Skip navigation

Learning to read and spell words in different writing systems

Learning to read and spell words in different writing systems

Caravolas, Markéta and Samara, Anna ORCID: 0000-0001-6503-5181 (2014) Learning to read and spell words in different writing systems. In: Pollatsek, Alexander and Treiman, Rebecca, (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Reading. Oxford Library of Psychology . Oxford University Press, pp. 326-343. ISBN 978-0199324576 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199324576.013.21)

[img] PDF (Author Accepted Book Chapter)
25130 SAMARA_Learning_to_Read_and_Spell_Words_2014.pdf - Accepted Version
Restricted to Registered users only

Download (561kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

There is strong evidence that word reading and spelling ability in English is founded on three core skills, namely knowledge of letters of the alphabet, awareness of phonemes in spoken words, and rapid automatized naming of visual stimuli (RAN). We suggest that these abilities represent cognitive constructs that comprise the triple foundation of literacy in all languages. In the present chapter we review the research carried out in different writing systems to assess the extent to which this triple foundation provides a good language-general model of early literacy development. The evidence is considered in the context of potentially important moderating, language-specific influences of orthographic variables, especially symbol-sound mapping consistency. We propose that the triple foundation model, conceptualized as (1) knowledge of the functional symbol set of the orthography, (2) awareness of the speech units to which orthographic symbols map, and (3) efficient mappings between the representational systems of orthographic symbols and their related speech units provides a universally valid description of the cognitive architecture underlying early literacy development.

Item Type: Book Section
Additional Information: Part 4 - Reading and Spelling Development
Uncontrolled Keywords: Reading, spelling, cross-linguistic, foundation model, predictors, alphabetic, partial-alphabetic, nonalphabetic orthography, phoneme awareness, RAN, letters, symbols
Subjects: P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences
Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Last Modified: 12 Sep 2019 13:47
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/25130

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics