Springer Series in Language and Communication 17 Editor: W.1.M. Levelt
Springer Series in Language and Communication Editor: W. J.M. Levelt Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Volume 4 Volume 5 Volume 6 Volume 7 Volume 8 Volume 9 Volume 10 Volume 11 Volume 12 Volume 13 Volume 14 Volume 15 Developing Grammars By W. Klein and N. Dittmar The Child's Conception of Language 2nd Printing Editors: A. Sinclair, R. J. Jarvella, and W. J. M. Levelt The Logic of Language Development in Early Childhood By M. Miller Inferring from Language By L. O. M. Noordman Retrieval from Semantic Memory By W. Noordman-Vonk Semantics from Different Points of View Editors: R. Bauerle, u. Egli, A. von Stech ow Lectures on Language Performance by Ch. E. Osgood Speech Act Classification By Th. Ballmer and W. Brennenstuhl The Development of Metalinguistic Abilities in Children By D. T. Hakes Modelling Language Behavior By R. Narasimhan Language in Primates: Perspectives and Implications Editors: 1. de Luce and H. T. Wilder Concept Development and the Development of Word Meaning Editors: Th. B. Seiler and W. Wannenmacher The Sun is Feminine A Study on Language Acquisition in Bilingual Children By T. Taeschner Prosody: Models and Measurements Editors: A. Cutler and R. D. Ladd Language Awareness in Children By D. L. Herriman (continued after Index)
Language Awareness and Learning to Read Edited by John Downing and Renate Valtin Springer-Verlag New York Berlin Heidelberg Tokyo
John Downing Department of Psychological Foundations in Education University of Victoria Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 2Y2 Canada Renate Valtin Central Institute for Education Science and Curriculum Development Freie Universitiit 1000 Berlin 33 Federal Republic of Germany Series Editor Professor Dr. Willem J. Levelt Max-Planck-Projektgruppe fiir Psycholinguistik Berg en Dalseweg 79, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Language awareness and learning to read. (Springer series in language and communication; 17) Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Reading-Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Children-language-Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Downing, John A. II. Valtin, Renate. III. Series: Springer series in language and communication; v. 17. LBI050.22.L36 1984 372.4 83-12464 With 13 Figures 1984 by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1984 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010, U.S.A. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc., in this publication, even if the fonner are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone. Typeset by Publishers Service, Bozeman, Montana. 9 8 7 6 5 432 1 ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-8250-8 e-isbn-13: 978-1-4613-8248-5 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4613-8248-5
Preface During the 1970s there was a rapid increase in interest in metacognition and metalinguistics. The impetus came from linguistics, psychology, and psycholinguistics. But with rather unusual rapidity the work from these scientific disciplines was taken over in education. This new direction in these various areas of academic study was taken simultaneously by several different investigators. Although they had varying emphases, their work sometimes appears to be overlapping; despite this, it has been rather difficult to find a consensus. This is reflected in the varying terminology used by these independent investigators "linguistic awareness," "metacognition," "metalinguistic ability," "task awareness," "lexical awareness," and so on. For educators these developments presented a glittering array of new ideas that promised to throw light on children's thinking processes in learning how to read. Many reading researchers and graduate students have perceived this as a new frontier for the development of theory and research. However, the variety of independent theoretical approaches and their accompanying terminologies has been somewhat confusing. The aim of this book is to bring together in an integrative manner some of the chief authors in this field. We have attempted to get these authors to react to one another as well as to present their own theoretical position. Our book is designed especially for university and college teachers and their graduate students in language development, especially reading. We had in mind that the book should have special value for graduate-level seminars where the aim is to sharpen critical thinking on theory. Our stance is multidisciplinary and this book should be a useful basis for discussion in psychology and linguistics, as well as in education. Hopefully, this integration of these varying theoretical positions on the central issue of language awareness and its relation to learning to read will lead to a clarification of the problem and release new energy for its investigation. Victoria, Canada Berlin, FRG JOHN DOWNING RENATE VALTIN
Contents CHAPTER 1 Introduction... 1 John Downing and Renate Valtin CHAPTER 2 Reading, Linguistic Awareness, and Language Acquisition........................................ 9 Ignatius G. Mattingly CHAPTER 3 Task Awareness in the Development of Reading Skill............................................. 27 John Downing CHAPTER 4 Students' Perceptions of Reading: Insights from Research and Pedagogical bnpiications...................... 57 Jerry L. Johns CHAPTER 5 Children's Thinking About Language and Their Acquisition of Literacy................................. 79 Anne Sinclair and Ioanna Berthoud-Papandropoulou CHAPTER 6 Cognitive Development and Units of Print in Early Reading........................................... 93 Alan J. Watson CHAPTER 7 How Orthography Alters Spoken Language Competencies in Children Learning to Read and Spell............ 119 Linnea C. Ehri
viii Contents CHAPTER 8 Learning to Attend to Sentence Structure: Links between Metalinguistic Development and Reading............... 149 Ellen Bouchard Ryan and George W. Ledger CHAPTER 9 Theory and Practice in Learning to Read............. 173 Douglas Pidgeon CHAPTER 10 Learning to Read and Skilled Reading: Multiple Systems Interacting Within and Between the Reader and the Text... 193 Harry Singer CHAPTER 11 The Development of Metalinguistic Abnities in Children Learning to Read and Write........................ 207 Renate Valtin CHAPTER 12 Awareness of Features and Functions of Language.......................................... 227 Renate Valtin References........................................... 261 Author Index......................................... 291 Subject Index......................................... 299
Contributors Ioanna Berthoud-Papandropoulou, University of Geneva, F.P.S.E., Geneva, Switzerland John Downing, Department of Psychological Foundations in Education, University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., V8W 2Y2, Canada Linnea C. Ehri, Department of Education, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, U.S.A. Jerry L. Johns, College of Education, Northern illinois University, De Kalb, IL, 60115, U.S.A. George W. Ledger, Department of Psychology, Hollins College, Hollins, VA, 24020, U.S.A. Ignatius G. Mattingly, Department of Linguistics, University of Connecticut; and the Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CN, 06510, U.S.A. Douglas Pidgeon, 80 Dorling Drive, Ewell, Surrey KT 17 3BH, England Ellen Bouchard Ryan, Department of Psychiatry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario LBS 4KJ, Canada Anne Sinclair, University of Geneva, F.P.S.E., Geneva, Switzerland Harry Singer, Department of Education, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92502, U.S.A. Renate Valtin, Department of Education, Freie Universitat, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany Alan J. Watson, Sidney College of Advanced Education, St. George Institute of Education, Oatley 2223, Australia