The relationship between phonological awareness and word reading accuracy in Oriya and English: A study of Oriya‐speaking fifth‐graders

This study investigated the relationships between phonological awareness and reading in Oriya and English. Oriya is the official language of Orissa, an eastern state of India. The writing system is an alphasyllabary. Ninety‐nine fifth grade children (mean age 9 years 7 months) were assessed on measures of phonological awareness, word reading and pseudo‐word reading in both languages. Forty‐eight of the children attended Oriya‐medium schools where they received literacy instruction in Oriya from grade 1 and learned English from grade 2. Fifty‐one children attended English‐medium schools where they received literacy instruction in English from grade 1 and in Oriya from grade 2. The results showed that phonological awareness in Oriya contributed significantly to reading Oriya and English words and pseudo‐words for the children in the Oriya‐medium schools. However, it only contributed to Oriya pseudo‐word reading and English word reading for children in the English‐medium schools. Phonological awareness in English contributed to English word and pseudo‐word reading for both groups. Further analyses investigated the contribution of awareness of large phonological units (syllable, onsets and rimes) and small phonological units (phonemes) to reading in each language. The data suggest that cross‐language transfer and facilitation of phonological awareness to word reading is not symmetrical across languages and may depend both on the characteristics of the different orthographies of the languages being learned and whether the first literacy language is also the first spoken language.     

不同英语认读教法对儿童词汇认读能力的影响

本研究通过三种不同英语认读教法,对早期半浸入式双语教育环境下64名儿童的英、汉两种语言词汇认读能力进行考察。结果表明,不同英语认读教法对双语儿童两种语言的词汇认读产生了不同影响:在字母拼读教学条件下,儿童英语词汇认读水平显著高于音标认读与整词认读条件;在整词认读教学条件下,儿童汉语词汇认读水平显著高于字母拼读与音标认读条件;在传统音标教学条件下,儿童两种语言词汇认读水平均最低,表明音标教学不利于儿童的英语词汇认读能力的提高,而且可能对儿童母语认读水平造成不利影响。     

Use orthography in L2 auditory word learning: Who benefits?

The effect of capitalizing on orthography in auditory learning of English words was examined in 74 children who spoke Mandarin Chinese as their primary language. To use orthographic information for auditory word learning, children must recode printed words phonologically to assist the reconstruction of the speech single misheard or underspecified, an ability that may depend heavily on phonological awareness (PA). In this study, children with poorer PA of Chinese and those with better PA were taught novel English words in an auditory learning task under two exposure conditions: auditory words presented with their written forms and auditory words presented with undecodable symbols. Word learning performance was better in the written form condition than in the symbol condition, but the effect was smaller for children with poorer PA. The facilitative effect was associated with L2 PA for children with poorer PA but not for children with better PA. The results are discussed with regard to how poor PA may constrain auditory word learning in an L2 context.     

Predicting word-spelling difficulty in 7- to 11-year-olds

Some languages have simple grapheme-phoneme codes in which there is a one-to-one mapping, making them easy to teach and learn, while others have more complicated structures and are more difficult for teachers and students. There is now an increasing number of studies which demonstrate that readers in more transparent orthographies such as Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Greek and German have little difficulty in decoding written words, while English children have many more problems. Increasingly, lack of orthographic transparency in English is seen as having a powerful negative effect on the development of literacy skills in English-speaking children. In the present study, the word factors associated with poor spelling in 5 school year-groups (ages 7 to 11 years) are identified as: (a) frequency of the word in the English language, (b) length of the word and (c) a measure of the phoneticity of the word. The concept of word phoneticity is explored and data is presented illustrating the predictive model of spelling. The implications the model has for teaching and learning English are discussed, with particular reference to the beneficial effects that greater orthographic transparency would have for children.     

Predicting Spelling Behaviour in 7 to 11 Year-olds

There is an increasing number of studies which demonstrate that readers in more transparent orthographies than English, such as Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Greek and German have little difficulty in decoding written words, while English children have many more problems. Increasingly, lack of orthographic transparency in English is seen as having a powerful negative effect on the development of reading skills in English-speaking children. There is evidence that English-speaking children who fail to acquire reading skills may fall into two distinct categories: those who would succeed in languages, other than English, that have greater orthographic consistency; and, those who would still have problems even with perfect orthographic transparency. The first, larger, group are let down by the interaction of poor teaching methods and an incomprehensible system of orthography. At Hull University’s Institute for Learning, word factors associated with poor spelling and reading have been identified. We have found three factors which account for the relative ease with which pupils can spell words: frequency of the word in the English language, length of the word, and the presence of “tricky” letters or letter combinations. Data is presented illustrating our predictive model of spelling which enables word difficulty to be calculated from the characteristics of English words. The implications the model has for teaching and learning English is elaborated, with particular reference to the most common 150 words in the English language.     

Predictors of English reading comprehension: Cantonese-speaking English language learners in the U.S.

In this paper, first language (L1) and second language (L2) oral language and word reading skills were used as predictors to devise a model of reading comprehension in young Cantonese-speaking English language learners (ELLs) in the United States. L1 and L2 language and literacy measures were collected from a total of 101 Cantonese-speaking ELLs during the early spring of second grade. Results show that English vocabulary and English word decoding, as measured with real and nonsense words, played significant roles in English reading comprehension. In particular, results highlight the crucial role of English vocabulary in the development of L2 English literacy skills. English listening comprehension did not predict English reading comprehension. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

汉语儿童英语单词命名策略研究

运用定量研究的方法调查了汉语儿童英语单词命名中的策略使用情况。128名小学六年级的学生参加了此次实验。被试给混杂在规则和不规则单音节和双音节英语词汇表中的高频和低频词命名。不规则词语使读者倾向于使用词汇路径,而纯规则词语构成的词汇表却使目标词中的非词汇信息得到了更有效的运用。当词汇表主要由规则或不规则双音节填塞词构成时,词频效应就达到了。相对于单音节规则词语,当填塞词是单音节不规则词语时,频率效应显著增大。此研究结果拓展了之前的浅正字法研究,这表明作为第二语言学习者的汉语儿童在较深的正字法,即英语的单词命名中也能对音位和词汇信息灵活地加以运用。     

The technical adequacy of curriculum-based writing measures with English learners

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of Curriculum-Based Measures in writing for English learners. Participants were 36 high school English learners with moderate to high levels of English language proficiency. Predictor variables were type of writing prompt (picture, narrative, and expository), time (3, 5, and 7 min), and scoring procedure (words written, words spelled correctly, correct word sequences, correct minus incorrect word sequences). Criterion variables were teacher ratings of writing performance and student performance on the Test of Written Language-III, the writing subtest of the Test of Emerging Academic English, and the Minnesota state writing test. Results supported the validity and reliability of a 5 to 7-min writing sample written in response to a narrative or picture prompt and scored for percent of correct word sequences, correct minus incorrect word sequences, or words written plus correct minus incorrect word sequences.     

Bilingual precocious readers of English

Giftedness develops in varied forms from diverse roots. This phenomenon is illustrated by 12 children from bilingual homes who, before beginning first grade, demonstrated advanced ability to comprehend written English. The home and school experiences of these children and their reading and oral English skills are described. The results demonstrate that some gifted children learn well even when they appear to be weak in relevant skills, and that lack of fluency in oral English should not exclude children from advanced instruction in reading.     

Diversity among Spanish-speaking English language learners: profiles of early literacy skills in kindergarten

This study explored heterogeneity in literacy development among 2,300 Hispanic children receiving English as a Second Language (ESL) services at the start of kindergarten. Two research questions guided this work: (1) Do Spanish-speaking English language learners receiving ESL services in the fall of kindergarten demonstrate homogeneous early literacy skills, or are there distinct patterns of achievement across measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and orthography? and (2) if there are distinct profiles, to what extent do they predict literacy achievement at the end of kindergarten and the beginning of first grade? Using cluster analysis, the authors identified four distinct literacy profiles derived from fall kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and phonetic spelling. These profiles were found to be associated with literacy outcomes in spring of kindergarten and fall of first grade. The two profiles that were associated with greater success on later measures of concept of word in text, letter sound knowledge, word reading, and spelling were the two that included stronger performance on orthographic skills (i.e., alphabet knowledge and phonetic spelling). These findings demonstrated that there is heterogeneity among Hispanic ESL students at kindergarten entry and suggested that literacy instruction must be differentiated from the very beginning in order to meet students’ individual needs. The findings also suggested that orthographic skills should be assessed and taught early on. While phonological awareness may be a necessary precursor to reading, phonological awareness in the absence of orthographic skills may not be sufficient.     

关于初级汉语教材生词英文释义的思考

以留学生因教材误导而形成的词汇偏误为着眼点,调查发现,目前国内使用范围较广的三种初级汉语教材在生词英文释义上主要存在着如下现象:用一个英文词解释多个汉语词,而没有对生词的搭配对象、使用环境等的不同加以限制说明;用一个英文词对应一个汉语词,但没有指明两个词在不同语言中的使用条件限制,没有指明两者并非是绝对条件的完全一一对应;用多个英文词解释一个汉语词,却没有根据学生相应的学习水平提供多义词在文中义项属于哪一个等问题。文章认为,在用英文给生词释义时不能一味追求简洁,要根据生词在文中的出现环境对其外延意义加以限制,并在此基础上探讨了解决当前问题的方法。     

The effects of bilingualism on learning to read English: evidence from the contrast between Urdu‐English bilingual and English monolingual children

Learning to read in a shallow alphabetic orthography such as Urdu may depend primarily on phonological processing skills, whilst learning to read in a deeper orthography, such as English, may place more reliance on visual processing skills. This study explores the effects of Urdu on the acquisition of English literacy skills by comparing the reading, memory and phonological processing skills of bilingual Urdu‐English and monolingual English children (7–8 years). The bilingual children had more difficulty in reading irregular English words, but were better at reading regular words and nonwords compared to the monolinguals. The poor performance of the bilingual children with irregular English words was linked to their poor visual memory skills, whilst their good performance with regular words and nonwords was related to the presence of enhanced phonological skills. The results demonstrate the transfer of first language skills to reading development in a second language. In English, first language skills can facilitate the development of either lexical or non‐lexical routes to reading.     

从“英语教学大纲”到“英语课程标准”的词表过渡方案研究

在对《普通高中英语课程标准(实验)》收录而《全日制高级中学英语教学大纲(试验修订版)》没有收录的1 599个词进行定量分析的基础上,我们把1 599个词分为5级,形成分级词汇表,其中1级最常用。并依据词类和"课标"规定的八级掌握词汇分布的比例,对分级词汇表进行了合理性分析。为使全国高中从"大纲"平稳过渡到"课标",各省市在参照分级词汇表的同时,根据其自身情况,在考试说明词汇表中逐年增加词汇,使全国高中生在2010年词汇逐步达到3 500个,即"课标"对高中词汇量的要求。     

Writing short messages in English: Out-of-school practices of Malaysian high school students

For Malaysian adolescents, writing in English covers various forms and serves a range of purposes. Outside the formal school context, students engage in more personalized forms of writing. This paper examines one such form, namely, the writing of short messages, using a sociocultural perspective of literacy as a social discursive practice that implicates identity construction. This paper draws on a larger qualitative study which looked at school and personal writing by a class of Form 4 (Year 10) students in an urban school in Malaysia. Data were taken mainly from student interviews and students’ written products during six months of fieldwork. Findings from the study showed students’ informal writing involved new hybrid forms of English and included the use of a mixture of short forms, “Penang English” and Net English. This study has implications for the English literacy education of Malaysian high school students learning ESL while immersed in a contemporary digital and Internet culture.     

Writing Dinosaur Large and Mosquito Small: Prephonological Spellers’ Use of Semantic Information

One influential theory of literacy development, the constructivist perspective, claims that young children believe that writing represents meaning directly and that the appearance of a written word should reflect characteristics of its referent. There has not been strong evidence supporting this idea, however. Circumventing several methodological concerns with previous studies, we examined written spellings of young children who did not yet use letters to represent the sounds of words, that is, prephonological spellers. We identified 38 prephonological spellers (M age = 4 years, 2 months) and measured the area of their writing productions. Prephonological spellers made significantly larger productions for words representing large objects than those representing small objects. This effect held true after controlling for the influences of other variables, including size of writing on previous trials and order of trial in a session. Our results suggest that young children sometimes use drawing-like features to communicate the meaning of words when writing.     

"I was born full deaf." Written language outcomes after 1 year of strategic and interactive writing instruction

Nonstandard grammatical forms are often present in the writing of deaf students that are rarely, if ever, seen in the writing of hearing students. With the implementation of Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI) in previous studies, students have demonstrated significant gains in high-level writing skills (e.g., text structure) but have also made gains with English grammar skills. This 1-year study expands on prior research by longitudinally examining the written language growth (i.e., writing length, sentence complexity, sentence awareness, and function words) of 29 deaf middle-school students. A repeated-measures analysis of variance with a between-subjects variable for literacy achievement level was used to examine gains over time and the intervention's efficacy when used with students of various literacy levels. Students, whether high or low achieving, demonstrated statistically significant gains with writing length, sentence complexity, and sentence awareness. Subordinate clauses were found to be an area of difficulty, and follow up strategies are suggested. An analysis of function word data, specifically prepositions and articles, revealed different patterns of written language growth by language group (e.g., American Sign Language users, oral students, users of English-based sign).     

Lexical characteristics of Spanish and English words and the development of phonological awareness skills in Spanish-speaking language-minority children

The lexical restructuring model (LRM) is a theory that attempts to explain the developmental origins of phonological awareness (PA). According to the LRM, various characteristics of words should be related to the extent to which words are segmentally represented in the lexicon. Segmental representations of words allow children to access the parts of words needed to complete PA tasks. This study examined the relations between various lexical characteristics of Spanish and English words and the PA skills of Spanish-speaking language-minority children. Participants came from two independent samples of Spanish-speaking preschool children (Sample 1 N = 553, Sample 2 N = 600). For children in both samples, only phonotactic probability was related to children’s likelihood to respond correctly to Spanish PA items. Age of acquisition and word frequency were related to children’s likelihood to respond correctly to English PA items for children in both samples. Phonological neighborhood density and phonotactic probability were also related to children’s likelihood to respond correctly to English PA items; however, these effects were sample-specific. Children’s Spanish vocabulary knowledge moderated the effects of Spanish age of acquisition and word frequency on responses to Spanish PA items. Children’s English vocabulary knowledge moderated the effects of English phonological neighborhood density and phonotactic probability on responses to English PA items. These findings have implications for the development of PA assessments to be used with language-minority children.     

英语多义句

多义句是指拥有超过一种以上解释的句子。多义句的出现有如下原因：句子中的出现的一个多义词导致整个句子多义：句子中出现了一个多义的惯用语;对于句子中词汇的不同分组理解可造成整个句子多义：对于所有格的不同判定,主格或宾格,是否带有介词“of”;英语成语有时也是一个原因;口语上出现的多义句;英语的否定词;英语的单数及复数形式有时也是一个有趣的原因。大多数时候,当碰到一个多义句,正确理解它的方法是通过上下文来做出准确的判断。     

浅析英俄语言语序的对比

英语与俄语同属印欧语系,英语属日耳曼语族西日耳曼语支,俄语属于斯拉夫语族东斯拉夫语支。它们均属于字母文字,在字形、音调、语法结构上有许多相同或相似的地方。英语在其演变的过程中甩摔了约束其发展的屈折变化,由综合型语言逐渐向分析型语言过渡,形成介于综合和分析之间的一种综合——分析语,词的屈折变化逐渐减少,词法意义的表达越来越多地依赖于语序以及介词等语法功能。而俄语富于形态变化,句子成分在句子中的功能主要通过词形表达出来,语序只起辅助作用,可以说俄语语序是比较自由的。     

Kindergarten Children's Initial Spoken and Written Word Learning in a Storybook Context

Kindergarteners (M age = 6;2) were exposed to novel spoken nonwords and their written forms within a storybook reading context. Following each of 12 stories, the children were required to spell and identify 12 novel written nonwords and then verbally produce and comprehend the spoken version of those words. Results indicated the children acquired initial specific phonological and orthographic representations. Spoken and written word learning skills were strongly associated and both were influenced by the words' linguistic regularities. Spoken word learning ability explained 62% of the variance on a spelling measure, whereas written word learning ability predicted 42% of the variance on a reading measure. The results provide evidence that beginning readers employ simultaneously a mutually shared learning mechanism that is sensitive to statistical regularities of words when engaged in the process of learning new spoken words and their written forms.