Contribuição do Processamento Morfológico para a Velocidade de Leitura ao Final do Ciclo de Alfabetização / The Contribution of Morphological Processing to Reading Speed at The End of the Literacy Cycle / Contribución del Procesamiento Morfológico a la Velocidad de Lectura al Final del Ciclo de Alfabetización

O presente estudo examinou a contribuição do processamento morfológico para a velocidade de leitura de textos, independentemente daquela decorrente do processamento fonológico, em alunos do 3º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Para isso, além do processamento morfológico, foram incluídas medidas de velocidade de leitura oral de texto narrativo, memória de trabalho, consciência fonêmica, nomeação automatizada rápida de objetos e letras, consciência morfológica e processamento morfológico implícito. As habilidades que mais contribuíram para explicar o desempenho das crianças na velocidade de leitura de texto foram as de nomeação automatizada rápida de objetos e de processamento morfológico implícito. A consciência morfológica apresentou correlação fraca e não significativa com a velocidade de leitura de textos, sugerindo que leitores iniciantes possam se beneficiar da informação morfológica de forma implícita na leitura antes mesmo de alcançarem nível de consciência morfológica suficiente para tal. O processo de lexicalização no decorrer do desenvolvimento da habilidade de leitura implica a integração das informações fonológicas, ortográficas e semânticas, o que se revela na importância do processamento morfológico e da nomeação automatizada rápida de objetos para a velocidade de leitura. (AU)

The present study examined the contribution of morphological processing to text reading speed, independently of that resulting from phonological processing in 3rd graders of Elementary School. In addition to morphological processing, measures used to assess the speed in which narrative texts are read orally, working memory, phonemic awareness, rapid automatized naming of objects and letters, morphological awareness and implicit morphological processing were also taken into consideration. The skills that most contributed to explaining the children's performances in relation to their text reading speed were those which involved rapid automatized naming of objects and implicit morphological processing. Results showed that there is a weak and non-significant correlation between morphological awareness and text reading speed, suggesting that beginning readers can benefit from morphological information in reading even before they reach the level of morphological awareness required for such activity. The lexicalization process which occurs during the development of reading skills involves the integration of phonological, orthographic and semantic information, which reveals the importance of morphological processing and rapid automatized naming of objects for reading speed. (AU)

El presente estudio examinó la contribución del procesamiento morfológico a la velocidad de lectura de textos, independientemente de la resultante del procesamiento fonológico, en estudiantes de 3º año de primaria. Para ello, además del procesamiento morfológico, se incluyeron medidas de velocidad de lectura oral del texto narrativo, memoria de trabajo, conciencia fonémica, nombramiento rápido automatizado de objetos y letras, conciencia morfológica y procesamiento morfológico implícito. Las habilidades que más contribuyeron a explicar el desempeño de los niños en la velocidad de lectura de textos fueron el nombramiento rápido automatizado de objetos y del procesamiento morfológico implícito. La conciencia morfológica mostró una correlación débil y no significativa con la velocidad de lectura del texto, sugiriendo que los lectores principiantes pueden beneficiarse de la información morfológica de forma implícita en la lectura incluso antes de alcanzar un nivel de conciencia morfológica suficiente para tal. El proceso de lexicalización en el curso del desarrollo de la habilidad lectora implica la integración de las informaciónes fonológica, ortográfica y semántica, lo que revela en la importancia del procesamiento morfológico y del nombramiento automatizado rápido de objetos para la velocidad de lectura. (AU)

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.

Parâmetros prosódicos de leitura em escolares do segundo ao quinto ano do ensino fundamental / Prosodic parameters of reading in 2nd to 5th grade students

RESUMO Objetivo Caracterizar a variação melódica e a velocidade de leitura, comparando-as e verificando se há evolução de acordo com o avanço da escolaridade. Método Foi analisada a leitura de 78 escolares do 2° ao 5° ano do Ensino Fundamental I, por meio do Praat, por meio da análise dos parâmetros de variação melódica (F0) e velocidade de leitura (Duração) e foram realizadas medidas estatísticas (média e desvio padrão) e o teste de student (com nível de significância de 5%). Resultados Foi possível observar que a variação melódica e a velocidade de leitura tendem a aumentar com o desenvolvimento da escolaridade, especialmente para o quinto ano. Conclusão A variação melódica aumenta de acordo com o avanço da escolaridade, assim como a velocidade de leitura, sendo maiores os resultados para o quinto ano. Verificou-se que a análise de leitura do primeiro minuto seria necessária para a análise da velocidade de leitura de textos, não sendo necessária a análise do texto completo.

ABSTRACT Purpose Characterize and compare melodic variation and reading speed and verify their evolution throughout the development of schooling. Methods The reading of 78 Elementary School (2nd to 5th grade) students was analyzed using the Praat program with regards to the parameters of melodic variation (F0) and reading speed (Duration). Statistical measures (mean and standard deviation) were taken and the Student´s t-test was applied at significance level of 5%. Results Melodic variation and reading speed increased as schooling progressed, especially during 5th grade. Conclusion Melodic variation increases as schooling progresses, mainly during 5th grade. First minute of reading analysis is sufficient to assess reading speed, not being necessary to analyze the full text.

Leer rápido no siempre es igual a comprender: Examinando la relación entre velocidad y comprensión / Reading Fast is not always the same as Understanding: Examining the Relationship Between Speed and Comprehension

Resumen Un cambio en la forma de evaluar la lectura en México en la educación primaria ha sido la intro ducción de la medición de la velocidad de lectura (palabras por minuto) del alumno como principal indicador de logro para la comprensión lectora. Esto tiene implicaciones directas en la enseñanza de la lectura. El objetivo de este estudio es examinar la relación entre velocidad lectora y comprensión lectora en una muestra de niños mexicanos entre 1° y 4° grados, para: a) identificar la forma en que la velocidad de lectura de textos y la velocidad de lectura de palabras inventadas se relacionan con la comprensión lectora y b) si estas relaciones difieren entre el ciclo 1 (1.° y 2.° grados) y el ciclo 2 (3.° y 4.° grados) de educación primaria. Se plantearon tres hipótesis y una pregunta de investigación. Las hipótesis fueron: 1) la relación entre la velocidad lectora en textos regulares tendrá una mayor asociación que la velocidad lectora de pseudopalabras con la comprensión lectora a lo largo de los cuatro grados; 2) la velocidad lectora de pseudopalabras tendrá una asociación mayor con compren sión lectora en el ciclo 1 que en el ciclo 2 y; 3) la velocidad lectora de textos regulares tendrá una asociación mayor con comprensión lectora en el ciclo 1 que en el ciclo 2. La pregunta de investiga ción exploratoria indagó si la velocidad sigue siendo predictiva de la comprensión lectora después de considerar la precisión. Los resultados aportan evidencia que apoyan las tres hipótesis y el análisis realizado para la pregunta de investigación mostró que la velocidad de lectura de textos sólo explica ba una varianza adicional del 6% después de controlar la precisión de lectura de pseudopalabras. Los resultados son interpretados en el contexto de la literatura existente.

Abstract: A change in the way Reading is evaluated in Mexico in primary education has been the introduction of measuring reading speed in students. This has direct implications in the teaching of reading. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between reading speed and reading compre hension in a cross-sectional sample of Mexican children between 1st and 4th grades, in order to: a) identify the way that text reading speed and pseudoword reading speed are related to reading comprehension; b) identify whether these relationships differ between 1st cycle (1st and 2nd grades) and 2nd cycle (3rd and 4th gra des). Three hypotheses and one research question were posited. The hypotheses were: 1) The relationship between text reading speed and reading comprehension will be stronger than that of word reading speed; 2) Pseudoword reading speed will have a stronger association with reading comprehension in the first cycle; 3) Text reading speed will have a stronger association with reading comprehension in the first cycle. An exploratory research question was formulated to evaluate whether speed is still predictive of reading comprehension beyond the contribution of accuracy. Results support the hypotheses while the analysis carried out for the research question showed that text reading speed added only 6% of variance after accounting for reading accuracy. Findings are interpreted in light of the existing literature.

Literacia Pré-Escolar e Desempenho na Leitura na Instrução Primária / Preschool Literacy and Reading Performance in Primary School

RESUMO A literacia pré-escolar tem recebido uma crescente atenção. Neste estudo, participaram 70 crianças que iniciaram o 1.º ano de escolaridade no ano letivo 2009/10 e que, na educação pré-escolar, frequentaram três instituições com abordagens diferenciadas de leitura e de escrita. O estudo inclui quatro medidas repetidas no tempo nas áreas da fonologia, reconhecimento de letras, palavras e velocidade de leitura. Os resultados sugerem que a abordagem específica à leitura na educação pré-escolar condiciona o desempenho da leitura na instrução primária. Contudo, essa influência parece ser atenuada com o tempo. Por outro lado, verificou-se que sujeitos que receberam instrução direta de leitura em idade pré-escolar (mas não treino fonológico) obtêm resultados significativamente superiores em tarefas fonológicas aos de sujeitos que receberam treino fonológico prolongado (mas não de leitura).

ABSTRACT The debate regarding kindergarten literacy has received increasing attention and social visibility. In this study, participants are 70 children who attended first grade in 2009/2010. Participants attended three kindergartens with unique approaches to reading. A four wave repeated measure design was conducted to investigate the growth of the children in phonological awareness, letter recognition, word recognition, and reading speed. Results suggest that the approach towards reading and writing in kindergarten affects children's performance in grades 1 and 2 of elementary school. This influence, however, seems to fade over time. Moreover, results show that children who received formal reading instruction in kindergarten, perform significantly better in phonological tasks than children who received direct and extended phonological instruction.

Características lectoras de niños con trastorno del aprendizaje de la lectura / Reading characteristics of children with reading learning disability / Características leitoras das crianças com transtorno de aprendizagem da leitura

El objetivo de esta investigación fue identificar las características de precisión, comprensión y velocidad lectora en niños con Trastorno del Aprendizaje (TA) de la lectura. Participaron 14 niños entre 8 y 11 años diagnosticados según los criterios del DSM IV-Tr a quienes se les aplicó la prueba de lectura de la Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil (ENI). Los resultados muestran características específicas del trastorno de acuerdo con el género, edad y nivel escolar. El desempeño fue bajo en precisión en lectura de textos y velocidad de lectura. Los errores más frecuentes fueron la sustitución literal y derivacional, error en palabra funcional y falla en el ritmo lector. Se concluye que el TA de la lectura tiene manifestaciones variadas, y los criterios de diagnóstico no contemplan procesos que pueden subyacer al mismo. Se recomienda que la evaluación haga énfasis en las tareas en que se presentan mayores dificultades y la rehabilitación responda a características particulares del trastorno.

The aim of this research study was to identify the characteristics of precision, comprehension and reading speed in children with Reading Learning Disability. Fourteen children, between the ages of 8 and 11years old, participating in the study, were diagnosed according to the DSM IV-Tr criteria. They were assessed through the reading test taken from the Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil (ENI) (Neuropsychological Assessment for Children). Results showed specific characteristics of the disability according to gender, age and school level. Performance was low on text reading precision and reading speed. The most frequent errors were literal and derivational substitution, error in functional word and failure in reading rhythm. The study concluded that the Reading Learning Disability has diverse manifestations and that diagnostic criteria may not include processes underlying the disability. It is recommended that assessment processes emphasize tasks where major difficulties can be found and that rehabilitation strategies respond to particular characteristics of the disability.

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi identificar as características de precisão, compreensão e velocidade de leitura em crianças com transtorno de aprendizagem (TA) da leitura. Participaram 14 crianças entre 8 e 11 anos, diagnosticados segundo o DSM IV-Tr. Se aplicou o teste de Avaliação neuropsicológica infantil (ENI). Os resultados mostram características específicas do transtorno de acordo com o sexo, a idade e o nível de ensino. O desempenho foi baixo em precisão em leitura de textos e velocidade de leitura. Os erros mais freqüentes foram a substituição literal e a derivacional, erro em palavra funcional e falho no ritmo leitor. Concluímos que o TA da leitura tem variadas manifestações a assistência técnica da leitura, e os critérios de diagnóstico não incluem processos que lhe sejam subjacentes. Recomenda-se que a avaliação aponte às tarefas que apresentam maiores dificuldades e a reabilitação corresponda às características do transtorno.