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Orthographic processing and children’s word reading

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2018

S. HÉLÈNE DEACON
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
ADRIAN PASQUARELLA
Affiliation:
University of Delaware
EVA MARINUS
Affiliation:
Macquarie University
TALISA TIMS
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
ANNE CASTLES
Affiliation:
Macquarie University

Abstract

Theories of reading development generally agree that, in addition to phonological decoding, some kind of orthographic processing skill underlies the ability to learn to read words. However, there is a lack of clarity as to which aspect(s) of orthographic processing are key in reading development. We test here whether this is orthographic knowledge and/or orthographic learning. Whereas orthographic knowledge has been argued to reflect a child’s existing store of orthographic representations, orthographic learning is concerned with the ability to form these representations. In a longitudinal study of second- and third-grade students, we evaluate the relations between these two aspects of orthographic processing and word-reading outcomes. The results of our analyses show that variance captured by orthographic knowledge overlaps with that of word reading, to the point that they form a single latent word-reading factor. In contrast, orthographic learning is distinctive from this factor. Further, structural equation modeling demonstrates that early orthographic learning was related to gains in word reading skills. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of word-reading development.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

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