Phonological representations of adult poor readers: An investigation of specificity and stability

The phonological representations of adult less skilled readers (n = 25) were studied in comparison to those of adult skilled readers (n = 25) and adolescent reading-age controls (n = 25). Participants were tested on a paired confrontation naming and spelling test, given two times to evaluate consistency of performance, and a pseudoword repetition task. On confrontation naming, less skilled readers were less accurate and less consistent, and they made more phonological errors. Likewise, their spellings were less accurate and consistent than those of the control groups; inaccurate naming influenced their spelling significantly more often than it did the spelling of adult skilled readers. They also had fewer correct responses on the pseudoword repetition task. The results confirm that there are weaknesses in the phonological representations of known and new words for adult less skilled readers, with observable consequences for spelling.

[1]  S. Brady,et al.  Vocabulary acquisition and reading ability , 1991 .

[2]  Maryanne Wolf,et al.  Naming Speed and Reading: The Contribution of the Cognitive Neurosciences. , 1991 .

[3]  Harold Goodglass,et al.  Dyslexia, dysnomia, and lexical retrieval: A longitudinal investigation , 1986, Brain and Language.

[4]  H. Rubin,et al.  Object naming ability of adults with written language difficulties , 1992, Annals of dyslexia.

[5]  M. Studdert-Kennedy,et al.  Speech perception deficits in poor readers: auditory processing or phonological coding? , 1997, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[6]  S. Brady,et al.  Ability to encode phonological representations: An underlying difficulty of poor readers. , 1997 .

[7]  U. Kirk.  Confrontation naming in normally developing children: Word-retrieval or word knowledge? , 1992, The Clinical neuropsychologist.

[8]  Donald Shankweiler,et al.  Chapter 10 On the Relations between Learning to Spell and Learning to Read , 1992 .

[9]  L. Ehri,et al.  The Development of Spelling Knowledge and Its Role in Reading Acquisition and Reading Disability , 1989, Journal of learning disabilities.

[10]  The Boston Naming Test: Norm data and cue utilization in a sample of normal 6- and 7-year-old children , 1984, Brain and Language.

[11]  R. B. Katz.  Phonological deficiencies in children with reading disability: Evidence from an object-naming task , 1986, Cognition.

[12]  H. Scarborough,et al.  Very early language deficits in dyslexic children. , 1990, Child development.

[13]  Linnea C. Ehri,et al.  PHASES OF WORD LEARNING: IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTION WITH DELAYED AND DISABLED READERS , 1998 .

[14]  L. Phelps,et al.  Multiple Regression Data Using the WISC-R and the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability. , 1985 .

[15]  E. Wiig,et al.  Productive Language Abilities in Learning Disabled Adolescents , 1975 .

[16]  Margaret J. Snowling,et al.  Phonological and semantic contributions to children's picture naming skill: Evidence from children with developmental reading disorders , 2001 .

[17]  S. Brady,et al.  Evidence for phonological processing deficits in less-skilled readers , 1995, Annals of dyslexia.

[18]  Doris J. Johnson.  Persistent auditory disorders in young dyslexic adults , 1980 .

[19]  M. Snowling.  Phonological processing and developmental dyslexia , 1995 .

[20]  Shane Templeton,et al.  Development of Orthographic Knowledge and the Foundations of Literacy : A Memorial Festschrift for edmund H. Henderson , 1994 .

[21]  C. S. Wing.  A Preliminary Investigation of Generalization to Untrained Words Following Two Treatments of Children's Word-Finding Problems , 1990 .

[22]  Marley W. Watkins,et al.  Long-Term Stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition , 2001 .

[23]  H. Catts,et al.  Phonological and spatial processing abilities in language- and reading-impaired children. , 1988, The Journal of speech and hearing disorders.

[24]  L. Moats,et al.  Spelling error interpretation: beyond the phonetic/dysphonetic dichotomy , 1993, Annals of dyslexia.

[25]  S. Brady,et al.  Reading ability and short-term memory: The role of phonological processing , 1990 .

[26]  Jane W. Blalock.  Persistent Auditory Language Deficits in Adults with Learning Disabilities , 1982, Journal of learning disabilities.

[27]  Jwa K. Kim,et al.  Spelling errors as a window on variations in phonological deficits among students with dyslexia , 1999 .

[28]  Joanna Shari Futransky.  Relations among verbal working memory, listening comprehension, and reading skills , 1992 .

[29]  R. Treiman,et al.  What happened to the “n” of sink? Children's spellings of final consonant clusters , 1995, Cognition.

[30]  F. Duffy,et al.  Linguistic profiles of dyslexic and good readers , 1991, Annals of dyslexia.

[31]  L. Ehri,et al.  Are word-reading processes the same or different in adult literacy students and third–fifth graders matched for reading level? , 1997 .

[32]  L. Aguiar.  Reading Ability, Vocabulary Acquisition and Phonological Processes: An Investigation of Vocabulary Acquistion by Skilled and Less-Skilled Readers , 1993 .

[33]  U. Frith.  Unexpected spelling problems , 1980 .

[34]  L. Moats.  A comparison of the spelling errors of older dyslexic and second-grade normal children , 1983 .

[35]  U. Goswami,et al.  Picture Naming Deficits in Developmental Dyslexia: The Phonological Representations Hypothesis , 1997, Brain and Language.

[36]  J. Godfrey,et al.  Performance of dyslexic children on speech perception tests. , 1981, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[37]  J. Bowey,et al.  Phonological Analysis Skills, Verbal Working Memory, and Reading Ability in Second‐Grade Children , 1994 .

[38]  M. Snowling,et al.  Object-naming deficits in developmental dyslexia , 1988 .

[39]  J. Worthy,et al.  Morphological, phonological, and orthographic differences between the spelling of normally achieving children and basic literacy adults , 1996 .

[40]  Richard K. Wagner,et al.  Development of young children's phonological and orthographic knowledge as revealed by their spellings. , 1992 .

[41]  M. Wolf,et al.  Word finding and reading in the developmental dyslexias , 1992 .

[42]  Carsten Elbro,et al.  Early linguistic abilities and reading development: A review and a hypothesis , 1996 .

[43]  E. Wiig,et al.  Linguistic retrieval strategies and word‐finding difficulties among children with language disabilities , 1984 .

[44]  M. Bruck.  Word-Recognition Skills of Adults with Childhood Diagnoses of Dyslexia. , 1990 .

[45]  Joy Stackhouse,et al.  Phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia—a developmental analysis , 1986 .

[46]  Carsten Elbro,et al.  Dyslexia in adults: Evidence for deficits in non-word reading and in the phonological representation of lexical items , 1994, Annals of dyslexia.

[47]  Morris J. Cohen,et al.  Neurodevelopmental differences in confrontational naming in children , 1988 .

[48]  P Howell,et al.  Segmentation and speech perception in relation to reading skill: a developmental analysis. , 1986, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[49]  Mateo Obregón,et al.  Early naming deficits, developmental dyslexia, and a specific deficit hypothesis , 1992, Brain and Language.

[50]  C. Snow,et al.  Lessons from Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children for Adult Learning and Literacy , 1999 .

[51]  L. Leonard,et al.  Facilitating word-finding skills of language-impaired children. , 1989, The Journal of speech and hearing disorders.

[52]  J. Werker,et al.  Speech perception in severely disabled and average reading children. , 1987, Canadian journal of psychology.

[53]  C. Hulme,et al.  Continuities between speech and spelling in a case of developmental dyslexia , 1992 .

[54]  H. Catts,et al.  Speech Production/Phonological Deficits in Reading-Disordered Children , 1986, Journal of learning disabilities.

[55]  S. Isaacs,et al.  Classification of spelling errors and their relationship to reading ability, sex, grade placement, and intelligence , 1983, Brain and Language.

[56]  Alvin M. Liberman,et al.  The Reading Researcher and the Reading Teacher Need the Right Theory of Speech. , 1999 .

[57]  V. M. Holmes,et al.  The Relation between Reading and Spelling in Skilled Adult Readers , 1998 .

[58]  R. Campbell,et al.  Phonological Dyslexia and Dysgraphia in a Highly Literate Subject: A Developmental Case with Associated Deficits of Phonemic Processing and Awareness , 1985, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[59]  Susan E. Gathercole,et al.  Nonword repetition: More than just a phonological output task , 1995 .

[60]  E. Kaplan,et al.  The Boston naming test , 2001 .

[61]  Catriona M. Morrison,et al.  Age of acquisition, not word frequency, affects object naming, not object recognition , 1992, Memory & cognition.

[62]  A Wingfield,et al.  Response Latencies in Naming Objects , 1965, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[63]  A. Pollatsek,et al.  Developmental dyslexia and word retrieval deficits , 1988, Brain and Language.

[64]  K. Stanovich,et al.  Exposure to print and orthographic processing. , 1989 .

[65]  Helen S. Apthorp.  Phonetic Coding and Reading in College Students With and Without Learning Disabilities , 1995, Journal of learning disabilities.

[66]  G. Waters,et al.  The role of linguistic and visual information in spelling: a developmental study. , 1988, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[67]  R. Kail,et al.  Picture naming in language-impaired children. , 1983, Journal of speech and hearing research.