The Effects of an On-line Reading Intervention on the Development of English Decoding Skills among Moroccan Adult Struggling Readers

Noureddine Atouf; Meriem Harrizi

doi:10.34301/alsc.v5i2.36

Authors

Noureddine Atouf PhD Candidate, English Department, FLSH Ben M’sik (Hassan II University), Moroccan American Studies Laboratory, Casablanca, Casa-Settat, Morocco
Meriem Harrizi English Department, FLSH Ben M’sik (Hassan II University), Moroccan American Studies Laboratory, Casablanca, Casa-Settat, Morocco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34301/alsc.v5i2.36

Keywords:

Decoding, Intervention program, orthographic knowledge, phonological processing, word identification

Abstract

The present study examines the role of an intensive phonics-based online reading program in developing decoding skills among a group of low-intermediate adult learners. All the participants taking part in this experiment are defined as low-level, or struggling, readers. A lexical-decision task is administered to a total of twenty-four students divided into two main groups: treatment and control groups. The administration of the computer-based test is twofold and is done over two main phases: pre- and post-intervention. The online reading intervention, which is tailored to cover English orthographic knowledge and sound processing of high and low frequency words, is exclusively designed for the experimental group for four weeks. The intervention group demonstrates a significant improvement in spelling skills, reading speed and phoneme awareness. The results, on the one hand, suggest the importance of L2 print exposure which fosters phonological processing skills. On the other hand, the findings show that word identification processes operate at a pre-lexical access stage and are rudimentary to recognize and activate a lexical item.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abu-Rabia, S. & Bluestein-Danon, D. (2012). A Study into the Results of an Intervention Program of Linguistic Skills in English (L2) and Its Effect on Hebrew (L1) among Poor Readers: An Examination of the Cognitive-Retroactive Transfer (CRT) Hypothesis. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 2, 131-139. doi: 10.4236/ojml.2012.24017.

Abu-Rabia S. & Shakkour W. (2014). Cognitive retroactive transfer (crt) of language skills among trilingual arabic-hebrew and english learners. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics 1–20. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2014.41001

Breznitz Z. (2013). Fluency in reading : synchronization of processes. Routledge.

Berninger V. W. Abbott R. D. Abbott S. P. Graham S. & Richards T. (n.d.). Writing and reading: connections between language by hand and language by eye. Journal of Learning Disabilities 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221940203500104.

Burt J. S. & Tate H. (2002). Does a reading lexicon provide orthographic representations for spelling? Journal of Memory and Language 20020401.

Burt J. S. (2006). What is orthographic processing skill and how does it relate to word identification in reading? Journal of Research in Reading 400–417.

Caravolas Markéta Hulme C. & Snowling M. J. (n.d.). The foundations of spelling ability: evidence from a 3-year longitudinal study. Journal of Memory and Language 751–774. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.2000.2785

Chiappe P. Siegel L. S. & Wade-Woolley L. (2002). Linguistic diversity and the development of reading skills: a longitudinal study. Scientific Studies of Reading 369–400.

Coltheart M. Besner D. Jonasson J. T. & Davelaar E. (1979). Phonological encoding in the lexical decision task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 489–507. https://doi.org/10.1080/14640747908400741.

Ehri L. C. (2000). Learning to read and learning to spell: two sides of a coin. Topics in Language Disorders 19–36.

Fatemi A. H. Vahedi V. S. & Seyyedrezaie Z. S. (n.d.). The effects of top-down/bottom-up processing and field-dependent/field-independent cognitive style on iranian efl learners’ reading comprehension. Theory and Practice in Language Studies 686–693. https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.4.4.686-693.

Fender M. (n.d.). English word recognition and word integration skills of native arabic- and japanese-speaking learners of english as a second language. Applied Psycholinguistics 289–315. https://doi.org/10.1017/S014271640300016X.

Fender M. (n.d.). Spelling knowledge and reading development: insights from arab esl learners. Reading in a Foreign Language 19–42.

Forster K. I. & Forster J. C. (2003). Dmdx: a windows display program with millisecond accuracy. Behavior Research Methods Instruments & Computers 116–124. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195503.

Goswami U. (2000). Phonological representations reading development and dyslexia: towards a cross-linguistic theoretical framework. Dyslexia 133–151.

Grabe W. (2009). Reading in a second language : moving from theory to practice. Cambridge University Press.

Han F. (2015). Word recognition research in foreign language reading : a systematic review. University of Sydney Papers in Tesol 57–91.

Hale J. B. Fuchs D. Helland T. Tjus T. Hovden M. Ofte S. & Heimann M. (2011). Effects of bottom-up and top-down intervention principles in emergent literacy in children at risk of developmental dyslexia: a longitudinal study. Journal of Learning Disabilities 105–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219410391188.

Holmes V. M. (2009). Bottom-up processing and reading comprehension in experienced adult readers. Journal of Research in Reading 309–326.

Houlis K. Hogben J. H. Visser T. Ohan J. L. Anderson M. & Heath S. M. (2019). “zooming in” on orthographic knowledge to clarify the relationship between rapid automatised naming (ran) and word reading. Learning and Individual Differences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2019.101756.

Hulme C. Snowling M. Caravolas M. & Carroll J. (2005). Phonological skills are (probably) one cause of success in learning to read: a comment on castles and coltheart. Scientific Studies of Reading 351–365.

Jiang X. (2017). Lower-level processing skills in english-as-a-second-language reading comprehension: possible influence of first language orthography. Studies in English Language Teaching 448–448. https://doi.org/10.22158/selt.v5n3p448.

Jiang X. (2018). English spelling knowledge and word reading skills of arabic and japanese esl learners. Studies in English Language Teaching 186–186.

Knight C. S. Adult basic skills professional development project Appalachian State University & North Carolina Community College System. (2004). Inspire a life of reading : lesson plans to engage adult beginning readers. Appalachian State University ; North Carolina Community College System.

Koda K. & Reddy P. (n.d.). Cross-linguistic transfer in second language reading. Language Teaching 497–508. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444808005211.

Lesaux N. K. & Siegel L. S. (2003). The development of reading in children who speak english as a second language. Developmental Psychology 1005–1019.

Liu F. (2010). Reading abilities and strategies: a short introduction. International Education Studies 153–157.

Martin K. I. (2017). The impact of l1 writing system on esl knowledge of vowel and consonant spellings. Reading and Writing : An Interdisciplinary Journal 279–298.

Martinez D. Georgiou G. K. Inoue T. Falcón A. & Parrila R. (2021). How does rapid automatized naming influence orthographic knowledge? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105064.

Mulder E. van de Ven M. Segers E. Krepel A. de Bree E. H. van der Maas H. de Jong P. F. Verhoeven L. Engelse taalkunde & Leerstoel L. (n.d.). Serious game-based word-to-text integration intervention effects in english as a second language. Contemporary Educational Psychology.

Nassaji H. (2003). Higher-level and lower-level text processing skills in advanced esl reading comprehension. The Modern Language Journal 261–276.

Nassaji H. & GEVA E. (n.d.). The contribution of phonological and orthographic processing skills to adult eslreading: evidence from native speakers of farsi. Applied Psycholinguistics 241–267. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716499002040.

Nassaji H. (2011). Issues in second-language reading: implications for acquisition and instruction. Reading Research Quarterly 173–184.

Nassaji H. (n.d.). The role and importance of lower-level processes in second language reading. Language Teaching 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444813000396.

Netten A. Droop M. & Verhoeven L. (2011). Predictors of reading literacy for first and second language learners. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 413–425.

Perfetti C. A. & Hart L. (2001). In The lexical basis of comprehension skill. essay Gorfein David S. https://doi.org/10.1037/10459-004

Perfetti C. (2007). Reading ability: lexical quality to comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading 357–383.

Russak S. & Saiegh-haddad E. (n.d.). Phonological awareness in hebrew (l1) and english (l2) in normal and disabled readers. Reading and Writing 427–442.

Shemesh R. Waller S. & Ur P. (2011). Teaching english spelling : a practical guide (9th print). Cambridge University Press.

Suraprajit P. (n.d.). Bottom-up vs top-down model: the perception of reading strategies among thai university students. Journal of Language Teaching and Research 454–460. https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1003.07.

Torgesen J. K. Wagner R. K. & Rashotte C. A. (1999). Towre test of word reading efficiency : examiner’s manual. PRO-ED.

Van Orden G. C. & Kloos H. (2008). The science of reading: a handbook. In The question of phonology and reading (pp. 61-Blackwell Publishing Ltd : Oxford UK). essay Snowling Margaret J. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470757642.ch4.

Weiser B. & Mathes P. (2011). Using encoding instruction to improve the reading and spelling performances of elementary students at risk for literacy difficulties: a best-evidence synthesis. Review of Educational Research 170–200.

Yamashita J. (2013). Word recognition subcomponents and passage level reading in a foreign language. Reading in a Foreign Language 52–71.

Zhang L. Hong T. Li Y. Wang J. Zhang Y. & Shu H. (2021). Differences and similarities in the contributions of phonological awareness orthographic knowledge and semantic competence to reading fluency in chinese school-age children with and without hearing loss. Frontiers in Psychology 649375–649375.

Ziegler J. C. & Goswami U. (2005). Reading acquisition developmental dyslexia and skilled reading across languages: a psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin 3–29.