Some search terms could be:
• Dyslexia + cross-linguistic
• Dyslexia + [language that interests you]
• Mandarin
• Japanese
• Greek
• Italian
• Hebrew
• You are free to choose any of the above languages you like, so long as you can find a research article that sufficiently discusses dyslexia within this language.
Step 2: Gather Your Information
You should select your article carefully. This means you will likely need to read (skim) more than one article to find the one that is best for your assignment. Make sure you’ll be able to answer all of the questions below using this article.
Overview articles might be a great place to start for helping you expand your understanding (and if you use any, you should add them to your reference list and cite them within your paper, as an additional source). However, an overview article will not have sufficient detail on any one study to answer all the questions below. You need to find a research paper.
Step 3: Report Your Findings
[1] Introduce the language and describe its writing system (approx. ½ page).
Your description of the language and writing system should address these questions:
• Does this language use an alphabetic writing system?
o If yes, is it deep (opaque) or shallow (transparent) orthography?
▪ Shallow = clear one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and graphemes (e.g., Spanish)
▪ Deep = there is not a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and graphemes (e.g., English
o If the language does not use an alphabetic script, what does it use? Describe the writing system and how it works.
o Note: the paper you select should include this information in the introduction. If it does not, I would recommend selecting another paper. If you really like the paper for some other reason but it does not have this information, you’ll need to do additional research to address these questions. Make sure to cite any additional sources you use.
• Is there any suggestion that the written register of the language is notably different from the spoken register? (e.g., Arabic is an example of where this would matter. You’ll often see the concept of diglossia discussed).
• Is there anything else of note about the language’s writing system that might be of interest to note because it could impact learning to read? (e.g., Arabic often doesn’t include the vowels in written texts, only consonants).
• Optional: which direction is the language written?
[2] Describe the research article (approx. 1 page)
Your summary should include the following information:
• Participants details (e.g., how many, how old, and monolingual or bilingual?)
• Type of data used (e.g., how did they measure reading?)
• Main findings
[3] Relate the research article back to the class material (approx. 1-2 pages)
This should be an academic reflection. It is meant to enhance the depth of your understanding of the course material. You should address the following questions in this part of your assignment:
• Does dyslexia in this language look similar to what we discussed in class for English? Be as specific as possible in comparing data from the paper with data from class.
• Is there anything surprising/unexpected that you found in your research? If yes, make sure to cite the evidence for your initial belief/hypothesis and why this research challenges (diverges from) that hypothesis. If no, explain how this research article aligns (converges) with what we learned in class and thus reinforces your hypotheses about dyslexia.
• Discuss the extent to which a phonological deficit account can explain the pattern of data described in your research article.
• Discuss the extent to which a multiple deficit account can explain the pattern of data described in your research article.
