Project LexPro Training

Training of Lexical Processes of Reading and Spelling

Efficient reading was found to involve the fast visual extraction of morphemes from written words. In this project, a training program which was designed to encourage such a reading process in struggling readers of German, is examined in the 5^th-6^th grades. The main research question is whether reading and spelling in these children can be enhanced through a computerized reading training program, which was designed to encourage morphological analysis in word processing. The morphologically based training program consists of a time-restricted presentation of the letters constituting the word-stems within words, which are  presented in a computerized reading task (gespielt->ge—–t). The effects of the program are contrasted with a control training. This study may contribute to the understanding of how reading ability can be promoted beyond the early years of reading instruction. Notably, in a recent pilot examination, the morphologically based training procedure showed a positive direction of effects on reading and spelling of dyslexic readers of Hebrew (Bar-Kochva, 2015). Therefore, the examination of the same principles of training in German readers may also contribute to the understanding of whether this program is effective in two languages with distinctively different characteristics.

The project includes two studies:

• Study 1: Struggling readers with migration background
• Study 2: Dyslexic readers

Selected Publications

Bar-Kochva, I. (2015). An examination of an intervention program designed to enhance reading and spelling through the training of morphological decomposition in Hebrew word recognition. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1–10.

Khateb, A. & Bar-Kochva, I. (Eds.) (2016). Reading Fluency: Current Insights from Neurocognitive Research and Intervention Studies. Berlin: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-30478-6