Vocabulary Is Important for Some, but Not All Reading Skills

Ricketts, Jessie; Nation, Kate; Bishop, Dorothy

doi:10.1080/10888430701344306

Cited by 358 publications

(328 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The evidence shows that they are, even during tasks that do not require meaning to be accessed, such as reading aloud/silently and lexical decision (judging whether a letter string is a word). Relative to reading pseudowords In both a meta-analysis and an empirical study, Taylor et al (2013;2014a) Semantic dementia patients are more likely to correctly read an exception word aloud if they still know the meaning of that word (Graham, Hodges, & Patterson, 1994), mirroring results in the developmental literature (Ricketts et al, 2007). Large scale studies of semantic dementia have shown a strong link between the degree of the exception word reading deficit and the severity of semantic impairment on tasks that do not require reading (e.g., picture naming, spoken word-to-picture matching; Woollams et al, 2007).…”

Section: Neuroimagingmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Developmental psychology can address the critical question: What role does semantics have in learning to read words? Longitudinal studies show that children's oral vocabulary knowledge (an index of semantic knowledge) is associated with word reading later on in development, particularly for exception words such as touch, where the ou is not pronounced in the usual way (as in couch; Nation & Snowling, 2004;Ricketts, Nation, & Bishop, 2007).…”

Section: Developmental Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Word Meaning Influences Word Reading

Taylor

Duff

Woollams

et al. 2015

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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Understanding how we read is a fundamental question for psychology, with critical implications for education. Studies of word reading tend to focus on the mappings between the written and spoken forms of words. In this paper, we review evidence from developmental, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and computational studies that show that knowledge of word meanings is inextricably involved in word reading. Consequently, models of reading must better specify the role of meaning in skilled reading and its acquisition. Further, our review paves the way for educationally realistic research to confirm whether explicit teaching of oral vocabulary improves word reading.Key words: reading, learning, orthography, phonology, semantics WORD MEANING AND READING / 4 HOW WORD MEANING INFLUENCES WORD READINGReading is fundamental to operating in modern society. For literate adults, reading is immediate, automatic, and efficient. Despite this, reading is not an innate capability but is parasitic upon an earlier acquired spoken language system that includes information about what words sound like (phonology) and what they mean (semantics). The ultimate goal of learning to read is to comprehend texts, for which knowledge of word meanings is essential.The ability to recognise and read aloud words (encompassed by the term word reading throughout this review) is a pre-requisite for reading comprehension. Research has focused on the orthography (print) to phonology connections that underpin word reading. However, the role of word meanings in word reading is less well understood and is thus the focus of this review. As suggested by Balota (1990), seminal findings from the adult behavioural literature now demonstrate that word reading efficiency is significantly influenced by semantic variables, over and above frequency and orthographic factors (Cortese & Schock, 2013). Building on this, we review recent evidence from a number of research traditions, which show conclusively that word reading in alphabetic languages is influenced by knowledge of semantics.Cognitive models of reading all include orthographic, phonological, and semantic representations of words, as well as the mappings between them. In computational models based on a classical dual-route approach ( Figure 1A; Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001;Perry, Ziegler, & Zorzi, 2007), activation of a word's semantics is not necessary for recognising or reading it aloud. In contrast, the triangle modelling tradition ( Figure 1B; Harm & Seidenberg, 2004;Monaghan & Ellis, 2010;Plaut, McClelland, Seidenberg, & Patterson, 1996;Woollams, Lambon Ralph, Plaut, & Patterson, 2007) posits that semantic WORD MEANING AND READING / 5 information directly affects the learning and processing of mappings between the written and spoken forms of words. More specifically, it predicts that meaning particularly aids print-to-sound mapping when this process is difficult (as in words with exceptional spellings, or for poorer readers), and also that skilled reading involves increased...

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Section: Neuroimagingmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Developmental Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

How Word Meaning Influences Word Reading

Taylor

Duff

Woollams

et al. 2015

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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“…Although there is clear evidence of a general relationship between vocabulary knowledge and word reading (e.g. Nation & Snowling 2004;Ouellette 2006;Bowey & Rutherford 2007;Ricketts et al 2007), it is not clear whether semantic factors play a specific role in reading aloud. Evidence to date fails to find support for a semantic involvement (McKague et al 2001;Nation & Cocksey 2009a).…”

Section: Form -Meaning Connections and Learning To Readmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stanovich et al 1985). More generally, children who have weak semantic skills show relative weaknesses when reading aloud inconsistent or irregular words (Nation & Snowling 1998, 2004Ouellette 2006;Bowey & Rutherford 2007;Ricketts et al 2007), reminiscent of the relationship between word reading and semantic knowledge reported in semantic dementia.…”

Section: Form -Meaning Connections I: Is There a Role For Meaning In mentioning

confidence: 99%

Form–meaning links in the development of visual word recognition

Nation

2009

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Learning to read takes time and it requires explicit instruction. Three decades of research has taught us a good deal about how children learn about the links between orthography and phonology during word reading development. However, we have learned less about the links that children build between orthographic form and meaning. This is surprising given that the goal of reading development must be for children to develop an orthographic system that allows meanings to be accessed quickly, reliably and efficiently from orthography. This review considers whether meaning-related information is used when children read words aloud, and asks what we know about how and when children make connections between form and meaning during the course of reading development.

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“…Receptive vocabulary skills provide a foundation for the development of language, with vocabulary size being strongly associated with general intelligence, reading ability, reading comprehension, and school success (Ricketts, Nation, & Bishop, 2007). Findings from population based studies suggest 12-15% of 5-year old children have delays in receptive vocabulary skills (Harrison & McLeod, 2010;O'Callaghan, Williams, Andersen, Bor, & Najman, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%