We modeled word reading growth in typically developing (n = 118) and children with dyslexia (n = 20), Grades 2-5, across multiple exposures to 30 words. We explored the facilitative versus inhibitory effects of exposures to differential mixes of words that support high- versus low-frequency vowel pronunciations. One training corpus contained a…

As children learn to read, they become sensitive to context-dependent vowel pronunciations in words, considered a form of statistical learning. The work of Treiman and colleagues demonstrated that readers' vowel pronunciations depend on the consonantal context in which the vowel occurs and reading experience. Using explanatory item-response models…

The present study explored the influence of short vowelization in Arabic orthography on reading comprehension of different texts, different genres and on different levels, among students of different ages. It explored the influence of short vowelization in Arabic orthography on reading comprehension of texts from the Koran, informative texts,…

The study aimed to examine the pedagogical implications of the "linguistic and orthographic proximity hypothesis." This hypothesis claims that the similarities and differences between first and additional languages and scripts help or hinder the acquisition of literacy in the novel language. In this study we examined the impact of Arabic…

We examined reading proficiency, focusing on fluency, in 56 Russian-speaking language minority (LM) students and 56 native Hebrew-speaking (NH) peers. Fifth-grade students completed measures of Hebrew reading accuracy and fluency from word to text level as well as phonological awareness (PA), RAN and vocabulary. LM students read single words less…

Most principles and propositions in the science of reading are derived from research on Latin orthographies, usually, in English while much less is known about Semitic orthographies, namely, Arabic. This study investigated the effect of vowels and type of genre on oral accuracy, oral rate, and oral comprehension in reading Arabic orthography. A…

Language immersion students' lexical, syntactic, and pragmatic competencies are well documented, yet their phonological skill has remained relatively unexplored. This study investigates the Spanish vowel productions of a cross-sectional sample of 35 one-way Spanish immersion students. Learner productions were analyzed acoustically and compared to…

The "script-dependence hypothesis" was tested through the examination of the impact of Russian and Hebrew literacy on English orthographic knowledge needed for spelling and decoding among fifth graders. We compared the performance of three groups: Russian-Hebrew-speaking emerging triliterates, Russian-Hebrew-speaking emerging biliterates who were…

The ability to identify stop consonants from brief onset spectra was compared between a group of Chinese children with phonological dyslexia (the PD group, with a mean age of 10 years 4 months) and a group of chronological age-matched control children. The linguistic context, which included vowels and speakers, and durations of stop onset spectra…

English spelling is highly inconsistent in terms of simple sound-to-spelling correspondences but is more consistent when context is taken into account. For example, the choice between "ch" and "tch" is determined by the preceding vowel ("coach," "roach" vs. "catch," "hatch"). We investigated children's sensitivity to vowel context when spelling…