The Effect on Environmental Variation on Language and Reading Development

发展阅读和处理复杂口语的能力对于学业成功至关重要。 然而，许多人的阅读和口语能力较低，因此可能无法满足 我们复杂社会的挑战。现有文献表明阅读的增长和后来的阅读 语言可能会受到早期语言和预阅读技能以及家庭环境的影响。确实，它有 有人建议，儿童之间的早期差距在整个学年中将继续存在甚至扩大（“ 马太效应”）。然而，这个问题仍有待系统探讨，因为学校研究 缺乏与早期经验相关的成就。我们最近进行了一次纵向 对 14 至 58 个月大的不同儿童样本的语言发展进行研究。我们建议研究这些 学龄以上的儿童。拟议的研究在检查语言发展方面是独一无二的 以及来自不同背景的儿童的阅读，他们的早期语言和预阅读技能已经 进行了详细检查。 目标 1. 我们建议通过在更长时间内评估儿童的语言来扩展我们对语言发展的研究 语言成长时期，检查他们的叙事技巧以及词汇和复杂语法。我们会 探索从 14 个月到 10 年的发展模式。第一个五年研究的数据显示 相当大的个体差异，与护理人员的投入有很大关系。在下一个资助期内，我们 将检查学龄期口语水平的个体差异，探索可能的 增长率的不连续性，反映了例如阅读理解能力的增长。结果 拟议的研究应为何时以及如何干预的决策提供更合理的基础 提高人民的语言技能。 目标 2. 我们建议检查早期语言、预读技能和家庭环境的情况 涉及学校学习。学前生长指标将用作预测指标，使我们能够区分 在某一时间点得分相似但成长模式不同的儿童。这很重要 因为不同的输入历史可能对以后的学习有不同的影响。结果措施包括 阅读和口语。这些数据将使我们能够系统地检查之间是否存在差异 儿童在学年中的数量会增加，如果儿童在上学时技能更好，这是可以预期的 入学在学校学习更多。或者，由于表现较好的孩子比其他孩子表现出更大的成长 夏季表现比表现较差的孩子要好，仅这个夏季的差异就可以解释马太效应。在 为了查明儿童之间差异的根源，我们分别考察了学校的成长情况 年和夏天。对个体差异预测因子的研究应该有助于我们的理解 克服早期不良环境影响的方法。

Development of the ability to read and to process complex spoken language is critical for academic success. Yet many individuals have low reading and oral language skills and thus may be poorly equipped to meet the challenges of our complex society. The existing literature suggests that the growth of reading and later language may be affected by early language and pre-reading skills, and by home environments. Indeed, it has been suggested that early disparities among children will remain or even increase over the school years ("The Matthew Effect"). However, the issue remains to be systematically explored, since studies of school achievement in relation to early experience have been lacking. We have recently carried out a longitudinal study of language growth in a diverse sample of children from 14 to 58 months. We propose to study these children over the school-age years. The proposed research is unique in its examination of language growth and reading in children from a wide variety of backgrounds whose early language and pre-reading skills have been examined in detail. Aim 1. We propose to extend our study of language growth by evaluating children's language over a longer period of language growth, examining their narrative skills as well as vocabulary and complex syntax. We will explore the patterns of development from 14 months until 10 years. Data from the first five year study showed sizeable individual differences and a substantial relation to caregiver input. In the next period of the grant, we will examine individual differences in oral language levels in the school-age years, exploring possible discontinuities in growth rates, reflecting, for example, growth of reading comprehension. The results of the proposed study should provide a more reasoned basis for decisions as to when and how to intervene to increase language skills of the population. Aim 2. We propose to examine how early language, pre-reading skills, and home environments are implicated in school learning. Preschool growth measures will be used as predictors, allowing us to distinguish among children with similar scores at one time point, but different patterns of growth. This is important because different input histories may have different implications for later learning. Outcome measures involve both reading and oral language. The data will allow us to systematically examine if discrepancies among children increase over the school years, as might be expected if children with better skills at the time of school entry learn more at school. Alternatively, since higher-performing children show greater growth over the summer than lower-performing children, this summer difference alone could explain the Matthew Effect. In order to pinpoint the sources of differences among children, we examine growth separately over the school year and summer. Investigation of predictors of individual differences should contribute to our understanding of ways to overcome the effects of poor early environments.