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LITERACY
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Variations in Shared Book Reading and Emergent Literacy Skills
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Abstract
Research over the past few decades has uncovered two strong predictors of individual differences in reading skill development in English: letter knowledge and phonological awareness. Children who know the names and, better still, the sounds of letters show faster progress in learning to read. Similarly, those who can reflect on the sound structure of spoken words, such as picking out which of four words begins with a different sound, develop reading skill more easily. However the strength of early alphabetic and phonological skills as early predictors of reading skill should not blind us to more fully investigating other factors that research has suggested are also important to literacy development, particularly children’s emergent understanding of orthographic knowledge (e.g., how letters look, are spaced. and can be combined), their semantic knowledge or understanding of vocabulary, and the role that various experiences, such as shared book reading, play in fostering literacy across the early school years.
The proposed research will centre around two main themes in children ages four to eight: 1) the development of emergent orthographic knowledge and what early experiences are optimal in promoting it; and 2) the nature of shared book reading with children and how different experiences in this context influence the development of orthographic knowledge, semantic knowledge, and literacy skills.The research will be accomplished through a collaborative and unique combination of naturalistic work, in which we examine the literacy experiences that parents provide to their children, and experimental work, in which we will design and implement different book reading experiences for children using naturally occurring variations in book reading as a design base. Both longitudinal and short-term analyses of effects and multiple populations will be examined. We anticipate that the findings will provide direction to parents, teachers and publishers of children’s books as to how books and literacy activities might best be designed and orchestrated to facilitate the growth of literacy. In addition the results will benefit the scientific community by providing more detail on the developmental sequence of orthographic knowledge, the conditions under which reading to children enhances vocabulary development, and the effect that different book styles and parent-child interactions during shared book reading have on children’s literacy development.
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A Longitudinal Study of the Relation Between Pre-Linguistic Temporal Processing and Language Ability
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Abstract
Auditory temporal processing refers to the ability to discriminate fine temporal intervals, and deficits in this domain have been linked to language and reading impairments. Researchers propose to assess three measures of temporal processing in 6-month-old infants. They will then follow these children in a longitudinal study in order to determine both the developmental trajectories of these skills, and whether measures at 6 months predict future reading success. Both behavioural measures and electrophysiological indexes will be used, allowing links between developmental skill and brain maturation to be studied. If the predicted relation between early temporal processing and later reading ability is found, they hope to be able to use this diagnostic test to identify infants at risk for future reading difficulties, and thus enable early intervention. The goals of the proposed research are (1) to develop pre-linguistic tests of auditory temporal processing suitable for use with young infants (2) to examine the development and stability of temporal processing skills, and (3) to explore the relation between these measures in infancy and future reading success. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop tools that allow early diagnosis of potential reading difficulties.
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Development of a Multi-component Test Battery for the Assessment of French Reading Skills
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Abstract
The goals of the present project are a) to develop a standardized multi-component test battery for the detailed assessment of reading skills among Canadian readers of French from 5 to 21 years of age, and b) in the process, to investigate the foundations of skilled reading in French. The expected outcome of this project is to fill an important gap in the arsenal of assessment tools intended for Canadian readers of French and provide a solid and sophisticated multi-component test battery to practitioners (e.g. in the areas of education, language and communication pathology, neuropsychology) and to researchers who are interested in the analysis of basic reading processes or in the evaluation of reading education programs (e.g. in public schools or in French-immersion programs). Original empirical work on basic reading processes with native readers of French will contribute to strengthening the theoretical foundation of the test battery. Special attention will be paid to the commonalities and differences among reading patterns observed in different alphabetic languages.
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Understanding Reading Development in Second Language Learners
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Abstract
Many children in Canada are learning to read in their second language, either because their families are relatively recent arrivals in Canada and they speak a language other than English at home, or because they are enrolled in French Immersion. However, most research on how children learn to read has focused on monolingual readers. It is important to better understand the reading acquisition process in second language children so that these children may be helped to develop the high level of literacy that is needed to succeed both at school and in the workplace. This research will study the development of reading fluency in both English as a Second Language (ESL) students and French Immersion students. No other research compares the acquisition of reading in these two language-learning situations. As well, most research on reading acquisition follows students for one or two years whereas this study will follow students for up to 6 years. This will allow the researchers to follow the development of second language learners’ literacy skills until they become reasonably fluent in their second language. The research program will address several issues related to learning to read in a second language. One issue concerns the nature of the relationship between fluency in the second language and reading skill acquisition in the second language. A second issue concerns whether tests that can be given in kindergarten, before reading instruction begins, can be useful to identify children who are likely to have difficulty learning to read in their second language. A third issue concerns whether bilingual readers read less in each of their languages than monolingual readers and, if so, whether this has any consequences for the development of fluency in reading each language. A final question is whether a bilingual reader’s languages interact in reading. There may be both interference and facilitation from knowledge of another language, and these influences may change over time. Outcomes of this research will provide educators with information that will be helpful in making decisions regarding reading instruction for second language learners.
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The Missing-Letter Effect: A Window on the Development of First and Second Language Reading Skills
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Abstract
Suppose you ask your friend to perform the following dual-task: read a paragraph while marking with a pencil all the ts. You will most likely find that he or she will miss many more of the target letters when they are embedded in the frequent function word "the" than in frequent content words like top, ten, etc. This robust finding has been called the missing-letter effect and the many studies conducted to explain it point to its value as a window on the mental processes that are at the foundation of reading, one of the most complex and important skills contributed by human civilization. Network Investigators propose to conduct developmental and bilingual studies of the missing-letter effect, because they are convinced that by doing so they will acquire valuable information to help us understand why some children have difficulty acquiring this all-important skill.Over the last two decades, the investigation of reading processes has benefited from an intense theoretical and empirical activity centered around a simple empirical phenomenon: the missing-letter effect (MLE). This effect has turned out to be one of the most robust in the reading literature. However, until now, efforts devoted to investigating adults' reading processes through the MLE have not been mirrored by similar efforts in understanding the development of those processes. This is an important gap given no serious model of reading can ignore the development of reading ability. The main goal of this research program is to address this issue through a series of integrated experiments. More specifically, this two-year research program is aimed at: (1) clarifying the development of the reading processes captured by the MLE; (2) studying the impact of bilingualism on these reading processes; (3) investigating the interplay between the cognitive processes involved in reading and the associated pattern of eye-movements, and (4) exploring the possibility of using the MLE in the assessment and prediction of reading deficits.
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Factors Affecting Language Development and Reading Difficulties
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Abstract
The overall purpose of the program of research proposed here is to improve our understanding of factors affecting reading acquisition and the development of reading difficulties. The planned projects will examine the development of oral language and phonological awareness among preschool children, and will consider the role played by differences in family literacy and parental beliefs and practices in this development. The extent to which these early variables predict later reading acquisition will be assessed. The long-term goal of this research initiative is the prevention of early reading difficulties, and the social and affective problems that frequently accompany them.
The successful acquisition of reading is essential for a full participation in Canadian society. We know, however, that individual differences in reading skills are established early and have long-term consequences. Children who experience early reading difficulties enter a vicious cycle whereby they are less motivated to read, and, consequently, experience more and more difficulties in school. Our understanding of reading difficulties has improved greatly over the last two decades. We understand better how precursor skills, such as phonological awareness, affect the development of reading. In fact, phonological awareness —a child’s capacity to discriminate and manipulate speech sounds— is one of the best predictors of reading. Nonetheless, we know little about how individual differences in phonological awareness arise. The proposed research programme will start to fill this gap. The research programme will establish to what extent early oral language influences phonological awareness, and subsequent emergent literacy and reading acquisition. It will provide important information about how family environmental factors may affect pre-reading and reading skills, and how they might contribute to difficulties in reading acquisition. It will provide new tools for assessing early phonological awareness, and for investigating parental beliefs and practices about providing feedback regarding their children’s speech. It will provide information about these parental beliefs and practices, an area about which nothing is now known. All of these dimensions should contribute to future interventions designed to prevent or reduce reading acquisition difficulties, and to maximize the reading skills of all children. These results should help to reduce the social and affective difficulties that result from reading disabilities for many children. Researchers hope that the findings obtained will benefit children directly as well as provide useful and usable information to parents and teachers. The tools developed will be useful to remedial teachers and speech-language pathologists.
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Cognitive Control in Phonological Tasks
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Abstract
The proposed research is designed to test the idea that fluent word identification requires the development of skilled cognitive control over processes that allow a reader to translate a printed word form into a pattern of sound--an internal, phonological code. Network researchers plan to compare the performance of skilled and less skilled readers at early elementary school age who are otherwise comparable with respect to intellectual ability. Their goal is to develop an understanding of why some intellectually able children have difficulty learning to read, and, more specifically, learning to identify words. Two sets of experimental studies will be conducted. In the first, children will be asked to alternate between two different tasks requiring phonological processing, such as reading aloud and reporting the first letter of a word. The researchers expect that less skilled readers will have difficulty maintaining control in switching between two tasks of this kind, although they should perform normally when asked to switch between two tasks that do not involve word reading. In the other set of studies, they will examine possible sources of interference to which less skilled readers may be especially sensitive. For example, recent experience with a word that is phonologically similar to a current target word may lead a less skilled reader to misread that target as the previously encountered word. This kind of preservation would indicate a lack of cognitive control when translating a printed word into its phonological code. By gaining an understanding of the nature of potential impairments in control of phonological processes among less skilled readers, researchers hope to contribute to the development of training strategies that will allow these children to become more successful readers.
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Studying the Roots of Disciplinary Literacy in Science: Implications for Designed Learning Environments Inside and Outside School
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Abstract
The need to foster a scientifically literate public has been a focus of science education in Canada and the US for much of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the definitions of scientific literacy that have shaped the science curriculum have typically ignored the importance of reading science both in the professional lives of scientists and the lives of everyday people. The ability to read, interpret, and evaluate various types of scientific writing can have important consequences for personal health, professional effectiveness and responsible citizenship. In this project, Network Researchers propose to conduct six integrated studies over five years on the early development of understanding science talk and text that foreshadow the development of sophisticated forms of argumentation and reading skills in science. The overall goals are to conduct a program of research that can guide those designing science learning experiences inside and outside of schools for young children of all backgrounds and that supports curricular reforms that emphasize the critical role of argumentation and reading in learning and appreciating science.
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Customizing Literacy Development
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Abstract
This is a proposal to conduct a longitudinal study of (1) young children’s literacy development (reading, writing and numeracy) from diverse economic, language, educational and ability levels, (2) their home and school learning environments, (3) teachers and parents’ ability to assist in the development of their children’s literacy, (4) the design and development of customized literacy programs and materials for use at home and school, and (5) to use advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to study the neural correlates of emerging cognitive functions associated with literacy development in children. Despite what is known about early literacy development, we acknowledge the distance to be traveled in understanding the intricacies of early literacy development and the complex interplay among children’s genetics, their homes, communities, and capacity to meet success in schools. The collection of studies proposed herein represent the necessary breadth and depth of the sort required for understanding literacy development.
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Perceptual and Cognitive Correlates of Language Skills across the Age Range
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Abstract
People are not equally proficient in their language and reading ability. Within the "normal" population, people vary widely in their language and reading skills, and as many as 15% of otherwise normal children born each year, despite normal exposure to their native language, many fail to acquire normal language and speech (Tallal et al., 1996) or reading and writing (Stein and Walsh, 1997). One hypothesis is that developmental delay in language and reading ability has its root in deficits in more basic perceptual and cognitive processing skills (Farmer and Klein, 1995). The generality of the coexistence of perceptual and language problems in the same individuals - both across children diagnosed with developmental language delay, and across the age span in the "normal" population - is not known. The purpose of the present research is to address this question. The research is in two parts. The first phase is a 2 year cross-sectional study of the perceptual and cognitive correlates of language and reading function across the age range from grade schoolers to elderly adults in the general population. This study will identify the basic processing skills which are most highly correlated with language and reading proficiency. The second phase is a longitudinal study. It will take the measures of perceptual/cognitive skills, revealed by the cross-sectional study to be the most informative about language/reading function, and use them to follow longitudinally a cohort of grade-school children for 5 to 7 years. This study will provide evidence on the relationships between the developmental trajectories of language function and the basic processing skills thought to underlie it, and this is the most powerful strategy for drawing causal connections between the two levels of function. The research will provide new incidence data on perceptual, cognitive and language skills in the population, and the relations between them. Knowledge of those patterns has direct implications for the remediation of children with developmental language delay, and also for the development of language and reading skills in the general population.
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Last Modified: July 11 2002 08:49:44.
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