Parental reports on language development in toddlers and preschoolers based on the Croatian version of Communicative Development Inventories III.

Introduction: Previous studies have focused on understanding parental attempts to record language development in children, across many typologically different languages. However, many of these studies restricted their assessment to children up to the age of 3 years. The aim of this paper was to move this boundary by examining language development in typically language developed children older than 3 years. Methods: Using the Croatian version of the Communicative Development Inventories III (CDI-III-HR), we investigated the contribution of parental reports of a child's lexical, grammatical, and metalinguistic awareness abilities to general language abilities assessed by clinicians. Participants included the parents of 151 children between the ages of 30 to 48 months, who completed the CDI-III-HR and reported on their child's language abilities. Results: Our results show that age is significantly associated with the lexical, grammatical, and metalinguistic awareness abilities of a child's language development. These findings confirm that all three abilities increase with age and that parents can perceive changes in a child's language development. The subsections of CDI-III-HR were moderately to strongly associated with each other, with the strongest association being between lexicon and grammar, suggesting that they remain closely related after the age of 30 months. Parental assessments of a child's language development are a better predictor of language production than language comprehension, with grammar making the most consistent and significant contribution. Discussion: This study confirms that the development of grammatical abilities is the most prominent skill between the ages of 30 to 48 months and that parents can observe the transition in the child's language development through their usage of grammar in words to grammar in sentences. Based on the selected sample of children, we discovered different patterns of parental success in assessing the child's language ability. These findings indicate that parents can act as valuable sources of information regarding the child's language abilities, but clinical assessments of early language development should consider many other formal sources of information in addition to parental reports.

Hebrew-L2 speakers process auditory templatic words through their L1 processing mechanism with awareness of L2.

Bilingualism involves cross-linguistic influence (CLI) prompted by communicative function, which impacts the activation of the bilingual's L1/L2 language processing mechanisms. The current study examines the extent of CLI when semantic information is reduced. Semitic languages are known for their templatic words composed of intertwined sub-lexical root and template morphemes, entailing non-linear morphological processing. As the roots constitute the semantic core, comprehension was found to impact morphological processing among Hebrew-L2 readers. Herein, we assessed the processing mechanism activated among adult Hebrew-L2 bilinguals in an auditory rhyme judgment task that requires linear processing. The task was provided with Hebrew templatic word pairs comprising accentuated (meta)linguistic information irrespective of semantics: phonological co-occurrence restrictions (root), grammatical information of vocalic melodies (template), and contrastive stress. We hypothesized that CLI in Hebrew-L2 speakers would be reflected in low accuracy rates in rhyming pairs when linguistic information is accentuated, indicating distraction from the linear processing due to activation levels of the L2 processing mechanism caused by competing linguistic cues drawn on transferred linguistic information. We compared the performance of 58 adult Hebrew native speakers with 54 Hebrew-L2 speakers with Semitic and non-Semitic-L1. The findings demonstrate that Hebrew-L2 speakers performed the task using their L1 processing mechanism with varying activation levels of L2, showing awareness of the morphological processing due to the vocalic melody for non-Semitic-L1 and awareness of contrastive stress for Semitic-L1. The results confirm CLI also when semantics is reduced, elucidating how much CLI modulates the bilingual's language processing mechanism.

Language dominance predicts cognate effects and metalinguistic awareness in preschool bilinguals.

The current work investigates whether language dominance predicts transfer of skills across cognitive-linguistic levels from the native language (Spanish) to the second language (English) in bilingual preschoolers. Sensitivity to cognates (elephant/elefante in English/Spanish) and metalinguistic awareness (MLA) have both been shown to transfer from the dominant to the nondominant language. Examining these types of transfer together using a continuous measure of language dominance may allow us to better understand the effect of the home language in children learning a majority language in preschool. Forty-six preschool-aged, Spanish-English bilinguals completed English receptive vocabulary and metalinguistic tasks indexing cognate effects and MLA. Language dominance was found to predict crosslinguistic (cognate) facilitation from Spanish to English. In addition, MLA skills also transferred from Spanish to English for children with lower English proficiency, and no transfer of MLA was evident for children with higher English proficiency. Altogether, findings suggest that transfer from a dominant first language to a nondominant second language happens at linguistic and cognitive-linguistic levels in preschoolers, although possibly influenced by second language proficiency. The current study has implications for supporting the home language for holistic cognitive-linguistic development.

Literacy improves the comprehension of object relatives.

While there is a considerable body of research indicating that the acquisition of literacy has profound effects on many aspects of language and cognition, to our knowledge, very little is known about its effects on morphosyntax. In this paper, we explore the effects of literacy on the comprehension of Spanish object relative clauses, a structure which is typically acquired by literate children about the age of 10, i.e., after a considerable amount of exposure to written language. We tested three groups of native Spanish speakers (semi-literates, late-literates and high-literates) using a picture selection task. Subject relatives were used as a control condition. All three groups performed at ceiling on subject relatives (group means of 95% or above). In contrast, we observed very large differences in performance on object relatives, with the semi-literate group performing at chance (51% correct) and the late-literate group slightly above chance (65% correct). Performance in the high-literate group was much better, although not quite at ceiling (82% correct). The results appear to support the hypothesis that literacy helps in the acquisition of some aspects of grammar. This could be partly due to differences in IQ, metalinguistic awareness, working memory and/or executive functioning. The results are also consistent with the 'training wheels' hypothesis (Dabrowska, 2020), according to which the availability of written representations facilitates the acquisition of difficult structures by easing memory load and enabling speakers to process sentences at their own pace.

Cognitive Advantages of Multilingual Learning on Metalinguistic Awareness, Working Memory and L1 Lexicon Size: Reconceptualization of Linguistic Giftedness from a DMM Perspective.

The relation between multilingual learning and cognition through (linguistic) giftedness has not been studied yet in third language acquisition, multilingualism or cognition studies. Even though 'giftedness' appears to be enigmatic and advantageous in a number of areas, in the field of language learning it is not clear whether multilingual learning or giftedness fulfils the triggering role in a number of cognitive skills. For that purpose, the present study observed the possible cognitive advantages of multilingual learning on metalinguistic awareness (Jessner 2006), working memory (Baddeley & Hitch 1974; Robinson 2002; 2012) and first language lexicon size of a number of children from regular and gifted education programmes in a Dynamic Model of Multilingualism perspective (Herdina & Jessner 2002). The study was analyzed with the multiple linear regression model based on the scores gathered from the data of working memory and vocabulary sub-tests of the Turkish adaptation version (Savasir & Sahin 1995) of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, and metalinguistic awareness test (Pinto et al. 1999) of a number of mono-, bi- and multilingual participants from various schools. The results not only provided positive correlations between multilingual learning and metalinguistic awareness, working memory and first language lexicon size but also contributed to the identification and reconceptualization of linguistic giftedness.

Vocabulary, Metalinguistic Awareness and Language Dominance Among Bilingual Preschool Children.

Awareness of language structure has been studied in bilinguals, but there is limited research on how language dominance is related to metalinguistic awareness, and whether metalinguistic awareness predicts vocabulary size. The present study aims to explore the role of language dominance in the relation between vocabulary size in both languages of bilingual children and metalinguistic awareness in the societal language. It evaluates the impact of two metalinguistic awareness abilities, morphological and lexical awareness, on receptive and expressive vocabulary size. This is of special interest since most studies focus on the impact of exposure on vocabulary size but very few explore the impact of the interaction between metalinguistic awareness and dominance. 5-6-year-old preschool children with typical language development participated in the study: 15 Russian-Hebrew bilingual children dominant in the societal language (SL) Hebrew, 21 Russian-Hebrew bilingual children dominant in the Heritage language (HL) Russian and 32 monolingual children. Dominance was determined by relative proficiency, based on standardized tests in the two languages. Tasks of morphological and lexical awareness were administered in SL-Hebrew, along with measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary size in both languages. Vocabulary size in SL-Hebrew was significantly higher for SL-dominant bilinguals (who performed like monolinguals) than for HL-dominant bilinguals, while HL-Russian vocabulary size was higher for HL-dominant bilinguals than for SL-dominant bilinguals. A hierarchical regression analyzing the relationship between vocabulary size and metalinguistic awareness showed that dominance, lexical metalinguistic awareness and the interaction between the two were predictors of both receptive and expressive vocabulary size. Morphological metalinguistic awareness was not a predictor of vocabulary size. The relationship between lexical awareness and SL-vocabulary size was limited to the HL-dominant group. HL-dominant bilinguals relied on lexical metalinguistic awareness, measured by fast mapping abilities, that is, the abilities to acquire new words, in expanding their vocabulary size, whereas SL-dominant bilinguals and monolinguals did not. This difference reflects the milestones of lexical acquisition the different groups have reached. These findings show that metalinguistic awareness should also be taken into consideration when evaluating the variables that influence vocabulary size among bilinguals though different ways in different dominance groups.

Cross-language Transfer of Metalinguistic Skills: Evidence from Spelling English Words by Korean Students in Grades 4, 5 and 6.

The present study examined unique and shared contributions of Korean (first language) phonological, orthographic and morphological awareness (PA, OA and MA, respectively) to English (second/foreign language) spelling among 287 fourth-grade, fifth-grade and sixth-grade Korean children. Korean measures of PA, OA and MA were administered, in addition to English vocabulary and spelling measures. Results from structural equation modelling showed that PA, OA and MA were caused by one common construct, metalinguistic awareness (META), and the contribution of Korean META to English spelling was statistically significant, controlling for English vocabulary. In particular, Korean MA and PA played unique roles in explaining English spelling; whereas Korean OA did not significantly contribute to English spelling. Findings from the present study provided empirical evidence of first language META transfer effect on second/foreign language spelling development. Educational implications and future research ideas are discussed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Metacognitive Strategies.

This study assessed the effect of metacognitive instruction on the spelling and word reading of Hebrew-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI). Participants were 67 kindergarteners with SLI in a supported learning context. Children were classified into three spelling instruction groups: (a) metalinguistic instruction (ML), (b) ML that integrates metacognitive strategies (MCML), and (c) a control group. Letter naming, letter sounding, word spelling, and word recognition were assessed at pretest and posttest. Findings from spelling and reading tests as well as interviews indicated that both the ML and MCML groups made statistically significant gains in all measures, whereas the control group did not. However, children with SLI who received training in metacognitive strategies significantly outperformed those who received ML alone in spelling and reading skills. This study provides evidence that children with SLI benefit from applying of metacognitive strategies to spelling practices when acquiring early spelling and reading skills.

Differences in the Association between Segment and Language: Early Bilinguals Pattern with Monolinguals and Are Less Accurate than Late Bilinguals.

Early bilinguals often show as much sensitivity to L2-specific contrasts as monolingual speakers of the L2, but most work on cross-language speech perception has focused on isolated segments, and typically only on neighboring vowels or stop contrasts. In tasks that include sounds in context, listeners' success is more variable, so segment discrimination in isolation may not adequately represent the phonetic detail in stored representations. The current study explores the relationship between language experience and sensitivity to segmental cues in context by comparing the categorization patterns of monolingual English listeners and early and late Spanish-English bilinguals. Participants categorized nonce words containing different classes of English- and Spanish-specific sounds as being more English-like or more Spanish-like; target segments included phonemic cues, cues for which there is no analogous sound in the other language, or phonetic cues, cues for which English and Spanish share the category but for which each language varies in its phonetic implementation. Listeners' language categorization accuracy and reaction times were analyzed. Our results reveal a largely uniform categorization pattern across listener groups: Spanish cues were categorized more accurately than English cues, and phonemic cues were easier for listeners to categorize than phonetic cues. There were no differences in the sensitivity of monolinguals and early bilinguals to language-specific cues, suggesting that the early bilinguals' exposure to Spanish did not fundamentally change their representations of English phonology. However, neither did the early bilinguals show more sensitivity than the monolinguals to Spanish sounds. The late bilinguals however, were significantly more accurate than either of the other groups. These findings indicate that listeners with varying exposure to English and Spanish are able to use language-specific cues in a nonce-word language categorization task. Differences in how, and not only when, a language was acquired may influence listener sensitivity to more difficult cues, and the advantage for phonemic cues may reflect the greater salience of categories unique to each language. Implications for foreign-accent categorization and cross-language speech perception are discussed, and future directions are outlined to better understand how salience varies across language-specific phonemic and phonetic cues.

Há contribuições diferentes da morfologia derivacional e flexional para a escrita? / Are there different contributions of derivational and flexional morphology to spelling?

O presente estudo investigou a relação entre a consciência morfológica e a escrita em 111 adolescentes matriculados no 6º ano de uma escola pública na região urbana do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Os adolescentes tiveram que realizar duas tarefas de consciência morfológica, focando na morfologia derivacional e flexional, e uma tarefa de escrita, o subteste do Teste de Desempenho Escolar (TDE). Os resultados das regressões mostraram que, para essa amostra, a morfologia derivacional faz uma contribuição significativa após o controle da idade e da consciência fonológica para a escrita, mas a morfologia flexional não. Os resultados são discutidos à luz das teorias recentes sobre o papel dos morfemas para a escrita.(AU).

This study investigated the relationship between morphological awareness and spelling of 111 students enrolled in 6th grade of a public school in the urban area of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The adolescents executed two morphological awareness tasks, focusing derivational and flexional morphology, and a spelling task, the sub-test of the School Performance Test. The results of the regressions showed that, for this sample, derivational morphology contributed significantly after the control of age and phonological awareness for spelling, unlike the flexional morphology. The results are discussed in the light of the recent theories on the role of morphemes to spelling.(AU).

Evidências de validade do Roteiro de Avaliação da Consciência Fonológica (RACF) / Validity evidence for the Protocol for Phonological Awareness Task (PPAT) / Evidencias de validad de la hoja de ruta de evaluación de la conciencia fonológica (RACF)

O presente estudo investigou a validade do instrumento Roteiro de Avaliação da Consciência Fonológica – RACF. Participaram da pesquisa 217 crianças de escolas públicas matriculadas no 2º, 3º e 4º ano do ensino fundamental. As crianças foram entrevistadas em quatro sessões nas quais procedeu a aplicação dos instrumentos: RACF, subteste de leitura do TDE e subtestes de vocabulário e de dígito do WISC III. Foram encontradas evidências de validade de critério, pois os escores se diferenciaram pelos anos escolares e nível de habilidade em leitura. Outra evidência de validade foi detectada quando se verificou a associação dos escores do RACF com outras tarefas de avaliação cognitiva, a saber, o vocabulário e memória para dígitos. Enfim, os resultados mostram que o RACF é uma tarefa sensível para mensurar a habilidade metafonológica das crianças. (AU)

The present study investigated the validity of the instrument Protocol for Phonological Awareness assessment". Two-hundred and seventeen children drawn from public schools enrolled in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year of elementary school participated in the research. The children were interviewed in four sessions in which the application of the following instruments was carried out in four sessions: RACF, TDE: reading subtest and the WISC III: vocabulary and digit subtest. Evidence of validity for discrimination between series was found. The results indicated that phonological awareness develops throughout the first years of schooling. Evidence of validity for RACF was also met when its association with other tasks such as vocabulary and working memory was found. In summary, our results show that the RACF is a task that helps you access the metaphonological ability of children. (AU)

Este estudio investigó La validez del instrumento Roteiro de Avaliação daConsciência Fonológica – RACF.Participaron de la investigación 217 niños del 2º a 4º grado de escuelas públicas de la enseñanza primaria. Los niños fueron entrevistados en cuatro sesiones en las cuales se aplicaron dosinstrumentos: RACF, subtest de lectura del TDE y subtestes de vocabulario y de dígitos del WISC III. Fueron encontradas evidencias de validez decriterio, una vez que las puntuaciones se diferenciaron por los grados escolares y el nivel de habilidad en lectura. Otra evidencia de validez fuedetectada cuandose verificó la asociación de las puntuaciones del RACF con otras tareas de evaluación cognitiva, a saber, el vocabulario y la memoria para dígitos. De esa forma, los resultados muestran que el RACF es unatarea sensible para medir la habilidad fonemica de los niños. (AU)

Evidências de validade e consistência interna de tarefas de analogia gramatical / Validity and internal consistency evidence for grammatical analogy task / Evidencias de validez y consistencia interna de tareas de analogía gramatical

O presente estudo investigou a validade de duas tarefas de analogia gramatical, focando nos morfemas derivacionais e flexionais. Participaram da pesquisa 217 crianças de escolas públicas matriculadas no segundo, terceiro e quarto ano do ensino fundamental. As crianças responderam a uma tarefa de consciência fonológica (RAFC) e duas de consciência morfológica. Foram encontradas evidências de validade de critério, pois os escores se diferenciaram pelos anos escolares para o escore composto e para a tarefa focando na morfologia derivacional. Outra evidência de validade foi detectada quando se verificou a associação dos escores do RACF com as tarefas de consciência morfológica. O escore composto da tarefa obteve índices de consistência interna adequados, mas com carência, Alfa de Cronbach de 0,66. Enfim, os resultados mostram que o escore composto da tarefa é sensível para mensurar a habilidade morfológica das crianças.(AU)

The present study investigated the validity of two tasks of grammatical analogy test focusing in derivational and flexional morphology. Two-hundred and seventeen children drawn from public schools enrolled in the second, third and fourth year of elementary school participated in the research. The children answer a task of phonological awareness (RACF) and two of morphological awareness. Evidence of validity for discrimination between series was found for the composite score of morphological awareness and for the derivational morphology task. Evidence of validity for the morphological awareness composite task was also met when its association with the RACF. The internal consistency task felt short of criterion and was adequate, Cronbach's Alpha of 0.66. The results show that the grammatical analogy task is a task that helps you access the morphological awareness of children.(AU)

Este estudio investigó la validez de dos tareas de analogía gramatical, centrándose en los morfemas derivativos y flexivos. 217 niños de escuelas públicas matriculadas en segundo, tercero y cuarto de primaria participaron del estudio. Los niños fueron sometidos a una tarea de conciencia fonológica (RACF) y dos más de conciencia morfológica. Se encontraron pruebas de validez de criterio, ya que las puntuaciones se diferenciaban según los cursos escolares para la puntuación compuesta y para la tarea en lo que a la morfología derivativa se refiere. Otra prueba de validez fue detectada al verificarse la asociación entre las puntuaciones RACF y las tareas de conciencia morfológica. La puntuación compuesta de la tarea obtuvo índices de consistencia interna adecuados, pero mostrando carencias. Cronbach Alfa de 0,66. En resumen, los resultados muestran que la puntuación compuesta de la tarea es sensible para medir la habilidad morfológica en los niños.(AU)

Há contribuições diferentes da morfologia derivacional e flexional para a escrita? / Are there different contributions of derivational and flexional morphology to spelling?

O presente estudo investigou a relação entre a consciência morfológica e a escrita em 111 adolescentes matriculados no 6º ano de uma escola pública na região urbana do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Os adolescentes tiveram que realizar duas tarefas de consciência morfológica, focando na morfologia derivacional e flexional, e uma tarefa de escrita, o subteste do Teste de Desempenho Escolar (TDE). Os resultados das regressões mostraram que, para essa amostra, a morfologia derivacional faz uma contribuição significativa após o controle da idade e da consciência fonológica para a escrita, mas a morfologia flexional não. Os resultados são discutidos à luz das teorias recentes sobre o papel dos morfemas para a escrita.

This study investigated the relationship between morphological awareness and spelling of 111 students enrolled in 6th grade of a public school in the urban area of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The adolescents executed two morphological awareness tasks, focusing derivational and flexional morphology, and a spelling task, the sub-test of the School Performance Test. The results of the regressions showed that, for this sample, derivational morphology contributed significantly after the control of age and phonological awareness for spelling, unlike the flexional morphology. The results are discussed in the light of the recent theories on the role of morphemes to spelling.

Evidências de validade do Roteiro de Avaliação da Consciência Fonológica (RACF) / Validity evidence for the Protocol for Phonological Awareness Task (PPAT) / Evidencias de validad de la hoja de ruta de evaluación de la conciencia fonológica (RACF)

O presente estudo investigou a validade do instrumento Roteiro de Avaliaçãoda Consciência Fonológica – RACF. Participaram da pesquisa 217 criançasde escolas públicas matriculadas no 2º, 3º e 4º ano do ensino fundamental. As crianças foram entrevistadas em quatro sessões nas quais procedeu a aplicação dos instrumentos: RACF, subteste de leitura do TDE e subtestes de vocabulário e de dígito do WISC III. Foram encontradas evidências devalidade de critério, pois os escores se diferenciaram pelos anos escolares e nível de habilidade em leitura. Outra evidência de validade foi detectada quando se verificou a associação dos escores do RACF com outras tarefas deavaliação cognitiva, a saber, o vocabulário e memória para dígitos. Enfim, os resultados mostram que o RACF é uma tarefa sensível para mensurar a habilidade metafonológica das crianças...

The present study investigated the validity of the instrument Protocol for Phonological Awareness assessment". Two-hundred and seventeen children drawn from public schools enrolled in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year of elementary school participated in the research. The children were interviewed in four sessions in which the application of the following instruments was carried out in four sessions: RACF, TDE: reading subtest and the WISC III: vocabulary and digit subtest. Evidence of validityfor discrimination between series was found. The results indicated thatphonological awareness develops throughout the first years of schooling.Evidence of validity for RACF was also met when its association with othertasks such as vocabulary and working memory was found. In summary, our results show that the RACF is a task that helps you access the metaphonological ability of children...

Este estudio investigó La validez del instrumento Roteiro de Avaliação daConsciência Fonológica – RACF.Participaron de la investigación 217 niños del 2º a 4º grado de escuelas públicas de la enseñanza primaria. Los niños fueron entrevistados en cuatro sesiones en las cuales se aplicaron dosinstrumentos: RACF, subtest de lectura del TDE y subtestes de vocabulario y de dígitos del WISC III. Fueron encontradas evidencias de validez decriterio, una vez que las puntuaciones se diferenciaron por los grados escolares y el nivel de habilidad en lectura. Otra evidencia de validez fuedetectada cuandose verificó la asociación de las puntuaciones del RACF con otras tareas de evaluación cognitiva, a saber, el vocabulario y la memoria para dígitos. De esa forma, los resultados muestran que el RACF es unatarea sensible para medir la habilidad fonemica de los niños...

Evidências de validade e consistência interna de tarefas de analogia gramatical / Validity and internal consistency evidence for grammatical analogy task / Evidencias de validez y consistencia interna de tareas de analogía gramatical

O presente estudo investigou a validade de duas tarefas de analogia gramatical, focando nos morfemas derivacionais e flexionais. Participaram da pesquisa 217 crianças de escolas públicas matriculadas no segundo, terceiro e quarto ano do ensino fundamental. As crianças responderam a uma tarefa de consciência fonológica (RAFC) e duas de consciência morfológica. Foram encontradas evidências de validade de critério, pois os escores se diferenciaram pelos anos escolares para o escore composto e para a tarefa focando na morfologia derivacional. Outra evidência de validade foi detectada quando se verificou a associação dos escores do RACF com as tarefas de consciência morfológica. O escore composto da tarefa obteve índices de consistência interna adequados, mas com carência, Alfa de Cronbach de 0,66. Enfim, os resultados mostram que o escore composto da tarefa é sensível para mensurar a habilidade morfológica das crianças...

The present study investigated the validity of two tasks of grammatical analogy test focusing in derivational and flexional morphology. Two-hundred and seventeen children drawn from public schools enrolled in the second, third and fourth year of elementary school participated in the research. The children answer a task of phonological awareness (RACF) and two of morphological awareness. Evidence of validity for discrimination between series was found for the composite score of morphological awareness and for the derivational morphology task. Evidence of validity for the morphological awareness composite task was also met when its association with the RACF. The internal consistency task felt short of criterion and was adequate, Cronbach's Alpha of 0.66. The results show that the grammatical analogy task is a task that helps you access the morphological awareness of children...

Este estudio investigó la validez de dos tareas de analogía gramatical, centrándose en los morfemas derivativos y flexivos. 217 niños de escuelas públicas matriculadas en segundo, tercero y cuarto de primaria participaron del estudio. Los niños fueron sometidos a una tarea de conciencia fonológica (RACF) y dos más de conciencia morfológica. Se encontraron pruebas de validez de criterio, ya que las puntuaciones se diferenciaban según los cursos escolares para la puntuación compuesta y para la tarea en lo que a la morfología derivativa se refiere. Otra prueba de validez fue detectada al verificarse la asociación entre las puntuaciones RACF y las tareas de conciencia morfológica. La puntuación compuesta de la tarea obtuvo índices de consistencia interna adecuados, pero mostrando carencias. Cronbach Alfa de 0,66. En resumen, los resultados muestran que la puntuación compuesta de la tarea es sensible para medir la habilidad morfológica en los niños...

Morphological and syntactic awareness in poor comprehenders: another piece of the puzzle.

Poor comprehenders have intact word-reading skills but struggle specifically with understanding what they read. We investigated whether two metalinguistic skills, morphological and syntactic awareness, are specifically related to poor reading comprehension by including separate and combined measures of each. We identified poor comprehenders (n = 15) and average comprehenders (n = 15) in Grade 4 who were matched on word-reading accuracy and speed, vocabulary, nonverbal cognitive ability, and age. The two groups performed comparably on a morphological awareness task that involved both morphological and syntactic cues. However, poor comprehenders performed less well than average comprehenders on a derivational word analogy task in which there was no additional syntactic information, thus tapping only morphological awareness, and also less well on a syntactic awareness task, in which there were no morphological manipulations. Our task and participant-selection process ruled out key nonmetalinguistic sources of influence on these tasks. These findings suggest that the relationships among reading comprehension, morphological awareness, and syntactic awareness depend on the tasks used to measure the latter two. Future research needs to identify precisely in which ways these metalinguistic difficulties connect to challenges with reading comprehension.

Electrophysiological measures of attention during speech perception predict metalinguistic skills in children.

Event-related potential (ERP) evidence demonstrates that preschool-aged children selectively attend to informative moments such as word onsets during speech perception. Although this observation indicates a role for attention in language processing, it is unclear whether this type of attention is part of basic speech perception mechanisms, higher-level language skills, or general cognitive abilities. The current study examined these possibilities by measuring ERPs from 5-year-old children listening to a narrative containing attention probes presented before, during, and after word onsets as well as at random control times. Children also completed behavioral tests assessing verbal and nonverbal skills. Probes presented after word onsets elicited a more negative ERP response beginning around 100 ms after probe onset than control probes, indicating increased attention to word-initial segments. Crucially, the magnitude of this difference was correlated with performance on verbal tasks, but showed no relationship to nonverbal measures. More specifically, ERP attention effects were most strongly correlated with performance on a complex metalinguistic task involving grammaticality judgments. These results demonstrate that effective allocation of attention during speech perception supports higher-level, controlled language processing in children by allowing them to focus on relevant information at individual word and complex sentence levels.

Há uma relação específica entre Consciência Morfológica e Reconhecimento de Palavras? / Is there a specific connection between Morphological Awareness and Word Recognition?

Estudos realizados em línguas alfabéticas mostram que a consciência morfológica – habilidade de refletir sobre os morfemas que compõem as palavras – está associada ao sucesso no reconhecimento e compreensão de palavras na leitura e na escrita. O português é uma língua com uma ortografia que se encontra no meio do espectro quando falamos da transparência nas correspondências entre letra e som. Em línguas transparentes, com correspondência grafema-fonema regulares, a consciência morfológica pode não ter o mesmo impacto na aquisição da escrita. Neste estudo investigamos se o processamento da morfologia derivacional em crianças do ensino fundamental contribui para leitura no português e se essa contribuição é independente da decodificação. Utilizou-se uma tarefa de spooneirismo e outra de subtração de fonemas para acessar a decodificação e o TDE para leitura de palavras. Os resultados mostram que a decodificação é uma habilidade muito importante na leitura e que a habilidade de refletir sobre os morfemas contribui para leitura e que essa contribuição é até certo ponto independente da consciência fonológica.(AU)

Studies carried out in alphabetic languages show that morphological awareness – the ability to reflect upon the word’s morphemes – is related to the success in recognizing words and comprehension in reading and spelling. Portuguese is a language located in the middle of transparent letter-sound correspondence rules. In transparent languages, those with regular grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules, morphological awareness may not have the impact in written language acquisition. This study investigated whether derivational morphology processing contributes to reading in Portuguese in primary education and whether this contribution is independent of phonological decoding. A phoneme spooneirism task and another of phoneme subtraction task was used to access reading decoding and the TDE was used to assess reading recognition. The results show that decoding is a very important ability to learn to read and that the ability to reflect upon the morphemes of the words contributes to reading and that this contribution is, to a certain extent independent of phonological awareness.(AU)

Estudios realizados en lenguas alfabéticas señalan que la consciencia morfológica - la habilidad de reflexionar sobre los morfemas que componen las palabras – está asociada al éxito en el reconocimiento y comprensión de palabras tanto en la lectura como en la escritura. El portugués es una lengua con una ortografía que se encuentra a medio camino del espectro en lo que se refiere a la transparencia en términos de la correspondencia entre letras y sonidos. En lenguas transparentes, que tienen una correspondencia grafema-fonema regular, la conciencia morfológica puede no tener el mismo impacto en la adquisición de la escritura. En este estudio investigamos si el procesamiento de la morfología derivativa en niños de Enseñanza Básica contribuye para la lectura en lengua portuguesa, y si dicha contribución es independiente de la descodificación. Se utilizó una tarea de spoonerismo y otra de sustracción de fonemas para acceder a la descodificación además del TDE para la lectura de palabras. Los resultados señalan que la descodificación es una habilidad muy importante en lo que se refiere a la lectura y que la habilidad de reflexionar sobre los morfemas contribuye a la lectura además que dicha contribución es en cierta medida independiente de la consciencia fonológica.(AU)

Há uma relação específica entre consciência morfológica e reconhecimento de palavras? / Is there a specific connection between morphological awareness and word recognition? / ¿Hay una relación específica entre consciencia morfológica y reconocimiento de palabras?

Estudos realizados em línguas alfabéticas mostram que a consciência morfológica - habilidade de refletir sobre os morfemas que compõem as palavras - está associada ao sucesso no reconhecimento e compreensão de palavras na leitura e na escrita. O português é uma língua com uma ortografia que se encontra no meio do espectro quando falamos da transparência nas correspondências entre letra e som. Em línguas transparentes, com correspondência grafema-fonema regulares, a consciência morfológica pode não ter o mesmo impacto na aquisição da escrita. Neste estudo investigamos se o processamento da morfologia derivacional em crianças do ensino fundamental contribui para leitura no português e se essa contribuição é independente da decodificação. Utilizou-se uma tarefa de spooneirismo e outra de subtração de fonemas para acessar a decodificação e o TDE para leitura de palavras. Os resultados mostram que a decodificação é uma habilidade muito importante na leitura e que a habilidade de refletir sobre os morfemas contribui para leitura e que essa contribuição é até certo ponto independente da consciência fonológica.

Studies carried out in alphabetic languages show that morphological awareness - the ability to reflect upon the word's morphemes - is related to the success in recognizing words and comprehension in reading and spelling. Portuguese is a language located in the middle of transparent letter-sound correspondence rules. In transparent languages, those with regular grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules, morphological awareness may not have the impact in written language acquisition. This study investigated whether derivational morphology processing contributes to reading in Portuguese in primary education and whether this contribution is independent of phonological decoding. A phoneme spooneirism task and another of phoneme subtraction task was used to access reading decoding and the TDE was used to assess reading recognition. The results show that decoding is a very important ability to learn to read and that the ability to reflect upon the morphemes of the words contributes to reading and that this contribution is, to a certain extent independent of phonological awareness.

Estudios realizados en lenguas alfabéticas señalan que la consciencia morfológica - la habilidad de reflexionar sobre los morfemas que componen las palabras - está asociada al éxito en el reconocimiento y comprensión de palabras tanto en la lectura como en la escritura. El portugués es una lengua con una ortografía que se encuentra a medio camino del espectro en lo que se refiere a la transparencia en términos de la correspondencia entre letras y sonidos. En lenguas transparentes, que tienen una correspondencia grafema-fonema regular, la conciencia morfológica puede no tener el mismo impacto en la adquisición de la escritura. En este estudio investigamos si el procesamiento de la morfología derivativa en niños de Enseñanza Básica contribuye para la lectura en lengua portuguesa, y si dicha contribución es independiente de la descodificación. Se utilizó una tarea de spoonerismo y otra de sustracción de fonemas para acceder a la descodificación además del TDE para la lectura de palabras. Los resultados señalan que la descodificación es una habilidad muy importante en lo que se refiere a la lectura y que la habilidad de reflexionar sobre los morfemas contribuye a la lectura además que dicha contribución es en cierta medida independiente de la consciencia fonológica.

The relation of linguistic awareness and vocabulary to word reading and spelling for first-grade students participating in response to intervention.

PURPOSE: The relations of phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness and vocabulary to word reading and spelling were examined for 304 first-grade children who were receiving differentiated instruction in a Response to Intervention (RtI) model of instruction. METHOD: First-grade children were assessed on their phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness; expressive vocabulary; word reading; and spelling. Year-end word reading and spelling were outcome variables, and phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness; expressive vocabulary; and RtI status (Tiers 1, 2, & 3) were predictor variables. RESULTS: The 3 linguistic awareness skills were unique predictors of word reading, and phonological and orthographic awareness were unique predictors of spelling. The contributions that these linguistic awareness skills and vocabulary made to word reading and spelling did not differ by children's RtI tier status. CONCLUSION: These results, in conjunction with previous studies, suggest that even beginning readers and spellers draw on multiple linguistic awareness skills for their word reading and spelling regardless of their level of literacy abilities. Educational implications are discussed.