The influence of pictures on the derivation of meaning from children's reading materials

This discussion is a review of experimental work designed to determine whether pictures have an effect upon the derivation of meaning from the text printed in children's reading materials. Many reading schemes emphasize the use of illustration, but for a number of different purposes ranging from the provision of a referent for a specific word, to the provision of' contextual support, and the generation of motivation for reading. Experimental studies of the interactions between pictures arid words in the cognitive system go some way to supporting three uses of illustration in (a) the provision of meanings against which the print may be compared, (b) in the development of an organized understanding of the meaning of the text, and (c) in the enhancement of subsequent recall. The danger of distraction arising from the pictures has also been investigated, and been found to lead to decoding errors in young children presented with one word at a time. An analysis of mutual interference effects between pairs of pictures and words leads to the conclusion that the cognitive representations of meanings arc organized in a semantic system common to pictures and words. Thus, any decoding errors due to interference effects are of more than local importance—they can affect comprehension and influence the stored representation.     

Interleaved practice in multi-dimensional learning tasks: Which dimension should we interleave?

Research shows that multiple representations can enhance student learning. Many curricula use multiple representations across multiple task types. The temporal sequence of representations and task types is likely to impact student learning. Research on contextual interference shows that interleaving learning tasks leads to better learning results than blocked practice, but this research has not investigated whether it matters on which dimension we interleave learning tasks. Many educational materials include multiple task types and multiple representations. Should we interleave representations or task types? We conducted a classroom experiment to investigate the effects of interleaving task types (while blocking representations) and interleaving representations (while blocking task types). The participants (158 5th- and 6th-graders) worked with a corresponding version of an intelligent tutoring system for fractions. Our results show an advantage for interleaving task types over interleaving representations. These results extend prior work on contextual interference by showing that this effect is sensitive to the dimension being interleaved. We also extend the literature on learning with multiple representations by investigating the effect of interleaved practice with different representations. The results provide guidance to designers of complex curricula.     

Word-Level Evidence of the Role of Phonological Decoding During Orthographic Learning: A Direct Test of the Item-Based Assumption

The goal of this study was to test the item-based assumption of the self-teaching hypothesis by reanalyzing Cunningham’s (2006) data. In Cunningham’s study, 37 first graders participated in a self-teaching experiment, and their orthographic learning was measured by a spelling task and an orthographic choice task. A 2-level logistic regression model was used to analyze accuracy of phonological decoding of a target word and spelling acquisition of that word. The findings suggest that the probability of spelling a target word correctly increases as the decoding accuracy of the target word increases. In contrast, this relation was not found for the orthographic choice task. The discrepancy in the results between the 2 dependent measures might be due to the difference in cognitive processes required to complete a production task as opposed to a recognition task. The current findings provide item-based evidence for the accuracy of phonological decoding on participants’ performance on a spelling task.     

Learning verbs more effectively through meaning congruent action animations

The current study investigates the effectiveness of learning words while displaying meaning congruent animations. We explore whether learning words with animation is sensitive to properties known to influence action understanding. We apply an embodied cognition framework and predictions from a recent theory about language and action (Action-Based Language theory, Glenberg & Gallese, 2012). The current study aims to investigate whether dynamic animations add to word learning (Experiment 1) and what the linguistic relation between the dynamic animation and the word learning is (Experiment 2). Results indicate that meaning congruent animations improved verb learning compared to meaning incongruent animations when measured by a recognition task. When measured by an active recall task, congruent animations led to better learning than static pictures. In both measures, meaning congruent animations support word learning. Experiment 2 replicates and extends this and suggests that highlighting conceptual information related to the dynamic action (such as the goal) improves word learning further. The findings are in line with Action-Based Language theory, which suggests that children are able to make better simulations of an action during learning when supported by meaning congruent animations. Highlighting conceptual information additionally supports this learning process.     

Correlates of orthographic learning in third‐grade children's silent reading

This study examined word identification, phonological recoding efficiency, familiar word reading efficiency, orthographic choice for familiar words and serial naming speed as potential correlates of orthographic learning following silent reading in third‐grade children. Children silently read a series of short stories, each containing six repetitions of a different target non‐word. They subsequently read target non‐words faster than homophones and preferred target non‐words to homophones in an orthographic choice task, indicating that they had formed functional orthographic representations of the target non‐words through phonologically recoding them during silent story reading. Target non‐word orthographic choice was correlated with all measures bar non‐symbol naming speed. The association between phonological recoding efficiency and orthographic learning lends support to the hypothesis that self‐teaching occurs through phonological recoding even in silent reading. Our findings were not generally consistent with the view that serial naming speed assesses orthographic learning aptitude.     

Reading Ability: Lexical Quality to Comprehension

The lexical quality hypothesis (LQH) claims that variation in the quality of word representations has consequences for reading skill, including comprehension. High lexical quality includes well-specified and partly redundant representations of form (orthography and phonology) and flexible representations of meaning, allowing for rapid and reliable meaning retrieval. Low-quality representations lead to specific word-related problems in comprehension. Six lines of research on adult readers demonstrate some of the implications of the LQH. First, large-scale correlational results show the general interdependence of comprehension and lexical skill while identifying disassociations that allow focus on comprehension-specific skill. Second, word-level semantic processing studies show comprehension skill differences in the time course of form-meaning confusions. Studies of rare vocabulary learning using event-related potentials (ERPs) show that, third, skilled comprehenders learn new words more effectively and show stronger ERP indicators for memory of the word learning event and, fourth, suggest skill differences in the stability of orthographic representations. Fifth, ERP markers show comprehension skill differences in meaning processing of ordinary words. Finally, in text reading, ERP results demonstrate momentary difficulties for low-skill comprehenders in integrating a word with the prior text. The studies provide evidence that word-level knowledge has consequences for word meaning processes in comprehension.     

英语单词的标示顺序与单词记忆

单词表的标示顺序基本上采用英语单词在前,相对应的汉语意义在后的标示顺序。但是由于理解型任务比产出型任务容易,这种标示顺序不利于即时和长效记忆英语单词。在即时测试中以汉-英标示顺序记忆单词的学生,在产出型任务中的表现明显好过以英-汉顺序学习的学生;在理解型任务中的表现不弱于以英-汉顺序学习的学生。鉴于英语学习中一般需要学生完成两种任务的现状,汉-英标示顺序有利于培养学生较为平衡的两种能力,是多用途和有效的方法。     

“投入量”量化指标合理性的检验

通过实证研究比较三组分别完成阅读理解、选词填空和用目标词造句三项涉及目标词的阅读任务后目标词的即时记忆和延时记忆,结合词汇测试成绩与有声思雏的数据对词汇附带学习中“投入量”这一量化指标的合理性进行定量分析与定性描述。实验结果表明：“投入量”并未真实体现学习者在词汇附带学习过程中的投入程度;“投入量”因素不仅要根据阅读任务的类型进行量化,同时还需考虑学习者的词汇学习过程。     

Flexible goal imitation: Vicarious feedback influences stimulus-response binding by observation

This study investigated whether vicarious feedback influences binding processes between stimuli and observed responses. Two participants worked together in a shared color categorization task, taking the roles of actor and observer in turns. During a prime trial, participants saw a word while observing the other person executing a specific response. Automatic binding of words and observed responses into stimulus-response (S-R) episodes was assessed via word repetition effects in a subsequent probe trial in which either the same (compatible) or a different (incompatible) response had to be executed by the participants in response to the same or a different word. Results showed that vicarious prime feedback (i.e., the feedback that the other participant received for her or his response in the prime) modulated S-R retrieval effects: After positive vicarious prime feedback, typical S–R retrieval effects emerged (i.e., performance benefits for stimulus repetition probes with compatible responses, but performance costs for stimulus repetition probes with incompatible responses emerged). Notably, however, S–R-retrieval effects were reversed after vicarious negative prime feedback (meaning that stimulus repetition in the probe resulted in performance costs if prime and probe responses were compatible, and in performance benefits for incompatible responses). Findings are consistent with a flexible goal imitation account, according to which imitation is based on an interpretative and therefore feedback-sensitive reconstruction of action goals from observed movements. In concert with earlier findings, this data support the conclusion that transient S–R binding and retrieval processes are involved in social learning phenomena.     

Deriving word meanings from context: does explanation facilitate contextual analysis?

The ability to derive the meanings of words from supportive story contexts was studied in 45 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds. Children read short stories each containing a different novel word and defined the word at the end of each story. There were three intervention sessions. One group was asked to justify their definition and subsequently received feedback on its accuracy. A second group was given feedback first and asked to explain how the experimenter knew the correct answer. A third (control) received feedback only. In general, practice led to improved performance, with an increased number of children in all groups using the story context to derive meanings for the novel words in a post‐intervention test. Children in the two explanation groups made the greatest gains in definition accuracy. The implications for teaching vocabulary learning skills are discussed.     

Spelling instruction in Spanish: a comparison of self‐correction,visual imagery and copying

Two randomised control experiments examined spelling outcomes in a repeated measures design (pre‐test, post‐tests; 1‐day, 1‐month follow‐up, 5‐month follow‐up), where students learned Spanish irregular words through (1) immediate feedback using self‐correction, (2) visual imagery where children imagine and represent words using movement, and (3) copying words. The two control groups engaged in reading and dictation. We expected that methods with kinesthetic components and segmentation of stimuli would yield better orthographic representations in memory. Results showed that orthographic errors on Spanish irregular words diminish when children receive self‐correction instruction. Imagery and copy instruction also reduce these errors, but less consistently. Five months later, self‐correction group maintained their advantage in spelling compared with students who read or performed dictation. Experiment 2 replicated the spelling instruction effects and showed large effects on children who had hardly received any spelling instruction in Spanish. Results indicate that research‐based practices can significantly improve spelling outcomes in primary children.     

整体视阈下深度学习的生命价值意涵及其系统建构

深度学习的理解需要从单一视角走向整体视阈。基于整体视阈将深度学习视为一个完整的生命现象系统,在整体的发展中呈现深度学习的生命意蕴,并以系统方法揭示和展现深度学习的整体性意涵。深度学习系统在知识、思维、能力、情境四要素的相互作用与发展中呈现其意义与价值。在意义构建的整体推动下,四要素不断交互作用并形成深度学习机制。其中,意义的设想、觉醒与建构是深度学习系统的自组织自循环动力;能力的生成、应用与迁移是维续深度学习系统的核心动力:共振情境的有力推进是维续深度学习系统的外部动力。     

Cross-language activation of phonology in young bilingual readers

We investigated whether children who were learning to read simultaneously in English and French activate phonological representations from only the language in which they are reading or from both of their languages. Children in French Immersion programs in Grade 3 were asked to name aloud cognates, interlingual homographs, interlingual homophones, and matched control words. Half of the participants performed the task in English, their first oral language, and half performed the task in French. Control monolingual children in each language were also tested. In the French reading task, fewer errors were observed for cognates and interlingual homophones than for matched control words, whereas more errors were produced for interlingual homographs than matched controls. Only the inhibitory interlingual homograph effect was observed in the English reading task. These data provide evidence that phonological activation in bilinguals is not language selective. The locus of each of these effects in the bilingual word recognition system is discussed.     

Self-regulated learning by writing learning protocols: Do goal structures matter?

Having students write learning protocols is an established follow-up task to course work that elicits processes of self-regulated learning. To date, a wealth of research has focused on optimizing the learning protocol task itself by integrating instructional support measures such as prompts. By contrast, research that focuses on optimizing the context in which learning protocol writing is embedded is widely missing. In the present study, we approached this gap by focusing on the role of the contextual factor goal structure. Specifically, in an experiment with N = 166 high school students we tested whether embedding the learning protocol task in a mastery goal structure would be more beneficial than embedding it in a performance goal structure. The mastery goal structure fostered metacognitive processes, learning outcomes, and learning efficiency. We conclude that considering contextual factors such as the goal structure is crucial for understanding and optimizing the effects of learning protocols.     

Accuracy and Fluency in List and Context Reading of Skilled and RD Groups: Absolute and Relative Performance Levels

The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the performance levels and the magnitude of performance difference between students with reading disabilities (RD) and skilled readers when reading a typical classroom text; (2) the hypothesis that students with RD have specific difficulty using context in such a way that reading fluency is affected; and (3) whether RD subtypes may be differentiated according to performance on contextual and context‐free reading tasks. Two groups of fourth graders (85 skilled readers and 24 students with RD) completed a standardized test of reading comprehension, read aloud a folktale, and read aloud the folktale's words in a randomly sequenced list. Performance was scored as correct rate and percentage correct. Based on the number of words per idea unit in the passage, we also estimated the rate at which reader groups encountered and processed text ideas. Compared to the RD group, skilled readers read three times more correct words per minute in context, and showed higher accuracy and rates on all measures. Both context and isolated word‐reading rates were highly sensitive to impairment. We found no evidence for RD subtypes based on these measures. Results illustrate differences in reading levels between the two groups, the temporal advantage skilled readers have in linking text ideas, how word reading differs as a function of task format and performance dimension, and how limited word‐identification skills (not comprehension) produce contextual reading difficulties for students with RD.     

Dyslexia and second language reading: A second bite at the apple?

An unexpected and remarkable preference for second language reading among some dyslexics has been noted, presenting a challenge to accepted theory on dyslexia and the capacity for second language learning. The current study was designed to examine this phenomenon by systematically looking at the differential reading scores in the first and second languages of reading-disabled young Swedish adults who claimed to prefer reading in their second language (English). Three groups were selected for study: a group of 10 reading-disabled young adults who prefer to read English; a second group of 10 reading-disabled with no special preference for second language reading, matched on word recognition efficiency, age group, gender and educational level and a group of 10 normal readers matched on age group and educational level. The test battery was designed to compare overall reading efficiency in English and Swedish and therefore encompassed both speed and accuracy measures. The battery covered seven phonological measures, four orthographic measures,three isolated word reading measures, two continuous text reading measures, a comprehension task and an author recognition task. All tasks were carried out in both English and Swedish. The results showed that two dyslexic groups differed significantly in the degree to which task performance, including reading efficiency, was impeded by the English format. A tentative hypothesis was forwarded as to how the exceptional and unexpected facility with English might be explained.     

Do children who acquire word reading without explicit phonics employ compensatory learning? Issues of phonological recoding, lexical orthography, and fluency

Two studies were conducted across three countries to examine samples of beginning readers without systematic explicit phonics who had reached the same level of word reading accuracy as comparison samples with high and moderate explicit phonics. Had they employed any compensatory learning to reach that level? Four hypotheses of compensatory learning or performance were tested on the samples, all of which represented the lower half of the normative distribution of word reading accuracy. The two samples without explicit phonics received teaching that centered on story text reading and some receptive phonics that arose from this text reading. They did not compensate by relatively greater use of a larger psycholinguistic grain size in the form of rime units. Nor did they compensate by trading off comprehension for text word reading accuracy. In a microtraining study, they showed no compensation in proficiency of initial learning of lexical orthographic representations. For all samples, this initial learning was less effective with spelling than reading training trials. In reading text, the samples without explicit phonics did not compensate by trading off speed for accuracy, or comprehension. On the contrary, they read text faster than the explicit phonics samples. The extra classroom instruction time available to them for text reading, with the consequential extra exposure and practice of word reading, would explain this result.     

The effects of using drawings in developing young children’s mathematical word problem solving: A design experiment with third-grade Hungarian students

The present study aims to investigate the effects of a design experiment developed for third-grade students in the field of mathematics word problems. The main focus of the program was developing students?? knowledge about word problem solving strategies with an emphasis on the role of visual representations in mathematical modeling. The experiment involved five experimental and six control classes (N?=?106 and 138, respectively) of third-grade students. The experiment comprised 20 lessons with 73 word problems, providing a systematic overview of the basic word problem types. Teachers of the experimental classes received a booklet containing lesson plans and overhead transparencies with different types of visual representations attached to the word problems. Students themselves were invited to make drawings for each task, and group work and teacher-led discussion shaped their beliefs about the role of visual representations in word problem solving. The effect sizes of the experiment were calculated from the results of two tests: an arithmetic skill and a word problem test, and the unbiased estimates for Cohen??s d proved to be 0.20 and 0.62. There were significant changes also in experimental group students?? beliefs about mathematics. The experiment pointed to the possibility, feasibility, and importance of learning about visual representations in mathematical word problem solving as early as in grade?3 (around age 9?C10).     

Taken out of context: differential processing in contextual and isolated word reading

Three experiments are reported that investigate the cognitive processes underlying contextual and isolated word reading. In Phase 1, undergraduate participants were exposed to 75 target words under three conditions. The participants generated 25 words from definitions, read 25 words in context and read 25 in isolation. In Phase 2, volunteers completed either an explicit recall task (Experiment 1), an implicit word stem completion task (Experiment 2) or both tasks (Experiment 3). Our findings provide converging evidence that contextual and isolated word reading elicit different patterns of cognitive processing. Specifically, Experiments 1–3 demonstrated that words read in context were remembered similarly to words generated from definitions: words from both conditions were recalled more frequently in the surprise memory task and selected less often to complete the word stems in the implicit memory task. The opposite pattern was noted for words read in isolation. Reading in context is discussed in terms of its greater reliance on semantic processing, whereas isolated word reading is discussed in relation to perceptually driven processes.     

Phonemic and graphemic consistency: Effects on decoding for German and American children

Speed, accuracy, and types of errors in decoding lists of words and pseudo words and performance in two phonemic awareness tasks were assessed for German and American children in the first and second grades. German children were significantly better than American children only in pseudo word decoding measures across grades. Between group analyses showed that American children committed more vowel and word substitution errors in both decoding accuracy tasks than German children. Word substitution errors were more likely in word decoding than in pseudo word decoding for children in both languages. Within group analyses indicate that variance in decoding errors and speed accounted for by word substitution versus nonword and vowel versus consonant errors differed dependent on grade and whether real or pseudo words were read. Results suggest successful reading in English depends upon more complex grapheme to phoneme correspondence rules than does reading in German.