A graphomorphemic approach to identifying and selecting a set of high utility, stable affixes common to the technical vocabulary of science

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1441-1457 ◽  
Author(s):  
KRISTIN NELLENBACH ◽  
JENNIFER ZOSKI ◽  
JOY DIAMOND ◽  
KAREN ERICKSON
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Word Decoding ◽  
Decoding Skills ◽  
Science Vocabulary ◽  
Technical Vocabulary ◽  
High Utility ◽  
Decoding Instruction

ABSTRACTAdolescents often learn science vocabulary through reading. This vocabulary is frequently characterized by multisyllabic words derived from Greek and Latin roots. While most adolescents have acquired the decoding skills to read these multisyllabic words, many students, particularly those with disabilities, cannot engage in independent word learning because they lack the skills to decode these multisyllabic words. Graphomorphemic elements of words, including affixes, support effective decoding and can eventually support word learning. This article describes an approach used to identify the most frequently occurring, stable affixes within science words so that they could be used in “big word” decoding instruction. To illustrate the approach, a subset of high frequency science words and a list of high utility, stable affixes are provided.

A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Word Frequency and Rime-Neighborhood Size on Beginning Readers' Rime Reading Accuracy in Words and Nonwords

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Anne Calhoon ◽  
Lauren Leslie
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Beginning Readers ◽  
Developmental Model ◽  
Neighborhood Size ◽  
Reading Accuracy ◽  
High Frequency Words

Beginning readers' rime reading accuracy was assessed over three years to examine the influence of word frequency and rime-neighborhood size (the number of single syllable words with the same rime) on words presented in lists and stories. Twenty-seven 1st- and 2nd- grade students read 54 words and 27 nonwords containing rimes from different size neighborhoods. In Year 1, children showed effects of neighborhood size in high frequency words read in stories and in low frequency words read in lists and stories. In Year 2, rimes from large neighborhoods were read more accurately than rimes from medium and small neighborhoods in high- and low-frequency words. In Year 3, no effects of rime-neighborhood size were found for high-frequency words, but effects on low-frequency words continued. These results support Leslie and Calhoon's (1995) developmental model of the effects of rime-neighborhood size and word frequency as a function of higher levels of word learning.

scholarly journals A Multiple Strategy Framework Supporting Vocabulary Development for Students with Reading Comprehension Deficits

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Woolley
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Story Comprehension ◽  
Word Decoding ◽  
Decoding Skills ◽  
Learning Deficits ◽  
Poor Comprehenders ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Good Word ◽  
Multiple Strategy

AbstractPoor comprehenders are generally students who have significant language-learning deficits. A particular problem for students with poor comprehension is that they have difficulty learning new vocabulary because they are inclined to read less, and are unable to apply new meanings to unfamiliar words. This leads to the situation where the gap widens between them and their more successful peers, resulting in more noticeable reading difficulties in later grades. They generally have good word decoding skills but have difficulty connecting meaning to unfamiliar words in context. This is often problematic because they have particular difficulties making inferences and forming a coherent mental model of what they have read. However, effective vocabulary instruction can be achieved by the incorporation of an intervention framework that balances the teaching of word-learning strategies with strategies fostering whole story integration. This article introduces a pedagogical construct based on a modified KWL framework using a combination of evidence-based visual and verbal instructional methods, in conjunction with the development of metacognitive and self-regulating strategies. The implication is that the cognitive load on working memory will be reduced and overall story comprehension will be improved when a well-constructed pedagogical framework is utilised to enhance the acquisition of new vocabulary during reading.

scholarly journals Exploring the importance of vocabulary for English as an additional language learners’ reading comprehension

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-376
Author(s):  
Gavin Brooks ◽  
Jon Clenton ◽  
Simon Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Reading Fluency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Word Decoding ◽  
Decoding Skills ◽  
General Linguistic

This exploratory study represents an attempt to investigate the factors that may affect the reading comprehension abilities of English as an additional language (EAL) learners. For this study, we examined a participant group of 31 (25 EAL and 6 first language English) learners studying at an international school in Japan. We assessed the participants according to four factors shown to influence reading comprehension: vocabulary knowledge, word decoding skills, reading fluency, and general linguistic ability. Our results show that differences in vocabulary knowledge show more variance in reading comprehension scores than the other factors examined in this study, highlighting the importance of vocabulary knowledge for reading comprehension. However, other factors such as reading fluency and general linguistic knowledge are also shown to be moderate to strong predictors of reading comprehension. Based on these results, we suggest that EAL learners need targeted language support to enhance academic text comprehension.

The role of gesture meaningfulness in word learning

Gesture ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie M. Hupp ◽  
Mary C. Gingras
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Training Study ◽  
Brief Training ◽  
Extended Training ◽  
Word Classes ◽  
Novel Word Learning

Adults regularly use word-gesture combinations in communication, and meaningful gestures facilitate word learning. However, it is not clear if this benefit of gestures is due to the speaker’s movement increasing the listener’s attention or if it needs to be a meaningful gesture, if the difficulty of the task results in disparate reliance on gestures, and if word classes are differentially affected by gestures. In the present research, participants were measured on their novel word learning across four gesture conditions: meaningful gesture, beat gesture, nonsense gesture, and no gesture with extended training (Study 1, n = 139) and brief training (Study 2, n = 128). Overall, meaningful gestures and high frequency words led to the highest word learning accuracy. This effect of word frequency did not hold true for beat gestures after brief training suggesting that adding rhythmic information — if not adding semantic information — may detract from word learning. This research highlights the importance of considering task difficulty when analyzing the effects of gestures.

Linguistic Influences on the Emergence of Written Word Decoding in First Grade

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 62-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda K. Swank
Keyword(s):  
First Grade ◽  
Orthographic Knowledge ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Word Decoding ◽  
Decoding Skills ◽  
Fixed Order ◽  
Written Word ◽  
Linguistic Influences ◽  
Competent Reading ◽  
Efficient Decoding

This longitudinal investigation examined the linguistic influences on the emergence of written word decoding in a group of typically developing first-grade children. Sixty children were administered tasks that measured phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic abilities as well as literacy and alphabet knowledge during the first quarter of their kindergarten year. Subjects were then given measures of written word decoding in the fourth quarter of the first-grade year. Fixed-order regression analyses indicated that the phonological and orthographic factors contributed the most variance to written word decoding. A meaning factor also contributed significant variance to written word decoding. This latter finding challenges previous research that identifies phonological and orthographic variables as the sole influence on written word decoding. It is argued that, in teaching written word decoding skills, a focus on only form (i.e., phonological and orthographic knowledge) to the exclusion of meaning may result in less efficient decoding and subsequently may result in less competent reading comprehension.

Modeling the Growth of Word-Decoding Skills: Evidence From Dutch

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludo Verhoeven ◽  
Jan van Leeuwe
Keyword(s):  
Word Decoding ◽  
Decoding Skills

scholarly journals Moving beyond "nouns in the lab": Using naturalistic data to understand why infants' first words include uh-oh and hi

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kennedy Casey ◽  
Christine Potter ◽  
Casey Lew-Williams ◽  
Erica H Wojcik
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Early Learning ◽  
Observational Research ◽  
Behavioral Experiment ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Observational Methods ◽  
Object Mapping ◽  
First Words

Why do infants learn some words earlier than others? To explain how and when words are learned, existing theories of word learning prioritize visual information and draw mainly on lab-based studies of noun-to-object mapping. However, words that are more abstract than object nouns, such as uh-oh, hi, more, up, and all-gone, are typically among the first to appear in infants' vocabularies. We combined a behavioral experiment with naturalistic observational research to explore how infants learn and represent this understudied category of high-frequency, routine-based non-nouns, which we term ‘everyday words’. In Study 1, we found that conventional eye-tracking measures of comprehension were insufficient to capture 10- to 16-month-old infants' emerging understanding of everyday words. In Study 2, we analyzed the visual and social scenes surrounding caregivers' and infants' use of everyday words in a naturalistic video corpus. This ecologically-motivated research revealed that everyday words rarely co-occurred with consistent visual referents, making their early learnability difficult to reconcile with dominant word learning theories. Our findings instead point to complex patterns in the types of situations associated with everyday words that could contribute to their early representation in infants’ vocabularies. By leveraging both experimental and observational methods, this investigation underscores the value of using naturalistic data to broaden theories of early learning.

Reading Instruction and Remediation Using Voice Synthesis in Computer Interaction

1986 ◽  
Vol 30 (13) ◽  
pp. 1336-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Olson ◽  
Gregory Foltz ◽  
Barbara Wise
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Word Decoding ◽  
Decoding Skills ◽  
Synthesized Speech ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Speech Feedback ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Unknown Words ◽  
Disabled Readers

Synthesized speech was used in our Computer-Based Reading and Speech-Feedback system for training disabled readers. In this system, children touch unfamiliar words in stories presented on the computer display and receive speech feedback to help develop their word decoding skills. Results from a study of disabled readers' responses to the system are reported. The disabled readers could identify words spoken by the synthesizer nearly as well as the same words presented in natural speech. After reading stories and targeting unknown words with a mouse or light pen, the disabled readers were later able to read a high percentage of the targeted words for which they had received speech feedback. Extended use of the system may substantially improve the prognosis for disabled readers. The advantages of synthesized speech over other types of computer speech are discussed for this application.

Computers and Cognition in Reading: A Focus on Decoding Fluency

1986 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph K. Torgesen
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Computer Technology ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Word Decoding ◽  
Decoding Skills ◽  
Handicapped Children ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Traditional Programs ◽  
Written Materials

Recent cognitive analyses of reading indicate the importance of fluent word identification skills in reading comprehension. These analyses suggest that children who experience difficulties in the acquisition of fluent word decoding skills will be limited in their development of higher level comprehension processes in reading. Recent advances in computer technology create the possibility of providing much greater amounts of fluency oriented practice in decoding skills than is possible in most traditional programs. A few beginning studies provide support for the idea that computers may be helpful in reading instruction for handicapped children by providing large amounts of practice in the word identification skills that are necessary before good comprehension of written materials can occur.

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