Resumen El objetivo del presente estudio fue comparar las habilidades prelectoras en 50 preescolares uruguayos de 5 años de edad de diferente nivel socioeconómico (NSE) y analizar el impacto de estas habilidades en el aprendizaje de la lectura. Para ello, se evaluó a los niños mediante pruebas de vocabulario receptivo, conciencia fonológica, conocimiento sobre el nombre y el sonido de las letras, y denominación rápida de objetos a fin del nivel preescolar Tiempo 1 (T1). Un año más tarde, se evaluó a un subgrupo de la muestra inicial mediante una prueba de lectura de palabras Tiempo 2 (T2). Los resultados señalaron la existencia de correlaciones significativas entre los predictores (T1) y la lectura de palabras (T2) y entre todas las variables evaluadas y el nivel socioeconómico de los niños. La comparación del desempeño intergrupal señaló la existencia de diferencias significativas en todas las habilidades evaluadas a favor del nivel socioeconómico medio. Sin embargo, el desempeño en la lectura de palabras de ambos grupos fue bajo. Por otra parte, un análisis de regresión mostró que, para los niños de nivel socioeconómico bajo, el nivel de conciencia fonológica fue el que explicó la mayor parte de la varianza en la eficiencia lectora. El nivel de lectura de los niños de nivel socioeconómico medio fue mayormente explicado por el conocimiento del nombre de las letras. Los resultados ponen en evidencia la importancia de atender a las diferencias que se generan temprano en el desarrollo de habilidades lingüísticas fundamentales para aprender a leer.

Abstract Learning to read transforms lives. Reading contributes to knowledge acquisition, cultural engagement, and success in the school. The unequal distribution of literacy skills in a society is associated with economic and social inequalities as a result, children with a poor foundation in literacy before entering formal schooling are more likely to struggle academically and to drop out of school. For these reasons, there has been an intense scientific interest for decades in understanding how children learn to read. It is well established that in the early stages of reading development, phonological awareness, letter name-sounds knowledge, and the naming speed are three independent longitudinal predictors of children’s later word-reading skills in alphabetic-writing systems. Phonological awareness constitutes the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of their own language, meanwhile letter knowledge promotes the discovery of systematic relationships between writing and oral language. As early readers develop some level of phonological awareness and some level of letter knowledge, they can recognize written words through phonological recoding processes, in which graphemes are recoded as phonemes and assembled to pronounce words. In addition, rapid naming expresses the speed at which phonological information is accessed from a graphic label. Phonological processing and letter knowledge are powerfully affected by the experience, stimulation, and support that children receive before beginning formal education. Most children acquire these abilities relatively effortlessly during early childhood. However, there is a significant number of children in Latin America who experience difficulties in their pre-literacy skills development. This study examined the cognitive profiles of a total of 50 Uruguayan preschoolers from different socioeconomic backgrounds from two public schools in Montevideo, Uruguay. Twenty-six children from low-income households were compared to peers from middle-income. At the end of the pre-schooling period (time 1) receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter name-sounds knowledge, and object naming speed tests were administered to children. One year later (time 2), word -reading of a subgroup of children was measured. Significant correlations were observed between all predictors at time 1; between predictors at time 1 and word reading at time 2; and between all measured abilities and socioeconomic status. Comparative analysis between children of different socioeconomic status showed that children growing up in poverty contexts performed more poorly than their peers from middle-income families in all the tests. Nonetheless, both groups performed poorly in word reading. Descriptive statistics indicated that, out of a total of 26 words, low SES children correctly read a total of 7 words per minute, and medium SES children a total of 14 words. Finally, regression analyses indicated that phonological awareness contributed 30 % variance in predicting the total score achieved in a reading-word test in children of low-income families, meanwhile letter name knowledge contributed 74 % variance in predicting the total score achieved in a reading-word test in their peers from middle-income families. In general terms, results of pre-reading skills and reading performance seem to indicate that children of different socioeconomic status use different word recognition strategies according to their level of letter-knowledge of and phonological processing. Discussion considers international literature pointing out that children who enter elementary school with limited reading-related skills are unlikely to be able to keep pace with their peers. These findings warn about the importance to elaborate systematic and high-quality educational proposals to try to reduce the gap in reading development for children from low-income families. Developing literacy and language skills before formal schooling sets a child up for success in school and life. Results also suggest the importance of analyzing the variables that affect reading development in populations that are not the majority described.

Resumen La comprensión lectora resulta fundamental en la vida escolar de los niños, dado que constituye el principal mecanismo para la adquisición de nuevos conocimientos. Distintos estudios han analizado la relación entre la comprensión lectora, las habilidades lingüísticas y el nivel lector de los sujetos. Sin embargo, resulta importante para el estudio del procesamiento textual, atender también al tipo de estructura de los textos. El presente trabajo se propone comparar el desempeño de un grupo de niños hispanohablantes en comprensión oral y escrita de dos tipos textuales distintos: narrativos y expositivos. Para ello, se evaluó a un grupo de 32 niños de 4to grado de una escuela primaria del conurbano bonaerense argentino mediante pruebas de comprensión oral y escrita de textos narrativos y expositivos. Además, se administró una prueba de vocabulario y de precisión y velocidad en la lectura de palabras. Los resultados señalaron la existencia de correlaciones entre la comprensión oral y escrita de los dos tipos textuales evaluados, y entre el desempeño en comprensión oral y escrita y el nivel de vocabulario de los niños. El análisis comparativo entre modalidades de presentación señaló un desempeño significativamente superior en la comprensión de textos narrativos orales frente a los escritos. Esta diferencia no se trasladó a los textos expositivos en los cuales los niños obtuvieron desempeños bajos, en ambas modalidades. Los datos obtenidos sugieren que los textos expositivos presentan un formato con características específicas que complejizan la comprensión de los niños más allá del soporte en el cual se presenten.

Abstract Reading comprehension is the ability to create a mental representation of a written text. It constitutes the main mechanism through children incorporate new knowledge at school age. Reading comprehension achievement has been systematically associated with oral comprehension and reading rate. Furthermore, both oral and reading comprehension has been related to inferences generation and different linguistic abilities, like vocabulary and syntax processing. In the case of text comprehension, also orthographic recognition of written words plays a fundamental role and, for that reason, reading comprehension would be a greater challenge than oral comprehension for early readers. Indeed, word recognition during reading is essential for text meaning construction. It is well known that a slow and laborious reading mechanism would overload cognitive processing and that reading automaticity is essential to carry out text processing. Longitudinal studies realized in different orthographies indicated that reading rate was the variable that had greatest impact on reading comprehension in early readers. In studies carried out in shallow orthographies, it was also observed that reading performance have an important impact on reading comprehension measure after 3 to 5 years of instruction. However, although impact of reading skills and oral comprehension mechanisms on reading comprehension has been reported in several studies, there is another important factor to consider: text structure. Studies propose that children tend to understand “narrative schemas” more easily since they are exposed to this type of text from a very early age. Likewise, all narrative texts present, in general, the same type of structure, respect temporal sequence of events and focus on story characters, their actions and motivations. In contrast, expository texts present new information to children, are oriented to a specific topic, contain less familiar and more technical vocabulary and a higher level of abstraction. This type of structure presents numerous cohesive connections and greater propositional density than narrative texts. The present study aims to compare listening and reading comprehension of narrative and expository text. For this, a group of 32 4th graders was evaluated in oral and reading comprehension of narrative and expository texts. In reading comprehension test, children read narrative and expository texts and then orally answered a series of questions. In oral comprehension, both narrative and expository texts were read aloud to children and then they answered questions about the texts orally. Vocabulary and reading rate were also measured. Data analysis shows correlations between oral comprehension and vocabulary. Reading comprehension were associated to vocabulary, oral comprehension and reading rate. Results suggest that oral and reading comprehension are associated with different linguistic skills and to each support access skills. In comprehension test, measures show higher performance in narrative oral comprehension texts when compared to reading comprehension. This result could be related to children reading rate. In fact, reading performance shows that children were “slow readers” according to the reading tests scales used in this study. Difference between oral and written comprehension in narrative texts, was not transferred to expository. In this type of texts children had low scores, without significant differences, in oral and reading comprehension. Results suggested that expository structures challenge children comprehension in both, oral and written modality. It is suggested that different types of expository texts difficult hierarchization of information that allows, in turn, the construction of text mental representation. Data of this study suggest the importance of establish interventions that allow children to improv text processing for access higher levels of comprehension in different textual structures. Furthermore, it is necessary in educational practices to expose children to expository structures from an early age. On the other hand, it is necessary to rethink reading instruction methods that originate low reading performance.

Resumen El presente trabajo se propuso analizar la contribución de la comprensión de lenguaje oral y la velocidad y la precisión en la lectura de palabras en la comprensión lectora en lectores iniciales del español que crecen en contextos de pobreza urbana. Para ello, se evaluó a 31 niños de 3er grado que crecían en barrios socialmente vulnerables de la provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, mediante pruebas de comprensión lectora, precisión y velocidad lectora, vocabulario y procesamiento morfosintáctico. Los resultados de la muestra total indican que la medida de comprensión lectora se asoció a las medidas de vocabulario, procesamiento de lenguaje oral, y velocidad y precisión en la lectura. En contraposición a resultados obtenidos en otras lenguas de ortografía transparente, el análisis de una regresión indicó que la comprensión lectora estuvo mayormente explicada por la medida de precisión y no de velocidad en la lectura de palabras. A fin de enriquecer el análisis de los datos, a partir de los resultados en la prueba de comprensión de textos se conformaron dos grupos de niños con diferente nivel de comprensión lectora: un grupo de niños con un nivel de comprensión lectora cercano a la media obtenida (21 sujetos) y un grupo de niños cuyo desempeño se ubicó en un desvío por debajo de la media en la medida de comprensión (10 sujetos). Los resultados de una prueba de comparación de medias mostraron que entre grupos de niños con diferente nivel de comprensión lectora las habilidades que se diferenciaron fueron las relacionadas al procesamiento morfosintáctico.

Abstract The present study aims to analyze the contribution of oral language and reading comprehension skills in early readers of Spanish who grow up in poverty context in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For this, reading comprehension, reading accuracy, reading fluency, vocabulary and morphosyntax processing were tested in 31 3rd graders. Full sample data analysis show that reading comprehension measures was associated with vocabulary, oral language processing, reading speed and accuracy. In contrast to results obtained in other languages with transparent orthographies, regression analysis shows that reading comprehension was mainly explained by reading accuracy and not by reading speed. In order to improve the data analysis, two groups of children with different levels of reading comprehension were selected: one group (21 children) whose level of comprehension was near to the average obtained and one group of children (10 subjects) with lower reading comprehension level. The results of a mean comparison test showed that in groups of children with different levels of reading comprehension, the skills that differed were those related to morphosyntactic processing.

Resumen La comprensión lectora resulta crucial para el desarrollo infantil. Sin embargo, en contextos de pobreza existe un alto porcentaje de niños con muy bajo desempeño en dicha habilidad. El presente trabajo analiza la relación entre el nivel lector, las habilidades de comprensión de lenguaje oral y de comprensión de textos escritos en niños que crecen en contextos de pobreza en el marco de la visión simple de la lectura. Para ello, 59 niños de quinto grado fueron divididos en dos grupos: niños con velocidad de lectura típica y niños con escasa velocidad de lectura. También se evaluaron las habilidades de comprensión lectora, comprensión de lenguaje oral, vocabulario y procesamiento morfosintáctico de ambos grupos. Los resultados señalaron que fueron las habilidades lectoras y de procesamiento sintáctico oral las que explican las diferencias en comprensión lectora. Los datos obtenidos alertan sobre la importancia de analizar las variables que impactan en la comprensión de textos escritos en poblaciones que no son las mayoritariamente descriptas en la bibliografía sobre el tema.

Abstract Reading comprehension is important for child development. However, there are many children growing up in contexts of poverty who do not achieve the expected reading comprehension level. The present study aims to analyze the relation among reading skills, oral language comprehension, and reading comprehension in children who are growing up in contexts of poverty by drawing on the Simple View of Reading framework. To do this, 59 ninth graders were separated into two groups: students with average reading speed and students with lower reading speed. Reading comprehension, oral language comprehension, vocabulary knowledge and morphosyntax processing were evaluated. Results show that reading skills and syntax processing explain differences in reading comprehension. These findings warn about the importance of analyzing the variables that affect reading comprehension in populations that are not the majority described.

Résumé La compréhension de lecture devient cruciale pour le développement de l’enfant. Cependant, dans un contexte de pauvreté, il y a des enfants ayant un très bas niveau de performance en ce qui concerne cette capacité. Cette recherche analyse le rapport entre le niveau lecteur, les compétences de compréhension du langage oral et de compréhension de textes écrits chez des enfants qui grandissent dans un contexte de pauvreté, dans le cadre de la vision simple de la lecture. Pour ce faire, 59 enfants de CM2 ont été divisés en deux groupes : celui des enfants ayant une vitesse de lecture habituelle et celui des enfants ayant une vitesse de lecture faible. L´on a évalué également les habiletés de compréhension de lecture, de compréhension du langage oral, le vocabulaire et le traitement morpho-syntaxique des deux groupes. Les résultats ont révélé que les habiletés de lecture et de traitement syntaxique oral expliquent les différences au niveau de la compréhension de lecture. En outre, les résultats avertissent sur l’importance d’analyser les variables qui influent sur la compréhension des textes écrits auprès des populations qui ne sont pas celles décrites majoritairement dans la bibliographie sur le sujet.

Abstract Objetive. This study analyses the impact that lexical representations of Spanish-speaking children in contexts of poverty have on the reading comprehension skills. Method. To this end, an assessment was made of the reading comprehension of 61 children. The results helped identify two groups within the sample: one with a high level of comprehension, and a second with a low level of comprehension. Each group’s vocabulary (semantic representations of the mental lexicon) and reading level (orthographic representations of the mental lexicon) was then assessed. Other important skills related to comprehension were likewise explored, such as working memory, inference-making ability, and morphosyntactic processing of spoken language. Results. The results provide evidence regarding the substantial impact of mental lexicon representations on reading comprehension.

Resumen Objetivo. Analizar el impacto que las representaciones léxicas de niños hispanohablantes, que crecen en contextos de pobreza, tiene sobre la comprensión lectora. Método. Se evaluó a 61 niños en una prueba de comprensión lectora y, a partir de los resultados, se dividió la muestra total en dos grupos: un grupo de alto nivel de comprensión y otro grupo de bajo nivel. Luego, se evaluaron ambos grupos en pruebas de vocabulario (representaciones semánticas del léxico mental) y el nivel lector (representaciones ortográficas del léxico mental). Asimismo, se exploró el nivel de memoria operativa de los niños, la realización de inferencias y el procesamiento morfosintáctico de lenguaje oral. Resultados. Se obtienen resultados que otorgan evidencia sobre la incidencia del léxico mental en la comprensión de textos escritos.

Abstract This paper analyzes whether children are sensitive to Spanish spelling regularities, that is, whether they store and access high frequency sub-lexical units like syllables. A spelling test was administered to 259 argentine children from 4th through 7th grades. The test included 26 low frequency words containing the syllables /be/, /bi/, /siar/ and /sia/ in both their possible forms (<BE>/<VE>, <BI>/<VI>, <CIAR>/<SIAR> and <CIA>/<SIA>), forms that vary in their frequency levels in the Spanish orthographic system. Results indicate that children are highly sensitive to syllable frequency. This seems to indicate that for transparent orthographies, such as Spanish, learners initially rely on grapheme-phoneme conversion, which leads to the storage of sub-lexical units.

Résumé Ce travail se propose d’analyser si des enfants lisant et écrivant en espagnol, une langue d’orthographe transparente, sont sensibles à la fréquence syllabique de ce système orthographique. C’est pourquoi, nous avons expertisé 259 enfants qui étaient en 4e, 5e, 6e et 7eannée de l’école primaire (à partir de 8 et jusqu’à 12 ans) par le biais d’une épreuve d’écriture ayant 26 mots orthographiquement complexes de très faible fréquence. Ces mots comprenaient les chaînes sonores /be/, /bi/, /siar/ et /sia/ dans ces deux formes orthographiques possibles (<BE>/<VE>, <BI>/<VI>, <CIAR>/<SIAR>et<CIA>/<SIA>). Celles-ci étant des formes qui varient dans leur niveau de fréquence. Les résultats obtenus montrent que les enfants sont vraiment sensibles à la fréquence syllabique, ce qui suggère qu’ils enregistrent des chaînes sous-lexicales fréquentes dans le système orthographique.

Resumen Este trabajo se propuso explorar si niños que leen y escriben en español, una lengua de ortografía transparente, son sensibles a la frecuencia de las sílabas de su sistema ortográfico. Para ello, se evaluó a 259 niños que cursaban 4to, 5to, 6to y 7mo grado de la escolaridad primaria mediante una prueba de escritura de 26 palabras ortográficamente complejas de muy baja frecuencia. Dichas palabras incluían las cadenas sonoras /be/, /bi/, /siar/ y /sia/ en sus dos posibles formas ortográficas (<BE>/<VE>, <BI>/<VI>, <CIAR>/<SIAR> y <CIA>/<SIA>) formas que varían en su nivel de frecuencia. Los resultados obtenidos indican que, efectivamente, los niños son altamente sensibles a la frecuencia de las sílabas lo que sugiere que almacenan cadenas subléxicas frecuentes del sistema ortográfico.

Resumo Este trabalho busca explorar se crianças que leem e escrevem em espanhol, uma língua de ortografía transparente, são sensíveis à frequência das sílabas de seu sistema ortográfico. Para isso, avaliaram-se 259 crianças que cursavam 4a, 5a, 6a e 7a séries do ensino básico por meio de um teste de escrita de 26 palavras ortograficamente complexas de muito baixa frequência. As palavras incluíam as cadeias sonoras /be/, /bi/, /siar/ e /sia/ em suas duas possíveis formas ortográficas (<BE>/<VE>, <BI>/<VI>, <CIAR>/<SIAR> e <CIA>/<SIA>) formas que variam em seu nível de frequência. Os resultados obtidos indicam que, efetivamente, as crianças são sensíveis à frequência das sílabas, o que sugere que elas armazenam cadeias sub-léxicas frequentes do sistema ortográfico.

Reading speed is achieved based on automatic word recognition and, together with prosody, constitutes an essential link between word recognition and text comprehension. Despite the relevance of reading speed acquisition for success at school, a high percentage of children growing up in poverty contexts face difficulties in achieving automatic word recognition. Consequently, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of difficulties in reading speed acquisition in children growing in poverty contexts. Two studies were designed. In the first study, in order to explore the origin of difficulties in developing word reading speed, a comparison of the cognitive profiles of children from low-in-come backgrounds with and without difficulties in this ability was carried out. In a previous study, norms were obtained for accuracy and speed in a word reading test. Participants were 168 6th grade children from several educational institutions attending children growing up in poverty contexts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the present study, the same word reading test was administered to 96 6th grade children. Based on the norms obtained in the previous study, two groups of children were identified: a group who performed at or above the 50th percentile in reading accuracy but below the 30th percentile in reading speed and another groupper forming at or above the 50th percentile in both measures. The first group was made up of 22 children, and the second one, of 46 children. The remaining 28 children were not included in the study because they performed below the 50th percentile in reading accuracy. Additional tests measuring phonological awareness, rapid naming, verbal memory and word spelling were administered to children in both groups. Between-groups comparisons in these tasks showed that children with speed acquisition difficulties underperformed the other group in the tests tapping phonological awareness, rapid naming and spelling. These results suggest that the children in the group experiencing reading difficulties were still using the phonological route for word recognition. The second study aimed to explore whether a specifically designed educational intervention could enable children with low reading speed from the previous study to increase their reading speed. Both groups of children (with and without reading speed difficulties) were administered two additional reading tests: an experimental test comprising target words which would subsequently be included in the training study for the children with reading speed difficulties; and a reading test of additional words and pseudo words not targeted in the training study, but considered transfer items because they comprised sub lexical units that were included in the target words to be trained during the intervention. These same reading tests were re-administered as a post-test, after the reading intervention for the reading speed difficulties group. The training study aimed to promote reading speed via the acquisition of orthographic representations. The intervention involved two weekly individual sessions lasting 20 minutes each. Each child participated of a total of 15 sessions. Each session included repeated and accelerated reading of lexical units, as well as activities for promoting the analysis of sublexical units included in the target words and also present in the transfer pseudo words from the post-test. The comparison between the pre- and post-test performance of the training group showed a statistically significant increase in reading speed both of trained and transfer words, an increase that was not obtained for the comparison group. This result suggests that during the intervention children were able to develop orthographic representations of the trained lexical units, but also of the sub lexical units that were present in both the target and the transfer words. Educational implications from this study point to the importance of repeated and accelerated reading for increasing speed, a critical reading ability.

El presente trabajo busca contribuir a la comprensión de las dificultades en la adquisición de velocidad lectora en niños que crecen en contextos de pobreza. Se realizaron dos estudios: el primero se propuso comparar los perfiles cognitivos de niños con y sin dificultad en el desarrollo de la velocidad en el reconocimiento de palabras. Participaron 68 niños de 6to grado de zonas vulneradas del conurbano bonaerense: 22 niños presentaban adecuada precisión pero baja velocidad lectora y 46 niños conformaron el grupo de comparación, con niveles promedio de precisión y velocidad. A ambos grupos se les administraron pruebas de conciencia fonológica, denominación rápida, memoria verbal y escritura convencional. Exceptuando la prueba de memoria, en el resto de las pruebas el grupo con baja velocidad lectora presentó desempeños inferiores a los del grupo de comparación. El segundo estudio buscó explorar en qué medida una intervención pedagógica permitía mejorar la velocidad lectora. Para ello, los "lectores lentos" del Estudio 1 participaron de una situación pre-test-intervención para promover el desarrollo de la velocidad lectora vía formación de representaciones ortográficas-postest. Los resultados del Estudio 2 mostraron que la intervención con lecturas repetidas y aceleradas de palabras modificó significativamente el tiempo de lectura de las palabras de entrenamiento. Los datos también sugieren que el trabajo con unidades subléxicas en la intervención permitió transferir la velocidad ganada en las palabras de entrenamiento a palabras de transferencia, palabras no trabajadas en las sesiones, pero con unidades subléxicas incluidas en las palabras de entrenamiento.

Resumen Diferentes políticas públicas llevadas a cabo en las últimas décadas en Argentina han logrado mejorar significativamente los índices de permanencia de los niños en las escuelas. Sin embargo, en contextos de pobreza, la permanencia escolar no ha estado siempre acompañada de niveles aceptables de aprendizaje. En el presente trabajo se propuso, entonces, analizar si existen variables socioeconómicas, familiares o escolares relacionadas con las dificultades que experimentan muchos niños de barrios pobres para aprender a leer y escribir, a pesar de estar insertos en el sistema educativo. Con tal fin, en primer lugar, se conformaron dos grupos de niños con base en los resultados de una prueba de escritura: uno con un muy bajo nivel de alfabetización y otro con un nivel de alfabetización similar al de la mayoría de sus pares. En segundo lugar, se realizaron entrevistas a las familias de los niños de ambos grupos, para recabar datos sobre el nivel socioeconómico de la familia, las escuelas a las que asistían los niños y el contexto alfabetizador hogareño. Las medidas obtenidas en la comparación entre los grupos señalaron que no existieron diferencias entre sí respecto de la medida de contexto alfabetizador hogareño pero sí respecto del nivel socioeconómico. Asimismo, se observó que la escuela a la que asisten los niños fue la variable que mejor predijo el desempeño en la escritura.

Abstract Different public policies carried out in the last decades in Argentina allowed to significantly improve the permanence of children in schools. However, school attendance has not always guaranteed acceptable levels of learning. In fact, it is usual to find a significant percentage of children in schools in contexts of poverty with a very low literacy level. The aim of this study was to analyze whether socioeconomic, familiar or school variables are related to the difficulties with writing and reading that most children from poor neighbors have, despite of being part of the school system. Based on the results of a writing test, two groups of children were identified: a group of children who can't write simple words and another group with children exhibiting similar level of literacy to most of their school peers. Information about socioeconomic status, children school, and home literacy environment of children in the two groups was collected in an interview with children's families at their homes. Results show no significant differences between groups in home literacy environment. However, differences between groups regarding the educational institutions and with socioeconomic levels were observed.

Resumo Várias políticas públicas levadas a cabo nas últimas décadas na Argentina consegui ram melhorar significativamente as taxas de retenção de crianças nas escolas. No entanto, em contextos de pobreza, a frequência escolar nem sempre foi acompanhada por níveis aceitáveis de aprendizagem. Neste trabalho propomos, então, analisar se existem variáveis socioeconómicas, familiares ou escolares relacionadas com as dificuldades experimentadas por muitas crianças de bairros pobres para aprender a ler e escrever, apesar de estar incorporados no sistema educacional. Para este fim, em primeiro lugar, formamos dois grupos de crianças com base nos resultados de um teste de escrita: um com um nível de alfabetização muito baixo e um com um nível de alfabetização semelhante ao da maior parte de seus pares. Em segundo lugar, realizamos entrevistas com as famílias das crianças dos dois grupos para coletar dados sobre o status socioeconómico da família, as escolas frequentadas pelas crianças e o contexto de alfabetização no espaço doméstico. As medidas obtidas na comparação entre os grupos assinalaram que não há diferenças entre eles em relação com o contexto de alfabetização no espaço doméstico, porém existem diferenças respeito ao status socioeconômico. Também observamos que a escola frequentada pelas crianças foi a variável que melhor previu seu desempenho na escrita.

Resumen: El objetivo del estudio fue analizar la respuesta a la intervención (rai) en niños en contextos de pobreza con bajo nivel de alfabetización respecto de sus pares. Durante seis meses, 37 alumnos de 7 a 14 años de edad participaron de un programa de enseñanza individual. Los niños completaron una prueba de escritura de palabras al comenzar y al finalizar la intervención. Se obtuvieron diferencias significativas entre el pre y pos test. Un análisis de regresión sobre la ganancia en escritura mostró que la cantidad de sesiones del programa tuvo un efecto significativo. Solamente un 16 % de los niños presentó baja rai, lo que indica que las dificultades de la mayor parte de los niños serían experienciales y no resultado de déficit cognitivo.

Abstract: The paper aimed to analyze the Response to Intervention (rti) in children growing up in poverty contexts and exhibiting low levels of literacy when compared to their school peers. For six months, 37 7-to-14-year-old children (41 % girls) participated in an educational program administered individually. Children were given a word spelling task before and after the intervention. Statistically significant differences were obtained between pre- and post-test. A regression analysis carried out on spelling gains showed that the number of program sessions children participated in had a significant effect. Only 16 % of the children had a low rti, indicating that most children´s difficulties were experiential rather that related to cognitive deficits.

Resumen En este estudio se analizó el desarrollo de conocimiento ortográfico de niños en el marco de un programa de intervención de aulas educativas en el que participaron 74 niños argentinos que cursaban 3er grado de la escuela primaria y que fueron ubicados en dos grupos: 36 niños en un grupo de intervención y 38 en un grupo control. Con el grupo de intervención, se realizó una secuencia didáctica para promover la formación de representaciones ortográficas léxicas y sub-léxicas y el aprendizaje de reglas contextuales. La comparación postest entre grupos mostró un desempeño superior del grupo de intervención en la escritura de las palabras entrenadas. También se evaluaron ambos grupos en la escritura de palabras de transferencia, palabras no específicamente trabajadas en la intervención pero que compartían reglas ortográficas, sílabas o morfemas con las palabras entrenadas. Los resultados postest mostraron que el grupo de intervención escribió significativamente mejor que el grupo control las palabras de transferencia con las mismas reglas ortográficas contextuales pero no con las que incluían cadenas subléxicas idénticas a las de las palabras de entrenamiento. Se concluye que la intervención realizada benefició la transferencia de reglas contextuales pero no de representaciones ortográficas subléxicas para la escritura de palabras desconocidas.

Abstract This paper analyzed the acquisition of orthographic knowledge in 3rd grade, Spanish-speaking children. Participants were 74 Argentine children; 36 were included in an experimental group while 38 were part of a control group. The experimental group was engaged in classroom activities designed to promote the acquisition of context-sensitive correspondence rules and the establishment of orthographic representations of words, syllables and morphemes. Post-test comparisons carried out between the experimental and the control groups showed that the experimental group was significantly better in the spelling of all words trained in the program. Children were also evaluated in the spelling of transfer words, that is, words not specifically presented in the intervention program but which included the same rules, syllables or morphemes as the trained words. The experimental group outperformed the control group in the spelling of transfer words including the context-sensitive correspondence rules presented in the program. However, no differences were obtained between groups in transfer words comprising the trained syllables or morphemes. These results suggest that the intervention program was effective in promoting the transfer of newly acquired rules to non trained words but that the acquisition and transfer of syllables and morphemes may require additional processes.

Este estudio se propuso analizar la respuesta de niños de 3er grado ante una intervención pedagógica destinada a promover la formación de representaciones ortográficas de palabras. Las palabras de entrenamiento contenían sílabas o morfemas ortográficamente complejos (con dos o más escrituras posibles). Luego de realizada la intervención se evaluó la escritura de las palabras de entrenamiento más un grupo de pseudopalabras no incluidas en la intervención pero que contenían las sílabas o morfemas incorporados a las palabras de entrenamiento. En base al desempeño en la escritura de palabras, se ubicó a los niños en grupos de alta o baja respuesta a la intervención. Se comparó a ambos grupos en la escritura de las pseudopalabras. Los resultados sugieren que los niños del grupo de alto nivel de respuesta tendieron a almacenar en mayor medida las unidades sub-léxicas presentes en las palabras de entrenamiento que el grupo de bajo nivel de respuesta

The study aimed at comparing the response of 3rd. grade children to an intervention designed to promote the acquisition of orthographic representations of words children knew but could not spell. These training words contained syllables or morphemes which were orthographically complex, that is, which have two or more accepted spellings in Spanish. After the intervention, children were asked to spell the trained as well as pseudowords not presented during the intervention but which included syllables or morphemes present in the trained words, so as to explore children´s ability to acquire and transfer sub-lexical knowledge. Children´s response to intervention was calculated as the difference between their performance in spelling the trained words in the pre- and post-tests. High and low responders were compared in the spelling of the pseudowords. Results showed that the children from the high-response group performed significantly better than low-responders in the spelling of pseudowords

Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron: (1) analizar la interacción entre los procesos fonológicos y la adquisición del conocimiento ortográfico en niños que aprenden a leer y escribir en español y (2) analizar qué habilidades predicen el aprendizaje ortográfico. Para ello se realizó un estudio longitudinal de primer a tercer grados con 46 sujetos hispanohablantes. A principio de primer grado se administraron pruebas para medir las habilidades predictoras de conocimiento ortográfico. A finales de los grados primero a tercero se administró una prueba de lectura y escritura de palabras ortográficamente complejas y de seudopalabras. Los resultados mostraron, en concordancia con investigaciones pasadas, que en momentos iniciales los niños leen y escriben palabras accediendo al procesamiento fonológico, y que a partir de segundo grado el conocimiento ortográfico empieza a incrementarse y a tener como mejores predictores las habilidades de denominación rápida y fluidez en el trazado de las letras.

This paper analyzed the interaction between phono logical processes and the acquisition of orthographic knowledge in children learning to read and spell in Spanish. The study explored which abilities predicted the orthographic knowledge involved in the recognition and spelling of words including inconsistent correspondences. A longitudinal study was conducted with 46 1st to 3rd grade children. At the beginning of 1st grade children were given tests evaluating abilities that are considered potential predictors of orthographic knowledge acquisition. At the end of 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades tests of reading and spelling of orthographically complex words as well as of pseudowords were administered. Results from the reading and spelling tests showed that at the beginning children read and spell through phonological processing and that starting 2nd grade orthographic knowledge increases. This knowledge was predicted by rapid naming abilities as well as fluency in letter writing.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a interação entre os processos fonológicos e a aquisição do conhecimento ortográfico em crianças que aprendam a ler e a escrever em espanhol. O estudo também se propôs analisar que habilidades predizem a aprendizagem ortográfica refletido na velocidade no reconhecimento de palavras e na escritura convencional de palavras com correspondências inconsistentes e dependentes do contexto. Para isto, realizou-se um estudo longitudinal de 1er a 3er ano com 46 sujeitos hispanofalantes. No começo do primeiro ano se administraram provas para medir as habilidades preditores de conhecimento ortográfico. No fim de 1ro, 2do y 3ro ano se administrou a prova de leitura e escritura de palavras ortograficamente complexas e de pseudopalavras. Os resultados das provas de leitura e escritura mostraram, em concordância com pesquisas passadas, que em momentos iniciais as crianças leem e escrevem palavras acedendo ao processamento fonológico, e que a partir do 2do ano o conhecimento ortográfico começa a incrementar-se tendo como melhores preditores às habilidades de denominação rápida e fluidez no traço das letras.

The study aimed to explore whether phonological recoding can be considered a self-teaching mechanism of the orthographic representations of Spanish words. Through intentional sampling, 46 3rd graders from a Buenos Aires school participated in an experimental study. Children had to read short stories which included target pseudowords. These pseudowords contained one phoneme that can be represented by more than one grapheme in the Spanish orthographic system (/b/ as <B> or <V>). Two days after reading the stories children were post-tested in order to explore whether orthographic learning had taken place. Descriptive statistics and means comparisons (Wilcoxon and Friedman tests) were calculated. General results supported the hypothesis of phonological recoding as a self-teaching mechanism. However, an item-based analysis showed that, in those cases in which the pseudoword included a non-dominant grapheme substantially less frequent than the dominant version (/s/ as <S> or <C>), reading was not enough to form an orthographic representation.

El objetivo del estudio fue explorar si la recodificación fonológica de palabras actúa como mecanismo de aprendizaje de su forma ortográfica en español. Por medio de una muestra intencional, 46 niños que cursaban el 3er año de escolaridad primaria en un colegio de Buenos Aires participaron de un estudio experimental: debían leer narraciones breves con pseudopalabras meta, las que incluían algún fonema que puede ser codificado mediante más de un grafema en el sistema ortográfico del español (/b/ como <B> o como <V>); 2 días después los niños se sometían a un post-test para verificar si se había producido aprendizaje ortográfico. Se calcularon estadísticos descriptivos y contrastes entre medias (pruebas de Wilcoxon y Friedman). Los resultados generales arrojaron evidencia a favor de la hipótesis de la recodificación fonológica como mecanismo de autoaprendizaje. Sin embargo, un análisis por ítem reveló que, en los casos en que la pseudopalabra incluye un grafema no dominante con una amplia diferencia de frecuencia con respecto al grafema dominante (/s/ como <S> o como <C>), la lectura no constituye un mecanismo suficiente para formar la representación ortográfica correspondiente.

Together with phonological sensitivity, letter knowledge has been shown to be one of the best predictors of reading acquisition (Lerväg, Bratën & Hulme, 2009; Muter, Hulme, Snowling & Stevenson, 2004). But letter learning represents a considerable challenge for many children growing in poverty contexts, as evidenced by studies conducted with both selected and unselected samples of different ages (Diuk, Serrano & Ferroni, 2013; Duncan & Seymour, 2000). Even though letter knowledge has been largely attributed to experiential factors such as learning opportunities provided by a child's home or school, there is growing evidence that individual differences in several cognitive and linguistic variables are related to the ease with which children learn letter names or sounds. This paper aimed at exploring letter learning in 50 Argentine, 5-year-old children growing in poverty. Children were tested towards the end of their kindergarten year. An experimental training situation was adapted from Levin, Shatil-Carmon and Asif-Rave (2006). In this situation children were presented with unknown letters (letters from the Cyrillic alphabet). Pseudonames for these letters were created attending to the characteristics of letter names in Spanish. Training involved a card game consisting of a mixed pile of letter cards and picture cards. In each round of the game, the child uncovered one card after the other from the pile and, when a letter card turned up, he or she was asked to provide the letter's name. Children were presented with four letters, two per session. A point was awarded when the child could accurately name each letter. In order to identify cognitive and linguistic variables which might establish individual differences among children in the ease of acquiring letter names, before the training situation children were given tests evaluating phonological sensitivity (syllable and initial sound recognition), phonological memory (digit span and pseudoword repetition), visual memory and rapid naming (RAN) of objects, colors and digits. Based on the scores in the letter learning situation, two subgroups of children were established. The high- and the low - performing subgroups were then compared on the cognitive and linguistic variables previously examined. No differences between groups were obtained in either phonological sensitivity test, in phonological memory (digit span or pseudoword repetition) or visual memory. Statistically significant differences were only found in the rapid naming of objects (results from the rapid naming of colors and digits tests were excluded from analyses given that a high percentage of the sample could not name all five colors or numbers included in the task). The precise cognitive substrate tapped by rapid naming tasks has given rise to considerable debate in the field of Reading Psychology, but there is a growing consensus that these tasks probably capture the efficiency of basic neural mechanisms participating in the establishment of visual-verbal associations (Lervåg & Hulme, 2009). In terms of educational implications, rapid naming has proven to be hard to improve (de Jong & Vrielink, 2004). However, abilities strongly associated with RAN, such as reading fluency, can be enhanced through practice, even if rapid naming itself doesn't improve. RAN performance could consequently be considered an indication of the intensity of the intervention a child will need to achieve learning. Given that many low-income children have few opportunities for learning letter names and sounds in their communities, the fact that current kindergarten curricula do not include teaching letters may put many children in the situation of having to acquire alphabet knowledge in a short period of time once they enter 1st grade. Individual differences in rapid naming can thus be expected to play a role in the ease with which children learn in such a demanding context.

El trabajo que se informa se propuso explorar las diferencias individuales en las habilidades asociadas al aprendizaje de letras en 50 niños de 5 años de edad y de nivel socioeconómico bajo. Motivó este estudio la evidencia existente acerca de las dificultades que el dominio de las letras representa para parte de los niños en contextos de pobreza. A fin de identificar las variables que diferenciaban a los niños con mayor o menor facilidad para el aprendizaje de letras, se administraron pruebas que evalúan sensibilidad fonológica, memoria visual, memoria fonológica y denominación rápida. A continuación, se llevó adelante una situación experimental de aprendizaje de letras desconocidas, a las que se asignaron pseudo -nombres elaborados en base a las características de los nombres de las letras en español. En dos sesiones se presentaron cuatro letras (dos por sesión) y se evaluó la capacidad de los niños para reconocerlas por su nombre. En función del desempeño en la situación de aprendizaje de letras se dividió al grupo en niños con alto y bajo nivel de desempeño y se comparó a los subgrupos en las restantes habilidades evaluadas. La única tarea en la que se obtuvieron diferencias significativas fue en la prueba de denominación rápida de objetos, tarea que capturaría el componente de asociación visual-verbal del aprendizaje de letras. Se analizan las implicancias educativas de estos hallazgos.

Este estudo explorou se as dificuldades leitoras em contextos de pobreza podem ser interpretadas em termos do Efeito Mateus, que postula uma acumulação das diferenças entre quem ingressa na escola com altos e baixos conhecimentos. Foram avaliadas 58 crianças ingressantes na primeira série com testes de processamento fonológico, conhecimento de letras, leitura e escrita, e se identificou um grupo de crianças em risco. Com base em avaliações de leitura e escrita ministradas no final da primeira, segunda e terceira série, se comparou a evolução das crianças em risco com a de seus pares. No primeiro ano, a distância entre grupos se ampliou, confirmando as predições do Efeito Mateus. A partir do segundo ano, a escola proporcionou às crianças em risco um apoio educativo adicional. As diferenças entre grupos já não se ampliaram. Considera-se que esses resultados evidenciam a incidência da intervenção pedagógica na configuração das dificuldades.

In this study we investigate whether the reading difficulties in poverty environment may be interpreted in terms of the "Matthew Effect", which posits an accumulation of differences between those who enter school with high and low knowledge. We evaluate 58 children entering first grade with tests of phonological processing, letter knowledge, reading and writing, and identified a group of children at risk. Based on assessments of reading and writing taught at the end of the first, second and third grades, we compared the evolution of children at risk with their peers. In the first year, the gap between groups widened confirming the predictions of the Matthew Effect. From the second year, the school provided children at risk with an additional educational support. Differences between groups no longer increased. It is considered that these results show the impact of educational intervention in facing children´s difficulties.

Este estudio investigó si las dificultades de lectura en contextos de pobreza pueden interpretarse en términos del Efecto Mateo, que plantea una acumulación de diferencias entre quien ingresa a la escuela con altos y bajos conocimientos. Se evaluaron 58 niños recién admitidos en el primer grado con pruebas de procesamiento fonológico, conocimiento de letras, lectura y escritura y se identificó un grupo de niños en riesgo. Con base en evaluaciones de lectura y escritura realizadas al final del primer, segundo y tercer grado se comparó la evolución de los niños en riesgo con la de sus compañeros. En el primer grado, la distancia entre grupos se amplió, confirmando las predicciones del Efecto Mateo. A partir del segundo grado, la escuela proporcionó a los niños en riesgo un apoyo educativo adicional. No se ampliaron más las diferencias entre grupos. Se considera que estos resultados manifiestan la repercusión de la intervención pedagógica en la configuración de las dificultades.