Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-zlgnt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T10:57:06.817Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Acquisition of initial mental graphemic representations by children at risk for literacy development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2011

KENN APEL ,
SHURITA THOMAS-TATE ,
ELIZABETH B. WILSON-FOWLER  and
DANIELLE BRIMO
KENN APEL*
Affiliation:
Florida State University
SHURITA THOMAS-TATE
Affiliation:
Florida State University
ELIZABETH B. WILSON-FOWLER
Affiliation:
Florida State University
DANIELLE BRIMO
Affiliation:
Florida State University
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Kenn Apel, School of Communication Science and Disorders, Florida State University, 127 Honors Way, Tallahassee, FL 32306. E-mail: kenn.apel@cci.fsu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We examined the acquisition of initial mental graphemic representations (MGRs) by 46 kindergarten children (mean age = 5 years, 9 months) at risk for literacy development because of low socioeconomic status. Using a storybook context, we exposed children to novel nonwords that varied in their phonotactic and orthotactic probabilities and then assessed the children's development of initial MGRs through spelling and reading recognition tasks. The children developed some initial MGRs but less than past reports of children from middle socioeconomic status backgrounds. Children with more advanced word recognition abilities developed more initial MGRs than their peers with less advanced word recognition skills. Like previous reports, the words' linguistic properties affected initial MGR acquisition and MGR acquisition ability predicted reading and spelling achievement above other known predictors. The results speak to the importance of increasing the print and orthographic knowledge of children at-risk for adequate literacy development.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 365 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Adams, M. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Anderson-Yockel, J., & Haynes, W. O. (1994). Joint book-reading strategies in working-class African American and White mother–toddler dyads. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 583–593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Apel, K. (2010). Kindergarten children's initial spoken and written word learning in a storybook context. Scientific Studies of Reading, 14, 440–463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Apel, K., & Masterson, J. J. (2001). Theory-guided spelling assessment and intervention: A case study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 32, 182–195.Google Scholar
Apel, K., Masterson, J. J., & Hart, P. (2004). Integration of language components in spelling: Instruction that maximizes students' learning. In Silliman, E. R. & Wilkinson, L. C. (Eds.), Language and literacy learning in schools (pp. 292–315). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Apel, K., Wolter, J. A., & Masterson, J. J. (2006). Effects of phonotactic and orthotactic probabilities during fast-mapping on five year-olds' learning to spell. Developmental Neuropsychology, 29, 21–42.Google Scholar
Aram, D., & Biron, S. (2004). Joint storybook reading and joint writing interventions among low SES preschoolers: Differential contribution to early literacy. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 588–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, J., Bishop, D. V. M., & Freeman, N. H. (1995). Phonological awareness and literacy development in children with expressive phonological impairments. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 446–462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks-Gunn, J., Klebanov, P. K., & Duncan, G. J. (1996). Ethnic differences in children's intelligence test scores: Role of economic deprivation, home environment, and maternal characteristics. Child Development, 67, 396–408.Google Scholar
Bus, A. G., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Pelligrini, A. D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review of Educational Research, 65, 1–21.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. M., Bell, S. K., & Keith, L. K. (2001). Concurrent validity of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Third Edition as an intelligence and achievement screener for low SES African American children. Assessment, 8, 85–94.Google Scholar
Cleary, A. M., Morris, A. L., & Langley, M. M. (2007). Recognition memory for novel stimuli: The structural regularity hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 379–393.Google Scholar
Craig, H. K., Connor, C. M., & Washington, J. A. (2003). Early positive predictors of later reading comprehension for African American students: A preliminary investigation. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 34, 31–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, H. K., & Washington, J. A. (2004). Grade related changes in the production of African American English. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 450–463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cunningham, A. E. (2006). Accounting for children's orthographic learning while reading text: Do children self-teach? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 95, 56–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duncan, L. G., & Seymour, P. H. K. (2000). Socioeconomic differences in foundation-level literacy. British Journal of Psychology, 91, 145–166.Google Scholar
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1997). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (3rd ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Dunn, L.M., & Dunn, L.M. (2007). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (4th ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Ehri, L. C. (1992). Reconceptualizing the development of sight word reading and its relationship to recoding. In Gough, P., Ehri, L. C., & Treiman, R. (Eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 107–143). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Ehri, L. C., Nunes, S. R., Willows, D. M., Schuster, B. V., Yaghoub-Zadeh, Z., & Shanahan, T. (2001). Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 250–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehri, L. C., & Rosenthal, J. (2007). Spellings of words: A neglected facilitator of vocabulary learning. Journal of Literacy Research, 39, 389–409.Google Scholar
Ehri, L. C., & Saltmarsh, J. (1995). Beginning readers outperform older disabled readers in learning to read words by sight. Reading and Writing, 7, 295–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehri, L. C., & Wilce, L. S. (1985). Movement into reading: Is the first stage of printed word learning visual or phonetic? Reading Research Quarterly, 20, 163–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehri, L. C., & Wilce, L. S. (1987a). Does learning to spell help beginners learn to read words? Reading Research Quarterly, 22, 47–65.Google Scholar
Ehri, L. C., & Wilce, L. S. (1987b). Cipher versus cue reading: An experiment in decoding acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 3–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, M. A., Williamson, K., & Pursoo, T. (2008). Preschoolers' attention to print during shared book reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 12, 106–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershkoff-Stowe, L., & Hahn, E. R. (2007). Fast mapping skills in the developing lexicon. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 682–696.Google Scholar
Gray, S. (2005). Word learning by preschoolers with specific language impairment: Effect of phonological or semantic cues. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 1452–1467.Google Scholar
Gray, S. (2006). The relationship between phonological memory, receptive vocabulary, and fast mapping in young children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 49, 955–969.Google Scholar
Hart, B., & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368–1378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horton-Ikard, R., & Weismer, S. E. (2007). A preliminary examination of vocabulary and word learning in African American toddlers from middle and low socioeconomic status homes. American Journal of Speech–Language Pathology, 16, 381–392.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, V. (2001). Fast mapping verb meaning from argument structure. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Jusczyk, P. W., Luce, P. A., & Charles-Luce, J. (1994). Infants' sensitivity to phonotactic patterns in the native language. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 630–645.Google Scholar
Justice, L. M. (2002). Word exposure conditions and preschoolers' novel word learning through reading. Reading Psychology, 23, 87–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Justice, L. M., Kaderavek, J. N., Fan, X., Sofka, A., & Hunt, A. (2009). Accelerating preschoolers' early literacy development through classroom-based teacher–child storybook reading and explicit print referencing. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 40, 67–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Justice, L. M., Pullen, P. C., & Pence, K. (2008). Influence of verbal and nonverbal references to print on preschoolers' visual attention to print during storybook reading. Developmental Psychology, 44, 855–866.Google Scholar
Kaufman, A. S., & Kaufman, A. L. (2004). Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Kessler, B., & Treiman, R. (2001). Relationships between sounds and letters in English monosyllables. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 592–617.Google Scholar
Klauda, S. L., & Guthrie, J. T. (2008). Relationships of three components of reading fluency to reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 310–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, B. A., Gong, Z., Hessels, S., Evans, M. A., & Jared, D. (2006). Understanding print: Early reading development and the contributions to home literacy experiences. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 95, 63–93.Google Scholar
Lonigan, C. J., Burgess, S. R., & Anthony, J. L. (2000). Development of emergent literacy and early reading skills in preschool children: Evidence from a latent variable longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 36, 596–613.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marchman, V. A., & Fernald, A. (2008). Speed of word recognition and vocabulary in infancy predict cognitive and language outcomes in later childhood. Developmental Science, 11, F9–F16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCardle, P., Scarborough, H. S., & Catts, H. W. (2001). Predicting, explaining, and preventing children's reading difficulties. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16, 230–239.Google Scholar
Mattys, S., & Lusczyk, P. W. (2001). Phonotactic cues for segmentation of fluent speech by infants. Cognition, 78, 91–121.Google Scholar
Molfese, V. J., Modglin, , Beswick, A. A., Neamon, J. L., Berg, J. D., Berg, S. A., , C. J., et al. (2006). Letter knowledge, phonological processing, and print knowledge: Skill development in nonreading preschool children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39, 296–305.Google Scholar
Munson, B., Kurtz, B. A., & Windsor, J. (2005). The influence of vocabulary size, phonotactic probability, and wordlikeness on nonword repetitions of children with and without specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 1033–1047.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nation, K., Angell, P., & Castles, A. (2007). Orthographic learning via self-teaching in children learning to read English: Effects of exposure, durability, and context. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 96, 71–84.Google Scholar
National Assessment of Educational Progress. (2007). The nation's report card. Retrieved August 20, 2009, from http://nced.ed.gove/nationsreportcard/readingGoogle Scholar
Oetting, J., & McDonald, J. L. (2002). Methods for characterizing participants' nonmainstream dialect use in child language research. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 45, 505–518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pan, B. A., Rowe, M. L., Singer, J. D., & Snow, C. E. (2005). Maternal correlates of growth in toddler vocabulary production in low-income families. Child Development, 76, 763–782.Google Scholar
Patton-Terry, N., Connor, C., Thomas-Tate, S., & Love, M. (in press). Examining the relationship between dialect variation, literacy skills, and school context in first grade students. Journal of Speech–Language and Hearing Research.Google Scholar
Qi, C. H., Kaiser, A. P., Milan, S., & Hancock, T. (2006). Language performance of low-income African American and European preschool children on the PPVT-III. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 37, 5–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reitsma, P. (1983). Printed word learning in beginning readers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 75, 321–339.Google Scholar
Restrepo, M. A., Schwanenflugel, P., Blake, J., Neuharth-Pritchett, S., Cramer, S. E., & Ruston, H. P. (2006). Performance on the PPVT-III and the EVT: Applicability of the measures with African American and European American preschool children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 37, 17–27.Google Scholar
Rice, M., & Woodsmall, L. (1988). Lessons from television: Children's word learning when viewing. Child Development, 59, 420–429.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. E., Jurgens, J. J., & Burchinal, M. (2005). The role of home literacy practices in preschool children's language and emergent literacy skills. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 345–359.Google Scholar
Robertson, C., & Salter, W. (1997). The Phonological Awareness Test. East Moline, IL: Linguisystems.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, J., & Ehri, L. C. (2008). The mnemonic value of orthography for vocabulary learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 175–191.Google Scholar
Rosner, J., & Simon, D. (1971). The Auditory Analysis Test: An initial report. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 4, 40–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarborough, H. S. (2002). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In Neuman, S. & Dickinson, D. (Eds.), Handbook for research in early literacy (pp. 97–110). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Share, D. L. (1995). Phonological recoding and self-teaching: Sine qua non of reading acquisition. Cognition, 55, 151–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Share, D. L. (2004). Orthographic learning at a glance: On the time course and development onset of self-teaching. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87, 267–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegler, R. S. (1996). Emerging minds: The process of change in children's thinking. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., Burns, M. S., & Griffin, P. (Eds.). (1999). Consortium on reading excellence (CORE). Reading research: Anthology: The why? of reading instruction. Novato, CA: Arena Press.Google Scholar
Stephenson, K. A., Parilla, R. K., Georgiou, G. K., & Kirby, J. R. (2008). Effects of home literacy, parents' beliefs, and children's task-focused behavior on emergent literacy and word reading skills. Scientific Studies of Reading, 12, 24–50.Google Scholar
Storkel, H. L. (2001). Learning new words: Phonotactic probability in language development. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44, 1321–1337.Google Scholar
Storkel, H. L. (2009). Developmental differences in the effects of phonological, lexical, and semantic variables on word learning in infants. Journal of Child Language, 36, 291–321.Google Scholar
Storkel, H. L., Armbruster, J., & Hogan, T. P. (2006). Differentiating phonotactic probability and neighborhood density in adult word learning. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49, 1175–1192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Storkel, H. L., & Rodgers, M. A. (2000). The effect of probabilistic phonotactics on lexical acquisition. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 14, 407–425.Google Scholar
Taylor, D., & Dorsey-Gaines, C. (1988). Growing up literate: Learning from inner-city families. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Teale, W. H. (1986). Home background and young children's literacy development. In Teale, W. H. & Sulzby, E. (Eds.), Emergent literacy: Writing and reading. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Terry, N. P., Connor, C., Thomas-Tate, S., & Love, M. (2010). Examining relationships among dialect variation, literacy skills, and school context in first grade. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 56, 126–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas-Tate, S., Washington, J., Craig, H., & Packard, M. (2006). Performance of African American preschool and kindergarten students on the Expressive Vocabulary Test. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in the Schools, 37, 143–149.Google Scholar
Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., & Rashotte, C. A. (1994). Longitudinal studies and phonological processing and reading. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27, 276–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Treiman, R. (1993). Beginning to spell: A study of first-grade children. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
United States Census Bureau. (2008). Statistical abstract of the United States: 2009 (128th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Vernon-Feagans, L., Hammer, C. S., Miccio, A., & Manlove, E. (2001). Early language and literacy skills in low-income African American and Hispanic children. In Neuman, S. B. & Dickinson, D. K. (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 192–210). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Washington, J. A. (2001). Early literacy skills in African-American children: Research considerations. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16, 213–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Washington, J. A., & Craig, H. K. (1999). Performance of at-risk, African American preschoolers on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—III. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 30, 75–82.Google Scholar
Wolter, J. A., & Apel, K. (2010). Initial acquisition of mental graphemic representations in children with language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 179–195.Google Scholar
Woodcock, R. W. (1998). Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests—Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Wright, D. M., & Ehri, L. C. (2007). Beginners remember orthography when they learn to read words: The case of doubled letters. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28, 115–133.Google Scholar