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The aim of the present study was to examine the hypothesis that, compared to typically reading children matched on regular word reading, adults with basic literacy (either adult literacy students or adult basic education students) struggle on phonologically demanding tasks but are relatively performant on orthographic demanding tasks, and hence present a performance pattern similar to that of dyslexic children. Using various reading and phoneme awareness tests, we therefore compared the adults to both typically reading children from Grades 3 and 4 and dyslexic children, these two groups being matched to the adults on regular word reading. The dyslexic children were also compared to either chronological age- or reading level-matched children. The hypothesis was only partly supported by the data, as results depended on the subgroup of adults considered. While the literacy students presented poorer phoneme awareness and a somewhat stronger length effect in reading than the dyslexic children, the basic education students outperformed the latter on irregular word reading. The adults, and in particular the literacy students, also relied frequently on orthography in a complex phoneme awareness task. Taken together, these results suggest that adults with basic literacy rely more on visual memory than both dyslexic and typically reading children. This opens the question of whether the peculiar profile of these adults is intrinsic to adult literacy acquisition or is related to the way they are taught and trained to read and write. The results also highlight the need for better characterization of subgroups of adults with basic literacy.

Narrative texts have been advocated as tools to tackle science learning challenges, and there is even the proposal of a "narrative effect" on learning. We believe it is necessary to examine previous evidence on this effect, as well as to characterize the process of learning through science narrative texts more broadly. In this article, we offer a theoretical review drawing on three frameworks, namely on pedagogical aspects of text learning, linguistic features of texts, and cognitive aspects of text comprehension. Based on that, we analyzed two complementary questions. First, we reviewed 36 studies to ask if science narrative texts can benefit learning and memory outcomes at different educational levels (i.e., the "If" question). We found encouraging evidence for the use of science narrative texts at various educational levels, especially in delayed assessments and longer-lasting interventions. Second, we gathered and linked ideas, hints, and evidence on how the process of learning with science narrative texts takes place, namely on conditions and underlying processes (i.e., the "How" question). There are many features from conditions (texts, learners, activities, wider context) and underlying processes (integration with prior knowledge, affective dispositions, and cognitive abilities) that can help to account for variability in outcomes; yet, ideas and evidence are not always tightly connected. We suggest that education and research should focus on specific narrative effects, that specify with what (texts), with whom (learners), when and where (activities and wider context) these effects occur, as well as "why" (underlying processes). We believe the proposed framing can help both make sense of previous evidence and inform future educational practices and research and provide some recommendations in this regard.

The present longitudinal study investigated the hypothesis that early musical skills (as measured by melodic and rhythmic perception and memory) predict later literacy development via a mediating effect of phonology. We examined 130 French‐speaking children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for developmental dyslexia (DD). Their abilities in the three domains were assessed longitudinally with a comprehensive battery of behavioral tests in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Using a structural equation modeling approach, we examined potential longitudinal effects from music to literacy via phonology. We then investigated how familial risk for DD may influence these relationships by testing whether atypical music processing is a risk factor for DD. Results showed that children with a familial risk for DD consistently underperformed children without familial risk in music, phonology, and literacy. A small effect of musical ability on literacy via phonology was observed, but may have been induced by differences in stability across domains over time. Furthermore, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status. These findings are consistent with the idea that certain key auditory skills are shared between music and speech processing, and between DD and congenital amusia. However, they do not support the notion that music perception and memory skills can serve as a reliable early marker of DD, nor as a valuable target for reading remediation. Research Highlights: Music, phonology, and literacy skills of 130 children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for dyslexia, were examined longitudinally.Children with a familial risk for dyslexia consistently underperformed children without familial risk in musical, phonological, and literacy skills.Structural equation models showed a small effect of musical ability in kindergarten on literacy in second grade, via phonology in first grade.However, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise typically induces both peripheral and central masking of an auditory target. Whereas the idea that a deficit of speech in noise perception is inherent to dyslexia is still debated, most studies have actually focused on the peripheral contribution to the dyslexics' difficulties of perceiving speech in noise. Here, we investigated the respective contribution of both peripheral and central noise in three groups of children: dyslexic, chronological age matched controls (CA), and reading-level matched controls (RL). In all noise conditions, dyslexics displayed significantly lower performance than CA controls. However, they performed similarly or even better than RL controls. Scrutinizing individual profiles failed to reveal a strong consistency in the speech perception difficulties experienced across all noise conditions, or across noise conditions and reading-related performances. Taken together, our results thus suggest that both peripheral and central interference contribute to the poorer speech in noise perception of dyslexic children, but that this difficulty is not a core deficit inherent to dyslexia.

The purpose of this case series was to explore whether adults who did not have the opportunity to acquire reading skills during childhood are able to do so rapidly if trained with an adequate literacy program. After 14 weeks of training with a new, optimized, literacy course based on cognitive research, six out of eight participants became able to read words they had never encountered, hence demonstrating that they were definitely engaged in decoding processes that allow autonomous reading. Moreover, they showed enhanced phonemic sensitivity and phonological memory. The latter finding implies that functional changes can take place rapidly outside the reading domain even when reading is acquired in adulthood. Thus, there is no major plasticity impediment preventing rapid eradication of illiteracy in adults.

Narrative texts have been advocated as tools to tackle science learning challenges, and there is even the proposal of a "narrative effect" on learning. We believe it is necessary to examine previous evidence on this effect, as well as to characterize the process of learning through science narrative texts more broadly. In this article, we offer a theoretical review drawing on three frameworks, namely on pedagogical aspects of text learning, linguistic features of texts, and cognitive aspects of text comprehension. Based on that, we analyzed two complementary questions. First, we reviewed 36 studies to ask if science narrative texts can benefit learning and memory outcomes at different educational levels (i.e., the "If" question). We found encouraging evidence for the use of science narrative texts at various educational levels, especially in delayed assessments and longer‐lasting interventions. Second, we gathered and linked ideas, hints, and evidence on how the process of learning with science narrative texts takes place, namely on conditions and underlying processes (i.e., the "How" question). There are many features from conditions (texts, learners, activities, wider context) and underlying processes (integration with prior knowledge, affective dispositions, and cognitive abilities) that can help to account for variability in outcomes; yet, ideas and evidence are not always tightly connected. We suggest that education and research should focus on specific narrative effects, that specify with what (texts), with whom (learners), when and where (activities and wider context) these effects occur, as well as "why" (underlying processes). We believe the proposed framing can help both make sense of previous evidence and inform future educational practices and research and provide some recommendations in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental dyslexia and congenital amusia have common characteristics. Yet, their possible association in some individuals has been addressed only scarcely. Recently, two converging studies reported a sizable comorbidity rate between these two neurodevelopmental disorders (Couvignou et al., Cognitive Neuropsychology2019; Couvignou & Kolinsky, Neuropsychologia2021). However, the reason for their association remains unclear. Here, we investigate the hypothesis of shared underlying impairments between dyslexia and amusia. Fifteen dyslexic children with amusia (DYS+A), 15 dyslexic children without amusia (DYS-A), and two groups of 25 typically developing children matched on either chronological age (CA) or reading level (RL) were assessed with a behavioral battery aiming to investigate phonological and pitch processing capacities at auditory memory, perceptual awareness, and attentional levels. Overall, our results suggest that poor auditory serial-order memory increases susceptibility to comorbidity between dyslexia and amusia and may play a role in the development of the comorbid phenotype. In contrast, the impairments observed in the DYS+A children for auditory item memory, perceptual awareness, and attention might be a consequence of their reduced reading experience combined with weaker musical skills. Comparing DYS+A and DYS-A children suggests that the latter are more resourceful and/or have more effective compensatory strategies, or that their phenotype results from a different developmental trajectory. We will discuss the relevance of these findings for delving into the etiology of these two developmental disorders and address their implications for future research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At what point in reading development does literacy impact object recognition and orientation processing? Is it specific to mirror images? To answer these questions, forty-six 5- to 7-year-old preschoolers and first graders performed two same-different tasks differing in the matching criterion-orientation-based versus shape-based (orientation independent)-on geometric shapes and letters. On orientation-based judgments, first graders outperformed preschoolers who had the strongest difficulty with mirrored pairs. On shape-based judgments, first graders were slower for mirrored than identical pairs, and even slower than preschoolers. This mirror cost emerged with letter knowledge. Only first graders presented worse shape-based judgments for mirrored and rotated pairs of reversible (e.g., b-d; b-q) than nonreversible (e.g., e-?) letters, indicating readers' difficulty in ignoring orientation contrasts relevant to letters.

Studies on proficient readers showed that speech processing is affected by knowledge of the orthographic code. Yet, the automaticity of the orthographic influence depends on task demand. Here, we addressed this automaticity issue in normal and dyslexic adult readers by comparing the orthographic effects obtained in two speech processing tasks that are or not sensitive to strategies developed by participants. Our finding showed that while participants' performance in a metaphonological task, which is known to be strategy prone, was affected by their orthographic knowledge regardless of the childhood diagnosis of dyslexia or of their actual reading-related skills, this latter factor significantly modulated the orthographic influence found in a more natural speech recognition task. The finding supports the claim that while any individuals who know a reading code are able to resort to their orthographic knowledge when they process speech, a more profound modification of the speech processing system by the orthographic code takes place only in readers who have reached a certain level of reading expertise.