Phonological Route Research Articles

The cross-script cognate effect in spoken and written second language production: A study based on Chinese-English bilinguals.

Previous studies using cognates with the same writing system have found cognate facilitation effect in the lexical processes of spoken and typewritten productions and cognate interference effect in the sub-lexical process of typewritten production. This study focused on cross-script cognates, Chinese-English, which have different writing systems, and explored cognate effects based on the input and output modalities by using a Chinese-English translation task. Experiment 1 was under visual input modality and investigated the cross-script cognate effect in all three output modalities: spoken, typewritten and handwritten. Results revealed a cognate facilitation effect in the lexical processes across all three output modalities. However, it showed a cognate facilitation effect rather than a cognate interference effect in the sub-lexical process of typewritten production. Experiment 2 was under auditory input modality and focused on exploring cross-script cognate effect on typewritten and handwritten modalities, finding a consistent result on cognate effects with Experiment 1. Both experiments showed higher accuracy for cognates, and there was no significant difference in cgnate effect between visual and auditory inputs. In summary, these findings indicated that the use of cross-script cognates could effectively mitigate cognate interference. While spoken, handwritten and typewritten production share lexical processes, differences emerge in sub-lexical processes, with spoken production being less influenced by orthography. Furthermore, combining the results of Experiments 1 and 2, typewritten production may lean towards the phonological route while handwritten production may favour the direct lexical-orthographic route in the sub-lexical processes.

Neural basis of writing in prodromal to mild dementia with lewy bodies.

We have previously demonstrated difficulties in written production in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) patients. We now aim to determine the neural correlates of writing production in DLB, combining clinical data and structural MRI measures. Sixteen prodromal to mild DLB patients were selected to participate in the study. The GREMOTS test was used to assess writing production. Using three-dimensional T1 brain MRI images, correlations between the GREMOTS test and grey matter (GM) volume were performed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM; SPM12, XjView and Matlab R2021b softwares). VBM analysis (p<0.001, uncorrected) revealed a positive and significant correlation between both left anterior insula and left supramarginal gyrus GM volumes and DLB patients' ability to write logatoms using the phonological route. The handwriting deficit was negatively and significantly correlated to the supplementary motor area. The parkinsonism-like characteristics of agraphia were negatively and significantly correlated with both right anterior and right posterior cerebellum GM volumes. Our study also revealed a negative and significant correlation between grammatical spelling impairments and an area of the orbitofrontal gyrus, and a negative and significant correlation between supramarginal gyrus and general slowness in dictation tasks. Writing disorders in early DLB patients appears to be GM decreases in several brain regions, such as the left anterior insula, the left supramaginal gyrus, as well as two areas of the right cerebellum.

A single case neuroimaging study of tickertape synesthesia

Reading acquisition is enabled by deep changes in the brain’s visual system and language areas, and in the links subtending their collaboration. Disruption of those plastic processes commonly results in developmental dyslexia. However, atypical development of reading mechanisms may occasionally result in ticker-tape synesthesia (TTS), a condition described by Francis Galton in 1883 wherein individuals “see mentally in print every word that is uttered (…) as from a long imaginary strip of paper”. While reading is the bottom–up translation of letters into speech, TTS may be viewed as its opposite, the top–down translation of speech into internally visualized letters. In a series of functional MRI experiments, we studied MK, a man with TTS. We showed that a set of left-hemispheric areas were more active in MK than in controls during the perception of normal than reversed speech, including frontoparietal areas involved in speech processing, and the Visual Word Form Area, an occipitotemporal region subtending orthography. Those areas were identical to those involved in reading, supporting the construal of TTS as upended reading. Using dynamic causal modeling, we further showed that, parallel to reading, TTS induced by spoken words and pseudowords relied on top–down flow of information along distinct lexical and phonological routes, involving the middle temporal and supramarginal gyri, respectively. Future studies of TTS should shed new light on the neurodevelopmental mechanisms of reading acquisition, their variability and their disorders.

Phonological reading route in Portuguese: Paradoxical precise non-word decoding contrary to purported conversion grammar rules

Abstract It is traditionally said that the phonological reading route operates based on the application of grapheme-to-phoneme conversion rules. Indeed, know-why decoding is based on orthoepic grammatical rules that specify how grapheme pronunciation depends on grapheme position. However, know-how decoding performance may be based on intuition derived from drill-and-practice modeling and shaping. It may occur in the absence of rules, and even in opposition to the rules readers subscribe to. The present study explores that paradox. In Portuguese pronunciation, the “S” coda is uttered as /z/ when preceding voiced attacks (B, D, G, J, L, M, N, V, Z). Even though Brazilian fluent readers exhibit that assimilation phonetic process in their reading aloud, they tend to be unaware of it. When asked how “S” is to be uttered, they state the inter-vowel grammar position rule: “We always utter ‘S’ as /s/, except when it occurs in between vowels. In that case, and only in that case, we utter ‘S’ as /z/.” In the present study, 40 elementary-school students (3rd-6th grades, aged 8-11 years) read aloud 18 non-words: ASBA, ASCA, ASDA, ASFA, ASGA, ASJA, ASKA, ASLA, ASME, ASNA, ASPA, ASQUA, ASRA, ASSA, ASTA, ASVA, ASXA, ASZA. Results: Upon being interviewed before reading, each student stated the same grammar inter-vowel position rule. During reading, younger students failed to perform phonetic junctions due to syllabification. Long inter-syllabic pauses prevented phonetic junction and, thence, “S”-coda assimilation. In contrast, older students showed perfectly fluent and precise know-how decoding performance. Due to their extensive history of drill-and-practice modeling and shaping, they performed phonetic junction and thus presented perfect “S”-coda voicing. They were surprised upon realizing they performed perfectly and in perfect contrast to the rule they had just stated. Their teachers were submitted to the same task and were equally puzzled and even ashamed. In conclusion: (1) When reading fluency emerges, syllabification is replaced by a phonetic junction. Therefore, the emergence of the phonetic assimilation process of “S”-coda voicing may be regarded as a reading-fluency landmark; (2) Once reading fluency emerges, the phonetic assimilation process of “S”-coda voicing emerges with it as an unconscious process that occurs independently from grammar position rules, and in complete opposition to them; (3) Know-how decoding performance is based on intuition derived from drill-and-practice modeling and shaping. It may be dissociated from know-why decoding knowledge, which is based on orthoepic grammatical rules that specify how grapheme pronunciation depends on grapheme position. Know-how decoding performance may occur in the absence of rules, or even in total contrast to the rules that readers subscribe to, due to phonetic processes that readers are unaware of, such as assimilation. Therefore, the assumption that “the phonological route works based on the application of conversion rules” is unwarranted. Instead, phonological route works based primarily on intuitive decoding derived from the statistical distribution of grapheme-phoneme patterns in language, which is implemented by drill-and-practice modeling and shaping. Orthoepic grammar rules are secondarily added to inform intuition so that conversion is made dependent on grapheme position. Keywords: Reading, Decoding, Phonology, Phonetics, Rule, Expectancy.

Tracking reading skills and reading-related skills in dyslexia before (age 5) and after (ages 10-17) diagnosis.

This study had three goals: to examine the stability of deficits in the phonological and lexical routes in dyslexia (group study), to determine the prevalence of dyslexia profiles (multiple-case study), and to identify the prediction of phonemic segmentation and discrimination skills before reading acquisition on future reading level. Among a group of 373 non-readers seen at age 5, 38 students were subsequently diagnosed as either consistent dyslexic readers (18 DYS) or consistent typical readers (20 TR). Their phonological and lexical reading skills were assessed at ages 10 and 17 and their phonemic segmentation and discrimination skills at age 5. In comparison with TR of the same chronological age (CA-TR), individuals with dyslexia demonstrated an impairment of the two reading routes, especially of the phonological reading route. In the comparison with younger TR (age 10) of the same reading level (RL-TR), only a deficit of the phonological route is observed. In the multiple-case study, the comparisons with CA-TR showed a prevalence of mixed profiles and very few dissociated profiles, whereas the comparison with RL-TR resulted mostly in two profiles depending on the measure: a phonological profile when accuracy was used and a delayed profile when speed was used. In addition, the correlations between early phonemic segmentation and discrimination skills (age 5) and later reading skills (age 17) were significant, and in the group of individuals with dyslexia, early phonemic segmentation skills significantly predicted these later reading skills. Phonological reading deficits are persistent and mainly caused by early phonemic impairments.

Individuals' preference on reading pathways influences the involvement of neural pathways in phonological learning.

Existing behavioral and neuroimaging studies revealed inter-individual variability in the selection of the two phonological routes in word reading. However, it is not clear how individuals' preferred reading pathways/strategies modulate the involvement of a certain brain region for phonological learning in a new language, and consequently affect their behavioral performance on phonological access. To address this question, the present study recruited a group of native Chinese speakers to learn two sets of artificial language characters, respectively, in addressed-phonology training (i.e., whole-word mapping) and assembled-phonology training conditions (i.e., grapheme-to-phoneme mapping). Behavioral results showed that the more lexical pathways participants preferred, the better they performed on newly-acquired addressed characters relative to assembled characters. More importantly, neuroimaging results showed that participants who preferred lexical pathway in phonological access show less involvement of brain regions for addressed phonology (e.g., the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex and right pars triangularis) in the processing of newly-acquired addressed characters. These results indicated that phonological access via the preferred pathway required less neural resources to achieve better behavioral performance. These above results provide direct neuroimaging evidence for the influence of reading pathway preference on phonological learning.

Improving phonological skills and reading comprehension in deaf children: A new multisensory approach

ABSTRACT Purpose To explore the effectiveness of a multisensory program integrating visual, kinesthetic, and vibrotactile information to train phonological and syntactic reading abilities in prelingually deaf children between 6 and 10 years of age. Method We examined whether the multisensory phonological training in combination with syntactic training (MPT+ST) improved phonological and syntactic reading abilities in prelingually deaf children in comparison with a non-multisensory phonological training in combination with ST (nonMPT+ST). Furthermore, we compared phonological recoding abilities (via pseudohomophone effect) of deaf children who received the MPT+ST training with that of their hearing peers. Finally, we investigated whether the effects observed in deaf children after MPT+ST and nonMPT+ST were retained six months. Results The MPT+ST improved phonological recoding abilities, both in reading isolated words and in recoding abilities that contributed to improved syntactic processing tasks. After MPT+ST the deaf children’s pseudohomophone effect was similar to that of typical hearing children, but this effect was not retained six months after training. Conclusion The phonological route is mediated by multiple sensory systems and MPT+ST contributes to deaf children’s ability to achieve higher reading comprehension by the time they finish primary education; however, sustaining the gains likely requires a longer-term intervention.

THE IMPACT OF CONTEXT ON EFL LEARNERS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION

Vocabulary is believed to be stored in memory through phonological and semantic routes (Papagno, Valentine &amp;amp; Baddeley, 1991). As such, learners can encode words by repetition or by inferring their meaning in a context. However, the effectiveness of the two techniques for learning vocabulary, namely rote rehearsal and context-based strategy, in acquiring foreign language vocabulary has been controversial and hence has encouraged more empirical evidence. This study was conducted to investigate which of these two techniques had the greater impact on students’ vocabulary retention. The results revealed that the vocabulary retention of learners in the context-based strategy outperformed those in the rote group at both test intervals. Although the differences between the two groups in the delayed test failed to reach significance, their outstanding results in the immediate test were much more striking. The findings, therefore, suggested that context was more favorable for achieving word meanings than rote rehearsal in general.&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0932/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Alexia and agraphia in Japanese

AbstractDissociated performance in the reading/writing of kanji (morphogram) and kana (phonogram) in alexia and agraphia in Japanese has attracted attention because kanji and kana differently convey semantics, orthography, and phonology. Although the dissociation between kanji and kana is relative, but not absolute, detailed case studies, in addition to recent neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies, have revealed the partially separable mechanisms of the kanji and kana writing systems. Kanji words are processed mainly, not exclusively, via the orthographic–semantic route, and kana words are processed via both orthographic–semantic and phonological routes. Pure alexia with lesions in the left medial occipital lobe and splenium shows alexia for both kanji and kana, but at the chronic stage, alexia for either kanji or kana may remain depending on the compensatory mechanism. The left occipitotemporal area is important for reading/writing. The slightly different location and extent of lesions are associated with distinct symptoms: kanji alexia with the lesion in the mid‐fusiform gyrus (visual word form area; VWFA), kana alexia with lesions posterior to VWFA, and kanji alexia with kanji agraphia with lesions lateral to VWFA. The left angular gyrus has traditionally been considered important for writing. However, it is unclear whether the crucial site is the angular gyrus or the cortical and subcortical regions adjacent to it. In neurodegenerative diseases, reading/writing abilities are differentially impaired depending on the specific distribution of neuronal degeneration in each disease. Examining the reading/writing abilities of kanji and kana can facilitate understanding of the writing system and related disorders.

Sex differences in the intrinsic reading neural networks of Chinese children

Sex differences in reading performance have been considered a relatively stable phenomenon. However, there is no general agreement about their neural basis, which might be due to that sex differences are largely influenced by age. This paper focuses on the sex differences in the reading-related neural network of Chinese children and its interaction with age. We also attempt to predict reading abilities based on neural network. Fifty-three boys and 56 girls (8.2–14.6 years of age) were recruited. We collected their resting-state fMRI and behavioural data. Restricted sex differences were found in the resting-state reading neural network compared to extensive age by sex interaction effect. Specifically, the interactions between sex and age indicated that with increasing age, girls showed greater connectivity strength between visual orthographic areas and other brain areas within the reading network, while boys showed an opposite trend. After controlling age, the prediction models of reading performance for the girls mainly included interhemispheric connections, while the intrahemispheric connections (particularly the phonological route) mainly contributed to predicting the reading ability for boys. Taken together, these findings suggest that sex differences in reading neural networks are modulated by age. Partialling out age, boys and girls also show the stable sex differences in relationship between reading neural circuit and reading behaviour.

Controversy over the temporal cortical terminations of the left arcuate fasciculus: a reappraisal.

The arcuate fasciculus has been considered a major dorsal fronto-temporal white matter pathway linking frontal language production regions with auditory perception in the superior temporal gyrus, the so-called Wernicke's area. In line with this tradition, both historical and contemporary models of language function have assigned primacy to superior temporal projections of the arcuate fasciculus. However, classical anatomical descriptions and emerging behavioural data are at odds with this assumption. On one hand, fronto-temporal projections to Wernicke's area may not be unique to the arcuate fasciculus. On the other hand, dorsal stream language deficits have been reported also for damage to middle, inferior and basal temporal gyri that may be linked to arcuate disconnection. These findings point to a reappraisal of arcuate projections in the temporal lobe. Here, we review anatomical and functional evidence regarding the temporal cortical terminations of the left arcuate fasciculus by incorporating dissection and tractography findings with stimulation data using cortico-cortical evoked potentials and direct electrical stimulation mapping in awake patients. First, we discuss the fibres of the arcuate fasciculus projecting to the superior temporal gyrus and the functional rostro-caudal gradient in this region where both phonological encoding and auditory-motor transformation may be performed. Caudal regions within the temporoparietal junction may be involved in articulation and associated with temporoparietal projections of the third branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, while more rostral regions may support encoding of acoustic phonetic features, supported by arcuate fibres. We then move to examine clinical data showing that multimodal phonological encoding is facilitated by projections of the arcuate fasciculus to superior, but also middle, inferior and basal temporal regions. Hence, we discuss how projections of the arcuate fasciculus may contribute to acoustic (middle-posterior superior and middle temporal gyri), visual (posterior inferior temporal/fusiform gyri comprising the visual word form area) and lexical (anterior-middle inferior temporal/fusiform gyri in the basal temporal language area) information in the temporal lobe to be processed, encoded and translated into a dorsal phonological route to the frontal lobe. Finally, we point out surgical implications for this model in terms of the prediction and avoidance of neurological deficit.

Motor-type aphasia in English and Spanish and its relation to the linguistic variables intervening in reading

Abstract This pilot study was designed to explore the way linguistic variables affect reading in English and Spanish in the context of motor-type aphasia. The participants were two speakers with English L1, two English-Spanish bilinguals, and four speakers with Spanish L1. The Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) and Psycholinguistic Assessments of Language Processing in Aphasia (PALPA) were used to assess the participants’ reading skills. L1 English, Spanish, and bilingual participants used both the lexical and sublexical route when reading, but utilized one route more than the other depending on their linguistic profile. L1 Spanish participants used the damaged phonological route, producing many neologisms or non-answers. L1 English participants, utilizing the lexical route, produced more lexicalizations than neologisms. The bilingual participants showed interlanguage interference by producing many spelling-sound regularizations. These results suggest that orthographic depth and different linguistic variables affect individuals with motor-type aphasia depending on the language they speak.

Executive Functions and Decoding in Children and Adolescents: a Meta-analytic Investigation

Previous meta-analyses highlight the role of executive functions (EF), encompassing working memory updating, task-switching, and inhibitory control, in reading comprehension, but have not established their role in decoding. Decoding is defined as the use of orthographic patterns to access oral pronunciations. According to the dual route model, decoding involves parallel activation of lexical and phonological routes, which places cognitive demands on EF. We used multivariate meta-analyses to examine associations between decoding, assessed via nonword and word reading tasks, and EF across 65 studies involving children and adolescents (162 effect size estimates, 22,806 observations from 10,173 participants, weighted mean age = 8.8 years). Meta-regression analyses examined a broad set of potential moderators of correlational effect size estimates, including variables related to sample characteristics, task features, and study design. Results indicated significant small-to-moderate correlations between EF constructs and decoding tasks (rz ranged from .28 to .34), with little evidence of moderation. The observed associations between EF and decoding skills in children and adolescents appear to be relatively consistent, even when accounting for moderators related to the sample, task, and study design.

Delineating the cognitive-neural substrates of writing: a large scale behavioral and voxel based morphometry study

The current study investigated the cognitive and neural substrates that underpin writing ability. We explored similarities and differences in writing numbers and words and compared these to language and manual actions in a large group of sub-acute, stroke patients (n = 740). The behavioral data showed association and dissociation in the ability to write words and numbers. Comorbidities of writing deficits with both language and motor impairments were prevalent, with less than a handful showing deficits restricted to the writing tasks. A second analysis with a subset of patients (n = 267) explored the neural networks that mediate writing abilities. Lesion to right temporal contributed to writing words, while lesions to left postcentral contributed to writing numbers. Overlapping neural mechanisms included the bilateral prefrontal cortex, right inferior parietal, left middle occipital and the right cerebellum. With the former regions associated with error pattern typical to writing based on prior knowledge (the lexical route), while lesion to left MOG was associated with errors to the phonological (non-lexical) route. Using principle components extracted from the behavioral data, we showed that right prefrontal and right parietal contributed to the ability to use pen, while lesion to bilateral prefrontal, inferior temporal and cerebellum supported unique use of pen for writing. The behavioral and imaging data suggested that writing numbers and words primarily relied on overlapping cognitive and neural functions. Incidents of pure writing deficits, in the absence of motor or language deficits were rare. Nevertheless, the PCA and neural data suggested that writing abilities were associated with some unique neuro-cognitive functions, specifically dedicated to the use of pen and the ability to transform meaning to motor command.

Perfiles cognitivos de niños de nivel socioeconómico bajo con dificultades en la velocidad lectora: análisis de los resultados de una intervención

Reading speed is achieved based on automatic word recognition and, together with prosody, constitutes an essential link between word recognition and text comprehension. Despite the relevance of reading speed acquisition for success at school, a high percentage of children growing up in poverty contexts face difficulties in achieving automatic word recognition. Consequently, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of difficulties in reading speed acquisition in children growing in poverty contexts. Two studies were designed. In the first study, in order to explore the origin of difficulties in developing word reading speed, a comparison of the cognitive profiles of children from low-income backgrounds with and without difficulties in this ability was carried out. In a previous study, norms were obtained for accuracy and speed in a word reading test. Participants were 168 6th grade children from several educational institutions attending children growing up in poverty contexts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the present study, the same word reading test was administered to 96 6th grade children. Based on the norms obtained in the previous study, two groups of children were identified: a group who performed at or above the 50th percentile in reading accuracy but below the 30th percentile in reading speed and another group performing at or above the 50th percentile in both measures. The first group was made up of 22 children, and the second one, of 46 children. The remaining 28 children were not included in the study because they performed below the 50th percentile in reading accuracy. Additional tests measuring phonological awareness, rapid naming, verbal memory and word spelling were administered to children in both groups. Between-groups comparisons in these tasks showed that children with speed acquisition difficulties underperformed the other group in the tests tapping phonological awareness, rapid naming and spelling. These results suggest that the children in the group experiencing reading difficulties were still using the phonological route for word recognition. The second study aimed to explore whether a specifically designed educational intervention could enable children with low reading speed from the previous study to increase their reading speed.Both groups of children (with and without reading speed difficulties) were administered two additional reading tests: an experimental test comprising target words which would subsequently be included in the training study for the children with reading speed difficulties; and a reading test of additional words and pseudo words not targeted in the training study, but considered transfer items because they comprised sub lexical units that were included in the target words to be trained during the intervention. These same reading tests were re-administered as a post-test, after the reading intervention for the reading speed difficulties group. The training study aimed to promote reading speed via the acquisition of orthographic representations. The intervention involved two weekly individual sessions lasting 20 minutes each. Each child participated of a total of 15 sessions. Each session included repeated and accelerated reading of lexical units, as well as activities for promoting the analysis of sublexical units included in the target words and also present in the transfer pseudo words from the post-test. The comparison between the pre- and posttest performance of the training group showed a statistically significant increase in reading speed both of trained and transfer words, an increase that was not obtained for the comparison group. This result suggests that during the intervention children were able to develop orthographic representations of the trained lexical units, but also of the sub lexical units that were present in both the target and the transfer words. Educational implications from this study point to the importance of repeated and accelerated reading for increasing speed, a critical reading ability.

Determinants of spelling proficiency in hearing and deaf graduate students: The presentation of medial glottal stop

Accurate spelling is a fundamental skill for effective written communication. It is regarded to be a predominant goal of literacy since spelling errors may significantly change the meaning of the words or sentences. Spelling skill implicates legitimate phonetic, morphemic and orthographic formations that require appropriate awareness levels of the language rules and structure. But if the linguistic rules are complex or irregular and the literacy context is diglossic or even tri- or multi-glossic, the ability to accurately spell words is expected to be limited. This paper accounts for the spelling skill of one certain consonant in one specific position, i.e. the hamzah consonant in its middle position, and presents the challenges that might be encountered by Arabic learners in a high educational level. The current study aimed specifically at providing an insight into the spelling proficiency of two groups of college students in Kuwait, hearing and orally-educated deaf, who are undertaking four-year teaching preparation programs in different educational disciplines. The spelling stimuli was balanced for lexical familiarity and the data analysis accounted for the effect of orthographic, phonological and morphological aspects of the hamzah on the spelling outcome. Results indicated that hearing and deaf college students experienced difficulty in attaining all written forms of middle hamzah, but the most and least common errors showed a general tendency to follow the phonological route of phoneme-graphene conversion when spelling. Unfamiliarity with the governing rules of hamzah was also evident since a higher percentage of errors occurred in spelling low-frequency words despite following the regular spelling rules of hamzah. The irregularity and complex orthographic and morphemic rules of hamzah as well as the variability in the acoustic production of hamzah sounds are discussed in light of the multi-glossic context of Arabic.

Relação entre Fluência e Compreensão Leitora em estudantes de 4º e 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental

Sustentado em pressupostos teóricos psicolinguísticos no tocante ao processamento cognitivo da leitura, inclusive e especialmente por meio dos modelos Bottom-up e Top-down e Dupla Rota e, ainda, em estudos de revisão de literatura que tratam da relação entre fluência e compreensão leitora, este estudo objetiva avaliar a relação entre fluência e compreensão leitora. Avaliou-se a fluência leitora por meio do critério tempo de conversão grafema-fonema e a compreensão leitora por meio de respostas escritas de questões abertas de compreensão. Participaram 27 estudantes do 4º e do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, entre 9 e 12 anos, de ambos os sexos, de uma escola pública no interior da Bahia. Observamos uma correlação negativa forte entre as duas variáveis estudadas (r = - 0,70), pois, quanto maior a compreensão leitora, menor foi o tempo levado para a leitura. A velocidade de leitura mostrou-se relevante para a compreensão até a conversão entre 5 e 6 grafemas por segundo. Ao que parece, a falta de reconhecimento automático dos grafemas impõe maior custo de processamento cognitivo, ou seja, o processamento pelas vias fonológica e ascendente parece consumir a gama essencialmente limitada de recursos cognitivos da memória de trabalho. Como consequência, não restam recursos cognitivos para o acesso ao significado. Conjecturamos que a demora de conversão dos grafemas em fonemas, como vimos neste estudo, indício de processamento serial e uso preferencial da rota fonológica e da via ascendente, não colabora para o processamento cognitivo em paralelo e para a leitura compreensiva.

Acento léxico y lectura: un estudio con niños

Introducción: El acento en español se asocia con una marca ortográfica que lo indica, pero también hay otras pistas que lo señalan. La mayoría de las palabras se acentúan de la misma forma (como llanas) y las sílabas pesadas atraen el acento. En este trabajo se estudian estas pistas y, a través de ellas, la función del acento como uno de los códigos fonológicos que intervienen en el proceso de la lectura.Método: El estudio se realizó con niños con poca experiencia lectora, mucho más propensos al uso de la ruta fonológica. Se utilizó una tarea de naming de palabras, y se manipuló el acento, así como la regularidad-irregularidad de la estructura silábica respecto al mismo.Resultados: No hubo diferencias entre las palabras según fuese su acento, llano o agudo. Sin embargo, sí que las hubo según fuesen regulares o irregulares. Las primeras se leyeron con menos errores.Discusión: Este resultado se interpretó como una prueba de la relación funcional del acento con la estructura silábica, así como de su papel en el proceso de acceso al léxico que se realiza durante la lectura. Finalmente, se discute la conveniencia de incluir las variables prosódicas como parte de los programas para el entrenamiento de la conciencia fonológica.

Adults writing profile at the beginning of their reading and writing acquisition

ABSTRACT Purpose: to describe and analyze the writing profile of 12 adults in the literacy phase. Methods: 12 students of both genders enrolled in the Youth and Adult Education Program (EJA) of public school in a medium-sized city in the state of São Paulo. The study was divided into two stages: proposal presentation to participants and School Performance Test assessment to evaluate the writing phase and the type of error presented by each participant. Results: the majority of the results belonged to the alphabetical phase (criterion established by Ferreiro and Teberosky). The most frequent errors were grapheme omissions and oral support. Conclusion: results indicated the need to focus on the alphabetic principle acquisition, which allows the initial writing by the phonological route, and to work the differences between standard and colloquial language.

The Means to an End: Phonology's Prominence in a Reading Task

For decades, psycholinguists have engaged in a debate over the steps involved in the reading process. Do readers find meaning in texts through a phonological route or a lexical route? This paper, which takes into account two previous studies, investigates the influence of phonology and lexical spelling by analyzing the results of a reading judgment task.