Becoming an efficient reader: Tracking the emergence of high-quality written word representations in children

识字对于社会成功至关重要，它支持参与教育、就业和民主，并促进福祉。在字母语言中，如英语或法语，我们知道，对于初级读者来说，学习字母发音是至关重要的，以便读出(语音解码)书写的单词。然而，青少年和年轻人的识字能力仍然存在很大的差异，我们现在需要知道如何帮助儿童成为高效的读者，他们能够轻松地识别和理解数千个单词。阅读理论认为，成为一名高效的读者需要从语音解码到整体识别单词的转变，这需要高质量的书面单词表征。这个项目将使用行为和大脑成像测量方法来量化阅读经验如何提高儿童整体阅读单词的能力，以及他们书面单词表征的特异性和稳定性。它还将展示这些阅读效率的标记与单词拼写和理解的关系。这一目标将通过三个项目实现：项目1将测量儿童在学校学习一套课程单词之前(4年级，8-9岁)和之后(5年级末，9-10岁)的阅读、拼写和理解情况。我将通过测量文字与声音的规律性(例如，龙是规则的，但胃是不规则的)和单词长度对阅读准确性和速度的影响程度，来确定一年的书面单词经验是否允许儿童在阅读过程中减少对语音解码的依赖。我预计五年级末的规律性和长度效应会比四年级小，这应该与儿童拼写和/或对单词的理解的改善有关。项目2将测量儿童阅读他们在阅读发展早期(5-6岁)和晚期(8-9岁)学习的单词时的大脑活动。我预计参与整词阅读的大脑区域对早期习得的单词比对晚期习得的单词更活跃，而参与解码的大脑区域对晚期习得的单词比早期习得的单词更活跃。完整单词阅读所涉及的大脑区域的更大活动应该与更好的拼写和/或对这些单词的理解有关。项目3将使用脑成像方法，不仅测量全字阅读所涉及的大脑区域的活动量，还将确定单词表征在这些区域中的结构。我预计，儿童早期习得的单词将具有更具体和更稳定的神经表征，这将与更好的拼写和/或对这些单词的理解相关联。这些项目的成果将通过展示阅读经验如何以及为什么提高儿童整体阅读单词的能力，以及这与他们的单词拼写和理解之间的关系，来推进阅读发展理论。这将有助于研究人员和从业者了解教育如何提高儿童的阅读效率。

Literacy is essential for societal success, supporting participation in education, employment, and democracy and promoting well-being. In alphabetic languages, like English or French, we know that it is vital for beginning readers to be taught letter-sounds in order to sound out (phonically decode) written words. However, literacy skills remain highly variable among adolescents and young adults and we now need to know how to help children become efficient readers, who are able to recognise and comprehend thousands of words with ease. Theories of reading propose that becoming an efficient reader involves a transition from phonic decoding to recognising words as wholes and that this requires high-quality representations of written words. This project will use behavioural and brain imaging measures to quantify how reading experience increases children's ability to read words as wholes, as well as the specificity and stability of their written word representations. It will also show how these markers of reading efficiency relate to word spelling and understanding. This aim will be achieved through three projects:Project 1 will measure children's reading, spelling, and understanding of a set of curriculum words before (year 4, age 8-9) and after (end of year 5, age 9-10) they have learned them in school. I will determine whether a year's experience with written words allows children to rely less on phonic decoding during reading, by measuring the extent to which print-to-sound regularity (e.g., dragon is regular but stomach is irregular) and word length influence reading accuracy and speed. I expect regularity and length effects to be smaller at the end of year 5 than year 4 and this should be associated with improvements in children's spelling and/or understanding of the words. Project 2 will measure brain activity as children read words they have learned early (age 5-6) versus late (age 8-9) in their reading development. I expect brain regions that are involved in whole-word reading to be more active for early versus late acquired words, whereas brain regions involved in decoding will be more active for late versus early acquired words. Greater activity in brain regions involved in whole-word reading should be associated with better spelling and/or understanding of these words. Project 3 will use brain imaging methods that go beyond measuring the amount of activity in brain regions involved in whole-word reading to specify how word representations are structured in these regions. I expect that words that children have acquired early will have better specified and more stable neural representations and that this will be associated with better spelling and/or understanding of these words. The outcomes of these projects will advance theories of reading development by showing how and why reading experience increases children's ability to read words as wholes and how this relates to their word spelling and understanding. This will help researchers and practitioners to understand the ways in which education can increase children's reading efficiency.