CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF COGNITION AND READING

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The purpose of this research is to use a unique set of naturally ocurring contexts to study the nature of literacy acquisition and literacy retention during childhood and early adolescence. Within these two broad categories, several specific issues will be explored: (1) pedagogy and reading acquisition; (2) the relationship between cognitive and reading variables; (3) the role of metacognitive behavior systems on reading; (4) individual differences (e.g. gender, language, occupation and (5) the influences of context, home and family variables on literacy. Experimental data will be collected over a 3 year period on approximately 700 children (half boys, half girls) ranging in age from 8 to 15 years. Half of these children have already participated in a previous project in which their pre-schooling experience was considered as a factor in the development of cognitive and reading skills. This half of the sample will constitute a longitudinal continuation of the previous project, focusing particularly on aspects of reading comprehension. The other half of the sample will be part of a study of how literacy is retained or maintained under varing conditions of practice. This study will consist of a short-term, longitudinal comparison of 12-year-old children who either stay in public school, or leave to engage in other occupations. Those children of this latter sample who remain in school will also serve as an additional sample linkage in the longitudinal study of literacy acquisition mentioned earlier. This cross-cultural project provides an unusual opportunity to separate the effects of different societal and pedagogical factors on the acquisition of reading and cognitive skills. In addition, the project proposed one of the first systematic studies of what happens to literacy skills in individuals who have had only a modest (5th grade) education, and then engage in non-school occupations, with low levels of literacy practice.