Orthography and Modality Influence Speech Production in Adults and Children

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Speech Science
• Reading Research

Background:

• Literacy acquisition significantly impacts spoken language perception and production.
• The interplay between orthography (written form) and speech production is crucial for understanding language processing.
• Previous research suggests reading proficiency influences how individuals process spoken language.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of orthography on implicit speech production processing.
• To compare processing in child readers versus adults with varying reading proficiencies (low and high).
• To determine if reading aloud nonwords enhances implicit linguistic processing.

Main Methods:

• Participants included 17 children, 17 adults with typical reading skills, and 18 adults with low reading proficiency.
• Nonwords varying in orthographic transparency were presented for repetition or reading aloud.
• Implicit linguistic processing was assessed through segmental accuracy and speech movement stability before and after the task.

Main Results:

• All groups showed improved learning when reading nonwords compared to just hearing them.
• For adults with low reading proficiency, transparent spellings reduced articulatory variability in speech production.
• Reading skill correlated positively with speech movement stability in adult participants.

Conclusions:

• Orthography actively interacts with speech production in both children and adults, indicating integration into lexical representations.
• Adults with poor reading skills employ different reading and speaking strategies compared to typical child readers.
• Reading proficiency is a key factor in the relationship between orthographic processing and speech production stability.