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Large grain instruction and phonological awareness skill influence rime sensitivity, processing speed, and early decoding skill in adult L2 learners

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Abstract

Linguistic knowledge, cognitive ability, and instruction influence how adults acquire a second orthography yet it remains unclear how different forms of instruction influence grain size sensitivity and subsequent decoding skill and speed. Thirty-seven monolingual, literate English-speaking adults were trained on a novel artificial orthography given initial instruction that directed attention to either large or small grain size units (i.e., words or letters). We examined how initial instruction influenced processing speed (i.e., reaction time (RT)) and sensitivity to different orthographic grain sizes (i.e., rimes and letters). Directing attention to large grain size units during initial instruction resulted in higher accuracy for rimes, whereas directing attention to smaller grain size units resulted in slower RTs across all measures. Additionally, phonological awareness skill modulated early learning effects, compensating for the limitations of the initial instruction provided. Collectively, these findings suggest that when adults are learning to read a second orthography, consideration should be given to how initial instruction directs attention to different grain sizes and to inherent phonological awareness ability.

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Acknowledgments

The first author was partially funded by the Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Institutional Research T32 Training Grant from the NIDCD (T32 DC009399-01A10) to The Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, 2240 Frances Searle Building, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Christine Brennan & James R. Booth

  2. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    James R. Booth

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  1. Christine Brennan
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  2. James R. Booth
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Correspondence to Christine Brennan.

Appendix

Appendix

All pseudowords used in training and generalization testing including English spelling (not trained, only used for creation of stimuli), pronunciation in IPA, and artificial orthographic pattern.

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Brennan, C., Booth, J.R. Large grain instruction and phonological awareness skill influence rime sensitivity, processing speed, and early decoding skill in adult L2 learners. Read Writ 28, 917–938 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-015-9555-2

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