Orthographic learning at a glance: on the time course and developmental onset of self-teaching.
Experiment 1 examined the time course of orthographic learning among Grade 3 children. A single encounter with a novel orthographic string was sufficient to produce reliable recall of orthographic detail. Moreover, newly acquired orthographic information was retained 1 month later. These data support the logistic learning functions featured in contemporary connectionist models of reading rather than a "threshold" model of orthographic learning. Experiments 2 and 3 examined self-teaching among novice readers. In contrast to the findings from less regular orthographies such as English and Dutch, beginning readers of a highly regular orthography (Hebrew) appear to be relatively insensitive to word-specific orthographic detail, reading in a nonlexical "surface" fashion. These results suggest fundamental differences between shallow and deep orthographies in the development of orthographic sensitivity.
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David L
DL
Department of Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, 31905, Haifa, Israel. dshare@construct.haifa.ac.il
D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011932:Reading; D019455:Self Psychology