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The aim of this study was to clarify whether fingerspelling provides a sophisticated mechanism that promotes the development of detailed orthographic knowledge for deaf individuals even in the absence of paralleling phonological knowledge. An intervention program comprised of various procedures chaining between fingerspelled sequences; their written correlates and meaning were administered in a multiple probe single-subject research design across semantic categories to four children with severe to profound prelingual hearing loss (age 4.2-6 years). Results demonstrate the occurrence of rapid orthographic learning during intervention and reliable retention of it in maintenance checks, despite the participants' insufficiently developed phonological skills. Observations of the participants' behavior further suggest fingerspelling to function as an effective mediator in the initial development of robust detailed orthographic lexicon. Analyzes also indicate that "learning through action" and "relevance to the task" provide two key factors in relation to the promotion of orthographic learning, with their absence creating an obvious vacuum in this regard. Insights from the study are discussed with reference to their implication for the development of learning materials and learning environments for prelingually deaf and other novice learners., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The present work investigates whether and how morphological decomposition processes bias the reading of Hebrew heterophonic homographs, i.e., unique orthographic patterns that are associated with two separate phonological, semantic entities depicted by means of two morphological structures (linear and nonlinear). In order to reveal the nature of morphological processes involved in the reading of Hebrew homographs, we tested 146 university students with three computerized experiments, each experiment focusing on a different level of processing. Participants were divided into three experimental groups given that the three experiments used the same stimulus lists. Evidence obtained from the analysis of the participants' processing time and processing accuracy points to a propensity to process heterophonic homographs by default as morpho-syntactically simple rather than complex words. Findings are discussed with reference to assumptions made by Dual-Route models regarding the importance of morphological knowledge in fast and accurate access of written words' representations which mediate the retrieval of their meanings with direct reference to the context in which they occur.

The central aim of this study was to clarify whether sign language (SL) nativeness is a significant factor in determining prelingually deaf individuals' reading skills and whether its contribution is modified by the reader's orthographic background. A second aim was to elucidate similarities and differences between native and nonnative signers in processing written information at different processing levels in order to understand how SL nativeness sustains the reading process, if at all. Participants were 176 students with prelingual deafness recruited from two education levels (6th-7th graders and 9th-10th graders) and three orthographic backgrounds (Hebrew, German, and Turkish). Sixty-six students were native and the remainder nonnative signers. They were tested with a battery of eight experimental paradigms, each assessing their information processing skills in a specific reading-related or reading-unrelated domain. Findings corroborate SL nativeness enhancing the reading process in some regard. However, its contribution was not found to scaffold the structural processing of a written text to turn reading into a tool for learning. Rather, gains were restricted to facilitating processing written words from a perceptual to a conceptual level. Evidence suggests that compared with other determining factors, the contribution of SL nativeness to proficient reading may be rather marginal., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

This study was designed to examine the letter-processing skills of prelingually deaf and hearing students recruited from five different orthographic backgrounds (Hebrew, Arabic, English, German, and Turkish). Participants were 128 hearing and 133 deaf 6th-7th graders. They were tested with a same/different paradigm that assessed their ability to process letters under perceptual and conceptual conditions. Findings suggest that the letter-processing skills of deaf readers from some orthographic backgrounds may be underdeveloped in comparison to hearing counterparts. The finding that such letter-processing deficits were restricted to readers of some but not all of the tested orthographies warrants the conclusion that prelingual deafness, per se, does not impede the development of effective letter processing. Evidence for this study is discussed with reference to potential orthography-inherent and educational factors that may explain the existence of letter-processing deficits found in some of the prelingually deaf readers examined in this study.

This study was designed to clarify the nature of the mental representations underlying the processing of letters. A total of 96 Hebrew readers randomly recruited from three levels of education were asked to make rapid same/different judgments for Hebrew letter dyads with monosyllabic and bisyllabic names. The results obtained from the performance of participants under perceptual and conceptual processing conditions suggest that Hebrew readers access nominal letter representations in order to mediate letter processing in tasks that cannot be resolved on the basis of a sheer perceptual analysis of the letters' visual properties. The finding that the retrieval of nominal letter representations was evident for participants who differed rather markedly in their letter-processing speeds highlights the central role of letter names in the processing of isolated letters.

This study aims to enhance understanding of the factors underlying variance in the reading comprehension skills of prelingually deaf individuals. Participants were 213 sixth through tenth graders with prelingual deafness recruited from four orthographic backgrounds (Hebrew, Arabic, English, and German) and allocated to three distinct reading profiles (levels). A sentence comprehension test manipulating the semantic plausibility of sentences and a word processing experiment requiring rapid determination of the semantic relationship between two real words or between a real word and a pseudohomophonic letter string were used to determine the factors distinguishing skilled from less skilled deaf readers. Findings point to deficits in structural (syntactic) knowledge and deficient knowledge structures, rather than differences in phonological processing skills, as making that distinction. Moreover, the acquisition of such knowledge seems to be modified by particularities of the read orthography.

The aim of the study was to elucidate whether and how reliance on a second language impacts the learning of new information under very basic learning conditions. The paradigm used to investigate this issue required individuals to learn a series of associations between numerals and particular letter strings. Participants were two groups of university students: (1) individuals for whom spoken Hebrew was the mother tongue and written Hebrew a primary orthography (L1 group), and (2) individuals for whom Hebrew, both spoken and written, was a second language (L2 group). Data were collected under two conditions. In the language-dependent condition (LDC), the paradigm required learning associations between eight numerals and the letter strings of eight familiar Hebrew words. In the language-independent condition (LIC), it required learning associations between eight numerals and eight random letter strings in Hebrew. Results suggest that learners may be significantly disadvantaged when compelled to learn new information mediated in a second language. This disadvantage appears to manifest itself at a very basic learning level and in instances where new information is mediated by language that is fairly overlearned by the L2 learner.

Four critical responses to an article, "The Role of Phonology and Phonologically Related Skills in Reading Instruction for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing" (Wang, Trezek, Luckner, & Paul, 2008), are presented. Issue is taken with the conclusions of the article by Wang and colleagues regarding the "necessary" condition of phonological awareness for the development of reading skills among deaf readers. Research findings (not cited by Wang and colleagues) are pointed out that reveal weak correlations between phonemic awareness and reading comprehension, and stronger correlations between other variables such as overall language skill and early exposure to a visual language.

The main objective of this study was to unveil similarities and differences in the word reading strategies of orally raised individuals with prelingual deafness and hearing individuals. Relevant data were gathered by a computerized research paradigm asking participants to make rapid same/different judgments for words. There were three distinct study conditions: (a) a visual condition manipulating the visual-perceptional properties of the target word pairs, (b) a phonological condition manipulating their phonological properties, and (c) a control condition. Participants were 31 high school and postgraduate students with prelingual deafness and 59 hearing students (the control group). Analysis of response latencies and accuracy in the three study conditions suggests that the word reading strategies the groups relied upon to process the stimulus materials were of the same nature. Evidence further suggests that prelingual deafness does not undermine the efficiency with which readers use these strategies. To gain a broader understanding of the obtained evidence, participants' performance in the word processing experiment was correlated with their phonemic awareness-the hypothesized hallmark of proficient word reading-and their reading comprehension skills. Findings are discussed with reference to a reading theory that assigns phonology a central role in proficient word reading.

The aim of the study was to elucidate the nature and efficiency of the strategies that readers with phonological dyslexia use for temporary retention of written words in Working Memory (WM). Data was gathered through a paradigm whereby participants had to identify serially presented written (target) words from within larger word pools according to their presentation order, with word pools containing code-specific distracter (CSD) words and non-code-specific distracter (NCSD) words. Analyses focused on three aspects of performance: (1) false recognition of target words; (2) correct recognition of target words; and (3) retention of word presentation order. Participants were readers with diagnosed phonological dyslexia (n = 20, mean grade level = 9.05 [0.89]) and a control group of regular readers (n = 25, mean grade level = 9.00 [0.76]). Results provide direct evidence that the dyslexic readers and the regular readers used essentially different memory coding strategies for the temporary retention of written words, with the former predominantly relying on a visual strategy and the latter on a phonological strategy. Findings further pinpointed a notably impoverished ability of the dyslexic readers to retain word presentation order. The implication of these findings is discussed in relation to theories predicting the acquisition and mastery of reading.

This study represents an attempt to determine the nature and efficiency of the strategies used by prelingually deafened individuals for the recognition of written words with reference to an orthographic self-teaching concept (D. L. Share, 1995). A research paradigm asking the participants to make categorical judgments for real words and pseudohomophones of the real words was used for gathering the data. Participants were prelingually deafened, native signers (n = 11, age = 14.18) and a hearing control group (n = 25, age = 15.00). In general, findings suggest that, although the participants with deafness were very impaired in their phonological decoding abilities, their efficiency in recognizing and categorizing written words was similar to that of their hearing counterparts. This suggests that they must have developed strategies for the acquisition of orthographic knowledge that do not rely on phonology.

The aim of this study was to determine whether Hebrew readers reference phonological information for the silent processing of unpointed Hebrew nouns. A research paradigm in which participants were required to perform consecutive same/different judgments regarding the identicalness of members of stimulus pairs was used for answering this question. Twenty-eight students (mean grade 4.9) participated in the study. The nouns used in preparing the word stimulus pairs were comprised of various amounts of syllabic information (monosyllabic versus bisyllabic) and differed in the degree this information was represented by their letter graphemes. The main findings suggest that the processing of the identicalness of unpointed Hebrew words may not involve the referencing of their phonological information.

In this study, the author elucidated whether reading experience continues to contribute to word recognition skills in readers with well-internalized reading skills. The participants performed consecutive same or different judgments regarding the identicalness of letters, words, and pseudohomophones. For a more detailed examination of how increased reading experience impacts particular stages of the processing of written stimuli, the author manipulated the identity dimension in each stimuli category. Twenty-five 5th-grade students and 22 university students participated in the study. Overall, findings indicated that a significant development occurs in the recognition of written stimuli after 5th grade because of a shift in the strategic allocation of mental resources (attention) within the recognition process. This change in strategy seems to prompt enhanced retrieval of knowledge relevant to the processing of written stimuli.

Three groups of students--19 hard of hearing, 20 deaf, and a control group of 36 typically developing hearing readers--were compared on their ability to process written words at the lexical level and on their comprehension of words within the structure of a sentence. Findings generally suggested that severe prelingual hearing loss does not prevent the development of word processing strategies adequate for efficient processing of written words at the lexical level, although such hearing loss seems to put individuals at risk of failure in internalizing syntactic knowledge crucial for proper processing of words at the sentence level. Evidence further indicated that neither the amount of functional hearing (deaf vs. hard of hearing), the hearing status of their parents (hearing impaired vs. hearing), nor the use of sign language as a primary communication mode was a direct cause in this regard.

The objective of this study was to bring about a better understanding of the abilities of prelingually deafened individuals to process word and nonword visual information. Students with prelingual deafness (n = 18, mean grade = 5.1) and a task-matched hearing control group (n = 28, mean grade = 4.9) judged the identicalness of physically (perceptually) or conventionally identical words or drawings to learn about differences in their processing strategies as the phonological information contained in these stimuli was manipulated. Findings suggested that the information-processing skills of both groups of participants were similar regardless of stimulus material (i.e., words or drawings) and whether such processing required the referencing of conceptual knowledge. Evidence further indicated that both groups relied on similar strategies for processing the stimuli but that neither relied on a phonology-based strategy.

The aim of this study was to elucidate how prelingual deafness affects the ability to process written words. An experiment designed to reveal possible differences in the word-processing strategies and efficiency of a sample of prelingually deafened students (n = 18; mean grade = 5.1) and a task-matched hearing control group (n = 28; mean grade = 4.9) was conducted. The experiment was based on a research paradigm demanding the same/different categorization of physically (perceptually) or conventionally identical word pairs. To elucidate the nature of the word-processing strategy adopted by each group, word pairs varying within their phonological information (monosyllabic, bisyllabic) were used for stimulation. Unexpectedly, findings revealed that the abilities of the 2 participant groups to process written words were remarkably similar. This was true whether or not the processing of the word pairs required the referencing of linguistic knowledge for the mediation of their identicalness. Furthermore, there was no evidence that either of the 2 participant groups relied on phonological information for processing the stimuli. In general, the findings support a conclusion that the difficulties of prelingually deafened individuals with reading are not rooted in a deficient ability to process written words per se but reflect the absence of crucial (probably general as well as linguistic) knowledge as the basis for their final interpretation. The results further suggest that the phonological decoding of written words may not be a prerequisite for their efficient processing in working memory.

The study investigated the short-term recall of serially presented verbal(izable) information by prelingually deafened individuals and hearing individuals, and reconsidered how short-term memory (STM) is linked with their reading skills and their memory coding strategies. A computer-controlled paradigm calling for written ordered recall of 12 lists of 8 consecutively displayed Hebrew nouns was used to assess STM capacity. Forty-nine students with prelingual deafness (mean grade 6.9) and 39 hearing students (mean grade 6.5) participated in the experiment. Twenty-seven of the participants with deafness were raised according to an oral philosophy. The remaining 22 participants from the deaf group used sign language as their preferred communication code. In general, the findings suggest that neither discrepancy in the ordered short-term recall of verbal materials nor discrepancies in reading comprehension are directly assignable to differences in the memory coding strategies of prelingually deafened and hearing individuals. If such functional discrepancies develop, they reflect absent or insufficiently internalized knowledge.

In this study, the author elucidated whether reading experience continues to contribute to word recognition skills in readers with well-internalized reading skills. The participants performed consecutive same or different judgments regarding the identicalness of letters, words, and pseudohomophones. For a more detailed examination of how increased reading experience impacts particular stages of the processing of written stimuli, the author manipulated the identity dimension in each stimuli category. Twenty-five 5th-grade students and 22 university students participated in the study. Overall, findings indicated that a significant development occurs in the recognition of written stimuli after 5th grade because of a shift in the strategic allocation of mental resources (attention) within the recognition process. This change in strategy seems to prompt enhanced retrieval of knowledge relevant to the processing of written stimuli. (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables and 5 footnotes.)

This study explored differences between the two hemispheres in processing written words among deaf readers. The main hypothesis was that impoverished phonological abilities of deaf readers may lead to atypical patterns of hemispheric involvement. To test this, deaf participants completed a metalinguistic awareness test to evaluate their orthographic and phonological awareness. Additionally, they were asked to read biased or neutral target sentences ending with an ambiguous homograph, with each sentence followed by the request to make a rapid lexical decision on a target word presented either to the left (LH) or right hemisphere (RH). Targets were either related to the more frequent, dominant, meaning of the homograph, to the less frequent, subordinate, meaning of the homograph or were not related at all. An Inverse Efficiency Score based on both response latency and accuracy was calculated and revealed that deaf readers' RH perform better than their LH. In contrast to hearing readers who in previous studies manifested left hemisphere dominance when completed the same research design. The apparent divergence of deaf readers' hemisphere lateralization from that of hearing counterparts seems to validate previous findings suggesting greater reliance on RH involvement among deaf individuals during visual word recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Psychology / Türk Psikoloji Dergisi is the property of Turk Psikoloji Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present study investigates differences in the word-reading process between individuals reading in a deep (unpointed Hebrew) and a shallow orthography (Turkish). The participants were 120 students evenly and randomly recruited from three levels of education (primary = 3rd-4th graders; middle = 6th-7th graders; high = 9th-10th graders). The students were tested with a computerised paradigm that assessed their efficiency in determining the identicalness of real word (RW) pairs and nonsense word (NW) pairs under perceptual and conceptual conditions. Based on a strong orthographic depth hypothesis, Turkish readers were hypothesised to manifest superior word-processing skills in comparison to Hebrew readers, both for RWs and NWs. Evidence obtained from the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative performance of the participants failed to support this prediction. Findings are discussed with reference to a single-route grain-size-based word-reading model and a modified dual-route word-reading model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Psychology / Türk Psikoloji Dergisi is the property of Turk Psikoloji Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aimed to determine the factors underlying the reading comprehension (RC) failure of prelingually deaf Turkish readers. Participants were 77 individuals with prelingual deafness and a hearing control of 78 normally developing hearing individuals selected from three distinct levels of education (3rd-4th graders = elementary; 6th-7th graders = middle; 9th-10th graders = high). We applied an experimental paradigm manipulating the semantic plausibility and syntactic complexity of sentences to compare RC at the sentence level. In line with findings reported for prelingually deaf individuals reading in other orthographies, the deaf participants tested in the present study manifested rather alarmingly impoverished RC skills in comparison to their hearing counterparts. The findings suggest that this reading failure is rooted in an apparent deficiency in the ability to recruit syntactic and prior knowledge to make sense of what they read. The evidence further suggests that such deficits prove strikingly resistant to years of formal oral education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigated differences in the word processing skills of prelingually deaf and hearing participants reading in five orthographies (Hebrew, Arabic, English, German and Turkish). We tested 256 readers (132 deaf and 124 hearing) from the mid level of education (sixth and seventh grades) using two computerized paradigms that assessed the perceptual and conceptual processing of word pairs. Based on the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis (ODH), we expected those reading in shallow orthographies to process the written words faster and more accurately than those reading in deep orthographies. Moreover, we anticipated a deficit in the word processing skills of deaf readers as compared to their hearing peers, regardless of orthography. Findings suggested that, in orthographies with demanding visuo-perceptual properties, prelingually deaf readers are at risk of developing processing deficits even at the word (lexical) level of text processing. However, such deficits do not seem to be directly related to hearing status or the shallowness of the orthography, but rather seem to reflect the joint contribution of augmented visuo-perceptual processing demands in visually complex orthographies and drastically impoverished reading experience that hampers the optimization of perceptual processes required to efficiently deal with such complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of research investigating prelingually deaf individuals' word reading skills, phonemic awareness, and reading comprehension challenges the widely held conclusion that the impoverished readings skills of such individuals are the result of poor phonological processing abilities. Compelling findings show that-notwithstanding often remarkably poor phonemic awareness of the prelingually deaf-such readers succeed in developing word-reading strategies that sustain written word recognition at comparable levels to their hearing counterparts. Moreover, evidence suggests no direct causal relationship between their sensitivity to the phonological properties of words and their ability to comprehend connected text. These findings further indicate that such readers may gain from the development of orthographic knowledge in conjunction with syntactic awareness and metacognitive skills but not necessarily from the sheer fostering of their phonemic/phonological awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]