ERIC Number: EJ1191921
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Sep
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Who Are the Noisiest Neighbors in the Hood? Using Error Analyses to Study the Acquisition of Letter-Position Processing
Marinus, Eva; Kezilas, Yvette; Kohnen, Saskia; Robidoux, Serje; Castles, Anne
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v44 n9 p1384-1396 Sep 2018
This research examines the acquisition of letter-position processing. Study 1 investigated letter-position processing in Grades 1-6 and adult readers, using the occurrence of specific error types as the outcome measure. Between Grades 1 and 2, there was a shift from making more other-word to making more letter-position errors. This shift was a function of reading proficiency, not of years of reading instruction. Based on the multiple-route model of reading development (Grainger, Lété, Bertand, Dufau, & Ziegler, 2012), we argue that the fact that children make fewer other-word errors (i.e., mostly letter-identity errors) opens up the opportunity for them to make "the more advanced" letter-position errors. Finally, skilled adult readers still made fewer letter-position errors than typical readers in Grade 6, suggesting that the acquisition process is not finalized by the end of primary school. In Study 2, we directly compared letter-position processing with letter-identity processing. Thirty children in Grade 3 and 30 children in Grade 4 read aloud words with and without higher-frequency distractors. Children more often misread a word with a higher-frequency distractor than without such a distractor and this effect was stronger for below-average than for above-average readers. Converging with the results of Study 1, we found that a letter-position distractor is more disruptive than a letter-identity distractor. These results confirm that the acquisition of letter-position processing lags behind of that of letter-identity processing. The results are discussed within the framework of the Lexical Tuning Hypothesis (Castles, Davis, Cavalot, & Forster, 2007), which stresses the importance of feedback between letter (identity and position) coding and (developing) orthographic representations.
Descriptors: Alphabets, Elementary School Students, Grade 1, Grade 2, Comparative Analysis, Reading Skills, Reading Processes, Error Patterns, Reading Instruction, Oral Reading, Feedback (Response), Linguistic Theory, Standardized Tests, Foreign Countries, Intelligence Tests, Undergraduate Students
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A