No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Context use in early reading development: Premature exclusion of a source of individual differences?
... Such an interpretation is largely supported by the data. For example, children can typically name substantially more novel and diffi cult words in stories than in lists (Archer & Bryant, 2001;Martin-Chang et al., 2007;Martin-Chang & Levy, 2005;Nation & Snowling, 1998;Nicholson, 1991;Tunmer & Chapman, 1995). Nation and Snowling (1998) argued that contextual facilitation helps students read words that are ambiguous or diffi cult. ...
... For instance, when a word exceeds an individual's decoding skills, seeing it in context may prove benefi cial by reducing the number of words that could fi t into the semantic envelope provided by the text. When the information gleaned from the text is combined with even rudimentary decoding skills, it increases the likelihood of correctly pronouncing the unknown word (Tunmer & Chapman, 1995). As a result, children receive increased exposure to the accurate pronunciation of more words in context. ...
... The past several years have witnessed a dialogue between researchers who view semantic support from reading words in meaningful stories as a positive step towards long-term word recognition (Martin-Chang et al., 2007;Tunmer & Chapman, 1995), and those who view the support from context as a barrier to orthographic processing, and consequently learning (Johnston, 2000;Landi et al., 2006). Yet, underlying both of these arguments is the unspoken assertion that reading words in context activates different cognitive processes than reading words in isolation. ...
Three experiments are reported that investigate the cognitive processes underlying contextual and isolated word reading. In Phase 1, undergraduate participants were exposed to 75 target words under three conditions. The participants generated 25 words from definitions, read 25 words in context and read 25 in isolation. In Phase 2, volunteers completed either an explicit recall task (Experiment 1), an implicit word stem completion task (Experiment 2) or both tasks (Experiment 3). Our findings provide converging evidence that contextual and isolated word reading elicit different patterns of cognitive processing. Specifically, Experiments 1–3 demonstrated that words read in context were remembered similarly to words generated from definitions: words from both conditions were recalled more frequently in the surprise memory task and selected less often to complete the word stems in the implicit memory task. The opposite pattern was noted for words read in isolation. Reading in context is discussed in terms of its greater reliance on semantic processing, whereas isolated word reading is discussed in relation to perceptually driven processes.
... Within the scientiWc arena, there is now little question that phonological skills are essential to the novice reader (Shankweiler & Fowler, 2004). However, a point of contention is whether reading words in context acts to further enhance reading development beyond that achieved by reading words individually (Nation & Snowling, 1998;Share, 1995Share, , 1999Tunmer & Chapman, 1995 or whether context detracts from the analysis of individual words and undermines skilled reading (Johnston, 2000;Landi, Perfetti, Bolger, Dunlap, & Foorman, 2006;Stuart, Masterson, & Dixon, 2000). The purpose of the current set of experiments was to compare the eVects of isolated word training and context training on the acquisition, retention, and transfer of novel printed words. ...
... Currently, the weight of the evidence suggests that children use contextual cues to oVset deWcient word analysis skills (Shankweiler & Fowler, 2004;Stanovich, 1980;Stanovich & Stanovich, 1999). Nonetheless, because reading in context allows children to name substantially more words than does reading in isolation, some researchers have come to view it as a secondary self-teaching mechanism (e.g., Nation & Snowling, 1998;Tunmer & Chapman, 1995. ...
... The proponents of this argument maintain that phonological decoding is the single most inXuential skill in reading. However, they also acknowledge that reading in context can be credited with resolving ambiguities for low-frequency and irregular words (Nation, Angell, & Castles, in press;Nation & Snowling, 1998;Share, 1995Share, , 1999Tunmer & Chapman, 1995. The use of context likely is acting as an aid to compensate for subpar decoding skills (Stanovich, 1980). ...
Successful reading instruction entails not only acquiring new words but also remembering them after training has finished and accessing their word-specific representations when they are encountered in new text. We report two studies demonstrating that acquisition, retention, and transfer of unfamiliar words were affected differentially by isolated word and context training. Materials were individualized to include only those words that average readers in second grade were unable to name in context. Different words were trained in each condition; context training presented words in stories, and isolated word training presented words on flashcards. Together, the studies show that context training promotes word acquisition beyond that experienced from reading words in isolation. Contrary to the prevailing opinion, memory performance for words trained in context and in isolation did not differ; children demonstrated excellent retention over an 8-day interval in both conditions. Finally, transfer was maximized when the congruency between training and testing was high. Therefore, when reading trained words in novel circumstances, the best method of training was mediated by the transfer task employed at test.
... If reading is poor, due to either a lack of skill, experience, or clear data, context increases accuracy by limiting the number of lexical choices that are appropriate given the surrounding syntactic and semantic framework. When this constraining mechanism is combined with even rudimentary phonological knowledge, the result is more proficient reading (Perfetti & Roth, 1981;Stanovich, 1980;Stanovich & Stanovich, 1999;Tunmer & Chapman, 1995, 2002. ...
... Viewed from this standpoint, the dichotomy between teaching children to read in context and in isolation becomes less polarized (Stanovich & Stanovich, 1999). Several prominent researchers have advocated the usefulness of combining context training with code-based strategies in order to improve word recognition in children (e.g., Chall, 1967;Cunningham, Stanovich, & Stanovich, 2004;Tunmer & Chapman, 1995). Indeed the findings from the current investigation provide empirical evidence suggesting that distinctions between reading in, and out, of context is much more subtle than previously argued. ...
Word reading fluency, as indexed by the fast and accurate identification of single words, predicts both general reading ability and reading comprehension. This study compared the effects of context training and isolated word training on subsequent measures of word reading fluency. Good and poor readers were given 12 repetitions of two sets of words; 48 new words were learned in each condition. Words were presented in a story during context training and on a computer screen during isolated word training. Target words were read in isolation at test, randomly displayed within a series containing 72 untrained words. Results show that words trained in isolation are remembered longer and read faster when presented in isolation at test compared to words trained in context. Theoretical implications are discussed in relation to transfer appropriate processing.
... Words in naturalistic text are difficult to predict (Gough, Alford, & Holley-Wilcox, 1981); therefore, when children read authentic texts they seldom rely on guessing from context as their primary strategy for reading (Nation & Snowling, 1998;Tunmer & Chapman, 1995). Still, under certain conditions predicting words from context becomes more likely. ...
The self-teaching hypothesis posits that enduring orthographic and phonological representations are produced when children independently recode print into speech. However, very little research has examined how children self-teach when initial decoding attempts are weak or ineffective. In this within-participant design, 25 students in Grade 2 learned to read 85 different words in 4 conditions. Words were read in and out of context, with and without feedback. Accuracy rates were recorded throughout 5 training sessions (2 word repetitions per session = 10 repetitions in total). A posttest was administered after a 6-day delay by reinstating the training materials. At the end of training, the highest accuracy scores were observed when children read in context/feedback followed by when they read in isolation/feedback, and then in context/no feedback; the lowest accuracy scores were observed when children read in isolation/no feedback. This pattern remained over the retention period, suggesting that external support from feedback, and top-down support from context, can help create word representations in memory. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of whole-word phonology within self-teaching.
... However, as our title implies, we do not think that phonological deficits are the whole story. The development of printed word recognition is also dependent on other factors such as general print exposure (Stanovich & West, 1989;, accurate reading with speech support for decoding errors by person or computer Wise & Olson, 1995), genetically-based individual differences in orthographic skills that are independent from phonological skills in preparation), lexical knowledge (Morton, 1989;Plaut, McClelland, Seidenberg, & Patterson, 1996), the use of context (Tunmer and Chapman, 1995), and speed of lexical access (Bowers & Wolf, 1993;Wolf, this volume). The effects of these factors on the growth of printed word recognition may often be largely independent from what we do for deficits in phonological processing. ...
... However, as our title implies, we do not think that phonological deficits are the whole story. The development of printed word recognition is also dependent on other factors such as general print exposure (Stanovich & West, 1989;, accurate reading with speech support for decoding errors by person or computer Wise & Olson, 1995), genetically-based individual differences in orthographic skills that are independent from phonological skills in preparation), lexical knowledge (Morton, 1989;Plaut, McClelland, Seidenberg, & Patterson, 1996), the use of context (Tunmer and Chapman, 1995), and speed of lexical access (Bowers & Wolf, 1993;Wolf, this volume). The effects of these factors on the growth of printed word recognition may often be largely independent from what we do for deficits in phonological processing. ...
Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by program project and center grants from the NICHD (HD- 11681 and HD-27802), and RO1 HD-22223. The contributions of staff members of the many Colorado school districts that participate in our research, and of the twins and their families, are gratefully acknowledged. We thank Benita Blachman, Brian Byrne, Carsten Elbro, Rebecca Felton, Barbara Forman, Ingvar Lundberg, Tom Nicolson, and David Share for their comments on an earlier draft. Phonological Deficits and Word Recognition,1
... The combined use of phonological skills and context in order to arrive at correct word pronunciations has been conceptualized as a 'self-teaching mechanism' that improves general reading ability (Nation & Snowling, 1998, Share, 1995Tunmer & Chapman, 1995). The unspoken assertion behind this notion is that the contextual facilitation observed on-line is responsible for a lasting change in the way words are processed on future encounters. ...
While fluent reading is recognized as a primary goal of educational instruction, the methods that best promote the development of fluency remain unclear. Two experiments are reported that examined increases in reading fluency of a novel passage following two types of training. In the context training condition, children learned to read a set of target words in a story context, while in the isolated word training condition, fluency with a target word set was gained from a computerized word naming game. Transfer of fluency to reading these words in a new context was then measured by gains in reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension of a novel story. Results indicated that young readers showed speed benefits on transfer stories following both context and isolated word training, but the increases were larger following context training.
The first priority for novice readers is to understand that the letters they see in written language correspond to the sounds they hear in speech. Once children grasp the letter-to-sound pairings afforded to them by the alphabetic principle, they can begin to identify some of the written words that are contained in their spoken vocabularies. At this point, the question becomes whether reading practice should take place in stories (context) or in lists (isolation). Two camps have emerged with opposing views on this topic. On the one hand, investigators have shown increased long-term word recognition when children practice reading words in isolation. In contrast, it has also been suggested that reading words in context can act as a secondary self-teaching mechanism. Proponents of this view argue that the added value of context increases reading ability beyond that achieved by other methods of training. At present, then, the evidence on best training practices (context vs. isolation) is mixed. The studies discussed here begin to unify these two differing perspectives by elucidating the circumstances that mediate the utility of each type of training. In brief, during the five training studies reviewed, context training dominated isolated word training with regards to word acquisition. However, after words were learned, retention over an eight-day interval approached ceiling under both conditions. Finally, fluency transfer (reading words quickly and accurately in new texts or new lists) was maximized when the congruency between training and testing was high; words trained in isolation were read more fluently in novel lists, whereas words trained in context were read more fluently in novel stories. To conclude, the decision of which training method to use cannot be made independently from the task to be done after training has ceased. However, if the goal of instruction is to have students who excel during training, remember what they have learned, and who use their learning to read new texts fluently, the research plainly suggests that training in context is a more fruitful method of instruction than isolated word training.
In the present study the mainfocus is on the impact of phonologicalawareness on reading comprehension. The studyinvolved 1300 children in Grade 1. Syllableawareness, phoneme awareness, word decodingand reading comprehension were each assessedwith two or three subtests. The results wereanalyzed by structural modeling. Due to themarked skewness observed for some of themanifest variables, separate analyses wereperformed for students with average worddecoding performance and for students with poorword decoding. Both among average and poordecoders, phonological awareness had a directimpact on reading comprehension, indicatingthat phonological factors play an independentrole in the processing of text. One possibleway to explain this observation is that atleast two critical factors in comprehension,vocabulary and short-term memory, are bothdetermined in part by phonological ability. Itmight also be the case that phonologicalawareness partly reflects metacognitiveprocesses assumed to be involved in readingcomprehension.
This article presents issues associated with the implementation of a three-tier response to intervention (RTI) approach with English-language learners (ELLs). Instructional and assessment considerations are discussed particularly as they pertain to issues of language and literacy development. Opportunities for collaboration among bilingual education, English as a second language, and general education teachers, and speech-language pathologists are identified. In addition to effective Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions, prerequisites to the success of RTI approaches for ELLs are discussed, including school climate and effective instruction.
Sprugevica, I. & Høien, T. (2004). Relations between enabling skills and reading comprehension: A follow-up study of Latvian students from first to second grade. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 45, 115–122.
In order to examine the relationships among various phonological skills and reading comprehension, Latvian children were followed from grade 1 to grade 2 and were tested with a battery of phonological, word reading, and reading comprehension tasks. A principal component analysis of the phonological tasks revealed three salient factors: a phonemic awareness factor, a rapid naming factor, and a short-term memory factor. In order to analyze the relationship between various phonological skills and reading comprehension, a structural modeling analysis was performed. Phonemic awareness and rapid naming explained approximately the same amount of unique variance in reading comprehension, but phonemic awareness had most predictive power indirectly via word decoding. Only rapid naming had a significant direct impact on reading comprehension.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.