Previous studies have shown that phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, rapid
automatized naming (RAN), and verbal memory span are reliable correlates of learning to
read in English. However, the extent to which these different predictors have the same
relative importance in different languages remains uncertain. In this article, we present
the results from a 10-month longitudinal study that began just before or soon after the
start of formal literacy instruction in four languages (English, Spanish, Slovak, and
Czech). Longitudinal path analyses showed that phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge,
and RAN (but not verbal memory span) measured at the onset of literacy instruction were
reliable predictors, with similar relative importance, of later reading and spelling
skills across the four languages. These data support the suggestion that in all alphabetic
orthographies, phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, and RAN may tap cognitive
processes that are important for learning to read.
Mastering analytical writing involves the proficient use of varied later-acquired grammatical, lexical and discourse forms and functions. Developmental studies have identified specific linguistic features as diagnostic of increasing proficiency. This study examines how these features change throughout educational levels and before and after the implementation of a set of classroom activities aimed at homogenizing participants' pedagogical input while raising their awareness of analytical texts' main functions. Two hundred and twelve Spanish speakers from primary, secondary and university levels participate in the study, each producing two analytical texts. The corpus consists of 424 texts produced on the same topic. Results indicate that not all the features pertaining to the same domain show identical changes across educational levels or are identically sensitive to pedagogical work. Productivity measures increase with educational level and after pedagogical work, except for university students. Most lexical, syntactic and discourse-level measures improve with educational level, though their sensitivity to pedagogical work is not straightforward. Findings suggest the need to evaluate writing quality at a high level of granularity.
RESUMENEl dominio de la escritura analítica requiere un uso avanzado de diversas funciones gramaticales, léxicas y discursivas de adquisición tardía. Los estudios evolutivos han identificado determinados aspectos lingüísticos como indicadores de un dominio creciente. En este estudio se analiza el cambio que experimentan esos aspectos en diferentes niveles educativos y antes y después de la implementación de una serie de actividades en el aula, diseñadas para homogeneizar la exposición pedagógica de los participantes e incrementar sus conocimientos de las características de los textos analíticos. En el estudio participaron 212 estudiantes hispanohablantes de educación primaria, secundaria y educación superior; cada uno de ellos produjo dos textos ARTICLE HISTORY
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