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Connectionist Models of Children’s Reading

  • Chapter
Handbook of Children’s Literacy

Abstract

This chapter focuses on connectionist models of reading development, and outlines several different ways in which connectionist modelling both has been, and could be, used to advance the theoretical understanding of reading development.

Several different developmental possibilities are distinguished in the context of a discussion of connectionist models. In connectionist terms literacy development could in principle be constrained by various distinct factors, including at least (a) the small or unrepresentative nature of the fragment of the spelling-to-sound mapping system early learners are exposed to; (b) the length of time a learning mechanism requires to develop a good model of the statistical structure of the language; (c) the slow development of the representations that allow the relevant generalisations to be learned, and (d) more general limitations in the representational capacity of the learning system throughout development. Computational modelling allows a clear and explicit distinction between, and exploration of, each of these factors.

In reality, of course, it is likely that limitations on literacy development are a composite of these and other factors, and that the factors interact with one another to define a rather complex developmental trajectory. But this is precisely the point at which connectionist modelling may make a useful contribution, because the examination of artificial learning systems may allow us to tease apart the contributions of the different elements in a way that will never be possible by empirical investigation alone.

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Suggested Further Readings

  • Elman, J. L., Bates, E. A., Johnson, M. H., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Parisi, D., & Plunkett, K. (1996). Rethinking innateness: A connectionist perspective on development. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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  • Harm, M. W., & Seidenberg, M. S. (1999). Phonology, reading acquisition, and dyslexia: Insights from connectionist models. Psychological Review, 106, 491–528.

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  • Thomas, M., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (in press). Are developmental disorders like cases of adult brain damage? Implications from connectionist modelling. Behavioural and Brain Sciences.

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Authors
  1. Gordon D. A. Brown
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  2. Nick Chater
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Terezinha Nunes Peter Bryant

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Brown, G.D.A., Chater, N. (2004). Connectionist Models of Children’s Reading. In: Nunes, T., Bryant, P. (eds) Handbook of Children’s Literacy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1731-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1731-1_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6422-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1731-1

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