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Context-sensitive rules and word naming in Italian children

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Abstract

The present study examines the role of orthographic complexity on Italian children’s word reading. Two experiments are reported in which elementary school children (3rd and 5th graders) read aloud words containing simple or contextual letter-sound conversion rules. In Experiment 1, both groups of participants read words containing contextual rules more slowly and less accurately than words containing simple, non-contextual rules. Experiment 2 showed that the effect of rule complexity held for low but not high frequency words, on both reading speed and accuracy. No interactions with grade were found. This pattern is in line with previous findings on the effects of rule contextuality on adult performance [Burani, C. Barca, L. & Ellis, A. W. (2006). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 346–352]. Despite the regularity of the Italian orthography, the presence of complex rules influences both reading speed and accuracy of young readers. Moreover, the reading system of readers of a shallow orthography seems efficient from the first years of reading instruction.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Simone Mazzotta for help with collecting the data. This work was supported by MIUR-FIRB Grant RBAU01LE9P to Cristina Burani. The authors are members of the Marie Curie Research and Training Network: Language and Brain (RTN:LAB) funded by the European Commission (MRTN-CT-2004-512141) as part of its Sixth Framework Programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Laura Barca & Andrew W. Ellis

  2. Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, ISTC-CNR, Rome, Italy

    Laura Barca & Cristina Burani

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  1. Laura Barca
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  2. Andrew W. Ellis
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  3. Cristina Burani
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Correspondence to Laura Barca.

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Barca, L., Ellis, A.W. & Burani, C. Context-sensitive rules and word naming in Italian children. Read Writ 20, 495–509 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-006-9040-z

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