‘Do you want me to translate this in English or in a better Mandinka language?’: Unequal literacy regimes and grassroots spelling practices in peri-urban Gambia

This paper presents a comparative ethnographic analysis of two versions of a grassroots text in Mandinka language, one written by a non-formally educated man, the other a respelling by a formally educated urbanite. The analysis points at a crucial difference in spelling practices and inequality in literacy regimes, i.e., between established orthographic English literacy and the more creative, heterographic and emergent local language literacy. It is shown how English orthography affects local ideologies of literacy as well as Mandinka spelling practices itself, in greater or lesser extent, depending on the educational history of the speller.     

Little Frog and Toad: Interaction of orthography and phonology in Polish spelling

The interaction of lexical and non-lexicalprocesses in spelling was investigated throughlexical priming of non-lexical spelling, inPolish, a language in whose relativelytransparent orthography lexical informationmight be expected to play a less influentialrole than in English. Orthographic choice fornonwords was assessed under free and primedspelling conditions for both adults andchildren using direct and associative priming.The findings indicated that lexical orthographyinfluences resolution of nonlexical phonologyin spelling and identified two sources ofinfluence: one in unprimed spelling, wherelong-standing orthographic knowledge affectednonword orthographic choice so that it was notdetermined solely by phonology, the other inprimed spelling, where orthographic solutionsto nonwords were influenced by the covertorthography of the prime. The most powerfulevidence for lexical influence comes from thefinding that lexical orthography not onlyinforms resolution of phonology in cases ofambiguity, but overrides phonology whenresolution is unambiguous.     

Comprehending orthography

A new perspective is needed on the great debate in literacy instruction. Rather than the current dichotomy between whole language and phonics, we propose an approach that integrates comprehension and decoding into a system designed around the principles of student-centered, authentic instruction in a socially engaging context. This approach reflects the research on meta-cognitive and social-constructive literacy. We discuss concepts and practices for realizing these principles in programs for students in US schools whose native language is English and those for whom Spanish is the language of the home. We consider the advantages of bilingual programs that promote awareness of the function of print codes within and across languages.     

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.     

Morphological and orthographic effects on hemispheric

We tested the effects of morphological and orthographic differences between English, Hebrew, and Arabic on the functioning of the two cerebral hemispheres. University students who were native speakers of each of the three languages performed a lateralized consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) identification task. The stimuli were presented vertically in three conditions: left visual field (LVF), right visual field (RVF), and bilaterally (BVF). Three dependent measures were used: (1) exposure duration of the stimuli in order to achieve a 50% error rate, (2) total number of errors in each presentation condition and (3) the difference between errors on the first letter and errors on the last letter, a qualitative measure of sequential processing. Arabic readers required longer exposure durations of the syllables in order to achieve a 50% error rate than Hebrew readers, who in turn, required longer exposure durations than native English readers. Readers of all three languages evinced left hemisphere specialization for this linguistic task and a bilateral advantage. The qualitative patterns revealed that the Arabic and Hebrew speakers showed the same hemispheric difference pattern, that was different from the one shown by English readers, and that Arabic readers showed a qualitative pattern suggesting higher levels of sequential processes in both hemisphere than readers of Hebrew and English. We interpret this as reflecting the adaptation of hemispheric abilities to reading languages that differ in morphological structure and orthography.     

Dyslexia and second language reading: A second bite at the apple?

An unexpected and remarkable preference for second language reading among some dyslexics has been noted, presenting a challenge to accepted theory on dyslexia and the capacity for second language learning. The current study was designed to examine this phenomenon by systematically looking at the differential reading scores in the first and second languages of reading-disabled young Swedish adults who claimed to prefer reading in their second language (English). Three groups were selected for study: a group of 10 reading-disabled young adults who prefer to read English; a second group of 10 reading-disabled with no special preference for second language reading, matched on word recognition efficiency, age group, gender and educational level and a group of 10 normal readers matched on age group and educational level. The test battery was designed to compare overall reading efficiency in English and Swedish and therefore encompassed both speed and accuracy measures. The battery covered seven phonological measures, four orthographic measures,three isolated word reading measures, two continuous text reading measures, a comprehension task and an author recognition task. All tasks were carried out in both English and Swedish. The results showed that two dyslexic groups differed significantly in the degree to which task performance, including reading efficiency, was impeded by the English format. A tentative hypothesis was forwarded as to how the exceptional and unexpected facility with English might be explained.     

Effects of variations in orthographic information on Asian and American readers' English text reading

Orthographies vary in the support they provide for word identification based on grapheme-phoneme correspondences. If skills developed in acquisition of first-language (L1) reading transfer to reading English as a foreign language (EFL), the extent to which EFL readers' word identification shows reliance on information other than grapheme-phoneme correspondences could be expected to vary with whether their L1 orthography is a non-Roman alphabet such as Korean hangul or a nonalphabetic (morpho-syllabic) system such as Chinese characters. Another influence could be whether EFL readers have learned to read a morpho-syllabic L1 by means of an alphabetic transliteration. English text reading speeds and oral reading quality ratings of three groups of adult Asian EFL readers attending an American university were compared with those of two groups of American L1 readers: Graduate student peers and eighth-grade students. All EFL groups read more slowly than both groups of L1 readers, and their reading was more impaired when orthographic cues were disrupted by mixed case print or pseudohomophone spellings. Some of these effects were reduced in EFL readers from Hong Kong, who had earlier exposure to English. Contrary to previous findings, no effects could be attributed to type of first orthography or early exposure to alphabetic transliteration of Chinese characters, which differentiated the Taiwanese and Hong Kong groups. As a whole, the results suggest that, at least across the L1 groups studied, differences in EFL word reading are associated less with type of L1 orthography than with history of exposure to English.     

Spelling in adults: The role of reading skills and experience

One hundred university students completed tests of spellingproduction, vocabulary, reading comprehension, readingexperience, and reading accuracy (ability to distinguish apreviously read word from a similar distractor). Readingexperience, as measured by an adaptation of the AuthorRecognition Test, and reading accuracy contributed to theprediction of spelling beyond the joint contribution of readingcomprehension and vocabulary. The results are more consistentwith a uni-process model of spelling based on the quality ofword-specific orthographic learning, rather than with a dual-process account relying on both word-specific knowledge andrules.     

The case for frequency sensitivity in orthographic learning

This paper positions the importance of frequency sensitivity in the development of orthographic knowledge throughout childhood and promotes learning to spell as a vehicle which may be used effectively to develop this sensitivity. It is suggested that orthographic knowledge is advanced via a process of ‘frequency sensitivity’ to ‘patterns and sequences’ and ‘rules and regularities’ particular to English orthography and that the process of sensitivity to these coarse grain orthographic patterns is influenced by consistency in sound and by morphological knowledge (knowledge of morphemes; words or word parts that form the smallest unit of meaning in language). A model highlighting the increasing importance of orthography and morphology as reading and spelling development progresses is presented. Discussion of the importance of considering phonology, orthography and morphology throughout literacy development and the relative importance of each is discussed. Distinctions are drawn between the processes involved in children who are good readers and good spellers, children who are good readers and poor spellers, and children who are poor readers and poor spellers. This paper outlines how considering these interrelated and developmentally sensitive contributors to literacy development can contribute to the practice of educational professionals in promoting the development of literacy skills throughout childhood.     

Reading in two orthographies: A cross-linguistic study of Dutch average and poor readers who learn English as a second language

The present study investigated the reading of secondary school students in their first and second language (L1, L2). Twenty-six average and twenty-six poor readers matched on age, gender, listening and reading comprehension participated. They were native Dutch speakers who started learning English at secondary school (grade 7). We examined whether differences in L2 between the two groups reflect differences in L1 with regard to reading and relevant subskills. In addition, the relationship between reading and its predictors within and across the two languages was investigated. Between group differences were similar in L1 and L2 when task conditions involved high levels of phonological and orthographic complexity or demanded speeded processing. Furthermore, serial rapid naming predicted speeded word reading in both languages and L2 text reading accuracy, while L2 phoneme awareness and orthographic knowledge explained unique variance in L2 text reading accuracy. Cross-linguistic prediction revealed that speeded word reading predicted its counterpart from L1 to L2 and vice versa. Serial rapid naming explained additional variance in the prediction of L2 from L1. After exclusion of the reading predictor from the model, serial rapid naming was the most consistent cross-linguistic predictor, while L2 orthographic knowledge explained a small amount of unique variance in L1 speeded word reading.