Haskins Publications

Number	284
Year	1979
Drawer	5
Entry Date	06/03/1999
Authors	Fowler, C. A., Shankweiler, D., & Liberman, I. Y.
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Publication	Language and Speech, 22, 243-252.
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0284.pdf
Abstract	Investigated was the extent to which children & adults are responsive to orthographic regularities in reading nonsense syllables that conform to the phonology & spelling conventions of English words. College students & children in second, third, & fourth grades (N = 20 each) read a list of nonsense monosyllables in which common vowel spellings were presented. Vowel responses were analyzed according to three categories: incorrect assignment of sound to spelling, & correct assignment by either context-free or context-dependent criteria. Proportions of responses falling into the two latter categories far exceeded expectations based on chance responding. Results showed that children were able to take advantage of orthographic regularities when asked to read unfamiliar words, & that with increasing age & experience, they were able to progressively delimit the contexts in which different regularities apply. It is implied that in learning to read, children do not merely add items to sight vocabulary by rote recognition of unanalyzed wholes, but acquire a practical knowledge of spelling patterns which can readily be applied to new instances.
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