Do early talkers become early readers? Linguistic precocity, preschool language, and emergent literacy.

25 children, selected for verbal precocity at 20 mo of age, participated in a longitudinal study investigating predictors of later language and literacy skills. Although children remained verbally precocious, there was a low incidence of precocious reading. Exposure to instruction in letter names and sounds was a significant predictor of children's knowledge of print conventions, invented spelling, and phonological awareness at age 4? yrs. Frequency of story reading in the home and child engagement in a story reading episode at age 24 mo were significant predictors of children's language ability at age 2? yrs and 4? yrs and knowledge of print conventions at age 4? yrs. It is concluded that story reading with parents as well as literacy instruction contributes to the development of emergent literacy in verbally precocious children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Windows on comprehension: Reading comprehension processes as revealed by two think-aloud procedures.

To address methodological questions regarding use of the think-aloud (TA) procedure and theoretical questions regarding the roles of prior knowledge and strategy use in reading comprehension, 24 college students each read 3 passages in 3 different presentation modes (marked TA, unmarked TA, and control) and answered essay comprehension questions. There was no effect of presentation mode on essay scores. TA comments were coded into 4 categories, 2 of which were significantly correlated with comprehension scores for marked but not unmarked passages. The authors conclude that the marked procedure elicited more veridical protocols. A second coding and analysis of the marked protocols showed that students who scored high on the comprehension test were more likely to have made many TA comments reflecting a "knowledge-transforming" approach to the text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)