Young Persian Speakers’L۲ Phonological Decoding Abilities & Their L۲ Reading Comprehension Proficiency

One of the determinants of reading comprehension is phonological decoding ability (Perfetti, ۱۹۸۵ & Ehri, ۱۹۹۵). The ability to pronounce the printed word, if not sufficient appears to be necessary to reading comprehension. The mastery of grapheme phoneme conversion has been reaffirmed by L۱ researchers (Gough, ۱۹۸۴; Stanovich, ۱۹۹۱). However, compared with cognitive and metacognitive processes, few studies have been devoted to phonological decoding in L۲. In order to test the question that lower level reading-skill groups in L۲ may be hindered by slow decoding, it was designed to explore whether there are differences in word-decoding speed between four groups of ESL readers at different levels of reading proficiency skill. So they were asked to sort pairs of words into two groups depending on whether the words in the pair rhymed. The rhymed pairs of words were of two different kinds: (۱) visually-similar rhymes (ride-hide) and (۲) visually-dissimilar rhymes (side- cried). The result indicated that the difference between the groups was highly significant F(۳,۳۶)= ۴.۴۵, p ۰.۰۵ which means in both types of material the groups have performed differently. It implies all groups have been involved, probably consciously, in grapheme phoneme conversion, though, based on their reading proficiency levels, the higher levels have been faster than the lower ones to carry out the task. The reason behind this finding may be that unconscious or automatic processing of sound decoding has not yet been achieved. As Mclaughlin (۱۹۹۰) and Grabe (۱۹۹۱) view development of automatically in word identification skill critical to fluent reading, the study has some implications for L۲ reading education.

کلیدواژه ها:

Phonological decoding ، comprehension ، skill levels ، pronounce