Why Do More Boys Than Girls Have a Reading Disability? A Review of the Evidence

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Limbrick ◽  
Kevin Wheldall ◽  
Alison Madelaine

AbstractA number of explanations have been proposed in recent years to account for the observed preponderance of boys with a reading disability. The most notable explanations offered for gender differences in reading disability relate to differences in phonemic awareness, auditory processing, behaviour, neurology, variability in cognitive ability and reading motivation. The purpose of this article was to review the available evidence supporting each of these explanations. The impact of confounding variables, including sample selection, sample bias, intelligence, and socioeconomic status was also discussed. Although the different explanations have, to some degree, an impact on overall reading achievement, it does not appear that any single explanation wholly accounts for gender differences in reading ability, and that gender is not a strong or consistent predictor of reading success.

Author(s):  
Sarmīte Tūbele ◽  
Egija Laganovska

This article contains theoretical analysis about how to develop phonological awareness in children 5–6 years of age and analysis of empirical findings. Elements of drama provide the great opportunity to improve phonological awareness.Reading and writing are the two most important techniques which pupils must achieve at school. Phonological awareness training has significant effects on overall reading ability, spelling, and reading comprehension. There are several well-established lines of argument for the importance of phonological skills to reading and spelling. Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in words. We know that children’s skills in phonological awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty. Some conclusions were drawn from theoretical and empirical findings. In this article, analysis of scientific and methodological literature is used as a method. Main findings –development of phonological awareness in children 5–6 years of age is possible and effective when using drama elements.


2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
MINH NGUYEN-HOAN ◽  
MARCUS TAFT

For bilinguals born in an English-speaking country or who arrive at a young age, English (L2) often becomes their dominant language by adulthood. This study examines whether such adult bilinguals show equivalent performance to monolingual English native speakers on three English auditory processing tasks: phonemic awareness, spelling-to-dictation and auditory comprehension. The study contrasts three bilingual language groups differing in their L1: morphosyllabic/logographic L1 (Cantonese), morphosyllabic/alphabetic (Vietnamese) L1 and non-morphosyllabic/alphabetic L1 (Other). Particularly on the tasks that involved nonwords, the morphosyllabic bilingual groups performed most poorly, suggesting an effect of L1 phonological structure on English processing despite L1 having become subordinate to L2. The results indicate that even when a bilingual is born, raised and educated in their L2 environment, native equivalence in L2 is not assured.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Husam Mohammad Alhumsi

Research has considered phonemic awareness skill as effective pillar in acquiring literacy skills. This skill has been identified as prerequisite for reading success However, little is known about the phonemic awarenessinstruction of Jordanian EFL emergent readers. This study therefore explored the impact of phonemic awareness instruction on word recognition among Jordanian EFL emergent readers.In this study, the research instrument was semi-structured interviews. Seven EFL students of emergent readers were interviewed. They were all first graders aged 7 years on average. Data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings indicated that there is a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding between the term of phonics and phonemic awareness as well. It has been also found that emergent readers’ views show positive support towards the use of phonemic awareness skill. At the end of the study, some pedagogical implications for curriculum designers as well as English teachers were provided accordingly.


2020 ◽  
pp. 003464462097393
Author(s):  
Colin Cannonier ◽  
Monica Galloway Burke ◽  
Ed Mitchell

In this article, we explore the impact of a reentry and aftercare service program on the likelihood of returning to prison by ex-offenders. Using administrative data within a difference-in-differences design, we find that this social program is associated with a reduction in recidivism rates. Benchmark estimates show that the program was associated with estimated reductions in the probability of recidivating of 6.0 to 8.7 percentage points. The estimate appears to be economically significant as it implies an estimated treated effect in the 15.8% to 19.2% range. We consider the heterogeneous effects of the program on reducing recidivism according to race, age group, and program type. The program helped to reduce recidivism among Whites but not Blacks; older participants were the main beneficiaries while the effectiveness of the program was observed among older participants. Back-of-the-envelope cost-savings analysis is incorporated to estimate the potential savings to the state arising from the reduction in recidivism rates likely attributable to the program. The findings are robust to sample selection bias, alternative specifications, and estimation techniques. Our results offer some implications for the role of faith-based social programs within the context of criminal justice reform to combat reentry of former inmates. They also provide a cautionary tale about the need to evaluate programs not just based on their overall effect.


Author(s):  
Dasari Tejaswini ◽  
Suhas Kulkarni ◽  
Dolar Doshi ◽  
Adepu Srilatha

AbstractBackgroundAesthetic alterations in the face can be self-perceived and can affect quality of life in young adults.ObjectiveTo assess the impact of malocclusion on self- perceived oro-facial behaviour among young adults.MethodsA Cross sectional study was conducted among 638 young adults (aged 18–21 years) of Hyderabad city. One college from each of the five zones of the Hyderabad city (five colleges) were selected by simple random sampling procedure. A 21-item Oro-facial investment scale (OFIS) questionnaire assessing self-perceived oral health knowledge, attitude, practice and Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) assessing the severity of malocclusion was used. Data were analysed with standard statistical software (SPSS, Statistical package for the social sciences, version 20.0). p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsMales had higher mean scores for knowledge (2.90 ± 0.49) than females (2.73 ± 0.82) and was statistically significant (p = 0.002*). No statistically significant gender differences were found in relation to attitude and practice. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there was a significant difference in all the three scores (knowledge, attitude, practice) with respect to age, with significantly high score for knowledge and practice among 18 year old subjects (p = 0.0001*; p = 0.0003* respectively) and attitude among 21 year old subjects (p = 0.0049*). No statistically significant age, gender differences were found in relation to DAI scores. Upon correlation, DAI significantly and positively correlated with knowledge (p = 0.03*) and attitude (p = 0.0001*).ConclusionThis study has shown significant impact of malocclusion on the self-perceived oro-facial behaviour.


2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 220-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherry L Walters ◽  
Cristobal Jose Torres-Urbano ◽  
Lee Chichester ◽  
Robert E Rose

The ideal animal model would contribute no confounding variables in experimental science. Variables affect experimental design resulting in increased animal use or repeated studies. We demonstrated a simple refinement which may reduce the number of animals used experimentally while simultaneously improving animal welfare. The objective of this study was to determine if the presence of a hut was an impact on physiological stress levels, as determined by faecal cortisol concentration, during a routine four-day acclimatization period of newly received male Hartley-Outbred guineapigs. We hypothesized that those animals provided with huts would have decreased physiological stress compared with animals not provided with huts. We examined this effect within both paired and single-housed animals. A between-subjects one-way analysis of variance revealed that pair-housed animals with a hut had significantly lower faecal cortisol concentration than pair-housed animals without a hut and the presence and absence of a hut had no significant impact on faecal cortisol concentration in single-housed animals. These findings show that presence of a hut is beneficial in reducing physiological stress when pair housing male guineapigs and does not appear to have an impact when single housing male guineapigs. In addition, we have shown that faecal cortisol, and therefore physiological stress, is still increasing on study day 4 suggesting a longer acclimatization period is necessary. A simple refinement in housing environment and acclimatization time can both reduce the number of animals used experimentally and improve animal welfare.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Michaela Kranepuhl ◽  
Detlef May ◽  
Edna Hillmann ◽  
Lorenz Gygax

Abstract This research communication describes the relationship between the occurrence of lameness and body condition score (BCS) in a sample of 288 cows from a single farm that were repeatedly scored in the course of 9 months while controlling for confounding variables. The relationship between BCS and lameness was evaluated using generalised linear mixed-effects models. It was found that the proportion of lame cows was higher with decreasing but also with increasing BCS, increased with lactation number and decreased with time since the last claw trimming. This is likely to reflect the importance of sufficient body condition in the prevention of lameness but also raises the question of the impact of overcondition on lameness and the influence of claw trimming events on the assessment of lameness. A stronger focus on BCS might allow improved management of lameness that is still one of the major problems in housed cows.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1059
Author(s):  
Martinson Ankrah Twumasi ◽  
Yuansheng Jiang ◽  
Bismark Addai ◽  
Zhao Ding ◽  
Abbas Ali Chandio ◽  
...  

The emergence of agricultural cooperatives is extensively viewed as a necessary institutional arrangement that can help farmers in developing countries overcome the constraints that impede them from improving sustainable agricultural production and acquiring new marketing opportunities. Therefore, this study examines the determinants of cooperative membership and its impact on fish farm household income, using data collected from two regions in Ghana. An endogenous switching regression (ESR) model is utilized to address the potential sample selection bias issue. The results show that household heads’ decisions to join cooperatives are affected by their access to credit, off-farm work, education level, and peer influence. Cooperative membership can increase both household and farm income by 28.54% and 34.75%, respectively. Moreover, we show that different groups of households’ cooperative impacts on farm and household income are heterogeneous. Our findings highlight the importance of cooperative patronization and provide implications that can improve households’ welfare.


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