Recombinative reading of pseudo-words printed with a pseudo-alphabet: similarity between words and teaching unit size

Abstract

Discriminative control by textual elements is a requisite for reading new words (recombinative reading). This study used pseudowords printed with pseudo-alphabet to evaluate the effects of the similarity between words and the size of teaching units on the development of recombinative reading. In Exp. 1, undergraduate students learned conditional relations between spoken and printed pseudowords which differed from incorrect words in 25% and 75% of the elements. In Exp. 2, undergraduate students learned to relate spoken letters or syllables to the corresponding printed units and afterwards they learned the conditional relations with pseudowords. The acquisition of discriminations was faster during the Condition 75%; recombinative reading was related to the amount of trained words (Exp. 1). Reading accuracy was higher after learning syllables, but more recombinative reading occurred after learning letters (Exp. 2). The teaching that combines dissimilar words and units smaller than words may accelerate recombinative reading.