Orthographic Learning

This chapter discusses orthographic learning, i.e., how children learn the relation between their spoken language and writing system. The process is discussed for children learning to read and write in one language, as well as for multilingual children acquiring literacy in more than one language. In both cases, the developmental course is mapped from children's first insights into the form and function of their writing systems to the development of word-specific mental representations that code for multiple linguistic forms (i.e., sound, spelling, and meaning). The chapter concludes with instructional recommendations for supporting children's orthographic learning throughout development.

EXPRESS: Lexicality Effects on Orthographic Learning in Beginning and Advanced Readers of Dutch: An Eye-tracking Study

Orthographic learning is the topic of many recent studies about reading, but much is still unknown about conditions that affect orthographic learning and their influence on reading fluency development over time. This study investigated lexicality effects on orthographic learning in beginning and relatively advanced readers of Dutch. Eye movements of 131 children in Grades 2 and 5 were monitored during an orthographic learning task. Children read sentences containing pseudowords or low-frequency real words that varied in number of exposures. We examined both offline learning outcomes (i.e., orthographic choice and spelling dictation) of target items and online gaze durations on target words. The results showed general effects of exposure, lexicality, and reading-skill level. Also, a two-way interaction was found between the number of exposures and lexicality when detailed orthographic representations were required, consistent with a larger overall effect of exposure on learning the spellings of pseudowords. Moreover, lexicality and reading-skill level were found to affect the learning rate across exposures based on a decrease in gaze durations, indicating a larger learning effect for pseudowords in Grade 5 children. Yet, further interactions between exposure and reading-skill level were not present, indicating largely similar learning curves for beginning and advanced readers. We concluded that the reading system of more advanced readers may cope somewhat better with words varying in lexicality, but is not more efficient than that of beginning readers in building up orthographic knowledge of specific words across repeated exposures. Keywords: Eye tracking, lexicality, literacy development, orthographic learning, reading fluency.

The effects of spacing and massing on children’s orthographic learning

Despite substantial evidence that distributing study opportunities over time improves the retention of learned verbal material compared to study trials that occur consecutively, the influence of temporal spacing on children’s learning of written words has not been investigated. This experiment examined whether temporal spacing influenced Grade 3 and 4 children’s (N=37; mean age 8 years, 7 months) learning of novel written words during independent reading, compared to massing. Children read sixteen sentences containing a novel word under either spaced (sentences appeared once in each of four blocks) or massed (four consecutive trials) conditions. After a delay, orthographic learning was assessed using recognition (orthographic choice) and recall (spelling to dictation) measures. Words experienced in the distributed condition were better recognised than those in the massed condition, but there was no effect on recall. These findings suggest that temporal spacing influences the acquisition of new written word forms, extending the potential utility of the spacing principle to reading acquisition.

Developing Reading Skills in Prelingually Deaf Preschool Children: Fingerspelling as a Strategy to Promote Orthographic Learning

The aim of this study was to clarify whether fingerspelling provides a sophisticated mechanism that promotes the development of detailed orthographic knowledge for deaf individuals even in the absence of paralleling phonological knowledge. An intervention program comprised of various procedures chaining between fingerspelled sequences; their written correlates and meaning were administered in a multiple probe single-subject research design across semantic categories to four children with severe to profound prelingual hearing loss (age 4.2–6 years). Results demonstrate the occurrence of rapid orthographic learning during intervention and reliable retention of it in maintenance checks, despite the participants’ insufficiently developed phonological skills. Observations of the participants’ behavior further suggest fingerspelling to function as an effective mediator in the initial development of robust detailed orthographic lexicon. Analyzes also indicate that “learning through action” and “relevance to the task” provide two key factors in relation to the promotion of orthographic learning, with their absence creating an obvious vacuum in this regard. Insights from the study are discussed with reference to their implication for the development of learning materials and learning environments for prelingually deaf and other novice learners.