Bosse, M. 1 , Chaves, N. 2 & Largy, P. 2
1 LPNC, Lab. of Psychology and Neuro Cognition, University Pierre Mendès-France, Grenoble France
2 LPDPS, Lab. of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation Processes, University Toulouse le Mirail, Toulouse France
The self teaching hypothesis suggests that most knowledge about the orthographic structure of words is acquired incidentally during reading through phonological recoding. The current study assessed whether visual processing skills during reading further contribute to orthographic learning. French children were asked to read pseudo-words, in a context of stories. The whole pseudo-word letter-string was available at once for half of the targets and the pseudo-word’s sublexical units were discovered in turn for the other half. Presentation time and total time of processing were controlled. The memorisation of target orthographic forms was assessed immediately after reading or seven days after. Results showed that more orthographic learning occurred when pseudo-words have been seen in their whole. The whole-word presentation effect was significant whatever the delay between reading and orthographic restitution. This effect depended on neither target reading accuracy nor target reading speed during the reading phase. Moreover, analyses revealed that orthographic learning was independent of presentation time. Beyond recoding skills, the ability to process the entire orthographic letter string at once during reading appears as a significant factor of efficient orthographic learning. This new finding opens the way for a better understanding of the visual-orthographic factor in the self-teaching hypothesis.