Browsing by Author "Zinszer, Benjamin"

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    Contributions of Procedural Memory to Emergent Reading in Older Children
    (2023-09-21) Hannon, Joelle; Zinszer, Benjamin; Kouadio, Elise; Tanoh, Fabrice; Earle, Sayako; Jasińska, Kaja
    Research on emergent reading has focused almost exclusively on children who begin learning to read by age 5-6, despite the fact that many children around the world begin learning to read later in childhood. Little is known about how older children learn to read for the first time. Importantly, procedural learning supports children’s ability to acquire new skills implicitly and apply those skills with automaticity. Procedural learning is therefore thought to support early reading and reading-related skills, such as phonological awareness. However, as children age they may become less reliant on procedural learning. Older children learn new language skills through largely explicit memorization as opposed to implicit procedural learning, and the same is potentially true for language adjacent skills such as reading. Older children may rely less on procedurally supported phonological awareness when reading for the first time and instead rely on explicit skills such as vocabulary. We examined the role of procedural learning in emergent reading across different ages (9-15 years), focusing on low-literacy communities in rural Côte d’Ivoire, where many children remain in emergent stages of reading even at the end of primary school and age for grade is highly variable. We find that the relation between phonological awareness and reading, and vocabulary and reading among older emergent readers depends on procedural learning.
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    Home learning environment and physical development impact children’s executive function development and literacy in rural Côte d’Ivoire
    (2022-04-28) Jasińska, Kaja; Zinszer, Benjamin; Xu, Zizhuo; Hannon, Joelle; Seri, Axel, Blahoua; Tanoh, Fabrice; Akpe, Yapo, Hermann
    Socio-economic status (SES) is closely linked to children’s reading development. Previous research suggests that executive functions (EF) mediate the effects of SES on reading, however, this research has almost exclusively focused on high-income countries (HICs). Comparatively less is known about the mechanisms that link SES and literacy in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). Childhood experiences of poverty in LMICs have been consistently linked to cognitive development through two sets of predictors: nutrition and physical growth, and the availability of educational scaffolding at home. The influence of the home learning environment (i.e. material deprivation, types of caregiver interactions) and nutrition to support children’s physical development (i.e. children’s BMI and stature for their age) on EF and literacy was examined in 630 primary-school children (6-14 years) in rural Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Structural equation modeling revealed that SES had an indirect effect on EF via the home learning environment, and in turn, reading. Importantly, the home learning environment, and a child’s physical development and nutrition showed distinct contributions to EF. The results suggest that improved educational scaffolding at home and supplemented nutrition could support EF development and reduce the negative impact of socioeconomic risk factors on reading.
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    Risk and resilience factors for primary school dropout in Côte d’Ivoire
    (2022-10-18) Wortsman,. Brooke; Capani, Angela; Brice, Henry; Ball, Mary-Claire; Zinszer, Benjamin; Tanoh, Fabrice; Akpe, Yapo, Hermann; Ogan, Amy; Wolf, Sharon; Jasińska, Kaja
    We examined child-, family-, and school-level risk and resilience factors associated with dropout using longitudinal data of fifth-grade students in rural Côte d’Ivoire (N=1195, Mage=10.75, SDage=1.42). Children who dropped out were older, involved in more child labour, had poorer literacy, owned fewer books, and attended schools with poorer learning environments. Cumulative risk (CR) indices revealed that child-level CR most strongly predicted dropout (b=-0.86, OR=0.42); further, children with low child-level CR were more likely to drop out when family-level CR was high (b=0.23, OR=1.25). Better school infrastructure and teachers were protective for children who were at high risk of dropout yet remained enrolled. Although child- and family-level factors contribute to risk of dropout, school-level factors may mitigate risks and promote academic resilience amongst students in West Africa.