SENTENCE CONTEXT AND WORD RECOGNITION IN CHILDREN WITH AVERAGE READING-ABILITY AND WITH A SPECIFIC READING-DISABILITY

The inhibitory and facilitatory effects of context on word recognition were investigated in 24 8- to 10-year-old children with a specific re ading disability in comparison with a group of 24 children matched for reading ability and a group of 24 children matched for chronological age. To avoid confounding the effects of reading level with those of w ord difficulty, target words of equivalent relative familiarity for ea ch participant were presented in congruous, neutral, and incongruous s entence contexts. In agreement with previous studies, there was clear evidence of both general inhibitory and facilitatory effects. In contr ast to previous findings, however, reading level did not have a major impact on the inhibition of word recognition in incongruous contexts c ompared with neutral contexts, although it may have led to greater fac ilitation in congruous contexts compared with neutral contexts. Althou gh further research is required, these results suggest that if reading -age appropriate materials are selected, less skilled readers and thos e with a reading disability may not be as influenced by context as has been claimed previously.