Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: a psycholinguistic grain size theory.

The development of reading across languages.

A selective review is presented of empirical evidence from different languages concerning phonological development and reading development in children. It is demonstrated that the development of reading depends on phonological awareness in all languages so far studied. However, because languages vary in syllable structure and in the consistency with which phonology is represented by the orthogr...

Becoming literate in different languages: similar problems, different solutions.

The teaching of reading in different languages should be informed by an effective evidence base. Although most children will eventually become competent, indeed skilled, readers of their languages, the pre-reading (e.g. phonological awareness) and language skills that they bring to school may differ in systematic ways for different language environments. A thorough understanding of potential di...

Second language learning difficulties in Chinese children with dyslexia: what are the reading-related cognitive skills that contribute to English and Chinese word reading?

This study examined the relations between reading-related cognitive skills and word reading development of Chinese children with dyslexia in their Chinese language (L1) and in English (L2). A total of 84 bilingual children-28 with dyslexia, 28 chronological age (CA) controls, and 28 reading-level (RL) controls-participated and were administered measures of word reading, rapid naming, visual-ort...

Acquisition of Semantie Complexities: Extensiue Reading as Psycholinguistic Mediation in 12 Setting

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Phonological sensitivity at different grain sizes is a good predictor of reading acquisition in all languages. However, prior to any explicit tuition in alphabetic knowledge, phonological sensitivity develops at the larger grain sizes—syllables, onsets, and rimes—in all languages so far studied. There are also developmental differences in the grain size of lexical representations and reading st...