Using Language Production as a Learning Intervention

这个项目测试了一种新的方法来提高阅读能力差的读者，包括那些阅读困难的人，并改善第二语言学习。第二语言学习需要大量的时间来学习个人先前经验中没有发生过的材料。虽然这对于外语学习来说是显而易见的，但对于学习阅读来说却不那么明显，但也是如此。书面语和口语在词汇和句子结构上都有很大的不同，所以成为一名流利的读者需要大量的阅读经验来学习书面语和口语的不同之处。因为贫穷的读者不会从事这种广泛的实践，他们会远远落后于拥有更高技能的同龄人。目前在阅读和第二语言学习方面的教学方法都是不充分的，对这两个领域的干预符合国家利益。识字率低在美国人口中普遍存在，与低就业率、糟糕的健康状况、有限的社会参与度和较高的监禁率有关。该项目将记忆和学习研究结合在一起，调查在语言学习过程中如何以及为什么在学习语言的过程中，不仅能获得更好的口语技能，还能比更传统的以阅读和听力为重点的课程产生更好的书面和口语理解。这些研究严格比较了通过说和听来学习第二语言的方法，包括学习方法是否会影响学生的注意力、练习和学习的动机。这些研究还考察了说话与短期记忆或工作记忆之间的联系，工作记忆是一种在脑海中短期记忆信息的能力。工作记忆能力被认为是长期学习的重要组成部分，包括母语或外语词汇学习。同样的方法将被应用于旨在提高阅读障碍或其他低识字率来源的贫困读者的阅读理解的干预措施，包括教学、练习不足或英语技能低下的障碍。这些干预措施将使用口语练习，提供书面语言的词汇和句型练习，对于不情愿的读者来说，这些模式本质上是“外国的”。其目的是提供对培养阅读流利性至关重要的关键学习机会，而不总是需要阅读练习，因为贫穷的读者不愿参与其中。第二语言和阅读干预也调查了学生对各种教育干预的反应，在这些干预中，开始掌握更多知识的学生通常会从额外的指导中获得更大的好处，而把那些最需要帮助的人抛在一边。如果演讲干预提供基本的背景技能，它们可以帮助阅读障碍患者和其他有困难的学习者从这个项目中测试的新干预中学习，并使有困难的学习者利用当前学校课程中的现有教学。该项目由感知、行动和认知计划、学习科学计划和EHR核心研究计划共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project tests a new method for improving reading skill in poor readers, including those with dyslexia, and improving second language learning. Second language learning requires significant time to learn material that has not occurred in the individual's prior experience. While this is obvious for foreign language learning, it is less obvious but also true for learning to read. Written and spoken language differ greatly in both their vocabulary and sentence structure, so becoming a fluent reader requires significant reading experience to learn how written language differs from speech. Because poor readers do not engage in this extensive practice, they fall further behind peers who have higher skill. Current instruction methods in both reading and second language learning are inadequate and intervention in both of these areas is in the national interest. Poor literacy is widespread in the US population and is associated with low employment, poor health outcomes, limited participation in society, and higher rates of incarceration. The project combines memory and learning research to investigate how and why speaking during language learning yields not just better speaking skills but also better written and spoken language comprehension than more traditional reading- and listening-focused curricula. The studies rigorously compare second language learning via speaking vs. listening practice, including whether the learning method influences students' motivation to pay attention, practice, and learn. The studies also examine the link between speaking and short-term or working memory, which is the ability to hold information in mind for short durations. Working memory abilities are thought to be an important component of longer-term learning, including vocabulary learning in a native or foreign language. The same methods will be applied to interventions aimed at improving reading comprehension for poor readers with dyslexia or other sources of low literacy, including inadequate instruction, practice, or barriers from low English skills. The interventions will use spoken language exercises that provide practice with the vocabulary and sentence structure patterns of written language, which are essentially "foreign" to a reluctant reader. The aim is to provide key learning opportunities that are crucial to developing reading fluency without always requiring reading practice in which poor readers are reluctant to engage. Both the second language and the reading interventions also investigate students' response to various educational interventions, where students who begin with more knowledge generally get greater benefit from additional instruction, leaving behind those who most need the help. If the speaking interventions provide essential background skills, they could help people with dyslexia and other struggling learners learn from the novel interventions tested in this project and position struggling learners to take advantage of existing instruction in current school curricula.This project is co-funded by the Perception, Action, and Cognition Program, the Science of Learning Program, and the EHR Core Research Program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.