Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:19:26.854Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The contribution of language skills to reading fluency: A comparison of two orthographies for Hebrew

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2009

RAVIT COHEN-MIMRAN
RAVIT COHEN-MIMRAN*
Affiliation:
University of Haifa, Israel
*
[*]Address for correspondence: Dr Ravit Cohen-Mimran, Department of Communication Disorders, Faculty of Social Welfare & Health Studies, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 31905, Israel. Tel: 972-4-8240517. Fax: 972-4-8249507. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to explore the contribution of phonological and general language skills to reading fluency of pointed and unpointed Hebrew scripts. Reading, language and memory tasks were performed by 48 fifth-grade monolingual native Hebrew speakers. Results showed that the most marked predictor for both pointed and unpointed reading texts was the morphological measure, whereas the phonological awareness measure contributed to neither of them. The semantic and syntactic measures contributed only to unpointed text reading fluency. The discussion highlights how readers in script, such as unpointed Hebrew, rely on general language skills in order to achieve fluent reading.

Type
Brief Research Report
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , June 2009 , pp. 657 - 672
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

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.)

References

REFERENCES

Baddeley, A. D. (2003). Working memory and language: An overview. Journal of Communication Disorders 36, 189–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bentin, S., Deutsch, A. & Liberman, I. Y. (1990). Syntactic competence and reading ability in children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 48, 147–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cairns, H. S., Waltzman, D. & Schlisselberg, G. (2004). Detecting the ambiguity of sentences: Relationship to early reading skill. Communication Disorders Quarterly 25, 68–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrow-Woolfolk, E. (1999). Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language – 3. Austin, TX: Pro-ed.Google Scholar
Catts, H. W. & Hogan, T. P. (2003). Language basis of reading disabilities and implications for early identification and remediation. Reading Psychology 24, 223–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frost, R. (2006). Becoming literate in Hebrew: The grain size hypothesis and Semitic orthographic systems. Developmental science 9, 439–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frost, R., Forster, K. I. & Deutsch, A. (1997). What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew: A masked priming investigation of morphological representation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 23, 829–56.Google ScholarPubMed
Gottardo, A., Stanovich, K. E. & Siegel, L. S. (1996). The relationships between phonological sensitivity, syntactic processing, and verbal working memory in the reading performance of third-grade children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 65, 563–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, C. S. H., Chan, D. W. O., Tsang, S. M. & Lee, S. H. (2002). The cognitive profile and multiple-deficit hypothesis in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Developmental Psychology 38, 543–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holopainen, L., Ahonen, T. & Lyytinen, H. (2001). Predicting delay in reading achievement in a highly transparent language. Journal of Learning Disabilities 34, 401–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, L. & Frost, R. (1992). The reading process is different for different orthographies: The orthographic depth hypothesis. In Katz, L. & Frost, R. (eds) Orthography, phonology, morphology, and meaning, 67–84. Oxford: North-Holland.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katzir, T., Breznitz, A., Shaul, S. & Wolf, M. (2004). Universal and the unique: A cross-linguistic investigation of reading and reading fluency in Hebrew- and English-speaking children with dyslexia. Journal of Reading and Writing 17, 739–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, I., Ravid, D. & Rapaport, S. (2001). Morphology and spelling among Hebrew-speaking children: From kindergarten to first grade. Journal of Child Language 28, 741–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyon, G. R. & Moats, L. C. (1997). Critical, conceptual, and methodological considerations in reading intervention research. Journal of Learning Disabilities 30, 578–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyer, M. S. & Felton, R. H. (1999). Repeated reading to enhance fluency: Old approaches and new directions. Annals of Dyslexia 49, 283–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nation, K. & Snowling, M. (1998). Semantic processing and the development of word recognition skills: Evidence from children with reading comprehension difficulties. Journal of Memory and Language 39, 85–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravid, D. (2004). Later lexical development in Hebrew: Derivational morphology revisited. In Berman, R. A. (ed.) Language development across childhood and adolescence: Psycholinguistic and crosslinguistic perspectives, 53–82. Amsterdam: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rom, A. & Morag, L. (1999). MAASE – An oral language test. Tel-Aviv, Israel: Michlalon, Seminar Hakibutsim.Google Scholar
Schiff, R. (2003). The effects of morphology and word length on the reading of Hebrew nominals. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 16, 263–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shani, M., Lachman, D., Shalem, Z., Bahat, A. & Zaiger, T. (2006). Alef-Taf. Diagnostic test battery for written language disorders. Holon, Israel: Mofet institute and Nitsan association, Yesod Press [In Hebrew].Google Scholar
Share, D. L. (in press). On the Anglocentricities of current reading research and practice: The perils of over-reliance on an ‘outlier’ orthography. Psychological Bulletin.Google Scholar
Share, D. L., Jorm, A. F., Maclean, R. & Matthews, R. (1984). Sources of individual differences in reading acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology 76, 1309–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Share, D. L. & Levin, I. (1999). Learning to read and write in Hebrew. In Harris, M. & Hatano, G. (eds) Learning to read and write: A cross-linguistic perspective, 89–111. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shatil, E. & Share, D. L. (2003). Cognitive antecedents of early reading ability: A test of the modularity hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 86, 1–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shimron, J. & Sivan, T. (1994). Reading proficiency and orthography: Evidence from Hebrew and English. Language Learning 44, 5–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snowling, M., Bishop, D. V. M. & Stothard, S. E. (2000). Is preschool language impairment a risk factor for dyslexia in adolescence? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 41, 587–600.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K. & Rashotte, C. A. (1994). Longitudinal studies of phonological processing and reading. Journal of Learning Disabilities 27, 276–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (1991). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – III. Cleveland, OH: Psychological Corp.Google Scholar
Wimmer, H., Mayringer, H. & Landerl, K. (1998). Poor reading: A deficit in skill-automatization or a phonological deficit? Scientific Studies of Reading 2, 321–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, M. & Katzir-Cohen, T. (2001). Reading fluency and its intervention. Scientific Studies of Reading 5, 211–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar