Browsing by Subject "Reading"

Although most models of reading development present orthographic knowledge as a more advanced and later developing form of knowledge than phonological knowledge, this dissertation presents a model of the development of orthographic knowledge in which generalized orthographic knowledge, the knowledge of symbol patterns within and across words, develops early, at the same time as phonological knowledge and before lexicalized representations of a whole word. However, because phonological and generalized orthographic knowledge are not fully integrated, phonological knowledge masks orthographic knowledge in typical measures of literacy.

In study 1 pre-readers' knowledge of the elements that make up words was tested using eye-tracking as a measure of implicit knowledge. We find that pre-reading children as young as 3 have implicit orthographic knowledge regarding the elements that make up words. This supports the prediction that generalized orthographic knowledge develops before lexicalized knowledge.

In study 2, children's creative spellings were used to gauge children's implicit knowledge of letter patterns in a naturalistic setting. We find that kindergarteners in particular tend to rely on phonology over orthography when the two are in conflict. This supports the hypothesis that phonological knowledge can mask orthographic knowledge.

In study 3, children were asked to decode non-words and their implicit knowledge of letter patterns was measured using eye tracking. I found that early readers show some implicit knowledge when decoding, This supports the hypothesis that generalized orthographic knowledge can be measured in literacy tasks under certain testing conditions.

In study 4, children's phonological and orthographic knowledge was tested directly by asking children to sound out and select the best word. Results show that sensitivity to orthographic violations is decreased when phonology is introduced. This is a direct test of the hypothesis that phonological knowledge can mask orthographic knowledge, and findings support this hypothesis.

These results suggest that pre-readers show generalized orthographic knowledge before lexicalized knowledge and concurrently with phonological knowledge. Furthermore, this generalized orthographic knowledge initially presents itself implicitly, and in many early literacy tasks the orthographic domain is dominated by phonological concerns. Essentially, orthographic and phonological knowledge develop at the same time; however, until children learn to integrate the two dimensions of written language, they rely on one source over the other.

How do readers regain their enthusiasm for reading Scripture when what they are reading does not relate to their life’s circumstances? With all the competing voices in the world today, readers find it challenging to read the Bible when what they read is distant from their realities. Some readers have even said they prefer other spiritual books above the Bible. This paper addresses the phenomena of disengagement that is growing amongst Christian readers and looks into ways, particularly relational hermeneutics in which readers can gain renewal in reading for self-understanding, commitments, and practices.

This paper will ask the reader to make a commitment to relocating themselves in the text while paying attention to their own circumstances, emphasizing the importance of building a relationship with the text that translates into relational hermeneutics. This paper will intentionally move away from Eurocentric hermeneutics with the intent of engaging the term relational hermeneutics as an African American woman’s approach that invites readers to reframe their accounts into meaningful stories. Examining the traditional understanding of hermeneutics and cases involving hermeneutics readers can commit to “relocating” their own stories in biblical narratives that help to facilitate their readings - giving the reader the responsibility of renewing their relationship with Christ through relational Biblical stories. Additionally, this paper highlights relational hermeneutics as an African American woman’s approach and concludes with an African American woman’s account of doing relational hermeneutics that resulted in renewal. Hopefully readers can follow this approach with the intent of achieving similar results.

How do readers regain their enthusiasm for reading Scripture when what they are reading does not relate to their life’s circumstances? With all the competing voices in the world today, readers find it challenging to read the Bible when what they read is distant from their realities. Some readers have even said they prefer other spiritual books above the Bible. This paper addresses the phenomena of disengagement that is growing amongst Christian readers and looks into ways, particularly relational hermeneutics in which readers can gain renewal in reading for self-understanding, commitments, and practices.

This paper will ask the reader to make a commitment to relocating themselves in the text while paying attention to their own circumstances, emphasizing the importance of building a relationship with the text that translates into relational hermeneutics. This paper will intentionally move away from Eurocentric hermeneutics with the intent of engaging the term relational hermeneutics as an African American woman’s approach that invites readers to reframe their accounts into meaningful stories. Examining the traditional understanding of hermeneutics and cases involving hermeneutics readers can commit to “relocating” their own stories in biblical narratives that help to facilitate their readings - giving the reader the responsibility of renewing their relationship with Christ through relational Biblical stories. Additionally, this paper highlights relational hermeneutics as an African American woman’s approach and concludes with an African American woman’s account of doing relational hermeneutics that resulted in renewal. Hopefully readers can follow this approach with the intent of achieving similar results.

“The Touch of the Word: Evangelical Cultures of Print in Antebellum America” analyzes the reception of evangelical print media among everyday Americans in the antebellum period. I focus on the practices of readers who received publications produced by the American Tract Society, the publishing giant that circulated over five billion pages of books, tracts, and newspapers between 1825 and 1860 in hopes of converting the nation to Christianity. While scholars typically approach printed media as containers for words, I argue that the antebellum reading public encountered proliferating religious print as a visual, tactile, and affective experience in ways not usually associated with Protestantism, let alone evangelicalism. The product of intensive archival research in over a dozen repositories, “The Touch of the Word” tells a new story about popular religion by recovering three predominant ways in which Americans sensorially encountered the material power of religious print media: as burdens, as objects of desire and consumption, and as sites for appropriation and play.