Relationships of French and English Morphophonemic Orthographies to Word Reading, Spelling, and Reading Comprehension during Early and Middle Childhood

Derivational Morphology Bridges Phonology and Orthography: Insights Into the Development of Word-Specific Spellings by Superior, Average, and Poor Spellers

Purpose Morphology, which is a bridge between phonology and orthography, plays an important role in the development of word-specific spellings. This study, which employed longitudinal sampling of typically developing students in Grades 3, 4, and 5, explored how the misspellings of words with derivational suffixes shed light on the interplay of phonological, orthographic, and morphological (POM) linguistic features as students learn to integrate POM features appropriately to generate correct spellings. Method Sixty typically developing Grade 3 students were tested using the Spelling subtest from the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition (Wechsler, 2001) and were divided into superior, average, and poor spellers. Students' spelling skill was then assessed using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Second Edition annually for another 2 years. Misspelled derivations from these three testing sessions were analyzed for linguistic feature errors and error complexity/severity. Differences in the integration of POM features across spelling ability levels at Grades 3-5 were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis analyses of variance. Results Longitudinal results demonstrated POM integration for the development of word-specific spellings involving derivational morphology was in its initial stages over Grades 3-5 and was influenced by spelling ability level. Information from a qualitative analysis revealed considerable variability in how students applied their POM knowledge to spell complex derivations. Conclusions Word-specific spellings draw on multiple linguistic codes-P, O, and M-and their interconnections. It involves more than an understanding of orthographic rules. Rather, accurate spelling develops through an increased understanding of the phoneme-grapheme relationships as facilitated by the identification of word parts (base + or - affixes) in written language. Educational and clinical implications are discussed.

The Development of Morphological Knowledge and Spelling in French

The Frenchorthographic system is particularly difficult to learn because nearly 30% of words in the lexicon end with a silent letter. One metalinguistic skill that has been identified to facilitate spelling acquisition in French is morphological knowledge. This cross-sectional study investigated the construct of morphological knowledge, its development and its role in building accurate orthographic representations in a sample of francophone elementary students. We proposed that morphological knowledge, a superordinate process, encompasses children's implicit use of morphemes in everyday language and their conscious, targeted manipulation of morphemes. In the present study, we assessed children's recognition of morphogrammes, the silent-letter endings (SLEs) of root words that become pronounced in suffixed forms (e.g., the silent t in chant/ʃã/ [song] → chanteur /ʃãtœʀ/ [singer]). When spelling root words, children may mark morphogrammes by recalling morphologically related words in which the morphogramme is not silent - thus, morphological knowledge was hypothesized to positively predict morphogramme spelling. One hundred and twenty-three children in grades 1-3 were assessed on four measures of morphological knowledge, two measures of spelling recognition and a dictation of pseudowords to explore their inclusion of silent-letter endings in novel words. As expected, morphological tasks that required explicit morphological manipulations were harder than implicit ones. Moreover, first graders struggled to complete explicit morphological tasks, while third graders were near ceiling performance on implicit tasks. Nevertheless, the four tasks converged on a single morphological knowledge construct as confirmed by a factor analysis. Importantly, morphological knowledge explained unique variance in children's accurate representation of silent-letter endings after controlling for grade, reading for pleasure and general orthographic recognition of words. Finally, children rarely used silent-letter endings when spelling pseudowords; however, when they did, they displayed sensitivity to the appropriate phonological context for the letter used. The findings are in accord with theoretical models suggesting that the representations of letters without phonological value are difficult to construct and may remain fuzzy.

Visual form perception is fundamental for both reading comprehension and arithmetic computation

Visual perception has been found to be a critical factor for reading comprehension and arithmetic computation in separate lines of research with different measures of visual form perception. The current study of 1099 Chinese elementary school students investigated whether the same visual form perception (assessed by a geometric figure matching task) underlies both reading comprehension and arithmetic computation. The results showed that visual form perception had close relations with both reading comprehension and arithmetic computation, even after controlling for age, gender, and cognitive factors such as processing speed, attention, working memory, visuo-spatial processing, and general intelligence. Results also showed that numerosity comparison's relations with reading comprehension and arithmetic computation were fully accounted for by visual form perception. These results suggest that reading comprehension and arithmetic computation might share a similar visual form processing mechanism.

Behavioral and brain evidence for language by ear, mouth, eye, and hand and motor skills in literacy learning

Two studies were conducted of students with and without persisting Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs-WL) in Grades 4 to 9 (M = 11 years, 11 months) that supported the hypotheses that CELF 4 parent ratings for listening (language by ear), speaking (language by mouth), reading (language by eye), and writing (language by hand) were correlated with both (a) normed, standardized behavioral measures of listening, speaking, reading, and writing achievement (Study 1, 94 boys and 61 girls); and (b) fMRI connectivity or DTI white matter integrity involving brain regions for primary motor functions or motor planning and control, or motor timing in a subsample of right handers who did not wear metal (Study 2, 28 boys and 16 girls). Results of these assessment studies, which have implications for planning instruction for three SLDs-WL (dysgraphia, dyslexia, and oral and written language learning disability [OWL LD]), show that more than multisensory instruction is relevant. Language by ear, by mouth, by eye, and by hand, as well as motor planning, control, and output skills and motor timing should also be considered. Research is also reviewed that supports other processes beyond multisensory input alone that should also be considered for students with SLDs-WL.

Compreensão de leitura e vocabulário receptivo em escolares típicos do ensino fundamental I

RESUMO Objetivo Elaborar um instrumento para avalição de compreensão de leitura textual e verificar a influência do vocabulário receptivo na compreensão de leitura de escolares típicos de 3º, 4º e 5º anos do ensino fundamental. Método Todos os preceitos éticos foram realizados. Participaram do estudo 69 estudantes de 3º, 4º e 5º anos, com média de idade de 8,2, 9,2 e 10 anos, respectivamente, sendo 35 meninas, que tiveram classificação típica no Teste de Desempenho Escolar. Metade da amostra realizou a prova de compreensão de leitura pelo método de perguntas e respostas, e a outra metade fez a prova com a técnica de Cloze. Todos os escolares realizaram o Teste de Vocabulário de Figuras USP com 139 estímulos. Resultados Os escolares apresentaram bom desempenho em vocabulário receptivo, apesar do nível socioeconômico baixo. Os escolares tiveram melhor desempenho em perguntas explícitas do que em implícitas. Demonstraram desempenho mais homogêneo e semelhante entre os anos escolares na técnica de Cloze . Não foram observados resultados conclusivos quanto à correlação entre vocabulário receptivo e compreensão de leitura pelos dois métodos. Conclusão Há indícios da influência do vocabulário sobre a compreensão de leitura textual, principalmente no método de perguntas e respostas. O instrumento elaborado, incluindo dois métodos avaliativos da compreensão de leitura, é eficiente para investigação e caracterização da compreensão de leitura textual em escolares típicos do 3º, 4º e 5º anos, sendo que ambos os métodos diferenciaram de forma significativa os escolares de 3º e 5º anos.