Reading Fluency: The Whole is More Than its Parts: A Cross-Linguistic Investigation of Reading Fluency

Tami Katzir

Cross-linguistic studies provide a unique tool for the identification of universal processes in oral and written language, both in development and in breakdown (Bates, Devescovi, & Wulfeck, 2001). Examining the differential strengths and weaknesses of average-achieving and struggling readers in contrasting orthographies can help illumine both the more universal aspects of reading development, as well as the language-specific attributes. The aim of this study is to investigate the shared and distinctive characteristics of readers from two cultures on reading and reading fluency across Hebrew and English orthographies. We will compare the performance of 80 Hebrew- and English- speaking children with and without reading challenges in fourth grade on a battery of cognitive, linguistic, and reading measures, as well as on their attitudes towards reading and home literacy background. Implications for reading assessment and intervention in the two languages will be discussed.

About Tami Katzir

Tami Katzir is an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She received her Ph.D in Applied Child Development at Tufts University with a concentration in Language and Literacy in September 2002. Her research centers on reading development and reading breakdown. Her interests revolve around three connected areas: the first represents an effort to link different developmental perspectives on the breakdown of written language. The second attempts to connect converging lines of research from brain imaging studies of reading to comparisons of cognitive profiles of children with reading disabilities in different languages; especially Hebrew, her mother tongue. In her third area of interest, she is committed to research that directly bridges the theoretical and the applied: for example, the application of brain-based theories of dyslexia in the design of intervention for reading-impaired children. Taken together, this work incorporates a multi-dimensional approach to the investigation of the underlying causes and manifestations of dyslexia and to its prediction and intervention.