Reading and Writing最新文献

To achieve efficient reading comprehension, Chinese as a second language (L2) learners adopt various component skills and knowledge, including the aspects of vocabulary, grammar, and coherence. However, there is no consensus regarding the relative predictive powers of these three areas in L2 reading comprehension. Instead of employing direct measurement of student reading performance, this study aims to explore this issue by analyzing teacher perception data. Using a Likert-scale questionnaire, 95 experienced teachers rated L2 Chinese learners’ reading comprehension, subskills, and sub-knowledge of reading. The results of structural equation modeling reveal that the three areas of subskills and sub-knowledge (i.e., Vocabulary, Grammar, and Coherence) all positively and significantly predicted reading comprehension. Grammar exhibits the strongest predictive power, followed by Coherence, and Vocabulary. This study enhances our understanding of the relative contributions of subskills and sub-knowledge to L2 Chinese reading. Implications for L2 Chinese instruction are provided.

Morphological structure exerts an influence on acoustic duration. But does it also influence typing duration? The present article reports an experimental study that tests for the influence of morphological structure on typing timing. It is also a first of its kind comparison between spoken and written language production within the same paradigm, which explores the extent to which a pattern that has been found for speech production may have an analogue in written language production. In an online typing study using the experimental design of Schmitz et al. (Phonetica 78:571–616, 2021a), we test their results from the spoken domain for transferability to the written domain. Specifically, our study investigates whether language users type word-final < s > in English pseudowords at different word-internal boundaries—non-morphemic, plural, auxiliary has-clitic and is-clitic—with differing speeds and how our results compare to those found by Schmitz et al. (Phonetica 78:571–616, 2021a) for articulation. We find that the influence of morphological structure on articulation and typing timing does not follow an identical principle. While durational differences are found for the different morphological categories in articulation, participants in our experiment type non-morphemic < s > and plural < s > at almost identical speed. A significant difference emerges, however, for the typing of auxiliary clitics. Our results suggest that processing units other than morphemes might be dominant in written language production.

Handwriting is a perceptual-motor skill encompassing a series of psychomotor skills related to academic performance. The main aim of this study was to translate and study the psychometric properties of the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire for Children (HPSQ-C) for the Spanish population. A study was conducted on a final sample of 164 children from the 1st to 5th year of primary school (mean age 8.46 ± 1.14 years). Construct validity was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The Spanish version of HPSQ-C required a change in items 3 and 5. The CFA showed three factors: (1) physical and emotional well-being; (2) performance time; and (3) legibility. The internal consistency of the Spanish version of the HPSQ-C was lower than satisfactory (ω = 0.68). The goodness of fit measures for the factor structure of HPSQ-C’s Spanish version was < 0.001 and the CFI was 1, which suggests a good fit. The psychometric analysis confirmed the HPSQ-C Spanish version’s internal consistency and construct validity. HPSQ-C provides a unique opportunity to evaluate handwriting from the child’s perspective.

This study investigated similarities and differences in children’s (N = 83, grades 4–6) narrative comprehension between text, audio, and non-verbal video, including measures of both comprehension products and processes. The aim was to understand how children engage with information across various media and, in doing so, address inconsistent findings in the existing literature. Comprehension products were assessed through open-ended questions and recall, and comprehension processes through think-aloud protocols. Results revealed that children answered more comprehension questions correctly for video versions of the narratives than for text versions, particularly children with lower reading comprehension skills. No advantage of video over text was found for the recall task. Think-aloud responses during narrative comprehension revealed similar processing patterns for text and video, with a general tendency to report information close to the story rather than elaborate based on background knowledge. However, video versions prompted children to activate background knowledge to a greater extent than did text versions, suggesting an advantage of video at the situation-model level. Notably, differences between video and text versions cannot be attributed solely to the absence of decoding demands in video, as similar differences were found between video and audio versions. These results suggest (a) considerable similarities in both process and product across media, but (b) non-verbal videos elicit more situation-model processes than texts do, (c) non-verbal videos have an advantage over text with regard to performance on the comprehension questions, especially for less-skilled comprehenders. These findings illustrate the nuanced relationship between media affordances and comprehension processes and outcomes.

Developing reading materials tailored to the specific needs and proficiency levels of students is important yet challenging for educators and teachers. Current data-driven indices assisting this task primarily focus on lexical and syntactic text features, often overlooking text cohesion, a key discourse feature impacting reading comprehension. To fill this gap, this study explored the variation of text cohesion in second language (L2) Chinese reading materials across different text levels and genres. We used an NLP-based tool to examine the lexical, grammatical, and topical cohesion features of 450 representative L2 Chinese reading texts. A two-way MANOVA was then conducted to analyze the variation of text cohesion across different text levels and genres, as well as the interaction between text levels and genres. Our findings have revealed significant disparities in text cohesion across varying text levels, particularly in lexical cohesion features, and among different genres, with narratives standing out from argumentative and expository texts. Interaction effects between text level and genre were noted, albeit with small effect sizes. This study highlights the importance of text cohesion when developing reading materials for L2 Chinese learners and offers insights into developing text cohesion benchmarks for preparing reading materials of different levels and genres.

Phonological processing is an important contributor to decoding and spelling difficulties, but it does not fully explain word reading outcomes for all children. As orthographic knowledge is acquired, it influences phonological processing in typical readers. In the present study, we examined whether orthography affects phonological processing differently for children with current reading difficulties (RD), children with a history of reading difficulties who are currently presenting with typical word reading skills (Hx), and children with typical development and no history of reading difficulties (TD). School-aged children completed a phonological awareness task containing spoken words and pictures while eye movements were recorded. In this task, children had to pair a spoken stimulus word with one of four pictures that ended with the same sound. Within the task, stimulus-target picture pairs varied in the congruency and consistency of the orthographic and phonological mappings of their final consonant sounds. Eye movements revealed that children with typical word reading (the Hx and TD groups) showed better discrimination of the target from the foils compared to peers with underdeveloped word reading skills. All children were more accurate when stimulus-target pairs were congruent and consistent than when they were incongruent or inconsistent. Orthography plays an important role in the completion of phonological awareness tasks, even in the absence of written words and for children with a wide range of reading abilities. Results highlight the importance of considering orthography during interventions for phonological awareness and word reading.

This study examines context effects on lexical processing by low-proficiency Japanese learners of English during sentence comprehension, and the role of individual differences in verbal working memory (WM). Thirty Japanese learners of English as a second language (L2) and 27 speakers of English as a first language (L1) were recruited for a self-paced reading task with high and low context sentences to assess lexical processing abilities, and a reading span task to measure WM capacities. Bayesian modeling indicated that, at the group level, L2 learners had slower lexical processing times for low context sentences compared to high context ones, especially in the spillover region, while L1 speakers showed no difference. At the individual level, higher WM capacities among L2 learners appeared to mitigate these context effects, supporting the interactive-compensatory model (Stanovich in Read Res Q, 10.2307/747348, 1980; Remedial Spec Educ 5(3):11–19, 10.1177/074193258400500306, 1984). The findings highlight context effects on L2 lexical processing and the crucial role of WM in managing these effects among L2 learners.

Bilingual children are at risk for gaps in literacy in the societal language compared to monolingual peers. However, most research has focused on reading achievement, and only few studies have investigated spelling abilities, with contradictory findings. Here, we compare Hebrew spelling skill and its predictors in bilingual and monolingual elementary school children, immersed in Hebrew as a societal language. Specifically, we examined the morphological elements in Hebrew spelling. Monolingual children outperformed bilingual children in spelling accuracy, in both 2nd and 4th grade. In addition, phonological awareness and morphological awareness were significant predictors of spelling for both groups, but their relative contribution differed across the groups. Finally, even though bilingual children had lower morphological knowledge than monolingual peers, both groups showed the expected developmental pattern of spelling function letters more accurately than root letters. This pattern in Hebrew spelling acquisition is driven by the morpho-orthographic regularities of the language. These results support previous findings emphasizing the role of morphology in Hebrew spelling acquisition, extending them to bilingual children. We suggest that examining the linguistic backgrounds of children and the unique characteristics of the language and orthography are crucial for reaching a nuanced understanding of bilingual spelling acquisition.

How students perceive the difficulty of a reading task may significantly influence their reading process and outcome. This perception of task difficulty is determined by the objective features of a reading task and their affective responses toward it. From the stance of cognitive load theory, the current study examined the interaction between students’ perceived difficulty of reading tasks and enjoyment of reading in determining reading achievement. Specifically, we examined the moderation of reading enjoyment on the relationship between perceived difficulty of reading tasks and reading achievement. We used the OECD Programme for International Students Achievement 2018 data of 469,194 15-year-old students (51% girls, M = 15.79, SD = 0.29) from 69 economies. Results of multilevel structural equation modeling with latent interactions indicated that (a) perceived cognitive load negatively predicted reading achievement, (b) enjoyment of reading negatively predicted perceived cognitive load and therefore benefited reading achievement, and (c) enjoyment of reading deteriorated the negative relation between perceived intrinsic load and reading achievement. Reading enjoyment seemed to be a double-edged sword to reading achievement. These results have practical implications for reading materials design and reading instruction as well as theoretical implications for understanding different aspects of cognitive load.

Inhibitory control ability may affect the orthographic neighborhood size (ONS) effect by inhibiting the semantic activation of neighbors. However, few studies have explored whether and how inhibitory control plays a role in the ONS effect on recognition of Chinese words. This study screened individuals with high and low inhibitory control abilities, and manipulated the ONS of Chinese words. Event-related potentials were used to explore the differences in ONS effects between individuals with high and low inhibitory control abilities, as well as the dissociation of ONS effects for Chinese real words and pseudowords recognition in lexical decision task. Both the behavioral and ERP results showed that ONS effect would be stronger in individuals with low inhibitory control ability. Meanwhile, we found a significant facilitative ONS effect on real words recognition and inhibitory effect on pseudowords recognition. In conclusion, inhibitory control is involved in ONS effect and the ONS effect has a dissociation when recognizing Chinese real words and pseudowords.