Abstract
Two aspects of dynamic systems approaches that are pertinent to developmental models of reading are the emergence of a system with self-organizing characteristics, and its evolution over time to a stable state that is not easily modified or perturbed. The effects of dynamic stability may be seen in the differences obtained in the processing of print by beginner readers taught by different approaches to reading (phonics and text-centered), and more long-term effects on adults, consistent with these differences. However, there is little direct evidence collected over time for the same participants. In this study, lexicalized (implicit) phonological processing, and explicit phonological and letter-sound skills are further examined in a precocious reader whose early development at 3 and 5 years has been extensively described (Cognition, 2000, 2004). At ages 10 and 14 years, comparisons were made with these earlier reports and skilled adult readers, using the same tasks for evidence of changes in reading processes. The results showed that along with an increase of reading accuracy and speed, her pattern of lexicalized phonological responses for reading did not change over time. Neither did her pattern of explicit phonological and letter-sound skills, aspects of which were inferior to her lexicalized phonological processing, and word reading. These results suggest dynamic stability of the word reading system. The early emergence of this system with minimal explicit skill development calls into question developmental reading theories that require such skills for learning to read. Currently, only the Knowledge Sources theory of reading acquisition can account for such findings. Consideration of these aspects of dynamic systems raise theoretical issues that could result in a paradigm shift with regard to best practice and intervention.
Highlights
Children learn to read by forming links between mental representations of visual symbols in print words, and their pre-existing phonological and semantic representations for spoken language
Maxine’s ceiling level of performance on the Andrews and Scarratt nonwords from 5:9 did not leave much room for gains in accuracy, she was equivalent to the adult comparison sample for regular responses to the regular consistent and inconsistent nonwords, and she exceeded them on the irregular responses to the irregular consistent and irregular unique nonwords
Maxine’s accuracy on the Coltheart and Leahy (1992) nonwords showed the same pattern of performance for regular and irregular responses, and the same decrease in response times (RTs) with age
Summary
Children learn to read by forming links between mental representations of visual symbols (letters) in print words, and their pre-existing phonological (sound) and semantic (comprehension) representations for spoken language. The purpose of this study was to consider learning to read as the formation of a dynamic system, and to test the concept of “dynamic stability” by examining behavioral data from a precocious reader for changes in her processing of print over time. CONNECTIONIST VIEWS OF READING Current views of word reading, such as those from connectionist frameworks (e.g., Hutzler et al, 2004; Powell et al, 2006) assume neural system dynamics (analogous to computation in the brain), and address the general issue of how orthographic (print word) inputs are mapped onto spoken language (phonological) processes These computer models (neural nets) have been applied to simulate the formation of a reading system in the brain through an initial architecture, and an extremely large corpus of words, input trials (exposures), learning rules, and error feedback. These connectionist models are purported to represent children’s capacities and knowledge of reading at specific points in their learning, they are at best only approximations (Seidenberg, 2007, p. 3), and perhaps, not surprisingly, they have been criticized for lacking in developmental plausibility
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