ERIC Number: ED222857
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1981-Mar
Pages: 22
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Cognitive Effects of Literacy: Linguistic Awareness in Adult Non-Readers. Final Report.
Ferguson, Charles A.
A project that investigated the metalinguistic awareness of adults (what they know about language as distinct from their ability to use language) is described and summarized in this final report. Subjects were 60 monolingual English speakers and 26 bilingual (Spanish and English) speakers enrolled in adult education classes. They fell into three groups according to reading level. Awareness of segmentation (sentences, phonemes, words) was found to be significantly related to degree of literacy, not to amount of schooling or general ability, although some components of the segmental awareness measure did not correlate with literacy. Subjects' concept of "word" as shown by elicited definitions also differed significantly by reading levels, but the differences did not fit well into the developmental scales proposed for children by I. Papandropoulou and H. Sinclair. Although the small number of subjects limited the authority of the findings, there appeared to be no significant difference in overall segmental awareness between monolinguals and bilinguals matched for reading level, age, and sex. (JL)
Descriptors: Adult Basic Education, Adults, Bilingual Students, English, Error Analysis (Language), Language Research, Language Skills, Language Usage, Linguistic Theory, Literacy, Metacognition, Monolingualism, Reading Ability, Reading Research, Reading Skills, Spanish Speaking, Structural Analysis (Linguistics)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Stanford Univ., CA. Dept. of Linguistics.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A