Geralyn Timler
Issue Editor Foreword
students progress school becomes increasingly important understand reflect think talk ones language metalinguistics thinking metacognition social interactions metapragmatics meta skills help students access language underpinnings required successful reading writing well subtle nonverbal rules classroom discourse culture social communication eg national reading panel 2000 nelson 2010 robertson 2007 wallach 2004 westby 2007 2014 issue topics language disorders tld 343 presents two strands research focused respective meta skills explores challenges associated developing important assessments areas first three articles issue focus metalinguistics specifically morphological awareness skills address several challenges associated development assessment tasks students without language literacy deficits next two articles focus metacognitive metapragmatic issues related population schoolage children autism spectrum disorder asd issue foreword coeditor julie wolter first introduces part 1 topic morphological awareness also reviews three related articles one proposed comprehensive definition morphological awareness two respective studies wordlevel influences assessment metalinguistic skill coeditor geralyn timler introduces part 2 topics metacognition metapragmatics particularly focused schoolage children asd also reviews two articles related phenomena one theoretical treatise one report research practical assessment tool part 1 metalinguistics metalinguistic abilities established playing important influential role schoolage literacy success national reading panel 2000 relation language literacy success well documented explicit awareness ability segment blend units language phonology ie phonemic awareness widely recognized highly predictive reading writing success ehri et al 2001 recently researchers begun investigate phenomenon morphological awareness ability reflect actively manipulate smallest linguistic units meaning evidence shown morphological awareness associated strongly decoding word identification spelling reading comprehension abilities eg deacon benere pasquarella 2012 deacon et al 2014 nagy carlisle goodwin 2014 wolter wood dzatko 2009 indeed two peerreviewed journals recently devoted full issues topic tld 331 journal learning disabilities 471 purpose part 1 tld issue continue discussion reviews research related challenges defining construct interpreting research developing assessments morphological awareness morphological awareness influences assessment factors complexity despite positive evidence regarding importance morphological awareness predicting language literacy success interpretability findings limited diverse types morphological awareness assessment tasks used across studies incomplete data regarding development many tasks apel diehm apel 2013 carlisle 2010 time standardized task available assess morphological awareness active explicit reflection morphological word structure required thus researchers developed morphological awareness tasks tasks vary widely thoroughly skill assessed whether factors word frequency controlled consequently difficult compare results across studies important continue explore complex factors associated student performance morphological awareness assessment tasks several factors established affecting childrens morphological awareness task performance include certainly limited following morphological suffix level ie inflections vs derivations word frequency ie individuals exposure wordmorpheme therefore familiarity clarity morphological relationships ie transparent vs opaque wordpairs semantic properties individual words eg concrete abstract qualities words general children develop awareness inflectional morphology affixes changing tense plurality possession early first grade wolter et al 2009 develop consistent awareness derivational morphology set affixes typically change word class third grade kuo anderson 2006 given differential development inflectional derivational morphology stands reason morphological awareness suffix level must considered morphological awareness task development reflect developmental data specifically young children factors word frequency transparency derivedword relationship also appear affect developmental appropriateness morphological awareness measures word frequency likely contributes childs familiarity word recognized confounding variable affecting childrens performance morphological awareness measures eg nippold sun 2008 addition clarity relationship base word corresponding derivative found affect morphological task performance children generally perform better morphological awareness tasks use transparent rather opaque words eg carlisle stone katz 2001 word pairs considered transparent pronunciation spelling base word maintained derived form four fourth heal healing word pairs considered opaque involve shift pronunciation andor spelling derived form five fifth factors may readily affect morphological task performance need controlled considered interpreting designing morphological awareness tasks morphological awareness articles addition aforementioned factors researchers issue explore influences definitional variances affix knowledge word imageability morphological awareness task performance development additional factors appear equally significantly important developing assessments morphological awareness morphological awareness defined metalinguistic modality considerations inclusive unified definition important developing valid assessments morphological awareness readily interpretable comparable across studies indeed without consistent application clear comprehensive definition apel 2014 contends lead article issue assessment outcomes may incomplete research using outcomes may contradicting andor misleading apel reasons research reviews childrens morphological awareness abilities interchangeably focused assessment implicit unconscious use morphology morphological knowledge versus metalinguistic skills explicit conscious reflection required morphological awareness moreover studies included various versions morphological awareness tasks administered spoken written mode complete picture childs morphological awareness skills necessarily assessed results across studies easily compared thus tld issue apel offers comprehensive definition morphological awareness one metalinguistic aspects morphological awareness incorporated spoken written modalities addition apel discusses implications using unified definition morphological awareness assessment provides suggestions ways assess morphological awareness comprehensive manner morphological awareness stimuli development affix imageability considerations article mitchell brady 2014 report investigation third fifthgrade students knowledge 32 common affixes measure knowledge authors developed two experimental subtests included realword pseudoword stimuli respectively see supplemental digital content article subtests included 16 common prefixes 16 common suffixes combined base pseudobase words create multimorphemic stimuli students asked select best meaning multimorphemic stimuli given three possible multiplechoice definitions addition students vocabulary sightwordreading abilities assessed investigated determine skills related predicted affix knowledge results revealed wide range affix knowledge participating students affixes considered common necessarily known thirdgrade students pattern development evident fifthgraders appeared knowledge certain common affixes thirdgraders increased knowledge affixes appeared related vocabulary receptive vocabulary measure found strongest predictor affix knowledge even age entered regression addition although performance word tasks highly correlated pseudoword tasks students performed significantly different two measures specific item affix pairs mitchell brady 2014 noted finding may indicate knowledge multimorphemic words may necessarily indicate awareness affix knowledge affix knowledge necessarily indicate knowledge multimorphemic words consideration future research developmental affix knowledge validation affix knowledge appear important consideration developing morphological stimuli included morphological awareness measures third article part 1 wolter 2014 explores factors influencing stimulus complexity theorizes words semantic imageability indicates easily word invokes visual referent eg teacher high imageability whereas learning low imageability may influence performance morphological awareness assessment tasks imageability effects established wordnaming research shown words highly imageable referents appear readily recognized words less imageable eg strain patterson seidenberg 1995 recently researchers found similar imageability effects schoolage childrens productions words containing inflectional morphemes morphological awareness task dye walenski mostofsky ullman 2013 issue wolter 2014 reports investigation effects imageability word transparency thirdgrade students productions derivational morphology morphological awareness task see supplemental digital content article wolter found conditions transparency high low base word derived form represented phonological potentially orthographic shifts students readily produced words high imageability low imageability results study indicate semantic imageability may warrant investigation semantic factor considered developing stimulus items included measures morphological awareness collectively three articles part 1 reflect need continued discussion research regarding linguistic complexities associated assessment morphological awareness unified consistent comprehensive definition morphological awareness one accounts metalinguistic multimodal components skill needed comprehensively address variance research field moreover morphological awareness task performance appears influenced affix knowledge imageability thus may important account control variables conducting related research potentially consideration research application aforementioned factors may result increased assessment validity interpretability part 2 metacognition metapragmatics metacognition refers ability think ones thoughts including actively planning organizing reflecting ones approach problem situation westby 2005 schoolage children adolescents asked reflect approach social situation metacognitive metapragmatic skills tapped metapragmatics ability reflect explicitly words actions one employs within social interaction make ongoing judgments appropriateness words actions based speaker believes communication partner needs thinking wilkinson milosky 1987 meta skills successful maneuvering social situations require awareness self selfmotivations well awareness ones role social situations role others final two articles issue address topics children asd challenges metapragmatic skills core feature asd recently published diagnostic statistical manual mental disordersfifth edition american psychiatric association 2013 describes persistent deficits social communication social interaction individual must demonstrate receive asd diagnosis deficits include limitations socialemotional reciprocity difficulties nonverbal communicative behaviors used social interaction challenges developing maintaining understanding social relationships shopens 2014 timler boone bergmanns 2014 articles examine deficits first article part 2 shopen 2014 offers theoretical arguments role self subjectivity ie awareness ones experiences feelings beliefs desires lack thereof individuals asd first reviews research evidence regarding lack private speech among individuals asd private speech characterized dialogue within ones mind emerges sometime preschool years shopen describes competing theories use selfdialogue mediate completion challenging tasks form selfregulation faced undesirable stressful situations argues private speech supports development selfhood subjectivity typical development lack speech among individuals asd important area future investigation broaden understanding presence absence private speech might contribute assessment intervention children asd timler et al 2014 address topic assessing awareness social communication skills ie metapragmatics among schoolage children social communication problems peer interaction difficulties describe development new selfreport measure conversation participation schoolage students ages 7 16 years assessment results two case studies boys asd presented compare data elicited new tool results currently available measures timler et al describe childrens selfreflections perceptions conversation activities participation might used guide indepth assessment prioritize social communication intervention goals collectively articles part 2 reflect somewhat divergent mutually exclusive views metacognitive metapragmatic abilities individuals asd shopen 2014 argues individuals asd lack ability reflect upon social situations sense self subjectivity welldeveloped alternatively timler et al 2014 propose children able reflect upon social participation peers reflections selfperceptions provide important implications intervention taken together two articles underscore importance accounting selfreflection cases inability selfreflect assessment intervention children asd summary meta skills metalinguistics specifically morphological awareness metacognition metapragmatics important school success multiple factors appear influence development skills must considered developing interpreting related tasks assessment articles issue present interesting concepts methodology assessment variety important meta skills diverse populations schoolage children continued consideration issues described articles serve inform best practices assessment meta skills may stimulate new directions investigation julie wolter phd cccslp geralyn r timler phd cccslp issue coeditors