Abstract:
The present study explored processing strategies
used by individuals when they begin to read c;l script.
Stimuli were artificial words created from symbols and
based on an alphabetic system. The words were.presented
to Grade Nine and Ten students, with variations
included in the difficulty of orthography and word
familiarity, and then scores were recorded on the mean
number of trials for defined learning variables.
Qualitative findings revealed that subjects 1 earned
parts of the visual a'nd auditory features of words
prior to hooking up the visual stimulus to the word's
name. Performance measures-which appear to affect the
rate of learning were as follows: auditory short-term
memory, auditory delayed short-term memory, visual
delayed short- term memory, and word attack or decod~ng
skills. Qualitative data emerging in verbal reports by
the subjects revealed that strategies they pefceived to
use were, graphic, phonetic decoding and word .reading.
