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German orthography systematically marks all nouns (even other nominalized word classes) by capitalizing their first letter. It is often claimed that readers benefit from the uppercase-letter syntactic and semantic information, which makes the processing of sentences easier (e.g., Bock et al., 1985, 1989). In order to test this hypothesis, we asked 54 German readers to read single sentences systematically manipulated by a target word (N). In the experimental condition (EXP), we used semantic priming (in the following example: sick → cold) in order to build up a strong expectation of a noun, which was actually an attribute for the following noun (N+1) (translated to English e.g., “The sick writer had a cold (N) nose (N+1) …”). The sentences in the control condition were built analogously, but word N was purposefully altered (keeping word length and frequency constant) to make its interpretation as a noun extremely unlikely (e.g., “The sick writer had a blue (N) nose (N+1) …”). In both conditions, the sentences were presented either following German standard orthography (Cap) or in lowercase spelling (NoCap). The capitalized nouns in the EXP/Cap condition should then prevent garden-path parsing, as capital letters can be recognized parafoveally. However, in the EXP/NoCap condition, we expected a garden-path effect on word N+1 affecting first-pass fixations and the number of regressions, as the reader realizes that word N is instead an adjective. As the control condition does not include a garden-path, we expected to find (small) effects of the violation of the orthographic rule in the CON/NoCap condition, but no garden-path effect. As a global result, it can be stated that reading sentences in which nouns are not marked by a majuscule slows a native German reader down significantly, but from an absolute point of view, the effect is small. Compared with other manipulations (e.g., transpositions or substitutions), a lowercase letter still represents the correct allograph in the correct position without affecting phonology. Furthermore, most German readers do have experience with other alphabetic writing systems that lack consistent noun capitalization, and in (private) digital communication lowercase nouns are quite common. Although our garden-path sentences did not show the desired effect, we found an indication of grammatical pre-processing enabled by the majuscule in the regularly spelled sentences: In the case of high noun frequency, we post hoc located parafovea-on-fovea effects, i.e., longer fixation durations, on the attributive adjective (word N). These benefits of capitalization could only be detected under specific circumstances. In other cases, we conclude that longer reading durations are mainly the result of disturbance in readers' habituation when the expected capitalization is missing., Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe, 622

Neben familiären Merkmalen hat sich die Kindergartenqualität als bedeutsam für den Wortschatz von Kindergartenkindern gezeigt. Die drei Dimensionen der Kindergartenqualität, die Struktur‑, Orientierungs- und Prozessqualität, wurden bisher jedoch nicht simultan und domänenspezifisch in Bezug auf den Wortschatz untersucht. In der vorliegenden Studie wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie die Dimensionen der Kindergartenqualität unter Berücksichtigung familiärer Merkmale mit dem Wortschatz von Kindern auf Individual- und Kindergartenebene zusammenhängen. Die Datengrundlage bildete eine Teilstichprobe des nationalen Bildungspanels („National Educational Panel Study“, NEPS) mit N = 1165 Kindern in 139 Kindergärten. Die durchgeführten Mehrebenenanalysen ergaben, dass zur Prädiktion des Wortschatzes auf Individualebene die familiären Merkmale bedeutsam waren, während Unterschiede zwischen Kindergärten mittels der Kindergartenqualität erklärt werden konnten. Dabei waren alle drei Qualitätsdimensionen relevant. Die Ergebnisse werden vor dem Hintergrund verschiedener Qualitätskonzeptionen diskutiert. Besides family characteristics, pre-school quality is relevant for young children’s vocabulary. Pre-school quality consists of a structural, an orientational, and a processual dimension. In previous studies, however, these three dimensions have not been considered simultaneously and literacy-specific. In the present study we focused on the relation between family characteristics, the dimensions of pre-school quality, and children’s vocabulary on the level of the individual or specific pre-school. The data basis was a subsample of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) consisting of N = 1165 children in 139 pre-schools. Multi-level regression models revealed the importance of family characteristics for predicting vocabulary on an individual level, while variance between pre-schools was explained by the quality of the pre-school. All three dimensions of pre-school quality turned out to be crucial. The results are discussed against the backdrop of different conceptions of quality.

Es wird angenommen, dass für den frühen Kompetenzerwerb eines Kindes neben dem familiären Hintergrund und Merkmalen des Kindes die Lernumgebungen eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Die vorliegende Studie verfolgte das Ziel, die Effekte der häuslichen und der institutionellen Lernumgebung von Kindergartenkindern auf den frühen Wortschatzerwerb zu vergleichen und notwendige Bedingungen für einen kompensatorischen Effekt der institutionellen Lernumgebung zu überprüfen. Anhand längsschnittlicher Daten von N = 557 Kindergartenkindern aus dem deutschen Nationalen Bildungspanel (NEPS) wurde untersucht, in welchem Ausmaß der familiäre Hintergrund und die Merkmale eines Kindes die häusliche und institutionelle Lernumgebung prädizieren und in welchem Ausmaß diese wiederum den Wortschatz in der Vorschule und in der ersten Klasse vorhersagen. Um zu überprüfen, ob die beiden Lernumgebungen einen jeweils eigenständigen Beitrag zur Prädiktion des Wortschatzes leisten, wurden nahezu identische Indikatoren zur Operationalisierung verwendet. Mittels Strukturgleichungsmodellierung wurden die Effekte geschätzt. Die Studie zeigte, dass die häusliche und institutionelle Lernumgebung eines Kindes kleine sowie voneinander abgrenzbare Effekte auf den Wortschatz hatten. Dabei war die häusliche Lernumwelt stärker mit dem familiären Hintergrund assoziiert, während die institutionelle Lernumgebung stärker durch Merkmale des Kindes selbst prädiziert wurde. Dies eröffnet neue Möglichkeiten der Diskussion kompensatorischer Effekte. It is assumed that additionally to the family background and child characteris-tics, the children’s learning environments are crucial for the acquisition of early competencies. This study aimed to compare the eff ects of home and institutional learning environment on young children’s vocabulary and to test necessary con-ditions for a potential compensatory eff ect of the institutional learning environ-ment. Using longitudinal data from N = 557 preschool children (German National Educational Panel Study), we analysed to what extent family background and children’s characteristics predicted home and institutional learning environments and to what extent these learning environments predicted vocabulary in pre-school and primary school. In order to test if both learning environments pre-dict vocabulary separately, we used almost identical indicators to operationalize them. The effects were estimated within a structural equation model. The study revealed that both, home and institutional learning environment, had small and separate eff ects on children’s vocabulary. The home learning environment was more closely related to the family background, while the institutional learning en-vironment was more closely related to the children’s characteristics. This evokes new possibilities to discuss compensatory effect.

It is assumed that additionally to the family background and child characteristics, the children’s learning environments are crucial for the acquisition of early competencies. This study aimed to compare the effects of home and institutional learning environment on young children’s vocabulary and to test necessary conditions for a potential compensatory effect of the institutional learning environment. Using longitudinal data from N = 557 preschool children (German National Educational Panel Study), we analysed to what extent family background and children’s characteristics predicted home and institutional learning environments and to what extent these learning environments predicted vocabulary in preschool and primary school. In order to test if both learning environments predict vocabulary separately, we used almost identical indicators to operationalize them. The effects were estimated within a structural equation model. The study revealed that both, home and institutional learning environment, had small and separate effects on children’s vocabulary. The home learning environment was more closely related to the family background, while the institutional learning environment was more closely related to the children’s characteristics. This evokes new possibilities to discuss compensatory effects. (DIPF/Orig.), Es wird angenommen, dass für den frühen Kompetenzerwerb eines Kindes neben dem familiären Hintergrund und Merkmalen des Kindes die Lernumgebungen eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Die vorliegende Studie verfolgte das Ziel, die Effekte der häuslichen und der institutionellen Lernumgebung von Kindergartenkindern auf den frühen Wortschatzerwerb zu vergleichen und notwendige Bedingungen für einen kompensatorischen Effekt der institutionellen Lernumgebung zu überprüfen. Anhand längsschnittlicher Daten von N = 557 Kindergartenkindern aus dem deutschen Nationalen Bildungspanel (NEPS) wurde untersucht, in welchem Ausmaß der familiäre Hintergrund und die Merkmale eines Kindes die häusliche und institutionelle Lernumgebung prädizieren und in welchem Ausmaß diese wiederum den Wortschatz in der Vorschule und in der ersten Klasse vorhersagen. Um zu überprüfen, ob die beiden Lernumgebungen einen jeweils eigenständigen Beitrag zur Prädiktion des Wortschatzes leisten, wurden nahezu identische Indikatoren zur Operationalisierung verwendet. Mittels Strukturgleichungsmodellierung wurden die Effekte geschätzt. Die Studie zeigte, dass die häusliche und institutionelle Lernumgebung eines Kindes kleine sowie voneinander abgrenzbare Effekte auf den Wortschatz hatten. Dabei war die häusliche Lernumwelt stärker mit dem familiären Hintergrund assoziiert, während die institutionelle Lernumgebung stärker durch Merkmale des Kindes selbst prädiziert wurde. Dies eröffnet neue Möglichkeiten der Diskussion kompensatorischer Effekte. (DIPF/Orig.)

Due to their multifunctionality, tablets offer tremendous advantages for research on handwriting dynamics or for interactive use of learning apps in schools. Further, the widespread use of tablet computers has had a great impact on handwriting in the current generation. But, is it advisable to teach how to write and to assess handwriting in pre- and primary schoolchildren on tablets rather than on paper? Since handwriting is not automatized before the age of 10 years, children's handwriting movements require graphomotor and visual feedback as well as permanent control of movement execution during handwriting. Modifications in writing conditions, for instance the smoother writing surface of a tablet, might influence handwriting performance in general and in particular those of non-automatized beginning writers. In order to investigate how handwriting performance is affected by a difference in friction of the writing surface, we recruited three groups with varying levels of handwriting automaticity: 25 preschoolers, 27 second graders, and 25 adults. We administered three tasks measuring graphomotor abilities, visuomotor abilities, and handwriting performance (only second graders and adults). We evaluated two aspects of handwriting performance: the handwriting quality with a visual score and the handwriting dynamics using online handwriting measures [e.g., writing duration, writing velocity, strokes and number of inversions in velocity (NIV)]. In particular, NIVs which describe the number of velocity peaks during handwriting are directly related to the level of handwriting automaticity. In general, we found differences between writing on paper compared to the tablet. These differences were partly task-dependent. The comparison between tablet and paper revealed a faster writing velocity for all groups and all tasks on the tablet which indicates that all participants-even the experienced writers-were influenced by the lower friction of the tablet surface. Our results for the group-comparison show advancing levels in handwriting automaticity from preschoolers to second graders to adults, which confirms that our method depicts handwriting performance in groups with varying degrees of handwriting automaticity. We conclude that the smoother tablet surface requires additional control of handwriting movements and therefore might present an additional challenge for learners of handwriting.

In this article, we present an experimental paradigm of time course measurements for the study of written language production at the levels of words and sentences. It is shown that time measurements can give insights into cognitive processes involved in writing. In the first section, we outline the methodology and discuss it in the context of written language production. In the second section, we summarize a series of experimental studies on written word production. The main result is that at the beginning of word writing the segmental information – the grapheme or letter sequence – is not yet specified completely. Instead, depending on linguistic word structure, the motor buffer has to be reloaded. This indicates that cognitive processes are operating during writing. In the third section, we present an original study on written sentence production. It shows that the time course of writing sentences is influenced by sentence planning and syntactic structures at the boundaries of major syntactic constituents and words as well as within these boundaries, depending on the task type. At this point, we also discuss the relationship of written word production and sentence production with respect to time course measurements. Finally, some perspectives for future research are outlined.

In previous studies, it was demonstrated that the time course of typing and handwriting follows a syllabic pattern. This raises the question of whether this pattern is caused by phonological processes or whether it reflects an independent structure of the graphemic pathway. The case of AB is presented. He is a fluent German aphasic, who, in spite of the absence of articulatory deficits, displays superior written word production compared to his spoken word production. It is argued that AB’s phonological impairment arises from damage to the lexical system, rather than to the sublexical system. Additionally, AB suffers from severe damage to the phoneme-grapheme-conversion system, as indicated by his severe impairment to write non-words to dictation. It is therefore suggested that AB’s spelling is not phonologically mediated, either by lexical or by sublexical processes. The analysis of the time course of AB’s single word typing reveals no syllabic effects as it was found in healthy adult controls. In contrast to healthy adult controls though, AB does not show a systematically increased delay at the syllable onsets within words during single word typing. This finding suggests that AB is unable to group graphemes into syllables or syllable-like units. The implications of this finding for the view of an autonomous orthographic syllable are discussed, i.e. an orthographic syllable being independent of any phonological influences.