Journal of experimental child psychology
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J Exp Child Psychol · Jun 2002
Emergent literacy skills and training time uniquely predict variability in responses to phonemic awareness training in disadvantaged kindergartners.
The factors that predicted variability in responses to phonemic awareness training were investigated in kindergartners who live in poverty. Treatment children (n=42) received both analytic and synthetic phonemic awareness computer-assisted instruction, while controls (n=34) received no special training. Mean age of participants was approximately 5 years 7 months. ⋯ Spelling skills emerged as the best consistent predictor of variability in phonemic awareness in response to instruction. We propose that relations between phonemic awareness and spelling skills are bidirectional: Spelling influenced growth in phonemic awareness and phonemic awareness contributed to growth in spelling skills. The amount of exposure that children had to the treatment intervention contributed uniquely to individual differences in posttest levels of phonemic awareness and spelling.
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J Exp Child Psychol · May 2002
CommentIt doesn't matter whether onset and rime predicts reading better than phoneme awareness does or vice versa.
Hulme et al. argue against our hypothesis that there are two routes from onset and rime awareness to reading: an indirect route whereby onset-rime awareness feeds into the development of phoneme awareness which in turn affects children's reading, and a direct route by which onset-rime awareness makes an independent contribution to children's reading. The evidence that Hulme et al. present against this hypothesis is not convincing, partly because our hypothesis actually predicts most of their results and partly because of weaknesses in the design of Hulme et al.'s study and in the unusual procedures that they employed.
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J Exp Child Psychol · Jun 2001
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialUnderstanding children's activity memory: the role of outcomes.
In three experiments the effectiveness of activity outcomes as memory cues was investigated. In the first experiment, 5-year-olds participated in four activities. In two of these activities, action results were maintained during the unfolding of the activity and perceptually preserved in the activity's end product. ⋯ In a third experiment, 5- and 7-year-olds participated in activities of the two types. Within each, picture supports were provided to investigate whether the perceptual availability of action results during encoding influences memory. Results are discussed with respect to an activity memory framework and implications for science education.
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J Exp Child Psychol · Jun 2001
Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialReality monitoring of performed and imagined interactive events: developmental and contextual effects.
Age differences in reality monitoring of interactive events were examined among 4-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds, and adults. Participants engaged in some interactions and imagined others. Afterward, they were asked to determine whether each action was performed, imagined, or new. ⋯ Object use during the activity increased the discrimination of imagined actions, especially after the delay. Similarity among actions had no effect. Implications for child eyewitness testimony are discussed.
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In four experiments, we used item recall tasks to investigate recent claims that young children's event recall can be facilitated by drawing. In Experiments 1 to 3, children of ages 5 to 8 years were tested 4 h after presentation for recall of a set of 25 items that had been presented in groups on a colored, segmented board. ⋯ In Experiment 4, drawing again impaired recall of items that had been presented as paired associates. Overall, results indicate that under some conditions drawing can impair children's recall rather than facilitate it, as reported in several recent studies.