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Statistical and explicit learning of graphotactic patterns with no phonological counterpart: Evidence from an artificial lexicon study with 7- 8-year-olds and adults

Statistical and explicit learning of graphotactic patterns with no phonological counterpart: Evidence from an artificial lexicon study with 7- 8-year-olds and adults

Singh, Daniela, Wonnacott, Elizabeth and Samara, Anna ORCID: 0000-0001-6503-5181 (2021) Statistical and explicit learning of graphotactic patterns with no phonological counterpart: Evidence from an artificial lexicon study with 7- 8-year-olds and adults. Journal of Memory and Language, 121:104265. ISSN 0749-596X (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2021.104265)

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Abstract

Children are powerful statistical spellers, showing sensitivity to untaught orthographic patterns. They can also learn novel written patterns with phonological counterparts via statistical learning processes, akin to those established for spoken language acquisition. It is unclear whether children can learn written (graphotactic) patterns which are unconfounded from correlated phonotactics. We address this question by inducing novel graphotactic learning under incidental versus explicit conditions. Across three artificial lexicon experiments, we exposed children and adults to letter strings ending either in singlets or doublets (that share the same pronunciation, e.g., s vs. ss) depending on the preceding vowel. In post-tests, children and adults incidentally generalized over such context-based constraints that varied in complexity. Explicit instruction further benefitted pattern generalization, supporting the practice of teaching spelling patterns, and there was a relationship between explicit learning and literacy scores. We are first to demonstrate that statistical learning processes underlie graphotactic generalizations among developing spellers.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Statistical learning; Explicit instruction; Graphotactics; Bayes factors
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HA Statistics
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)
Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development
Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development > Centre for Thinking and Learning
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 24 Jun 2022 01:38
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/27098

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