Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-6grmk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-04T11:51:48.259Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Language performance and reading ability at 8 years of age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Rodney Morice  and
Walter Slaghuis
Rodney Morice*
Affiliation:
Mental Health Services Commission of Tasmania
Walter Slaghuis
Affiliation:
Mental Health Services Commission of Tasmania
*
Dr. R. D. Morice, Director of Research and Evaluation, Mental Health Services Commission, c/o John Edis Hospital, Creek Road, New Town, Tasmania, Australia7008
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Language performance measures obtained from poor readers at 8 years of age were significantly poorer than those for matched good readers. Impairment affected both language comprehension, as measured by the Token Test, and language production, as measured by a detailed syntactic analysis of spoken language samples. Children with combined performance impairment (both comprehension and production) were the poorest readers, and children with no measured language impairment were the best. Subjects with single-modality impairment (comprehension or production) were average readers at age 8. By age 9, the combined performance impairment group had deteriorated in reading level (against age), as had the comprehension impairment group. The results support proposals for age-dependent differences between reading groups, and further suggest that syntactic impairment may exert a greater constraint on reading ability with increasing age.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1985 , pp. 141 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Berko, J.The child's learning of English morphology. Word, 1958, 14, 150–77.Google Scholar
Bougere, M. B.Selected factors in oral language related to first-grade reading achievement. Reading Research Quarterly, 1969–1970, 5, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, K.An investigation of the relationship between the syntactic maturity of oral language and reading comprehension scores. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1973, 33B: 4838–4839.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N.Aspects of the theory of syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1965.Google Scholar
Congalton, A. A.Status and prestige in Australia. Melbourne: Cheshire, 1969.Google Scholar
Denckla, M. B. Minimal brain dysfunction and dyslexia: Beyond diagnosis by exclusion. In Blaw, M. E., Rapin, I., & Kinsbourne, M. (Eds.), Topics in child neurology. New York: Spectrum Publications, 1977.Google Scholar
de Renzi, E., & Vignolo, L. A.The Token Test: A sensitive test to detect receptive disturbance in aphasies. Brain, 1962, 85, 665–78.Google Scholar
Doehring, D. G., Trites, R. L., Patel, P. G., & Fiedorowicz, C. A.Reading disabilities: The interaction of reading, language, and neuropsychological deficits. New York: Academic Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Dumas, M. R.An investigation of the relationship between reading disabilities and syntax and the temporal aspects of that relationship. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1976, 37A, 3549.Google Scholar
Fletcher, J. M. Linguistic factors in reading acquisition: Evidence for developmental changes. In Pirozzolo, F. J. & Wittrock, M. C. (Eds.), Neuropsychological and cognitive processes in reading. New York: Academic Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Fry, M. A. A transformational analysis of the oral language structure used by two reading groups at the second grade level. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of lowa, 1967.Google Scholar
Fry, M. A., Johnson, C. S., & Muehl, S. Oral language production in relation to reading achievement among select second graders. In Bakker, D. J. & Satz, P. (Eds.), Specific reading disability: Advances in theory and method. Rotterdam: Rotterdam University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Harris, M. M.Second grade syntax attainment and reading achievement. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1975, 35A, 7635.Google Scholar
Heatley, D.PSYCHLAN Users Manual. Hobart: Mental Health Services Commission, 1981.Google Scholar
Ingram, J. C. L., & Morice, R. D.The grammatical analysis of free speech samples. Hobart: Mental Health Services Commission, 1979.Google Scholar
Ingram, T. T. S., & Reid, J. F.Developmental aphasia observed in a department of child psychiatry. Archives of Disorders of Childhood, 1956, 31, 161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingram, T. T. S., Mason, A. W., & Blackburn, I.A retrospective study of 82 children with reading disability. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 1970, 12, 271–81.Google Scholar
Kuntz, M. H.The relationship between written syntactic attainment and reader ability in seventh grade. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1975, 35A: 2159.Google Scholar
Lee, L.Developmental sentence analyses. Evanston, III.: Northwestern University Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Lyle, J. G.Certain antenatal, perinatal, and developmental variables and reading retardation in middle class boys. Child Development, 1970, 41, 481–91.Google Scholar
Mahaffey, J. P.An investigation of the relationship between selected oral language and readiness factors to first-grade reading achievement. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1975, 36A, 695.Google Scholar
Mattis, S. Dyslexia syndromes: A working hypothesis that works. In Benton, A. L. & Pearl, D. (Eds.), Dyslexia: An appraisal of current knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Mattis, S., French, J. H., & Rapin, I.Dyslexia in children and young adults: Three independent neuropsychological syndromes. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 1975, 17, 150–63.Google Scholar
Morice, R. D., & Ingram, J. C. L. Speech Sample Collection and Transcription Manual. Hobart: Mental Health Services Commission, 1979.Google Scholar
Morice, R. D., & Ingram, J. C. L.Language analysis in schizophrenia: Diagnostic implications. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 1982, 16, 11–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morice, R. D., & Ingram, J. C. L.Language complexity and age of onset of schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 1983, 9, 233–42.Google Scholar
Neale, M. D.Neale analysis of reading ability. London: Macmillan, 1966.Google Scholar
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J.A grammar of contemporary English. London: Longman, 1972.Google Scholar
Ribovitch, J. K.First grade children's comprehension of selected oral language syntax and its relationship to reading comprehension. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1975, 36A, 3391.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. Prevalence and types of dyslexia. In Benton, A. L. & Pearl, D. (Eds.), Dyslexia: An appraisal of current knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Schulte, C. A study of the relationship between oral language and reading achievement in second graders. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa, 1967.Google Scholar
Spreen, O. The dyslexias: A discussion of neurobehavioral research. In Benton, A. L. & Pearl, D. (Eds.), Dyslexia: An appraisal of current knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Vellutino, F. R. Toward an understanding of dyslexia: Psychological factors in Specific reading disability. In Benton, A. L. & Pearl, D. (Eds.), Dyslexia: An appraisal of current knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Vogel, S. A.Syntactic abilities in normal and dyslexic children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1974, 7, 103–9.Google Scholar
Whitaker, H. A., & Noll, J. D.Some linguistic parameters of the Token Test. Neuropsychologia, 1972, 10. 395–404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiig, E. H., Semel, M. S., & Crouse, M. B.The use of English morphology by high-risk and learning disabled children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1973, 7, 457–65.Google Scholar