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Dyslexia, also known as reading disorder, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, "sounding out" words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads. Often these difficulties are first noticed at school. When someone who previously could read loses their ability, it is known as alexia. The difficulties are involuntary and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn. People with dyslexia have higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental language disorders, and difficulties with numbers.
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, humans in literate societies have sets of practices for producing and consuming writing, and they also have beliefs about these practices. Reading, in this view, is always reading something for some purpose; writing is always writing something for someone for some particular ends. Beliefs about reading and writing and its value for society and for the individual always influence the ways literacy is taught, learned, and practiced over the lifespan.
Phonics is a method for teaching people how to read and write an alphabetic language. It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language (phonemes), and the letters or groups of letters (graphemes) or syllables of the written language. In English, this is also known as the alphabetic principle or the Alphabetic code.
A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language.
Numeracy is the ability to understand, reason with, and to apply simple numerical concepts. Basic numeracy skills consist of comprehending fundamental arithmetical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For example, if one can understand simple mathematical equations such as 2 + 2 = 4, then one would be considered to possess at least basic numeric knowledge. Substantial aspects of numeracy also include number sense, operation sense, computation, measurement, geometry, probability and statistics. A numerically literate person can manage and respond to the mathematical demands of life.
Phonological awareness is an individual's awareness of the phonological structure, or sound structure, of words. Phonological awareness is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has, therefore, been the focus of much research.
Synthetic phonics, also known as blended phonics or inductive phonics, is a method of teaching English reading which first teaches the letter sounds and then builds up to blending these sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of whole words.
The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), established in 1930, is an independent educational research organisation based in Camberwell, Victoria (Melbourne) and with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Dubai, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London, New Delhi, Perth and Sydney. ACER develops and manages a range of testing and assessment services and conducts research and analysis in the education sector.
Fluency is the property of a person or of a system that delivers information quickly and with expertise.
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
Catherine Alexandra McBride,, is Choh-Ming Li Professor of developmental psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong specializing in the acquisition of early literacy skills. She received her BA in psychology from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. She received her MA in 1992 and PhD in 1994 from the University of Southern California, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. She has written two books (namely, Children's Literacy Development and Coping with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and ADHD: A Global Perspective and co-edited three others. She is currently the Past-President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading.
Metalinguistic awareness, also known as metalinguistic ability, refers to the ability to consciously reflect on the nature of language. The concept of metalinguistic awareness is helpful in explaining the execution and transfer of linguistic knowledge across languages. Metalinguistics expresses itself in ways such as:
Brian Vincent Street was a professor of language education at King's College London and visiting professor at the Graduate School of Education in University of Pennsylvania. During his career, he mainly worked on literacy in both theoretical and applied perspectives, and is perhaps best known for his book Literacy in Theory and Practice (1984).
Graph literacy is the ability to understand information that presented graphically, which are including general knowledge about how to extract information and make inferences from different graphical formats. Although related, graph literacy is distinct from other forms of literacy in the sense that it relates more specifically to one's ability to obtain meaning from information presented graphically. It can include the storage of mental representations in long-term memory, knowledge about the properties of different types of formats, and procedures to interpret them. However, similar to other types of literacy, higher graph literacy is associated with higher education levels and suggests that developing the skills required to interpret graphical information requires knowledge that is acquired through formal education and experience.
Anne Castles is a cognitive scientist of reading and language, with a particular focus on reading development and developmental dyslexia.
Linnea Carlson Ehri, Ph.D. is an American educational psychologist and expert on the development of reading. She is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Ehri is known for her theory of orthographic mapping, which describes the process of forming "letter-sound connections to bond the spellings, pronunciations, and meanings of specific words in memory" that underlies fluent reading. As a consequence of orthographic mapping, written words are tightly linked with their pronunciations and meanings in memory and can be recognized by sight.
Ram Frost is a Professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with affiliations to Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, USA, and The Basque Center for Cognition Brain and Language (BCBL) in San Sebastian, Spain. He is a world leading expert on cross-linguistic differences in reading. His research on reading in Hebrew has changed the prevalent anglocentric theoretical perspectives of reading research, and has changed the educational system of Israel and its methods of teaching reading.
Kate Nation is an experimental psychologist and expert on language and literacy development in school age children. She is Professor of Experimental Psychology and Fellow of St. John's College of the University of Oxford, where she directs the ReadOxford project and the Language and Cognitive Development Research Group.
David Barton is a British linguist. He is currently an honorary professor at the Department of Linguistics and English Language of Lancaster University, United Kingdom. His research focuses on applied linguistics with a special focus on literacy, and academic writing. Barton's research also concentrates on the qualitative methodology such as ethnography in applied linguistics.
Musical literacy is the reading, writing, and playing of music, as well an understanding of cultural practice and historical and social contexts.
References
- 1 2 Danks, Katherine (7 April 2012). "Why Twins are the Same...but Different". The Daily Telegraph . p. 36.
- ↑ University of New England (UNE) (31 August 2011). "Staff: Professor Brian Byrne". University of New England. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
- ↑ University of New England (UNE) (9 April 2010). "UNE News and Events: Chancellor welcomes new Vice-Chancellor to UNE Graduation". University of New England. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
- ↑ Jordan, Matthew (2004). A Spirit of True Learning: The Jubilee History of the University of New England. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. p. 128. ISBN 9780868406633. OCLC 224191137.
- ↑ "Seeing Doubles for a Good Read". The Australian . 10 October 2001. p. 29.
- ↑ "Genes Only Part of Key to Reading". The Australian . 16 January 2008. p. 21.
- ↑ University of New England (UNE) (9 March 2012). "UNE News and Events: Twins' test scores to reveal factors influencing literacy, numeracy". University of New England. Retrieved 14 January 2013.