TY - JOUR
T1 - Orthographic depth and its impact on universal predictors of reading: a cross-language investigation
AU - Ziegler, J.C.
AU - Bertrand, D.
AU - Tóth, D.
AU - Csépe, V.
AU - Reis, A.
AU - Faísca, L.
AU - Saine, N.L.
AU - Vaessen, A.A.
AU - Blomert, L.P.M.
PY - 2010/1/1
Y1 - 2010/1/1
N2 - Alphabetic orthographies differ in the transparency of their letter-sound mappings, with English orthography being less transparent than other alphabetic scripts. The outlier status of English has led scientists to question the generality of findings based on English-language studies. We investigated the role of phonological awareness, memory, vocabulary, rapid naming, and nonverbal intelligence in reading performance across five languages lying at differing positions along a transparency continuum (Finnish, Hungarian, Dutch, Portuguese, and French). Results from a sample of 1,265 children in Grade 2 showed that phonological awareness was the main factor associated with reading performance in each language. However, its impact was modulated by the transparency of the orthography, being stronger in less transparent orthographies. The influence of rapid naming was rather weak and limited to reading and decoding speed. Most predictors of reading performance were relatively universal across these alphabetic languages, although their precise weight varied systematically as a function of script transparency.
AB - Alphabetic orthographies differ in the transparency of their letter-sound mappings, with English orthography being less transparent than other alphabetic scripts. The outlier status of English has led scientists to question the generality of findings based on English-language studies. We investigated the role of phonological awareness, memory, vocabulary, rapid naming, and nonverbal intelligence in reading performance across five languages lying at differing positions along a transparency continuum (Finnish, Hungarian, Dutch, Portuguese, and French). Results from a sample of 1,265 children in Grade 2 showed that phonological awareness was the main factor associated with reading performance in each language. However, its impact was modulated by the transparency of the orthography, being stronger in less transparent orthographies. The influence of rapid naming was rather weak and limited to reading and decoding speed. Most predictors of reading performance were relatively universal across these alphabetic languages, although their precise weight varied systematically as a function of script transparency.
U2 - 10.1177/0956797610363406
DO - 10.1177/0956797610363406
M3 - Article
C2 - 20424101
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 21
SP - 551
EP - 559
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
IS - 4
ER -