Different Patterns, but Equivalent Predictors, of Growth in Reading in Consistent and Inconsistent Orthographies

TLDR

Alphabetic orthographies differ in the consistency of letter‑to‑phoneme mappings, with English being the least consistent and children learning to read more slowly than in more consistent orthographies such as Spanish and Czech. This study longitudinally examines whether reading growth in English is slower and follows a distinct trajectory compared to Spanish and Czech. Despite the slower growth, phoneme awareness, letter‑sound knowledge, and rapid automatized naming at the start of instruction predict reading development equally across the three languages, indicating universal cognitive prerequisites for reading in alphabetic orthographies.

Abstract

All alphabetic orthographies use letters in printed words to represent the phonemes in spoken words, but they differ in the consistency of the relationship between letters and phonemes. English appears to be the least consistent alphabetic orthography phonologically, and, consequently, children learn to read more slowly in English than in languages with more consistent orthographies. In this article, we report the first longitudinal evidence that the growth of reading skills is slower and follows a different trajectory in English than in two much more consistent orthographies (Spanish and Czech). Nevertheless, phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge, and rapid automatized naming measured at the onset of literacy instruction did not differ in importance as predictors of variations in reading development among the three languages. These findings suggest that although children may learn to read more rapidly in more consistent than in less consistent orthographies, there may nevertheless be universal cognitive prerequisites for learning to read in all alphabetic orthographies.