Orthographic and phonological processing: Component skills of word recognition and their relation to reading rate and reading comprehension
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative contribution of phonological and visual-orthographic processing to reading rate and reading comprehension. The sample consisted of 60 high school sophomores (mean age = 15.4 years) from a Catholic high school in the New York area. Measures of both phonological accuracy and speed, and visual-orthographic accuracy and speed were used to assess phonological and visual-orthographic abilities. Dependent variables included measures of reading rate (Nelson-Denny Reading Rate section) and reading comprehension (Nelson-Denny Reading Comprehension section). Data were analyzed using correlation matrices to compare relationships between variables. Multiple regression analyses identified the relative contribution of phonological and visual-orthographic processing to reading rate and reading comprehension. Results of the regression analyses indicated that measures of phonological and visual-orthographic accuracy did not contribute significantly to the prediction of reading rate and reading comprehension. Measures of phonological speed and visual-orthographic speed did, however, contribute significantly to the prediction of reading rate. A measure of visual-orthographic automaticity, which incorporated both accuracy and speed, was the best predictor of both reading rate and reading comprehension. The results suggest the hypothesis that phonological processing and speed of visual processing both contribute to the development of visual-orthographic processing. Visual-orthographic processing contributes to reading comprehension through its contribution to reading rate and the development of reading vocabulary. The results support that decoding measures incorporating speed continue to play an important role in reading achievement for high school students. The results also support the interactive nature of the various processes and support the importance of phonological processing in the development of visual-orthographic processing.
Subject Area
Literacy|Reading instruction
Recommended Citation
Fasano, Charles Mario, "Orthographic and phonological processing: Component skills of word recognition and their relation to reading rate and reading comprehension" (1995). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9530945.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9530945
