Children's reading development: Identifying underlying mechanisms.

学习阅读是一项极其复杂的认知任务，涉及基本的学习、记忆和语言过程。阅读也是一项非常重要的技能。它支持在校期间的学术学习，并在成年后成功过渡到就业和社会。然而，阅读水平存在巨大的个体差异，许多人成年后仍在努力掌握这项基本技能（经合组织，2016）。我长期资助的nserc研究项目的愿景是，找出让孩子们走上熟练阅读轨道的机制——这样，这些科学知识就可以转化为帮助孩子们获得成年后充分参与社会所需的阅读技能的方法。在这个为期5年的研究项目中，我将确定孩子们如何建立他们所需的庞大而强大的心理词汇库，以便有效地阅读。这些表述需要包括每个单词的发音、拼写和含义。例如，孩子们需要把一个新词的拼写和它的意思联系起来，这样在阅读中才有用。我的研究表明，阅读本身就是孩子们接触新单词的主要途径。平均而言，儿童书籍中每1000个单词中含有约30个生词，远远超过儿童使用的语言。这意味着孩子们可以通过阅读学到很多新单词，无论是别人给他们读还是孩子自己读。对这两种语境（即共享阅读和独立阅读）的研究是分开进行的，这在科学知识上留下了很大的空白。在一系列的研究中，我将确定孩子们在这些不同的语境中对单词的拼写和含义有什么了解。在一项顶点研究中，我将评估儿童对单词的学习如何决定他们学习阅读的进展。这将直接为理论提供依据。阅读发展模型预测了一段时间的进步，需要在纵向设计中进行测试；这些是测试效果方向所需要的。我的团队将进行这项急需的研究，将跨语境和跨时间段的学习联系起来。这将提供数据，以确定早期学习的哪些方面能够使儿童在阅读发展方面取得长足进步，并确定发展熟练阅读的机制。我的研究项目将创造一套完整而全面的知识，在研究孤岛之间架起桥梁。这一系列雄心勃勃的研究成果将通过全面整合儿童跨环境和发育时期的学习，实现突破性的进步。从长远来看，这项研究将通过创造优化教学所需的证据基础，创造令人难以置信的社会价值，从而使所有儿童都能获得他们成年后充分参与社会所需的强大阅读技能。

Learning to read is an incredibly complex cognitive task, drawing on fundamental learning, memory and language processes. Reading is also an incredibly important skill. It supports academic learning in the school years, and successful transition into employment and society in adulthood. And yet, there are vast individual differences in reading levels, with many individuals continuing to struggle with this essential skill as adults (OECD, 2016). My vision for my long-standing NSERC-funded research program is to identify mechanisms that set children on trajectories towards skilled reading-so that this scientific knowledge can be translated into approaches that help children acquire the reading skills they need to fully engage in society as adults.    In this 5-year program of research, I will determine how children set up the large and strong mental word bank they need in order to read efficiently. These representations need to include each word's sound, spelling and meaning. As an example, children need to have the spelling for a new word like awry connected to its meaning for it to be useful in their reading. My research takes on the fact that reading itself is the primary means through which children encounter new words. On average, children's books contain ~30 rare words in every 1000 words, far more than in the language spoken to children. This means that children can learn a lot of new words through reading, both when others read to them and when children read on their own. Research on these two contexts (i.e., shared and independent reading) has occurred separately, leaving large gaps in scientific  knowledge. In a series of studies, I will determine what children learn about the spellings and meanings of words in these different contexts.    In a capstone study, I will evaluate how children's learning of words determines their progress in learning to read. This will directly inform theories. Models of reading development make predictions about progress over time that need to be tested in a longitudinal design; these are needed to test the direction of effects. My team will conduct this much-needed study linking learning across contexts and time periods. This will provide the data to determine which aspects of early learning enable children to make strong strides in reading development, identifying mechanisms that underlie the development of skilled reading.    My research program will create an integrated and comprehensive set of knowledge that will build bridges between islands of research. Findings from this ambitious set of studies will enable ground-breaking advances by fully incorporating children's learning across contexts and developmental periods. In the long-term, this research will create incredible societal value by creating the evidence base needed to optimize instruction, so that all children can achieve the strong reading skills they need to fully participate in society as adults.