The purpose of this volume is to present recent research in the field of the acquisition of functional literacy and its precursors. The volume aims to capture the state of the art in this rapidly expanding field. An attempt is made to clarify the vague and often inconsistent definitions of functional literacy from the perspective of development. Cognitive, linguistic, educational, and social factors of literacy development are all taken into account. Table of ContentsIntroduction: Functional literacy in a developmental perspective Ludo Verhoeven, Carsten Elbro and Pieter Reitsma 3 Part 1: Roots of phonological awareness 17 The quality of phonological representations and phonological awareness: A causal link? Carsten Elbro and Bolette R. Pallesen 17 Precursors of phonemic awareness Pieter Reitsma 33 The role of orthographic onset-rime units in Dutch beginning readers Astrid Geudens and Dominiek Sandra 49 Manifestations of phonological deficits in dyslexia Vera C.S. Messbauer, Peter F. de Jong and Aryan van der Leij 69 Metaphonological awareness in monolingual and bilingual kindergartners Vincent Goetry, Régine Kolinsky and Philippe Mousty 89 Does speech manipulation make word discrimination easier? Eliane Segers and Ludo Verhoeven 109 Part 2: Factors in reading and writing efficiency 121 The acquisition of untaught orthographic regularities in French Sébastien Pacton, Michel Fayol and Pierre Perruchet 121 Subsyllabic units in reading: A difference between Korean and English Hye Kyung Yoon, Donald J. Bolger, Oh-Seek Kwon and Charles A. Perfetti 139 Orthography, phonology and semantics: Concerted action in word perception Anna M.T. Bosman and Janet G. van Hell 165 The lexical quality hypothesis Charles A. Perfetti and Lesley Hart 189 Relationships between reading and writing skills in the intermediate grades Hanna S. Mäki, Marinus J.M. Voeten, Marja M.S. Vauras and Pekka Niemi 215 Task-related factors in reading efficiency of dyslexic children Aryan van der Leij, Victor van Daal and Peter F. de Jong 229 Part 3: Attaining functional literacy 249 Parental and teacher commitment in emergent literacy development Judith Stoep, Joep Bakker and Ludo Verhoeven 249 Sociocultural differences in reading skills, reading motivation, and reading strategies Willy Elsäcker and Ludo Verhoeven 265 Bilingualism and reading Linda S. Siegel 287 Age and gender differences in reading engagement Liliane Kjellman 303 Promoting at-risk pupils’ foreign language literacy learning Mia Dufva and Marja M.S. Vauras 317 Predictors of adult functional reading skills Elisabeth Arnbak 339