heories of what is involved in learning to read English must take into account that the English language is morphophonemic. The spelling system is based on both representations of sounds (phonemes) and units of meaning (morphemes). In recent years, researchers have contributed much to our understanding of the role of phonemic awareness in the development of word-reading skill. Although studies have shown that morphological awareness is also related to word reading (e.g., role of morphology in learning to read is not well understood. Verhoeven and Perfetti (2003) stated, ZWEI STUDIEN wurden entworfen, um die Rolle morphemischer Strukturen beim Wörterlesen der Schüler zu untersuchen. Die erste Untersuchung befragte, ob die in Worten bereits bekannten Morpheme das Lesen von Wörtern für Schüler der Grundstufen erleichtern. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, daß die Unterstufen-und höherstufigen Grundschüler die Wörter mit zwei Morphemen (abgeleitete Wörter mit einem Basiswort und einer Endung, wie shady bzw.schattig) schneller lesen als Wörter mit nur einem Morphem (z.B. lady bzw. Dame). Die zweite Studie war darauf ausgerichtet, die Auswirkungen phonologischer Transparenz bei Mittel-und Oberschülern im Lesen von abgeleiteten Wörtern zu untersuchen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, daß phonologisch transparente Wörter, Worte in denen die Basisform innerhalb der Aussprache des abgeleiteten Wortes intakt bleibt (z.B. classic in classical), schneller erkannt und gelesen wurden als abgeleitete Wörter mit geringerer phonologischer Transparenz (z.B. colonial), unter Hinweis auf einen Aspekt morphemischer Struktur, welcher das Lesen von abgeleiteten Wörtern beeinflußt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß das Lesen von abgeleiteten Wörtern nicht ausschließlich aufgrund deren Vertrautheit von Buchstaben-Lautassoziationen oder Silben erreicht wird; Morpheme spielen ebenfalls eine Rolle. Die Resultate schließen auf die Bedeutung der Hervorhebung morphemischer Strukturen in Anwendungsmodellen des Lesens von Wörtern. Untersuchung der Rolle von Morphemen beim Lesen von Wörtern ABSTRACTS 430ON A réalisé deux études pour étudier le rôle de la structure morphémique sur la lecture de mots des élèves. La première étude s'est demandée si la présence de morphèmes familiers dans des mots facilite la lecture de ces mots par des élèves d'école primaire. Les résultats montrent que les élèves des grandes et des petites classes d'école primaire lisent les mots comportant deux morphèmes (mots dérivés comportant un mot de base et un suffixe, tel que shady) plus vite que des mots n'ayant qu'un seul morphème (par exemple, lady). La seconde étude a été réalisée pour étudier les effets de la transparence phonologique sur la lecture de mots dérivés par des élèves de collège et de lycée. Les résultats ont montré que les mots transparents phonologiquement, mots dans lesquels la forme de base est la même lors de la prononciation du mot dérivé (par exemple, classic dans classical) sont reconnus et lus plus vite que des mots dérivés qui sont moins transparents phonologiquement (par e...

The purpose of this study was to document the degree of overestimation of academic skills among students with learning disabilities (LD) and to evaluate the role of reference group and metacognitive awareness in such overestimation. High school students with (n = 52) and without (n = 49) LD in Grades 9 through 12 completed a self-concept scale and a survey requiring them to rate their own academic skills in 17 specific skill areas. Students were further asked to predict their performance on two academic tasks prior to actually performing the tasks. The students' mothers or fathers, their English teachers or academic advisors, and (in the case of the students with LD) their special education case managers also completed the skill rating inventory and predicted student performance on the two tests. Despite reporting significantly lower academic self-concepts, students with LD overestimated their academic skills relative to the ratings of others and to their actual test performance. Such overestimation was less pronounced among the students without LD. All participants reported using similar reference groups in making their judgments. Analyses of item-by-item accuracy judgments from the two tests revealed evidence of group differences in metacognitive awareness that may be related to the overestimation. These findings have implications for realistic goal setting and effective self-advocacy.

Over the past 20 years, an increasing number of psychologists and educators have used the notion of scaffolding as a metaphor for the process by which adults (and more knowledgeable peers) guide children's learning and development. The purpose of the present article is to provide a critical analysis of the scaffolding metaphor, with particular emphasis on its applications to the case of atypical learners. In the initial sections of the article, the origins and early applications of the metaphor are sketched. With this as background, criticisms of the metaphor raised by others are reviewed, and a proposal for an enriched version of the metaphor is presented. At the heart of the proposed revision is an emphasis on the communicational dynamics and conceptual reorganization involved in adult-child interactions. With an enriched metaphor as a frame, the next section reviews applications of the scaffolding metaphor to the study of parent-child interactions and teacher-student instructional activities involving children with learning disabilities. The strengths and limitations of this work are evaluated, and proposals are made for how to reap further benefits from applications of the scaffolding metaphor to analyses of the development and instruction of children with learning disabilities.

Three groups of children were exposed to instances of a novel morpheme under controlled experimental conditions. The performance of 32 children with specific language impairment (SLI), aged 5:0 to 7:0 years (years:months), was compared to that of 24 normally developing children matched for age and nonverbal ability and 20 younger normally developing children matched for language development and nonverbal ability. The children were taught under two instructional conditions that differed only in whether the child was asked to imitate the new language form after each instance imitation) or just to observe its use (modeling). Consistent with past research (Connell, 1987b), the children with SLI performed significantly better under the imitation condition than under modeling, but the age-matched controls showed no difference in response to instruction. The performance of the language-matched controls was similar to that of the age-matched controls, suggesting that the instruction-specific effect for the children with SLI is not merely a function of general language immaturity. Although the superiority of the imitation condition for the children with SLI was evident for test trials requiring production of the new morpheme (as in past research), no such effect was evident for comprehension trials. This differing effect of output demands suggests that the SLI-specific response to instruction is not a matter of different mastery of the new rule but rather is specific to the need to access the newly induced rule on production trials. The accessing of phonological representations as a possible explanation for the effect is discussed.

To explore possible reasons for low self-identification rates among undergraduates with learning disabilities (LD), we asked students (38 with LD, 100 without LD) attending two large, public, research-intensive universities to respond to a questionnaire designed to assess stereotypes about individuals with LD and conceptions of ability. Responses were coded into six categories of stereotypes about LD (low intelligence, compensation possible, process deficit, nonspecific insurmountable condition, working the system, and other), and into three categories of conceptions of intelligence (entity, incremental, neither). Consistent with past findings, the most frequent metastereotype reported by individuals in both groups related to generally low ability. In addition, students with LD were more likely to espouse views of intelligence as a fixed trait. As a whole, the study's findings have implications for our understanding of factors that influence self-identification and self-advocacy at the postsecondary level.