Influence of word meaning on the acquisition of a reading vocabulary in second-grade children

The acquisition of a reading vocabulary for abstract and concrete words was examined in 62 second-grade children. Words had been learned as part of a basal reader program or as part of outside reading. Word recognition speed and reading accuracy were examined for abstract and concrete words using lexical decision and word naming tasks. The size of the concreteness effect was similar for both processing tasks. In neither task did concreteness influence reaction times, but abstract words were read with less accuracy than concrete words in both tasks. Further, these concreteness effects in reading accuracy were larger for words that were part of a basal reading program than for words acquired during free reading. We conclude that word meaning influences the entry of words at a time when children are developing a sizeable reading vocabulary.     

语言中的性别歧视及其发展研究

分析英语中的性别歧视现象,深入研究造成该语言现象的原因。从男性词、称谓语中的性别歧视现象、女性词语的“贬化”现象、男先女后的词序、谚语中的性别歧视现象五个方面分析英语中的性别歧视现象,把语言和社会文化紧紧联系起来,使人们深刻理解性别歧视现象产生的根源,意识到消除这种现象的必要性及其方法,为以后的研究做出贡献。     

Handle System:开放数字图书馆资源命名和解析系统

本文主要介绍了开放数字图书馆资源命名和解析系统Handle System的实现机制，探讨了Handle System在实际数字图书馆中的应用以及存在的问题。     

Enabling skills in early reading acquisition: A study of children in Latvian kindergartens

Preschool children in Latvia were tested in order to examine the relationships among various enabling skills and early reading performance. A principal component analysis indicated three factors: a phonemic awareness factor, a naming factor, and a short-term memory factor. Multiple regression analyses with word identification and sentence comprehension as dependent variables yielded further support to the powerful role played by phonemic awareness in explaining variance in both these aspects of reading. Unexpectedly, neither naming nor short-term memory contributed to explain unique variance in word and sentence reading. The Latvian orthography is very consistent, and our results provide further evidence to the importance of phonemic awareness in early reading acquisition especially in a transparent language. Therefore, the tasks used when assessing phonemic awareness can be very useful when screening children at risk for developing reading problems. Enhancing children's letter knowledge and phonemic awareness skills should be a priority goal in the kindergarten classroom.