WORD READING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT OF DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING PRESCHOOLERS by Victoria Burke Siegler’s (1996) overlapping waves model of strategy development applied to reading posits that children use multiple strategies to read words from the earliest stage of reading development, that these strategies coexist over a long period of time, and that experience results in gradual change in the strategies children use and the effectiveness with which they are executed. Phonological recoding is one of the most effective early developing reading strategies and is predictive of future reading success for hearing children (Ehri, 2005; Juel & Mindencupp, 2000; Share & Gur, 1999). However, less is known regarding the extent to which young children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) develop and use phonological strategies to read words. Due to technological advances such as cochlear implants and digital hearing aids, many DHH children have sufficient functional hearing to be able to perceive and represent spoken language. For these children, beginning reading strategies may resemble those of hearing children (Geers, Tobey, Moog, & Brenner, 2008; Lederberg, Schick, & Spencer, in press). The purpose of this study was to describe changes in the word reading strategies of 15 DHH preschoolers with functional hearing. These children received explicit instruction in alphabetic knowledge, phonological awareness, and early reading strategies in a year-long intervention. Instruction was videotaped and children’s overt behavior while independently reading words was coded for reading strategy and accuracy. The preschoolers used multiple reading strategies at all times including two phonological recoding strategies (segmenting phonemes only, segmenting and blending phonemes) and retrieval. Gradual change was observed in strategy choice, execution, and accuracy. Children’s use of segmenting only decreased while segmenting and blending phonemes increased between the beginning and middle of the year. Retrieval use increased between the middle and end of the year. Execution of phonological strategies gradually improved over the year. These results suggest young DHH children who have functional hearing develop and use strategies in a manner similar to hearing children and benefit from explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka samband som visas tydligt hos elever i både matematiksvårigheter samt fonologiska svårigheter. Studien har genomförts på elever i årskurs 7 som uppvisat matematiska såväl som fonologiska svårigheter. Resultatet baseras på en filmad observation där eleverna fått lösa ett urval uppgifter konstruerade utifrån svårigheter gällande grundläggande taluppfattning och aritmetik. Elever med fonologiska svårigheter såväl som bristande arbetsminne visar sig ha svårigheter när det gäller att automatisera tabellkunskap såväl som utföra beräkningar gällande de fyra räknesätten. / The purpose of the study is to research what correlation is apparent in students with both mathematical and phonological difficulties. The study has been conducted with 7th grade students who have shown both mathematical and phonological difficulties. The result is based on a filmed observation where the students solved a selection of tasks constructed based on problems with basic number sense and arithmetic. Students with phonological difficulties as well as inadequate working memory are showing problems when it comes to automated knowledge of the multiplication table as well as performing calculations concerning arithmetic.

Exploring the word length effect from the perspective of information density, the current research extended previous findings on cross-linguistic differences in STM capacity with the development of a new strategy that has the potential to double ones digit span with minimal learning and a much shorter training period. Experiments have shown promising results and responses to training differed across language groups. The underlying mechanisms are explored and discussed in relation to strategy usage, capacity estimates and optimization of language systems.

This quantitative study has been derived from a five-year federal experimental research project entitled English and Literacy Acquisition (ELLA- R305P030032) which targeted Spanish-speaking English Language Learners (ELLs) receiving services in English immersion and bilingual program models. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive power of Spanish phonemic awareness in kindergarten on Spanish reading ability in first grade among Spanish-speaking ELLs. Fifty-five students from typical practice bilingual classrooms were included in this study. Phonemic awareness skills were measured using blending phonemes and segmenting words, two subtests from Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (C-TOPP). Reading ability was measured using letter-word identification and passage comprehension, two subtests from Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery-Revised (WLPB-R). Data of phonemic awareness skills were collected at the beginning and end of kindergarten and data of reading ability were collected at the beginning and end of first grade. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were performed to address the research questions. The data from this study present a picture of a predictive power of phonemic awareness skills on reading comprehension in Spanish. Results from this study suggest that both skill areas of phonemic awareness in kindergarten have a moderate predictive effect on reading ability at the beginning of first grade. However, phonemic awareness skills in kindergarten did not show a statistically significant relationship to Spanish literacy at the end of first grade. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

The primary purpose of the present review was to determine why conflicting findings have been reported regarding the long-term effects of phonological awareness training for children from low socioeconomic status families (low-SES) and children with familial risk for reading impairment. Four aspects of intervention were analyzed for each of the studies: service delivery, content of intervention, length of sessions, and total number of sessions. The second purpose of the review was to determine which aspects of intervention had the largest effect on improving later reading skills as well as if general aspects were beneficial to both at-risk groups or if there were population-specific factors. A total of ten intervention studies, five involving children from low-SES and five involving children with familial risk for reading impairment, were reviewed. Of the ten interventions reviewed, only three interventions, two involving children from low-SES and one involving children at familial risk for reading impairment, demonstrated successful long-term effects on reading. The remaining interventions demonstrated differences across the four aspects analyzed and conflicting long-term outcomes. As no population specific factors were observed across studies, the similarities found in the three successful interventions suggest that a general intervention program can be beneficial for both populations of at-risk children. / text

The purpose of this study is to investigate if the class teachers believe that their education has given them enough knowledge about dyslexia in order to succeed a successful education for these pupils. It will present what four class teachers and two special education teachers has answered what they know about dyslexia. The study aims to find out if class teachers believe that they have enough knowledge to determine whether a pupil has dyslexia. If they have knowledge of appropriate methods and if they know how to prevent that pupils fall behind in their literacy and also what factors they believes makes it problematic to implement a literacy for these pupils. I propose the following questions: Do the class teachers consider that their education has given them sufficient knowledge of dyslexia and its characteristics? What methods does the class teachers and special education teachers considers as useful for pupils with dyslexia? What does the class teachers consider can prevent that pupils with dyslexia fall behind in their reading and writing skills? What factors consider class teachers and special education teachers is problematic to to succeed a reading and writing education for pupils with dyslexia? This study is based on a qualitative method and my theoretical approach is based on Høien and Lundberg established view of what dyslexia is. The results show that teacher’s university studies do not provide sufficient knowledge about dyslexia and appropriate methods. This problem is also described in the research I have used. Attributed to this it is obvious that class teachers have enough knowledge what dyslexia is and they could tell which methods that are good to use. They could also declare how to prevent that pupil’s with dyslexia fall behind in their reading and writing education. This means that a teacher in grade F -3 has sufficient knowledge to be able to implement a teaching adapted for pupils with dyslexia.

This dissertation is a proposal for foot structure in Québécois that uniformly accounts for high vowel distribution with respect to tenseness, devoicing and deletion within a single prosodic framework. The complementary distribution of tenseness in the final syllable and the variable realizations in the non-final syllable are shown to be regulated by the proposed foot structure. A grammatical, sonority-based surface weight distinction is assumed for vowels: tense high vowels are associated to a full mora µ, along with non-high vowels, while lax high vowels are associated to a hypomora λ, a weight value less than µ. This grammatical weight is regulated at the level of the minimally monomoraic foot. The final, Head Foot is necessarily monosyllabic. Thus, a final hypomoraic rime is quantitatively insufficient to host a foot projection, resulting in a monomoraic, tense vowel in an open syllable. The foot expands to include an adjacent syllable in words consisting of more than two syllables, following the Trochaic Markedness Hierarchy, based on the following three principles, in the order of priority: 1) quantitative minimum: light and heavy rimes are preferred to superlight (λ) rimes, 2) quantitative evenness: even trochees are preferred to uneven trochees, and 3) quantitative dominance: the left branch that is heavier than the right branch is preferred to the left branch that is lighter. A form like /kamizᴐl/ surfaces with a monomoraic, tense vowel in the left branch of the trochee, (ska. wmi)(szᴐl), given that an even foot (L L) is preferred to an uneven foot with a hypomoraic branch, (L SL). The trochaic instantiation (H) is also better-formed than (L SL), preferring deletion to a hypomoraic rime: (kam)(zᴐl). In the Optimality-theoretic analysis, variation is modeled via the mechanism of a Floating Constraint (Reynolds 1994): a constraint whose ranking status can be varied with respect to a set range of a fixed ranking of constraints, within a single grammar. The variation in question is shown to be largely a function of the floating status of the constraint regulating the grammatical weight association of vowels, (Son-Weight), and its relative ranking with respect to the Trochaic Markedness constraints. / text

The effectiveness of treatment approaches aimed at children with language impairments to improve reading skills is the focus of this research synthesis. Research in this area is extensive but this report aims to focus on the results of 12 studies to highlight similarities and differences. Findings from these studies were analyzed and showed that phonological awareness intervention is one of the most prevalent types of intervention for this population. Research supports the fact that phonological awareness intervention can produce positive changes in children with language impairments. This type of intervention can not only cause improvements in phonological awareness skills but can also cause increases in reading ability. Credibility ratings for the studies as well as clinical implications are also discussed. / text

This dissertation is an examination phonemic awareness and its relationship to reading ability in literate adults. Phonemic awareness is an indisputable predictor of reading ability in children, but whether the same relationship between phonemic awareness and reading exists in adult readers is unknown. All alphabetically literate adults are understood to be phonemically aware to a certain degree. Moreover, adults pay attention to sound/symbol relationships when reading. Yet, the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading ability in alphabetically literate adults has not been explicitly studied, even though phonemic awareness is understood to be a key component of reading strategy and proficiency. A study was conducted on phonemic and syllabic awareness in adults. The results indicate that adults, despite years of alphabetic reading experience, are differentiated with regard to phonemic awareness and are more syllabically aware than phonemically aware. Additionally, the study demonstrates that phonemic awareness is associated with reading ability in adults, though syllabic awareness is not. Implications and directions for future study are discussed.

While significant research has been done on dyslexia with native English speakers, little is known about identifying dyslexia in English Language Learners (ELLs). Previous research, primarily involving monolingual native English speakers, has highlighted specific cognitive correlates of reading that help screen students with dyslexia at an early age. These cognitive correlates, which include Phonological Awareness (PA), Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN), and Processing Speed (PS), have consistently been linked to basic reading skills in English and other languages. The present study had many objectives that could provide guidance for practitioners working with ELLs. First it explored the value of PA, RAN, and PS as predictors of basic reading skills in Spanish speaking ELLs. Second, it investigated a model that combined tasks of PA, RAN and PS that had the highest correlations to aspects of reading. Third, it explored the role of Vocabulary (V) in both English and Spanish in the development of reading skills in ELLs. Fourth, it aimed at establishing the use of the Simple View of Reading (SVR; Gough & Tunmer, 1986), which postulates that reading is the product of decoding and listening comprehension skills, for the assessment of reading in ELLs. Finally, it incorporated findings from this study for an adaptation of the SVR for use with ELLs. Findings suggest that RAN, PA, and PS, as measured in this study, are highly correlated to basic reading skills in Spanish speaking ELLs, and that these can be used for the assessment of reading and dyslexia in this population. This study also demonstrated that a model that included RAN numbers and phoneme deletion in English can accurately predict reading performance. Findings also indicate that V in English is highly correlated to basic reading skills in English, and that the model of the SVR can be replicated with the population sampled in this study. Finally, case study analyses illustrate how a model similar to the SVR, which incorporates RAN and PS, as well as V, can be used for the assessment of reading and dyslexia in ELLs.