Perfiles cognitivos de niños de nivel socioeconómico bajo con dificultades en la velocidad lectora: análisis de los resultados de una intervención / Cognitive profiles of low readers in low-SES: analysis of an intervention results

El presente trabajo busca contribuir a la comprensión de las dificultades en la adquisición de velocidad lectora en niños que crecen en contextos de pobreza. Se realizaron dos estudios: el primero se propuso comparar los perfiles cognitivos de niños con y sin dificultad en el desarrollo de la velocidad en el reconocimiento de palabras. Participaron 68 niños de 6to grado de zonas vulneradas del conurbano bonaerense: 22 niños presentaban adecuada precisión pero baja velocidad lectora y 46 niños conformaron el grupo de comparación, con niveles promedio de precisión y velocidad. A ambos grupos se les administraron pruebas de conciencia fonológica, denominación rápida, memoria verbal y escritura convencional. Exceptuando la prueba de memoria, en el resto de las pruebas el grupo con baja velocidad lectora presentó desempeños inferiores a los del grupo de comparación. El segundo estudio buscó explorar en qué medida una intervención pedagógica permitía mejorar la velocidad lectora. Para ello, los "lectores lentos" del Estudio 1 participaron de una situación pre-test-intervención para promover el desarrollo de la velocidad lectora vía formación de representaciones ortográficas-postest. Los resultados del Estudio 2 mostraron que la intervención con lecturas repetidas y aceleradas de palabras modificó significativamente el tiempo de lectura de las palabras de entrenamiento. Los datos también sugieren que el trabajo con unidades subléxicas en la intervención permitió transferir la velocidad ganada en las palabras de entrenamiento a palabras de transferencia, palabras no trabajadas en las sesiones, pero con unidades subléxicas incluidas en las palabras de entrenamiento.

Reading speed is achieved based on automatic word recognition and, together with prosody, constitutes an essential link between word recognition and text comprehension. Despite the relevance of reading speed acquisition for success at school, a high percentage of children growing up in poverty contexts face difficulties in achieving automatic word recognition. Consequently, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of difficulties in reading speed acquisition in children growing in poverty contexts. Two studies were designed. In the first study, in order to explore the origin of difficulties in developing word reading speed, a comparison of the cognitive profiles of children from low-in-come backgrounds with and without difficulties in this ability was carried out. In a previous study, norms were obtained for accuracy and speed in a word reading test. Participants were 168 6th grade children from several educational institutions attending children growing up in poverty contexts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the present study, the same word reading test was administered to 96 6th grade children. Based on the norms obtained in the previous study, two groups of children were identified: a group who performed at or above the 50th percentile in reading accuracy but below the 30th percentile in reading speed and another groupper forming at or above the 50th percentile in both measures. The first group was made up of 22 children, and the second one, of 46 children. The remaining 28 children were not included in the study because they performed below the 50th percentile in reading accuracy. Additional tests measuring phonological awareness, rapid naming, verbal memory and word spelling were administered to children in both groups. Between-groups comparisons in these tasks showed that children with speed acquisition difficulties underperformed the other group in the tests tapping phonological awareness, rapid naming and spelling. These results suggest that the children in the group experiencing reading difficulties were still using the phonological route for word recognition. The second study aimed to explore whether a specifically designed educational intervention could enable children with low reading speed from the previous study to increase their reading speed. Both groups of children (with and without reading speed difficulties) were administered two additional reading tests: an experimental test comprising target words which would subsequently be included in the training study for the children with reading speed difficulties; and a reading test of additional words and pseudo words not targeted in the training study, but considered transfer items because they comprised sub lexical units that were included in the target words to be trained during the intervention. These same reading tests were re-administered as a post-test, after the reading intervention for the reading speed difficulties group. The training study aimed to promote reading speed via the acquisition of orthographic representations. The intervention involved two weekly individual sessions lasting 20 minutes each. Each child participated of a total of 15 sessions. Each session included repeated and accelerated reading of lexical units, as well as activities for promoting the analysis of sublexical units included in the target words and also present in the transfer pseudo words from the post-test. The comparison between the pre- and post-test performance of the training group showed a statistically significant increase in reading speed both of trained and transfer words, an increase that was not obtained for the comparison group. This result suggests that during the intervention children were able to develop orthographic representations of the trained lexical units, but also of the sub lexical units that were present in both the target and the transfer words. Educational implications from this study point to the importance of repeated and accelerated reading for increasing speed, a critical reading ability.

Acquisition of orthographic knowledge: orthographic representations and context sensitive rules / Desarrollo de conocimiento ortográfico en niños: formación de representaciones ortográficas y aprendizaje de reglas contextúales

Resumen En este estudio se analizó el desarrollo de conocimiento ortográfico de niños en el marco de un programa de intervención de aulas educativas en el que participaron 74 niños argentinos que cursaban 3er grado de la escuela primaria y que fueron ubicados en dos grupos: 36 niños en un grupo de intervención y 38 en un grupo control. Con el grupo de intervención, se realizó una secuencia didáctica para promover la formación de representaciones ortográficas léxicas y sub-léxicas y el aprendizaje de reglas contextuales. La comparación postest entre grupos mostró un desempeño superior del grupo de intervención en la escritura de las palabras entrenadas. También se evaluaron ambos grupos en la escritura de palabras de transferencia, palabras no específicamente trabajadas en la intervención pero que compartían reglas ortográficas, sílabas o morfemas con las palabras entrenadas. Los resultados postest mostraron que el grupo de intervención escribió significativamente mejor que el grupo control las palabras de transferencia con las mismas reglas ortográficas contextuales pero no con las que incluían cadenas subléxicas idénticas a las de las palabras de entrenamiento. Se concluye que la intervención realizada benefició la transferencia de reglas contextuales pero no de representaciones ortográficas subléxicas para la escritura de palabras desconocidas.

Abstract This paper analyzed the acquisition of orthographic knowledge in 3rd grade, Spanish-speaking children. Participants were 74 Argentine children; 36 were included in an experimental group while 38 were part of a control group. The experimental group was engaged in classroom activities designed to promote the acquisition of context-sensitive correspondence rules and the establishment of orthographic representations of words, syllables and morphemes. Post-test comparisons carried out between the experimental and the control groups showed that the experimental group was significantly better in the spelling of all words trained in the program. Children were also evaluated in the spelling of transfer words, that is, words not specifically presented in the intervention program but which included the same rules, syllables or morphemes as the trained words. The experimental group outperformed the control group in the spelling of transfer words including the context-sensitive correspondence rules presented in the program. However, no differences were obtained between groups in transfer words comprising the trained syllables or morphemes. These results suggest that the intervention program was effective in promoting the transfer of newly acquired rules to non trained words but that the acquisition and transfer of syllables and morphemes may require additional processes.

Aprendizaje de letras en niños preescolares de nivel socioeconómico bajo / Letter learning in preschool children growing in poverty

El trabajo que se informa se propuso explorar las diferencias individuales en las habilidades asociadas al aprendizaje de letras en 50 niños de 5 años de edad y de nivel socioeconómico bajo. Motivó este estudio la evidencia existente acerca de las dificultades que el dominio de las letras representa para parte de los niños en contextos de pobreza. A fin de identificar las variables que diferenciaban a los niños con mayor o menor facilidad para el aprendizaje de letras, se administraron pruebas que evalúan sensibilidad fonológica, memoria visual, memoria fonológica y denominación rápida. A continuación, se llevó adelante una situación experimental de aprendizaje de letras desconocidas, a las que se asignaron pseudo -nombres elaborados en base a las características de los nombres de las letras en español. En dos sesiones se presentaron cuatro letras (dos por sesión) y se evaluó la capacidad de los niños para reconocerlas por su nombre. En función del desempeño en la situación de aprendizaje de letras se dividió al grupo en niños con alto y bajo nivel de desempeño y se comparó a los subgrupos en las restantes habilidades evaluadas. La única tarea en la que se obtuvieron diferencias significativas fue en la prueba de denominación rápida de objetos, tarea que capturaría el componente de asociación visual-verbal del aprendizaje de letras. Se analizan las implicancias educativas de estos hallazgos.

Together with phonological sensitivity, letter knowledge has been shown to be one of the best predictors of reading acquisition (Lerväg, Bratën & Hulme, 2009; Muter, Hulme, Snowling & Stevenson, 2004). But letter learning represents a considerable challenge for many children growing in poverty contexts, as evidenced by studies conducted with both selected and unselected samples of different ages (Diuk, Serrano & Ferroni, 2013; Duncan & Seymour, 2000). Even though letter knowledge has been largely attributed to experiential factors such as learning opportunities provided by a child's home or school, there is growing evidence that individual differences in several cognitive and linguistic variables are related to the ease with which children learn letter names or sounds. This paper aimed at exploring letter learning in 50 Argentine, 5-year-old children growing in poverty. Children were tested towards the end of their kindergarten year. An experimental training situation was adapted from Levin, Shatil-Carmon and Asif-Rave (2006). In this situation children were presented with unknown letters (letters from the Cyrillic alphabet). Pseudonames for these letters were created attending to the characteristics of letter names in Spanish. Training involved a card game consisting of a mixed pile of letter cards and picture cards. In each round of the game, the child uncovered one card after the other from the pile and, when a letter card turned up, he or she was asked to provide the letter's name. Children were presented with four letters, two per session. A point was awarded when the child could accurately name each letter. In order to identify cognitive and linguistic variables which might establish individual differences among children in the ease of acquiring letter names, before the training situation children were given tests evaluating phonological sensitivity (syllable and initial sound recognition), phonological memory (digit span and pseudoword repetition), visual memory and rapid naming (RAN) of objects, colors and digits. Based on the scores in the letter learning situation, two subgroups of children were established. The high- and the low - performing subgroups were then compared on the cognitive and linguistic variables previously examined. No differences between groups were obtained in either phonological sensitivity test, in phonological memory (digit span or pseudoword repetition) or visual memory. Statistically significant differences were only found in the rapid naming of objects (results from the rapid naming of colors and digits tests were excluded from analyses given that a high percentage of the sample could not name all five colors or numbers included in the task). The precise cognitive substrate tapped by rapid naming tasks has given rise to considerable debate in the field of Reading Psychology, but there is a growing consensus that these tasks probably capture the efficiency of basic neural mechanisms participating in the establishment of visual-verbal associations (Lervåg & Hulme, 2009). In terms of educational implications, rapid naming has proven to be hard to improve (de Jong & Vrielink, 2004). However, abilities strongly associated with RAN, such as reading fluency, can be enhanced through practice, even if rapid naming itself doesn't improve. RAN performance could consequently be considered an indication of the intensity of the intervention a child will need to achieve learning. Given that many low-income children have few opportunities for learning letter names and sounds in their communities, the fact that current kindergarten curricula do not include teaching letters may put many children in the situation of having to acquire alphabet knowledge in a short period of time once they enter 1st grade. Individual differences in rapid naming can thus be expected to play a role in the ease with which children learn in such a demanding context.

Anglocentrismo en los modelos de adquisición lectora?: un estudio en una lengua de ortografía transparente / Anglocentrism in reading acquisition models?: a study in a language with transparent orthography

En el estudio se analiza si las revisiones propuestas por Share (2008) a los modelos anglosajones de adquisición lectora pueden dar cuenta de estos procesos en español, una lengua de ortografía transparente. Share cuestionó la noción de aprendizaje en etapas, la importancia otorgada a la precisión lectora por sobre la velocidad y el peso atribuido al procesamiento fonológico. Se evaluó a un grupo de 52 niños de nivel socioeconómico bajo mediante pruebas de conocimiento de correspondencias, conciencia fonológica, denominación rápida y lectura de palabras a principios y mediados de primer grado y mediante una prueba de lectura de palabras y pseudopalabras hacia el final de primer y segundo grado. Los resultados mostraron la irrelevancia de las tempranas estrategias no fonológicas de lectura, un alto nivel de precisión lectora a fin de segundo grado acompañado de importantes diferencias en la velocidad de lectura, habilidad que estuvo estrechamente ligada a la denominación rápida. Estos resultados dan apoyo al modelo de adquisición lectora propuesto por Share (2008). Éste se caracteriza por un proceso continuo de gradual incremento de las habilidades de recodificación fonológica, con un temprano logro de la precisión y un peso importante de las diferencias individuales en el logro de la velocidad lectora.

The present research aimed to check Share’s (2008) thesis about conventional reading acquisition models in a group of Argentinean children. This author proposes that reading models developed for English need to be reviewed when children are learning to read in a language with transparent orthography. Share questions the idea of learning proceeds in stages, the importance given to reading accuracy over speed and the relevance of phonological processing. A group of 52 children from low-income families were tested on letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid naming and reading of frequent words at the beginning and the middle of first grade. Additionally, children’s word and pseudo-word reading skills were tested at the end of first and second grade. Results showed that most children never resorted to non-phonological strategies as it is usually done by their equals in English. By the end of second grade the group had reached a high level of accuracy in reading, but important differences were found in reading speed. These results support Share’s (2008) proposal since reading acquisition did not develop in a series of stages but could be described as a continuous process in which children gradually increase their phonological recoding abilities and achieve accuracy early on. Therefore individual differences in reading speed become a critical aspect of reading.

Dificultades de lectura en contextos de pobreza: ¿un caso de efecto mateo? / Dificuldades de leitura em contextos de pobreza: um caso de efeito mateus? / Reading difficulties in a poverty context: a case study of the matthew effect?

Este estudio investigó si las dificultades de lectura en contextos de pobreza pueden interpretarse en términos del Efecto Mateo, que plantea una acumulación de diferencias entre quien ingresa a la escuela con altos y bajos conocimientos. Se evaluaron 58 niños recién admitidos en el primer grado con pruebas de procesamiento fonológico, conocimiento de letras, lectura y escritura y se identificó un grupo de niños en riesgo. Con base en evaluaciones de lectura y escritura realizadas al final del primer, segundo y tercer grado se comparó la evolución de los niños en riesgo con la de sus compañeros. En el primer grado, la distancia entre grupos se amplió, confirmando las predicciones del Efecto Mateo. A partir del segundo grado, la escuela proporcionó a los niños en riesgo un apoyo educativo adicional. No se ampliaron más las diferencias entre grupos. Se considera que estos resultados manifiestan la repercusión de la intervención pedagógica en la configuración de las dificultades.

Este estudo explorou se as dificuldades leitoras em contextos de pobreza podem ser interpretadas em termos do Efeito Mateus, que postula uma acumulação das diferenças entre quem ingressa na escola com altos e baixos conhecimentos. Foram avaliadas 58 crianças ingressantes na primeira série com testes de processamento fonológico, conhecimento de letras, leitura e escrita, e se identificou um grupo de crianças em risco. Com base em avaliações de leitura e escrita ministradas no final da primeira, segunda e terceira série, se comparou a evolução das crianças em risco com a de seus pares. No primeiro ano, a distância entre grupos se ampliou, confirmando as predições do Efeito Mateus. A partir do segundo ano, a escola proporcionou às crianças em risco um apoio educativo adicional. As diferenças entre grupos já não se ampliaram. Considera-se que esses resultados evidenciam a incidência da intervenção pedagógica na configuração das dificuldades.

In this study we investigate whether the reading difficulties in poverty environment may be interpreted in terms of the "Matthew Effect", which posits an accumulation of differences between those who enter school with high and low knowledge. We evaluate 58 children entering first grade with tests of phonological processing, letter knowledge, reading and writing, and identified a group of children at risk. Based on assessments of reading and writing taught at the end of the first, second and third grades, we compared the evolution of children at risk with their peers. In the first year, the gap between groups widened confirming the predictions of the Matthew Effect. From the second year, the school provided children at risk with an additional educational support. Differences between groups no longer increased. It is considered that these results show the impact of educational intervention in facing children´s difficulties.

Predictors of letter knowledge in children growing in poverty / Predictores del conocimiento de las letras en niños que crecen en contextos de pobreza

This study examined the influence of phonological processing abilities on letter knowledge and letter learning in 1st grade children growing in poverty. At the beginning of the school year, 59 first graders were evaluated with tests measuring phonological awareness, phonological memory and rapid naming. Letter knowledge was assessed at the beginning and at the end of the year. All phonological processing abilities predicted letter knowledge at time 1, with phonological awareness producing the largest effect. However, only phonological memory predicted additional letter learning during the school year, once initial letter knowledge was taken into account.

El presente trabajo busca explorar la incidencia de las habilidades de procesamiento fonológico en el conocimiento y aprendizaje de letras en niños hispanohablantes de primer año de nivel socioeconómico (NSE) bajo. Al comenzar el año se evaluó el conocimiento de letras, la conciencia fonológica, la memoria fonológica y la denominación veloz. A fin de año se evaluó el conocimiento de letras. El análisis de la relación entre las medidas administradas se realizó en el grupo total y en un subgrupo con poco conocimiento alfabético. Los resultados sugieren que la conciencia fonológica tendría un papel fundamental en el inicio del aprendizaje, en tanto el aprendizaje adicional en el marco de la enseñanza escolar estaría asociado a las diferencias individuales en memoria fonológica.

El desarrollo de la escritura de palabras en español: Interacción entre el conocimiento fonológico y ortográfico / Spelling development in Spanish: Interaction between phonological and orthographic knowledge

El presente trabajo se propone ampliar los conocimientos acerca de las estrategias léxicas y fonológicas que utilizan los niños en la tarea de escritura de palabras en español, durante los primeros años de escolaridad. Para ello se analizó en dos experimentos, cómo incidían las variables de complejidad, extensión y frecuencia, así como el conocimiento ortográfico en el aprendizaje temprano de la escritura. En el primer experimento la variable ortográfica no fue considerada de manera específica, por lo que se diseñó y aplicó un segundo experimento. En el experimento dos se evaluó la incidencia del conocimiento léxico al comparar la adquisición de correspondencias consistentes e inconsistentes, dependientes e independientes del contexto. Las pruebas de escritura de palabras se aplicaron al finalizar el primer año y segundo año de Enseñanza General Básica (EGB). En los resultados, a finales de primer año, no se encontró un efecto de frecuencia, pero se observó, en cambio, una fuerte incidencia de la complejidad y la longitud en el desempeño de los niños, lo que puso de manifiesto que los mecanismos fonológicos son fundamentales en la primera etapa de aprendizaje de la escritura. Asimismo, se advirtió que los mecanismos léxicos son relativamente tardíos y se adquieren gradualmente. Sólo a finales de segundo año se encontró una interacción entre los mecanismos fonológicos y léxicos. Las implicancias pedagógicas del estudio fueron también consideradas.

This study analyzed the acquisition of word spelling strategies in Spanish-speaking children, during the first two years of elementary education. The cognitive word spelling models, initially developed for English, describe different stages in the acquisition spelling process. In the first stage, children write by memory, reproducing visual cues. At a second stage, children analyze the phonological structure of the word. Finally, in an orthographic stage, children can write words, using lexical information, without phonological mediation (Frith, 1984, 1985; Marsh, Friedman, Welch & Desberg, 1980). Even when the stages theory was discussed, these first studies allowed the identification of early lexical strategies and phonological mechanisms implied in the English word spelling processes. However, English is a language with a deep orthography, and the phonological strategy is a necessary mechanism but it is not enough to spell words properly. On the contrary, the Spanish orthographic system is shallow, and the phonemes-graphemes correspondences are very regular. Consequently, the spelling strategies could be different in these two languages, and the models developed for English would partially explain the orthographic learning process in transparent languages. This work aims to contribute to the knowledge on early spelling word strategies in Spanish. In two experiments, first and second grade children were given spelling tests designed to explore their phonological and orthographic knowledge. In the first experiment, the incidence of word complexity, length and frequency on spelling performance was explored. However, there was a possibility that, if children performed better in frequent words spelling, in relation to less frequent, they were resorting to their lexical knowledge. In this case, children were using an orthographic-lexical strategy. On the other hand, the possibility of writing complex and long words is associated to the phonological awareness level and correspondence knowledge. If children were able to easily write frequent and non frequent short and simple words, but had difficulties in writing long and complex words, they were possibly analyzing the sounds of the words and thus activating the corresponding letters. If the word was long or complex and the phonological skills were not well developed, children would have difficulties in writing them; one such problem, for example, would be in omitting letters. In this case, complexity and length variables that show the use of an analytic strategy would be influencing the performance. In the first experiment, the orthographic variable was not considered specifically, so a second experiment was designed. The second experiment evaluated orthographic knowledge, considering the orthographic characteristics of the words. The acquisition of the consistent and inconsistent correspondences was compared. The consistent correspondences could be solved using transcription rules, while inconsistent correspondences could be written only through lexical knowledge. Furthermore, consistent correspondences could be independent or dependent from context. In the first case, we refer to phonemes that are always represented with the same letter. In the other case, transcription depends on the syllabic context. Tests were applied at the end of the first and the second year of primary education. Results of the first experiment showed that, at the end of the first year, there was no frequency effect but the variables of complexity and length affected the children's performance. At the end of the second year, a frequency effect and a significant interaction between complexity and frequency were found. In the second experiment, a significant consistence effect was observed, but there was no frequency effect. These results indicate that phonological strategies are fundamental in the beginning of spelling acquisition. On the contrary, lexical mechanisms appear later and they are acquired gradually. Indeed, at the end of the first grade, frequency only affected performance of context dependent correspondences, but not independent. Likewise, interaction between phonological and lexical strategies was found only at the end of the second year. Pedagogical implications were also considered.

La escritura de textos en niños pequeños: relación entre la transcripción y la composición / Text writing in small children: relationship between transcription and composition

Este trabajo estudia la relación entre las habilidades de escritura de palabras y de textos en niños de primer año de Educación Básica General. Las diferencias observadas en estas tareas se atribuyen, en el marco de la psicología cognitiva, a dificultades en los procesos de composición y transcripción (Berninger, Yates, Cartwright, Rutberg, Elizabeth & Abbott, 1992). Se aplicaron pruebas de re-narración oral y escrita y de escritura de palabras. Se observó que el desempeño fue inferior en la escritura de textos con respecto a la escritura de palabras. Dado que se observaron mejores habilidades discursivas en la re-narración oral que en la escritura de textos, la diferencia no puede atribuirse a dificultades en el proceso de composición, sino que podría explicarse por las habilidades de transcripción.

The work studies the relationship between word writing and text production skills in children of 1st year of BasicGeneral Education. In the frame of the cognitive psychology, the differences observed between performance in these tasks are attributed to the difficulties in both the composition and the transcription processes. These processes were assessed by oral and written retelling of a story test. The results showed that children performance was worse in the text production task than in the word- writing task. This difference can no be attributed to the composition process, since the children evidenced good discursive skills in the oral task. The transcription skills could explain thedifferent performance in these tasks.