Individual differences in subphonemic sensitivity and phonological skills
Year: 2019
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Many studies have established a link between phonological abilities (indexed by phonological awareness and phonological memory tasks) and typical and atypical reading development. Individuals who perform poorly on phonological assessments have been mostly assumed to have underspecified (or “fuzzy”) phonological representations, with typical phonemic categories, but with greater category overlap due to imprecise encoding. An alternative posits that poor readers have overspecified phonological representations, with speech sounds perceived allophonically (phonetically distinct variants of a single phonemic category). On both accounts, mismatch between phonological categories and orthography leads to reading difficulty. Here, we consider the implications of these accounts for online speech processing. We used eye tracking and an individual differences approach to assess sensitivity to subphonemic detail in a community sample of young adults with a wide range of reading-related skills. Subphonemic sensitivity inversely correlated with meta-phonological task performance, consistent with overspecification.
Source: Journal of Memory and Language
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,100
Awards: Individual Differences in Learning Potential for Language and Literacy, Neurobehavioral Mechanisms in Reading Comprehension, Neurochemistry as a moderator of brain networks for reading, Tracking neurocognitive changes during evidence-based reading instruction in typically and atypically developing children
OpenAlex ID: W2890688221