Cognitive style of gifted and average readers

Thirty gifted and 30 average readers were selected from a population of 300 eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade students in small towns or rural areas in Kansas. Students were classified as field independent or field dependent. It was found that gifted and average readers used the same reading strategies but there were significant differences in how frequently some strategies were used. There were also significant differences in how frequently some strategies were used by field independent and field dependent readers. Gifted readers scored significantly higher than average readers on the Hidden Figures Test. No significant differences in the frequency of reading strategy use were found between field independent gifted readers and field dependent gifted readers or between field independent and field dependent average readers.     

The relationship between reading level and retention in average and supra readers

Research which indicates a relationship between reading level and memory has generally focused on the performance of average and delayed readers, leaving open the question of performance by above average (supra) readers. The present study considered the performance of average and supra readers on a partial report task with a variable interstimulus interval. The results demonstrated that the two groups do not differ when the interval is less than 200 ms, but the supra readers perform better when the interval extends beyond that point. The results are interpreted as supporting the concept of a continuous relationship between memory and reading level.     

Comparisons of learning ease and transfer propensity in poor and average readers

Assisted and unassisted performance of 14 average readers (7 boys and 7 girls between 9.67 and 13 years of age) and 14 children with learning disabilities (10 boys and 4 girls between 10.8 and 13 years of age) were compared on a reading comprehension task--stating the main idea in expository paragraphs in which the topic sentence was either first, last, or missing. Children were trained to find the main idea in one- and two-paragraph texts and took pre- and posttests in which they were asked to write the main ideas contained in one-, and six- to eight-paragraph texts. The main ideas contained in these texts either were explicitly stated (topic sentence first or last) or were implicit (topic sentence missing). Children's performance improved from pre- to posttest, although the effect of topic sentence placement was evident at both test times (performance on topic-sentence-first paragraphs was better than on topic-sentence-last paragraphs, which was, in turn, better than performance on topic-sentence-missing paragraphs). Although average achieving children and children with learning disabilities did not differ on static pre- and posttest measures, they did differ in how easily they learned to find the main idea under different topic sentence placement conditions. Children with learning disabilities required significantly more instruction than average readers to reach mastery criterion on nonideal text structures. Implications of the findings are discussed from both assessment and pedagogical perspectives.     

Sentential and discourse context effects: adults who are learning to read compared with skilled readers

In a series of three experiments, we examined how sentential and discourse contexts were used by adults who are learning to read compared with skilled adult readers. In Experiment 1 , participants read sentence contexts that were either congruent, incongruent or neutral with respect to a target word they had to name. Both skilled and less skilled adults benefited from a congruent context, and were not disadvantaged by an incongruent context. Contrary to research conducted on children learning to read, skill level of the adult reader did not interact with context. Experiments 2 and 3 tested readers' ability to make predictive inferences. Again, all readers, regardless of skill level, provided evidence that they were making predictive inferences. This finding is inconsistent with research that has examined individual differences in college readers.     

Combined strategy and attributional training for seventh grade average and poor readers

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of combined strategy and attributional training through small-group intervention in a specific reading task context. The training aims to provide instruction in the use of reading strategies while at the same time to convince students that their reading performance is attributable to their use of effective strategies, which is under their personal control. Four grade 7 (13 year old) classes, consisting of 40 poor readers and 56 average readers, participated in the study. Students were randomly allocated to one of four instruction conditions involving different combinations of strategy instruction and attributional training. Instruction was provided in small groups of 6 to 8 students over nine one-hour sessions. Results indicated that teaching poor readers use of effective reading strategies, while convincing them that reading successes and failures were attributable to use of effective or ineffective strategies, not only improved their comprehension performance and increased use of reading strategies, but also reduced their perceptions of learned helplessness.     

Sensitivity to orthotactic rules in visual word recognition by below average readers

The study reports 2 lexical decision experiments on below average readers' sensitivity to Basic Orthographic Syllabic Structure (BOSS) of Taft in visual word recognition. In Experiment 1, 20 words and 20 pseudo words with BOSS and non-BOSS conditions (e.g., tractOR, tracTOR; BLUNDin, BLUNdin) were presented on a microcomputer screen to 75 grades 4, 5, and 6 poor readers divided into poor reading/spelling subgroups. ANOVA of the correct reaction time scores shows significant main effects for grade, reading/spelling subgroup and lexicality with both word and pseudo word BOSS condition being the most discriminating. Experiment 2 provides a stronger test for the BOSS parsing principle with 48 items of correctly affixed real words (e.g., reTURN), pseudo-affixed words (e.g., ENTer), and incorrectly affixed pseudo words (e.g., AVOIDer) presented on the microcomputer screen for lexical decision. The target subjects were 20 grade 6 and 22 grade 7 below average readers compared with 23 above average chronological age control readers in each of the same grades 6 and 7. ANOVA results of the correct RT scores show significant main effects for reding level and affixation condition with the correctly affixed BOSS condition being the most discriminating. Taken together, the 2 experiments suggest that children are sensitive to the BOSS parsing principle and this could be used in promoting word knowledge.     

The use of think-aloud protocols to compare inferencing abilities in average and below-average readers

In this study, we examined whether think-aloud procedures would uncover differences in the kinds of inferences generated by average and below-average readers. Participants were 40 third-grade children who were divided into groups of average and below-average readers. All participants completed measures of nonverbal IQ, reading, language, and working memory, and a story comprehension task that consisted of two conditions: listen through and think aloud. The major findings in this study were that (a) average readers generated significantly more explanatory inferences than below-average readers, and (b) comprehension performance as measured by story recall was significantly better for both groups in the think-aloud condition than in the listen-through condition. The discussion addresses the implications of these findings.     

Acquisition of word meanings from context by deaf readers

In this paper we examine issues concerning the acquisition of word meanings from context by deaf readers. Theories and research with hearing readers suggest several reader, text, and task factors which may influence this acquisition process, although a similar research base with deaf readers is lacking. It is our view that a variety of important questions remain unanswered concerning deaf readers' meaning acquisitions. This paper reviews relevant findings from recent investigations of how individuals use context in deriving word meanings. It details several exemplary studies and draws implications for future inquiry.     

Automaticity, retrieval processes, and reading: a longitudinal study in average and impaired readers

In this longitudinal investigation, the development of word-retrieval speed and its relationship to reading was studied in 72 average and 11 severely impaired readers in the kindergarten to grade 2 period (5-8 years). Subjects received a battery of 3 reading measures and 4 continuous naming tests with varied stimulus requirements. Results indicated that the relationship of retrieval speed to reading is a function of development and the correspondence between higher- and lower-level processes in the specific retrieval and reading measures. As automaticity in retrieval developed in average readers, naming-speed/reading relationships moved from strong, general predictions to highly differentiated ones. The strongest correlations were between naming speed for graphological stimuli and lower-level reading tasks. Impaired readers performed slower than average readers on all naming measures across all years, particularly on graphological symbols. 3 dyslexic subgroups emerged: the largest was globally impaired across all naming rate and reading tasks; 2 smaller subgroups had early specific, retrieval-rate deficits and dissociated reading deficits.     

Below-average, average, and above-average readers engage different and similar brain regions while reading

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 27 children (14 girls, 13 boys) who varied in their reading skill levels. Both behavior performance measures recorded during the ERP word classification task and the ERP responses themselves discriminated between children with above-average, average, and below-average reading skills. ERP amplitudes and peak latencies decreased as reading skills increased. Furthermore, hemisphere differences increased with higher reading skill levels. Sex differences were also related to ERP amplitude variations across the scalp. However, ERPs recorded from boys and girls did not differ as a function of differences in the children's reading levels.     

Effect of personalized basal stories on the reading comprehension of fourth-grade poor and average readers

Forty fourth-grade children were assigned randomly on a stratified basis to read either standard or personalized basal stories and answer comprehension questions. The results of the study indicated that children previously identified as poor readers comprehended more information when they read personalized, as opposed to standard, stories. No difference was found among children of average reading ability on this variable.     

Pseudohomophone effects in 8 and 11 year old good and poor readers

Eight and 11 year old good and poor readers carried out a lexical decision task, in which the accuracy of responding to nonwords and pseudohomophonic nonwords was assessed. Nonwords such as‘loast', are meaningless but conform to the rules of English spelling. Pseudohomophones, such as‘poast', are a special category of nonword as they sound like real words. In this study, the two classes of nonwords were closely matched for visual similarity,‘poast’and‘loast', for example, differing only in the initial consonant. All the groups were more prone to misclassify pseudo-homophones as words than nonwords. Poor readers of average and below average IQ, and their reading age controls, performed very similarly. It was concluded that the poor readers were equally as able to generate phonological information from nonwords as their reading age controls, and that there was no evidence to suggest that the poor readers suffered primarily from a phonological dysfunction. Both the average and below average intelligence poor readers showed a pattern of performance indicative of a delay or an arrestment in reading development, rather than a deficit in generating and utilising phonological information.     

Homophone effects in deaf readers: evidence from lexical decision

The current study examined the nature of deaf readers’ phonological processing during online word recognition, and how this compares to similar effects in hearing individuals. Unlike many previous studies on phonological activation, we examined whether deaf readers activated phonological representations for words as opposed to pseudohomophones. Both hearing and deaf adults performed lexical decisions on homophones and control words in the context of either pseudoword foils (e.g., CLANE) or pseudohomophone foils (e.g., BRANE). As expected, hearing readers responded more slowly to homophones than to control words in both non-word contexts, reflecting phonological activation during reading. In contrast, deaf readers responded more slowly to homophones than to control words in the pseudohomophone foil context, but not in the pseudoword foil context. This finding suggests that deaf readers are able to activate phonological representations; however the nature of these representations appears to be more coarse-grained in deaf readers.     

Reading in two orthographies: A cross-linguistic study of Dutch average and poor readers who learn English as a second language

The present study investigated the reading of secondary school students in their first and second language (L1, L2). Twenty-six average and twenty-six poor readers matched on age, gender, listening and reading comprehension participated. They were native Dutch speakers who started learning English at secondary school (grade 7). We examined whether differences in L2 between the two groups reflect differences in L1 with regard to reading and relevant subskills. In addition, the relationship between reading and its predictors within and across the two languages was investigated. Between group differences were similar in L1 and L2 when task conditions involved high levels of phonological and orthographic complexity or demanded speeded processing. Furthermore, serial rapid naming predicted speeded word reading in both languages and L2 text reading accuracy, while L2 phoneme awareness and orthographic knowledge explained unique variance in L2 text reading accuracy. Cross-linguistic prediction revealed that speeded word reading predicted its counterpart from L1 to L2 and vice versa. Serial rapid naming explained additional variance in the prediction of L2 from L1. After exclusion of the reading predictor from the model, serial rapid naming was the most consistent cross-linguistic predictor, while L2 orthographic knowledge explained a small amount of unique variance in L1 speeded word reading.     

Reading in Arabic orthography: The effect of vowels and context on reading accuracy of poor and skilled native Arabic readers

This study investigated the effect of Arabic vowels and Arabic context on reading accuracy of poor and skilled native Arabic readers reading narrative stories and newspaper articles. Central to this study is the belief that reading theory today should consider additional variables, especially when explaining the reading process in Arabic orthography among poor and skilled readers. This orthography has not been studied: reading theory today is the sum of conclusions from studies conducted in Latin orthography. The subjects were 109 tenth-grade native Arabic speakers, 39 of them poor readers and 70 skilled readers. Subjects had to read Arabic narrative stories and newspaper articles. There were four reading conditions for each text type: vowelized text, unvowelized text, vowelized word naming, and unvowelized word naming. The results showed that vowels and contexts were important variables to facilitate word recognition in poor and skilled readers in Arabic orthography. A new Arabic reading model for skilled readers is suggested.     

Matthew effects in young readers: reading comprehension and reading experience aid vocabulary development

The authors report data from a longitudinal study of the reading development of children who were assessed in the years of their 8th, 11th, 14th, and 16th birthdays. They examine the evidence for Matthew effects in reading and vocabulary between ages 8 and 11 in groups of children identified with good and poor reading comprehension at 8 years. They also investigate evidence for Matthew effects in reading and vocabulary between 8 and 16 years, in the larger sample. The poor comprehenders showed reduced growth in vocabulary compared to the good comprehenders, but not in word reading or reading comprehension ability. They also obtained lower scores on measures of out-of-school literacy. Analyses of the whole sample revealed that initial levels of reading experience and reading comprehension predicted vocabulary at ages 11, 14, and 16 after controlling for general ability and vocabulary skills when aged 8. The authors discuss these findings in relation to the influence of reading on vocabulary development.     

Word frequency effects in naming for experienced and previously experienced adult readers of Persian

In a word naming experiment, experienced readers of Persian named high frequency transparent Persian words significantly faster than matched low frequency words. There was no such frequency effect for adults who had, during the past decade or more, very little experience in reading materials in Persian due to immigration to the West. Overall, the previously experienced adults named words significantly slower than their experienced counterparts. The implications of this finding in relation to models of visual word recognition are discussed.