Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:19:08.630Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Beginners remember orthography when they learn to read words: The case of doubled letters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2007

DONNA-MARIE WRIGHT
Affiliation:
City University of New York
LINNEA C. EHRI
Affiliation:
City University of New York

Abstract

Sight word learning and memory were studied to clarify how early during development readers process visual letter patterns that are not dictated by phonology, and whether their word learning is influenced by the legality of letter patterns. Forty kindergartners and first graders were taught to read 12 words containing either single consonants (e.g., FAN) or doubled consonants in initial illegal or final legal positions (e.g., RRUG or JETT). Children required fewer trials to learn to read legally spelled words with single or doubled consonants than illegally spelled words containing initial doublets. On a spelling posttest, children recalled single consonants somewhat better than final doublets, and final doublets much better than initial illegal doublets. More advanced beginning readers tended to regularize illegal initial doublets by doubling the final rather than initial consonants when they wrote these words. Poorer learning and memory for initial doublets occurred despite the salience of their position in words. Findings indicate that beginning readers use orthographic patterns to read and remember words earlier than predicted by phase theory, but their memory is constrained by their knowledge of written word structure.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barron R. 1981. Development of visual word recognition: A review. In G. Mackinnon & T. Waller (Eds.), Reading research: Advances in theory and practice (Vol. 3, pp. 119158). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Bowman M., & Treiman R. 2002. Relating print and speech: The effects of letter names and word position on reading and spelling performance. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 82, 305340.Google Scholar
Brown A. 1988. Encountering misspellings and spelling performance: Why wrong isn't right. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 488494.Google Scholar
Cassar M., & Treiman R. 1997. The beginnings of orthographic knowledge: Children's knowledge of double letters in words. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 631644.Google Scholar
Clarke L. 1988. Invented versus traditional spelling in first graders' writings: Effects on learning to spell and read. Research in the Teaching of English, 22, 281309.Google Scholar
deAbreu M., & Cardoso-Martins C. 1998. Alphabetic access route in beginning reading acquisition in Portuguese: The role of letter-name knowledge. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 10, 85104.Google Scholar
Detterman K., & Sternberg R. 1993. Transfer on trial: Intelligence, cognition, and instruction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Ehri L. 1980. The development of orthographic images. In U. Frith (Ed.), Cognitive processes in spelling (pp. 311338). London: Academic Press.
Ehri L. 1989. Movement into word reading and spelling: How spelling contributes to reading. In J. Mason (Ed.), Reading/writing connections (pp. 6581). Boston: Allyn Bacon.
Ehri L. 1997. Learning to read and learning to spell are one and the same, almost. In C. Perfetti, L. Rieben, & Fayol M. (Eds.), Learning to spell: Research, theory and practice across languages (pp. 237269). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ehri L. 1999. Phases of development in learning to read words. In J. Oakhill & R. Beard (Eds.), Reading development and the teaching of reading: A psychological perspective (pp. 79108). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Ehri L. 2005. Development of sight word reading: Phases and findings. In M. Snowling & C. Hulme (Ed.), The science of reading, A handbook (pp. 135154). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Ehri L., Gibbs A., & Underwood T. 1988. Influence of errors on learning the spellings of English words. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 13, 236253.Google Scholar
Ehri L., & Saltmarsh J. 1995. Beginning readers outperform older disabled readers in learning to read words by sight. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 7, 295326.Google Scholar
Ehri L., & Wilce L. 1985. Movement into reading: Is the first stage of printed word learning visual or phonetic? Reading Research Quarterly, 20, 163179.Google Scholar
Ehri L., & Wilce L. 1987. Does learning to spell help beginners learn to read words? Reading Research Quarterly, 22, 4765.Google Scholar
Ehri L. C. 1992. Reconceptualizing the development of sight word reading and its relationship to recoding. In P. Gough, L. Ehri, & R. Treiman (Eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 107143). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Elbro C. 2005. Literacy acquisition in Danish: A deep orthography in cross-linguistic light. In R. Joshi & P. Aaron (Eds.), Handbook of orthography and literacy. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gibson E., & Levin H. 1975. The psychology of reading. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Harris A., & Jacobson M. 1982. Basic reading vocabularies. New York: Macmillan.
Morris D., & Perney J. 1984. Developmental spelling as a predictor of first grade reading achievement. Elementary School Journal, 84, 441457.Google Scholar
Pacton S., & Fayol M. 2004. Learning to spell in a deep orthography: The case of French. In R. Berman, R. & T. Gillis (Eds), Trends in language acquisition research (pp. 164176). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Perfetti C. 1992. The representation problem in reading acquisition. In P. Gough, L. Ehri, & R. Treiman (Eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 107143). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rack J., Hulme C., Snowling M., & Wightman J. 1994. The role of phonology in young children learning to read words: The direct-mapping hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 57, 4271.Google Scholar
Rayner K. 1976. Developmental changes in word recognition strategies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 68, 323329.Google Scholar
Reitsma P. 1983. Printed word learning in beginning readers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 75, 321339.Google Scholar
Roberts T. 2003. Effects of alphabet letter instruction on young children's word recognition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 4151.Google Scholar
Savage R., Stuart M., & Hill V. 2001. The role of scaffolding errors in reading development: Evidence from a longitudinal and a correlational study. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 113.Google Scholar
Scott J., & Ehri L. 1990. Sight word reading in prereaders: Use of logographic vs. alphabetic access routes. Journal of Reading Behavior, 22, 149166.Google Scholar
Seymour P., Aro M., & Erskine J. 2003. Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 143174.Google Scholar
Seymour P., & Duncan L. 2001. Learning to read in English. Psychology, 8, 281299.Google Scholar
Share D. 1999. Phonological recoding and orthographic learning: A direct test of the self-teaching hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 72, 95129.Google Scholar
Share D. 2004. Orthographic learning at a glance: On the time course and develomental onset of self-teaching. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87, 267298.Google Scholar
Stuart M., & Coltheart M. 1988. Does reading develop in a sequence of stages? Cognition, 50, 139181.Google Scholar
Treiman R. 1993. Beginning to spell. New York: Oxford University Press.
Vandervelden M., & Siegel L. 1995. Phonological recoding and phoneme awareness in early literacy: A developmental approach. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 854875.Google Scholar
Woodcock R. W. 1987. Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests—Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Venezky R. 1999. The American way of spelling: The structure and origins of American English orthography. New York: Guilford Press.
Worden P., & Boettcher W. 1990. Young children's acquisition of alphabet knowledge. Journal of Reading Behavior, 22, 277295.Google Scholar
Ziegler J., & Goswami U. 2005. Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 329.Google Scholar