Juan E. Jiménez1, Isabel Hernández-Valle1, Gustavo Ramírez1,
Mª del Rosario Ortiz1, Mercedes Rodrigo1, Adelina Estévez1, Isabel O’Shanahan1, Eduardo García2, and María de la Luz Trabaue1
1Universidad de La Laguna and 2Free University Amsterdam

This study was designed to assess the effects of four reading-training procedures for children with reading disabilities (RD) in a transparent orthography, with the aim of examining the effects of different spelling-to-sound units in computer speech-based reading. We selected a sample of 83 Spanish children aged between 7 years 1 month and 10 years 6 months (M = 105.2, SD = 7.8) whose pseudoword reading performance was below the 25th percentile and IQ > 90. The participants were randomly assigned to five groups: (a) the whole-word training group (WW) (n = 17), (b) the syllable training group (S)(n = 16), (c) the onset-rime training group (OR) (n = 17), (d) the phoneme training group (P) (n = 15), and (e) the untrained control group (n = 18). Children were pre- and post-tested in word recognition, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and orthographic and phonological tasks. The results indicate that experimental groups who participated in the phoneme and syllable conditions improved their word recognition in comparison with the control group. In addition, dyslexics who participated in the phoneme, syllable, and onset-rime conditions made a greater number of requests during computer-based word reading under conditions that required extensive phonological computation (low frequency words and long words). Reading time, however, was greater for long words in the phoneme group during computer-based reading. These results suggest the importance of training phonological processes in improving word decoding in children with dyslexia who learn in a consistent orthography.

Wilsa Maria RAMOS

Este trabajo tiene como presupuesto que la naturaleza y la complejidad de los procedimientos de lectura, para los educadores y investigadores, es un desafío continuo de las escuelas. Tiene dos objetivos centrales: a) proponer un modelo explicativo de los factores que intervienen en la comprensión lectora en la enseñanza primaria; b) describir las características del profesor en su comprensión lectora. Los resultados demostraron que el nivel de comprensión lectora del profesor, tal y como se configuró en la investigación, está muy por debajo del esperado. Además, los resultados muestran que el desarrollo de la habilidad lectora del profesor debe formar parte de políticas de educación por medio de la formación inicial o continuada.