谈英语阅读中词义猜测的方法

本着重分析了词汇因素对英语阅读理解的影响，并提出了在阅读过程中猜测词义的几种方法。     

英语阅读中的猜词法浅谈

生词在阅读文章中作为一道难以逾越的障碍,对学生理解文章造成了很大的困难,也使学生在阅读考试中很难得高分。本文主要剖析了学生在阅读中理解生词时存在的问题,并就如何提高英语阅读中对生词的理解能力提出了一些方法和技巧。     

A Comparison of Column-Dictation and Sentence Dictation Spelling with Respect to Acquisition of Meaning of Words

Abstract

In a replication of a multivariate investigation based on Atkinson’s model of the dynamics of cumulative achievement, the amount of variance explained in achievement as defined by the final grade in a course was encouraging, but the lack of evidence of effect of some of the personality variables in the model indicated that some of them may have to be operationalized differently. On the other hand, the importance of some of the environmental variables was highlighted by the results. Not surprisingly, previous performance was the best single predictor of performance.     

英语阅读中如何推测生词含义

在大学英语学习过程中,尤其是在英语阅读中,学生会遇到很多的生词.而在大部分情况下,如考试中,学生只能去推测这些生词的意思.在对这一情况进行了一定研究和总结以后,文章得出了"抓典型","看前后","做对比"以及"拆组合"四种可以用来有效推测生词意思的方法.恰当的使用以上四种方法,可以有效减少英语阅读中生词对阅读效果的负面影响.     

Phonological Spelling and Reading Deficits in Children With Spelling Disabilities

Spelling errors in the Wide Range Achievement Test were analyzed for 77 pairs of children, each of which included one older child with spelling disability (SD) and one spelling-level-matched younger child with normal spelling ability from the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center database. Spelling error analysis consisted of a percent graphotactic-accuracy (GA) score based on syllable position and existence in English, and a phonological accuracy score (PA). The SD group scored significantly worse in the PA measure and nonsignificantly better than controls on the GA measure. The Group × Measure interaction was significant. Spelling matched pairs had very similar scores for word recognition and orthographic coding, but the SD group exhibited significant deficits in reading measures of phonological decoding and in language measures of phonological awareness.     

Children's Thoughts About Reading and Spelling

Most current psychological research on children's reading concentrates either on the various abilities that children need to read or write or on the relative success of different kinds of instruction. Very little attention is being paid to the ways in which children learn orthographic rules. I argue that children typically go through 3 steps in learning a new rule. First they apply a rule that is already in their repertoire but is inadequate. Next, when they realize that this rule is inadequate, they try to extend and adjust it to cover these inadequacies. This adjustment leads them into new experiences that allow them to take the third and final step, which is to form a new and more adequate rule. These steps are similar to the theoretical sequence proposed by Piaget for children's construction of logical rules.     

大学英语阅读中利用语境推断生词词义

阅读在大学英语教学与学习中一直被教师和学生视为一项极其重要的内容。影响阅读理解有多方面的因素,其中一项重要因素是词汇。词汇量的多少直接影响着阅读理解水平的高低,因而,在阅读过程中如何准确理解和有效判断生词词义便至关重要,而利用语境线索推断生词词义是帮助学生在阅读过程中应对词汇问题的一个有效的、切实可行的策略。     

语义对立词和同义对应词初探

词汇一向是许多中国学生学习英语的一大障碍。从语义对立和同义对应的角度来分析英语词汇的某些特殊现象，能使英语学生加深对词汇的了解，并领略到词汇学习的一点乐趣。     

词内理据意义和词外价值意义的地位比较

词是语言的基本单位。词内部的理据意义只是构成词的原始理据,只是起引子作用的意义。词的外部的词义和词义组合出来的短语意义,才是具有交际价值作用的价值意义。在交际中价值意义是关键,理据意义几乎可以忽略。理据意义如果偏离了价值意义,还可能误导价值意义。     

Double Dissociation Between Reading and Spelling Deficits

In two studies dissociations between reading and spelling skills were examined. Study 1 reports equally high prevalence rates for isolated deficits in reading (7%) or spelling (6%) in a representative sample (N = 2,029) of German-speaking elementary school children. In Study 2, children with isolated deficits were presented with the same words to read and spell. The double dissociation was replicated. Good readers/poor spellers named pseudohomophones as quickly as their corresponding words, and their phonological awareness skills were adequate, suggesting that their reading might be based on highly efficient decoding procedures. Poor readers/good spellers showed slow word naming and a clear slowing when reading pseudohomophones suggesting a reliance on intact orthographic representations in word reading. A deficit in rapid automatized naming in this group suggests problems in fast visual–verbal access. The profile of poor readers/poor spellers fits the double-deficit group in Wolf and Bowers's (1999) Wolf, M. and Bowers, P. G. 1999. The double-deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91: 415–438. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] dyslexia theory.     

符号学与词义

词义是一个很复杂的问题,符号学的诞生为词义问题的研究带来了新的思路,提供了观察词义的新角度.符号学一位很重要的学者Ch. Morris把符号学分成三个部分,符号意义学、符号关系学、符号实用学,这样,词作为一种语言符号,我们就用符号为理论来解释一个词的词义,把一个词放到不同的关系中去观察,在这些关系中词就表现出不同的意义.     

从"言不尽意"、"得意忘言"看《庄子》之文章写作、阅读论

从文章学的角度,运用现代文章学原理,对《庄子》一书中"言""意""道"论中的"言不尽意"、"得意忘言"说进行剖析、解读,发现"言不尽意"完全吻合现代文章学中关于"察物→创意→缀文"的文章写作规律;"得意忘言"则完全吻合现代文章学中关于"披文→得意→及物"的文章阅读规律。二者相互融合,贯通了"物→意→文→意→物"螺旋循环的文章写作和阅读的运动全流程。     

日语外来语书写错误分析

本研究以某本科院校日语专业一年级学生为研究对象,通过词汇测试和访谈来考察中国日语初级学习者的外来语书写错误特点及其原因。研究结果表明：促音、拗音与类拗音及长音方面的错误频率最高。书写错误的原因与不了解外来语原语及音译规律有密切关系。因此想要提高外来语学习效率,教师有必要指导学生掌握外来语原语知识和外来语的音译规律,同时加强练习,增进学生对外来语的整体认识。