Orthographic learning in dyslexic Spanish children

Abstract

Reading fluency is one of the basic processes of learning to read. Children begin to develop fluency when they are able to form orthographic representations of words, which provide direct, smooth, and fast reading. Dyslexic children of transparent orthographic systems are mainly characterized by poor reading fluency (Cuetos & Suárez-Coalla 2009; Spinelli, De Luca, Di Filippo, Mancini, Martelli, & Zoccolotti, 2005; Wimmer, 1993). Therefore, the main problem for these children could be the difficulty in developing orthographic representations of the words they read. The aim of this study was to test the ability of dyslexic Spanish-speaking children (whose native language is Spanish) to develop orthographic representations and determine if the context helps them. For this, two experiments were conducted with a group of 100 children, 7-12 years of age. The groups were comprised of 20 dyslexics, 40 chronological age-matched controls and 40 reading level-matched controls. In the first experiment, eight unfamiliar words (four short and four long) were presented six times within the context of a story. In the second experiment, eight pseudowords were presented on a computer and the children had to read them aloud. In both experiments, the reading and articulation times of experimental and control stimuli were compared, before and after the training. Children without dyslexia showed a decrease of the influence of length of word on reading speed, indicating a lexical reading, while for dyslexic children, the influence of length remained unchanged. These results appeared when the stimuli were presented in the context of a story as well as when presented in isolation. In short, our results describe that dyslexic children of transparent orthographic systems have problems in developing orthographic representations of words.

The role of feedback and differences between good and poor decoders in a repeated word reading paradigm in first grade

“…Even though reading speed increased over time, the authors concluded that poor and beginning readers still relied on the indirect route of reading. In a similar study, Suárez-Coalla, Ramos, Álvarez-Cañizo, and Cuetos (2014) showed that the length effect decreased in typically reading Spanish children (aged 7-12) but lasted in dyslexic children. The study of Martens and De Jong (2008) was on beginning readers of Dutch, an orthographically transparent language.…”

“…They concluded that repeated reading of single words did lead to automatization in typically reading children, but not in poor readers. With regard to the DRC model, this implies that poor readers of Dutch (and other orthographically transparent languages (e.g., Spanish; Suárez-Coalla et al, 2014)) are thought to keep relying on the indirect route of reading (i.e., phonological recoding), whereas typically developing readers have automatized reading and move towards direct reading, at least after 16 repetitions.…”

Semantic and phonological influences on visual word learning in a transparent language

“…Finally, a follow-up session was conducted to verify the resistance to decay of orthographic representations. Orthographic learning was measured by the decrease of length effect (RTs) after the repeated reading (six times) of the new words, a paradigm with significant potential as an instrument for investigating visual word learning (Kwok & Ellis, 2014; Suárez-Coalla, Suárez-Coalla, Avdyli, & Cuetos, 2014;Suárez-Coalla, Ramos, Álvarez-Cañizo, & Cuetos, 2014).…”

Reading difficulties in Spanish adults with dyslexia

“…This suggests that Spanish children with dyslexia use a sub-lexical strategy to read; however, problems in storing orthographic representations of words after repeated readings were also described in children with dyslexia (Suárez-Coalla et al, 2014). Therefore, we were interested in identifying the key features of dyslexia among Spanish adults.…”