What Is Automaticity? Why Is It Important for Reading and Learning?
Acquisition of a new skill is generally associated with a decrease in the need for effortful control over performance, leading to the development of automaticity. Automaticity by definition has been achieved when performance of a primary task is minimally affected by other ongoing tasks.
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Every Child Learns Differently? Or Don’t They?
The phrase “every child learns differently” is often used to refer to a child’s learning style. Learning styles are generally divided into three categories: (1.) visual learners, who need to see it to know it, (2.) auditory learners, who need to hear it to know it and (3.) tactile/kinaesthetic learners, who prefer a hands-on approach...
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Brain ‘Reads’ Sentences the Same in English, Portuguese
When the brain "reads" or decodes a sentence in English or Portuguese, its neural activation patterns are the same, new research shows. The study is the first to show that different languages have similar neural signatures for describing events and scenes.
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Spelling Help for Kids with Spelling Difficulties
Learners with reading difficulties usually have problems in spelling as well, and oftentimes have more severe deficits in spelling than in reading, according to Hallahan et al. in Introduction to Learning Disabilities. In reading, context and other cues help one to decode a word, but in spelling, one must produce the word after hearing or thinking it.
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When Is My Child Ready for Reading?
The concept reading readiness appears to have been introduced in the United States in a publication of the National Society for the Study of Education in 1925. The concept was based on the notion that a child’s readiness to cope with specified learning tasks is fundamentally a process of maturation, and that the process of maturation could not be appreciably speeded up. The role of learning was considered to play only a supportive role...
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Don’t Confuse Learning Skills with Learning Strategies
There is a tendency nowadays to confuse the word skill with related concepts like strategy, method, and technique. Many people, when talking about "learning skills," actually mean learning strategies, or learning methods, or learning techniques...
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Teaching Reading Right
Imagine not being able to read. Your academic career would not go further than high school, seriously hampering your chances of ever working your way up in the world. You could never apply for a job without assistance, being incapable of filling out an application form. You couldn’t correspond with friends, read for pleasure or treat your children to bedtime stories...
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Developing Reading Skills to Help Children Triumph Against Dyslexia
In support of Dyslexia Awareness Month, Edublox reading, maths and learning clinic examines the surprising root cause of dyslexia and shares tips on how parents can address their child’s reading difficulties.
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Phonemic Awareness Training: A Cart-Before-the-Horse Approach to Teaching Reading?
It is said that phonemic awareness, a subset of phonological awareness, *predicts* reading ability. It is also said that phonemic awareness training will overcome a reading disability. Margaret Moustafa, Professor of Education at the California State University in Los Angeles, however, points out that correlation does not establish causation.
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Teaching Myth: Repetition and Drill Dull Creativity
Repetition and drill have become swear words in education. Today this form of learning is considered to be out of style, ghastly boring and even mindless. Drill-and-practice, teachers are told, produces only rote memorization and dulls creativity. “Having to spend long periods of time on repetitive tasks is a sign that learning is not taking place...
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