Phonological recoding and orthographic learning: A direct test of the selfteaching hypothesis

Abstract

According to the self-teaching hypothesis (Share, 1995), word-specific orthographic representations are acquired primarily as a result of the self-teaching opportunities provided by the phonological recoding of novel letter strings. This hypothesis was tested by asking normal second graders to read aloud short texts containing embedded pseudoword targets. Three days later, target spellings were correctly identified more often, named more quickly, and spelled more accurately than alternate homophonic spellings. Experiment 2 examined whether this rapid orthographic learning can be attributed to mere visual exposure to target strings. It was found that viewing the target letter strings under conditions designed to minimize phonological processing significantly attenuated ortho-graphic learning. Experiment 3 went on to show that this reduced orthographic learning was not attributable to alternative nonphonological factors (brief exposure durations or decontextualized presentation). The results of a fourth experiment suggested that the contribution of pure visual exposure to orthographic learning is marginal. It was con-cluded that phonological recoding is critical to the acquisition of word-specific ortho-graphic representations as proposed by the self-teaching hypothesis. © 1999 Academic Press Key Words: reading development; orthographic learning; phonology; self-teaching; children. An extensive research literature has linked individual differences in reading ability to basic phonological processing (speech perception, immediate, short-term and long-term memory for speech-based information) and to phonological awareness (awareness of the segmental nature of speech) (for reviews se