Reading Difficulties in Adult Deaf Readers of French: Phonological Codes,Not Guilty!

Deaf people often achieve low levels of reading skills. The hypothesis that the use of phonological codes is associated with good reading skills in deaf readers is not yet fully supported in the literature. We investigated skilled and less skilled adult deaf readers' use of orthographic and phonological codes in reading. Experiment 1 used a masked priming paradigm to investigate automatic use of these codes during visual word processing. Experiment 2 used a serial recall task to determine whether orthographic and phonological codes are used to maintain words in memory. Skilled hearing, skilled deaf, and less skilled deaf readers used orthographic codes during word recognition and recall, but only skilled hearing readers relied on phonological codes during these tasks. It is important to note that skilled and less skilled deaf readers performed similarly in both tasks, indicating that reading difficulties in deaf adults may not be linked to the activation of phonological codes during reading.     

Learning to read Chinese: Semantic,syntactic, phonological and working memory skills in normally achieving and poor Chinese readers

Whereas many studies point to a positive relationship between phonological skills and reading in English, little is known about these relationships for children learning to read in a morphemic orthography such as Chinese. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among reading ability, phonological, semantic and syntactic skills in Chinese. The participants were 196 grade 1 to grade 4 Chinese children in Hong Kong. A word recognition task in Chinese was developed and children who scored in the lowest quartile were classified as poor readers. The children were administered phonological tasks (tone and rhyming discrimination), semantic tasks (choosing similar words and sentences meanings), a syntactic task (oral cloze), and a working memory task. The results showed that word recognition was highly correlated with phonological skills and semantic processing, and was only moderately related to syntactic knowledge and working memory. Poor readers showed a significant lag in the development of these skills with the most significant problems at the phonological and semantic levels. Phonological skills are important to the acquisition of reading skills in both Chinese and English.     

Investigating morphological awareness and the processing of transparent and opaque words in adults with low literacy skills and in skilled readers

For adults with low literacy skills, the role of phonology in reading has been fairly well researched, but less is known about the role of morphology in reading. We investigated the contribution of morphological awareness to word reading and reading comprehension and found that for adults with low literacy skills and skilled readers, morphological awareness explained unique variance in word reading and reading comprehension. In addition, we investigated the effects of orthographic and phonological opacity in morphological processing. Results indicated that adults with low literacy skills were more impaired than skilled readers on items containing phonological changes but were spared on items involving orthographic changes. These results are consistent with previous findings of adults with low literacy skills reliance on orthographic codes. Educational implications are discussed.     

The contribution of orthographic and phonological processes to word reading in young Norwegian readers

The dissociation between phonological and orthographic processes in word reading was investigated in a study involving 147 children in grade 3. The criterion measure was a timed word reading test. Two tasks assessed phonological skills and two tasks assessed orthographical skills. Orthographic ability accounted for variance in word reading even after phonological ability had been controlled. Poor readers differed from skilled readers in the way phonological and orthographic factors were balanced. The relationship between the two factors was fairly strong among poor readers, whereas the correlation was low for more skilled readers. Furthermore, phonological factors played a much stronger role in explaining the variance in word reading among poor readers, while on the other hand, orthographic factors were more powerful among skilled readers.     

Prosody in skilled silent reading: evidence from eye movements

Recent eye movement experiments offer preliminary evidence that skilled readers activate word‐level prosodic information when silently reading sentences. This paper reviews the role of eye movements during reading as well as the preliminary evidence for prosodic processing. A new experiment examines whether prosodic processing differs for high and low frequency words. Readers' eye movements were monitored while reading target words presented in sentences preceded by parafoveal previews that either contained the exact initial syllable of the target (i.e. the congruent preview condition) or the initial syllable plus the next letter (i.e. the incongruent preview condition). Reading times on high frequency words did not differ in the congruent and incongruent preview conditions, but reading times on low frequency words were faster in the congruent condition. The implications of the present result and previous studies are discussed in terms of phonological hub theory, which is a production‐based theory of word recognition during skilled silent reading.     

Effects of two types of letter rehearsal on word memory in skilled and less skilled beginning readers

Skilled and less skilled beginning readers were taught to read and define 10 printed pseudowords. Then they rehearsed the spellings of the words in one of two ways. Experimental subjects performed activities to retain spellings in memory as orthographic images. Control subjects rehearsed the letters similarly but with the correct spellings in view. Post-tests revealed that experimentals remembered spellings better than controls. This indicates that the activity of committing letters to memory is better for learning spellings than copying letters which is what most spelling programs have learners do. Experimental subjects' superior knowledge of spellings, however, did not enable them to read the words faster or more accurately than controls, possibly because of overlearning. Comparison of good and poor readers' word-learning behavior revealed greater deficiencies in phonological than in semantic processes. Correlational analysis indicated that background skills are much more powerful than specific learning experiences in accounting for individual differences in reading and spelling performances.     

Semantic effects on word naming in children with developmental dyslexia

Repetition priming was used to examine whether children with dyslexia bias a lexical–semantic pathway when reading words aloud. For the dyslexic group (n = 18, age 9.4–11.8 years), but not for age‐matched controls (n = 18, age 9.2–12.4 years), reaction times when naming pictures were faster after naming the corresponding word. A reading age‐matched control group (n = 24, age 6.8–8.9 years) showed similar priming effects to the children with dyslexia. The magnitude of repetition priming was greater for children with dyslexia with poor nonword reading and slower picture naming. Assuming repetition priming of picture naming is contingent on accessing lexical phonology via semantics, the results suggest less‐skilled normal and disordered readers show a stronger bias towards a lexical– semantic pathway during word reading than skilled readers, and the severity of the phonological representations deficit modulates the strength of that bias in children with dyslexia.     

Accuracy and Fluency in List and Context Reading of Skilled and RD Groups: Absolute and Relative Performance Levels

The purpose of this study was to examine (1) the performance levels and the magnitude of performance difference between students with reading disabilities (RD) and skilled readers when reading a typical classroom text; (2) the hypothesis that students with RD have specific difficulty using context in such a way that reading fluency is affected; and (3) whether RD subtypes may be differentiated according to performance on contextual and context‐free reading tasks. Two groups of fourth graders (85 skilled readers and 24 students with RD) completed a standardized test of reading comprehension, read aloud a folktale, and read aloud the folktale's words in a randomly sequenced list. Performance was scored as correct rate and percentage correct. Based on the number of words per idea unit in the passage, we also estimated the rate at which reader groups encountered and processed text ideas. Compared to the RD group, skilled readers read three times more correct words per minute in context, and showed higher accuracy and rates on all measures. Both context and isolated word‐reading rates were highly sensitive to impairment. We found no evidence for RD subtypes based on these measures. Results illustrate differences in reading levels between the two groups, the temporal advantage skilled readers have in linking text ideas, how word reading differs as a function of task format and performance dimension, and how limited word‐identification skills (not comprehension) produce contextual reading difficulties for students with RD.     

The use of phonological, orthographic, and contextual information during reading: a comparison of adults who are learning to read and skilled adult readers

The purpose of this study was to assess the role that phonological, orthographic, and contextual sources of information play in a group of adults who were learning to read compared to adult skilled readers. Participants read short paragraphs that contained a correct homophone, an incorrect homophone, or a spelling control. Target words were orthographically similar or dissimilar, and they appeared in context that predicted the target or was neutral with respect to the target. The pattern of data obtained for skilled readers was consistent with past work (Rayner et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 24(2), 476–497, 1998). Skilled readers showed no reading time differences between the correct homophone and the incorrect homophone, as long as the two were orthographically similar, but reading times on these words were faster than the spelling control condition. The pattern of data for the adults who were learning to read was different. These readers were actually better at noticing that an incorrect version of the homophone was present. Importantly, we did find consistent significant differences between the incorrect homophone condition and the spelling control condition. This suggests the adults who were learning to read use phonological codes during word recognition, but they do so less efficiently than skilled readers.     

A Reading-Level Design Study of Phonological Skills Underlying Fourth-Grade Children''s Word Reading Difficulties

A 3-group reading-level design was used to investigate phonological analysis, verbal working memory, and pseudoword reading performance in less skilled fourth-grade readers. Children were given phonological oddity tasks assessing their sensitivity to subsyllabic and phonemic units, together with standardized tests of verbal working memory and pseudoword reading. Less skilled fourth-grade readers performed lower than both chronological age and reading-level controls on the phonological oddity and pseudoword reading tests. Less skilled fourth-grade readers performed at the same level as skilled second-grade readers on a test of verbal working memory. Skilled fourth-grade readers scored higher than both other groups on this test. Correlational analyses were consistent with the view that phonological analysis skills contribute more strongly than verbal working memory skills to children's decoding abilities.     

Phonological and semantic factors in the object-naming errors of skilled and less-skilled readers

Children who read poorly have difficulty naming objects, and their errors usually bear a semantic or a phonetic resemblance to the correct words. Excessive semantic and phonetic naming errors could both be due to underlying phonological deficiencies in poor readers. When children cannot name an object because its name is not represented well in long-term memory or cannot be processed well, semantic information as well as partially available phonological information may be used in selecting an alternative response. This hypothesis was tested by looking for the joint influence of semantics and phonology in the naming errors of third-grade children. The same children were asked to name a set of pictured objects, repeat the object names after being spoken by the examiner, and recognize the objects from their spoken names. A separate group of children produced associative responses to the same pictures. First, it was found that, compared with skilled readers, less-skilled readers who named objects without any time pressure had a deficit that could not be attributed to repetition difficulty or limited vocabulary. Second, the naming errors showed a semantic relationship to the correct words that was as strong as that of the associative responses. Third, the naming errors also showed a phonetic relationship to the correct words, whereas the associative responses did not. Finding a joint semantic and phonetic effect in the naming errors of children suggests that the errors may be attributable to phonological deficiencies.     

Do different components of working memory underlie different subgroups of reading disabilities?

The purpose of this study was to determine the components of working memory (WM) that underlie less skilled readers' comprehension and word recognition difficulties. Performance of 3 less skilled reading subgroups---children with reading disabilities (RD) in both word recognition and comprehension; children with comprehension deficits only; and children with low verbal IQ, word recognition, and comprehension (poor readers)--was compared to that of skilled readers on WM, short-term memory (STM), processing speed, executive, and phonological processing measures. Ability group comparisons showed that (a) skilled readers outperformed all less skilled readers on measures of WM, updating, and processing speed; (b) children with comprehension deficits only outperformed children with RD on measures of WM, STM, phonological processing, and processing speed; and (c) children with RD outperformed poor readers on WM and phonological processing measures. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that (a) subgroup differences on WM tasks among less skilled readers were moderated by a storage system not specific to phonological skills, and (b) STM and updating contributed significant variance to WM beyond what was contributed by reading group classification. The latter finding suggested that some differences in storage and executive processing emerged between skilled and less skilled readers that were not specific to reading.     

Phonological recoding,orthographic decoding,and comprehension skills during reading acquisition

To become skillful readers, children have to acquire the ability to translate printed words letter by letter into phonemic representations (phonological recoding) and the ability to recognize the written word forms holistically (orthographical decoding). Whereas phonological recoding is the key for learning to read and useful for recognizing unknown or low-frequent words, orthographical decoding is often more efficient and takes less time, thus facilitating reading processes on the sentence and text level. Several studies with English-speaking children provided evidence for the relevance of the two routes but the question whether and to what extent both word recognition skills contribute to reading comprehension in young German readers requires further clarification. Based on data from a cross-sectional study with German primary school children we investigated whether and to what extent both types of word recognition skills are associated with sentence (N = 666) and text comprehension skills (N = 149) and how these relationships develop from Grade 2 to 4. The results indicate that both phonological recoding skills and orthographical decoding skills are important for reading comprehension skills. Their relative weight does not change across grade levels.     

Visual‐attentional span and lexical ­decision in skilled adult readers

The goal of the study was to examine the association between visual‐attentional span and lexical decision in skilled adult readers. In the span tasks, an array of letters was presented briefly and recognition or production of a single cued letter (partial span) or production of all letters (whole span) was required. Independently of letter recognition and phoneme awareness, width of partial recognition span predicted substantial variance only in detection of letter misorderings in words, while partial span efficiency made small contributions to decisions on regular words and pseudowords, but not strange words. With a production format and the inclusion of short‐term phonological memory, neither partial‐span nor whole‐span measures contributed positive independent variance to word and nonword decisions. The results provide meagre support for the idea that skilled adult readers with a wide visual‐attentional span might process words more effectively than those with a narrow span during lexical decision.     

Lexical and nonlexical processes in the skilled reading and spelling of Persian

The objective of the present study was to examine the contribution of lexical and nonlexical processes to skilled reading and spelling in Persian. Persian is a mixed orthography that allows one to study within one language characteristics typically found in shallow orthographies as well as those found in deeper orthographies. 61 senior high-school students (mean age = 17; 8, SD = 4 months) attending schools in Iran were tested on reading and spelling of words and nonwords. The word stimuli differed in terms of reading transparency (transparent when all phonemes have corresponding letters vs. opaque when short vowels were not marked with a letter) and spelling polygraphy (nonpolygraphic phonemes vs. polygraphic phonemes). The nonwords were transparent and nonpolygraphic. The reading results showed that both transparent and opaque words were read faster than nonwords, and that transparent words were read faster than opaque words. Moreover, both transparent and opaque words were affected by word frequency. These findings suggest that skilled readers of Persian relied on lexical processes to read words. In contrast, the spelling results failed to show a word-advantage effect suggesting that skilled spellers of Persian rely on nonlexical processes to spell words. Moreover, orthographic complexity also affected spelling. Specifically, nonpolygraphic words were spelled faster than polygraphic words for both transparent and opaque words. Taken together, the findings showed that skilled reading and spelling in Persian rely on different underlying processes.     

The importance of processing automaticity and temporary storage capacity to the differences in comprehension between skilled and less skilled college-age deaf readers

The prevalence of low comprehension among deaf readers has been documented for decades, yet the problem persists. Progress has been hampered by uncertainty regarding which aspects of reading competence ought to be the primary focus of concerted instructional efforts. This article examines whether temporary storage capacity and/or processing automaticity may explain the difference in comprehension between skilled and less skilled adult deaf readers. Temporary storage capacity is the ability to maintain separate bits of information in current memory while they are being processed. Processing automaticity is the ability to complete certain basic operations of reading, such as recognizing individual words and chunking sets of words into meaningful phrases, with a minimum of intentional mental effort. In this study one group of deaf adults reading at the college level and another reading at the 5th-grade level completed a battery of experimental tasks that generated multiple indicators of storage capacity and automaticity. These included the reading span task of Daneman and Carpenter (1980), an analogous addition span task, two measures of phonological processing, and a sentence-reading task that varied the demands on temporary storage and processing automaticity. Results suggest that skilled readers do not command an exceptionally large temporary storage capacity, nor do less skilled readers suffer from deficient storage capacity. The indicators of processing automaticity suggest, however, that less skilled readers must invest significantly more conscious mental effort than skilled readers to complete basic operations of reading. These findings are applied to theory related to (a) the nature of the breakdowns in comprehension faced by readers with low automaticity, (b) the interaction of low automaticity with other obstacles to comprehension, and (c) the design of practice experiences to increase the automaticity and ultimately the comprehension of deaf readers.     

Differences in Phonological Recoding in German- and English-Speaking Children

Orthographic consistency in different languages is likely to have an effect on phonological recoding skills, which are basic to the acquisition of reading. To explore this issue, we investigated word and nonword reading in German- and English-speaking 7- to 12-year-old children. Comparability of the stimuli across the 2 languages was strictly controlled: The German and English words used were common to both languages. Nonwords were derived by exchanging consonantal onsets between short words and by recombining syllables in long words. An identical set of CVCVCV nonwords was also presented to both language groups. At ages 7, 8, and 9, English-speaking children made a higher proportion of errors than their German-speaking peers when reading nonwords and words of low frequency. This was the case even when word-recognition ability was equated between the 2 language groups. By age 12, both groups had equally fast nonword-recognition latencies, but English-speaking readers were still less accurate when recoding long and complex nonwords. Only the younger English-speaking readers made substantial numbers of errors with CVCVCV nonwords. Vowels, which are the most inconsistent feature of English orthography, were often mispronounced in English but hardly ever in German, where they are consistent. Word-substitution errors occurred more frequently in English than in German. We suggest that low orthographic consistency, as in English, necessitates the use of complex and error-prone strategies in phonological recoding, whereas high consistency, as in German, allows phonological recoding into syllables on-line. This makes the teaching of phonological recoding relatively straightforward and allows the acquisition of basic reading skills to proceed at a faster pace. Differences in the teaching of reading might in turn contribute to differences in recoding skills.     

Phonological contribution during visual word recognition in child readers. An intermodal priming study in Grades 3 and 5

This study investigated the phonological contribution during visual word recognition in child readers as a function of general reading expertise (third and fifth grades) and specific word exposure (frequent and less‐frequent words). An intermodal priming in lexical decision task was performed. Auditory primes (identical and unrelated) were used in order to directly activate phonological codes independently of orthographic processing. Overall, the results revealed a widespread phonological priming effect in both grades. There was a significant interaction between grade, priming condition and frequency, revealing that the impact of frequency on identity priming differed between grades. In third grade, the results indicated that the priming effect was greater for less‐frequent than for frequent words. In fifth grade, priming effects were similar for both frequent and less‐frequent words. These findings indicate that print and speech processing systems are interconnected in young readers. Moreover, phonological codes play an important role in word recognition throughout reading development.     

Unexpectedly Poor Spelling and Phonological-Processing Skill

This study investigated the phonological skills of university students who were unexpectedly poor spellers relative to their word reading accuracy. Compared with good spellers, unexpectedly poor spellers showed no deficits in phonological memory, selection of appropriate graphemes for phonemes in word misspellings and nonword spellings, and phoneme awareness. In contrast, poor readers–poor spellers performed worse than the other groups at all but the last of these tasks. Although unexpectedly poor spellers misread nonwords more often than good spellers and took longer to begin pronouncing long, difficult-to-spell words, they took no longer to begin pronouncing shorter words and the names of corresponding pictures. The difficulty with reading nonwords and long words was thus interpreted as arising at the stage of identifying and parsing the orthographic input rather than phonological retrieval. The findings indicate that unexpectedly poor spellers of the type studied here do not have a mild phonological deficit.