MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, MA.
University of Arizona, Tucson.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2018 Aug 8;61(8):2002-2014. doi: 10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-17-0336.
Orthographic facilitation describes the phenomenon in which a spoken word is produced more accurately when its corresponding written word is present during learning. We examined the orthographic facilitation effect in children with dyslexia because they have poor learning and recall of spoken words. We hypothesized that including orthography during spoken word learning would facilitate learning and recall.
Children with dyslexia and children with typical development (n = 46 per group), 7-9 years old, were matched for grade and nonverbal intelligence. Across 4 blocks of exposure in 1 session, children learned pairings between 4 spoken pseudowords and novel semantic referents in a modified paired-associate learning task. Two of the pairings were presented with orthography present, and 2 were presented with orthography absent. Recall of newly learned spoken words was assessed using a naming task.
Both groups showed orthographic facilitation during learning and naming. During learning, both groups paired pseudowords and referents more accurately when orthography was present. During naming, children with typical development showed a large orthographic facilitation effect that increased across blocks. For children with dyslexia, this effect was present initially but then plateaued.
We demonstrate for the first time that children with dyslexia benefit from orthographic facilitation during spoken word learning. These findings have direct implications for teaching spoken vocabulary to children with dyslexia.
正字法促进描述了这样一种现象，即在学习过程中呈现相应的书写文字时，口语单词的发音会更加准确。我们研究了阅读障碍儿童的正字法促进效应，因为他们在学习和回忆口语单词方面存在困难。我们假设在口语单词学习中加入正字法会促进学习和回忆。
阅读障碍儿童和具有典型发展的儿童（每组 46 名，n = 46），年龄为 7-9 岁，在年级和非言语智力方面进行匹配。在 1 个会话的 4 个暴露块中，儿童在修改后的配对联想学习任务中学习 4 个口语假词和新语义指称之间的配对。在呈现的 2 对配对中有正字法，而在呈现的 2 对配对中没有正字法。使用命名任务评估新学习的口语单词的回忆。
两组在学习和命名过程中都表现出正字法促进作用。在学习过程中，当存在正字法时，两组都更准确地将假词和指称配对。在命名过程中，具有典型发展的儿童表现出较大的正字法促进效应，这种效应随着块数的增加而增加。对于阅读障碍儿童，这种效应最初存在，但随后趋于平稳。
我们首次证明阅读障碍儿童在口语单词学习过程中受益于正字法促进。这些发现对向阅读障碍儿童教授口语词汇具有直接意义。
