Abstract
Ninety-six children were administered an orthographic test as preschoolers and two measures of nonphonemic phonological awareness (syllable segmentation, rhyme detection) in midkindergarten. The power of the three measures to predict reading at grades 1, 3, and 7 was examined. With earlier reading level, preschool verbal IQ and age, and verbal memory controlled, both phonological measures added significant variance to grade 1 word reading, and syllable segmentation also contributed to reading comprehension, but neither measure accounted for variance in reading at grades 3 and 7. The orthographic measure contributed significant variance to grade 1 word reading, and also to reading vocabulary and reading comprehension at grades 3 and 7, with the proportion of variance in reading comprehension increasing with grade level. When early (grade 1) and late (grade 7) poor readers were compared, late poor readers were significantly higher than early poor readers on a first grade phonological test, but significantly lower on a seventh grade orthographic measure. Evidence suggested that a late reading comprehension deficit may be due to poor orthographic processing skills in some children, but to a phonological and general verbal deficit in others.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, M. J., & Bruck, M. (1993). Word recognition: The interface of educational policies and scientific research. Reading and Writing: An interdisciplinary Journal, 5, 113–139.
Badian, N. A. (1994). Preschool prediction: Orthographic and phonological skills, and reading. Annals of Dyslexia, 44: 3–25.
Badian, N. A. (1995). Predicting reading ability over the long term: The changing roles of letter-naming, phonological awareness and orthographic processing. Annals of Dyslexia, 45: 79–96.
Badian, N. A. (1998). A validation of the role of preschool phonological and orthographic skills in the prediction of reading. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 31, 472–481.
Badian, N. A. (1999). Reading disability defined as a discrepancy between listening and reading comprehension: A longitudinal study of stability, gender differences, and prevalence. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 32, 138–148.
Badian, N. A. (2000). Do preschool orthographic skills contribute to prediction of reading? In N. A. Badian (ed.), Prediction and prevention of reading failure (pp. 31–56). Baltimore, MD: York Press.
Ball, E. W. (1993). Phonological awareness: What’s important and to whom? Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 5, 141–159.
Barker, T. A., Torgesen, J. K., & Wagner, R. K. (1992). The role of orthographic processing skills on five different reading tasks. Reading Research Quarterly, 27, 335–345.
Bowey, J. A., & Francis, J. (1991). Phonological analysis as a function of age and exposure to reading instruction. Applied Psycholinguistics, 12, 91–121.
Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. E. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read: A causal connection. Nature, 301, 419–421.
Bradley, L., & Bryant, P. (1991). Phonological skills before and after learning to read. In S. A. Brady & D. P. Shankweiler (eds.), Phonological processes in literacy: A tribute to Isabelle Y. Liberman (pp. 37–53). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Casalis, S., & Louis-Alexandre, M.-F. (2000). Morphological analysis, phonological analysis and learning to read French: A longitudinal study. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 12, 303–335.
Christensen, C. A. (1997). Onset, rhymes, and phonemes in learning to read. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1, 341–358.
Christensen, C. A. (2000). Preschool phonological awareness and success in reading. In N. A. Badian (ed.), Prediction and prevention of reading failure (pp. 153–178). Baltimore, MD: York Press.
de Jong, P. F., & van der Leij, A. (1999). Specific contributions of phonological abilities to early reading acquisition: Results from a Dutch latent variable longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 450–476.
Duncan, L. G., & Seymour, P. H. K. (2000). Phonemes and rhyme in the development of reading and metaphonology: The Dundee longitudinal study. In N. A. Badian (ed.), Prediction and prevention of reading failure (pp. 275–297). Baltimore, MD: York Press.
Ehri, L. C. (1989). The development of spelling knowledge and its role in reading acquisition and reading disability. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 22, 356–365.
Ehri, L. C. (1992). Reconceptualizing the development of sight word reading and its relationship to decoding. In P. B. Gough, L. C. Ehri, & R. Treiman (eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 107–143). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Elbro, C., Borstrøm, I., & Petersen, D. K. (1998). Predicting dyslexia from kindergarten: The importance of distinctiveness of phonological representations of lexical items. Reading Research Quarterly, 33, 36–60.
Felton, R. H. (1992). Early identification of children at risk for reading disabilities. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 12, 212–229.
Foorman, B. R. (1994). Phonological and orthographic processing: Separate but equal? In V. W. Berninger (ed.), The varieties of orthographic knowledge, Vol.1 (pp. 321–357). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Fowler, A. E. (1991). How early phonological development might set the stage for phoneme awareness. In S. A. Brady & D. P. Shankweiler (eds.), Phonological processes in literacy: A tribute to Isabelle Y. Liberman (pp. 97–117). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gipstein, M., Brady, S. A., & Fowler, A. (2000). Questioning the role of syllables and rimes in early phonological awareness. In N. A. Badian (ed.), Prediction and prevention of reading failure (pp. 179–216). Baltimore, MD: York Press.
Goswami, U., & Bryant, P. (1990). Phonological skills and learning to read. Hove, U. K.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Liberman, I. Y., Shankweiler, D., Fischer, F. W., & Carter, B. (1974). Explicit syllable and phoneme segmentation in the young child. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 18, 201–212.
Lonigan, C. J., Burgess, S., Anthony, J. L., & Barker, T. A. (1998). Development of phonological sensitivity in 2- to 5-year-old children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 294–311.
Manis, F. R., Seidenberg, M. S., & Doi, L. M. (1999). See Dick RAN: Rapid naming and the longitudinal prediction of reading subskills in first and second graders. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 129–157.
Mann, V. A. (1993). Phoneme awareness and future reading ability. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 26, 259–269.
Mann, V. A., & Liberman, I. Y. (1984). Phonological awareness and verbal short-term memory. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 17, 592–599.
Muter, V., Hulme, C., Snowling, M., & Taylor, S. (1997). Segmentation, not rhyming, predicts early progress in learning to read. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 65, 370–396.
Muter, V., & Snowling, M. (1998). Concurrent and longitudinal predictors of reading: The role of metalinguistic and short-term memory skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 33, 320–337.
Olson, R., Forsberg, H., Wise, B., & Rack, J. (1994). Measurement of word recognition, orthographic, and phonological skills. In G. R. Lyon (ed.), Frames of reference for the assessment of learning disabilities: New views on measurement issues (pp. 243–277). Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing Company.
Perfetti, C. A., Beck, L., Bell, L., & Hughes, C. (1987). Phonemic knowledge and learning to read are reciprocal: A longitudinal study of first grade children. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33, 283–319.
Psychological Corporation (1992). Stanford achievement test, 8th edition. San Antonio, TX: Harcourt Brace.
Rack, J. P., & Olson, R. K. (1993). Phonological deficits, IQ, and individual differences in reading disability: Genetic and environmental influences. Developmental Review, 13, 269–278.
Sawyer, D. J., Kim, J. K., & Lipa-Wade, S. (2000). Application of Frith’s developmental phase model to the process of identifying at-risk beginning readers. In N. A. Badian (ed.), Prediction and prevention of reading failure (pp. 87–103). Baltimore, MD: York Press.
Scarborough, H. S. (1998). Early identification of children at risk for reading disabilities: Phonological awareness and some other promising predictors. In B. K. Shapiro, P. J. Accardo, & A. J. Capute (eds.), Specific reading disability: A view of the spectrum (pp. 75–119). Timonium, MD: York Press.
Share, D. L., Jorm, A. F., MacLean, R., & Matthews, R. (1984). Sources of individual differences in reading acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 1309–1324.
Stanovich, K. E. (1988). Explaining the differences between the dyslexic and the garden-variety poor reader: The phonological-core variable-difference model. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 21, 590–604, 612.
Stanovich, K. E. (1992). Speculations on the causes and consequences of individual differences in early reading acquisition. In P. B. Gough, L. C. Ehri, & R. Treiman (eds.), Reading acquisition (pp. 307–342). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Stanovich, K. E., Cunningham, A. E., & Cramer, B. B. (1984). Assessing phonological processes in kindergarten children: Issues of task compatibility. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 38, 175–190.
Stanovich, K. E., West, R. F., & Cunningham, A. E. (1991). Beyond phonological processes: Print exposure and orthographic processing. In S. A. Brady & D. P. Shankweiler (eds), Phonological processes in literacy: A tribute to Isabelle Y. Liberman (pp. 219–235). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions of phonological awareness and rapid automatic naming ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second-to-fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1, 161–185.
Treiman, R., & Zukowski, A. (1991). Levels of phonological awareness. In S. A. Brady & D. P. Shankweiler (eds.), Phonological processes in literacy: A tribute to Isabelle Y. Liberman (pp. 67–83). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Vellutino, F. R., & Scanlon, D. M. (1987). Phonological coding, phonological awareness, and reading ability: Evidence from a longitudinal and experimental study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33, 321–363.
Vellutino, F. R., Scanlon, D. M., & Chen, R. S. (1995). The increasingly inextricable relationship between orthographic and phonological coding in learning to read: Some reservations about current methods of operationalizing orthographic coding. In V. W. Berninger (ed.), The varieties of orthographic knowledge, Vol. II (pp. 47–111). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Wagner, R. K., & Barker, T. A. (1994). The development of orthographic processing ability. In V. W. Berninger (ed.), The varieties of orthographic knowledge, Vol. I (pp. 243–276). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Wagner, R. K., & Torgesen, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 192–212.
Wagner, R. K., Torgesen, J. K., Rashotte, C. A., Hecht, S. A., Barker, T. A., Burgess, S. R., Donahue, J., & Garon, T. (1997). Changing relations between phonological processing abilities and word-level reading as children develop from beginning to skilled readers: A 5-year longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 33, 468–479.
Wechsler, D. (1967). Preschool and primary scale of intelligence. New York: Psychological Corporation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Badian, N.A. Phonological and orthographic processing: Their roles in reading prediction. Ann. of Dyslexia 51, 177–202 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-001-0010-5
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-001-0010-5