Dissertation: Alphabetic transfer in English and Spanish

在Cecile McKee博士的指导下，Patrick Bolger先生将为他的论文进行关于正字法知识的心理语言学研究。当书写系统共享字母时，如英语和西班牙语，第二语言读者可能会认为两种语言的字素和音素之间也存在类似的关系。但这些关系并不完全相同，因此可能会阻碍读写能力的发展。这项研究涉及知识从一种书写系统到另一种书写系统的转移。字母检测实验将用英语和西班牙语与成人和儿童一起解决这些问题。受试者将看到一个字母，然后判断它是否出现在一个单词中。目标单词前面有不同的启动词。例如，spend中的E在WRECK中是由一个字形引语，在FIELD中是由一个有向图引语，而不是由BLOCK引语。关键的比较是由一个或两个字母表示的元音，这是区分西班牙语和英语正字法的现象。成人和儿童科目包括说英语的人学习西班牙语和说西班牙语的人学习英语，以及只说英语和只说西班牙语的人（在亚利桑那州和阿根廷）。如果有向图是英语的阅读单位，那么英语单语者在WRECK条件下应该表现出启动效应，而在FIELD条件下则没有。英语水平较低的西班牙语使用者应该在两种情况下都表现出启动效应。当他们变得更加熟练时，FIELD条件下的启动效应就会消失。换句话说，说西班牙语的人应该对单个字母素和有向图之间的区别不敏感。该项目直接涉及上述科学问题，间接涉及教育挑战。理解字母转换是至关重要的，因为在这个国家，越来越多的孩子以第二语言学习者的身份开始上学。根据美国人口普查局（2000年）的数据，从1990年到2000年，西班牙语家庭的人数增加了62%。2000年人口普查报告说，超过700万说西班牙语的人不会说英语或说得很差。考虑到所有语言，那次人口普查发现，有1200万人“语言孤立”（即，在14岁以上的家庭中，没有人能说“很好”的英语）。这个数字比1990年大得多。这项研究将为双语者的阅读教学提供信息，从而使少数群体受益。此外，调查人员将把研究结果带给亚利桑那州和阿根廷的家长、教育工作者和与学校有关的管理人员。

Under the direction of Dr. Cecile McKee, Mr. Patrick Bolger will conduct psycholinguistic research for his dissertation concerning orthographic knowledge. When writing systems share letters, as English and Spanish do, a second language reader might think similar relations hold between graphemes and phonemes in both languages. But these relations are not identical and so may hinder literacy development. This research concerns the transfer of knowledge from one writing system to another. Letter-detection experiments will address these issues with adults and children in English and Spanish. Subjects will see a letter and then decide if it appears in a word. Different primes precede the target words. For example, the E in SPENT is primed by a single grapheme in WRECK, by a digraph in FIELD, and not primed by BLOCK. The key comparison is a vowel represented by one or two letters, a phenomenon that distinguishes Spanish and English orthography. Adult and child subjects include English-speakers learning Spanish and Spanish-speakers learning English, as well as monolingual English-speakers and monolingual Spanish-speakers (in Arizona and Argentina). If digraphs are reading units in English, English monolinguals should show priming effects in the WRECK condition but not in the FIELD condition. Spanish-speakers at lower English proficiency levels should show priming in both conditions in English. As they become more proficient, priming effects in the FIELD condition should disappear. In other words, Spanish-speakers should be insensitive to the difference between a single grapheme and a digraph.This project bears directly on the scientific questions noted above and indirectly on education challenges. Understanding alphabetic transfer is crucial because ever more children start school in this country as second language learners. According to the US Census Bureau (2000), the number of people in Spanish-speaking homes increased 62% from 1990 to 2000. The 2000 Census reports that over 7 million Spanish-speakers speak no English or speak it poorly. Considering all languages, that census found that 12 million people are "linguistically isolated" (i.e., in households where no one over 14 speaks English "very well"). This number is significantly greater than in 1990. This research will inform reading instruction for bilinguals and so benefit minority groups. Further, the investigators will bring the research results to parent, educators, and administrators associated with schools in both Arizona and Argentina.