The role of orthographic and phonological processing skills in the reading and spelling of monolingual Persian children

The main objective of the present study was to examine the contribution of phonological and orthographic skills to Persian reading and spelling. The Persian language is of interest because it has very consistent grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences, but somewhat inconsistent phoneme-to-grapheme correspondences. Reading, spelling, phonological, and orthographic skills were tested in a sample of 109 monolingual Persian students (mean age = 8;1, SD = 4 mo) attending Grade 2 in Iran. The results showed that although monolingual Persian children relied both on phonological and orthographic skills, phonological skills were a strong predictor for both reading and spelling. Another objective of the study was to compare children’s spelling performance in terms of phoneme-to-grapheme (PG) consistencies. As expected, children spelled PG-consistent words more accurately than PG-inconsistent words. Moreover, they relied more on orthographic skills for spelling PG-inconsistent words than for spelling PG-consistent words. The results are discussed in terms of the differential effect of orthographic consistency on reading and spelling.     

Reading comprehension of monolingual and bilingual children in primary school: the role of linguistic abilities and phonological processing skills

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Reading comprehension in bilingual children depends on the extent to which each language is used in daily life. To date, most bilingual studies have...     

The role of phonological and syntactic awareness in second-language reading: The case of Spanish-speaking learners of French

Spanish-speaking learners of French, aged 9 to 11 years old, were tested after approximately 7months of French instruction to explore the contribution of phonological and syntactic awareness in L2 in 4 components of L2 reading, taking oral competence in L2 andreading in L1 into account. Phonological tasksin L2 better explain decoding. Word recognitionthrough the visual route is best explained bythe corresponding ability in L1. Sentencecomprehension is best explained by oralcompetence in L2, although it is stronglycorrelated with syntactic awareness. Finally,text comprehension is explained by thecorresponding ability in L1, althoughcorrelations with syntactic awareness and oralcompetence are strong. Theoretical implicationsare derived from these findings, and questionsrelative to the subjects' age and level ofbilingualism as well as methodological issuesare discussed.     

Locus and nature of perceptual phonological deficit in Spanish children with reading disabilities

The aims of this study were (a) to determine whether Spanish children with reading disabilities (RD) show a speech perception deficit and (b) to explore the locus and nature of this perceptive deficit. A group of 29 children with RD, 41 chronological age-matched controls, and 27 reading ability-matched younger controls were tested on tasks of speech perception. The effect of linguistic unit (word vs. syllable) and type of phonetic contrast (voicing, place and manner of articulation) were analyzed in terms of the number of errors and the response time. The results revealed a speech perception deficit in Spanish children with RD that was independent of the type of phonetic contrast and of linguistic unit.     

Cerebral laterality in dyslexic children: Implications for phonological word decoding deficits

The study evaluated a substantially updated version of Orton's (1937) classical idea of a significant relatonship in dyslexic children between cerebral lateralization and their word decoding deficits. Attentional lateralization was examined under the assumption that covert spatial attention when directed contralaterally interacts with ageinvariant cerebral asymmetries for receptive speech. Thirty dysphonetic dyslexic children were compared to 30 younger normal readers who were matched to the dyslexics in reading comprehension. The children were tested in left ear (LE) and right ear (RE) directed attention dichotic listening (DAD), and in pseudoword decoding, word recognition, reading comprehension, spelling, arithmetic, and in general intelligence (IQ). Group comparisons in DAD failed to show any differences, confirming the mounting evidence that dyslexia is not related to incomplete lateralization. Entering the DAD scores of the dyslexics (LE first, LE second, RE first, RE second) as predictors of achievement revealed that, independently of chronological age (CA) and IQ, their ability to recall items from the LE first produced a negative regression which predicted 42 percent of the variance in pseudoword decoding. Selective report from the LE also produced small but significant negative correlations with visual recognition of real words and spelling; but no relationship to reading comprehension. IQ was related to reading comprehension and to the ability to shift attention from the LE to the RE. Eventhough the dyslexics were lateralized normally, weak lateralization was related specifically to phonological word decoding, a core deficit in dyslexia. However, unlike Orton's concept, these findings suggest that dyslexics suffer from exuberant right hemisphere processing in response to spatial attentional demands that, in turn, interferes transcallosally with the development of the sound-symbol representations that are required for fluent reading. Lateralization, per se, is unaffected by the disorder.     

Contributions of phonological processing skills to reading skills in Arabic speaking children

This cross-sectional study investigated contributions of phonological awareness (Elision and blending), rapid naming (object, color, letter, and digit), and phonological memory (nonword repetition and Digit Span) to basic decoding and fluency skills in Arabic. Participants were 237 Arabic speaking children from Grades K-3. Dependent measures included word decoding, oral passage reading fluency, nonword reading fluency, and retell fluency. Within-grade analyses indicated that phonological awareness accounted for more variance than rapid naming regardless of the nature of the outcome measure and grade. Rapid naming’s capacity to predict variance, while less than that of phonological awareness, tended to rise steadily and was highest in Grade 3. Phonological memory, as measured by this study’s tasks, showed almost no relationship to reading performance. The findings are discussed with respect to changing the requirements of Arabic reading in Grades K-3 and suggestions are made for future research.     

The role of speed of processing, rapid naming, and phonological awareness in reading achievement

This study investigated the role of speed of processing, rapid naming, and phonological awareness in reading achievement. Measures of response time in motor, visual, lexical, grammatical, and phonological tasks were administered to 279 children in third grade. Measures of rapid object naming, phonological awareness, and reading achievement were given in second and fourth grades. Reading group comparisons indicated that poor readers were proportionally slower than good readers across response time measures and on the rapid object naming task. These results suggest that some poor readers have a general deficit in speed of processing and that their problems in rapid object naming are in part a reflection of this deficit. Hierarchical regression analyses further showed that when considered along with IQ and phonological awareness, speed of processing explained unique variance in reading achievement. This finding suggests that a speed of processing deficit may be an "extraphonological" factor in some reading disabilities.     

The transient role of explicit phonological recoding for reading acquisition

This study explores early stages of reading acquisition, specifically therelation of phoneme blending and letter recoding to individual differencesin word decoding. The hypothesis was that facility in letter recoding andaccuracy of phoneme blending are substantial components of word decodingin beginning readers but not for skilled reading and that reliance onphoneme-sized decoding of words would dissipate as reading proficiencyincreased. In four studies we examined the ability to recode letters, blendphonemes and decode words in four groups of Dutch children (early Grade1, N = 130, older Grade 1, N = 81, Grade 3, N = 54 and a group of children witha reading lag, N = 356). Phoneme blending was only related to the readingability of beginning Grade 1 children. By the end of Grade 1 ability to blendphonemes did not differentiate reading capacity, nor for older children inGrade 3 and reading disabled children. Letter recoding was related to worddecoding in all four studies, although the strength of that relation diddwindle as reading skill level increased. The results of the study appearconsistent with self teaching hypothesis and other theories that imply atransient role of explicit phonological recoding in word identification.     

Beyond decoding deficit: inhibitory effect of positional syllable frequency in dyslexic Spanish children

This study explores whether activation and inhibition word processes contribute to the characteristic speed deficits found in transparent orthographies (Wimmer, Appl Psycholinguist 14:1–33, 1993). A second and fourth grade sample of normal school readers and dyslexic school readers participated in a lexical decision task. Words were manipulated according to two factors: word frequency (high vs. low) and syllable frequency (high vs. low). It has been repeatedly found that words with high-frequency syllables require extra time for deactivating the lexical syllabic neighbors: the so-called inhibitory effect of positional frequency syllable (Carreiras et al., J Mem Lang 32:766–780, 1993). We hypothesized that dyslexic readers would show a stronger inhibitory effect than normal readers because they are slower decoders and they may also be slower at the activation and inhibition of word representations that are competing (i.e., syllabic candidates). Results indicated an interaction between word and syllable frequency (i.e., a strong inhibitory effect was found in the low-frequency word condition). According to our hypothesis, the inhibitory effect size was almost three times bigger in dyslexics than in the normal readers. This difference shows an alteration, not a developmental lag. Interestingly, the inhibitory effect size did not interact with school grade. Thus, reading experience did not impact the lexical processes involved on the inhibitory effect. Our outcomes showed how activation and/or inhibition of lexical processes can contribute to the lack of speed beyond decoding deficit.     

Contribution of temporal processing skills to reading comprehension in 8-year-olds: evidence for a mediation effect of phonological awareness

This study tested whether the association between temporal processing (TP) and reading is mediated by phonological awareness (PA) in a normative sample of 615 eight-year-olds. TP was measured with auditory and bimodal (visual-auditory) temporal order judgment tasks and PA with a phoneme deletion task. PA partially mediated the association between both auditory and bimodal TP and reading, above nonverbal abilities, vocabulary, and processing speed. PA explained a larger proportion of the association between auditory TP and reading (56% vs. 39% for bimodal TP), and most of the association between bimodal TP and reading was direct. This finding is consistent with a dual-phonological and visual-pathway model of the association between TP and reading in normative reading skills.     

The relation between phonological memory skills and reading ability in greek-speaking children: Can training of phonological memory contribute to reading development?

This study was designed to examine whether there is a relationship between phonological memory and reading ability in Greek-speaking children aged between 6 and 9 years. An additional aim of the study was to investigate whether training of phonological memory during preschool years enhances reading achievement during early school years. In Experiment I, the phonological memory ability of 136 first graders, 134 second graders and 132 from each of the third and fourth grades was assessed with a nonword repetition test. A reading test was also used to evaluate the reading skills of the above subjects. The results revealed strong links between reading performance and nonword repetition scores. 120 kindergarten children randomly assigned to a control and an experimental group participated in Experiment 2. Training that involved practice in the repetition of nonwords was used as a means of promoting the phonological memory of the children in the experimental group over the course of one year in school. Subjects’ reading ability was tested during the last month of their first year in the primary school. The findings showed that the performance of the trained subjects in the reading test was superior to that of the control subjects. Such evidence underlines the importance of teaching children of preschool years phonological strategies in order to boost their reading skills during early school years.     

The effect of inter-letter spacing on reading performance and eye movements in typically reading and dyslexic children

Recent studies have suggested that an increase of inter-letter spacing may improve reading performance of dyslexic readers by reducing visual crowding. However, these results have been difficult to replicate.This study directly compares reading accuracy and comprehension, as well as reading speed, and number and duration of fixations of 38 dyslexic and 32 typically reading children (10–14 years old) in regular, spaced (+2,5 pt), and condensed (−1,5 pt) conditions using a natural sentence-reading paradigm.Inter-letter spacing did not affect reading accuracy, comprehension, or speed. The lack of effects of inter-letter spacing was observed in both dyslexic and typical readers. Inter-letter spacing did not impact the number of fixations, but increased inter-letter spacing led to shorter fixations in dyslexic children. Decreased inter-letter spacing resulted in longer fixations in both groups.These results do not support the claim that dyslexics are more influenced by crowding than age-matched controls.     

Reading ability and short-term memory: The role of phonological processing

The aim of the current study was to further explore the connection between verbal short-term recall and phonological processing for two purposes: (a) To investigate the basis of short-term memory deficits for children with reading disability, and (b) To further explore the origin of developmental verbal memory span increases.Using a variety of memory and phonological tasks, reading group comparisons were conducted testing third-grade good readers and poor readers, and developmental changes were studied with pre-kindergarten, first-grade and third-grade children. The main finding was that a strong relationship was observed between efficiency of phonological processes and capacity of verbal memory supporting the hypothesis that reducing phonological processing requirements in verbal short-term memory increases available resources for storage. No such relationship was found between phonological processing and nonverbal memory. This conclusion was supported by two findings: (a) The verbal short-term memory deficits in poor readers significantly correspond with less accurate phonological processing, and (b) Developmental increases in verbal STM are accompanied by more accurate and rapid execution of phonological tasks.     

Auditory processing,linguistic prosody awareness,and word reading in Mandarin-speaking children learning English

This study examined language-specific links among auditory processing, linguistic prosody awareness, and Mandarin (L1) and English (L2) word reading in 61 Mandarin-speaking, English-learning children. Three auditory discrimination abilities were measured: pitch contour, pitch interval, and rise time (rate of intensity change at tone onset). Linguistic prosody awareness was measured three ways: Mandarin tone perception, English stress perception, and English stress production. A Chinese character recognition task was the Mandarin L1 reading metric. English L2 word reading was assessed by English real word reading and nonword decoding tasks. The importance of the auditory processing measures to reading was different in the two languages. Pitch contour discrimination predicted Mandarin L1 word reading and rise time discrimination predicted English L2 word reading, after controlling for age and nonverbal IQ. For the prosodic and phonological measures, Mandarin tone perception, but not rhyme awareness, predicted Chinese character recognition after controlling for age and nonverbal IQ. In contrast, English rhyme awareness predicted more unique variance in English real word reading and nonword decoding than did English stress perception and production. Linguistic prosody awareness appears to play a more important role in L1 word reading than phonological awareness; while the reverse seems true for English L2 word reading in Mandarin-speaking children. Taken together, auditory processing, language-specific linguistic prosody awareness, and phonological awareness play different roles in L1/L2 reading, reflecting different prosodic and segmental structures between Mandarin and English.     

The interaction of vocabulary and short-term memory in predicting phonological awareness: a comparison of dyslexic and non-dyslexic children

Using data from a longitudinal comparative study of children at risk of dyslexia ( Snowling, Gallagher & Frith, 2003 ), this paper reports some replication of work by Gibbs (2004) . It was found that the development of phonological awareness might, for children between the ages of 6 and 8 years of age and not considered to be at risk of dyslexia, be facilitated by an interaction of memory span and lexical knowledge. This effect was not, however, found for children of the same age who were considered to be at risk of dyslexia. For these children an interaction, with contrasting implications, was found between the ages of 3 years 9 months and 6 years. Some theoretical and practical implications of these findings are outlined.     

The time course of the syllable frequency effect in visual word recognition: evidence for both facilitatory and inhibitory effects in French

The present study tracked the time course of the syllable frequency effect in French visual word recognition, by varying the strength of spreading activation between letters and phonological syllables. The frequency of phonological first syllables and the frequency of orthographic first syllables were conjointly manipulated in two lexical decision tasks. In Experiment 1, word parsing into syllable units was supported by orthographic redundancy. No interaction between orthographic and phonological syllable frequency was found. In Experiment 2, word parsing into syllables was not marked by orthographic redundancy. Results showed an interaction between orthographic and phonological syllable frequency: the syllable frequency effect was inhibitory when orthographic syllable frequency was high, whereas it was facilitatory when orthographic syllable frequency was low. Decreasing the strength of syllable activation (i.e., with orthographic syllables of low frequency and ambiguous syllable boundaries) prevented the activation of lexical competitors before target word recognition, leading to a facilitatory effect of syllable frequency. The present study provides evidence that the net effect of syllable frequency is strongly related to its time course, and that the strength of syllable activation, which depends on orthographic properties, determines the direction of the net effect.     

The contribution of phonological processing skills to reading comprehension in grades one and three.

Abstract

During the last decade, the importance of the relationship between phonological processing skills to reading performance has been highlighted. The aim of this study was to examine differences between above average and below average readers (determined by a reading comprehension test) on phonological processing skills at grade one and at grade three. There were 35 grade one, and 34 grade three students from two primary schools. Data from phonemic awareness and phonological awareness tests were subjected to t‐tests. The below average readers in both grade one and three had fewer phonological processing skills than the above average readers. The importance of students’ cognitive functioning to reading comprehension appeared more important at the grade one level than at the grade three level. The study indicated that below average readers, particularly at grade one, would benefit from explicit teaching in both phonemic and phonological awareness skills.     

Heterogeneity in adult dyslexic readers: Relating processing skills to the speed and accuracy of oral text reading

Subgroups of Finnish dyslexic adults (N = 84)displaying, relative to each other, a distinctivecombination of accuracy and speed of oral text readingwere compared in phonological and orthographicprocessing, verbal short-term memory and readinghabits. Inaccurate phonological decoding appeared todetermine the number of errors made in text reading,while inability to utilize effectively rapid lexicalaccess of words manifested as slow text reading speed.Phonological and orthographic word recognitionprocesses were less tightly integrated among dyslexicthan normal readers. Our results indicate thatadvanced orthographic processing skills might help anumber of the dyslexic readers to compensate for theirserious phonological deficits. The subgroups alsodiffered from each other in reading habits. Arelatively fast reading speed, even with numerouserrors, appears to be more rewarding in everydayreading than a slower but more accurate readingstyle.