THE CONTRIBUTION OF ORTHOGRAPHIC AND PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES TO WORD READING IN YOUNG NORWEGIAN READERS

The dissociation between phonological and orthographic processes in wo rd reading was investigated in a study involving 147 children in grade 3. The criterion measure was a timed word reading test. Two tasks ass essed phonological skills and two tasks assessed orthographical skills . Orthographic ability accounted for variance in word reading even aft er phonological ability had been controlled. Poor readers differed fro m skilled readers in the way phonological and orthographic factors wer e balanced. The relationship between the two factors was fairly strong among poor readers, whereas the correlation was low for more skilled readers. Furthermore, phonological factors played a much stronger role in explaining the variance in word reading among poor readers, while on the other hand, orthographic factors were more powerful among skill ed readers.