Effects of Preference and Strategy on Learning to Read an Artificial Script

Reading proficiency in the English alphabetic system requires mastery of common letter-to-sound mappings as well as rapid recognition of familiar words. Previous research has suggested that readers differ in their preferences for the two strategies of word reading, with some preferring to focus on the letter-tosound correspondences within a word, a grapheme-phoneme (GP) strategy, while others preferring to match entire visual to spoken words, a whole-word (WW) strategy. The goal of this study was to assess what impact such preference differences might have on learning dynamics as readers learned a new writing system. First, typical adults’ reading preference for a GP vs. WW strategy in English was determined via a series of reading tests. Next, participants were trained to associate a novel script of artificial characters with spoken English words. Entire visual characters could be mapped onto whole spoken words (WW strategy) but if the hidden alphabet was taught, individual letters within the character could be mapped onto corresponding sounds (GP strategy). Participants in the two-day training learned one list of words using the GP strategy and another list using the WW strategy. It was hypothesized that preferences evident in reading English would elicit differences in learning dynamics for the novel script. Results revealed that participants’ preferences significantly predicted their learning patterns and outcomes. Specifically, WW preference learners suffered high transfer costs when applying letter knowledge to decoding novel words. Conversely, after learning new words, GP preference learners suffered from high interference costs on previously memorized words. These findings suggest that reading strategies may help uncover differences in cognitive challenges faced during reading acquisition, which in turn may inform effective teaching strategies in early reading instruction. ____________________________________________________________________________________