unit 10

Question 1

when using eye tracking techniques to study reading,
what is meant by a “saccade”?

Answer 1

discrete movements/jumps that our eyes make from one point to another when reading

Question 2

what is meant by a “fixation”?

Answer 2

brief pauses during which the eye takes in information

Question 3

during what phase does the eye take in information?

Answer 3

during the fixation period

Question 4

what is a regressive saccade? why might a regressive saccade occur?

Answer 4

regressive saccade: occurs when the eyes move backward to a previous word or section of text
- it might occur if a reader:
a. encounters difficulty understanding the text
b. misinterprets the meaning of a word or phrase
c. needs to confirm or clarify earlier content

Question 5

what is a typical perceptual span when reading English? is it symmetrical or asymmetrical?

Answer 5

approximately 3 characters left & 15 characters right of fixation point. it is asymmetrical because English is read from left to right.

Question 6

when reading, our eyes skip more words. Approximately what percent of words are skipped?

Answer 6

30%

Question 7

what kinds of words are most likely to be skipped?

Answer 7

• short, unimportant words
• high frequency (common) words
• highly constrained words

Question 8

what is meant by “orthography”?

Answer 8

orthography: physical structure of words (written)

Question 9

Both the direct access view and the indirect access view of reading attempt to explain how we get from a written word(s) (orthography) to the meaning of that word(s) (semantics).

how are the direct access view and the indirect access view different?

Answer 9

direct access view: orthography –> meaning
indirect access view: orthography –> phonology –> meaning

Question 10

explain direct access view.

Answer 10

suggest that readers recognize the written form of a word (orthography) and directly access its meaning (semantics) without sounding it out

Question 11

explain indirect access view.

Answer 11

proposes that readers convert the written form into a phonological (sound) representation before accessing meaning

Question 12

what is some evidence that word meanings can be accessed indirectly (via phonology)?

Answer 12

ex: rose (target) vs. rows (homophone) vs. robs (visual control)
- meat vs. meet vs. melt
homophone errors: readers may mistakenly select words that sound similar but are spelled differently (read vs reed)
phonological priming: words with similar sounds (beet vs beat) can facilitate word recognition in certain tasks

Question 13

what is the dual route view?

Answer 13

dual route view: combines both the direct and indirect access view. suggests some words are processed directly from orthography to semantics, and other words are processed indirectly through phonology before accessing meaning.

Question 14

what are phonemes?

Answer 14

the smallest units of speech sound that are recognized as different in a particular language and change the meaning of a spoken signal

Question 15

what are morphemes?

Answer 15

smallest units of language that carry meaning ex: tree, walk
free morphemes: can stand alone
bound morphemes: must accompany a free morpheme

Question 16

what are graphemes?

Answer 16

minimal meaningful units in the writing system of a particular language
- it is usually a letter or fixed combination of letters corresponding to a phoneme in that language

Question 17

what’s the difference between phonemes, morphemes, and graphemes?

Answer 17

phonemes are the smallest units of sound in a language, morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language, and graphemes are written symbols that represent phonemes

Question 18

how are phonemes and graphemes related?

Answer 18

each phoneme is represented by a corresponding grapheme. graphemes are the written representation of phonemes

Question 19

what 3 methods of teaching reading were discussed in class?

Answer 19

1. whole-word approach
2. whole-language approach
3. phonics

Question 20

describe whole-word approach.

Answer 20

rote (repetition) learning of words, train to recognize words as a whole

Question 21

describe whole-language approach.

Answer 21

extension of whole-word approach, engaging materials, encourages to guess, no correcting

Question 22

describe phonics.

Answer 22

learning correspondence between component letters and their sounds, able to sound out new words

Question 23

which method of teaching reading has been demonstrated to be best?

Answer 23

PHONICS