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This study explored the spelling skills of African American second graders who produced African American English (AAE) features in speech. The children (N = 92), who varied in spoken AAE [...]

Three experiments on the role of orthographic distinctiveness (as measured by neighborhood size [N]) in associative recognition are reported. A mirror effect was obtained, with high-N words receiving more hits and fewer false alarms than low-N words. This pattern was replicated in Experiment 2, where participants carried out a relational orienting task. However, the high-N advantage in hit rates was eliminated in Experiment 3 when subjects carried out an item-processing orienting task. The high-N advantage in associative recognition contrasts with the low-N advantage found in item recognition. This reversal of mirror effects between item and associative recognition is empirically similar to patterns found in studies of normative word frequency.

The study aims to examine whether length and transposed-letter effects reflect developmental changes in reading in a transparent orthography. The results confirm empirical evidence of the effects of length and transposed-letter similarity in Spanish language across beginning, intermediate and adult readers.

Young children begin to use analogies in spelling from the very time they begin to learn to spell. Two related experiments with six-year old children indicate that the subjects use their knowledge of spelling familiar words as aid to spell similar-sounding new words. Irrespective of the presence or absence of visible clues, they use analogies to identify the spelling of the target words. These findings support the connectionist models of the development of reading and spelling skills.

A study to examine whether transposed-letter (TL) similarity effects occur for nonwords created by exchanging two nonadjacent letters, for example caniso-CASINO in three masked form priming experiments using the lexical decision task is presented. Results show that nonadjacent TL primes produce priming effects only when the transposed letters are consonants, which are more difficult than the vowel TL nonwords and the implications of these, for models coding scheme are discussed.

The relationship between engaged time and achievement in 40 students studying in year 3 and year 4 at an urban primary school in a low socioeconomic area of South Auckland is examined. Girls were found to have higher levels of achievement and paid more attention in the class in comparison to the boys.

The ability of adults to discern sound-spelling correspondence was studied with particular reference to the spelling of vowels. It was found that the spelling of English vowels can be affected by the identity of the surrounding consonants proving that adult spellers are attuned to a broader context in their spelling of words than just rime context.

The question of orthographic neighbors constraining the effects of phonological neighbors in auditory word recognition is addressed. The variety of tasks employed in the studies proved the high probability of orthographic information influencing auditory word recognition.

The role of conscious awareness and the nature of the processing requirements that mediate the orthographic distinctiveness effect are examined. It is concluded that the distinctiveness effect depends on direct reference to the study context and comparative processes mediate this effect.

The effects of eighteen variables on the tasks of lexical decision, standard, and delayed word naming in Dutch and English by Dutch-English bilinguals are studied. The results are analyzed in relation to task requirements, orthographic depth, and proficiency of the participants in Dutch and English.

You may as well get used to mistakes like those in that headline. If the resumes and cover letters that have come across my desk in the past year are [...]