Applied Psycholinguistics

Table of Contents - 1980 - Volume 1, Issue 04  

Research Article

The influence of orthography on readers' conceptualization of the phonemic structure of words

Linnea C. Ehria1 c1 and Lee S. Wilcea21

a1 University of California, Davis

a2 University of California, Davis

Abstract

This study was designed to determine whether children's conceptualization of the component sounds in words is influenced by their knowledge of the words' spellings. For example, the spelling of pitch may lead learners to discover the phonetic element [t] in its pronunciation and to conceptualize this as a separate phoneme, whereas the spelling of rich should not. Positive results were obtained in a phonemic segmentation task with real and made-up words taught to fourth graders. Findings are interpreted to show that phonemic segmentation skill may be a consequence of as much as a prerequisite to learning to read words. Results are consistent with a theory of printed word learning in which visual spellings are retained in memory through a sound symbolization process.

(Received August 18 1980)

Correspondence:

c1 Dr. Linnea C. Ehri, Department of Education, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616

Footnotes

1 This investigation was supported by grants from the National Institute of Education (NIE-G-77-0009) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Devolepment (HD 12903-01). The authors would like to extend thanks to Professors Jarvis Bastian and Carol Wall for their helpful ideas offered during conversations about this work. Also, appreciation is expressed to the Davis Unified School district for its cooperation.

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