MARIE-AUDE MURAIL: INVOLVING THE OTHER

The most thorough analysis in Russian to date, this article is devoted to the works of the contemporary French author M.- A. Murail, who specializes in young adult literature, and who is idolized by her audiences in France and holds numerous literary awards. In Russia, her books were ‘discovered’ by the Samokat publishing house. All brought out by Samokat, her four books translated into Russian each target a different reader group, from 6 to 18-year-olds. Murail’s appeal is in her ability to find the right themes, plots, and narration method for each readership, and that she never shies away from modernity’s most uncomfortable topics, but interprets those in an easily comprehensible manner and language. Murail’s work is examined through its main topics: family relationships, the conflict between traditional and new societies, and the problem of the other. Also analyzed are the stylistic features that define this kind of prose as dynamic, easy to understand and filled with irony.

Przeżycie górskie jako rozmycie granic w Nieuchwytnych szczytach Victora Saundersa i Czterech dniach słońca Adama Skoczylasa

EXPERIENCES IN THE MOUNTAINS AS BLURRING OF THE BORDERS IN VICTOR SAUNDERS' ELUSIVE SUMMITS AND ADAM SKOCZYLAS' CZTERY DNI SŁOŃCAThe article is an analysis of Adam Skoczylas’ Cztery dni słońca Four Days of Sunshine and Victor Saunders’ Elusive Summits, works that are part of mountain literature, the boundaries of which are set, on the one hand, by the unique context of writing involving a close relation between life and work; and on the other by unique reception involving a relation between the author and the reader based on shared experiences, on which this reception depends. The factor that became a condition for the emergence of such literature was a unique way of looking at the mountains, characteristic of mountaineers exploring the Tatras, the Alps and then also the Himalayas. It becomes a starting point for narrative as well as a condition for forming a reader group. A characteristic feature of the works discussed in the article is their narrative emphasising the intensity of sensations accompanying experiences in the mountains.]]>

Cortical Auditory-Evoked Potential and Behavioral Evidence for Differences in Auditory Processing between Good and Poor Readers

Background: The relationship between auditory processing (AP) and reading is thought to be significant; however our understanding of this relationship is somewhat limited. Previous studies have investigated the relation between certain electrophysiological and behavioral measures of AP and reading abilities in children. This study attempts to further understand that relation. Purpose: Differences in AP between good and poor readers were investigated using electrophysiological and behavioral measures. Study Sample: Thirty-two children (15 female) aged 9–11 yr were placed in either a good reader group or poor reader group, based on the scores of a nationally normed reading test in New Zealand. Research Design: Children were initially tested using an automated behavioral measuring system that runs through a tablet computer known as “Feather Squadron.” Following the administration of Feather Squadron, cortical auditory-evoked potentials (CAEPs) were recorded using a speech stimulus (/m/) with the HEARLab® Cortical Auditory Evoked Potential Analyzer. Data Collection and Analysis: The children were evaluated on eight subsections of the Feather Squadron, and CAEP waveform peaks were visually identified and averaged. Separate Kruskal–Wallis analyses were performed for the behavioral and electrophysiological variables, with group (good versus poor readers) serving as the between-group independent variable and scores from the Feather Squadron AP tasks as well as CAEP latencies and amplitudes as dependent variables. After the children’s AP status was determined, the entire group was further divided into three groups: typically developing, auditory processing disorder + reading difficulty (APD + RD), and RDs only. Statistical analyses were repeated for these subgroups. Results: Poorer readers showed significantly worse scores than the good readers for the Tonal Pattern 1, Tonal Pattern 2, and Word Double Dichotic Right tasks. CAEP differences observed across groups indicated comorbid effects of RD and AP difficulties. N2 amplitude was significantly smaller for the poor readers. Conclusions: The current study found altered AP in poor readers using behavioral Feather Squadron measures and speech-evoked cortical potentials. These results provide further evidence that intact central auditory function is fundamental for reading development.

Environmental communications: The reader’s perspective

Connecting reception theory and social semiotics, this article offers a framework for the analysis of hortatory texts. An illustrative case uses the pronouncements of environmental regulators, with the reader group represented by a sample of executives in financial institutions. Although the participants thought the texts important, none had found any use for them. It is unlikely that financial institutions en masse will address environmental issues before and until communicators frame their material in terms of customary financial discourse and investors’ dominant cognitive rationalities. The depth of insights gained suggests wider application of the framework to a range of hortatory texts and authoritative reader groups.

Auditory Evoked Responses to Similar Words with Phonemic Difference: Comparison between Children with Good and Poor Reading Scores

Our previous study demonstrated a physiologic deficit in two-tone discrimination in poor readers. 1 This was specific to the left parietal area suggesting that poor readers handled rapid tones differently. The current paper extends this finding in the same population, demonstrating that poor readers also have difficulty with phonemic discrimination. Long latency auditory evoked potentials (AEP) were formed using a phonemic discrimination task in a group of children with reading disabilities and controls. Measuring peak-to-peak amplitude of the waveforms, we found reduced N1-P2 amplitude in the Poor Reader group. Using the t-statistic significance probability map (SPM) technique, we also found a group difference, maximal over the mid-parietal area, from 584 msec to 626 msec after the stimulus onset. This difference was due to a lower amplitude on the Poor Reader group. We hypothesized that this late difference constitutes a P3 response and that the Poor Reader group generated smaller P3 waves. These auditory evoked response (AER) data support a discrimination deficit for close phonemes in the Poor Reader group as they had smaller N1-P2 absolute amplitude and developed smaller P3 waves. Based on these data we should be able to differentiate between Good and Poor readers based on long latency potentials created from phonemic stimuli.

Effects of word length and wordlikeness on pseudoword repetition by poor and normal readers

ABSTRACTThis Study investigated whether the pseudoword repetition difference between poor and normal readers could be explained by differences in memory for verbal materials or in familiarity with the composition of verbal materials. Dutch second graders and poor readers scoring in the same range on a word-reading test repeated pseudowords that varied in length and wordlikeness. The pseudoword repetition deficit of poor readers reported in the literature was replicated. Although the repetition scores were influenced by pseudoword length and wordlikeness, no interaction with reader group was found, thus indicating that neither variable represented a causal factor in the poor readers' repetition deficit. Statistical correction for reader group differences on a phoneme detection task and an auditory discrimination task made the pseudoword repetition difference disappear. We conclude that the basic problem is unlikely to be with subvocal rehearsal, and that the cause of the repetition deficit is already operative in early, perceptual stages of processing.

Modality of Stimulus Presentation in Serial Learning for Retarded and Normal Readers

The present study investigated the relationship between modality functioning and reading achievement. Auditory, visual and combined auditory-visual serial learning tasks were administered to normal and retarded readers at three grade levels ( N = 48). The data indicated that retarded readers exhibited a markedly uneven pattern of learning efficiency. Their performance was especially poor with regard to auditory tasks, whereas their visual learning skills were almost equivalent to those of the normal reader group.