Orthographic Processing Ability Research Articles

Orthographic and phonological processing effects on the reading abilities of young children learning to read Malayalam alphasyllabary

Background Learning to read is a complex process that involves phonological and orthographic processing abilities, broader language skills and cognitive processes across all writing systems. Although these components remain common, the pace of acquisition of phonological and orthographic processing and reading abilities differ across writing systems. Methods This study aimed to understand the developmental pattern of reading and phonological processing, assess their interrelationship and study the predictors of reading ability among 175 children, learning to read Malayalam and attending Grades 1–3. They completed various reading (akshara reading, word and nonword reading) and phonological processing (rhyme recognition, syllable deletion, syllable segmentation, phoneme deletion, phoneme substitution, rapid naming and nonword repetition) tasks. Results Grade and reading level-based analysis was performed to collate the results. Results revealed a significant overlap of phonological processing and reading abilities among children in Grades 2 and 3. Reading scores demonstrated a weak-to-moderate significant correlation with the phonological processing tasks. Although skilled readers performed significantly better on all phonological processing tasks, their scores did not reach ceiling. Syllable-level tasks were easier compared to phoneme-level tasks, and they significantly predicted the reading abilities of children. Conclusions The findings contribute to the existing body of evidence for akshara writing systems, specifically in Malayalam alpha-syllabary. The development of phonological processing and reading in Malayalam extends beyond the third grade, and syllable processing contributed to increased variance in reading accuracy among inexperienced readers.

From the Editors

From the Editors

The Effect of Orthographic Neighbors on Second‐Grade Students’ Spelling Acquisition

ABSTRACTMany words in English resemble one another in multiple ways. Words with similar spellings are referred to as orthographic neighbors. The purpose of this within‐subject experimental study was to examine the effect of orthographic neighbors on the spelling acquisition of second‐grade students. In each of five sessions of a computer‐based experiment, 71 participants were presented with two prime words and prompted to learn the spelling of seven novel words. The latter seven words were control words (no meaningful connection with the corresponding prime word) and neighbor words (words representing various types of connections with the corresponding prime word). Spelling tasks were administered twice: immediately after the experiment and two days later. The findings suggest that spelling acquisition depends on two critical factors: orthographic neighbor type and orthographic processing ability. Students’ spelling acquisition was supported by analogizing rime neighbors (e.g., rain/vain). However, facilitative effects were not found for substitution neighbors (e.g., rain/ruin) and transposition neighbors (e.g., clam/calm). Additionally, a student’s level of orthographic processing was an important determinant of spelling acquisition; students with well‐developed orthographic processing ability correctly learned the novel words regardless of the presence of rime neighbors. In contrast, acquiring spelling was far more difficult for students with less developed orthographic processing ability, but their spelling acquisition was strongly facilitated by the presence of rime neighbors. Implications of this research are (a) learners’ orthographic processing skills should be considered when designing spelling instruction and (b) early elementary students need instructional support when making orthographic analogies for substitution and transposition neighbors.

ERPs Reveal Relationships Between Neural Orthographic Priming Effects and Reading Skill

Abstract. Masked priming has long been used to demonstrate the impact of brief presentations of orthographically related stimuli on visual word recognition. The aim of the present study was to examine neural correlates of orthographic priming produced by pronounceable and unpronounceable anagram primes. Crucially, we examined relationships between these priming effects and individual differences on a battery of measures assessing orthographic processing ability, current reading ability, and verbal intelligence in university students. Our study demonstrated group-level priming effects on the N200 and N400, with both components being primarily modulated by unpronounceable, orthographically illegal primes. Relationships between the extent of priming as indexed by N200 amplitude and speed of orthographic processing emerged, as reaction time (RT) on an orthographic choice task was associated with priming effects. Priming effects on N400 amplitude were related to phonological decoding efficiency. Those individuals with less efficient orthographic or phonological processing were more sensitive to the orthographic relationship between primes and targets. These findings demonstrate that university students vary in their sensitivity to orthographic priming and the degree to which orthographic information is used during word recognition.

Individual differences in orthographic priming relate to phonological decoding skill in adults.

We examined relationships between individual differences in orthographic priming and a battery of measures assessing orthographic processing ability, reading history, current reading ability, and verbal intelligence in university students. Pronounceable and unpronounceable nonword primes preceded word and nonword targets. Individual differences in nonword reading skill and other measures of reading and spelling ability were associated with the degree of orthographic priming. Individuals with less phonological decoding skill benefited more from anagram primes for word targets preceded by unpronounceable primes and nonword targets preceded by pronounceable primes. Analyses of extreme groups revealed that the group with the lowest phonemic decoding efficiency scores showed a general benefit of orthographic relatedness, while the group with the highest phonemic decoding efficiency scores showed a benefit only under certain conditions. Thus, individuals with worse nonword reading skills may have less precise orthographic representations and therefore benefit more from overlapping coarse-grained orthographic information, regardless of the pronounceability of the prime or the lexical status of the target. These findings demonstrate that university students vary in their orthographic processing skill and the degree to which orthographic information is used during word recognition.

The visual magnocellular deficit in Chinese-speaking children with developmental dyslexia.

Many alphabetic studies have evidenced that individuals with developmental dyslexia (DD) have deficits in visual magnocellular (M) pathway. However, there are few studies to investigate the M function of Chinese DD. Chinese is a logographic language, and Chinese characters are complicated in structure. Visual skills and orthographic processing abilities are particularly important for efficient reading in Chinese as compared to alphabetic languages. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the visual M function of Chinese DD and whether the M function was associated with orthographic skills. In the present study, 26 dyslexic children (mean age: 10.03 years) and 27 age-matched normal children (mean age: 10.37 years) took part in a coherent motion (CM) detection task and an orthographic awareness test. The results showed that dyslexic children had a significantly higher threshold than age-matched children in CM detection task. Meanwhile, children with DD responded more slowly in orthographic awareness test, although the group difference was marginally significant. The results suggested that Chinese dyslexics had deficits both in visual M pathway processing and orthographic processing. In order to investigate the relationship between M function and orthographic skills, we made a correlation analysis between CM threshold and orthographic awareness by merging performance of dyslexic children and age-matched children. The results revealed that CM thresholds were positively correlated with reaction times in orthographic awareness test, suggesting that better M function was related to better orthographic processing skills.

The development of orthographic and phonological strategies for the decoding of words in children

This study examined the use of orthographic and phonological deletion strategies by children in the 6–16‐year age range. Children from Grades 1 to 10 (n=191) were presented either visually or orally isolated words and were asked to pronounce these words using either an orthographic (spelling) strategy following mental deletion of one letter, or a phonological (sounding) strategy following mental deletion of one sound. All children performed additional reading and spelling tasks in which they read and spelt all the words and derivatives from the deletion tasks. Analysis of variance revealed that younger readers were more accurate when using phonological strategies than when using orthographic strategies, whereas older readers showed superior orthographic and phonological processing abilities. Generally the results supported the suggestion that phonological and orthographic processing ability increase with age, and that the increase in these abilities with age is not solely dependent on reading and spelling ability.

Orthographic processing abilities of adolescents with dyslexia

This study investigated the orthographic processing abilities of reading disabled adolescents (RD), normal readers matched on chronological age (CA), and younger normal readers matched on reading age (RA). The mean age for the three groups were 14 years 2 months, 13 years 8 months, and 10 years respectively. Four experimental measures were adapted from prior research. These include homophone choice accuracy (after Stanovich, West, and Cunningham 1991), orthographic choice accuracy and speed (after Olson et al. 1989), and rapid serial naming of letters (after Denckla and Rudel 1976). In addition, a new test of orthographic processing is introduced (from Hultquist 1996) which assesses the speed and accuracy of reading high frequency words when presented within strings of consonants (embedded) and when presented alone (nonembedded).

Skilled Reading with Impaired Phonology: A Case Study

This paper describes the case of a young woman who is an above average reading comprehender despite deficient phonological processing and phonological memory. She has notdeveloped a reliable or readily accessible set of associations between graphemes and phonemes, and is extremely poor at nonword reading and spelling. We found that, although she was well below average in reading aloud and spelling words, what she excelled at was orthographic processing in silentreading tasks. She was above averagein efficiency in choosing thecorrectly spelt word of short word nonword pairs and in deciding on the lexical status of long words and nonwords, and her efficiency in performing lexical decisions on short word and nonword sequences was exceptional. These data suggest that impaired phonological processing capacity can be compensated for by the development of superior orthographic processing ability.

Children's literacy environments and early word recognition subskills

First-grade children completed a battery of tasks that included standardized measures of word recognition and spelling, measures of phonological and orthographic processing skill, and a short indicator of exposure to print via home literacy experiences. Phonological and orthographic processing skill were separable components of variance in word recognition. Orthographic processing ability accounted for variance in word recognition ability even after the variance in three phonological processing measures had been partialed. Additionally, variance in orthographic processing ability not explained by phonological abilities was reliably linked to differences in print exposure. The print exposure measure was not, however, linked to the measures of phonological processing. This finding was unexpected but it is consistent with some previous research. The theoretical implications of this result are discussed.

Assessing print exposure and orthographic processing skill in children: A quick measure of reading experience.

In a study of third- and fourth-grade children it was established that orthographic processing ability can account for variance in word recognition skill after the variance due to phonological processing has been partialed out. This independent orthographic variances was related to performance on a new measure of individual differences in exposure to print, the Title Recognition Test (TRT), that has a very brief administration time. Additionally, some of the orthographic processing variance linked to word recognition ability was not shared with either phonological processing measures or with print exposure