English spelling is described as quasi-regular, meaning a system in which the relationship between input (i.e., orthography) and output (i.e., phonology) is systematic, but with many inconsistencies (often referred to as exceptions). These inconsistencies often center around the pronunciation of vowels, which can vary as a function of letter position and the neighborhood of surrounding letters.

Reading for Understanding is a large project, funded by the Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (R305F100027), comprised of more than 10 different research studies focused on how children understand text and how to teach students to better understand what they are reading. By developing assessments and interventions, then implementing them in the classrooms in North Florida and Arizona schools, we are committed to helping improve the strategies children use to understand text.

In English spelling, the relationship between input (i.e., orthography) and output (i.e., phonology) is systematic, but has many inconsistencies. Due to this quasi-regularity, English contains many “complex words,” a large class of English words in which the relationships between orthography, phonology, morphology, and semantics are relatively opaque. Students have difficulty with complex words because they cannot directly arrive at the correct pronunciation of a word by applying typical sounding out strategies.

In English spelling, the relationship between input (i.e., orthography) and output (i.e., phonology) is systematic, but has many inconsistencies. Due to this quasi-regularity, English contains many “complex words,” a large class of English words in which the relationships between orthography, phonology, morphology, and semantics are relatively opaque. Students have difficulty with complex words because they cannot directly arrive at the correct pronunciation of a word by applying typical sounding out strategies.

Project Aims

• To identify features in teachers’ talk, across instructional contexts, with the most individual and joint potency to support meaningful growth in language skills among children during the preschool year.
• To identify child- and classroom-level moderators that enhance or inhibit the contributions of teachers’ language support behaviors to child language growth.

Research Questions

The Institute of Education Sciences recently announced a four-year grant to the Florida Center for Reading Research to explore effective instructional practices for 4 year-old Spanish-speaking English learners in Florida PreK classrooms. The grant was awarded to Drs. Chris Lonigan (Psychology), Beth Phillips (Education), and Chris Schatschneider (Psychology).