Early Literacy Skills and Later Reading and Writing Performance Across Countries: The Effects of Orthographic Consistency and Preschool Curriculum

Background Studies have reported a strong association between children's early literacy skills at preschool and their reading and writing skills at primary school. However, it is unclear whether this association is affected by language and curriculum practices. Objective The study investigates (i) whether early literacy skills are influenced by orthographic consistency and by preschool curriculum, and (ii) how early skills are related to later literacy skills across countries. Method Three countries, Italy (n = 73), Romania (n = 65), and Belgium (n = 109) were involved in the study, for a total of 247 children. Language and early literacy in preschool were assessed using a novel assessment tool (the ‘Talk’). Early visual-phonological and manual aspects integration were investigated using rapid automatized naming and grapho-motor tasks. The children’s reading and writing skills nine months later were assessed using standardized tests. Results Results showed higher early literacy scores for the groups of children speaking languages with more transparent orthographic systems and for the group taking part in preschool activities designed to enhance literacy acquisition. Later reading and writing skills were predicted by early competences, albeit with differences across countries. Conclusions Findings suggest that literacy acquisition trajectories are not only associated with early skills but are also influenced by language characteristics and curriculum practices. The study also presents preliminary findings relative to the ‘Talk’, an assessment tool that may have important implications for early identification and intervention of language and literacy difficulties, as well as for improving cross-country curriculum practices

Rhythmic and morphosyntactic predictions in Italian children with DD

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Rhythmic and morphosyntactic predictions: The anticipation abilities of Italian children with developmental dyslexia

In both music and language incoming input can be predicted on the basis of the features of the input that has already been parsed. These types of structure-based predictions take place due to mechanisms of ‘online’ integration triggered by the structural combinatory features of the information already processed. Recently, it has been discussed whether these anticipation mechanisms, which are thought to be relevant for the acquisition of language-related skills such as reading and writing, are shared in language and musical rhythm (Guasti, Pagliarini, & Stucchi, 2017). This possibility may contribute to explain why deficits in reading and writing are associated with deficits in rhythmic processing, as it has been shown in children with Developmental Dyslexia (DD; Thomson et al., 2006; Thomson & Goswami, 2008). We investigated how morphosyntactic and rhythmic information triggers anticipation in language and music by administering a picture selection task and a rhythmic task to a group of 15 Italian monolingual children with a diagnosis of DD and to 15 age-matched controls (TD) (mean age: 10;1 years, SD=1.09 years). In the picture selection task children were presented with two pictures and heard sentences in which a gender-marked clitic pronoun or determiner provided information on a following agreeing noun (tocca la grande mela - touch the big apple); we manipulated the gender information associated with the nouns in three conditions: phonologically unmarked (G), phonologically marked (GP), phonologically marked and semantically determined (GPS); we measured accuracy and response times. In the rhythmic task children heard sequences of sounds, in which a warning tone provided information on the occurrence of a future sound (called the imperative). Participants were asked to tap in time with the imperative. Preliminary analysis revealed that the two groups did not differ significantly in the determiner processing task. However, in the clitic processing task, while DD children were slower in processing morphosyntactic information critical for anticipation in the G (p < .01) and GP (p < .05) conditions as compared to TD children, the two groups were equally efficient in using the semantic information (p = .40). Interestingly, DD children were also less accurate than TD controls in the rhythmic task. Moreover, only TD children exhibited a consistent negative asynchrony (also shown by adults; Aschersleben, 2002). Results suggest that DD and TD children make use of different anticipation strategies: while morphosyntactic combinatory information is used by TD children, children with DD seem to rely on semantic information. Furthermore, the difficulties encountered by DD children in using structure-based anticipation strategies do not seem to be limited to language, but to also extend to non-linguistic domains when the same type of anticipation skills are required

Predicting the future in rhythm and language: The anticipation skills of a group of Italian-speaking children

In this study we investigated the relation between anticipatory abilities in language and in music in a group of ten Italian-speaking children (4-6 years). Anticipation abilities in language were investigated through a clitic processing task (CPT), anticipation abilities in music were investigated through a rhythmic tapping task (warning-imperative task - WIT). In the CPT children heard gender-marked object clitics (in right-dislocated structures) which provided information on a following noun requiring a picture selection response. In the WIT children heard rhythmic sequences of sounds and were required to tap in time with an imperative sound following a warning sound. Results suggest a correlation between the anticipation abilities shown by children in language and in music, indicating a possible relation between the structural input integration processes used in the two domains

Predicting the future in rhythm and language: The anticipation skills of a group of Italian children

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Processing of object clitics in Italian monolingual children

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Individual differences in rhythmic neural entrainment and grammar production

Studies on music and language processing and production have shown both trait-like and state-like evidence for a rhythm-grammar link. Not only are rhythm perception abilities and grammar skills associated in both typical and atypical populations, but the auditory presentation of rhythmic stimuli can also affect subsequent receptive grammar task performance (Chern et al., 2018). These results may be related to the brain’s ability to entrain to auditory stimuli. However, it is unclear whether this ability also modulates the short-term rhythmic priming effects (RPE) on syntax production. To investigate whether differences in neural entrainment to rhythmic stimuli are associated with individual differences in RPE on grammar production, 20 typically developing children (ages 5-8 years) are asked to listen to rhythmically regular or irregular primes, and then complete a conversational language sample (a more ecologically valid measure of grammar production than standardized tests). Participants are screened to rule out hearing loss, intellectual disability, and language impairment through standardized assessments of receptive and expressive language skills. Complex syntax production after the rhythmic primes is elicited through conversational prompts (see Hadley, 1998) and transcribed in SALT (Miller & Iglesias, 2012). Grammar complexity is analyzed both in terms of clausal density and of percentage of correct clause units (see Loban, 1963). Continuous electroencephalography (EEG) data are recorded while participants listen to the rhythmic tones, and individual differences are calculated using time-frequency and clustering analyses, as in Lense et al. (2014). RPE on nonlinguistic abilities is measured using a control visuospatial task. Data collection is underway. We expect enhanced clausal density and increased accuracy of clause units after listening to rhythmically regular primes, especially for children showing larger brain responses to the auditory stimuli. Results may improve rhythmic treatments in children with impaired language

Temporal and prosodic characteristics of infant-directed speech to children with cochlear implants

Infant-directed speech (IDS) quantity and quality are important characteristics affecting child language acquisition (D’Odorico & Jacob, 2006). Language learning in children with cochlear implants (CIs) may benefit from a prosodically richer speech signal and from enhanced mother-child coordination in interaction. However, only a few studies have considered these aspects with children with CIs. This study aims to investigate the prosodic and temporal characteristics of IDS before and after CI activation and their relationship with child language outcomes up to three years after implantation in Italian-speaking children. Participants were 16 dyads of mothers and their children implanted between 10 and 36 months. Fundamental frequency characteristics and pitch range for each mother and mothers’ and children’s vocalizations, overlaps, and within- and between-speaker pauses in interaction were analyzed. Children’s receptive vocabulary after implantation was also considered. Results indicate that children’s vocabulary three years after implantation is negatively predicted by early maternal overlap frequency and positively associated with mothers’ pitch range before implantation. These results suggest a positive role of prosody and temporal characteristics in IDS for children with CIs