Language and Literacy Development

Does the type of reading instruction experienced during the initial years at school have any continuing effect on the ways in which adults read words? The question has arisen in current discussions about computational models of mature word-reading processes. We tested predicted continuing effects by comparing matched samples of skilled adult readers of English who had received explicit phonics instruction in childhood and those who had not. In responding to nonwords that can receive alternative legitimate pronunciations, those adults having childhood phonics instruction used more regular grapheme-phoneme correspondences that were context free and used fewer vocabulary-based contextually dependent correspondences than did adults who had no phonics instruction. These differences in regularization of naming responses also extended to some low-frequency words. This apparent cognitive footprint of childhood phonics instruction is a phenomenon requiring consideration when researchers attempt to model adult word reading and when they select participants to test the models.

The number of children growing up in dual language environments is increasing in the United States. Despite the apparent benefits of speaking two languages, children learning English as a second language (ESL) often face struggles, as they may experience poverty and impoverished language input at home. Early exposure to a rich language environment is crucial for ESL children's academic success. This article explores how six evidenced-based principles of language learning can be used to provide support for ESL children. Speaking multiple languages is the norm, not the exception in many parts of the world. Approximately 66% of children throughout the world are being raised bilingual (Associated Press, 2001). In the European Union (EU), 54% of the population can hold a conversation in at least two languages and 25% is able to speak three languages (European Commission, 2012). Even in the United States, roughly 12.9% of individuals over the age of five reported that they spoke a language other than English at home in 2013, representing an increase of 117% since 1990 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013). Having the ability to speak more than one language

This study investigated whether two groups of 6-year-old beginning readers taught to read by a phonics and by a “book experience” non-phonics approach would differ in reading
comprehension as well as the processes of word recognition. The two groups were matched for word recognition but despite this, the phonics taught children had higher reading comprehension.
Phonics taught children produced more contextually appropriate errors, and in both single word and text reading made more spoken attempts at reading unknown words. The non-phonics taught children had much faster reading reaction times to familiar words but they scored less in phoneme segmentation and nonword reading tasks. Compared with the nonphonics group, the phonics group spent more time in attempts at identifying unknown words
and this included using contextual information, which apparently resulted in more rehearsal of the meaning of the story text and hence better reading comprehension performance.

This chapter focuses on changes in two aspects of classroom life: task and talk structures. Together, task and talk structures regulate the quality and quantity of classroom learning opportunities. If not thoughtfully designed, these structures can create favorable learning environments for some students while restricting the participation of others. Appropriate changes in these structures can create more productive and equitable classrooms where literacy is the rule rather than the exception.

The National Institutes of Health has deemed illiteracy a national health crisis based on reading proficiency rates among American children. In 2002, the National Early Literacy Panel identified six pre-reading skills that are most crucial precursors to reading mastery and predict future reading outcomes. Of those skills, phonological awareness, and in particular phonemic awareness, is the strongest independent predictor of early reading outcomes. However, limited research has addressed the development of these component skills due in part to the fact that many of the measures used to assess sub-skills such as phonemic awareness are oral production measures that cannot easily be administered with children under the age of five, and are not designed to detect implicit or emerging knowledge. To address this limitation, we developed and administered two receptive measures of phonemic awareness to 2.5-and 3.5-year-old children. We found evidence for the emergence of this component skill earlier in ontogeny than is currently acknowledged in the literature. Overall, children performed at above chance rates on measures of receptive phonemic awareness at the level of the individual phoneme as early as 2.5-years-old. Results are discussed in terms of the need for a paradigm shift in prevailing models of how phonological awareness develops, as well as the potential to
identify children at-risk for reading failure at an earlier point in ontogeny than is currently feasible.

The number of children growing up in dual language environments is increasing in the United States. Despite the apparent benefits of speaking two languages, children learning English as a second language (ESL) often face struggles, as they may experience poverty and impoverished language input at home. Early exposure to a rich language environment is crucial for ESL children’s academic success. This article explores how six evidenced-based principles of language learning can be used to provide support for ESL children.

Abstract : Many users of a second language, especially English, have little productive mastery of the language. Rather, some requirement in their life forces them to use limited subroutines (maybe quite small and formulaic) which are effectively encapsulated as special elements within L1.

This paper proposes that fractional language learning is a valid objective for large numbers of users, and briefly examines some of the contexts in which it has a pragmatic application. It notes that much fractional language learning occurs outside of formal educational environments, and then goes on to consider how both the classroom teaching and evaluation can be adapted to give proper recognition to student achievements on a fractional scale. The paper suggests that this kind of graduated recognition is in fact likely to enhance outcomes across the full spectrum of language teaching, and can be consciously incorporated into curriculum design.

A paradigm shift to teacher acceptance (and community acceptance) of fractional language learning has strong implications for assessment practices. Most current measures of language assessment offer little or no recognition to the achievements of learners in the pre-production phase of acquisition. Attempts at language use in this phase are routinely punished by existing assessment tools. Partly as a result of this discouragement, large numbers of students never progress to independent language production. Fractional language objectives are one remedy for this deep flaw in language teaching outcomes.

This assignment aims to analyze and explore what impact a VLE has on student’s oral reporting skills and oral language development, and also acknowledges the benefits and challenges associated with employing such methodology.  In the first part of this assignment, I will discuss the context of this study and also highlight the influence policy has on ICT/ Language learning on contemporary primary education in the Republic of Ireland. I will consider how reflective practice has assisted me professionally in undertaking this action research. The second part of this assignment centers on my analysis of the study and findings while referencing modern and relevant literature. The third part of this assignment contains recommendations and conclusions.

We take for granted that globalisation weaves the world more closely together and English plays a critical role in this process. It is often promoted that those who know English and have a command over it can become "a part of the global community" and "lift" themselves up and onto better things. However, such an idea of the "positional superiority" which English can offer is a convenient oversimplification that hides the interests of certain groups. This paper reports on the current state and role of English in Bangladesh, its convenient positioning of promise of providing better opportunities within its colonial history, the existing way in which it functions as a way of segregating classes, and its institutional commodification. It is important to highlight that even the new global English, which is no longer centered in any one specific place, still continues to be really only accessible to and administered by a select group of privileged people. By looking at it through the prism provided by theorists such as Said and Foucault as well as local academics, this paper attempts to provide a focused analysis of the discourses of the power of English in Bangladesh.

Storytelling is an effective educational tool that features strongly across all cultures since human language evolved. Today, it is rarely heard in conventional learning environments. This paper describes an educational program based on storytelling. Research shows that storytelling has the ability to build a greater sense of community, enhance knowledge and memory recall, support early literacy development, and expand creative potential in young children. This program explores storytelling's potential for this through a broad range of extension activities. Conclusively, it is argued that storytelling has a highly effective role to play in the education of young children. The 'microwave' was the child's own creative addition to the tale. Another child created two clearly representational bluebirds in (green block) trees and one wolf, all made out of Lego™. The storytelling sessions clearly acted as an inspiration for children's exploration of knowledge. Some concepts about wolves that were introduced during The Gunny Wolf fascinated and intrigued many children as they spent close to an hour exploring non-fiction books on wolves. The stories acted as a reference point for the

The purpose of the study was to determine the level of reading comprehension and problem solving skills of the Grade VI pupils of Basak Elementary School enrolled school year 2018-2019.The research design used was descriptive – correlational to determine the relationship between reading comprehension and problem solving skills.  Participants were determined through G*Power which resulted to 44 (88%) participants. Stratified sampling was utilized to determine the number of participants in each section. The researcher employed questionnaires that determine the level of reading comprehension and problem solving skills of the participants. The results revealed that there is a significant relationship between reading comprehension and problem solving skills. Majority of the participant were female and in section one. Female outperformed male in both reading comprehension and problem solving skills due to local tradition, enthusiasm and willingness. Results exhibit that there is a relationship between reading comprehension and problem-solving skills at .098 significant level.

The analysis of the above state of affairs has revealed that the main problem which exists in Cameroon at the level of the rural population is that of ignorance in diverse domains of human life. These domains include: the socio-cultural, political and, economic.
At the political level, the illiterate rural population is ignorant on the meanders and mechanisms of power. They rely mostly on the elites as the sole means of political representation.
At the level of economy, this same group of people is ignorant of the diverse income generating activities that can be instituted in their region. They do not have access to the efficient modern techniques which can be applied in their agricultural activities. They equally do not have enough knowledge on the aspects of managing and organizing a business, as well as to means of investment and sustainable microfinance.

This article concerns Regional and minority languages in Ukrainian legislation. I try to investigate different languages at the territory of Ukraine. Why do some of them have protectio but other - not. Moreover, I pay attention to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages usage in Ukraine.

"Recently, educators have begun to consider what is required in literacy curricula and best teaching practices given the demands placed on the educator sector and on literacy in general.

Multiliteracies and Technology Enhanced Education: Social Practice and the Global Classroom features theoretical reflections and approaches on the use of multiliteracies and technologies in the improvement of education and social practices. Assisting educators at different teaching levels and fostering professional development and progress in this growing field, this innovative publication supports practitioners concerned with teaching at both a local and global level."

About This Column
What is figurative language, why does it matter, and how can teachers best share it with English language learners (ELLs)? In this column, I hope to remind you of the power and charm of figurative language, to explore its rightful place in the curriculum, and to share some pedagogical tips for teaching it effectively to ELLs.

suggested citation:  Lems, K.  (2018). Figurative language:  Are English language learners falling through the cracks?  Illinois Reading Council Journal 46(4), 66-71.

The main goal of the paper is to analyze educational achievements of Roma students in the lower grades of compulsory education in Serbia, as well as to find out what is the influence of the socio-economic status and the quality of education on the educational achievements. The main source of data is the Grade 3 National Assessment Study which is implemented in Serbia during year 2004. The results show that there is big gap regarding to the educational achievements between Roma and non-Roma students (average score of Roma is more than 130 points behind of national average; about 50% of Roma students do not develop even the basic mathematical and language literacy; and the repeating rate is about 11%). Secondary analysis of the results shows that about 40% of this gap can be explained by the lower socio-economical status of Roma, and about 60% is determined by the lower level of education quality delivered to Roma students in Serbian schools. Moreover, based on the analysis, some aspects of the lower education quality are determined: Roma students are in higher extent than non-Roma students into the classes with the lowest education quality, teachers have lower expectations from Roma students and support them in less extent, curriculum is "shortened" and "simplified" for Roma, etc. The conclusion of the study is that without waiting for general improvement of living and social conditions in which Roma population live in Serbia, there is big space for improvement of education quality delivered to Roma students in Serbian schools.

This study aims to provide an empirical foundation of student strategies to compensate for missing knowledge or deficiencies in speaking and listening ability while undertaking an oral exam interview. Observable compensation strategies that were employed and not employed by students are reported. In addition, strategies are ranked in order of most utilized to least utilized by study participants. Further, correlation results of strategies to test scores and strategies to gender and age variables were examined. Relationships were observed between guessing strategies and female students, as well as guessing strategies and older students. Also, students who engaged in reduction strategies-such as giving-up and tuning out-were most likely to have lower test scores, suggesting the importance of teaching them alternatives to these strategies.

Malaysia government has called for schools and parents to collaborate in nurturing the culture of reading among children, as there is no formalised programme for a more active involvement of parents in academic matters. Based on the positive results of school-home partnership of past studies, this study proposed a formalised partnership, i.e. the Smart Partnership in Reading in English (SPIRE) project. The six month project aimed to foster a partnership among the teacher, parents and children in an English storybook reading programme. It involved 25 multiracial five year old children, 25 parents and a class teacher. The parents, in partnership, with the teacher scaffold the children's reading development by reading storybooks to the children at home. Qualitative data gathered via interviews, teacher journals and home visits showed the children largely benefited from the teacher and parents collaboration. The outcome of the study was the formation of two levels of partnerships, firstly, the formation of a teacher-parent partnership, where the teacher scaffolds the parents, who in turn scaffold the children's development of reading skills at home. Secondly, the family partnership, where all family members, including extended family members were involved in scaffolding the children's reading development. This partnership also positively influenced the other children and teachers beyond the participating group. Another pertinent outcome was a clear link between the levels of partnership and the children's reading progress. The closer the parents worked with the teacher, the better was the children's reading progress. Similar partnership can also leave conventional splits in EFL context in the past and genuine sharing of responsibilities for EFL literacy development in the future.

The study analyzed text-embedded lexical usage as diagnostic of writing-speechdistinctions in stories and discussions produced in the two modalities by English-speaking grade-school children, middle-school pre-adolescents, high-school adolescents, and adults. We assumed that (1) while children master writing as a notational system by age 9 to 10 years, command of written language as a special style of discourse has a long developmental trajectory, and (2) distinct processing constraints and communicative circumstances combine to affect texts produced in the two modalities. Across the board, written texts scored higher than their spoken counterparts produced by the same participants on all five measures that we applied -Word Length, Register, Density, Diversity, and Abstractness -reflecting a more elevated and carefully monitored style of expression. With regard to development, high school students emerged as distinct from the two younger groups, demonstrating adolescence as a developmental watershed in discourseembedded lexical usage as in other domains of text construction. When task order (written texts produced before or after spoken ones, respectively) is taken into account, however, a more complex, multi-faceted picture emerges with respect to the variables of age, specific lexical measure, and order effects.

This chapter explores an arts-based resistance to normalizing systems and discourses of hegemonic power. The presence of deaf diasporas resulting from closure of deaf schools and their reference to an imaginary and yet experienced homeland as a transnational presence (Emery, 2015) presents possibilities for resistance within education of deaf students who are isolated from more vibrant deaf communities. Today, most deaf students are educated in their home communities and are acculturated into the so-called “hearing world.” Therefore, these students are often deprived of access to the linguistic and cultural capital afforded by the deaf community on local, provincial and national scales (Humphries, et al., 2012). Despite inclusive education policies, the proliferation of cochlear implants, and the overall emphasis on hearing loss as an entity to be cured or rehabilitated (Mauldin, 2016), a significant number of mainstreamed deaf students eventually find their way into the Deaf community and come to embrace the linguistic, cultural, social, and artistic achievements provided by the deaf community at all levels (Bechter, 2008). The deaf homeland provides a means of resistance to the medical model of deafness in that it creates contact zones as evidenced in large international gatherings of deaf people, such as World Federation of the Deaf conferences and international and national sports events whereby deaf people can strengthen their identities, forge kinship ties, and return to their diasporic communities renewed and strengthened. 

The paper is an arts based posthuman cartographic exploration of the processes involving the intra-actions between human and non human actors toward the creation of a theatrical play, Deaf Crows, which explores the experiences of deaf students in elementary school settings (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Crowley & Hickey-Moody, 2012; Hickey-Moody & Page, 2016; jagodzinski & Wallin, 2013). The narratives proved to be unsettling and challenged hegemonic beliefs concerning the acquisition of language in deaf students. Using nomadic ontology (Braidotti, 2011), the author also explores how nomadic zigzagging reveals the abject affects that are driven into the unconscious because of missing “obscene underside of the official narratives, the affect of life” (jagodzinski & Wallin, 2013, p. 73). For this reason, the “virtual real of the diasporic imagination is not approached”. Such affects provide a hidden narrative that enables resistance to normalizing discourses in deaf education.

There have been many positive claims made concerning the benefits of learning through a pedagogy which makes use of an interactive whiteboard (IWB), leading to a rapid acquisition and implementation of the IWB in schools. There is more limited research, however, of the effectiveness of the IWB in language learning and, in particular, in the learning of Chinese. This case study research used both qualitative and quantitative data to collect teacher and student perceptions of the learning of Chinese through an IWB pedagogy in one secondary school in Sydney, Australia, involving students in three levels of senior secondary school. Our findings confirm previous studies which state that students endorse the use of new technology in education. In particular, our study shows that the students believed that the IWB was effective in enhancing various aspects of their Chinese language learning. The positive attitude of the teacher towards the use of new technology in teaching is also found to play an important role in the implementation and success of the use of the IWB and in turn leads to the effective teaching and learning of Chinese. This study contributes to attention within research to the application of new technology in language learning.

Abstract:
The subject of the research is the use of first language in the process of learning second language in the second language classroom. In this research, two usages will be considered: teachers’ use, and students’ use. Several teaching methods are used by the teachers in the second language classroom: the holistic approach (including visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning style), the silent way, and total physical response. In this paper two methods will be considered: analytic and comparison. Implications of this research can be used in the classroom to improve classroom management making the input comprehensible and easy to follow, to lower affective filters allowing deeper and more profound input of the second language, to reduce the levels of language anxiety thus improving communication and comprehension of the second language, and also for psychological and pedagogical teaching improvements.
            Keywords: First Language(L1), Second Language (L2), Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Classroom management, Affective filters, Language anxiety

We investigated the relationship between Chichewa (L1) and English (L2) literacies in Malawi. Through our use of hierarchical linear modeling, we found that cross-language literacy transfer between Chichewa and English did occur, but that the pattern and the strength of the relationships varied depending on the literacy domain (i.e., reading or writing) and grade level. Our work has implications for students, teachers, and policy makers in countries like Malawi, where the language of the former colonial power is the official language (L2) of the country and students must be prepared to participate within a globalized society.

Learning to read and write in English requires children to master the alphabetic principle, the idea that the letters in printed words represent the sounds in spoken words in a more or less regular manner. Children need at least two skills in order to grasp the alphabetic principle. The first is phonological awareness, or a sensitivity to the sound structure of spoken words. The second is knowledge about letters, including knowledge of letter names and knowledge of letter sounds. Recent research sheds light on these foundational skills, documenting the linguistic factors that affect children's performance and how children put their phonological skills and knowledge of letters to use in learning to read and spell.

This article emerged from a study that focused on some similarities and differences between the Primary Reading Programme (PRP) and the Primary Literacy Programme (PLP) in Zambia. The two programmes were compared in terms of overall aims or purpose, programme package, teaching and learning materials, recommended teaching and learning methods, classroom organisation, assessment patterns, treatment of learners with varying abilities, and

Developing writing skills is a central part of the education curriculum in many countries, yet numerous children have difficulties in producing written text. To our knowledge there is no systematic study examining the ways in which Greek teachers adapt their writing instruction strategies to accommodate the needs of their students. The aim of the present study was to identify the approaches teachers employ while teaching writing in Greek primary schools and to examine the nature and frequency of these different aspects of teaching writing. We replicated and extended the Dockrell et al. (2016) study, using the "not so simple view of writing" framework. One hundred and three teachers responded to an online questionnaire, which consisted of questions regarding their academic qualifications and their specific teaching practices. The majority of the sample felt prepared and enjoyed teaching writing. However, almost all of the teachers found teaching writing challenging and half of them reported that supporting struggling writers was difficult for them. Overall, teachers reported more work at word level, occurring almost weekly, than at text level. Differences between Grade levels they taught were also evident for specific domains of writing. Recommendations for future research and implications for educational practice are provided. Response to Reviewers: Dear editors, we are submitting our revised paper in the 2-3 points you raised, regarding a phrase in the abstract, the capitalization of G in gade and the inclusion of the small sample size in the limitations. We are looking forward to hearing from you, hoping that the manuscript satisfies you and is suitable now for publication. Thank you once again for all the constructive feedback!!! We do remain at your disposal in case of any further information needed.

In this study we argue that narrative storytelling and expository discussion, as 2 distinct discourse genres, differ both in linguistic expression and in their underlying principles of organization--schema-based in narratives and category-based in exposition. Innovative ...

It is probably fair to say that most teachers and researchers in the field of education know that emergent bilinguals—students who speak a language other than English at home—comprise nearly 10% of the students in US classrooms today (U.S. Department of Education, 2014). As the mobility of people, commerce, and information accelerates around the globe, US classrooms will continue to become increasingly diverse in terms of students’ cultures, languages, and experiences in and outside of school. Even now it is not uncommon to find multiple languages represented in one classroom in which a monolingual English speaking classroom teacher is responsible for the literacy and language development of all learners. While the linguistic diversity of US classrooms increases, so do the demands for all students to meet high level standards (e.g., CCSS, NGSS, C3) across grade levels and content areas. In order for mainstream and content area classroom teachers to meet the needs of linguistically diverse students, they must understand the role written and spoken language plays in learning (Bunch, 2013; Fillmore & Snow, 2000). They need instructional tools and practices with which they can support emergent bilinguals’ reading comprehension and language learning. Rather than adding more to teachers’ plates, a focus on language can inform the instruction that teachers are already providing and support students in making connections across content areas.

This study investigated the comprehension and production of articles, quantifiers, binding relations and passive constructions as later developing constructions (LDCs) by 27 Grade (Gr) 1 monolingual Afrikaans-speaking learners with Afrikaans as language of learning and teaching (LOLT), 31 bilingual isiXhosa-speaking learners with English as LOLT and 31 monolingual isiXhosa-speaking learners with isiXhosa as LOLT in three non-fee-paying schools, each in a different low socio-economic status area, in the Stellenbosch area of the Western Cape Province in South Africa. The overarching aim of this study was to determine which LDCs these learners are capable of comprehending and producing at the start of Gr 1 and what progress they make in terms of these LDCs during their Gr 1 year. The English and isiXhosa LOLT groups were then compared on how they fared on the LDCs in their respective LOLTs in order to ascertain whether the English language proficiency of the English group is at such a level at the start of Gr 1 that they can, without disadvantage, undergo schooling successfully in English. Data were collected on articles, binding relations, quantifiers and passive constructions by using the informal language assessment instrument, the Receptive and Expressive Activities for Language Therapy (Southwood & Van Dulm 2012a), which makes use of picture selection- and pointing tasks for assessment of comprehension and sentence completion, picture description- and question answering tasks for assessment of production. The results showed that for the Afrikaans and English groups all four LDCs are indeed later developing and are only mastered after the end of Gr 1. For the isiXhosa group, quantifiers and passive production are mastered by the end of Gr 1. In terms of the language-in-education and teaching policy, the results show that the time allocated to listening to and producing language in Gr 1 is sufficient for children whose first language is also their LOLT, whereas it is not sufficient in the case of English additional language learners. The latter group made significant progress in all LDCs assessed, but still performed worse than their isiXhosa-speaking peers, for whom there was a match between first language and LOLT. The implication of the results are that (i) the Foundation Phase school curriculum should be refined so as to consider the needs of all Gr 1 learners, as learners enter Gr 1 with different language skills and different levels of preparation for the tasks which lie before them, (ii) teachers should be assisted to foster the development of language skills in additional language learners, and (iii) the institution of a universal Gr R year, which is free to those who cannot afford school fees, should be considered a necessity. Without ensuring that all children enter Gr 1 with an adequate language foundation on which literacy development can build, historical inequalities still present in South Africa will likely be perpetuated rather than systematically removed.

Within an evidentiary framework for operationally defining academic English language proficiency (AELP), linguistic analyses of standards, classroom discourse, and textbooks have led to specifications for assessment of AELP. The test development process described here is novel due to the emphasis on using linguistic profiles to inform the creation of test specifications and guide the writing of draft tasks. In this report, we outline the test development process we have adopted and provide the results of studies designed to turn the drafted tasks into illustrative prototypes (i.e., tried out tasks) of AELP for the 5th grade. The tasks use the reading modality; however, they were drafted to measure the academic language construct and not reading comprehension per se. That is, the tasks isolate specific language features (e.g., vocabulary, grammar, language functions) occurring in different content areas (e.g., mathematics, science and social studies texts). Taken together these features are necessary for reading comprehension in the content areas. Indeed, students will need to control all these features in order to comprehend information presented in their textbooks. By focusing on the individual language features, rather than the subject matter or overall meaning of a text, the AELP tasks are designed to help determine whether a student has sufficient antecedent
knowledge of English language features to be able to comprehend the content of a text.

This book examines the struggles encountered by multilingual scholars pursuing careers within global academia, particularly in Spain and Latin American countries. These writers face the disadvantage of having to read and write in a language other than their own. The traditional model of Anglophone universities under which academics have to «publish or perish» has ensured that English is an indicator of excellence in knowledge construction. Given this linguistic inequality, it is important that scholars from non-Anglophone countries are empowered in their efforts to publish in English in international journals, so that new knowledge can be brought to the fore.
By highlighting the dominant English medium conventions, this book provides such scholars with valuable support in ensuring that their research is publishable. It explores the different ways of structuring languages and illuminates the complexities of writing an academic text in a second language. The central message of the book is that the voices of multilingual scholars can make unique and substantial contributions to the reform, expansion, democratization and enrichment of English-dominated academia.

This study reports on a conceptual model that provides insight into the relationship between English reading proficiency and academic performance of first-year science and mathematics university students in Ghana, and an empirical test of that model. Longitudinal data were acquired from a sample of 133 students. Using three different mediation analyses, the study demonstrated significant medium-sized effects of English reading proficiency on students' grade point average (GPA) by the end of year 1 and a small but significant indirect relationship between reading proficiency and the final GPA scores by the end of year 4, mediated by the GPA scores after year 1. These findings show that the academic English reading proficiency of students in a non-western multilingual academic context is important for their academic achievement. It also found that academic results obtained by students in their first-year at University were a sound predictor for success at the end of their studies. Results from this study confirm the need for universities in multilingual settings to invest in L2 students' English reading proficiency at the start of their academic programs. Instructional recommendations are made, along with suggestions for further study.

Language development requires both basic cognitive mechanisms for learning language and a rich social context from which learning takes off. Disruptions in learning mechanisms, processing abilities, and/or social interactions increase the risks associated with social exclusion or developmental delays. Given the complexity of language processes, a multilevel approach is proposed where both cognitive mechanisms, genetic and environmental factors need to be probed together with their possible interactions. Here we review and discuss such interplay between environment and genetic predispositions in understanding language disorders, with a particular focus on a possible endophenotype, the ability for statistical sequential learning.

This study examined the usage and comprehensibility of loanwords entering Turkish from Western Languages commonly used in media language by readers of major daily newspapers in Turkey. For this study, sixty texts were collected from four different daily newspapers to constitute a corpus. Secondly, with the help of the corpus, a questionnaire was prepared to evaluate comprehensibility of loanwords. This study aimed to investigate to what extend the loanwords that have Turkish equivalence are common in usage among readers and the levels of familiarity of Turkish people with the borrowed words entering from Western Languages. As a result of the study, it was found that there is a significant relationship between the familiarity of the readers with the loanwords and their preferences for use. It was also observed that the Turkish equivalents of some of the loanwords only exist in the dictionary but are not preferred in daily usage.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1994, 65, 1318-1337. We sought to determine what types of linguistic information children represent in their spelling by examining their performance on the flaps of words such as city and lady. In 4 experiments, children often misspelled flaps as d. This d bias was common until at least second grade, with few children showing a bias toward t. We found no evidence that children have an underlying representation of city as containing /t/, for children said such words with /d/ when speaking very slowly. Even kindergartners were more accurate at spelling the flaps of words such as dirty, which have a stem ending with /t/, than the flaps of words such as city. Thus, children use meaning relations among words to aid their spelling before they have formally been taught to do so. The results show that young children are not purely phonetic spellers as they are often portrayed. The results further stuggest that phonology and orthography are closely related systems that interact during development. The words of English or of any other language are traditionally described at several different linguistic levels. These include the morphological, phonemic, and phonetic levels. For example, writing contains two morphemes or units of meaning, the stem write and the suffix ing. The word contains five phonemes, /r/, /ai/, /t/, /I/, and /3/. (See the Appendix for a key to the notation .) Each phoneme has a particular pho-netic realization, or allophone, depending on the surrounding phonemes and on other factors. For instance, /t/ has a different pho-netic form in time, where it is aspirated, or followed by a puff of air, and stop, where it is not aspirated. The phonetic difference is superficial and does not affect meaning; stop pronounced with an aspirated /t/ would sound unusual but would be perceived by a native speaker of English as an instance of stop. Thus, linguists consider both time and stop to contain instances of /t/. As another example, consider the vowels of bad and bat. Bad ends with a voiced stop, meaning that the vocal cords vibrate during the closure ; bat ends with a voiceless stop, meaning that the vocal cords do not vibrate during the closure. The vowel of bad is detectably longer than the vowel of bat. Nonetheless, English speakers classify the two allophones as belonging to the same phonemic category , /he/. The English writing system represents both phonemic and morphological information. The phonemic character of English spelling is evident in the more or less predictable links between phonemes in spoken words and graphemes in printed words. For example, most words that contain /b/ in their spoken form contain b in their printed form. The morphological character of English writing may be seen by comparing helped and cleaned. As pronounced, the first word ends with /t/ and second with /d/. As spelled, both words end with ed. Ed symbolizes the past tense morpheme; the spelling remains constant despite changes in the morpheme's phonemic form. Although the English writing system reflects phonemic and morphological information, it does not code pho-netic details unless they are relevant to