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, we examined the extent to which the relation is explained by domain-general cognitions or…

The aim of the study was to analyse literacy instruction activities and their associations with the reading performance of first graders in Estonia and Finland, two countries that share similar orthographies and educational systems but differ in the onset of formal reading instruction. The contents of 33 Literacy lessons in first grade spring were…

Purpose: Children learning to read in English must learn to read words with varying degrees of grapheme-phoneme correspondence regularity, but there is very little research comparing methods of instruction for words with less predictable or irregular spellings. Therefore, we compared three methods of instruction for beginning readers. Method:…

This study aims to examine the relative contributions of phonological awareness (PA), orthographical awareness (OA), morphological awareness (MA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) to word reading accuracy and fluency in Chinese deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Measures of PA, OA, MA, RAN, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency…

The contribution of reading self-concept (RSC) to reading comprehension in Hebrew elementary school students was examined with respect to grade level (second, fifth, and sixth graders) and students' level of reading comprehension (poor, average, and good). RSC questionnaire and reading measures were delivered to 49 second graders and 48 fifth and…

A standard treatment of proper names in second language (L2) vocabulary analyses is to categorize them as known items. This treatment is often supported by the assumption that the form of the proper name (i.e., the initial capital letter) and the context will indicate to the L2 reader that the item is a proper name. The aim of this work-in-…

Purpose: The effects of animation on identification of graphic symbols for verbs were studied using the Autism Language Program Graphic Symbols Set in children diagnosed with mild-to-severe autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 3 and 7 years. Method: The participants were randomly assigned to an animated symbol condition or a static symbol…

Purpose: This study sought to 1) identify linguistic features important for Chinese text complexity with a theory-based and systematic approach, and 2) address how feature sets and algorithms affect the performance of Chinese text complexity models. Method: Texts from Chinese language arts textbooks from Grades 1 to 6 (N = 1,478) in Mainland China…

This study analyzes the impact of certain cognitive processes on word and pseudoword reading in languages with different orthographic consistency (Spanish and Arabic) in the first year of Primary Education. The study was conducted with a group of 113 pupils from Algeria and another group of 128 pupils from Ecuador, from a middle-class background…

Purpose: The present study investigated whether the number of syllables affects developing readers' word recognition when controlling for word length and word frequency and, if so, whether the effect is dependent on reading fluency. The target language was Finnish, a language with a transparent orthography and a simple syllable structure. Method:…

The relationship between handwriting and instant message (IM) frequency has not been studied in English and the reason may be related to the similar cognitive process of typing IM and handwriting words. The mental processes of producing both handwriting and typing English words are from semantics to phonology and orthography. However, the…

Children can teach themselves new words via independent text reading. Previous studies on self-teaching heavily focused on learning to read in a first language (L1). Limited work was devoted to learning a second language (L2). We investigated the roles of exposure time of target pseudowords (four vs. six), availability of context (cohesive story…

In language arts programs in the Greater China Region, textbooks are the primary materials used to teach children to read and write. Learning to read and write in Chinese is particularly challenging because elementary grade students are expected to learn, recognize, and write thousands of characters (the basic linguistic unit in Chinese).…

Gender associations have been a long-standing research topic in psychological and social sciences. Although it is known that children learn aspects of gender associations at a young age, it is not well understood how they might emerge through the course of development. We investigate whether gender associations, such as the association of dresses…

Several previous studies showed that prime-target pairs with orthographical overlap but no semantic or morphological relationship (e.g., freeze-free) produced a masked priming effect in second language (L2) speakers but not in first language (L1) speakers. The present study further explored this intriguing L1-L2 difference by comparing English…