Phonological recoding and orthographic learning: A direct test of the self-teaching hypothesis.

According to the self-teaching hypothesis (Share, 1995), word-specific orthographic representations are acquired primarily as a result of the self-teaching opportunities provided by the phonological recoding of novel letter strings. This hypothesis was tested by asking normal second graders to read aloud short texts containing embedded pseudoword targets. Three days later, target spellings were correctly identified more often, named more quickly, and spelled more accurately than alternate homophonic spellings. Experiment 2 examined whether this rapid orthographic learning can be attributed to mere visual exposure to target strings. It was found that viewing the target letter strings under conditions designed to minimize phonological processing significantly attenuated orthographic learning. Experiment 3 went on to show that this reduced orthographic learning was not attributable to alternative nonphonological factors (brief exposure durations or decontextualized presentation). The results of a fourth experiment suggested that the contribution of pure visual exposure to orthographic learning is marginal. It was concluded that phonological recoding is critical to the acquisition of word-specific orthographic representations as proposed by the self-teaching hypothesis.

Phonological recoding and self-teaching: sine qua non of reading acquisition.

The self-teaching hypothesis proposes that phonological recoding functions as a self-teaching mechanism enabling the learner to independently acquire an autonomous orthographic lexicon. Successful decoding encounters with novel letter strings provide opportunities to learn word-specific print-to-meaning connections. Although it may not play a central role in skilled word recognition, phonological recoding, by virtue of its self-teaching function, is regarded as critical to successful reading acquisition. This paper elaborates the self-teaching hypothesis proposed by Jorm and Share (1983), and reviews relevant evidence. Key features of phonological recoding include an item-based rather than stage-based role in development, the progressive "lexicalization" of the process of recoding, and the importance of phonological awareness and contextual information in resolving decoding ambiguity. Although phonological skills have been shown to be primary in reading acquisition, orthographic processing appears to be an important but secondary source of individual differences. This implies an asymmetrical pattern of dissociations in both developmental and acquired reading disorders. Strong relationships between word recognition, basic phonological processing abilities and phonemic awareness are also consistent with the self-teaching notion. Finally, it is noted that current models of word recognition (both PDP and dual-route) fail to address the quintessential problem of reading acquisition-independent generation of target pronunciations for novel orthographic strings.

IQ and reading progress: a test of the capacity notion of IQ.

Concepts such as developmental reading disorder and dyslexia have been used to refer to children whose actual reading achievement is substantially below that predicted by performance on IQ tests. Such diagnostic concepts assume that IQ sets a limit on either the level of achievement or the rate of progress of which a child is capable. This assumption was investigated in a longitudinal study of an unselected cohort of 741 children whose reading achievement was assessed at ages 7, 9, 11, and 13 years. Findings on rates of progress and levels of achievement clearly indicate that IQ does not set a limit on reading progress, even in extreme low IQ children. Thus, the use of IQ tests to determine achievement potential in reading appears unwarranted.

Refractive error, IQ and reading ability: a longitudinal study from age seven to 11.

Children from a population sample whose cycloplegic refractive errors included myopia, pre-myopia and hypermetropia were compared on measures of IQ and reading with a group of children without significance refractive errors. At age 11 both those with myopia and with pre-myopia had increased verbal and performance IQ, while those with hypermetropia had slightly reduced verbal and performance IQ, in comparison with the children without refractive errors. The differences in verbal IQ were not attributable simply to earlier differences, but the differences in performance IQ were attributable to earlier differences. No significant differences in reading scores were found at either age. It is concluded that differing abilities of myopic and other children at age 11 are not fully explained by differences in family background or in pre-existing ability.

Factors associated with reading-plus-spelling retardation and specific spelling retardation.

Factors associated with reading-plus-spelling retardation and specific spelling retardation were investigated in a large sample of Dunedin children who were studied longitudinally between the ages of three and 11 years. Those with reading-plus-spelling retardation showed poor performance on WISC-R Verbal subtests relative to non-retarded children, but superior performance on Picture Completion and Object Assembly subtests. The group with reading-plus-spelling retardation also had poor speech articulation but no significant language, motor or neurological dysfunction. Their educational attainment in reading, writing and mathematics was consistently poor. Specific spelling retardation was associated with deficits on WISC-R Arithmetic and Coding subtests, teacher ratings of low attentiveness and poor achievement in writing and mathematics. No language, motor or neurological deficits were apparent in this group.

The relationship between specific reading retardation, general reading backwardness and behavioural problems in a large sample of Dunedin boys: a longitudinal study from five to eleven years.

Parent and teacher reports of behaviour problems were obtained at ages 5, 7, 9 and 11 years for three groups of boys: specific reading retarded (N = 18), general reading backward (N = 22), and those with no severe reading disability (N = 436). At school entry, both groups of reading disabled boys were reported as having more behaviour problems, and the level of problems increased during their early school years. The results suggest that behaviour problems pre-date reading disability, while reading failure further exacerbates the existing problem behaviour.

Reading disability and middle ear disease.

The association between specific reading disability and middle ear disease was investigated in a longitudinal study of 962 children followed from age 5 to 11. No significant differences were found in the prevalence of middle ear abnormalities between the reading disabled group (n = 49) and the remainder.

Behaviour problems in specific reading retarded and general reading backward children: a longitudinal study.

A sample of 453 Australian children was followed over the first three years of schooling. Behaviour problems were assessed at the beginning of the first year at school and at the end of the second and third years. At the end of the third year the children were classified as specific reading retarded, general reading backward or normal. At school entry backward readers were found to have behaviour problems, principally relating to attentional deficit. It was concluded that this factor may play a causative role in their reading difficulty. Retarded readers, on the other hand, showed no evidence of behaviour problems.

Cognitive factors at school entry predictive of specific reading retardation and general reading backwardness: a research note.

A sample of 453 Australian children was followed over the first three years of schooling. A broad range of cognitive skills was assessed at the beginning of the first year at school and at the end of the third year the children were classified as retarded, backward or normal readers. At school entry, backward readers were found to be deficient in a broad range of cognitive skills, as might be expected given their lower IQs. Retarded readers, however, were found to be deficient on a more limited range of tasks, mainly involving early literacy and phonological processing skills. The implications of these findings for theories of cognitive deficit in reading retardation are discussed.

Phonological confusability in short-term memory for sentences as a predictor of reading ability.

Upon entry to kindergarten, a group of 477 children was given sentence memory tasks involving rhyming and non-rhyming sentences. These tasks were readministered to the children at the end of Grade 1 when the children were also tested for reading ability. Short-term memory for sentences was found to correlate with Grade 1 reading ability on both occasions when it was tested. Furthermore, at both ages the children found rhyming sentences harder to recall than non-rhyming sentences. However, contrary to some previous research, the study failed to find that poor readers were less severely penalized when the short-term memory sentence stimuli rhymed. The possible role of scaling artifacts in producing inconsistent results between studies is discussed.