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Implicit Learning of Written Regularities and Its Relation to Literacy Acquisition in a Shallow Orthography

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Abstract

Some research on literacy acquisition suggests that implicit learning processes may be related to reading and writing proficiency in English, which is a deep orthography. However, little research has been done to determine if the same is true in shallow orthographies. Here, we investigated whether the implicit learning ability of third grade Spanish speaking children was related to their reading and writing abilities. Twenty eight children viewed pseudowords which all adhered to untaught graphotactic rules and were later assessed to determine their implicit learning of these rules. The children’s reading and writing abilities were also assessed using standardized tests. No correlations were found between the participants’ level of implicit learning and their performance on reading tasks or on a pseudoword writing task, suggesting that implicit learning is not strongly related to the acquisition of phonological regularities in a shallow orthography. A correlation was found between recognition of previously seen exemplars and the ability to spell inconsistent words which require word specific knowledge to resolve the spelling inconsistencies. This result suggests that implicit learning mechanisms may play a role in the acquisition of lexical knowledge and thus, in writing proficiency.

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Notes

  1. This essentially reduced the number of trials in the test phase from 48 to 32, and this was done to reduce the possibility of participant fatigue during the test phase. Items were selected such that, for each group of 3 participants, all 24 legal and 24 illegal items were used twice each.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the European Commission, FP7-People 2007, Marie-Curie Actions (Initial Training Network 215961), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project PSI2010-21983-C02-01) and by research group HUM-820, of the Regional Government of Andalusia. We thank “Ave María La Quinta” School for their generous participation in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Universidad de Granada, Campus de la Cartuja s/n, 18071 , Granada, Spain

    Luciana Nigro, Gracia Jiménez-Fernández, Ian C. Simpson & Sylvia Defior

Authors
  1. Luciana Nigro
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  2. Gracia Jiménez-Fernández
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  3. Ian C. Simpson
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  4. Sylvia Defior
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luciana Nigro.

Appendix: Items from the Exposure Phase and Items from the Test Phase

Appendix: Items from the Exposure Phase and Items from the Test Phase

Exposure phase

Test phase

Legal

Legal

Illegal

LAFE

LANO

FOTI

LANE

LEFO

NOLO

LASA

LESA

NOME

LEFA

LIFI

FILI

LENE

LONO

NATE

LESA

MAFO

NALO

LIFO

MIFA

NITE

LINI

MISI

SIMI

LISE

MONE

SATE

LOFA

MOSE

FAMO

LONO

TANA

NELO

LOSE

TASE

SELA

MAFO

TESI

FIMA

MANA

TINE

SOME

MASI

TOFI

SETI

MEFO

  

MENI

  

MESO

  

MIFA

  

MINO

  

MISO

  

MOFE

  

MONE

  

MOSI

  

TAFI

  

TANA

  

TASO

  

TEFE

  

TENI

  

TESI

  

TIFI

  

TINO

  

TISE

  

TOFI

  

TONE

  

TOSA

  

Note As all exemplars in the exposure phase are consistent with the graphotactic rules, they are all legal stimuli. Pairs in the test phase include one legal and one illegal item in order to create forced-choice pairs. Items from the exposure phase and pairs from the test phase are displayed in alphabetical order, although their order in the experiment was randomly assigned.

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Nigro, L., Jiménez-Fernández, G., Simpson, I.C. et al. Implicit Learning of Written Regularities and Its Relation to Literacy Acquisition in a Shallow Orthography. J Psycholinguist Res 44, 571–585 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9303-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9303-9

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