Predictive Models of Word Reading Fluency in Hebrew

This study examined a multi-componential approach to reading fluency in first and third grade Hebrew speaking children. Measures of naming speed, phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), syntax awareness, and vocabulary were administered to first (N = 68) and third (N = 67) graders. Hierarchical regression models revealed that in both grades, naming speed accounted for most of the variance in each model. However, while in the first grade, word reading fluency was also predicted by vocabulary, in the third grade, both PA and MA were significant additional predictors. Predictive models of word reading fluency in Hebrew and applied implications are proposed

EFL Literacy Teaching in Relation to Teachers’ Self-Efficacy, Experience and Native Language

English as a foreign language (EFL) literacy is necessary for the career success of non-English speaking students. Many students lack adequate EFL literacy skills which may indicate a gap between EFL literacy instruction theory and practice. Teachers’ self-efficacy regarding their ability to teach reading and writing, years of teaching experience, and/or native language may influence their selection of components for EFL literacy instruction. This study examines these components as they are perceived by teachers. One hundred and sixty-seven Israeli EFL elementary school teachers completed online questionnaires. Findings showed a weak correlation between teachers’ self-efficacy and their instructional approach. Teaching experience and teachers’ native language did not influence their selection of EFL literacy instructional components or their sense of self-efficacy regarding their ability to teach reading and writing. Providing theoretical knowledge in teacher education to all types of EFL teachers may lead to more effective literacy instruction

Measuring Multiple Text Integration: A Review

Multiple text integration is an important skill in modern society, required in heterogeneous situations, across many disciplines and in daily life. It is a complex skill that builds on bottom-up and top-down processes (Britt and Rouet, 2012). As a complex skill it has been measured in the literature using different techniques. To date, the different ways in which researchers have defined and operationalized the term have not been reviewed. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to review how multiple text integration has been theoretically and empirically assessed. The current paper reviews which texts were typically used, which aspects of integration were assessed, and with which scoring rubrics. Finally, we propose that despite the diverse use of tasks, important features of multiple text integration are missing from current research

The Varieties of Pathways to Dysfluent Reading Comparing Subtypes of Children With Dyslexia at Letter, Word, and Connected Text Levels of Reading

The majority of work on the double-deficit hypothesis (DDH) of dyslexia has been done at the letter and word levels of reading. Key research questions addressed in this study are (a) do readers with different subtypes of dyslexia display differences in fluency at particular reading levels (e.g., letter, word, and connected text)? and (b) do children with dyslexia identified by either low-achievement or ability–achievement discrepancy criteria show similar differences when classified by the DDH? To address these questions, the authors assessed a sample of 158 children with severe reading impairments in second and third grades on an extensive battery and classified them into three reader subtypes using the DDH. The results demonstrated that the three DDH subtypes exhibited differences in fluency at different levels of reading (letter, word, and connected text), underscoring the separate reading profiles of these subtypes and the different possible routes to dysfluency in reading disabilities. Furthermore, the results suggest that the different patterns among DDH subtypes are primarily driven by the ability–achievement discrepancy group. The implications of these findings are discussed for intervention, reading theory, and a more refined understanding of heterogeneity

Intensity vs. Duration: Comparing the Effects of a Fluency-Based Reading Intervention Program, in After-School vs. Summer School Settings

Two versions of RAVE-O, a fluency-based reading intervention were examined over a 2-intervention period: a 9-month, 44-hour afterschool intervention program, and a month long, 44-hour summer intervention program.  80 children in grades 1-3 were tested on the two subtests of the Test of Word-Reading Efficiency and were assigned to one of 6 groups compromising of different combinations of one vs. two intervention packets.  Results show that while both programs showed gains after a single intervention, a significant difference was seen between intervention groups, with the afterschool intervention showing larger pre-post intervention difference scores. All groups who received a 2-package intervention either increased or maintained performance after the second intervention, suggesting that an additional intervention is beneficial. Moreover, the afterschool group who received a consecutive summer intervention group showed significant gains as compared to the other 2-intervention groups. Results from this study indicate the overall number of intervention hours may not be the indicator of a successful intervention. Instead, in the first intervention, a longer period of skill introduction may be needed for information consolidation; the second intervention may require an intense period for skill rehearsal. Implications for future reading interventions and scaling-up are discussed

Reading Self-Concept and Reading Anxiety in Second Grade Children: The Roles of Word Reading, Emergent Literacy Skills, Working Memory and Gender

Background: Most studies in the field of reading have focused on the linguistic and cognitive factors. Less is known about the affective aspects of reading in young readers, such as self-perceptions of reading, and reading anxiety.Aims: This study aimed to shed light on the direct and indirect relations between reading and related skills (working memory, emergent literacy skills, word reading accuracy and rate, and gender) as sources of reading affect (reading self-concept and anxiety).Sample: A total of 115 Hebrew speaking second graders participated in this study.Methods: A set of measures assessing reading accuracy and rate, emergent literacy skills (phonological fluency, rapid automatized naming and working memory) and reading affect questionnaires (reading self-concept and reading anxiety) were administered to the participants.Results: Path analysis was used as the primary analytic approach. Results indicated a negative moderate relation between reading self-concept and reading anxiety. The relations of working memory and emergent literacy to reading self-concept and reading anxiety were indirect via word reading accuracy and reading rate. Girls reported higher reading anxiety and lower reading self-concept, despite higher performance in reading accuracy and no difference in reading rate.Conclusion: The current results support the importance of examining reading affect and potential sources of reading affect. Results suggest that reading self-concept and reading anxiety and their related skills should be considered in designing reading intervention and instructions

Abnormal structural and functional brain connectivity in gray matter heterotopia

available in PMC 2013 June 01Purpose:  Periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH) is a malformation of cortical development associated with epilepsy and dyslexia. Evidence suggests that heterotopic gray matter can be functional in brain malformations and that connectivity abnormalities may be important in these disorders. We hypothesized that nodular heterotopia develop abnormal connections and systematically investigated the structural and functional connectivity of heterotopia in patients with PNH. Methods:  Eleven patients were studied using diffusion tensor tractography and resting-state functional connectivity MRI with bold oxygenation level–dependent (BOLD) imaging. Fiber tracks with a terminus within heterotopic nodules were visualized to determine structural connectivity, and brain regions demonstrating resting-state functional correlations to heterotopic nodules were analyzed. Relationships between these connectivity results and measures of clinical epilepsy and cognitive disability were examined. Key Findings:  A majority of heterotopia (69%) showed structural connectivity to discrete regions of overlying cortex, and almost all (96%) showed functional connectivity to these regions (mean peak correlation coefficient 0.61). Heterotopia also demonstrated connectivity to regions of contralateral cortex, other heterotopic nodules, ipsilateral but nonoverlying cortex, and deep gray matter structures or the cerebellum. Patients with the longest durations of epilepsy had a higher degree of abnormal functional connectivity (p = 0.036). Significance:  Most heterotopic nodules in PNH are structurally and functionally connected to overlying cortex, and the strength of abnormal connectivity is higher among patients with the longest duration of epilepsy. Along with prior evidence that cortico-cortical tract defects underlie dyslexia in this disorder, the current findings suggest that altered connectivity is likely a critical substrate for neurologic dysfunction in brain malformations.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH/NINDS R01 NS073601)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH/NINDS K23 NS049159)Epilepsy Foundation of AmericaHarvard University (William F. Milton Fund

Integration of gray matter nodules into functional cortical circuits in periventricular heterotopia

Alterations in neuronal circuitry are recognized as an important substrate of many neurological disorders, including epilepsy. Patients with the developmental brain malformation of periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH) often have both seizures and dyslexia, and there is evidence to suggest that aberrant neuronal connectivity underlies both of these clinical features. We used task-based functional MRI (fMRI) to determine whether heterotopic nodules of gray matter in this condition are integrated into functional cortical circuits. Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI was acquired in eight participants with PNH during the performance of reading-related tasks. Evidence of neural activation within heterotopic gray matter was identified, and regions of cortical coactivation were then mapped systematically. Findings were correlated with resting-state functional connectivity results and with performance on the fMRI reading-related tasks. Six participants (75%) demonstrated activation within at least one region of gray matter heterotopia. Cortical areas directly overlying the heterotopia were usually coactivated (60%), as were areas known to have functional connectivity to the heterotopia in the task-free resting state (73%). Six of seven (86%) primary task contrasts resulted in heterotopia activation in at least one participant. Activation was most commonly seen during rapid naming of visual stimuli, a characteristic impairment in this patient population. Our findings represent a systematic demonstration that heterotopic gray matter can be metabolically coactivated in a neuronal migration disorder associated with epilepsy and dyslexia. Gray matter nodules were most commonly coactivated with the anatomically overlying cortex and other regions with resting-state connectivity to heterotopia. These results have broader implications for understanding the network pathogenesis of both seizures and reading disabilities

Título del estudio:

Resumen Introducción. El presente estudio examinó la contribución de las habilidades de decodificación fonológica y de denominación automatizada rápida a la predición de la habilidad lectora en niños españoles con dislexia. Método. Treinta y ocho lectores con dislexia y déficit en el procesamiento fonológico (edad media 9 años y 11 meses) fueron evaluados en velocidad lectora, comprensión lectora, lectura de palabras y pseudopalabras, ortografía, y denominación rápida. Se efectuaron análisis de correlación y regresión para examinar las interrelaciones entre estas variables en Español, una lengua con ortografía transparente. Resultados. Como en estudios anteriores sobre la Hipótesis del Doble Déficit en ortografías transparentes, se encontró una relación significativa entre las medidas de denominación rápi-da, velocidad lectora y conocimiento ortográfico; y entre las habilidades de decodificación fonológicas y la precisión en la lectura de palabras. Tanto la precisión en la lectura como las medidas de denominación rápida correlacionaron con la comprensión lectora. Conclusiones. En el presente estudio, la capacidad predictora de la denominación automatizada rápida de números al conocimiento ortográfico y de la denominación automatizada rápi-da de letras a la velocidad lectora fue la más alta de entre todas las medidas subyacentes a la lectura utilizadas. . Abstract Introduction. The present study examined the contributions of phonological decoding skills and rapid naming to the prediction of reading skills in Spanish-speaking children with dyslexia. Method. Thirty-eight dyslexic readers with phonological decoding processing deficits (mean age 9;11) were assessed on reading speed, reading comprehension, word and pseudoword reading, orthographic choice, and Rapid Naming (RAN). Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to examine interrelationships among these variables in Spanish, a language with a transparent orthography. Results. Supporting previous findings of the Double Deficit Hypothesis in transparent orthographies, a significant relationship was found among RAN measures, reading speed, and orthographic knowledge; and between phonological decoding skills and word reading accuracy. Both word reading accuracy and RAN tasks were associated with reading comprehension. Conclussions. In the present study, the predictive capability of RAN-Numbers to orthographic knowledge and RAN-Letters to reading speed was the highest among all cognitive measures underlie reading.

Are Phonological Processes Separate from the Processes Underlying Naming Speed in a Shallow Orthography? Are Phonological Processes Separate from the Processes Underlying Naming Speed in a Shallow Orthography?

Abstract Introduction. The present study examined the contributions of phonological decoding skill