Spelling errors and phonemic segmentation ability: the nature of the relationship

Poor spellers/readers and younger normal children of similar spelling and reading ability carried out phonemic segmentation and spelling tasks. The poor spellers were impaired relative to controls in their ability to detect the odd word out where the middle or final phoneme of the word differed from that of the other items in the list. For example, in the series ‘dot',‘cot',‘pot', 'bat', the word ‘bat’ differs from the other items in terms of its middle vowel. Spelling errors were classified as being ‘pre-phonetic',‘phonetic', or ‘transitional’ in character, according to Morris and Perney's (1984) developmental scheme.‘Transitional’ errors indicate a knowledge of English orthography, and are relatively easy for the reader to decode phonetically, for example, green ?>‘grene', whereas ‘phonetic’ errors indicate a level of phonetic awareness which is not matched by an ability to represent the word according to the conventions of English spelling, for example green ?>‘gren'. Poor spellers were found to make significantly fewer ‘transitional’ errors than controls, there being a non-significant tendency for them to make more ‘pre-phonetic’ and ‘phonetic’ errors. It was found that performance on the odd word out task correlated significantly with the occurrence of ‘transitional’ errors, there being no such relationship with ‘phonetic’ errors.     

How psychology helps us to understand word reading

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an overview of evidence from psychological research, which enables us to understand the processes involved in word reading, how children develop word reading skills and how to teach them to read words successfully. Psychological models of reading in alphabetic orthographies propose two routes to word reading: an indirect route requiring mapping of letters and sounds using phonological processes and a direct route, mapping visual identities of words onto meaning using visual processes and memory. The dual route paves the way to an understanding of what children need to achieve to be able to read words. Evidence about how people read words successfully has led to the development of effective teaching programmes and of tests to identify deficits when word reading does not develop optimally.     

Family literacy activities in the homes of successful young readers

This paper presents an account of the literacy activities engaged in by the parents of 29 children around the time that the children were about to start school at Key Stage 1. Fifteen of the children were reading fluently before they began school and the remaining fourteen were matched for age, sex, receptive vocabulary scores, pre‐school group attended and socio‐economic family status, but not reading fluently. In order to ascertain that the fluent readers were not simply coming from homes where literacy activities were more in evidence, parents were asked to report on their own literacy activities. The data obtained indicated that there were no systematic differences in the activities of the two sets of parents. They also showed that there was a considerable amount of literacy activity evident in the homes. It is argued that, whilst the home environment is highly instrumental in nurturing literacy development, it is not enough to account for precocious reading ability.     

A Children’s Author Recognition Test: A Useful Tool in Reading Research

The relationship between exposure to print and reading ability is beginning to be well documented through the work of Stanovich and his colleagues (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1990; Stanovich and Cunningham, 1992; Cipielewski and Stanovich, 1992). In order to investigate exposure to print they have developed a number of measures which are reliable and effective including Author Recognition Tests. This paper discusses the development of a UK version of a Children’s Author Recognition Test and argues the need for developing culturally specific equivalents. A further study shows that a Children’s Author Recognition Test can be used as a tool for double checking self-reports by parents of the amount of reading they do with their children.     

Reviewing affective,behavioural and cognitive learning gains in higher education

The notion of learning gains has increasingly become apparent within the higher education literature and is gaining traction in government policies in the US and UK, reflecting a desire to “quantify” the impact of university study and teaching excellence in particular. Given the increased policy focus on learning gains, it is essential that researchers and policy makers are informed about common used approaches to measure learning gains, and their expected range and magnitude. Therefore, a systematic literature search was undertaken. 52 studies (n?=?41,009) were coded into affective, behavioural and/or cognitive learning gains. The review found a rich but diverse variety of adopted methodologies and approaches to “measure” affective, behavioural and cognitive (ABC) learning gains. Nonetheless, there is a lack of consistency in the ways in which learning gains are currently measured and reported. These inconsistencies and limitations hamper effective comparisons of learning gains and teaching excellence. We recommend a greater emphasis on longitudinal measurement of learning gains using validated approaches.     

The National Literacy Strategy and individual differences

This is a discussion paper reflecting on the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) after one year of operation. It is argued that, despite claims that it has already had an effect on KS2 SAT (Standardised Assessment Test) performance, it is too soon to make such a judgement. Questions are raised about whether it is wise to use a non‐professional group of assistants to provide the Additional Literacy Support for at risk children in Key Stage 2 or the Key Stage 1 Intervention Programme. It is argued that those children who show atypical development need the most qualified and highly skilled teachers. Finally, it is argued that once the NLS becomes established it will be necessary for all teachers to engage with the research literature so that they teach from a position of professional understanding of the processes involved in reading and writing development.     

The case for orthographic knowledge

Scholes (1998) argues that phonemic awareness cannot be the driving force behind reading development, because this skill develops as a consequence of learning to read. Evidence is reviewed which supports the view that the role of phonemic awareness has been overstated, but it is clear that awareness of phonemes in spoken words does make some contribution to the development of word recognition skills. Scholes also argues that due to the irregularities of the English spelling system, a phonics approach to reading cannot work since it relies on knowing what the word is. This ignores the fact that there is a considerable amount of evidence that a phonics-based approach is a very effective way of teaching reading. Phonics is not a branch of phonetics – children can even ‘sound out’ irregular words and still obtain the correct pronunciation. They may activate words which look and sound like the target word – i.e. activate orthographic information – and select the most appropriate word using contextual information. Although, as Scholes argues, the ultimate purpose of reading is comprehension, the unskilled reader has to learn to recognise the building blocks of the sentence, i.e. words, and failure to capitalise on the alphabetic nature of English would make it as hard to learn to read as Chinese.     

Visual Processing Deficits in Children With Slow RAN Performance

Two groups of 8- to 10-year-olds differing in rapid automatized naming speed but matched for age, verbal and nonverbal ability, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and visual acuity participated in four experiments investigating early visual processing. As low RAN children had significantly slower simple reaction times (SRT) this was entered as a covariate in all subsequent data analyses. Low RAN children were significantly slower to make same/different judgments to simple visual features, non-nameable letter-like forms and letters, with difference in SRT controlled. Speed differences to letter-like forms and letters disappeared once RTs to simple visual features were controlled. We conclude that slow RAN children have difficulty in discriminating simple visual features that cannot be explained in terms of a more general speed of processing deficit, a deficit in making same/different judgments, or to differences in word reading ability.     

Hard-pressed to achieve the EFA goals by 2015 in the Philippines

The Philippines has experienced a setback in its progress towards EFA 2015 Goals. In particular, a decline in primary and secondary education performance indicators and a widening gap between boys’ and girls’ performance were noted. While the present policy environment in the country has been conducive to education reforms, a lack of political will, discontinuity in education leadership and an inability to capitalize on proven educational innovations and major programmes/projects are likely to further undermine EFA progress. The country must immediately introduce efficient and effective measures to arrest this trend. The government must also return to social marketing among all stakeholders, emphasizing the long-term benefits of basic education.