Orthographic learning during reading: examining the role of self-teaching

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Abstract

Thirty-four second grade children read target homophonic pseudowords (e.g., slurst/slirst) in the context of real stories in a test of the self-teaching theory of early reading acquisition. The degree of orthographic learning was assessed with three converging tasks: homophonic choice, spelling, and target naming. Each of the tasks indicated that orthographic learning had taken place because processing of target homophones (e.g., yait) was superior to that of their homophonic controls (e.g., yate). Consistent with the self-teaching hypothesis, we obtained a substantial correlation (r=.52) between orthographic learning and the number of target homophones correctly decoded during story reading. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that neither RAN tasks nor general cognitive ability predicted variance in orthographic learning once the number of target homophones correctly decoded during story reading had been partialed out. In contrast, a measure of orthographic knowledge predicted variance in orthographic learning once the number of targets correctly decoded had been partialed. The development of orthographic knowledge appears to be not entirely parasitic on decoding ability.

Section snippets

Design

The tasks administered to the participants were of two types: (1) connected text with post-test assessments of orthographic learning; and (2) measures designed to assess a variety of cognitive skills that have been linked with early reading acquisition.

Participants

Thirty-four children (18 boys and 16 girls) from three second grade classrooms in a predominantly upper-middle class elementary school served as participants. Testing took place at the end of the second grade school year, during the months of May

Orthographic learning

As indicated in Table 1, 74.7% of the choices made on the orthographic learning task were choices of the target pseudohomophone. Only 12.9% of the choices made were the homophonic alternative of the target pseudohomophone. The substitution and transposition alternatives were chosen only 6.5% and 5.9% of the time, respectively. That the target choice exceeded that of all of the alternatives by a factor of almost three to one indicates that orthographic learning on the task was evident. A

Discussion

In the present study, we found that second grade students demonstrated robust evidence of orthographic learning three days after they were exposed to novel English words in text, under conditions that simulated the self-teaching that is expected to occur in normal everyday reading contexts. Children were able to more quickly and accurately identify, name, and reproduce these homophones, thus replicating Share's (1999) study and extending his findings to a different and less transparent

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    This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Anne E. Cunningham and a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to Keith E. Stanovich.

    Special thanks to Dr. Marcia Wilson and the teachers Nancy Palker, Leslie Mulligan, Pam Rafanneli and the children at Beach Elementary School in Piedmont, California. Also to Pamela Douglas and Jane Gould-Caufield for their assistance in data collection.

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