Word skipping during the lexical acquisition process

During reading, most words are identified in the fovea through a direct fixation; however, readers also identify some words in the parafovea without directly fixating them. This word skipping process is influenced by many lexical and visual factors including word length, launch position, frequency, and predictability. Although these factors are well understood, there is some disagreement about the process that leads to word skipping and the degree to which skipped words are processed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the word skipping process when readers are exposed to novel words in an incidental lexical acquisition paradigm. Participants read 18 three-letter novel words (i.e., pru, cho) in three different informative contexts each while their eye movements were monitored. They then completed a surprise test of their orthographic and semantic acquisition and a spelling skill assessment. Mixed-effects models indicated that participants learned spellings and meanings of words at the same rate regardless of the number of times that they were skipped. However, word skipping rates increased across the three exposures and reading times decreased. Results indicate that readers appear to process skipped words to the same degree as fixated words. However, this may be due to a more cautious skipping process used during lexical acquisition of unfamiliar words compared to processing of already known words.

Using crossword puzzles to improve English Level One students’ spelling skill

El artículo titulado Uso de crucigramas para mejorar la habilidad de deletreo de los estudiantes del Nivel Uno de inglés, tiene como objetivo mejorar las habilidades de deletreo mediante la implementación de crucigramas en los estudiantes del Nivel A1 de la Escuela Superior Política de Chimborazo. El diseño de la investigación fue cuasi experimental en el que participaron dos grupos, el de control y el experimental. Para la recopilación de datos, se diseñó y administró un cuestionario de 20 ítems a 60 estudiantes pertenecientes al Centro de Idiomas de la ESPOCH. El instrumento utilizado para recopilar datos de investigación fue el cuestionario. La investigación tuvo un enfoque cualitativo-cuantitativo, mismo que permitió analizar el problema, demostrar la relación entre variables, simplificar y regular los resultados obtenidos de la muestra, así como los grupos estudiados. Adicionalmente, una prueba previa y una prueba posterior fueron aplicadas para medir la efectividad de la implementación de crucigramas en la adquisición de la habilidad de deletreo en inglés y los datos fueron tabulados mediante la aplicación del paquete estadístico SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Las respuestas de los estudiantes al cuestionario mostraron que la actitud hacia la destreza de ortografía y el uso de crucigramas fue extremadamente positiva. Por lo tanto, el estudio concluye que el uso de crucigramas fue una de las formas más efectivas para ayudar a los estudiantes a desarrollar, mejorar y consolidar sus habilidades de ortografía, además de estar motivados para aprender.

Technique of teaching Russian at elementary school in classes with children for whom Russian is not the mother tongue

The article is devoted to issue of teaching Russian to children for whom it is not the mother tongue. Special attention is paid to directions of development of educational process of elementary school in connection with emergence of poly-cultural environment. Working methods, exercises, specific methods of interaction with pupils at lessons at elementary school in classes which include children forwhom Russian is not the mother tongue, are presented. Short description of difficulties and their reasons during the adaptation period for children for whom Russian is not the mother tongue, that influences formation of correct spelling skill, is presented in the article.

Vowel Instruction for Spelling Enhancement of Arabic-speaking Learners of English

Word spellings are often a common linguistic issue among Arabic-speaking learners of English, and English vowels are one of the most difficult to resolve. Therefore, the study presented vowel instruction as an intervention to address this issue by determining its effect on the spelling performance on monosyllables and bi-syllables. Vowel instruction sessions were then offered to 15 university freshman students for two months. Instructional strategies consisted of teaching vowel pronunciation, vowel letter-to-sound relationships, vowel spelling patterns, word-breaking, and providing various spelling opportunities. To measure overall spelling performance, pre-test and post-test on vowel spellings were conducted which revealed a significant increase in the mean scores. This suggests that vowel instruction was facilitative in the improved spelling performance on monosyllabic and bi-syllabic words, with more misspellings in the latter than in the former. The strategies used were generally perceived as beneficial, and it is recommended that including them in language lessons could improve vowel spelling skill and minimize English vowel confusions. Moreover, constant exposure of learners to many English words and more spelling activities are still necessary for better English vowel recognition and whole word spelling.

توظيف المقاطع الصوتية في تعليم الإملاء الوظيفي الهمزة المتوسطة نموذجًا

The purpose of this research is to illustrate the impact of the use of clips in teaching Arabic as a second language in dictation skills, especially the writing of the medium Hamza, which shows that teaching students the audio clips and mastery, and learning the base of the strongest movements in dictation helps them to master the writing of the medium Hamza and facilitates The student must write the medium Hamza and explain the writing in a scientific way, thus addressing the phenomenon of students ' weakness in spelling skills, and raising their language proficiency in the readings of the words. The researcher followed the descriptive analytical approach, between the concept of audio clips, types, how to analyze the word to its vocal passages, correct the word characters, and the application of the strongest movements, the crumb, the bundle, the slot, and what fits the movement, the crumb fits the tone, and the package fits the F The slot fits a thousand, explaining the writing of the medium Hamza according to the spelling rules. The researcher concluded with the following results: The performance of the students in the writing of the medium Hamza, the increase of their spelling, and their ability to explain the writing of the middle Hamza according to a scientific method based on the audio clips, and to address the weakness of students in spelling skill according to a scientific spelling theory.

Word skipping: Effects of word length, predictability, spelling and reading skill

Readers’ eyes often skip over words as they read. Skipping rates are largely determined by word length; short words are skipped more than long words. However, the predictability of a word in context also impacts skipping rates. Rayner, Slattery, Drieghe and Liversedge reported an effect of predictability on word skipping for even long words (10-13 characters) that extend beyond the word identification span. Recent research suggests that better readers and spellers have an enhanced perceptual span. We explored that whether reading and spelling skill interact with word length and predictability to impact word skipping rates in a large sample ( N = 92) of average and poor adult readers. Participants read the items from Rayner et al., while their eye movements were recorded. Spelling skill (zSpell) was assessed using the dictation and recognition tasks developed by Sally Andrews and colleagues. Reading skill (zRead) was assessed from reading speed (words per minute) and comprehension accuracy of three 120 word passages each with 10 comprehension questions. We fit linear mixed models to the target gaze duration data and generalized linear mixed models to the target word skipping data. Target word gaze durations were significantly predicted by zRead, while the skipping likelihoods were significantly predicted by zSpell. Additionally, for gaze durations, zRead significantly interacted with word predictability as better readers relied less on context to support word processing. These effects are discussed in relation to the lexical quality hypothesis and eye movement models of reading.

Difficulties of developing secondary school students’ spelling skills

The paper presents theoretical approaches to secondary school students spelling rule acquisition. It defines the main terms: spelling, skill, spelling skill, spelling activities, spelling task, spelling observation and control skill, dysgraphia, dysorthography. The author describes types of spelling skills developed at school: finding parts of words spelt according to the spelling rules, spelling words according to the rules, graphic marking of difficult spelling, finding and correcting spelling mistakes. The paper reveals conditions and criteria of successful school students spelling skills development: high scientific level of teaching spelling, correlation of spelling skills and speech development, knowledge of spelling rules and the scheme of their application, a thoroughly developed system of exercises to practice the rules. The author focuses on difficulties of using these rules in writing: difficulties of spelling rules acquisition caused by spelling rules variety, poor formedness of cognition, low motivation level, inability to process information and difficulties in applying spelling rules related to spelling task setting and its solution. The author describes mistakes caused by poor spelling rules acquisition such as mistakes in words and their significant parts, mistakes in cursive, separate and hyphenate word spelling, mistakes in capital and small letter usage, mistakes in word break. Differential diagnostics of specific spelling mistakes is presented. The types of dysorthography and their characteristics are defined. The paper lists the principles of Russian spelling the breach of which results in mistakes.