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The left ventral occipitotemporal cortex (lvOT) has been consistently identified as a crucial structure in word reading, and its function varies across subregions. Nevertheless, the specific function of the lvOT and its subregions remains controversial because the obvious grapheme‐to‐phoneme correspondence rules of alphabetic languages make it difficult to disentangle the contributions of orthography and phonology to neural activations. To explore information processing in lvOT subregions, the present study manipulated the orthography and phonology in a factorial design and used the fMRI rapid adaptation paradigm. The results revealed a posterior‐to‐anterior functional gradient in lvOT in Chinese word reading and specified that the functional transition from sublexical to lexical processing occurred in the middle subregion close to the classic VWFA. More importantly, we found that the middle and posterior subregions of lvOT are responsible for processing both orthographic and phonological information during Chinese word reading. These results elaborated the function of the lvOT in Chinese word reading. The present study disentangled the contributions of orthographic and phonological information to the neural activations in the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex subregions and specified the functional transition from sublexical processing to lexical processing during Chinese word reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to explore the relation of morphological awareness to vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension for middle school students in Korea. A total of 121 students (73 boys and 48 girls) in Grade 7 from two middle schools in a metropolitan city in South Korea participated in the study. The students were assessed on the following skills in Korean: morphological awareness in three dimensions (inflectional, derivational, and compound morphological awareness), vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension. Using structural equation modeling, we found that students' morphological awareness predicted vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension directly. In addition, morphological awareness was also indirectly related to reading comprehension mediated by word reading. Interestingly, once morphological awareness was accounted for, vocabulary did not make an independent contribution to reading comprehension. Our findings illustrate the direct and indirect relations of morphological awareness to vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension for Korean adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The middle and high school years represent a unique challenge for students who have not yet attained proficiency with word reading. By this time, it is generally expected that students will be able to independently read a variety of texts to gain content knowledge and to read for understanding. Students with or at‐risk for learning disabilities (LD) often struggle with acquisition of word‐level reading skills and these difficulties are amplified as words become increasing complex. By fifth grade, most of the new words introduced in text are multisyllabic, yet students often lack a systematic approach for decoding these words. Despite these challenges, teachers can effectively support secondary‐aged students with LD in developing the foundational word reading skills necessary for reading proficiency. In this article, we describe the critical role of word reading efficiency, unique challenges of multisyllabic word reading, and the importance of ongoing instructional support for students with LD. We then introduce four instructional routines that can be implemented to facilitate secondary students' acquisition of word‐level reading skills that also affirm and strength students' diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Words offer a unique opportunity to separate the processing mechanisms of object subcomponents from those of the whole object, because the phonological or semantic information provided by the word subcomponents (i.e., sublexical information) can conflict with that provided by the whole word (i.e., lexical information). Previous studies have revealed some of the specific brain regions and temporal information involved in sublexical information processing. However, a comprehensive spatiotemporal neural network for sublexical processing remains to be fully elucidated due to the low temporal or spatial resolutions of previous neuroimaging studies. In this study, we recorded stereoelectroencephalography signals with high spatial and temporal resolutions from a large sample of 39 epilepsy patients (both sexes) during a Chinese character oral reading task. We explored the activated brain regions and their connectivity related to three sublexical effects: phonological regularity (whether the whole character's pronunciation aligns with its phonetic radical), phonological consistency (whether characters with the same phonetic radical share the same pronunciation), and semantic transparency (whether the whole character's meaning aligns with its semantic radical). The results revealed that sublexical effects existed in the inferior frontal gyrus, precentral and postcentral gyri, temporal lobe, and middle occipital gyrus. Additionally, connectivity from the middle occipital gyrus to the postcentral gyrus and from postcentral gyrus to the fusiform gyrus was associated with the sublexical effects. These findings provide valuable insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of sublexical processing and object recognition in the brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rapid automatised naming (RAN) has been found to predict children's reading and arithmetic abilities. However, the underlying mechanisms for its involvement in the two abilities are not clear. This study examines how RAN shared variances with domain‐general and domain‐specific abilities in predicting reading and arithmetic in Chinese children. Methods: One hundred and sixty‐four children (mean age = 8 years 0 months, SD = 4 months) were administered with RAN tasks, word reading and arithmetic tasks and measures of working memory, processing speed, morphological awareness, phonological awareness and number line estimation. Results: RAN mainly shared variance with morphological awareness in predicting word reading, while it shared variance with processing speed and number line estimation in predicting arithmetic calculation. Conclusions: The findings indicated that RAN was related to reading and arithmetic for different reasons. The RAN–reading relationship partly reflected the semantic facilitation of the orthography–phonology links for both RAN stimuli and Chinese characters, while the RAN–arithmetic relationship partly reflected the shared process of retrieving semantic information from long‐term memory embedded in the two tasks. Highlights: What is already known about this topicRapid automatised naming (RAN) is a strong predictor of both reading and arithmetic abilities in children.Some of the abilities were found to overlap with the prediction of RAN on reading and arithmetic.The RAN–reading relationship and the RAN–arithmetic relationship are different. What this paper addsMorphological awareness was found to share significant variance with RAN in predicting word reading.Processing speed and number line estimation were found to share significant variance with RAN in predicting arithmetic calculation.The results indicated different underlying mechanisms for the RAN–reading and RAN–arithmetic relations. Implications for theory, policy or practiceDifferent mechanisms underlie the RAN–reading and RAN–arithmetic relationships in Chinese children.The RAN–reading relationship in Chinese children was partly due to the facilitative effect of semantic information on the orthography–phonology mapping.The RAN–arithmetic relationship in Chinese children may be due to the retrieval efficiency of the semantic‐laden information from long‐term memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently most sub-Saharan countries have successfully broadened access to basic education. However, empirical and educational reports from this region have consistently documented children not acquiring the foundational literacy skills. This study examined the differences in the level of literacy acquisition between pupils from urban and rural backgrounds in Tanzania. A mixed-method research approach under the concurrent mixed design was employed. A total of 200 early grade children, 120 parents, 20 teachers were recruited. The data were collected by the Early Grades Reading Assessment, semi-structured interviews, parent questionnaires, and documentary analyses. Findings indicated that urban children outperformed rural children when it came to every literacy aspect tested, except reading comprehension. In both areas, girls outperformed boys, although rural boys were generally over-aged. The home learning environments for children from rural areas were found to be limited with less support than even for those from the poor urban areas. Regardless of urbanicity, poor and extremely limited teaching and learning facilities, large class sizes, and curriculum issues were pointed out as the main hindrances for children to acquiring literacy skills. These findings have implications for policymakers, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in this region calling for joint reform efforts to improve early literacy acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the stability and developmental interplay of word reading and spelling in samples of Swedish (N = 191) and U.S. children (N = 489) followed across four time points: end of kindergarten, grades 1, 2, and 4. Cross-lagged path models revealed that reading and spelling showed moderate to strong autoregressive effects, with reading being more predictable over time than spelling. Regarding the developmental interplay, we found a bidirectional relationship between reading and spelling from kindergarten to Grade 1. However, starting in Grade 1, reading predicted subsequent spelling beyond the autoregressor but not the other way around. In all analyses, the findings were similar across the two orthographies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with low reading skills are less frequently engaged in reading activities and therefore the likelihood of improving their reading skills decreases. Digital game‐based interventions have emerged as a promising tool for promoting reading development in children, particularly those with reading difficulties. As syllable‐based reading interventions are likely to increase word reading skills in low‐skilled readers, we developed a new reading intervention application that emphasizes syllable segmentation and integrates proven elements of digital game‐based learning. The intervention aimed to promote phonological recoding and consolidating orthographic representation of syllables. Objectives: The present study investigated the effects of the newly developed syllable‐based reading intervention application on general word recognition skills, phonological recoding processes, orthographic decoding processes and text‐level reading comprehension skills in German second graders. Methods: In a quasi‐experimental design, children with low word recognition skills were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n = 66) or a wait‐list group (n = 66). General word recognition skills, phonological recoding processes, orthographic decoding processes and text‐level reading comprehension were measured with standardized German reading tests before and after the treatment group received the digital reading intervention for 20 sessions. Results: Results indicated that the children in the treatment group showed significant improvement in general word recognition and in phonological recoding processes compared to equally low‐skilled untreated children in the wait‐list group. Orthographic decoding processes improved only in children with less severe impairments, whereas no significant improvements were found in text‐level reading comprehension. Take Aways: The digital reading intervention is a promising approach for supporting word reading in low‐skilled reading second graders and can serve as an effective intervention tool for this target group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined whether and how early cognitive flexibility, metalinguistic awareness, including phonological awareness (PA) and morphological awareness (MA), Chinese word reading (CWR), and listening comprehension (LC) influenced Chinese children's later reading comprehension. In total, 153 Chinese children were recruited. Path analysis showed that cognitive flexibility measured when the children were in Grade 1 (Mage = 85.92 months, SD = 4.36) significantly explained the variance of later reading comprehension at Grade 3 (Mage = 103.03 months, SD = 3.80) and all concurrent domain-specific precursors of reading comprehension, except LC. Multiple mediation analyses further demonstrated that MA and CWR partially mediated the effect of cognitive flexibility on reading comprehension. Also, the effect of cognitive flexibility on reading comprehension was mediated partially by two two-mediator paths, PA-LC and MA-CWR. These findings demonstrated that cognitive flexibility could be related to reading comprehension directly and indirectly through multiple pathways involving metalinguistic awareness, word reading, and language comprehension. These findings particularly highlighted the roles of MA and word reading in the association between Chinese readers' cognitive flexibility and their reading comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This cross-lagged study examined the classroom-level associations between the reading performance of first-grade students (N = 537) and observed literacy instruction activities in classrooms (N = 30) in the autumn and spring terms. The multilevel analyses indicated that lower average word reading skills in the classrooms (i.e., there were more students who were learning to read) in the autumn were associated with higher amount of activities supporting consolidation of reading and spelling skills in the spring. In contrast, higher average word reading skills in the classrooms in the autumn were associated with higher amount of independent meaning-focused activities in the spring. Higher extent of whole-group meaning-focused activities in the autumn was positively associated with reading comprehension at classroom level in the spring, whereas independent phonological recoding practice in the autumn was negatively associated with reading comprehension in the spring. The study provides novel understanding of the associations between students' reading performance and literacy instruction especially showing how students' reading skills at classroom level may inform instruction in the classroom. This information may guide teachers to adapt their instruction at classroom level but also to identify the students needing differentiation. The results also acknowledge the affordances and limitations students' skills may set for the instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Children with dyslexia face persistent difficulties in reading acquisition, which results in poor reading accuracy. In addition to the commonly studied reading errors such as omissions, additions, substitutions, and letter reversals, they also make guessing errors characterized by replacing a word with an orthographic neighbor. These errors, which occur in the context of isolated words and sentence or text reading, might be linked to the inhibition issues that have already been demonstrated in connection to dyslexia. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no experimental evidence that children with dyslexia make more guessing errors than typically developing children, as is the case for sequential errors. The current study aimed to evaluate whether children with dyslexia made more guessing errors than typically developing children and whether these errors were more frequent in an isolated word or sentence context. Methods: Twenty-eight children with dyslexia from Grade 4 were matched with typically developing children by either chronological age or reading level. Reading was assessed through word and text reading tasks. Error types were classified into seven categories and analyzed. Results and conclusion: A repeated-measure ANOVA showed that children with dyslexia made more guessing errors, particularly visual and morphemic errors, than typically developing children. Moreover, these errors were found at both the single word and sentence levels. These findings suggest that children with dyslexia tend to use a global treatment of words, relying on incomplete information to compensate for their difficulties. The findings have practical implications for pedagogical and therapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading is vital for acquiring knowledge and studies have demonstrated that phonology-focused interventions generally yield greater improvements than meaning-focused interventions in English among children with reading disabilities. However, the effectiveness of reading instruction can vary among individuals. Among the various factors that impact reading skills like reading exposure and oral language skills, reading instruction is critical in facilitating children's development into skilled readers; it can significantly influence reading strategies, and contribute to individual differences in reading. To investigate this assumption, we developed a computational model of reading with an optimised MikeNet simulator. In keeping with educational practices, the model underwent training with three different instructional methods: phonology-focused training, meaning-focused training, and phonology-meaning balanced training. We used semantic reliance (SR), a measure of the relative reliance on print-to-sound and print-to-meaning mappings under the different training conditions in the model, as an indicator of individual differences in reading. The simulation results demonstrated a direct link between SR levels and the type of reading instruction. Additionally, the SR scores were able to predict model performance in reading-aloud tasks: higher SR scores were correlated with increased phonological errors and reduced phonological activation. These findings are consistent with data from both behavioral and neuroimaging studies and offer insights into the impact of instructional methods on reading behaviors, while revealing individual differences in reading and the importance of integrating OP and OS instruction approaches for beginning readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prominent theories of reading development have separately emphasized the relevance of children's skill in learning (Share, 2008) and lexical representations (Perfetti & Hart, 2002). Integrating these ideas, we examined whether skill in learning lexical representations is a mechanism that might explain children's reading development. To do so we conducted a longitudinal study, following 139 children from Grades 3 to 5. In Grade 3, children completed measures of word reading and reading comprehension and again at Grade 5. In Grade 4, children read short stories containing novel words; they were later tested on their memory for the spellings and meanings of these new words, capturing orthographic and semantic learning, respectively. Using multiple-mediation path analysis, we tested whether children's skill in learning orthographic and semantic dimensions of new words was a mediator of individual differences in each of word reading and reading comprehension. In models controlling for nonverbal ability, working memory, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, we found two clear effects: individual differences in orthographic learning at Grade 4 mediated the gains that children made in word reading between Grades 3 and 5 and individual differences in semantic learning at Grade 4 mediated gains in reading comprehension over the same time period. These findings suggest that children's ability to learn lexical representations is a mechanism in reading development, with orthographic effects on word reading and semantic effects on reading comprehension. These findings show the power and the specificity of children's capacity to learn in determining their progress in learning to read. Public Significance Statement: Reading is one of the most important skills that children can acquire in elementary school, with its successful achievement enabling full societal engagement across the lifespan. This study suggests that children's capacity to learn targeted aspects of words—their spellings and meanings—is a mechanism that drives their reading development. These findings point to the need to incorporate the power of children's learning into theories of and instruction in reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study aimed to examine differences in the brain activity of professional musicians and non-musicians, particularly in relation to neuroplastic changes that may be associated with musical training. Specifically, we investigated whether the ability to read complex musical notation might be linked to neurofunctional adaptations that could influence word reading mechanisms. The study involved 80 participants (half of which were musicians). High-density EEG recordings and swLORETA inverse solutions were employed to analyze brain activity related to word processing and orthographic analysis. The electromagnetic signals were analyzed in the temporal window corresponding to the latency of N170 component (150–190 ms). Musicians and musically naïve people (controls) were matched based on native language, sociocultural and educational status, age, and laterality preference. Behavioural data and reading proficiency tests demonstrated higher reading skills (for words, non-words and text), and faster RTs to target letters embedded in words, in musicians. Source reconstruction showed fundamental differences in word reading mechanisms between musicians and non-musicians, including a larger involvement of the right occipitotemporal cortex, in the former than the latter. In particular, musicians showed a bilateral activation of the middle occipital gyrus (BA19, Visual Word Form Area), which was strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere in controls, during word orthographic analysis. A relationship is proposed between music literacy, enhanced reading skills and the development of a right-sided reading area for notation recognition in musicians, which could serve as a potential protective factor for ‘surface’ dyslexia.

This study explored the impact of different components of the Home Literacy Environment (HLE) —stimulation to use language, reading books and cultural engagement, joint activities and conversation, interactive reading, and zone-of-proximal development stimulation—on Chinese preschoolers' eye movements during storybook reading. Eighty-seven children aged 4–6 were assessed for vocabulary and word reading skills, while their eye movements were tracked during storybook reading. Their parents completed a questionnaire on personal background and frequency of HLE activities. The results showed that interactive reading was the only HLE component significantly associated with children's attention to words and word reading. Additionally, attention to words during reading was linked to vocabulary and word reading, with the influence of interactive reading on word reading mediated by attention to words. These findings emphasize the differential contributions of HLE components and suggest that cultural context plays a crucial role in shaping the effectiveness of specific aspects of the home literacy environment in promoting children's reading abilities.

PURPOSE: A large body of literature showed that word reading and listening comprehension-two proximal predictors of reading comprehension according to the simple view of reading-are related. Grounded on the direct and indirect effects model of reading (Kim, 2020a, 2020b, 2023), we examined the extent to which the relation is explained by domain-general cognitions or executive functions (working memory and attentional control) and emergent literacy skills (language and code-related skills including morphological awareness, phonological awareness, orthographic pattern recognition, letter naming fluency, and rapid automatized naming). METHOD: Data were from English-speaking children in Grade 1 (N = 372; 52% boys; 60% White children, 26% African American children, 6% multiracial children, 6% Hispanic children, and 2% Asian American children). RESULTS: Results from structural equation models showed that word reading and listening comprehension were moderately related (.54). When working memory and attentional control were included as predictors, the relation became weaker (.39). When morphological awareness was additionally included, they were no longer related (.05). The other emergent literacy skills did not add explanatory power beyond executive functions and morphological awareness. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that executive functions and morphological awareness largely explain the shared variance between word reading and listening comprehension for English-speaking beginning readers.

This study examined the interrelationships among and combined effects of word reading skills and syntactic knowledge on reading prosody in fifth-grade monolingual Spanish-speaking students. We used Spanish standardized tests to assess the participants (n = 169, 79 girls) on word and pseudoword reading skills, syntactic knowledge, and reading prosody. The results revealed significant relationships among these factors and reading prosody. Word reading emerged as a pivotal predictor, whereas syntactic knowledge, although playing a smaller role compared to word reading, was linked to improvements in expression, phrasing, and the reduction of ungrammatical pauses. We also found a non-significant interaction between the independent effects of word reading and syntactic knowledge on reading prosody. The study suggests the potential benefits of integrating explicit syntactic instruction into reading curricula and intervention programs to support the development of reading prosody in Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Young children clearly know quite a bit about the conventions of written language; for instance, 5‐year‐old children are sensitive to the fact that words tend to include both consonants and vowels, rather than just one or the other. The core theoretical debate lies in whether this understanding of sub‐lexical orthographic regularities predicts children's reading development. To provide empirical data on this question, we examined whether individual differences in sub‐lexical orthographic knowledge were related to gains in word reading over a year. Methods: We measured sub‐lexical orthographic knowledge in Grade 1 by asking children to choose which of two letter‐strings looked most word‐like: one containing vowels and consonants and one containing all consonants or all vowels (e.g., vack vs vgck or uaie, respectively). Children completed control measures of phonological awareness, vocabulary and nonverbal ability in Grade 1. Word reading was measured in both Grades 1 and 2. Results: Linear regression analyses identified a small but significant and unique contribution of sub‐lexical orthographic knowledge in Grade 1 to word reading in Grade 2, after controls for the above measures as well as age, parental education and the auto‐regressor of Grade 1 word reading. Conclusions: This finding suggests a role for knowledge of sub‐lexical orthographic regularities in children's gains in word reading. Highlights: What is already known about this topic Young children's phonological awareness determines their progress in learning to read words.Young children have considerable knowledge of sub‐lexical orthographic regularities, understanding, for instance, that words are composed of both vowels and consonants rather than just one or the other.Whether sub‐lexical orthographic knowledge predicts word reading development has been the source of theoretical debate. What this paper adds Our findings demonstrate that one aspect of young children's sub‐lexical orthographic knowledge is related to gains in their word reading in the early elementary school years. Implications for theory, policy or practice These findings point to awareness of print as a potential factor related to the pace of children's reading development.We speculate that word reading development is driven by children's awareness of both sounds and print because learning to read involves connecting sounds to letters.Our findings provide support for the predictions of the print learning theoretical framework (Conrad & Deacon, 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study investigates the role of pattern understanding in Chinese kindergarten children's word reading. • Pattern understanding makes a unique contribution to subsequent Chinese single- and double-character word reading. • The effects of pattern understanding are mediated by phonological awareness. • The direct effect of pattern understanding remains significant on Chinese double-character reading. The present study investigated the direct effect of pattern understanding on Chinese word reading, and the indirect effects via metalinguistic awareness. Participants were 138 children (73 boys, mean age = 59.60 months at the first wave of assessment) recruited from four kindergartens in Hong Kong. They were assessed twice with an interval of 14 months. In the first wave of assessment, which took place in the spring term in the second year of kindergarten, children were assessed regarding pattern understanding, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and orthographic awareness. Working memory, spatial visualization, and receptive vocabulary were also assessed as control variables. In the second wave, which took place at the end of the third kindergarten year, Chinese word reading was measured using two tasks, i.e. single-character word reading and double-character word reading. Results of a multivariate multiple regression showed that pattern understanding made a unique contribution to subsequent Chinese single- and double-character word reading independently of spatial visualization, working memory, vocabulary, and demographic variables. Results of the mediation model showed that the unique effects of pattern understanding were mediated by phonological awareness. The direct effect of pattern understanding remained significant on Chinese double-character reading. The findings highlight the importance of pattern understanding in Chinese word reading for Chinese kindergarten children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate whether and how Chinese single character reading and 2-character word reading can reflect somewhat different processes. Tasks of Chinese rapid automatized naming (RAN), morphological awareness, phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, along with vocabulary knowledge and nonverbal intelligence tasks, were administered to 283 Hong Kong Chinese kindergarteners (Mean age = 66.08 months, SD = 5.15), who were followed up one year later at grade one. Results demonstrated that, concurrently, morphological awareness and RAN explained unique variance in Chinese word reading at kindergarten when character reading was statistically controlled; character reading had no unique cognitive-linguistic correlates when word reading was statistically controlled. Longitudinally, word reading at grade one was predicted by character reading at kindergarten. In contrast, character reading at grade one could not be predicted by word reading at kindergarten. These findings suggest that Chinese children's processing of 2-character words and single characters should be treated differently in Chinese reading acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionChildren with dyslexia face persistent difficulties in reading acquisition, which results in poor reading accuracy. In addition to the commonly studied reading errors such as omissions, additions, substitutions, and letter reversals, they also make guessing errors characterized by replacing a word with an orthographic neighbor. These errors, which occur in the context of isolated words and sentence or text reading, might be linked to the inhibition issues that have already been demonstrated in connection to dyslexia. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no experimental evidence that children with dyslexia make more guessing errors than typically developing children, as is the case for sequential errors. The current study aimed to evaluate whether children with dyslexia made more guessing errors than typically developing children and whether these errors were more frequent in an isolated word or sentence context.MethodsTwenty-eight children with dyslexia from Grade 4 were matched with typically developing children by either chronological age or reading level. Reading was assessed through word and text reading tasks. Error types were classified into seven categories and analyzed.Results and conclusionA repeated-measure ANOVA showed that children with dyslexia made more guessing errors, particularly visual and morphemic errors, than typically developing children. Moreover, these errors were found at both the single word and sentence levels. These findings suggest that children with dyslexia tend to use a global treatment of words, relying on incomplete information to compensate for their difficulties. The findings have practical implications for pedagogical and therapeutic approaches.

Background: Lexical properties such as orthographic neighbours have been shown to have an influence on reading and writing; however, this phenomenon is yet to be explored in the Southern Bantu languages. Objectives: We investigate the role of orthographic neighbourhood density and neighbourhood frequency in reading and spelling in Grade 3 isiXhosa home-language learners. The aim is to establish whether orthographic neighbours facilitate or hinder reading and spelling. The dual-route model of orthographic processing is used to interpret our findings. Method: Data were collected from 97 Grade 3 isiXhosa home-language learners. Lexical decision, word reading, and spelling tasks were administered. Tasks included both real and pseudowords varying in orthographic neighbourhood density and neighbourhood frequency, while controlling for word length and word frequency. Results: Findings show a significant inhibitory effect of orthographic neighbourhood frequency and word length for spelling accuracy. Longer words with higher frequency neighbours were more likely to be spelt incorrectly. No effect was recorded for the lexical decision and word reading tasks. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that spelling in isiXhosa relies partially on lexical processing strategies, which allows for the inhibitory effects of orthographic neighbours to be observed. While in reading, sublexical processing is more prominent, therefore mitigating the effect of orthographic neighbours. Contribution: Empirical evidence for the effects of orthographic neighbours, specifically in a Southern Bantu language, provides a clearer picture of the underlying cognitive-linguistic processes involved in reading and writing. This evidence may contribute to the development of targeted pedagogical practices to address spelling errors.

Abstract Background This study explored the effects of attention shifting on Chinese children’s word reading. Objective The sample consisted of 87 fourth-grade children from Shaoxing City, China. Methods The students completed measures of the attention shifting task, reading accuracy test, reading fluency test, and rapid automatized naming test. Results The results showed that reading fluency was significantly correlated with attention shifting scores, specifically with tag1 and tag6 (ps

The purpose of this post hoc analysis was to analyze if pre-intervention word reading skills contributed to intervention response on reading comprehension outcomes. High school students with reading difficulties were randomized to a business as usual (BaU) or treatment condition that provided 2 years of an intensive, multicomponent word reading and reading comprehension intervention. Participants were assessed on measures of word reading and reading comprehension for pretest and reading comprehension only for posttest. Findings revealed no statistically significant differences with word-level fluency modeled as a continuous variable between treatment and control on reading comprehension. Regardless of assignment to condition, higher word-level fluency scores predicted higher posttest outcomes on years 1 and 2 reading comprehension scores.

Segmental and suprasegmental phonological awareness (PA) are closely related to word reading skills in native speakers learning to read an alphabetic script as used in English. However, their roles in English word and pseudoword reading among native Chinese (NC) speakers, and how English proficiency might affect these relationships, remain less clear. This study examined the links between English segmental/suprasegmental PA and word/pseudoword reading in NC and native English (NE) speakers. Both child and adult participants were assessed on English segmental and suprasegmental PA, alongside vocabulary, at a single time point. The results showed that both segmental PA (elision and segmenting nonwords) and suprasegmental PA (aural suffix judgment and written suffix judgment) were significantly correlated with English real word and pseudoword reading of both NE and NC children, and NC adults, but not NE adults. Moreover, for NE and NC children, segmental PA correlated stronger with real word reading than suprasegmental PA after controlling for vocabulary. Among NC adults, both segmental and suprasegmental PA significantly contributed to real word reading. For pseudoword reading, after controlling for vocabulary, segmental PA had a stronger correlation among NC children and adults, while suprasegmental PA was more influential for NE children. This research gives insights into factors influencing NC speakers' English word reading ability, bearing essential implications for enhancing second language literacy in learners from a logographic background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral language has long been acknowledged as a prominent influence on children's reading development. Here, we examine the intersecting contribution of two prominent aspects of oral language – phonology and morphology. We explore this interface by examining contributions from the two dimensions of phonology – phonemic and prosodic – of morphological awareness on children's reading development. Methods: In a longitudinal study, we track the word reading and reading comprehension development of 175 children in Grades 3 and 4 (Time 1) over the course of 11 months into Grades 4 and 5 (Time 2), respectively. At Time 1, children also completed a measure of morphological awareness with items varying across the two intersecting phonological dimensions: phonemic and prosodic changes. Results: We found two unique effects accounting for gains in reading skill over 1 year after controlling for vocabulary, phonological awareness and nonverbal ability, and the appropriate auto‐regressor. Gains in word reading skill were predicted by performance on morphological awareness items with phonemic changes. Gains in reading comprehension skill were predicted by performance on morphological awareness items with both phonemic and prosodic changes. Conclusions: These findings point to key differences in the oral language skills that drive the development of word reading versus reading comprehension and encourage us to consider the rich intersection between features of oral language in understanding children's reading development. Highlights: What is already known about this topicMany of the words in children's texts are complex; they often include multiple units of meaning, or morphemes, as is the case for magician, made up of magic + ian.Children's awareness of morphemes has been shown to be related to their reading skill.Teachers and researchers alike have started to design ways to teach children about morphemes. What this paper addsHere, we identify how the sound, or phonological, dimensions of children's morphological awareness is related to the development of their reading skill.The need to do is demonstrated by the fact that morphologically complex words are also complex at the sound level; for example, shifting from magic to magician involves changes at the level of phonemes and prosody (i.e., /k/ changing to /ʃ/ and stress changing from the first to the second syllable).In a longitudinal study, performance on morphological awareness items involving phonemic changes predicted gains in word reading, and performance on morphological awareness involving both phonemic and prosodic changes predicted reading comprehension gains. Implications for theory, policy or practiceThese findings demonstrate the importance of considering the phonological aspects of morphological awareness in explaining children's reading development.In terms of theory, these findings demonstrate the need to include both prosody and morphology in models and to do so in an integrated manner.In terms of practice, these findings point to the value in instruction that embraces the phonological complexities that children encounter in multi‐morphemic words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Word‐to‐text integration (WTI) can be challenging for second‐language (L2) learners, although it can positively contribute to reading comprehension. The present study examined the role of WTI, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary and morphosyntactic awareness, in predicting English as an L2 reading comprehension development in 441 Dutch seventh‐grade students. Methods: At the beginning (Time 1 [T1]) and the end (Time 2 [T2]) of the school year, students were tested on their English decoding, vocabulary, morphological and syntactic awareness and reading comprehension with paper‐and‐pencil tasks and on WTI with a self‐paced reading task with reading times being compared on passages with unknown versus known words and passages with and without anomalies. Results: Mediation analyses showed small indirect effects of processing argument overlap and anomalies on T2 reading comprehension, via T1 reading comprehension. Conclusions: WTI explained unique variance in reading comprehension at T2 via reading comprehension at T1, suggesting that it moderately impacts initial stages of reading comprehension in English as a second language (ESL). Highlights: What is already known about this topicWTI is important for reading comprehension but challenging for L2 learners.Lexical skills are also important for reading comprehension. What this paper addsNovice L2 learners can distinguish between passages with unknown and known words and with and without anomalies (WTI).These WTI skills have small effects on reading comprehension development. Implications for theory, policy or practiceWTI can provide unique insights into reading comprehension development of L2 learners.These insights can inform our understanding of why some students with sufficient lexical skills nevertheless show insufficient reading comprehension skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the executive function (EF) deficits and their roles in reading in one hundred and four Cantonese-speaking children with typical development, reading disabilities (RD), ADHD, and comorbid ADHD and RD (ADHD + RD). Children's EF and reading skills were measured. Analysis of variance results showed that all children with disorders manifested deficits in verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory and behavioral inhibition. Moreover, children with ADHD and ADHD + RD also exhibited deficits in inhibition (IC and BI) and cognitive flexibility. These findings demonstrated that the EF deficits in Chinese children with RD, ADHD, and ADHD + RD are similar to those in their counterparts using alphabetic languages. However, children with ADHD + RD displayed more severe deficits in visuospatial working memory compared to children with RD and ADHD, which was inconsistent with that observed in children using alphabetic languages. Regression analysis results showed that verbal short-term memory was a significant predictor for both word reading and reading fluency in children with RD and ADHD + RD. Moreover, behavioral inhibition significantly predicted reading fluency in children with ADHD. These findings also agreed with previous studies. Collectively, the results of the current study showed that the EF deficits and their roles in reading found in Chinese children with RD, ADHD, and ADHD + RD are mainly consistent with children using alphabetic languages. However, more studies are still needed to confirm these findings, especially comparing the severity of working memory among these three disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explored the role of verbal fluency in determining reading and comprehension skills in Bengali among 10-year old typically developing Bengali children. Robust correlations were found between semantic fluency and word reading (0.63) as well as semantic fluency and comprehension (0.70). Good correlation was found between letter fluency and comprehension (0.49), and, word reading and comprehension (0.62). The findings suggest that good word storing capacity and executive functions led to enhanced automaticity of retrieval and verbal fluency, which together with improved orthographic and phonological processing led to good word reading scores, contributing to lesser cognitive load thereby easing out the complex text comprehension task. Transcending narrow empirical base of reading theories derived from Western writing typologies delimited to orthographic depth and psycholinguistic grain size, the study contends that verbal fluency is another interesting variable determining the reading and comprehension skills in Bengali along with visuo-spatial complexity and complex phonology-orthography inconsistencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Research on the association of short-term memory (STM) and reading expertise are dominated by studies with typically developing children and children with reading impairment. Many studies confirmed the role of short-term memory in reading development and reading, especially in the case of verbal and phonological STM. The current study takes an unusual perspective by contrasting age-appropriate readers with excellent readers (reading performance with at least 1 SD above average) on three different short-term memory skills: phonological STM, verbal STM and visuospatial STM. Methods: We identified and recruited six groups of children. Three groups performed at least one SD above average in two standardized reading tasks (excellent readers), the three control groups performed within the domain of ±0.5 SD on reading (age-appropriate readers). One group of excellent readers and one group of age-appropriate readers participated in a Phonological Short- Term Memory (STM) task, one pair of groups participated in a Verbal STM task, whereas the last pair participated in a Visuospatial STM task. Results: Pairwise comparisons demonstrated that excellent readers outperformed age-appropriate readers in Visuospatial STM. Phonological STM only differed across the groups after controlling for age. No group difference was observed in Verbal STM. Conclusion: Our results confirm the role of short-term memory in reading expertise. However, data highlights that visuospatial and phonological information becomes more relevant in above-average readers. Results are discussed along grain-size theory, and whether and how focused educational programs can build on visuospatial short-term memory training to achieve better reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In learning to read, children learn to integrate orthographic, phonological, and semantic codes into highly specified and redundant lexical representations. The aim is to test a proposed model for the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) as mediated by word reading (WR) and spelling (SP) in children with developmental dyslexia (DD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and mild intellectual disability (ID). Methods: The relation between PA and RAN was found to be mediated by WR and SP in children with DD, ADHD, and mild ID. Three groups of children were included: DD children (N = 70), ADHD children (N = 68), and ID children (N = 69). This is a quantitative correlational, cross-sectional study investigating the strength and direction of relationships among proposed variables. Results: The relation between PA and RAN was found to be mediated by WR and SP. Based on their correlation analysis, the researcher concluded that there are significant correlations between PA, RAN, WR, and SP. PA correlates positively with RAN and SP. RAN correlates positively with WR and SP. Conclusion: The study extended our knowledge of the relationship between PA and RAN as mediated by WR and SP in children with DD, ADHD, and mild ID. In practice, this is conducive to promote the utilization of "PA" and "RAN" so as to improve the early literacy skills (WR and SP) among children with DD, ADHD, and mild ID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigated how correlations between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and reading depend on characteristics of the stimuli. RAN tasks using stimuli with high phonological demands were predicted to be the strongest correlates of decoding efficiency, while high semantic demands were predicted to lead to stronger correlations with comprehension. Method: At two time points, 132 Grade 2 children completed four different RAN versions, two using letter stimuli (low semantic load) and two using object stimuli (high semantic load). Both types of stimuli were used in either a repeated version, where a set of four items were repeated multiple times (low semantic load), or in a unique version, where each item appeared only once (high semantic load). Decoding efficiency and reading comprehension were assessed in Grade 5. Results: Analyses showed that confirmatory factor models with separate factors for each version provided better fit than grouping factors according to time point. Repetition (lowering semantic load) increased the longitudinal association between RAN objects and decoding efficiency. There was a tendency for conditions with higher semantic load to correlate more strongly with reading comprehension after control for decoding efficiency, but the differences were not significant. Conclusion: The results indicate that increasing semantic load weakens the relationship with decoding efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of a progress monitoring method, namely the Multilayer Instruction Model-Progress Monitoring (MIM-PM), which is a word reading fluency measure. It was used from 1st grade onward to predict the overall reading achievement of students in elementary school by tracking their reading achievement over the following six years. A total of 827 elementary school students in Japan participated in this study. At the end of every other year—2nd, 4th, and 6th grades—a standardized Reading Test (RT) was administered to assess overall reading achievement. The relationship between each MIM-PM measure and RT was determined using the latent growth curve model (LGCM). Using the LGCM, we confirmed that the MIM-PM had an acceptable fit for use in the prediction model for RT from 2nd to 6th grades. The MIM-PM slope explained the intercept of RT, rather than that of MIM-PM. Thus, it can assist in predicting reading achievement in later grades based on word reading fluency, as well as monitor students' progress from an early stage of the educational process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyse word and non-word reading among early-grade students of Sidaama and English, with a specific emphasis on the difference in orthographic depth between the two languages. The research has a convergent mixed methods design applying reading skills tests, interviews with teachers, and classroom observations. The results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis showed that student scores in Sidaama, which has a transparent orthography, indicated greater accuracy in both word and non-word reading compared to English with its deep orthography. Overall, students read words more correctly than non-words in both languages. Especially in English, the scores for non-words were very low. The results from the reading tests suggest that orthographic differences between the two languages caused challenges for the students when decoding words and non-words. The teachers confirmed the influence of these challenges in interviews, and students were observed struggling to read in class.

PurposeResearch on the association of short-term memory (STM) and reading expertise are dominated by studies with typically developing children and children with reading impairment. Many studies confirmed the role of short-term memory in reading development and reading, especially in the case of verbal and phonological STM. The current study takes an unusual perspective by contrasting age-appropriate readers with excellent readers (reading performance with at least 1 SD above average) on three different short-term memory skills: phonological STM, verbal STM and visuospatial STM.MethodsWe identified and recruited six groups of children. Three groups performed at least one SD above average in two standardized reading tasks (excellent readers), the three control groups performed within the domain of ±0.5 SD on reading (age-appropriate readers). One group of excellent readers and one group of age-appropriate readers participated in a Phonological Short-Term Memory (STM) task, one pair of groups participated in a Verbal STM task, whereas the last pair participated in a Visuospatial STM task.ResultsPairwise comparisons demonstrated that excellent readers outperformed age-appropriate readers in Visuospatial STM. Phonological STM only differed across the groups after controlling for age. No group difference was observed in Verbal STM.ConclusionOur results confirm the role of short-term memory in reading expertise. However, data highlights that visuospatial and phonological information becomes more relevant in above-average readers. Results are discussed along grain-size theory, and whether and how focused educational programs can build on visuospatial short-term memory training to achieve better reading.

We investigated effects of unilateral left (lTLR, N = 15) or right (rTLR, N = 19) anteromedial temporal lobe resections comprising amygdala and temporal pole on event-related potentials (ERPs) during attentive reading of negative and neutral words, their emotional evaluation, and recognition memory. Content effects on behaviour did not differ between lTLR, rTLR, and controls (N = 18). Negative words elicited larger ERPs than neutral words for P1, Early Posterior Negativity (EPN), and Late Positive Potential (LPP). However, the rTLR group lacked the P1 enhancement and had attenuated EPN effects. Despite showing generally the largest ERP amplitudes, the lTLR group had smaller occipital N1 and left frontal positivity for negative compared with neutral words in the N1 window. Only lTLR also had smaller left parietal P2 and larger right parietal P3 and LPP for negative words. These data help specify left and right anteromedial temporal lobe contributions to the processing of negative and neutral words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing English phonological awareness is critical in promoting native English speakers' reading development. However, less attention has been paid to the role of phonological awareness development for English language learners in a logographic context. This meta‐analysis aims to evaluate the effectiveness of training native Chinese speakers' English phonological awareness and reading across age groups. Thirty‐three articles, including 37 independent samples, were identified as training studies that reported English phonological awareness as an outcome measure, and 16 articles, including 17 independent samples, featured training studies that reported reading as an outcome measure. Results based on a random‐effect model revealed the effect sizes for overall English phonological awareness (including English syllable awareness, phoneme awareness, and rhyme awareness) and overall reading (including word reading and pseudoword reading) were g = 0.651 (n = 3137) and g = 0.498 (n = 1506), respectively. Specifically, instructional training exerted a small impact on word reading (g = 0.297), moderate effects on syllable awareness (g = 0.468) and pseudoword reading (g = 0.586), a medium to large effect on phoneme awareness (g = 0.736), and a large impact on rhyme awareness (g = 0.948). The moderator analyses yielded several significant findings. Regarding the English phonological awareness outcome, programs integrating lexical semantic knowledge exhibited the largest trend in enhancing native Chinese speakers' skills. Among all age groups, upper elementary students benefited most from instructional training. Furthermore, more intensive training had a greater impact than less intensive training. In terms of the reading outcome, similar to English phonological awareness findings, upper elementary students realized the greatest improvements. Additionally, unpublished articles indicated a larger training effect on reading than published ones. These findings provide practitioners with guidelines for delivering effective instruction to promote phonological awareness and reading ability for English language learners in a logographic language context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]