The development of literacy: theories and intervention

Literacy development it is one of the processes that, from the point of view of learning and psychology, are most important.

Thanks to literacy we are able to rely on symbols to expand our sources of information and store all kinds of memories and data of interest between pages. But… what do we know about this development and about the ways in which we can intervene in it?

• You may be interested: "Dyslexia: causes and symptoms of reading difficulties"

Recognition of written language

From the historical perspective, research related to the analysis of the reading process argued that the direct conversion or encoding of each of the words, by itself, could give a full meaning to the message or information received. However, later work has broadened the initial perspectives.

Thus, currently two complementary processes involved during the recognition of the written word can be differentiated.

1. Phonological or indirect route

It is the one that allows an exact grapheme-phoneme encoding from which the recognition of the word can occur (as it was raised in the initial theories). Through this system the reader is able to identify both a regular or known word and a pseudoword or unknown word.

This first system involves a higher level of cognitive effort for the reader at the level of working memory, therefore their response is slower.

2. Visual or direct route

It becomes a method considerably more agile for the recognition of the word, since a complete grapheme-phoneme decoding is not performed. As in the case of familiar words, the visual stimulus of the graphemes is identified automatically and precisely.

Thus, this system is only valid with the most frequently used words, not being able to be used for unknown words or pseudowords. Due to the saving of cognitive effort that is associated with this route, the reader can attend to other types of information other than the offered by graphemes (spelling, syntax, pragmatic aspects, etc.) that facilitate a global completeness of the information received.

Evolutionary models of reading acquisition

To explain the process of acquiring reading ability, from the evolutionary perspective, various differentiated theoretical models have been proposed, among which the following can be highlighted:

Marsh and Friedman (1981) model

It is derived from Piagetian contributions and distinguishes four stages from the strategies that the reader uses to access the meaning of the written word: linguistic divination (exclusive identification of very familiar words), memorization by index discrimination visual (from some keys such as the initial letters the complete word is deduced), sequential decoding (beginning of the process of regular grapheme-phoneme decoding) and hierarchical decoding (fast recognition of complex, irregular or less familiar words by visual deduction).

Uta Frith's Evolutionary Model (1985)

For its part, it proposes a sequence of three sequential phases, overcoming each one of them leads to the immediately subsequent one. At first the incipient reader is based on logographic strategies from associating the concrete form of the set of spellings of the word to a determined meaning (familiar words).

Subsequently, using alphabetic strategies, the reader performs the mechanized conversion between grapheme and phoneme, allowing him to identify all kinds of words. Finally, spelling strategies facilitate recognition of automated words without carrying out a complete analysis of each grapheme, thus deducing some part of the word through the partial application of phonological recoding.

The contributions of Vigosky (1931-1995) and Bruner (1994)

These two researchers focus their interest on the social environment (and historical in the case of Lev Vigotsky) as a determining aspect in the acquisition of language. Thus, the most relevant function and purpose of language is to promote interaction between the individuals that make up the social system.

Vygotsky further emphasizes the concept of constructivism, that is, the active role that the individual represents in the acquisition of a certain knowledge from the establishment of Proximate Development Zones, which are combined with the guide or scaffolding provided by the figure of an expert, facilitating the learner's passage through said process.

Jerome bruner, However, puts more emphasis on cognitive processes as the elements from which language is developed, although it also gives significant importance to the social context where it takes place.

Processes in literacy skills

Reading comprehension is defined as the set of processes that allow the extraction of a global meaning of the information contained in a given text. An adaptive level of reading comprehension requires that the reader have a minimum level of prior knowledge about some of the themes that appear in the text, as well as a sufficient attentional and perceptual level to guarantee a correct assimilation of the data read.

On the other hand, the cognitive and metacognitive aspects also play a relevant role, as well as the type of words in terms of specificity or technicality, length or familiarity with respect to the reader.

Finally, the order and structure of the text They are also determining aspects since they will facilitate the reader's understanding of the sequentiality or development of the information to which the text refers.

Processes related to understanding what has been read

The processes involved in reading comprehension include syntactic processing and semantic processing:

Syntactic processing

The first, most basic level of analysis is produced, which allows the reader to get closer to the meaning that corresponds to specific information.

This first level takes place from the implementation of the following strategies:

1. Observe the order of the words in order to differentiate between the subject and the object of each sentence.
2. Detect key elements such as determiners, prepositions, adverbs, etc. that helps to delimit the functions of the words to be identified.
3. Differentiate the different elements of a sentence in terms of subject, verb, complements, subordinate clauses, etc.
4. Integrate the meaning of individual words to arrive at the general understanding of the sentence.
5. Pay attention to the punctuation marks that delimit the sentences and establish the relationships between them with respect to their predecessors and consequents.

Semantic processing

After the period of grammar comprehension of the sentence, we proceed to define an interpretation of the global meaning of it. Thus, a representation is obtained, usually in the form of an image, which synthesizes the content of the sentence completely. For this, it is known necessary to combine the information of the phrase read with the set of previous knowledge and cognitive schemes of the reader.

Schemas are interrelated knowledge organizations among themselves that intervene in: the interpretation of the perceived data, the retrieval of the information contained in the subject's memory, the structuring of the information received, the establishment of general and specific objectives and the location of the necessary resources to respond to such information built-in. Its main function is the achievement of inferences, for which it must focus and direct the process attention to focus on the elements that allow you to extract the general meaning of the information read.

Difficulties in recognizing handwriting

Regarding word recognition difficulties related to visual perception It must be taken into account among other aspects: the capacity for differentiation in the spatial arrangement of mirror letters such as “d”, “p”, “b”, “q”; the ability to discriminate between the consonants "m" and "n"; the possibility of determining the graphic aspects of each letter regardless of the type of writing that is presented or the implementation of the memory capacity assigned to each letter.

These problems, common in dyslexia, must be carefully analyzed since they serve to detect difficulties in integration visual perception, as this does not occur almost immediately, as usually happens in non-subjects. dyslexics.

Other types of issues are addressed by the problems in the operation of the access routes to the lexicon, both in the phonological and the visual. Because both have complementary functions, an alteration in one of them inevitably causes an incomplete sintering of the written content to which the subject is exposed. A peculiarity that can occur in the use of the visual route before unknown words or pseudowords is the phenomenon of lexicalization.

The reader confuses a familiar word with another that presents certain coincidences in the phonemes it contains and can exchange them if he does not get to start the path. phonological or this suffers some type of alteration, for example in cases of phonological dyslexia (from which the identification of those words is made unknown).

Superficial dyslexia and other problems

At the other extreme, superficial dyslexia occurs in cases where regular words are read correctly, not being so in irregular words, since the subject is based on an exact grapheme-phoneme decoding. This type of reader has difficulties in discriminating between homophone words such as "beautiful-hair" or "sling-wave".

Finally, if the problem lies in the syntactic processing, the reader may find it difficult to integrate the meaning of the sentence when:

1. The structure is more complex or contains several subordinate phrases in the same unit,
2. You cannot access prior knowledge about the topic that the text addresses or
3. When the performance of its operative memory is lower than expected to work on different aspects of the information to be processed simultaneously.

Intervention

There are various contributions made by the authors who have investigated the most effective types of actions that can be applied to those students with reading difficulties.

For their part, Huertas and Matamala advocate for early and individualized intervention, an adoption of positive expectations regarding student performance and tolerance towards one's own rate of improvement, not being excessively critical of mistakes made. In addition, they emphasize the type and manner of giving the instructions to be followed, with brief, precise and clear indications being more effective. Finally, the idea of ​​linking the effort invested in the improvements achieved should be transmitted to the student in order to increase their motivational level.

At the level of prevention in the appearance of difficulties in reading, Clemente and Domínguez are committed to an interactive, playful and dynamic program focused on enhancing phoneme and syllable identification skills.

When the central element revolves around difficulties in recognizing the word, Thomson prioritizes the following actions: emphasize the work on promoting the integration of the rules of grapheme-phoneme conversion from a multisensory approach and individualized, be based on overlearning processes to more successfully fix the acquired knowledge and combine with Actions to promote positive self-esteem and self-concept, counting on the collaboration of the family as the main part involved.

To compensate for difficulties in starting the visual word processing pathway, you can be practiced with exercises in which a word is associated with its pronunciation and meaning in a reiterative.

When the problem lies in the phonological path, word-building activities can be carried out through starting from individual phonemes by applying additions, substitutions or omissions of grapheme-phonemes in different order.

Finally, to work on syntactic comprehension you can prescribe color syntactic function association tasks from which the reader can more competently discern the meaning of each of the parts of the sentence. To improve discrimination and proper use of punctuation marks, it is possible to work with texts in which said sign with a small blow with the palms of the hands or on a table) that helps to accentuate the pause of the comma or the period of each prayer.

Bibliographic references:

• Clemente, M. and Domínguez, A. B. (1999). The teaching of reading. Madrid. Pyramid.

• Crespo, M. T. and Carbonero, M. TO. (1998). "Basic cognitive skills and processes." In J. TO. González-Pienda and Núñez, J. C. (coords.): School Learning Disabilities, 91-125. Madrid: Pyramid.

• Huerta, E. and Matamala, A. (1995). Treatment and prevention of reading difficulties. Madrid. Viewfinder.

• Jiménez, J. (1999). Psychology of learning difficulties. Madrid. Synthesis.