Reading difficulties that primary children face when learning english as a second language

النوع : Mémoire

The general aim of the present thesis is to analyze variations in the word-decoding skills of reading of disabled children and to relate these differences to possible cognitive, developmental, and to some extent, environmental cases of reading disabilities. Increasing knowledge concerning varieties of reading disability could have implications for educational interventions for different groups of reading-disabled children. The present study examines the relationship between the visual and auditory priming for words, as well as orthographic and phonological word decoding skills in reading-disabled children. These children were selected in contrast with grade 4 controls of the same classes. In the present study the reading habits of the children were examined by a questionnaire. A total of 108 subjects participated in this study. The parents of the children had signed a letter of consent allowing their children to participate. The following groups could be selected: the reading disabled (RD) children (n=53) and grade 4 control group (n=55). Many tests were used as materials and tools for the study to collect data on: 1) reading ability, 2) orthographic and phonological word decoding, 3) the explicit test of retention, 4) phonological awareness, 5) the implicit test of retention, 6) listening comprehension, 7) verbal fluency, and 8) print exposure. Results of the study show the following: the reading-disabled children were poor readers compared to Grade 4 control group at the beginning of the procedure, but they were approximately matched at the end of the procedure. However, when print exposure data were then examined based on the questionnaire, a statistically significant difference between the two groups (the reading-disabled group and the Grade 4 control group) was found on the question: Approximately how many books are there in your home? The median values were “more than 200 books” for the Grade 4 control group, and the median was “50-100 books” for the reading-disabled children. Thus, multiple comparisons using the mean ranks revealed that the reading-disabled children reported statistically significantly fewer books at home than the Grade 4 control group. Also, there were statistically significant differences between the groups on the question: How often do you get homework assignments in reading? No statistically significant main effects for group were found on the questions on how often the children read books for fun, how often they read cartoons, how often they read weekly magazines, how often they read newspapers, or how often they read compared to their friends.