Gene

Transition (genetics)

Linguistics

Cognitive psychology

Philosophy

Biology

German

Phonology

Tracking (education)

Pedagogy

Sentence processing

Biochemistry

Computer science

Eye tracking

Eye movement

Natural language processing

Reading (process)

Psychology

Word length

Artificial intelligence

Sentence

Orthography

Chemistry

Word lists by frequency

Speech recognition

Scientific Studies of Reading

We studied the transition in predominant reading strategy from serial sublexical processing to more parallel lexical processing as a function of word familiarity in German children of Grades 2, 3, 4, and adults. High-frequency words, low-frequency words, and nonwords of differing length were embedded in sentences and presented in an eye-tracking paradigm. The size of the word length effect was used as an indicator of serial sublexical decoding. When controlling for the generally higher processing times in younger readers, the effect of length over reading development was not direct but modulated by familiarity: Length effects were comparable between items of differing familiarity for Grade 2, whereas from Grade 3, length effects increased with decreasing familiarity. These findings suggest that Grade 2 children apply serial sublexical decoding as a default reading strategy to most items, whereas reading by direct lexical access is increasingly dominant in more experienced readers.

The Transition From Sublexical to Lexical Processing in a Consistent Orthography: An Eye-Tracking Study