Reply to the ministries' reactions to the Canadian Psychological Association's position paper on beginning reading instruction.

Reactions to the position paper (M. L. Simner; see record 1994-03519-001) approved by the Canadian Psychological Association on beginning reading instruction were received from 8 ministries (departments) of education. Despite widespread media and public support for the Association's claim that the level of phonics instruction in whole language is insufficient to meet the needs of many beginning readers, the majority of the ministries took issue with this claim. The present article clarifies the Association's stand by drawing attention to the differences between the phonics exercises that research shows should be employed in beginning reading instruction and the phonics exercises that teachers are being encouraged to employ as a result of the ministries' endorsement of whole language. Four additional measures are provided that the Association now asks the ministries to adopt to avoid having more children suffer the consequences of improper beginning reading instruction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partial support from a nonreplication: Comment on Roma, Silberberg, Ruggiero, and Suomi (2006).

A purported replication by P. G. Roma, A. Silberberg, A. M. Ruggiero, and S. J. Suomi (see record 2006-03207-008) of the authors' previous study (see record 2003-08401-002) claims to contradict their finding that capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) refuse to exchange with an experimenter if their partner receives a superior reward. Roma et al. used no exchange task, however, or any other task. Roma et al. offered frustration as explanation of their findings, yet failed to statistically prove that the effect of frustration is stronger than that of inequity. They also misrepresented the dependent measure of the authors' study. Reanalysis of the authors' own data indicated no role of frustration, that is, no effect of previous experience with a superior reward. The authors conclude that Roma et al.'s study is not a replication and does not disprove the authors' findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy of supplemental phonics-based instruction for low-skilled kindergarteners in the context of language minority status and classroom phonics instruction.

This study tested the efficacy of supplemental phonics instruction for 84 low-skilled language minority (LM) kindergarteners and 64 non-LM kindergarteners at 10 urban public schools. Paraeducators were trained to provide the 18-week (January–May) intervention. Students performing in the bottom half of their classroom language group (LM and non-LM) were randomly assigned either to individual supplemental instruction (treatment) or to classroom instruction only (control). Irrespective of their language status, treatment students (n = 67) significantly outperformed controls (n = 81) at posttest in alphabetics, word reading, spelling, passage reading fluency, and comprehension (average treatment d = 0.83); nevertheless, LM students tended to have lower posttest performance than non-LM students (average LM d = ?0.30) and were significantly less responsive to treatment on word reading. When we examined the contribution of classroom phonics time to student outcomes, we found that the treatment effect on spelling was greater for students in lower phonics classrooms, whereas the treatment effect on comprehension was greater for those in higher phonics classrooms. Finally, when we examined LM students alone, we found that pretest English receptive vocabulary positively predicted most posttests and interacted with treatment only on phonological awareness. In general, pretest vocabulary did not moderate kindergarten LM treatment response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On inequity aversion in nonhuman primates.

P. G. Roma, A. Silberberg, A. M. Ruggiero, and S. J. Suomi (see record 2006-03207-008) noted that the results S. F. Brosnan and F. B. M. de Waal (see record 2003-08401-002) attributed to inequity aversion could also be explained as a frustration effect. Roma et al. redressed this confound by designing a procedure that could have supported either of these interpretations. Nevertheless, they found that only a frustration effect accounted for both their data and those of Brosnan and de Waal (2003). The criticisms Brosnan and de Waal (2006) offered of Roma et al. ignored the fact that Brosnan and de Waal's (2003) research design was not capable of offering an unequivocal demonstration of inequity aversion. This conclusion holds no matter what the claimed inadequacies of Roma et al.'s procedures might have been. Caution is urged in inferring the existence of inequity aversion in nonhuman primates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's first reading lesson: Variables influencing within-lesson emotional behavior and postlesson achievement.

Hypothesized that variables related to reading achievement are also related to emotions during reading instruction. Test variables selected were skill in word analysis and synthesis (WASS) and reading instruction approach (phonics—blending required vs whole word—nonblending). Ss were 20 5-yr-old prereaders, and the reading materials were from the Ball–Stick–Bird system. Ss were also administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Lessons were videotaped, and the Ss' emotions were rated along the dimensions of hyperactive/distractible, hostile/aggressive, and anxious/fearful. Results show that Ss' WASS was related to hostile/aggressive behaviors, and reading instruction approach was related to hyperactive/distractible behaviors. The interaction of WASS and reading instruction approach reveal that the 2 kinds of reading training are differentially effective for different children. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The role of instruction in learning to read: Preventing reading failure in at-risk children": Erratum.

Reports errors in the original article by B. R. Foorman et al (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1998, Vol 90[1], 37–55). On page 39, Table 1 incorrectly lists the curriculum of the second-grade classroom in School 3 as IC-R; the correct curriculum of the second-grade classroom in School 3 is EC. Table 1 incorrectly indicates 3 classrooms in School 4; there are 4 classrooms in School 4. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1998-00166-004.) First and 2nd graders (N?=?285) receiving Title 1 services received 1 of 3 kinds of classroom reading programs: direct instruction in letter–sound correspondences practiced in decodable text (direct code); less direct instruction in systematic sound–spelling patterns embedded in connected text (embedded code); and implicit instruction in the alphabetic code while reading connected text (implicit code). Children receiving direct code instruction improved in word reading at a faster rate and had higher word-recognition skills than those receiving implicit code instruction. Effects of instructional group on word recognition skills were moderated by initial levels of phonological processing and were most apparent in children with poorer initial phonological processing skills. Group differences in.... (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the importance of letter pairs in reading-parafoveal processing is not the only view: Reply to Inhoff, Radach, Eiter, and Skelly (2003).

D. Briihl and A. W. Inhoff (1995; see record 1995-20036-001) found that exterior letter pairs showed no privileged status in reading when letter pairs were presented as parafoveal primes. However, T. R. Jordan, S. M. Thomas, G. R. Patching, and K. C. Scott-Brown (2003; see record 2003-07955-013) used a paradigm that (a) allowed letter pairs to exert influence at any point in the reading process, (b) overcame problems with the stimulus manipulations used by Briihl and Inhoff (1995), and (c) revealed a privileged status for exterior letter pairs in reading. A. W. Inhoff, R. Radach, B. M. Eiter, and M. Skelly (2003; see record 2003-07955-014) made a number of claims about the Jordan, Thomas, et al. study, most of which focus on parafoveal processing. This article addresses these claims and points out that although studies that use parafoveal previews provide an important contribution, other techniques and paradigms are required to reveal the full role of letter pairs in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching phonics in the context of children's literature or spelling: Influences on first-grade reading, spelling, and writing and fifth-grade comprehension.

First-grade children's reading, writing, and spelling competencies in 2 different instructional contexts for teaching phonics were examined. Reading, writing, and spelling abilities were measured at the beginning, middle, and end of 1st grade. Children were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments designed to teach grapheme-phoneme correspondences, blending, and segmenting. In 1 treatment, children generated spellings for words, and in the other treatment, phonics instruction was embedded in literature. The spelling treatment was significantly better for spelling phonetically regular real and pseudowords, reading phonetically regular pseudowords, and written story length. It was also more beneficial for low-ability children's reading of connected text. There were no treatment effects on reading uncontrolled words in text. At the end of 5th grade, spelling-context children had significantly higher comprehension than did literature-context children. Discussion focuses on phonological processing while spelling and the effects of the instructional press of context-embedded and context-reduced instructional approaches in 1st grade. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Development of Reading in Children Who Speak English as a Second Language.

Patterns of reading development were examined in native English-speaking (L1) children and children who spoke English as a second language (ESL). Participants were 978 (790 L1 speakers and 188 ESL speakers) Grade 2 children involved in a longitudinal study that began in kindergarten. In kindergarten and Grade 2, participants completed standardized and experimental measures including reading, spelling, phonological processing, and memory. All children received phonological awareness instruction in kindergarten and phonics instruction in Grade 1. By the end of Grade 2, the ESL speakers' reading skills were comparable to those of L1 speakers, and ESL speakers even outperformed L1 speakers on several measures. The findings demonstrate that a model of early identification and intervention for children at risk is beneficial for ESL speakers and also suggest that the effects of bilingualism on the acquisition of early reading skills are not negative and may be positive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automaticity of word recognition under phonics and whole-word instruction.

38 undergraduates learned to read words spelled with novel letters under phonics or whole-word conditions. Training was carried through several overlearning trials, and vocalization latency of word recognition responses was measured. On initial overlearning trials, vocalizations of phonics Ss were faster than those of whole-word Ss. At no stage of overlearning were whole-word Ss faster than phonics Ss. Vocalization latencies declined as overlearning progressed at approximately equal rates for phonics and whole-word Ss but did not reach fully automated speeds. Correlations of vocalization latencies from overlearning trials and a baseline task indicated that whole-word instruction resulted in word recognition mechanisms similar to fully automated mechanisms but that phonics instruction did not. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exterior letters are not privileged in the early stage of visual word recognition during reading: Comment on Jordan, Thomas, Patching and Scott-Brown (2003).

Potential sources for the discrepancy between the letter position effects in T. R. Jordan, S. M. Thomas, G. R. Patching, and K. C. Scott-Brown's (2003; see record 2003-07955-013) and D. Briihl and A. W. Inhoff s (1995; see record 1995-20036-001) studies are examined. The authors conclude that the lack of control over where useful information is acquired during reading in Jordan et al.'s study, rather than differences in the orthographic consistency and the availability of word shape information, account for the discrepant effect pattern in the 2 studies. The processing of a word during reading begins before it is fixated, when beginning letters occupy a particularly favorable parafoveal location that is independent of word length. Knowledge of parafoveal word length cannot be used to selectively process exterior letters during the initial phase of visual word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The structure of client language and drinking outcomes in project match.

Client language during Motivational Interviewing interventions is an important predictor of drinking outcomes, but there are inconsistencies in the literature regarding what aspects of client language are most predictive. We characterized the structure of client language by factor analyzing frequency counts of several categories of client speech. The results provide limited support for a model proposed by Miller et al. (2006) and Amrhein et al. (2003) but with some important differences. While Amrhein et al. (2003) found that only increasing strength in client commitment language predicted behavior change, the current study revealed that client language preparatory to commitment predicted drinking outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bolstering Science and Practice Through Graphism.

Responds to comments by M. Ahmed and C. M. Boisvert (see record 2003-08988-015) and H. Friedman (see record 2003-08988-016) on the article by L. D. Smith et al (see record 2002-18352-001) regarding the role of graphs and tables in hard and soft psychology. Smith et al respond to the challenges of the aforementioned comments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonological typicality does not influence fixation durations in normal reading.

Using a word-by-word self-paced reading paradigm, T. A. Farmer, M. H. Christiansen, and P. Monaghan (2006) reported faster reading times for words that are phonologically typical for their syntactic category (i.e., noun or verb) than for words that are phonologically atypical. This result has been taken to suggest that language users are sensitive to subtle relationships between sound and syntactic function and that they make rapid use of this information in comprehension. The present article reports attempts to replicate this result using both eyetracking during normal reading (Experiment 1) and word-by-word self-paced reading (Experiment 2). No hint of a phonological typicality effect emerged on any reading-time measure in Experiment 1, nor did Experiment 2 replicate Farmer et al.’s finding from self-paced reading. Indeed, the differences between condition means were not consistently in the predicted direction, as phonologically atypical verbs were read more quickly than phonologically typical verbs, on most measures. Implications for research on visual word recognition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The etiology of dissociative identity disorder: Reply to Gee, Allen and Powell (2003).

Responds to a comment by T. Gee et al (see record 2003-04125-019) about the authors' original article (see record 1999-03012-003) which studied how clinicians treating dissociative identity disorder (DID) were or were not gathering and utilizing corroborative data. Results of this study show that many of the symptoms associated with DID were displayed by patients before entering therapy or prior to diagnosis. Gee et al argue that these results do not refute the sociocognitive model (a modified iatrogenesis model) of DID, but actually support it. The present authors maintain that their data did clearly contradict the iatrogenesis position. It is asserted that Gee et al's comment illustrates many important flaws of the iatrogenic DID argument, primarily that it is unscientific by virtue of being nondisconfirmable, and that it can only be maintained by adhering to false assumptions about DID and by misinterpreting data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reexamining psychokinesis: Comment on B?sch, Steinkamp, and Boller (2006).

H. B?sch, F. Steinkamp, and E. Boller's (see record 2006-08436-001) review of the evidence for psychokinesis confirms many of the authors' earlier findings. The authors agree with B?sch et al. that existing studies provide statistical evidence for psychokinesis, that the evidence is generally of high methodological quality, and that effect sizes are distributed heterogeneously. B?sch et al. postulated the heterogeneity is attributable to selective reporting and thus that psychokinesis is "not proven." However, B?sch et al. assumed that effect size is entirely independent of sample size. For these experiments, this assumption is incorrect; it also guarantees heterogeneity. The authors maintain that selective reporting is an implausible explanation for the observed data and hence that these studies provide evidence for a genuine psychokinetic effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in poor readers' knowledge of cognition and the association of knowledge of cognition with regulation of cognition and reading comprehension.

Recent studies have shown that instruction can improve metacognition, yet the relationship between instruction, metacognition, and reading performance remains unclear. In this study, data from one instructional study (G. G. Duffy et al; see record 1988-02857-001) were reanalyzed to identify (1) changes in one element of poor readers' metacognition, knowledge of cognition, over an academic year and (2) the extent to which these changes are associated with strategy use and comprehension. 20 3rd-grade classrooms (10 treatment, 10 treated-control) participated. Treatment was intended to improve Ss' awareness of how reading strategies aid comprehension. Results indicated that Ss' knowledge of cognition increased only moderately over the school year. However, this knowledge was strongly associated with strategy use and comprehension performance, suggesting that small improvements in knowledge of cognition contribute to a variety of reading abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women in academe: Is the glass completely full?

Replies to comments published by M. J. Harris (see record 2003-03406-011) and A. Bleske-Rechek and R. M. Webb (see record 2003-03406-012) in reference to the original article by M. E. Kite et al (see record 2001-10045-002), which summarized the findings and recommendations of the Task Force on the Status of Women in Academe. Here Kite et al reply in detail to the published comments. Four primary issues are addressed: equity in compensation, the question of special treatment, the importance of continuing to transform the academy, and the need for continued vigilance and monitoring to ensure that advances in gender equity do not prove to be just a passing phase. Kite et al emphasize both the importance of continuing to transform the academy and the need for continued vigilance on issues of gender equity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpreting the magnitudes of correlation coefficients.

Discusses empirical guidelines for interpreting the magnitude of correlation coefficients, a key index of effect size, in psychological studies. The author uses the work of J. Cohen (see record 1987-98267-000), in which operational definitions were offered for interpreting correlation coefficients, and examines two meta-analytic reviews (G. J. Meyer et al., see record 2001-00159-003; and M. W. Lipsey et al., see record 1994-18340-001) to arrive at the empirical guidelines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A clarification.

Claims that M. Rokeach and S. J. Ball-Rokeach (see record 1989-25677-001) noted an isolated trend in their research data on the ranking of equality in national samples and pulled 1 supporting indicator from research on changes in White racial attitudes (H. Schuman et al, 1985) without examining the larger body of evidence. Trend data and incomparable data sets contradict Rokeach and Ball-Rokeach's conclusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)