National audienceLexical orthographic acquisition is a complex and largely unknown process which occurs largely during reading. This acquisition could be influenced partially by decoding awareness, and by others under-specified factors. Both theoretical and empirical data suggest that the visual processing made during word reading could influence lexical orthographic acquisition. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that simultaneous visual processing of all the letters of a word is important for lexical orthographic acquisition in long term memory. A self-teaching paradigm was used with fifth graders. During a reading phase, the possibility of whole-word visual processing was manipulated. After a delay of either one or seven days, the memorisation of targets' orthographic form was assessed. Results showed that, whatever the delay between reading and orthographic assessment, lexical orthographic acquisition is better after a whole-word visual processing
