Vocabulary and reading comprehension: what are the links in 7- to 10 year-old children?

The aims of the present study are: (1) to examine the contribution that vocabulary makes to reading comprehension in the Simple View of Reading model in French-speaking children aged from 7 to 10 years based on the use of an index of efficiency (i.e., speed-accuracy index); and (2) to investigate the extent to which the contribution of vocabulary to reading comprehension might change according to children's school grade level. Measures of vocabulary depth, word reading (i.e., three levels of word representations, namely orthography, phonology, semantics), listening, and reading comprehension were collected using computer-based assessments in children from Grades 2 to 5 (N = 237). We examined the contribution of vocabulary in two contrasted groups: a younger group consisting of children from Grades 2-3 and an older group with children from Grades 4-5. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that vocabulary is a factor separate from word reading, listening and reading comprehension. Moreover, the results from a structural equation modeling analysis showed that word reading and listening comprehension fully mediated the relation between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Consequently, vocabulary had an indirect effect via word reading on reading comprehension in both groups. Finally, word reading had a greater effect on reading comprehension than listening comprehension in both groups. The results suggest that word reading plays a central role in reading comprehension and is underpinned by the influence of vocabulary. We discuss the results in the light of the lexical quality hypotheses taken together with reading comprehension.

Spatial sonification of letters on tablets to stimulate literacy skills and handwriting in 5 y-o children: A pilot study.

We evaluate the effects of multisensory training on letters, including sonification of graphic symbols. We used "spatial sonification" where letter handwriting movements recorded in a two dimensional plan, vertical and horizontal, are systematically assigned to two acoustic features, spectral composition for the horizontal axis and frequency for the vertical axis. Forty-six kindergarten children were recruited. They were randomly assigned to three multisensory training groups: with sonification (Son) of letters, with a melody unrelated to the shape of the letters (Mel) and without any sound (Sil). We observed a significant effect of training, with the Son group performing better than the other groups in the reading and spelling tasks. We also observed a modification of two kinematic cues (time and in-air time) during handwriting, also in the Son group. We conclude that letter sonification could act as a binder between the visual and auditory dimensions of the letter. The processes underlying this benefit are discussed in the light of the Act-In model, a cognition memory model.

Évaluation des compétences en littératie chez les enfants français de 4-5 ans.

INTRODUCTION: Preschool children develop early literacy skills that are predictive of their reading acquisition.Purpose of research: This study aims to use a short screening tool to examine emergent literacy performances. It includes 4-5-year-old children (N = 14,820) schooled in public and private schools in France. A number of public schools are labelled as with educational needs (Priority education network, REP). Children were assessed in three domains, letter-name knowledge, phonological skills and vocabulary. RESULTS: It is shown that children schooled in REP have poorer scores than children schooled out of REP. We observe no significant difference between scores in children schooled in private schools and public schools out of REP. A significant effect of gender and age is observed, the first in favor of girls and the second in favor of older children. The effect of gender diminishes with the age, the difference between girls and boys becoming smaller. Finally, we examined the distribution of performances in the three domains of children who obtained the lowest scores. CONCLUSIONS: A short screening tool to examine directly the literacy skills in preschool children is an opportunity to define and coordinate preventive actions and appropriate early interventions to help lessen difficulties in learning to read.

Linguistic and Cognitive Profiles of 8- to 15-Year-Old Children With Specific Reading Comprehension Difficulties.

This article presents two studies investigating the role of executive functioning in written text comprehension in children and adolescents. In a first study, the involvement of executive functions in reading comprehension performance was examined in normally developing children in fifth grade. Two aspects of text comprehension were differentiated: literal and inferential processes. The results demonstrated that while three aspects of executive functioning (working memory, planning, and inhibition processes) were significantly predictive of the performance on the inferential questions of the comprehension test, these factors did not predict the scores on the literal tasks of the test. In a second experiment, the linguistic and cognitive profiles of children in third/fifth and seventh/ninth grades with a specific reading comprehension deficit were examined. This analysis revealed that the deficits experienced by the less skilled comprehenders in both the linguistic and the executive domains could evolve over time. As a result, linguistic factors do not make it possible to distinguish between good and poor comprehenders among the group of older children, whereas the difficulties relating to executive processing remain stable over development. These findings are discussed in the context of the need to take account of the executive difficulties that characterize less skilled comprehenders of any age, especially for remediation purposes.

Computerized trainings in four groups of struggling readers: Specific effects on word reading and comprehension.

Four groups of poor readers were identified among a population of students with learning disabilities attending a special class in secondary school: normal readers; specific poor decoders; specific poor comprehenders, and general poor readers (deficits in both decoding and comprehension). These students were then trained with a software program designed to encourage either their word decoding skills or their text comprehension skills. After 5 weeks of training, we observed that the students experiencing word reading deficits and trained with the decoding software improved primarily in the reading fluency task while those exhibiting comprehension deficits and trained with the comprehension software showed improved performance in listening and reading comprehension. But interestingly, the latter software also led to improved performance on the word recognition task. This result suggests that, for these students, training interventions focused at the text level and its comprehension might be more beneficial for reading in general (i.e., for the two components of reading) than word-level decoding trainings.

Is the phonological deficit in developmental dyslexia related to impaired phonological representations and to universal phonological grammar?

To date, the nature of the phonological deficit in developmental dyslexia is still debated. We concur with possible impairments in the representations of the universal phonological constraints that universally govern how phonemes co-occur as a source of this deficit. We were interested in whether-and how-dyslexic children have sensitivity to sonority-related markedness constraints. We tested 10 French dyslexic children compared with 20 typically developing chronological age-matched and reading level-matched controls. All were tested with two aurally administered syllable counting tasks that manipulated well-formedness of unattested consonant clusters, as determined by universal phonological sonority-related markedness constraints (onset clusters in Experiment 1; intervocalic clusters in Experiment 2). Surprisingly, dyslexic children's response patterns were similar to those in both control groups; as universal phonological sonority-related markedness increased, dyslexic children increasingly perceptually confused and phonologically repaired clusters with an illusory epenthetic vowel (e.g., /ʁəbal/). Although dyslexic children were systematically slower, like both control groups, they were influenced by universal sonority-related markedness constraints and hierarchically ranked constraints specific to French over evident acoustic-phonetic contrasts or sonority-unrelated cues. Our results are counterintuitive but innovative and compete to question an impaired universal phonological grammar because dyslexic children were found to have normal universal phonological constraints and were skilled to restore phonotactically legal syllable structures with a language-specific illusory epenthetic vowel (i.e., /ə/-like vowel). We discuss them regarding active phonological decoding and recoding processes within the framework of the optimality theory.

Are French dyslexic children sensitive to consonant sonority in segmentation strategies? Preliminary evidence from a letter detection task.

This paper aims to investigate whether--and how--consonant sonority (obstruent vs. sonorant) and status (coda vs. onset) within syllable boundaries modulate the syllable-based segmentation strategies. Here, it is questioned whether French dyslexic children, who experience acoustic-phonetic (i.e., voicing) and phonological impairments, are sensitive to an optimal 'sonorant coda-obstruent onset' sonority profile as a cue for a syllable-based segmentation. To examine these questions, we used a modified version of the illusory conjunction paradigm with French dyslexic children compared with both chronological age-matched and reading level-matched controls. Our results first showed that the syllable-based segmentation is developmentally constrained in visual identification: in normally reading children, it appears to progressively increase as reading skills increase. However, surprisingly, our results also showed that dyslexic children were able to use syllable-sized units. Then, data highlighted that a syllable-based segmentation in visual identification basically relies on an optimal 'sonorant coda-obstruent onset' sonority profile rather than on phonological and orthographic statistical properties in normally reading children as well as, surprisingly, in dyslexic children. Our results are discussed to support a sonority-modulated prelexical role of syllable-sized units in visual identification in French, even in dyslexic children who exhibited a developmentally delayed profile. We argue that dyslexic children have deficits in online phonetic-phonological processing rather than degraded or underspecified phonetic-phonological representations.

Are syllabification and resyllabification strategies phonotactically directed in French children with dyslexia? A preliminary report.

PURPOSE: In this study, the authors queried whether French-speaking children with dyslexia were sensitive to consonant sonority and position within syllable boundaries to influence a phonological syllable-based segmentation in silent reading. METHOD: Participants included 15 French-speaking children with dyslexia, compared with 30 chronological age-matched and reading level-matched controls. Children were tested with an audiovisual recognition task. A target pseudoword (TOLPUDE) was simultaneously presented visually and auditorily and then was compared with a printed test pseudoword that either was identical or differed after the coda deletion (TOPUDE) or the onset deletion (TOLUDE). The intervocalic consonant sequences had either a sonorant coda-sonorant onset (TOR.LADE), sonorant coda-obstruent onset (TOL.PUDE), obstruent coda-sonorant onset (DOT.LIRE), or obstruent coda-obstruent onset (BIC.TADE) sonority profile. RESULTS: All children processed identity better than they processed deletion, especially with the optimal sonorant coda-obstruent onset sonority profile. However, children preserved syllabification (coda deletion; TO.PUDE) rather than resyllabification (onset deletion; TO.LUDE) with intervocalic consonant sequence reductions, especially when sonorant codas were deleted but the optimal intersyllable contact was respected. CONCLUSIONS: It was surprising to find that although children with dyslexia generally exhibit phonological and acoustic-phonetic impairments (voicing), they showed sensitivity to the optimal sonority profile and a preference for preserved syllabification. The authors proposed a sonority-modulated explanation to account for phonological syllable-based processing. Educational implications are discussed.

The nature of the phonological processing in French dyslexic children: evidence for the phonological syllable and linguistic features' role in silent reading and speech discrimination.

This study investigated the status of phonological representations in French dyslexic children (DY) compared with reading level- (RL) and chronological age-matched (CA) controls. We focused on the syllable's role and on the impact of French linguistic features. In Experiment 1, we assessed oral discrimination abilities of pairs of syllables that varied as a function of voicing, mode or place of articulation, or syllable structure. Results suggest that DY children underperform controls with a 'speed-accuracy' deficit. However, DY children exhibit some similar processing than those highlighted in controls. As in CA and RL controls, DY children have difficulties in processing two sounds that only differ in voicing, and preferentially process obstruent rather than fricative sounds, and more efficiently process CV than CCV syllables. In Experiment 2, we used a modified version of the Colé, Magnan, and Grainger's (Applied Psycholinguistics 20:507-532, 1999) paradigm. Results show that DY children underperform CA controls but outperform RL controls. However, as in CA and RL controls, data reveal that DY children are able to use phonological procedures influenced by initial syllable frequency. Thus, DY children process syllabically high-frequency syllables but phonemically process low-frequency syllables. They also exhibit lexical and syllable frequency effects. Consequently, results provide evidence that DY children performances can be accounted for by laborious phonological syllable-based procedures and also degraded phonological representations.

Computer-based training with ortho-phonological units in dyslexic children: new investigations.

This study aims to show that training using a computer game incorporating an audio-visual phoneme discrimination task with phonological units, presented simultaneously with orthographic units, might improve literacy skills. Two experiments were conducted, one in secondary schools with dyslexic children (Experiment 1) and the other in a speech-therapy clinic with individual case studies (Experiment 2). A classical pre-test, training, post-test design was used. The main findings indicated an improvement in reading scores after short intensive training (10 h) in Experiment 1 and progress in the reading and spelling scores obtained by the dyslexic children (training for 8 h) in Experiment 2. These results are discussed within the frameworks of both the speech-specific deficit theory of dyslexia and the connectionist models of reading development.

Auditory processing disorder in children with reading disabilities: effect of audiovisual training.

Reading disability is associated with phonological problems which might originate in auditory processing disorders. The aim of the present study was 2-fold: first, the perceptual skills of average-reading children and children with dyslexia were compared in a categorical perception task assessing the processing of a phonemic contrast based on voice onset time (VOT). The medial olivocochlear (MOC) system, an inhibitory pathway functioning under central control, was also explored. Secondly, we investigated whether audiovisual training focusing on voicing contrast could modify VOT sensitivity and, in parallel, induce MOC system plasticity. The results showed an altered voicing sensitivity in some children with dyslexia, and that the most severely impaired children presented the most severe reading difficulties. These deficits in VOT perception were sometimes accompanied by MOC function abnormalities, in particular a reduction in or even absence of the asymmetry in favour of the right ear found in average-reading children. Audiovisual training significantly improved reading and shifted the categorical perception curve of certain children with dyslexia towards the average-reading children's pattern of voicing sensitivity. Likewise, in certain children MOC functioning showed increased asymmetry in favour of the right ear following audiovisual training. The training-related improvements in reading score were greatest in children presenting the greatest changes in MOC lateralization. Taken together, these results confirm the notion that some auditory system processing mechanisms are impaired in children with dyslexia and that audiovisual training can diminish these deficits.

Differing sequences of metaphonological development in French and English.

Phonological awareness is thought to become increasingly analytic during early childhood. This study examines whether the proposed developmental sequence (syllable --> onset-rime --> phoneme) varies according to the characteristics of a child's native language. Experiment 1 compares the phonological segmentation skills of English speakers aged 4;11 (N = 10), 5;3 (N = 21), and 6;5 (N = 23) and French speakers aged 5;6 (N = 35), and 6;8 (N = 34). Experiment 2 assesses performance in the common unit task using English speakers aged 4;7 (N = 22), 5;7 (N = 23), and 6;11 (N = 22), and French speakers aged 4;7 (N = 20), 5;6 (N = 35), and 6;7 (N = 33). The experiments reveal crosslinguistic differences in the processing of syllables prior to school entry with French speakers exhibiting a greater consistency in manipulating syllables. Phoneme awareness emerges in both languages once reading instruction is introduced and rime awareness appears to follow rather than precede this event. Thus, the emergence of phonological awareness did not show a universal pattern but rather was subject to the influence of both native language and literacy.

The effects of an audio-visual training program in dyslexic children.

A research project was conducted in order to investigate the usefulness of intensive audio-visual training administered to children with dyslexia involving daily voicing exercises. In this study, the children received such voicing training (experimental group) for 30 min a day, 4 days a week, over 5 weeks. They were assessed on a reading task before and after the training. A significant benefit to the experimental group was found after training. These preliminary results underline the role of the phonological components of dyslexia.