Acquisition Of Orthographic Knowledge Research Articles

How do Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners acquire orthographic knowledge: component, structure and position regularity

Learning Chinese characters could be challenging for many CSL learners due to the distinction in orthographic features between the Chinese written system and their first languages. While acquisition of orthographic knowledge could be important for learning Chinese characters, how they can gain knowledge about different aspects of Chinese orthography (i.e. component, structure and position regularity) remains less studied. The component is a basic perceptual constituent of Chinese characters, the character structure is the configuration layout formed by relative positions of components. Many components are supposed to follow the implicit position regularity rule when they are integrated to form characters. In this study, a total of 213 CSL students in Hong Kong were invited to complete three tasks measuring students’ component knowledge, structural knowledge, and position regularity knowledge. It has been found that overall CSL students’ performance in these tasks seemed to be affected by character structures. Furthermore, we found that component knowledge had an indirect effect on position regularity knowledge via the mediation of structural knowledge, which showed a possible link about how learners gradually understand complex orthographic rules based on the perceptual observation. Implications for the teaching and learning of the Chinese language were also discussed.

Kannada akshara knowledge in primary school children: measurement of accuracy and reaction time using a cross-sectional study design

Background: Reading acquisition varies between languages, as languages differ in terms of phonology and orthography. Orthographic knowledge is demonstrated to be crucial in literacy acquisition in most orthographies. The literature on acquisition of orthographic knowledge has focused more on alphabetic orthographies and less is understood in alphasyllabary Kannada language. The present study aimed to understand the akshara knowledge acquisition by measuring akshara identification accuracy and reaction time in typically developing Kannada medium primary school children. Methods: The study consisted of 315 typically developing children, 45 each from Grade I through Grade VII between the age range of 5 years 6 months to 12 years 6 months. The children were assessed for akshara identification accuracy and reaction time using a representative sample of 67 akshara selected at four different levels of complexity: vowels in primary form, consonant with inherent vowels, consonant with vowel diacritics, and consonant clusters. The mean performance was compared between the groups using one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni test. Results: One-way ANOVA revealed significant main effect (p≤0.05) of Grade on akshara identification accuracy and reaction time. The post-hoc Bonferroni test revealed that the mean akshara identification accuracy improved significantly (p≤0.05) from Grade I to Grade V and reached a plateau at Grade VI. The reaction time significantly reduced from Grade I to Grade IV and there was no significant change beyond Grade V. Conclusion: The children learning to read alphasyllabary Kannada gain mastery over the majority of aksharas during the initial years of formal schooling, which develops completely by Grade VI. The automaticity in naming akshara develops gradually and reaches a plateau by Grade IV. The present findings indicate that children acquire automaticity in naming akshara early, while the akshara knowledge continues to develop.

Kannada akshara knowledge in primary school children: measurement of accuracy and reaction time using a cross-sectional study design.

Background: Reading acquisition varies between languages, as languages differ in terms of phonology and orthography. Orthographic knowledge is demonstrated to be crucial in literacy acquisition in most orthographies. The literature on acquisition of orthographic knowledge has focused more on alphabetic orthographies and less is understood in alphasyllabary Kannada language. The present study aimed to understand the akshara knowledge acquisition by measuring akshara identification accuracy and reaction time in typically developing Kannada medium primary school children. Methods: The study consisted of 315 typically developing children, 45 each from Grade I through Grade VII between the age range of 5 years 6 months to 12 years 6 months. The children were assessed for akshara identification accuracy and reaction time using a representative sample of 67 akshara selected at four different levels of complexity: vowels in primary form, consonant with inherent vowels, consonant with vowel diacritics, and consonant clusters. The mean performance was compared between the groups using one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Bonferroni test. Results: One-way ANOVA revealed significant main effect (p≤0.05) of Grade on akshara identification accuracy and reaction time. The post-hoc Bonferroni test revealed that the mean akshara identification accuracy improved significantly (p≤0.05) from Grade I to Grade V and reached a plateau at Grade VI. The reaction time significantly reduced from Grade I to Grade IV and there was no significant change beyond Grade V. Conclusion: The children learning to read alphasyllabary Kannada gain mastery over the majority of aksharas during the initial years of formal schooling, which develops completely by Grade VI. The automaticity in naming akshara develops gradually and reaches a plateau by Grade IV. The present findings indicate that children acquire automaticity in naming akshara early, while the akshara knowledge continues to develop.

Acquisition of orthographic knowledge: Developmental difference among learners with Chinese as a second language (CSL)

Drawing upon existing research on acquisition of orthographic skills among Chinese learners, this research further extended the scope to investigate the developmental difference among Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners in Hong Kong. A total of 157 students, including 32 fifth graders, 44 seventh graders, 42 ninth graders and 39 eleventh graders responded to three orthographic tasks tapping knowledge on three aspects of Chinese orthography: component, structure and position regularity of component. While the constituent component and structure of characters could be perceived visually, the knowledge about position regularity of components which determines the legitimacy of characters is implicit and difficult to acquire. It was found that CSL learners demonstrated some understanding of orthographic properties of Chinese characters from Grade 5, but developed these three types of orthographic knowledge in non-synchronized ways. Moreover, it was found that structural knowledge contributed more than component knowledge to the development of position regularity knowledge. These findings suggest that teachers should place more emphasis on explicit introduction of orthographic knowledge to CSL learners and provide constructive strategies for effective learning.

The Acquisition of Orthographic Knowledge: Evidence from the Lexicality Effects on N400.

This study aimed to understand how reading ability shapes the lexicality effects on N400. Fifty-three typical developing children from the second to the sixth grades were asked to perform the pronounceability judgment task on a set of Chinese real characters (RC), pseudocharacters (PC) and non-characters (NC), as ERPs were recorded. The cluster-based permutation analysis revealed that children with low- to medium-reading ability showed greater negativity to NCs than to RCs and PCs in frontal sites from 300 to 450 ms, while children with high ability group showed a greater positivity to NCs than both RCs and PCs at central to posterior sites. Furthermore, the linear mixed model (LMM) analysis was applied to investigate the relationship between lexicality effects on N400 and reading-related behavioral assessments on a set of standardized tests (including character recognition, vocabulary size, phonological awareness, and working memory). The results found that in children with lower reading ability, the N400 elicited by NCs becomes more negative in the frontal sites. For children with higher reading ability, the N400 elicited by NCs became more positive than that elicited by RCs or PCs in the posterior sites. These findings demonstrate the developmental changes in the lexicality effects on N400 as children become more advanced readers and suggested that the lexicality effects on N400 can serve as neural markers for the evaluation of orthographic proficiency in reading development.

Desarrollo de conocimiento ortográfico en niños: formación de representaciones ortográficas y aprendizaje de reglas contextuales

Desarrollo de conocimiento ortográfico en niños: formación de representaciones ortográficas y aprendizaje de reglas contextuales

Desarrollo de la lectura y la escritura de palabras con ortografía compleja: sus predictores

This paper analyzed the interaction between phonological processes and the acquisition of orthographic knowledge in children learning to read and spell in Spanish. The study explored which abilities predicted the orthographic knowledge involved in the recognition and spelling of words including inconsistent correspondences. A longitudinal study was conducted with 46 1st to 3rd grade children. At the beginning of 1st grade children were given tests evaluating abilities that are considered potential predictors of orthographic knowledge acquisition. At the end of 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades tests of reading and spelling of orthographically complex words as well as of pseudowords were administered. Results from the reading and spelling tests showed that at the beginning children read and spell through phonological processing and that starting 2nd grade orthographic knowledge increases. This knowledge was predicted by rapid naming abilities as well as fluency in letter writing.

Statistical learning of novel graphotactic constraints in children and adults

The current study explored statistical learning processes in the acquisition of orthographic knowledge in school-aged children and skilled adults. Learning of novel graphotactic constraints on the position and context of letter distributions was induced by means of a two-phase learning task adapted from Onishi, Chambers, and Fisher (Cognition, 83 (2002) B13–B23). Following incidental exposure to pattern-embedding stimuli in Phase 1, participants’ learning generalization was tested in Phase 2 with legality judgments about novel conforming/nonconforming word-like strings. Test phase performance was above chance, suggesting that both types of constraints were reliably learned even after relatively brief exposure. As hypothesized, signal detection theory d′ analyses confirmed that learning permissible letter positions (d′=0.97) was easier than permissible neighboring letter contexts (d′=0.19). Adults were more accurate than children in all but a strict analysis of the contextual constraints condition. Consistent with the statistical learning perspective in literacy, our results suggest that statistical learning mechanisms contribute to children’s and adults’ acquisition of knowledge about graphotactic constraints similar to those existing in their orthography.

Cognitive constraints and the early learning goals in writing

This study examined the relative importance of a number of cognitive factors (i.e. working memory, vocabulary knowledge, general cognitive ability and reading skills) in accounting for differences in the rate of progress made by children in the development of emergent writing skills. Sixty‐seven children were assessed on tasks measuring the visuospatial, phonological and central executive components of working memory. The children's written texts were analysed according to the assessment scale for writing from the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. The results indicate that reading performance and visuospatial memory skills are crucial to determining whether or not children aged 4–5 years are able to meet the UK government's prescribed educational standards for writing. The importance of visual skills in the acquisition of orthographic knowledge and writing conventions gained through reading is discussed in relation to current instructional strategies within schools.

Effects of repeated reading on the length effect in word and pseudoword reading

In this study the effect of repeated reading on the acquisition of orthographic knowledge was examined. Acquisition of orthographic knowledge was assessed by the effect of word length on reading speed. We predicted that the effect of length in a set of words and pseudowords would decrease after the repeated reading of these (pseudo)words. The study involved fourth and fifth grade dyslexic children, in addition to normal readers in second and fourth grade. Words and pseudowords ranged from four to six letters and were read 16 times. A length effect was found in the dyslexic and younger normal readers, but not in the older normal readers. The length effect did not change from pre‐test to post‐test, although a large overall improvement in reading speed was found in all groups. These results suggest that repeated reading did not alter the predominantly sub‐lexical reading procedure of the dyslexic and younger normal readers. Implications for the interpretation of the length effect and the notion of word‐specific orthographic knowledge are discussed.

Spelling as a self‐teaching mechanism in orthographic learning

The present study examined the possibility that spelling fulfils a self‐teaching function in the acquisition of orthographic knowledge because, like decoding, it requires close attention to letter order and identity as well as to word‐specific spelling–sound mapping. We hypothesised that: (i) spelling would lead to significant (i.e. above‐chance) levels of orthographic learning; (ii) spelling would actually result in superior learning relative to reading owing to the additional processing demands invoked when spelling; (iii) there would be stronger outcomes for post‐test spelling production compared with spelling recognition; and (iv) relative to reading, spelling would produce superior orthographic learning in the case of later‐occurring orthographic detail compared with information appearing earlier in the letter string. In a fully within‐subjects design, third grade Hebrew readers were exposed to novel letter strings presented in three conditions: spelling, reading and an unseen control condition. With the exception of the position by condition interaction (our fourth hypothesis), which, although in the expected direction, failed to attain significance, all hypotheses were supported. These data highlight yet another dimension of reading–writing reciprocity by suggesting that spelling offers a powerful self‐teaching tool in the compilation of word‐specific orthographic representations.

The effect of visual word features on the acquisition of orthographic knowledge

Research with adults has shown that the distortion of visual word features, and in particular of the multiletter features within words, hampers word recognition. In this study, “CaSe MiXiNg” was employed to examine the effect of disrupting visual word features on the acquisition of orthographic knowledge in children. During the training, 18 beginning and 27 advanced readers (in Grades 2, 4, and 5) repeatedly read a set of pseudowords in either lowercase or mixed case. During this training, case mixing appeared to impair reading speed in both reader groups. At posttest, 1 day after the training, case format was either the same as or different from that during the training. Lowercase pseudowords were recognized faster after a lowercase training than after a mixed-case training. In a second study, case was found not to affect the rapid naming of single letters. The combined results suggest that case mixing disrupted the multiletter features in pseudowords and that the disruption of these features can affect the acquisition of orthographic knowledge.

What the Processing of Real Words and Pseudohomophones Can Tell Us about the Development of Orthographic Knowledge in Prelingually Deafened Individuals

This study represents an attempt to determine the nature and efficiency of the strategies used by prelingually deafened individuals for the recognition of written words with reference to an orthographic self-teaching concept (D. L. Share, 1995). A research paradigm asking the participants to make categorical judgments for real words and pseudohomophones of the real words was used for gathering the data. Participants were prelingually deafened, native signers (n = 11, age = 14.18) and a hearing control group (n = 25, age = 15.00). In general, findings suggest that, although the participants with deafness were very impaired in their phonological decoding abilities, their efficiency in recognizing and categorizing written words was similar to that of their hearing counterparts. This suggests that they must have developed strategies for the acquisition of orthographic knowledge that do not rely on phonology.

Subvocal phonological decoding: A key component in diagnosing reading disabilities

AbstractA key aspect of the work of many educational and developmental psychologists is the diagnosis of literacy learning disability. One component of this disability is learning to read words automatically. This difficulty is attributed to the gradual development of phonological decoding and the related acquisition of orthographic knowledge. Unfamiliar letter strings can be decoding either overtly, by saying aloud systematically parts of a written word and then blending the parts, or subvocally. Subvocal decoding is assumed to be more mature develapmentally and to be a key acquisition. The present study examines aspects of the acquisition of subvocal decoding by monitoring the reading of pseudowords by average and low achieving third to fifth graders. Subvocal phonological decoding ability was correlated with the accuracy, comprehension, and rate components of prose reading for both categories of reading ability and was higher for the average readers. Its accuracy was influenced by the number of letters in a pseudoword and its sound structure. Low achieving reoders showed a greater sensitivity to subvocal phonological decoding than average reoders. The implications for the diagnosis of reading disabilities by educational and developmental psychologists are discussed.

An investigation into the structure and acquisition of orthographic knowledge: Evidence from cross-script Kanji-Hiragana priming

Numerous studies have demonstrated that orthographic knowledge is coded in an abstract format in English (e.g., the perceptually dissimilar wordsREAD/read map onto a common abstract orthographic representation). However, it is unclear at present whether this mapping occurs at the letter or word level. Two experiments investigated this issue in a language (i.e., Japanese) in which words can be written in perceptually unrelated scripts (Kanji and Hiragana) and, crucially, in which there are no letter correspondences between scripts. Using the long-term priming paradigm, robust priming was obtained when study-test words were depicted in Hiragana-Kanji, and vice versa. Furthermore, little priming was obtained following a study-test modality shift. The modality-specific nature of this priming suggests that corresponding words in the two scripts share common orthographic representations. A model is outlined that describes how abstract orthographic knowledge is acquired.