Chapter 12: Development of reading

Question 1

What is the main question posed for the learning of reading and mathematics?

Answer 1

How much of children’s learning depends on instruction and how much do they learn for themselves without formal help from others?

Question 2

What are cultural tools according to Vygotsky?

Answer 2

Any tools that help us calculate, produce models, make predictions and understand the world more fully

e.g. calculaters, computers

Question 3

What is the difference between Vygotsky’s and Piaget’s view on children’s intellectual development?

Answer 3

Vygotsky: instruction is important in children’s intellectual development

Piaget: individual experiences through which learning occurs

Question 4

What is orthography?

Answer 4

The writing system, used to describe any aspect of print and spelling

Question 5

What is the alphabetic script?

Answer 5

Writing system in which written symbols correspond to spoken sounds.

Individual phonemes represent the letters of an alphabetic script in Western cultures.

Question 6

What is syllabary?

Answer 6

The name of a language where the written signs are syllables (Japanese)

Question 7

What is a syllable?

Answer 7

Smallest unit of a word, forms a rhythmic break when spoken

Question 8

What is a mora?

Answer 8

A rhythmic unit in languages like Japanese. It’s like a syllable

In English a mora is a consonant vowel syllable with a short vowel (the)

Question 9

How does a language work when it doesn’t have an alphabet?

Answer 9

Chinese: each character is a morpheme

Japanese: each character is a morpheme + syllabary

Question 10

In which country are there more syllables? In Japan or England? Why do you think that?

Answer 10

More syllables in England

To cover the many syllables, we have an alphabet. If English language had an syllabary, it would simply be to much to study

Question 11

Why is it hard for children to learn how to write?

Answer 11

Phonemic awareness: It’s weird that phonemes have a written representation. There are also a bit more phonemes than there are letters.

Question 12

What are phonological skills?

Answer 12

The ability to detect individual sounds in words

Question 13

What are the 7 steps of learning how to read?

Answer 13

1. Learning alphabet
2. Learning the sounds of alphabet letters
3. Phonemic awareness
4. Decoding words (read words)
5. Expand vocabulary
6. Fluency (read smoothly)
7. Comprehension

Question 14

What is the difference between rhyme and rime?

Answer 14

Rime = vowel sound of a syllable plus any consonants that follow
–> Rime of hat = at

Rhyme = words rhyme when they share a rime
–> Hat and cat (c and h are the onset)

Question 15

What is a letter-sound association?

Answer 15

One letter represents one sound or phoneme

Question 16

What are conditional spelling rules? Give an example

Answer 16

Rules which determine that a letter or group of letters represent one sound in one context and another sound in a different context

Hoping vs. hopping (O shortens)

Question 17

What are pseudo-words? How is it implemented in education?

Answer 17

A non-existent but pronouncable word (e.g. slosbon)

Children who have trouble with the silent e (e.g. hope) practice with pseudowords

Question 18

What are morpho-phonemic scripts?

Answer 18

Orthographies in which there are regular relationships between letters or groups of letters and morphemes as well as sounds

Question 19

What are derivational morphemes?

Answer 19

New words that are derived from existing words (affixes = samenvoeging)

E.g. health –> health (suffix th is added)

Question 20

What are inflectional morphemes?

Answer 20

Affixes (samenvoegingen) whose presence and whose absence provide essential information about words

E.g. the ‘s’ in trees tells you it’s plural

Question 21

What is the genetive?

Answer 21

A possessive word, in English a + ‘s

E.g. Jane’s dress

Question 22

Why are there more children with dyslexia in England than in Italy?

Answer 22

There is a lack of orthographic transparency in English –> different pronunciation of i in pin or pint

Question 23

What is the underlying 3 step sequence of over-generalizations?

Answer 23

1. Children start spelling a particular sound in one way only (list)
2. Children learn another way of spelling, they use it without understanding (lised)
3. They get feedback when they use this new spelling and then learn the rule

Important = use new spelling before they understand the rule