Phonological Processing, Language Comprehension, and Reading Ability

1989 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia A. Mann ◽  
Elizabeth Cowin ◽  
Joyce Schoenheimer
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1510
Author(s):  
David L. Share

In this discussion paper, I review a number of common misconceptions about the phonological deficit theory (PDH) of dyslexia. These include the common but mistaken idea that the PDH is simply about phonemic awareness (PA), and, consequently, is a circular “pseudo”-explanation or epiphenomenon of reading difficulties. I argue that PA is only the “tip of the phonological iceberg” and that “deeper” spoken-language phonological impairments among dyslexics appear well before the onset of reading and even at birth. Furthermore, not even reading-specific expressions of phonological deficits—PA or pseudoword naming, can be considered circular if we clearly distinguish between reading proper—real meaning-bearing words, or real text, and the mechanisms (subskills) of reading development (such as phonological recoding). I also explain why an understanding of what constitutes an efficient writing system explains why phonology is necessarily a major source of variability in reading ability and hence a core deficit (or at least one core deficit) among struggling readers whether dyslexic or non-dyslexic. I also address the misguided notion that the PDH has now fallen out of favor because most dyslexia researchers have (largely) ceased studying phonological processing. I emphasize that acceptance of the PDH does not imply repudiation of other non-phonological hypotheses because the PDH does not claim to account for all the variance in reading ability/disability. Finally, I ask where neurobiology enters the picture and suggest that researchers need to exercise more caution in drawing their conclusions.


1992 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Annett

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that children at the left of the distribution of right minus left (R-L) hand skill are at risk for poor phonological processing. In the first experiment, individual assessments of spoken rhyme awareness were made in 5- to 8-year-olds. In the second experiment, a group test of word order memory for spoken confusable and nonconfusable items was given to 9- to 11-year-olds. Evidence of poorer phonological processing in those at the left of the R-L distribution was found in both experiments. Rhyme judgements and word order memory were both associated with reading ability, but reading did not interact with effects for hand skill. A group test of homophone comprehension was given to the same children tested for word order memory. Homophone errors did not differ between hand skill groups, showing a dissociation between the two tasks for R-L hand difference. The findings suggest that some risks for phonological processing could be due to normal genetic variation associated with the hypothesized rs + gene (Annett, 1972, 1978).


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 1442-1451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroko Tanaka ◽  
Jessica M. Black ◽  
Charles Hulme ◽  
Leanne M. Stanley ◽  
Shelli R. Kesler ◽  
...  

Although the role of IQ in developmental dyslexia remains ambiguous, the dominant clinical and research approaches rely on a definition of dyslexia that requires reading skill to be significantly below the level expected given an individual’s IQ. In the study reported here, we used functional MRI (fMRI) to examine whether differences in brain activation during phonological processing that are characteristic of dyslexia were similar or dissimilar in children with poor reading ability who had high IQ scores (discrepant readers) and in children with poor reading ability who had low IQ scores (nondiscrepant readers). In two independent samples including a total of 131 children, using univariate and multivariate pattern analyses, we found that discrepant and nondiscrepant poor readers exhibited similar patterns of reduced activation in brain areas such as left parietotemporal and occipitotemporal regions. These results converge with behavioral evidence indicating that, regardless of IQ, poor readers have similar kinds of reading difficulties in relation to phonological processing.


2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAZUVIRE VEII ◽  
JOHN EVERATT

Predictions derived from the central processing and script dependent hypotheses were assessed by measuring the reading ability of 116 Grade 2–5 Herero–English bilingual children in Namibia ranging in age from 7 to 12 and investigating possible predictors of word reading among measures of cognitive/linguistic processes. Tasks included measures of word reading, decoding, phonological awareness, verbal and spatial memory, rapid naming, semantic fluency, sound discrimination, listening comprehension and non-verbal reasoning. Faster rates of improvement in literacy within the more transparent language (Herero) supported the predictions of the script dependent hypothesis. However, the central processing hypothesis was also supported by evidence indicating that common underlying cognitive-linguistic processing skills predicted literacy levels across the two languages. The results argue for the importance of phonological processing skills for the development of literacy skills across languages/scripts and show that phonological skills in the L2 can be reliable predictors of literacy in the L1.


Author(s):  
Achmad Taqlidul Chair Fachruddin

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has exceedingly been written in many research reports but research examining the impacts of TBLT on student’s reading comprehension remains limited. Recent studies indicate that TBLT is promoting real communication or the exchange of meanings rather than forms. The reading intention is to excerpt meaning from text by developing the literal, inferential and extrapolative comprehension of readers, and this depends upon both decoding and language comprehension skills. Recently there has been growing interest in developing students’ ability to read comprehensibly in a classroom situation. One way to develop students’ reading ability is by committing Task-Based Language Teaching in teaching reading. This article explores the impacts of TBLT on three levels of students’ reading comprehension, literal, inferential and extrapolative comprehension. This research employed the quasi-experimental method involving fifth-semester students of Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Panakukang Makassar. The instruments were reading tests and questionnaires. The data from reading tests were used to figure out the effect of TBLT on students’ reading comprehension (literal, inferential, and extrapolative comprehension) by using a t-test while the data from questionnaires were to figure out the students’ motivation. The findings revealed that TBLT has an impact on students reading comprehension. Sequentially, the most evolving level of comprehension was inferential, extrapolative, literal comprehension. Moreover, the result of a questionnaire displayed that the students who were taught through TBLT became more motivated to read in the domain of reading efficacy, reading curiosity, and reading challenge motivation


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Åsberg Johnels ◽  
Carmela Miniscalco

This case study seeks to extend our knowledge of the phenotype associated with excellent word reading in autism spectrum disorder by a detailed examination of psycholinguistic, neuropsychological/cognitive, and classroom/academic functioning of a Swedish-speaking 7-year-old boy (called “Jonas”). On age-referenced word reading-decoding assessment, Jonas scored among the top 7%. Reading comprehension status varied as a function of information source. Jonas’s phonological processing and phonological memory performance was found to be normal to strong. In contrast, he scored poorly on tests of oral semantic, syntactical, and narrative language. On the WISC-III, Jonas performed highly uneven across subtests from impaired to above average levels. On the Kaufman factors, Jonas had a peak in perceptual organization (IQ score 119), thus reflecting very strong visual attention skills, which together with normal to strong phonological abilities might underlie his excellent word reading. Finally, both his parents and teacher reported on other classroom-learning skills and difficulties.


1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 850-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty U. Watson ◽  
Theodore K. Miller

Auditory perception has been proposed as one source of individual variation in the phonological abilities that play a critical role in skilled reading as well as in reading disabilities. A structural equation approach (LISREL, Jöreskog & Sörbom, 1990) was used to analyze relationships among auditory perception, phonological processing, and reading in a sample of 94 college undergraduates, 24 of whom met specific criteria for a reading disability. In the mathematical model that proved to be the best fit to the data, speech perception was strongly related to three of four phonological variables including short- and long-term auditory memory and phoneme segmentation. These phonological variables in turn were strongly related to reading. Nonverbal temporal processing was not significantly related to any of the phonological variables in the structural equations. It was concluded that speech perception, which was measured with speech repetition, syllable sequence discrimination, and degraded speech tasks, may contribute significantly to individual differences in the phonological abilities necessary for skilled reading.


2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADÈLE LAFRANCE ◽  
ALEXANDRA GOTTARDO

French/English bilingual children (N=40) in French language schools participated in an 8-month longitudinal study of the relation between phonological processing skills and reading in French and English. Participants were administered measures of phonological awareness, working memory, naming speed, and reading in both languages. The results of the concurrent analyses show that phonological awareness skills in both French and English were uniquely predictive of reading performance in both languages after accounting for the influences of cognitive ability, reading ability, working memory, and naming speed. These findings support the hypothesis that phonological awareness is strongly related to beginning word reading skill in an alphabetic orthography. The results of the longitudinal analyses also suggest that orthographic depth influences phonological factors related to reading.


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