Abstract: Introduction to Working Memory. The Development of Working Memory. Vocabulary Acquisition. Speech Production. Introduction to Reading Development. Phonological Processing and Reading Development. Visual Word Recognition. Language Comprehension. Theoretical and Practical Issues.

Abstract: * Two Metaphors * Inferential Aspects of Performance * Participatory Responses * Language Use in Narrative Worlds * Some Consequences of Being Transported * Narrative Information and Real-World Judgments

Abstract: Deep dyslexia is an acquired reading disorder marked by the Occurrence of semantic errors (e.g. reading RIVER as “ocean”). In addition, patients exhibit a number of other symptoms, including visual and morphological effects in their errors, a part-of-speech effect, and an advantage for concrete over abstract words. Deep dyslexia poses a distinct challenge for cognitive neuropsychology because there is little understanding of why such a variety of symptoms should co-occur in virtually all known patients. Hinton and Shallice (1991) replicated the co-occurrence of visual and semantic errors by lesioning a recurrent connectionist network trained to map from orthography to semantics. Although the success of their simulations is encouraging. there is little understanding of what underlying principles are responsible for them. In this paper we evaluate and, where possible, improve on the most important design decisions made by Hinton and Shallice, relating to the task, the network architecture, the trai...

Abstract: A study investigated the factors influencing the English word identification performance of Spanish-speaking beginning readers. Beginning readers were administered tests of letter naming, Spanish phonological awareness, Spanish and English word recognition, and Spanish and English oral proficiency. Multiple-regression analyses revealed that the readers' performance on EngIish word and pseudoword recognition tests was predicted by the levels of both Spanish phonological awareness and Spanish word recognition, thus indicating cross-language transfer. In contrast, neither English nor Spanish oral proficiency affected word-identification performance. Results suggest a specific way in which first-language learning and experience can aid children in the beginning stages of reading

Abstract: Acknowledgements. 1. A Changed Conjuncture. 2. Associative Principles and Democratic Reform. 3. Associational Ethics and Logics of Collective Action. 4. Associative Democracy and Economic Governance. 5. Current Realities and Economic Reform. 6. Thick Welfare, Thin Collectivism. 7. An Associational and Confederal Welfare State. Reference. Suggestions for Further Reading. Index.

Abstract: The present study assessed reading difficulties and cognitive impairments of German-speaking dyslexic children at grade levels 2, 3, and 4. It was found that German dyslexic children suffered from a pervasive speed deficit for all types of reading tasks, including text, high frequency words, and pseudowords, but at the same time showed generally rather high reading accuracy. For pseudowords, reading refusals or word responses were absent, and the majority of errors was close to the target pronunciation. Reading speed seemed to be most impaired for pseudowords and function words that did not allow the children to take a short-cut from phonemically mediated word processing. The discussion offers a developmental framework for the interpretation of these reading difficulties. For the cognitive tasks, dyslexic children did not differ from age-matched control children on the pseudoword repetition task or the digit span task, indicating that auditory perception and memory were not impaired. On phonological awareness tasks (rhyme oddity detection, vowel substitution, and pseudoword spelling), dyslexic children scored lower than age-matched control children, but not lower than younger reading-level control children. The performance of the dyslexic children on the phonemic segmentation tasks (pseudoword spelling and vowel substitution) was high in absolute terms. In contrast, marked differences between dyslexic and age-matched controls were found on rapid naming tasks: dyslexic grade 4 children showed lower numeral-naming speed than reading-level grade 2 children. Numeral-naming speed turned out to be the most important predictor of reading speed differences. These findings are discussed in relation to the phonological impairment explanation of dyslexia and to recent alternative explanations that posit an underlying impairment in automatizing skills which demand the fast execution of low-level cognitive processes.

Abstract: In this paper, we review several lines of convergent research to discuss the relationship between developmental dyslexia and slow symbol naming speed. We describe the interactive development of orthographic and phonological codes, and we discuss the methodological problems that may have led to underestimating the importance of individual differences in orthographic processing in our account of reading disabilities. Symbol naming speed is typically subsumed under phonological processing, yet it contributes variance to reading, especially to reading fluency, independently of phonological awareness. We speculate that naming speed may reflect precise timing mechanisms necessary to the development of orthographic codes and to their integration with phonological codes. We argue that an understanding of this precise timing dimension is necessary to incorporate in our models of phonological, orthographic, and semantic processes in reading acquisition and reading failure.

Abstract: A group of children with speech-language impairments was identified in kindergarten and given a battery of speech-language tests and measures of phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming. Subjects were followed in first and second grades and administered tests of written word recognition and reading comprehension. The children with speech-language impairments were found to perform less well on reading tests than a nonimpaired comparison group. Subjects’ performance on standardized measures of language ability in kindergarten was observed to be closely related to reading outcome, especially reading comprehension. Measures of phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming, on the other hand, were found to be the best predictors of written word recognition. The implications of these findings for the early identification and remediation of reading disabilities are discussed.

Abstract: Post-structuralist theory and the study of gendered childhoods the subjects of childhood knowledge and the subjects of reading and writing a vision of femininity? (masculine) transformations sexuality deconstructive reading writing beyond the male-female dualism.

Abstract: "Reading Recovery" is a guidebook for training teachers to deliver an early intervention program designed to reduce literacy problems in an education system. Children entering the "Reading Recovery" program are those from ordinary classes who have the most difficulty in reading and writing after one year at school. Since the "Reading Recovery" program is different for every child, the implementation of a successful program requires thorough teacher training. Using the child's competencies as a starting point, the program advances toward what the child is trying to accomplish. The teaching, therefore, must be individually designed and individually delivered. Using the guidelines in this book, teachers learn how to provide each child with an intensive program of daily instruction which supplements the regular class instruction activities. The goal of "Reading Recovery" is to help children acquire efficient patterns of learning to enable them to work at the average level of their classmates and to continue to progress satisfactorily in their own school's instructional program. When recognized training accompanies the use of procedures contained in this book, success rates are consistently high and surprising.

Abstract: In 2 experiments we investigated whether readers experience comprehension difficulty when they read texts in which local coherence is maintained but global incoherence is introduced. Ss read passages containing an elaborate description of a main character presented early in the text that was inconsistent with actions carried out by the main character later in the text. In Experiment 1, reading times for critical sentences were significantly longer when the earlier description and the critical sentences were inconsistent. In Experiment 2, resolution of global inconsistencies improved memory for the regions of the text that involved the inconsistencies. The results are discussed within a mental model approach to comprehension in which readers attempt to maintain both local and global coherence

Abstract: This dictionary of grammatical terms covers both current and traditional terminology in syntax and morphology. It includes descriptive terms, the major theoretical concepts of the most influential grammatical frameworks, and the chief terms from mathematical and computational linguistics. It contains over 1500 entries, providing definitions and examples, pronunciations, the earliest sources of terms and suggestions for further reading, and recommendations about competing and conflicting usages. The book focuses on non-theory-boumd descriptive terms, which are likely to remain current for some years. Aimed at students and teachers of linguistics, it allows a reader puzzled by a grammatical term to look it up and locate further reading with ease.

Abstract: Acknowledgments Introduction: On the Idea of Cultures of Letters 1: Sparing the Rod: Discipline and Fiction in Antebellum America 2: Veiled Ladies: Toward a History of Antebellum Entertainment 3: Starting Out in the 1860s: Alcott, Authorship, and the Postbellum Literary Field 4: The Reading of Regions For a History of Literary Access The Reading of Regions: A Study in the Social Life of Forms 5: Jewett, Regionalism, and Writing as Women's Work 6: "Why Could Not a Colored Man?": Chesnutt and the Transaction of Authorship Notes Index

Abstract: "[The authors] artfully piece together important essays in educational policy and philosophy. . . . The book deals in detail with such issues as teacher professionalization, moral responsibility of public schools, accountability, and ethical codes of practice. Must reading for teachers, administrators, and professors in schools and departments of education." "--Choice"

Abstract: We have applied research on the visual psychophysics of reading to low vision assessment. Research on different aspects of the reading process found that reading rate rather than reading comprehension is more sensitive to variations in a subject's visual functioning or the stimulus properties of print. The research identified four different visual factors that significantly affect reading rate: (1) acuity reserve [print size relative to acuity threshold], (2) contrast reserve [print contrast relative to contrast threshold], (3) field of view [number of letters visible], and (4) in cases of maculopathy, central scotoma size. Our research indicates that fluent reading rates can be attained with a restricted field of view, as little as four characters. However, attainment of fluent reading levels requires that print size and contrast should be several times threshold and the diameter of a central scotoma should be less than 22 degrees. Although important clinical studies are lacking, we derived specific visual requirements for different reading rates from published experimental research to provide a starting point and to illustrate how visual requirements could be derived, even with poor correlations. Research has made significant progress toward the development of a comprehensive low vision assessment that will allow the practitioner to identify visual impediments to reading, other than reduced visual acuity. Having more fully characterized a visual impairment, the practitioner may tailor devices or interventions to the individual's needs and capabilities.

Abstract: The question of whether global, causal inferences are made during comprehension is studied following a three‐pronged approach. First, potential inferences were first identified a priori in texts generated by the causal network model for narrative discourse. Second, verbal protocol data in the form of “talking aloud” during the reading of sentences in stories were used to evaluate whether or not people made the predicted inferences. The global, causal inferences occurred where anticipated by the discourse analysis. The talk‐aloud data also revealed that subjects used four main mental operations during comprehension of a text sentence: maintaining, retrieving, elaborating, and explaining. Third, the talk‐aloud data predicted recognition priming of superordinate goal statements, reading times of sentences, coherence ratings of stories, and long‐term retention of stories. The data are discussed with reference to constructivist versus minimalist processing claims, working‐memory models, and what verbal protoco...

Abstract: We have applied research on the visual psychophysics of reading to low vision assessment. Research on different aspects of the reading process found that reading rate rather than reading comprehension is more sensitive to variations in a subject’s visual functioning or the stimulus properties of print. The research identified four different visual factors that significantly affect reading rate: (1) acuity reserve [print size relative to acuity threshold], (2) contrast reserve [print contrast relative to contrast threshold], (3) field of view [number of letters visible], and (4) in cases of maculopathy, central scotoma size. Our research indicates that fluent reading rates can be attained with a restricted field of view, as little as four characters. However, attainment of fluent reading levels requires that print size and contrast should be several times threshold and the diameter of a central scotoma should be less than 22°. Although important clinical studies are lacking, we derived specific visual requirements for different reading rates from published experimental research to provide a starting point and to illustrate how visual requirements could be derived, even with poor correlations. Research has made significant progress toward the development of a comprehensive low vision assessment that will allow the practitioner to identify visual impediments to reading, other than reduced visual acuity. Having more fully characterized a visual impairment, the practitioner may tailor devices or interventions to the individual’s needs and capabilities.

Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine whether the Reading Recovery program would be more effective if systematic instruction in phonological recoding skills were incorporated into the program. First-grade at-risk readers were divided into 3 matched groups of 32 children each: a modified Reading Recovery group, a standard Reading Recovery group, and a standard intervention group. The children in the modified Reading Recovery group received explicit code instruction involving phonograms. Results indicated that although both Reading Recovery groups achieved levels of reading performance required for discontinuation of the program, the modified Reading Recovery group reached these levels of performance much more quickly

Abstract: Phonological awareness is thought to be related to children's success in learning to read because it indicates an awareness of the internal structure of words. Morphological awareness, which has been found to be related to reading achievement for older students, may offer a more comprehensive measure of linguistic sensitivity because it entails not only phonological awareness, but also other aspects of linguistic knowledge. The research study reported herein was designed to investigate the extent to which phonological awareness contributes to the morphological awareness of first graders and to determine the extent to which phonological and morphological awareness account for variance in word reading. Two tasks of morphological awareness were used, one assessing judgments of morphological relations and the other assessing the production of inflected and derived forms.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between joint picture-book-reading experiences provided in the home and children's early oral language skills. Subjects were 41 two-year-old children and their mothers. Measures included maternal report of the age at which she began to read to the child, the frequency of home reading sessions, the number of stories read per week, and the frequency of visits by the child to the local library. Measures of language skill used were the child's receptive and expressive scores on the revised Reynell Developmental Language Scales. Multiple regression analyses indicated that picture-book reading exposure was more strongly related to receptive than to expressive language. Age of onset of home reading routines was the most important predictor of oral language skills. Directions of effect, the importance of parental beliefs as determinants of home reading practices, and the possible existence of a threshold level for reading frequency are discussed.

Abstract: This article focuses on the contribution to vocabulary learning of the use of bilingual dictionaries during reading by 293 Japanese university students studying English as a foreign language. The results of the study show that students who used a dictionary scored significantly better on a vocabulary test than students who did not use a dictionary. However, evidence appeared for differential item functioning: Some items were harder for the group that used dictionaries. A possible explanation for this tendency is that students who were unable to locate the appropriate gloss in the dictionary were misled as to the meaning of the word. Moreover, students who used a dictionary read nearly half as quickly as the group that did not use dictionaries.

Abstract: to help us gain an overview and an understanding of the pertinent issues in the field (3; 4; 13; 17; 25; 26). When we look at these reviews from the perspective of the methodologies used in relation to the questions asked, what strikes us is the focus on the product of reading and the lack of attention to the process of reading. Most studies use methods by which the product of reading is elicited: readers are asked to answer comprehension questions, to fill in omitted words (cloze procedure), or to reproduce the text contents (recall). Some years ago, Gupta and McLaughlin argued that the static orientation towards reading in these studies needs to be complemented with a more dynamic orientation. Some studies have attempted to do so by investigating the reading process. First of all, some off-line measures have been used, such as the administration of questionnaires eliciting self-reported strategy use (2; 22). Furthermore, we are witnessing an increasing interest in the use of on-line measures, such as the observation of eye movements (5; 21), the measurement of word reading times and sentence reading times (24), the recording of reading aloud behavior (11; 18), and the recording of thinking aloud during reading (1; 7; 8). As has been pointed out by Segalowitz et al., processing research is pertinent first of all to fundamental theoretical issues in the study of FL reading processes. However, processing research is potentially important for FL instruction as well. In particular, it may give us a deeper understanding of which strategies FL readers use in order to reach their reading goal. The present study contributes to FL reading research both on the level of methodology and on the level of understanding reading strategies. The methodological purpose of our study was o explore the possibilities of using computers for the unobtrusive observation of one aspect of FL reading behavior, namely looking up the meaning of unfamiliar words encountered while reading a FL text. (For a similar computer aided exploration of FL writing behavior, see 6.) The text which the subjects in this study read was available not only on paper but also on the screen of a personal computer. If readers wanted to know the meaning of a difficult word in the text, they moved the cursor to the desired word and pressed the Enter key. A window opened showing the word's translation in the subjects' first language. Pressing the Enter key again made the window disappear. The computer registered subjects' look-up actions by composing log files. Subjects were not told in advance that the computer registered their actions. Nor could they be aware of this since it was done invisibly and inaudibly for them. Some years ago, Pugh and Ulijn called for the use of realistic tasks in FL reading research, rejecting the use of highly artificial procedures The Modern Language Journal, 77, ii (1993) 0026-7902/93/139-47 $1.50/0 ? 1993 The Modern Language Journal

Abstract: Defoe’s Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain was published in three volumes between 1724 and 1726. It is written in the form of a series of letters, each describing a circuit or journey ‘giving a particular and diverting account of whatever is curious and worth observation … particularly fitted for the reading of such as desire to travel over the island’. It purports to be a guidebook or conducted tour of England, Wales and Scotland based on a series of journeys undertaken on horseback by Defoe between 1722 and 1724 but, in common with A Journal of the Plague Year, it is not quite what it seems to be. Like Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey and Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, it is a literary re-creation, a distillation of thoughts and impressions gleaned over a considerable period of time. As merchant, soldier, secret agent and journalist he had travelled widely through Britain over a period of 35 years, 1685–1720. His sharp observation, coupled with his wide reading, his knowledge of political and commercial matters and gift for reportage meant that he was uniquely qualified to present a general picture of Britain at a time of social and economic transition.