The Role of Children's Phonological and Semantic Knowledge in Learning to Read Words

The effect of phonology and semantics on word learning in 5- and 6-year-old children was explored. In Experiment 1, children learned to read words varying in spelling-sound consistency and imageability. Consistency affected performance on early trials, whereas imageability affected performance on later trials. Individual differences among children in phonemic awareness on the trained words were related to learning, and knowledge of a word's meaning predicted how well it was learned. In Experiment 2, phonological and semantic knowledge of nonwords was manipulated prior to word learning. Familiarization with a word's pronunciation facilitated word learning, but there was no additional benefit from being taught to associate a meaning with a nonword.

     

Learning to Read Words in Albanian: A Skill Easily Acquired

According to many views of literacy development, prereaders use a logographic approach when they attempt to link print and speech. If so, these children should find pairs in which the spelling–pronunciation links are consistent with their writing system no easier to learn than arbitrary pairs. We tested this idea by comparing the ability of U.S. prereaders (M age = 4 years 9 months) to learn phonetically motivated pairs like AP–ape and MA–may and arbitrary pairs like OM–ape and PO–may. In both spelling and reading tasks, children learned the pairs with vowel letter name cues more easily than the arbitrary pairs. Phonetically motivated pairs were especially advantaged when the vowel letter names were at the beginning (e.g., AP–ape) rather than the end (MA–may). Prereaders who have some knowledge about letters, as U.S. preschoolers typically do, are not limited to a logographic approach in learning about print.     

掩蔽启动范式下汉字字音和字义激活的时间进程——来自ERP证据

采用掩蔽启动范式,通过记录14名被试在字义判断任务中行为反应和事件相关电位（ERPs）,探究汉字的字音和字义激活的时间进程。结果发现：（1）高频字在反应时比低频字要快;（2）高频字音相关字和字义相关字所诱发的P200波幅比无关控制字大;（3）无论高频字还是低频字,字音相关字和字义相关字所诱发的N400波幅都比无关控制字小。结果表明：在汉字识别中,字频会影响汉字的字音和字义的激活,即高频字音信息不迟于字义信息的激活,低频字音信息和字义信息是同时被激活;相比而言,高频字音信息要早于低频字激活。     

规则性、语音意识、语义对汉语阅读障碍者阅读的影响

本研究依据阅读障碍儿童在不同规则性材料中的口头阅读数据,探讨规则性对汉语表层发展性阅读障碍者阅读的影响,并探讨语音意识和语义损伤程度与阅读之间的关系.研究发现,和控制组相比,阅读障碍组的阅读中规则性效应比控制组强.对阅读障碍组规则字和不规则字命名错误类型的分析发现,阅读障碍儿童更依赖形音对应关系来进行汉字的阅读.同时,语音意识、语义与阅读正确率之间的高相关说明语音意识和语义共同促进阅读的发展.     

Learning to Read and Learning to Teach Reading

The National Curriculum for Initial Teacher Education in English is specific and detailed about the knowledge expected of primary teachers. Shulman (1987) argued that teachers transform this sort of subject content knowledge into something accessible and meaningful to their pupils and this knowledge is described as ‘pedagogic content knowledge’. Medwell et al. (1998) found that effective literacy teachers only knew literacy in the way that they taught it. The research project underpinning this article aimed to explore student teachers' conceptions of the teaching of reading in order to find out what they thought they were teaching when they taught reading. It was thought that the personal reading histories of the students would impact on their developing conceptions of teaching reading. This article traces one student, Gordon, through the year of his PGCE course. In the form of dialogue between Gordon and the researcher developing understanding is articulated. Three different types of reading are described: decoding, making meaning and engaging. Reading is seen as a transformative process, where the reader is both within and outside the text. This has implications both for the conception of reading contained within the curriculum and the way it is implemented within the classroom. A teacher can only introduce children to experiences and ways of reading that are known to herself. It is argued, therefore, that student teachers need to extend the boundaries of their own reading and so appreciate the wide range of ways in which meaning is constructed and readers are created.     

汉语颜色词的语义特征分析

颜色词在汉语中是一类丰富多彩且自身具有多种语义特征的词群,它的语义特征主要体现在多义性、修辞性和文化性上,并且这三种语义特征关系相辅相成、密不可分。颜色词多义性的产生是由于其修辞性和文化性共同作用的结果,而多义性又为丰富修辞性和文化性奠定了基础。运用语义特征理论来分析汉语颜色词可以进一步理解颜色词的丰富多样性和它在日常生活中的功能作用。     

Genres and Learning to Read

The issue of text genre has begun to loom larger in thinking about literacy development, especially with the foregrounding of range in the latest National Curriculum orders for English. Lynne Kirk and Henry Pearson describe their investigation into the effects of text genre upon children's reading and conclude that, although story is the most immediately attractive genre, no one genre has all the qualities for helping children to learn to read.     

语音和字形信息对汉语语义加工的影响

通过对汉语句尾歧义字的行为实验研究,探讨汉字字形、语音、语义之间的关系。选择与中心末尾字(如"雨")同音("语")、形似("两")以及无关控制("哥")的干扰末尾字,让被试判断句子是否语义正确。行为数据表明,形似组和同音组有显著的不同:形似组的反应时长于同音组,正确率也低于同音组。行为实验的结果说明,在汉语句尾歧义字的实验模式中,人们对于形的加工要比同音字困难,在对末尾字不匹配句的语义判断中字形的干扰作用大于语音的干扰作用,而这与对英语的研究结果是相反的。     

Learning to Match Auditory and Visual Speech Cues: Social Influences on Acquisition of Phonological Categories

Infants' language exposure largely involves face‐to‐face interactions providing acoustic and visual speech cues but also social cues that might foster language learning. Yet, both audiovisual speech information and social information have so far received little attention in research on infants' early language development. Using a preferential looking paradigm, 44 German 6‐month olds' ability to detect mismatches between concurrently presented auditory and visual native vowels was tested. Outcomes were related to mothers' speech style and interactive behavior assessed during free play with their infant, and to infant‐specific factors assessed through a questionnaire. Results show that mothers' and infants' social behavior modulated infants' preference for matching audiovisual speech. Moreover, infants' audiovisual speech perception correlated with later vocabulary size, suggesting a lasting effect on language development.     

Cross-Language Transfer of Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge: Causal Evidence and Nature of Transfer

Using a randomized control trial, this study examined the causal evidence of cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge (names and sounds) using data from multilingual 1st-grade children (N = 322) in Kenya. Children in the treatment condition received an 8-week instruction on phonological awareness and letter knowledge in Kiswahili. The comparison group received business-as-usual classroom instruction. Children in the treatment condition showed greater improvement in phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge in Kiswahili and English (positive transfer; effect sizes from .37 to .95), whereas a negative effect was found in letter-name knowledge (interference; effect size, g = .27). No effects were found in reading, nor did the results vary by moderators (e.g., Kiswahili vocabulary). Path analyses revealed divergent patterns of results for different outcomes. Results provide causal evidence for cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge and offer important theoretical and practical implications.     

Age of Bilingual Exposure Is Related to the Contribution of Phonological and Semantic Knowledge to Successful Reading Development

Bilingual children's reading as a function of age of first bilingual language exposure (AoE) was examined. Bilingual (varied AoE) and monolingual children (N = 421) were compared in their English language and reading abilities (6–10 years) using phonological awareness, semantic knowledge, and reading tasks. Structural equation modeling was applied to determine how bilingual AoE predicts reading outcomes. Early exposed bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on phonological awareness and word reading. Phonology and semantic (vocabulary) knowledge differentially predicted reading depending on the bilingual experience and AoE. Understanding how bilingual experiences impact phonological awareness and semantic knowledge, and in turn, impact reading outcomes is relevant for our understanding of what language and reading skills are best to focus on, and when, to promote optimal reading success.     

Learning to Read in the Digital Age

ABSTRACT—The digital age offers transformative opportunities for individualization of learning. First, modern imaging technologies have changed our understanding of learning and the sources and ranges of its diversity. Second, digital technologies make it possible to design learning environments that are responsive to individual differences. We draw on CAST's research and development on universal design for learning to suggest the potential of digital reading environments that are designed to support learning and engagement by addressing the diversity in learners' representation, strategic and affective networks. Optimal customization depends on continued advances in the digital tools of the neurosciences and the design and enactment of digital learning environments.     

中英动物词汇的文化语义比较

语言是文化的载体,词汇是语言中非常活跃的部分,而词汇的文化内涵意义对语言的理解起着非常重要的作用。本文将就三方面对中英两种语言中动物词汇的文化内涵进行分析比较,希望对英语学习研究和跨文化交际有所帮助。     

近代汉语三音词的语义构成

三音词的意义分析，是以传统的意义分析法为主，其他语义派的理论为辅，同时结合信息学说的质与量的理论，将三音词的意义构成分为：组合构成、化合构成、融合构成、附合构成、重合构成、并合构成。     

即时序列回忆中汉字的字频、形似和音同效应

以母语为汉语的在校大学生作为被试,实验一采取2(字频:高频和低频)*2(读音:音同和音异)*2(字形:形似和形异)三因素混合设计,实验二在发音抑制条件下,采用2(读音:音同和音异)*2(字形:形似和形异)二因素被试内设计,探讨汉字即时系列回忆及其字频、形似和音同效应.实验一发现,字频的高低,字音和字形的相似性对即时回忆成绩有显著影响,但三个因素之间交互作用不明显.在发音抑制条件下(实验二),汉字系列回忆中字形相似性有显著的主效应,而语音相似性的主效应不显著,音形二者之间的交互作用明显.说明在汉字即时序列回忆过程中存在着相互独立的视觉编码和听觉编码过程.     

汉语颜色词词义演变模式与认知阐释

通过对32个常用单音颜色词词义演变模式的梳理,我们发现在隐喻和转喻思维的作用下,32个常用单音颜色词从色彩义出发,引申出分属八大范畴的200个义项,各范畴的意义与色彩意义之间有或远或近的语义关联,在此基础上以家族相似性为特征构成了颜色词的词义系统.“色彩认知模式”是人类认知世界的一个重要模式.